Showing posts with label Neal Shusterman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neal Shusterman. Show all posts

Friday, September 11, 2015

Autumn is Just Aroung the Corner

Fast Five Friday is a weekly blog hop created by, us, Cover Girls. Its purpose is to connect with writers, readers, viewers, and bloggers. With that aim in mind, we would love for you to join us! 
We're suckers for lists, so we thought it'd be cool to do a weekly blog hop where we list things. We've provided the topics for each week below, with five being the focus . 
You're not required to post every week. You can pick and choose which topics you'd like to participate in. 
Whatever topics you decide to do, please include the link to your Fast Five Friday post in the comments section of our FFF post each week, so we can stop by and show our FFF love to you!
 
Sept 4th: Five books that had you bawling or near tears
The Road   by Cormac McCarthy
Everfound   by Neal Shusterman
HP and the Deathly Hallows   by J.K.Rowlings
Sever   by Lauren DeStefano
The Raft   by S.A. Bodeen
Sept 11th: Five things you're looking forward to this fall
 
Hoodies
Leaves changing
Spooktoberfest (4th Annual)
Cooler, fresh air to open windows
Halloween
 
 
Any books brought you close to tears or even had you bawling?
What are some things you're anticipating this Autumn?

Monday, September 23, 2013

Express Yourself - Author Luncheon

Express Yourself is a weekly Meme hosted by my friend Jackie and myself. We do this every week to learn more about our fellow bloggers and so far we have met some very talented and wonderful people!

This week Jackie and I are asking: What author(s) would you love to have lunch with?

I would LOVE to have a sit-down luncheon with Neal Shusterman. By the time I was done with him, he would hate any line ending with a question (?) mark and the sound of my voice. I find that man uber interesting.

Non-Fiction Series

Dark Fusion, Darkness Creeping, Skinjackers Trilogy, Star Shards, The X-Files Universe, Unwind Series

Novels


[The Shadow Club] (1988), Dissidents (1989), Speeding Bullet (1991), What Daddy Did (1991), The Eyes of Kid Midas (1992), The Aliens Approach (1996) [Easton Royce], Mutiny (1996) [Easton Royce], The Dark Side of Nowhere (1997), Downsiders (1999), The Shadow Club Rising (2003), Full Tilt (2003), The Schwa Was Here (2004), Antsy Does Time (2008), Bruiser (2010), Ship Out of Luck (2013), Tesla's Attic (with Eric Elfman) (2014)

Picture Books


Piggyback Ninja (1994)

Collections

Mindquakes: Stories to Shatter Your Brain (1996), Mindstorms: Stories to Blow Your Mind (1996), Windtwisters: Stories To Shred Your Head (1997), Mindbenders: Stories to Warp Your Brain (2000)

Games

How To Host A Murder, The Grapes of Frath (1997), Roman Ruins (1997), The Good, the Bad, and the Guilty (1998), Tragical Mystery Tour (1999), Saturday Night Cleaver (2000), Maiming of the Shrew (2001), An Affair to Dismember (2003), How to Host a Teen Mystery, Hot Times at Hollywood High (1997), Barbecue with the Vampire (1999), Roswell That Ends Well (2002)

Nonfiction

Guy Talk (1987), It's Ok to Say No to Cigarettes and Alcohol (1988), Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story (1989) with Cherie Currie, Kid Heroes: True Stories of Rescuers, Survivors, and Achievers (1991)

Poems

Shadows of Doubt (1993)

Essays

Afterword: Where They Came From (Mindquakes: Stories to Shatter Your Brain) (1996), Where They Came From (2000), Foreword (Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales) (2007)


Another man I who would tickle my fancy to eat brunch with, Cormac McCarthy. He has some of the best novels and most of them have been turned into some of the best films.

Novels
The Passenger (forthcoming)
Short fictio
Wake for Susan (1959)
A Drowning Incident (1960)
Screenplays
Plays

Monday, April 16, 2012

A to Z - Niles of Nøkken

I updated my M post that was mysteriously deleted on Saturday. Please go check out what was missed! Thanks


Now on to the letter N!




Steve Niles


An American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line.


He’s my zombie piece for the letter N due to his Comic series Remains (along with other undead issues) which was turned into a television film that aired on Chiller TV on Dec. 16, 2011.


Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Night of the Living Dead: London, King of the Dead, Spawn: The Dark Ages, 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Dark Days, Hellspawn, Remains, Freaks of the Heartland, Wake the Dead, Aleister Arcane, Bigfoot, Giant Monster, Bad Planet, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, Simon Dark, Cthulhu Tales, Dead She Said, The Lost Ones, Epilogue, City of Dust, Mystery Society, X-Files/30 Days of Night, Doc Macabre




The Neverending Story


A German fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in 1979. The novel was later adapted into several films.


The majority of the story takes place in the parallel world of Fantastica, a world being destroyed by the Nothing, which represents and constitutes people's lack of imagination in the real world. The book begins in Fantastica, when a will-o'-the-wisp (this should sound familiar if you’ve read all of my Norse Mythology posts) goes to ask the Childlike Empress for help against the Nothing, which is spreading over the land. The first protagonist is a young warrior, Atreyu, who is asked by the Steward of The Empress of Fantastica, to set off and find a way to stop The Nothing. The other protagonist is a boy, Bastian, from the real world, a reader of the novel with the same title, for whom the story gradually becomes more and more realistic.


Oh man, do I love this story. The book and the movie alike. The first time I watched this, the wolf, G'mork, scary the living daylights out of me. *shudders*
And the sadest part is when Artax dies in the Swamp of Sadness. *blows nose in tissue*




Neal Shusterman
Words cannot describe my love for his work. The Skinjackers Series, the Unwind (Unwholly is the next book in the series which he is currently working on), Full Tilt, Downsiders, Schwa, the Star Shards series, etc.
I love them all but if I HAD to pick a favorite it would most definitely be Skinjackers!
Have you read any of his books and if so, which ones? Did you love them too?






Nagini
Voldemort’s snake is described as a long, green, hooded serpent. Her name is derived from Buddhist legends, it is the female version of the naga (people who worship snakes and can transform into them). As with his diary, Voldemort intended Nagini to be a tool as well as a a safeguard to his immortality. Voldemort is able to communicate with Nagini due to his ability to speak Parseltongue. After Neville Longbottom openly defies Voldemort, Voldemort punishes him by forcing the Sorting Hat on his head and setting it on fire. The Death Eaters are then attacked and a battle ensues, and Neville pulls Godric Gryffindor's sword from the Hat and beheads Nagini.

Nøkken


The Neck/Nixie are shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form. The spirit has appeared in many Scandinavian folklore. Although in recent times such creatures have usually been depicted as human in shape although in many cases shapeshifting. Their sex, bynames, and various animal-like transformations vary geographically. The German Nix and his Scandinavian counterparts are males. The German Nixe or Nixie is a female river mermaid. Male water spirits who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; in fact, many stories exist that indicate at the very least that nøkken were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children, but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the Fossegrim agreed to live with a human who had fallen in love with him, but many of these stories ended with the nøkken returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. Nøkken are said to grow despondent if they do not have free, regular contact with a water source.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind – A society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion, he’s a tithe, but he soon finds his place amongst the rogues. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, each other’s selfishness, and Roland, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, except for those that fight against the system, eighteen seems far, far away.
In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.
2008 ALA Top Ten Picks for Reluctant Readers
2008 ALA Best Young Adult Book list
2010 Japanese Sakura Medal
2008 Bank Street Best Books of the Year
Nevada Young Reader Award WINNER
2010 Washington Evergreen YA Book award List WINNER
WINNER OF 2010 Oklahoma Intermediate Sequoyah Award List
 Nominee for 2010 Oklahoma High School Sequoyah Award List
2009/2010 Texas Lonestar Award List
2009 Texas Tayshas Award List
2009/2010 Virginia Readers Choice Award WINNER2009/2010 Indiana Rosewater High School Book Award WINNER2010 Utah Beehive Award Nominee
2009/2010 Missouri Gateway Readers Award WINNER
2010 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award List
2009/2010 Vermont Green Mountain Book Award
2010 Rhode Island Teen Book Award List
2010 Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award List
2009/2010 Georgia Peach Award List
2009/2010 Florida Teens Read Award List
2009/2010 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award List WINNER
2010-2011 One Book for Nebraska Teens WINNER
2010-2011 California Young Reader Medal Nomination
The United Kingdom Coventry Inspiration "Simply the Book" Award WINNER
2009/2010 Kentucky Bluegrass Award List
2010 South Dakota YARP Award List
2011 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award WINNER2010-2011 New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Reads Award List
NY Public Library “Books for the Teen Age”
2010 New Jersey Garden State Children's Book Award Nominee
2010 Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award List
2011 Nutmeg Book Award Nominee WINNER
Vermont’s Green Mountain Book Award

This book is unique in its own right and makes your wonder about the possibilities if this was to ever to happen. What would the world really be like if being Unwound was the “normal” thing to do when you’ve had enough of your children? What if you were Storked; would you keep the baby? Could you fight against society and keep them safe or would you follow suit? It would be an easy choice for me, what about you?