Blogger Hiatus

I did have a different post planned for today, but find that I am not in the mood at the moment to blog.

This may make me sound silly, but my cat is sick and it might be his time. He's really old so I suspect he might not make it this time around. I've had him for 16 years, and he's my baby. The experience has made me too depressed to blog.

So I will be gone for a few days, I don't know how long. Tomorrow's my birthday, so I probably won't be around then whatever happens with Greysen.

Back soon, hopefully.

Time to Vote: Hurry!

Entries are closed and it's now time to vote for your favorite recreated cover in Princess Bookie's contest. The top 20 from this round will move on to round 2. If you'd like to vote for my cover (pictured here) head over to the post and vote for number six (that's mine!).

Or you can vote for one you like better too. :) But hurry! Only the first 100 votes will be counted, and as of this post there are 68 votes.

Recreate a Cover Contest

Cindy from Princess Bookie is having a Contest Craze again, which includes once again a Recreate a Cover contest. Now normally I don't do things like this, because I have absolutely no talent. However, while looking at the other entries I got a really good idea for a cover, and so I bit the bullet, opened up Photoshop and started playing around. I have never, ever used Photoshop (or a similar program) before so this was completely new territory for me.

SEVEN HOURS LATER I have a result. Before I show it to you, head over to Princess Bookie if you want to do your own entry. But hurry, since it's filling up fast! Only the first 50 will count, and I managed to squeak in by number 46.

The rules stated that it has to be a redesign of a 2010 release, and I chose the upcoming addition to the Once Upon a Time Series out in June called The World Above by Cameron Dokey. Here's the original cover on the left:

The series got a make over last year with these new photographic covers. They're slowly redoing the old ones, but the four newest books in the series have this new style instead of the beautiful old Kinuko Craft covers each book used to have.

Although I like the new covers, I really miss the Kinuko Craft ones. So I had the brilliant idea to recreate one of the 2010 releases for the series with a Kinuko Craft cover. Here's an example of one of the older covers (on the right) so you get an idea of the model I was attempting to immitate.


S
C
R
O
L
L

D
O
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to see the result...


Ta-Da!

My Redesigned Cover

So obviously it's not as good as the real Kinuko Craft covers. Not even close, actually. But considering this was my very first attempt at doing anything at all in Photoshop, I'm pretty proud of myself. There's a lot more detail for the actual covers, but considering I'm a beginner and I don't have endless hours to waste doing things like this, I really like the result. The hardest part was adding the texture, which took me a #@*%!#$%$*! long time to figure out.

I'm not very happy with the middle either (where the title is) but I kind of ran out of time to play with it and had to use what I could. Oh well.

It took me ages to find the right artwork to use. As far as I can tell, The World Above is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, and I wanted to mimic the peasant-type look of the dress in the actual cover. But most of Kinuko Craft's paintings are about royalty and were wayyyyy too pretty to work for this. But I finally found this painting of Joan of Arc to use and I think it turned out okay.

So what do you think? Did I do okay for a first attempt?

Waiting on Wednesday: 3.10.10

It's been awhile since I've had time to do one of these! But since I have a few extra minutes today, here's what I'm waiting for this week:

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

Book Description (from Amazon.com): "Diribani has come to the village well to get water for her family's scant meal of curry and rice. She never expected to meet a goddess there. Yet she is granted a remarkable gift: Flowers and precious jewels drop from her lips whenever she speaks.

It seems only right to Tana that the goddess judged her kind, lovely stepsister worthy of such riches. And when she encounters the goddess, she is not surprised to find herself speaking snakes and toads as a reward.

Blessings and curses are never so clear as they might seem, however. Diribani’s newfound wealth brings her a prince—and an attempt on her life. Tana is chased out of the village because the province's governor fears snakes, yet thousands are dying of a plague spread by rats. As the sisters' fates hang in the balance, each struggles to understand her gift. Will it bring her wisdom, good fortune, love . . . or death?"

You know me, can't resist a fairy tale book. I'm really intrigued with how this one will be shaped to match the setting in India. I love the cover too! I've enjoyed one of Tomlinson's other books, Aurelie: A Faerie Tale, so I'm hoping this will also turn out to be a good read.

Toads and Diamonds will be released on March 30th, 2009. So I won't have to wait too long to read it! It's also currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com:

Cover Evolution

So one of the things I love about talking about books is also talking about book covers. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but pretty much I always have.

Today will be the first of a few posts I have planned talking about book covers. Specifically about how they change/relate to each other. I know this is almost over-done on a few blogs, but I really enjoy this type of thing, so you'll have to bear with me.

So onto today's discussion

Thanks to The Story Siren's latest release post, I came across the fact that Hyperion is re-releasing the first three Daughters of the Moon by Lynne Ewing books in an omnibus. I really like it when my favorite books get reissued so that new readers can find them. And then I saw the cover of this new edition:

Excuse me? These books are full of action, mythology, magic, and pure evil, but does that cover look like it to you? I think if I saw that on the shelf I would just walk right by.

Now compare that with the original covers for those three books:

I love these covers. Granted, the covers for this series did get a lot better than these starting with Book 7, but I'll still take them over that bland black cover. So why (why!) did they go with that cover? Even what they did for the last book in the series (recycling the last 6 books covers into one giant college) would be better:

I don't know, maybe I'm just a color person. But although some might like the new cover for it's simplicity, I don't think it conveys to urban/fantasy feel that the old covers do. But maybe that's just me.

So, what do you think?

By the way, if you enjoyed this post, let me know. I have a lot of these in my head, but they won't get posted if no one wants to read them. I can just discuss to myself in that case. :)

And now, even though I have tons of other books to read, I think I want to go re-read these. They were some of my all-time favorites in high school, and I could use a comfort read right now...

LOL of the Week: Nature

It's getting to be springtime a little bit around here. Which means it's once again time to get out of the house and commune with nature:

Or something like that anyway. :)

If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

Clear Away the Clutter Challenge

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now, but I've been busy with work. I've also been spending my free time trying to finish a project I'm working on rather than reading/blogging/writing reviews, but there you go. Plus, I've been waiting on new about a job... but more about that at another time.

This post is my sign up for the Clear Away the Clutter Challenge, hosted by Kate from The Neverending Shelf. Which is how my TBR stack feels right now (neverending I mean).

Anyway, you can check out all the details at the sign-up post, but the idea is that from March 1st to May 31st you read a stack of books you've designated to be "cleaned-out".

I am going for the Organizer level, which is to clean out and read at least 15 books. So here's my list for the challenge:

serafina67 *urgently requires life* by Susie Day
Pish Posh by Ellen Potter
They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney
Emily the Strange: The Lost Days
The Great Race by Gary Blackwood
Three Good Deeds by Vivian Vande Velde
Click!: The Girl's Guide to Knowing What You Want and Making It Happen
The Debs by Susan McBride
Love, Lies and Texas Dips by Susan McBride
Dayan's Birthday
Both Side of Time by Caroline B. Cooney
Blackthorn Winter by Kathryn Reiss
The Humming of Numbers by Jodi Sensel
Letters From Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes
Avalon Web of Magic: Cricles in the Stream
The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French

(Eh, too lazy to put up Amazon links right now. Will do it sometime later I think.)

So if you want to join me, head over to the challenge post to sign up. Now, I'm off to get reading!

Books Read in February

Well my experiment in doing retrospect videos for each month seemed to be popular last month, so I decided to try it again. So here's the video for books I read in February.

I did things a little differently this time, so please let me know if you like it. If you don't feel like leaving a comment, you can use the poll I've added after the video to vote instead. Also, there's a spot in the poll to choose if you couldn't get the video to work. I've had the odd comment saying they couldn't get these videos to load so I would like to know how widespread that problem is. I may need to switch from the Blogger video host if that problem continues.

Anyway, here's the video, and don't forget to vote in the poll too. If you are a feed subscriber you will probably need to visit the original post to see both poll and video:






The music I chose for this month is a bit of a tribute to the now closed Olympics. This song was the music chosen by American Ice Dance skaters Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. I fell in love with the music during their program, and so decided to use it to accompany the video this month. In case you missed it (or want to see it again) you can view their free skate here.

And while you're at it, you should watch Davis and White too. Their free skate was also amazing (and it got them a silver medal!).

Contest Roundup: March 1

Hey everyone! It's Monday, and you know what that means *insert trumpet fanfare here* It's time for the weekly Contest Roundup!

First of all, don't forget you have a chance to win 3 copies of Wherever Nina Lies right here at The Shady Glade. Ends on my birthday (Mar 13) so you still have plenty of time to win. Also, I've extended February's comment contest for The Reluctant Heiress to the end of March (since I didn't blog much in Feb). So comment away if you'd still like to win that.

I will make sure I update the sidebar this time around, so make sure you check that out for other contests still going on as well.

And now, moving on to other chances to win:


Velvet from vvb32 Reads has a lot of great contests going on from her recent Mr. Knightley's Picnic event, including this one for Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales. Ends March 27th.


We've got some great books coming up in March, one of which is Hex Hall. The author is celebrating the release of her first book by hosting a contest for the book (and some t-shirts) at her blog. How cool! I'm really, really, really excited for this one, and I can't wait to read it.


Another book I've been eagerly anticipating for release this month is Brightly Woven. And it's almost here! Alexandra Bracken is also having a contest to celebrate her release date, so check this one out as well.


In Which a Girl Reads has reached 400 followers and is celebrating with an international giveaway for a book of your choice. Congrats on the followers! Ends March 6th, so hurry and enter!



There's another great contest going on at Fantastic Book Reivew, this time for an ARC of Forget-Her-Nots. This is another release I'm eagerly anticipating. :) Ends March 11th.


And speaking of followers, Bloody Bookaholic has reached 700 followers and is having a massive contest to celebrate. She's giving away 20 books (maybe more) including Jekyl Loves Hyde, Hearts at Stake, Harry Potter, and more. Don't want to miss this one. Ends April 18th.

Dark Faerie Tales is having another huge contest, this time to celebrate 500 followers. The winner will pick from a long list of books including The Body Finder, The Line, Voices of Dragons and more. Ends March 21st.


Misty from The Book Rat is celebrating her birthday (happy birthday Misty!) with a contest. She's giving away 5 books with a twist. Check out her post for all the details. Ends April 1st.


And last but certainly not least, here is a great giveaway from the Fire and Ice blog (check out the blog too, by the way, they've got some great stuff!). This giveaway is for a postcard and two bookmarks and they are GORGEOUS! On second thought, don't enter this contest, since that way I'll have a greater chance of winning. LOL :) Ends March 14th, which will be easy for me to remember since it's the day after my birthday.

And that's it for me this roundup. Don't forget to check the covers in the right sidebar for the latest!

LOL of the Week: Raised by Penguins

Finally feeling a little better, although I still got a nasty cough. Back tomorrow with the regularly scheduled contest roundup, but for now, here's an LOL to start the week off right:




Enjoy your week!

Update for Giveaway

Thanks to the comments left letting me know that I mislinked the form to enter the Wherever Nina Lies contest. That's what happens when you type up posts while in a cold-induced haze. :P

Anyway, the problem has now been fixed. If you tried to enter previously, you can now go enter. And if you haven't tried to enter yet, now's the perfect time to try.

Onward and upwards...

Win a Copy of Wherever Nina Lies

So you know how I've been hinting at a big giveaway for a few weeks now. Well here it is! I'm giving away three (3) copies of Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten to celebrate it's new paperback release.

BOOK OVERVIEW
Nina was beautiful, wild, and adored by her younger sister, Ellie. But, one day, Nina disappeared. Two years later, everyone has given up home that Nina will return, but Ellie knows her sister is out there. If only Ellie had a clue where to look. Then she gets one, in the form of a mysterious drawing. Determined to find Nina, Ellie takes off on a crazy, sexy, cross-country road trip with the only person who believes she’s got a chance—her hot, adventurous new crush. Along the way, Ellie finds a few things she wasn’t planning on. Like love. Lies. And the most shocking thing of all: the truth.

I'm in the middle of this one now and it's actually pretty good. Review coming soon, I promise! And, you can also read the first chapter of the book here and see for yourself. So are you excited? Want to win? Here's the details:

Open to US residents only (sorry international friends!) unless you have someone in the US who can receive your prize for you.

The contest will end on March 13th (my birthday) at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Winners will be announced the next day and will have three days to send me their address before a new winner will be chosen.

Use this form to enter.

Good luck to everyone!

AUTHOR BIO
Lynn Weingarten spends a lot of time writing in coffee shops while occasionally reading strangers’ laptops over their shoulders. In the past she has been a book editor, a barista, a counter girl at a bakery in Ireland, a waitress at a bar, and a seller of tiny homemade clay animals. She lives in New York City. Wherever Nina Lies was her first novel. Please visit her online at www.lynnweingarten.com.

Bookmark Day is March 15th!

Still sick (although doing better) but I just found something that I have to share.

The Bibliophilic Book Blog is hosting a Bookmark Day on March 15th (two days after my birthday...).

Want the details? Here they are copied from the announcement:

"Bookmark day will be an ode to the bookmark...I will showcase bookmark creators, different kinds of bookmarks and offer sales on bookmarks in addition to an amazing assortment of bookmarks you can win...Oh yes, I know how you love prizes! :) There will also be some book giveaways as well...and maybe a nice signed set of books."

I'm so excited, I can't wait. I love bookmarks, so this is a perfect celebration for me. Make sure you check out all the details here, and check out the blog too.

Oh, and if you're lucky, you might just win a handmade bookmark from me. But you'll have to check out the event on March 15th to find out.

Grab My Button!

Well, there is one good thing about being sick. I've (finally) gotten around to getting my button boxes created. So now you can grab your very own Shady Glade button. You can grab either one below, or by looking in the left sidebar.

Now, I'm off to go get some more rest...

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<center><a href="http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com/"><img style="WIDTH: 188px; HEIGHT: 156px; CURSOR: hand" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRc9VoyuIbW7YBgVF0gkpfD2ed1ge4Up9X_mUV_cphRDicSxLOk1Y5ndUVGx02-RH_So-2fkRstcjvMDdASnviBKUchJ8eI59EtUkGvFy-aM5tEO3KiL8u1008pBAklhsQr_aKZA/s200/shadyglade1.png" /></a></center>

LOL of the Week: Sick

Ugh. I'm sick again. I have another really bad cold. You know the kind of cold where you are majorly tired all day so you can't really do anything, but every time you try to sleep you can't because you're hacking this horrible phlegmy cough the whole time, which makes your head throb like someone's hitting it with a hammer and your ears are so blocked that you haven't been able to hear anything straight for three days, which really doesn't matter since no one's really talking to you anyway because of the copious amounts of green slime you're blowing out of your nose on a regular basis, so really all you can do is lay on the couch like a slug and watch TV programs you'd never in your right mind watch because you don't have the strength to find the remote to change the channel?

Yeah, I have one of those. *sigh*

Anyway, I managed to drag my sorry butt over to my computer to post this LOL. So considering my condition, I thought this was appropriate this week:



Hope you got a laugh out of that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a nasal decongestant and some cough syrup.

Contest Monday Winner: Valentine's Edition

Time to announce the winners of my Valentine's Day edition of Contest Monday as promised. So without any further delay, the two winners are:

Lisa Richards

and

MJ

Congrats you two. Please contact me ASAP with your mailing addresses (within a week) so I can mail out your prizes to you. Also let me know if you want to change you book choice.

The rest of you, make sure you look in the right sidebar for all sort of other contests you can win, and be sure to come back next week for another chance here too.

Contest Roundup: Feb 16th

Time for another fun-filled Contest Roundup! As always, don't forget leaving a comment here during the entire month of February gets you in the running to win a copy of The Reluctant Heiress right here at The Shady Glade. Also, look for a new contest coming up here in the next few days. And now, moving on.


There's another great contest going on a Tales of the Ravenous Reader. This time she's got a February contest going on where you can win six singed books including Beautiful Creatures. Head over the to enter, and ends March 7th.


Next up is a contest over at The Undercover Book Lover (Not Really). This time you can win 12 books, including Brightly Woven. Open internationally and ends March 10th.


Here's one I'm super excited about. Rebecca is giving away a copy of Anastasia's Secret, one of my Waiting on Wednesday picks from way back. Ends Feb 25th.


Kelsy from The Book Scout is giving away a hardcover of Darklight. If you liked Wondrous Strange you won't want to miss this sequel. Ends March 3rd.


And last for today is a new Aussie blog I've come across called Story Wings. She's having a huge followers contest. The more followers she gets, the more prizes she adds, so definitely check this one out. She's got some great books up for grabs including Fallen if you haven't had a chance to get to it yet. Open internationally, ends Mar 19th (Australia time, so really more like the 18th if you're in the US like me).

That's it for me this time. Now, go enter some contests!

A President's Day Diversion

So there won't be a contest roundup today. I'm putting it off tomorrow since today is President's Day (for those of us in the United States) and I expect to be away from my computer a lot today.
So in honor of this holiday, I'm re-posting a video I did back in July about Abraham Lincoln. This went up when I was having major internet problems so I don't think a lot of people got to see it. And since Lincoln's birthday was Friday (Feb 12) I thought it was fitting. Besides, it give you something to do while waiting for that roundup doesn't it?

So come back tomorrow for the contest roundup, the winner of the Valentine's contest, and maybe something else. We'll see what happens. But without further ado, here's the video:

(feed readers will need to visit the actual post to see this).

I'd love to hear what you think. This was my first video attempt, so keep that in mind in your comments. :)

LOL of the Week: Valentine's Day Edition

Don't worry guys. If you really messed up and forgot today was Valentine's Day, here's how you can fix it:


Nothing else says "I'm sorry" enough. :)

If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

I'm On Hold...

*Please note: This is a future-dated post so it will remain at the top of the blog for a few days. Scroll down for new content*

I've tried to keep up with the blog this week, but have failed miserably. Why, you ask? Well, it's the Olympics. I love watching the Olympics and due to the fact that I missed the 2008 games and this is the first chance I've had to watch a lot of the events (thanks to the miracle of DVR), I'm spending a lot of my time catching up on that. Which means I'm not blogging.

So I may be scarce these next few days until the games are done. In the meantime, you should go watch them too!

I'd like to leave you with this quote from the CEO John Furlong’s speech at opening ceremonies:

The Olympic Flame has touched many millions and prompted spontaneous, peaceful celebration. Reminding us all that those values that unite and inspire the best in us we must never abandon. As the Olympic Cauldron is lit, the unique magic of the Olympic Games will be released upon us.

Magic so rare that it cannot be controlled by borders. The kind of magic that invades the human heart touching people of all cultures and beliefs. Magic that calls for the best that human beings have to offer. Magic that causes the athletes of the world to soar and the rest of us to dream. (Emphasis mine)