Sep 13 2013
Image

Writing Diaries – A Dragon Gave Me Wings

s 2

As some of you may already know, I’ve been suffering from a crippling wrist injury for the last year. It’s totally debilitating and incredibly painful, limiting my functionality to basic survival. Aside from the obvious tragedy of it all, you can imagine my horror when I realized I’d no longer be able to type. No writing. No blogging. No emails. Heck, even as status update on Facebook knocked me out of commission for an hour. It was miserable because I saw all of my dreams and ambitions fall between my fragile hands like sand pouring out a broken hourglass.

But, as you may have noticed, I’ve written this post.

At one of David Farland’s amazing writing seminars, he clued me in to a program called Dragon Dictate (or Dragon Speak Naturally for all of you Microsoft users). It’s a speech to text program that I’ve been using for the last several months and it has given me back my wings!

Dragon Dictation Thumbnail

Aside from the whole “I’m crippled and couldn’t write without it” thing, there are actually some great advantages to using this program if you’re a writer. For example:

  •  Dialogues Scenes – they flow more naturally and it sort of allows you to act it out as you write it. I can definitely say mine are stronger.
  •  Simplification – because you’re not typing, your mind is even more free to create (provided you learn to ignore punctuation for later edits).
  • Speed – I know some people can type as fast as the spoken word, but not all of us are that proficient. With this program, filling up the page of story is a breeze and the only taxation is mental.

As with any new technology, there are a few drawbacks:

  • Learning Curve – I will admit it’s quite steep for this program; I swear the damn thing has a mind of its own.
  • Patience, Grasshopper – the system is programmed to learn your specific patterns of speech and continually improve its accuracy. Frankly, it’s doing a lot at once and sometimes needs a minute to process all the input. I have had to learn to either do other things when it does this, or sit there and pull my hair out.
  • Enunciation – saying a word incorrectly more than once (or for that matter, screaming it into the headset) will not force the system to recognize it. It can be as bad as an iPhone AutoCorrect.

There are goods and bads with everything. For me, Dragon Dictate has been a life saver and ultimate enabler. If you are able to get past the initial frustrating learning phase, it truly becomes one of the best writing tools out there.

I should have known my saving grace would be a Dragon!

Sep 12 2013
Image

Book Review: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Edelman

September 24, 2013

September 24, 2013

Title: Sky Jumpers

Author: Peggy Eddelman

Series: Sky Jumpers #1

Genre: Young Reader

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most? Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella lives in White Rock, a town of inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of compressed air that covers the crater left by the bombs—than fail at yet another invention. When bandits discover that White Rock has priceless antibiotics, they invade. Hope and her friends—Aaron and Brock—might be the only ones who can escape to make the dangerous trek through the Bomb’s Breath and over the snow-covered mountain. Inventing won’t help her make it through alive, but with Aaron and Brock’s help, the daring and recklessness that usually gets her into trouble might just save them all.

16718344 2

The Review:

Sky Jumpers is the perfect book to get your kids interested in futuristic (and somewhat dystopian) adventure stories – especially if they are a bit too young for Hunger Games and Divergent. Everything was perfectly engaging and exciting – from the great mission to save the valley to the trials of creating a good invention (my favorite part of the story – what fun!) and it was all just tame enough to be a good read for everybody.

As an adult reader (I use the term loosely), I found many things appealing: the overall concept, the atmosphere, and the characters. The only thing I could’ve used more of, at least in the beginning, was quicker pacing. The inciting incident didn’t take place until almost halfway through the book. Usually, that’s a big problem. In this case, it wasn’t totally detrimental to the story, but the book might’ve been stronger if it had more of a direction early on.

Here’s a couple of elements why, even without the inciting incident, I still really enjoyed the first half of the book: it had fun, engaging moments of mischief and great inner conflicts surrounding the main character. I really felt immersed into this girl’s world and her struggles to be a good daughter and a good inventor were more than enough to carry the story. Overall, it was a delightful read and one that I will definitely be suggesting to customers.

Recommended Reading: for anyone wanting to get absorbed in a fun adventure – especially those completely content picking up a middle grade book.

By Niki Hawkes

Other books you might like:

Sep 10 2013
Image

Coming Soon: Hell Bent by Devon Monk

16158553Title: Hell Bent

Author: Devon Monk

Series: Broken Magic #1

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Release Date: November 5, 2013

The Overview: Instead of the deadly force it once was, magic is now a useless novelty. But not for Shame Flynn and Terric Conley, “breakers” who have the gift for reverting magic back to its full-throttle power. In the magic-dense city of Portland, Oregon, keeping a low profile means keeping their gifts quiet. After three years of dealing with disgruntled magic users, Shame and Terric have had enough of politics, petty magic, and, frankly, each other. It’s time to call it quits.

When the government discovers the breakers’ secret—and its potential as a weapon—Shame and Terric suddenly become wanted men, the only ones who can stop the deadly gift from landing in the wrong hands. If only a pair of those wrong hands didn’t belong to a drop-dead-gorgeous assassin Shame is falling for as if it were the end of the world. And if he gets too close to her, it very well could be…

16158553 2

Nik’s Notes:

Hosted by Breaking the Spine, Wednesday is the day to daydream about future releases. Since I’ve already featured all of my top upcoming releases (The Fiery Heart, Champion, Allegiant to name a few) I thought this week I would focus on a book that I am reasonably sure I would be excited for if I were caught up in the series. I love what I’ve read of Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series, and the idea of a spinoff with of male protagonist has me very excited. Because it’s a spinoff, the rules of the world are already established, which means the author can jump right into the action of the story… it bodes well, I’m just saying.

 What book are you waiting on?

Sep 9 2013
Image

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Books I Would Love to See as a Movie (9/8/2013)

hhh 2 Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this is a weekly feature where other book bloggers and I get to geek out about our favorite books. This week’s topic was a lot of fun to compile:

Top Ten Books I Would Love to See as a Movie!

#1 The Name of the Wind: If the Game of Thrones can do it, why not the Kingkiller Chronicles? I know that technically this is a TV series, but I view those as extended movies these days (especially the fantasy ones). Aside from being one of my all-time favorite books, I think this one would transfer really well on screen. I discovered a few weeks ago that Fox picked up the rights to make a series out of this, so I may not have to wait that long to see this one for real! I only hope that Fox won’t turn this into another “Firefly” incident…

#2 The Night Circus: Would this make a cool movie? The visual elements promised to be stunning and I always love watching a good love story. I don’t even like circuses, people, and yet this is one of my favorite books (and would probably be one of my favorite movies).

#3 Warbreaker: Color, color, and more color! This is a visual masterpiece waiting to happen. Combine that with awesome characters who chase their ambitions and take action, and you have one awesome potential film!

#4 The Selection: I love competitions, dystopian’s, and love stories – what a better movie choice than one that has all three!

#5 Survival: Between the neat alien life forms and the gorgeous visuals of the Washington coast landscape, I would love to see this one brought to life. This is my first sci-fi pick for the big screen, even above Enders’s Game!

#6 Last Stormlord: This is one of those epic fantasies that would make a fabulous television series. It has strong visuals, a dune-like setting, and a full cast of relatable characters.

#7 Hex Hall: With all the teen book TV/movie adaptations, I think this one would fit right in. They could really do some cool stuff with this setting and the cast of otherworldly creatures.

#8 Joust: this is one of my favorite Dragon books, and a movie made out of it could be everything Eragon was not. In the same realm as How to Train Your Dragon, I think this one would have high appeal for people of all ages.

#9 Graceling: I have a feeling this is going to make quite a few lists today. It’s just a great story and, unlike most of my other choices, wouldn’t be that expensive to make.

#10 Fablehaven: filled with loads of wonder, humor, and excitement, this could be either the film of the season or a slamming TV series. As my favorite kids series since Harry Potter, I would love to see this one brought to life!

After compiling this list, I discovered that I mostly chose books that would have strong visual elements on the big screen. It’s really not surprising when you consider my favorite movies of all time are The Lord of the Rings and Avatar – both have gorgeous visuals and strong fantasy elements!

What books would you like to see on the big screen?

Sep 9 2013
Image

Your Pick for Nik! – Book Club Selection: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

It’s one week into September, so I thought it would be a great time to remind everybody about this month’s awesome book club selection. I am really looking forward to reading this series, and am tickled that it got enough votes to win. Here’s a quick look at each book in the trilogy:

psBook 1: Poison Study

The Overview: About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

1265703

Book 2: Magic Study

The Overview: With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better….

Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magic training—especially as she’s been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies….

1966969

Book 3: Fire Study

The Overview: When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena’s unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena’s fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before….

Honor sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself—and save the land she holds dear.

Need more convincing? Check out this awesome review by the blogger who convinced me to make this series of priority: Nemo @ The Moonlight Library

Sep 7 2013
Image

Book Review: Wrath of a Mad God by Raymond E. Feist

1196299Title: Wrath of a Mad God

Author: Raymond E. Feist

Series: The Darkwar Saga #3

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Overview: The Darkwar rages upon Midkemia and Kelewan, bringing bleak days of destruction and despair. To save the future of both worlds, the powerful sorcerer Pug and select members of the secretive Conclave of Shadows must journey deep into the dangerous realm of the bloodthirsty Dasati, there to carry out an audacious mission that has little, if any, chance of succeeding. In Midkemia, young warriors Tad and Zane, and their fellow soldiers, protect the Kingdom from raiders. And Pug’s beloved wife, Miranda, finds herself a prisoner of the Dasati and, even more ominously, of Pug’s nemesis, the evil sorcerer Leso Varen. Salvation may come from a friend thought long dead, an unlikely ally whose remarkable powers will be sorely needed in the momentous battle to come . . . a final, fevered onslaught against the most malevolent agents of evil ever known.

1196299 2

The Review:

Feist’s books have a special place in my heart as they were the novels that introduced me to the world of fantasy. I love his plots, his settings, and his characters. They are all memorable and dynamic and the main reason why I pick up each new book. These later works by Feist contain a great balance of new and old, which I love because it keeps the story both fresh and nostalgic at the same time.

As sad as I am to say it, I think Wrath of a Mad God was my least favorite novel so far in the 20+ list of books from him that I’ve read. I loved the premise for this story, but I had a little trouble with the concepts. They seemed a bit self-indulgent, requiring a great deal of explaining. When you need it fifty or more pages to explain to your audience what’s going on (especially so far in a series where the framework of the world and its realities are already pretty well-established) your concepts might be a bit too convoluted.

Another thing I noticed with this book (which I can’t decided if it’s a good or bad thing) is the fact that the series as a whole has slowly transformed from fantasy to science fiction. There is no space travel, but people from different worlds still find ways to interact through magical rifts and wrinkles in dimensions. While this shift in genre is interesting, part of me misses the epic fantasy feel of his earlier works.

Overall, I am slightly dissatisfied, but only when comparing it to the standard of other Feist novels. Nostalgia aside, I should also mention (without spoilers) that the ending of this book blew my mind and I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next!

Recommended Reading: I usually hand the first book (Magician: Apprentice) to anybody wanting to try fantasy. It’s an excellent representation of the genre, and one I think fans of Terry Brooks and David Eddings would enjoy. Also, for any Feist fans who haven’t yet made it this point – keep reading, it’s worth it!

by Niki Hawkes

 Other books you might like: