Feature Friday - Storm Damage!

Well, I can't believe it is Friday, again! And here I don't think I've read/watched/listened to/whatever anything (published) worth featuring! There's been a lot of other stuff going on. So, here are a couple of pictures of the damage from the storm that came through a couple of nights ago. The noise woke us up. Supposedly it was just wind/rain, but it sure did cause some damage. My first thought when woken up was that it was a tornado, and we all went into serious storm mode (aka sitting in the bathtub, ready to take cover) until we determined, by use of my husband's smartphone, just what was going on and that we were not going to be blown away. We were completely unprepared for the discoveries we made outside. While the roofing shingles everywhere and the neighbor's broken window were definitely surprises, I think the fence really takes the cake.

Dear Mother Nature, we were already aware we needed a new fence.

A nice view to the other street. Four of us are sharing a yard right now. The posts of the fence are actually snapped at the bottom. Admittedly, we have more of our fence left than they do.

So what excitement have you had this week?

Julia

Mind-full Monday

Well, instead of Mindful Monday, I'm calling today "Mind-full," meaning my mind is full, and not in a good way.

All of these anxieties that I thought were taken care of have begun to rear their heads again. This has been brought on in part by the job fair I attended at my alma mater last week. They are anxieties about the future, and while I know the future can't be controlled, it can be influenced by the actions taken now.

Well, I'm not too comfortable disclosing it all now, but I know that the decisions that have been made are the best for my family, and that's always our #1 priority.

Until next time,
Julia

Feature Friday - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Hello there. It's Friday, hooray! Man, what a week. Started out with the little one having a stomach bug, and guess what? It's ending with an upper respiratory thing, what fun. Stack that on top of my insomnia and anxieties about making some pretty important decisions, and I'm pretty much a goner right now.

Anyhow, it's  Feature Friday, and today, I'm sharing what's been stuck in my head all week: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' CD Don't You Fake It. Yeah, it's a bit old, I've had the CD for at least 8 years, but that's no reason to cast it aside. The song that's been most stuck in my head? "Your Guardian Angel." Of course, as soon as I popped it in, I remembered every word to every song, and you can bet I sang my heart out while driving down the road (and several times since).

Some lyrics:

From "Seventeen Ain't so Sweet"

There's a fire in your eyes

And I hope you'll let it burn

There's a scream in your voice

And I hope you will be heard

There's a fire in your eyes

And I hope you'll let it burn

Until you're heard, you're heard

From "Your Guardian Angel"

I will never let you fall

I'll stand up with you forever

I'll be there for you through it all

Even if saving you sends me to heaven

From "Waiting"

Take time to contemplate who you are and where you want to go

Well, enjoy!
Julia

Special Saturday - NTTBF

Last Saturday I spent the day at the absolutely amazing first annual North Texas Teen Book Festival (Twitter - @NTTBFest) with my amazing librarian mother-in-law.

We didn't make it into either of the ticketed events, but the panels were amazing! I tweeted some of the highlights from the ones we went to (first two panels I mentioned instead of hashtagged, but I'll learn one day):

@sarahreesbrenna: "the toaster is a master swordsman!" @NTTBFest Secondary Education panel
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015 

— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Captivating Fantasies panel pic.twitter.com/UjN5aPTHJL
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Captivating Fantasies panel: discussing #TheDress, #sweetorsalty, #teaorcoffee, and more #NTTBF15
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Captivating Fantasies panel: challenges of fantasy: @raecarson "fantasy is still a bad word to some people."
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Captivating Fantasies panel: "fantasy is a metaphor for exploring the human condition" @tessagratton
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Thrill Ride panel: pic.twitter.com/vXtWq13RbI
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 Thrill Ride panel: what thrilled you as a teen? Kathy Reichs "skipping school"
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015

#nttbf15 ThrillRide: what are you afraid of? "There is a room full of ppl that could terrorize this entire panel"(snakes,monkeys,&jellyfish)
— Julia (@byersj09) March 7, 2015 

And while this was happening...

Met and actually talked to authors Carrie Ryan & C. Alexander London. Allie Condie was there too! #ntts2015 #Fangirling #stumblingoverwords
— Denise Byers (@dbyers1977) March 7, 2015 

the wonderful photographer that donated his time and talent to the event took this picture (caught her stumbling on her words!):

@ca_london This was one of my favorite photos from #NTTBF15 ! Thought you might like as well :) pic.twitter.com/tC0676aqlB
— Kristin Treviño (@kristin_trevino) March 9, 2015

To sum up,

Can I just hang out with all the authors from #NTTBF15? They were all just so much fun!
— Julia (@byersj09) March 8, 2015

While we didn't stay for any signings, we did hear from a lot of authors that are now on my to-read list, and I received some inspiration to keep on with what I'm doing. It was also really cool to hear them talk and see that they are just (mostly) normal (and incredibly funny) people. I don't know if events like this even existed when I was in school, but I think I would have loved them, and they are a great opportunity for the "young adults" out there to meet some amazing authors! I absolutely loved this event and WILL be going again.

Feature Friday - Alliances by S. Usher Evans

My Feature Fridays have started to have more of a review tone to them because I thought that might help me understand why I liked what I did, as well as giving others an idea of whether or not they would like it.

This weeks Feature Friday is the second in the Razia Series, Alliances. The amazing S. Usher Evans has done it again, bringing readers an adventure that had me at times laughing, at times tearing up, and other times having all the feels for Razia that are some mix of compassion and empathy and IDon'tKnowWhatElse. If you have not yet read it, Double Life is Book 1 in the series, &&you need to get on that (below may contain some spoilers, you've been warned).

We catch up with Razia about a year after the ending of Double Life. No longer on pirate probation, she's been doing a commendable job bounty-hunting, but getting none of the commendations. She is just as stubborn and unwilling to hear anyone out when they are saying anything she doesn't want to hear. When another female shows up in her territory, it's ON! Despite the unlikelihood of Razia joining forces with anyone, her and Lizbeth begin uncovering an operation much larger than either of them expected, and what they find will send them for a loop. 

Pros:

• Duo of strong women characters with their own set of strengths and weaknesses, as well as readily-equipped with witty banter.
• Idea that being feminine doesn't equal being a whore. (Evans talks about this on her blog, too.)
• Along those same lines, it's nice to have a story whose main character is female and her main interest/concern/motivation is not romance.
• It's a fun/tense adventure!
• Said fun/tense adventure is not without an emotional journey of self-discovery and brutal truth-slaps.
• Nice comic relief.
• I like that we get the results of Razia's searches in tables, it makes it more immersive (probably even more effective when not read on a phone...).

Faux-Cons:

• I don't think I'm going to make it until October to read Book 3...
• There are times you want to reach out and slap Razia and tell her to listen.
• (Putting this here until I can test out my theory that this is device-specific) some of the tables used so that we can see what Razia sees were too wide for the page, not really a con, and not enough to really affect the experience.
• There is a geeky part of me who wishes to delve [even] further into the naming system for the planets, how the time system works, the science of the space travel, and other science-y things. This is good, because that means the story is interesting enough that I want to know more.

Cons:

• I didn't really have any "cons" about this book, but to each their own. :)

Feature Friday - The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, Book 1) by Julie Kagawa

I'm attending a YA book festival tomorrow, and I thought I might read at least one book by at least one author who would be there (the original plan was much more ambitious, but procrastination, you know?). So I got on my Overdrive/local library account and found The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa was available for electronic checkout, something I absolutely love. What I found was a world I could not leave until I was forced to by the need to sleep and the end of the book.

Picture from Amazon product page (link above)

I really loved this book, and am eager to begin the second (and third!). There were times when it reminded me of Hollowland by Amanda Hocking, which is another book that I enjoyed several years ago. (Typically my YA Paranormal readings are pretty spaced, I just love to read everything!) The protagonist, Allison Sekemoto, has been a survivor all her life, and her choices and way of thinking about her decisions show it. We know, however, the struggles between making some of those decisions and indulging her more emotional side. Those choices become even more difficult as she learns to make them as a vampire. As a vampire, she has to learn how to fit in--again--with humans as she tags along in search of the promised land.

Pros:

• In general, a well-written and entertaining read.
• Not all the characters were likable (really, I don't think most of them were. Sure, most had some endearing feature or another, but not enough to make you really like them).
• Though sometimes not likable, the characters remained interesting and maintained their own presence in the story.
• Interesting relationship between the vampires/humans for survival.
• I thought the Rabids were an interesting species.
• Touched on topics of peer family, morals, and identity.

Faux-Cons:

• There were a few places where a word or phrase felt almost-but-not-quite right. This isn't really a problem, just an observation. I've lost a lot of my grammar-snobbishness over the years in the realization that writing is not one-size-fits-all.

Cons:

• I felt like more about Samurais should have been revealed to Allison, but it's very possible that she learns more in the following books (or maybe it is just for us readers to fully appreciate).

Mindful Monday - My Fantasy Beginnings

This was written (mostly) more than two months ago...

My interest in writing lies mostly in fantasy, and last night as I attempted to drift towards dreamland (it was a very slow journey) I thought about where I got my beginnings with fantasy. 

As a child often left to my own imaginative play, I was always in another world (or another form-think lion or princess), I didn't know I could share my friends :)

Now of course there were the Disney princesses and fairytales that everyone hears, but I mean my own personal interest in fantasy that was chosen by me, not forced by common lore. There are two works that stand out for me as earliest (literary) fantasy choices: Winter of Fire by Sheryl Jordan and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I don't know which one was first, but they are at a similar point in my memory-somewhere around the 4th grade. Somewhere around the 6th grade I sat outside next to the big oak tree out front and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.I only ever made it through 4 of those (oh the shame! I'm an embarrassment to my generation!).  I don't really recall reading anything else that I would qualify as fantasy, but my memory from those years is a bit difficult to access, so there might have been more. 

Throughout high school my literary interests turned towards thrillers, especially those written by Dean Koontz. Interspersed with my required school readings and teenage interests that might not have been quite so literary, I don't recall indulging in fantasy then, either.

At some point in time, I believe it was just after I graduated, I was finally able to get my hands on and finish the two books that followed The Golden Compass. 

My real, lasting interest became formed most fully when I read A Game of Thrones. I was already living my adult life, away from home and the small-town-mindedness that had previously surrounded me my entire life. I have, since then, been an avid consumer and lover of fantasy. That is also when characters began slipping through hallways in my mind and I began to put them onto paper (or screen).

I still enjoy general fiction, but there is something so exciting about exploring other worlds!

I ought to add that my husband had a great influence on this interest as well, although this post is more about the literary influences. He read these fantasy works alongside me (in fact I think he is the one that brought them home), as well as several series that I have not yet begun. He's also always been a gamer, and there is a ton of fantasy knowledge and lore that comes along with that. He has always encouraged my interest and supported the ideas I throw his way. My interest in fantasy owes him as much credit as it does to the works which influence me. 

So what have I read recently that I consider fantasy?
The Madness Project by J. Leigh Bralick (also check out The Lost Road Chronicles)
Dragonhold by Brian Rathbone (also check out the rest of the Godsland series, here is the first)
Double LIfe by S. Usher Evans--Sci-fi/Fantasy (Book two, Alliances, out in 8 days!)

And what's next on the TBR list that's fantasy?
Crown of Stones: Magic Price  by C. L. Schneider


Of course there are loads more on the lists, but this is a good place to start :)

Julia