10 Winter Reads Recommendations

Here are ten books I think you guys should check out this winter! Sorry about the lighting in this video, I filmed it too late in the day and it was kind of overcast.

All I Want For Christmas Book Tag

I decided I needed to do a little holiday fun on my blog, and I've seen this "All I Want For Christmas" tag going around blogs and Booktube and it sounded fun to do, so I did it, even though, as usual, I cheated on some questions because I do that :P If you want to do it too, let me know!

1) What fictional character do you want Santa to leave under your Christmas tree?

I’ve always wanted a Wesley Ayers from The Archived by Victoria Schwab J

2) What character do you want to kiss under the mistletoe?

Hmm, kinda weird because most of the books I read the characters are younger than me...o_O I guess I’m gonna go with Noah from The Raven Boys though because he’s just such an adorable ghost!

3) You write your Christmas list for Santa, what are the top 5 books on it?

Hmm, okay, I have so many books on my to buy list, I’m going to change this to books I need that are coming out in 2017

1. A Conjuring of Light (Darker Shades of Magic #3) by V E Schwab

2. Our Dark Duet (This Savage Song #2) (also Victoria Schwab)

3. Heart of the Storm (Undertow #3)  by Michael Buckley

4. Wrath of the Storm (Mark of the Thief #3) by Jennifer A. Neilsen

5. The Empty Grave (Lockwood & Co. #5) by Jonathan Stroud

4) It’s secret santa at Hogwarts, what do you most want to receive?

Um, one of those invisibility cloaks, please. (#notreallyaharrypotterfan)

5) You get to the spend the day with the characters and movie adaptation actors from one fandom, what do you pick?

So both the actual characters and the actors who play them?

Umm…so this isn’t a book adaption, nor is it a movie, but can I just pick Supernatural? Because not only would having Sam, Dean, Cas (and possibly even Crowley) around be incredibly awesome, but Jensen, Jared and the other fellas are really the only actors I care to meet and spend a significant amount of time with because they’re super awesome J And because Jared vs. Dean pie eating contest! :P And also Baby, because classic cars = yes.

6) What fictional animal would you like to replace Rudolph and be able to meet on your roof?

Ooh, this is a hard one. For some reason, the first thing that came to my mind was Harry Dresden’s dog Mouse (who is huge and fluffy and adorable in case you don’t know) pulling the Blue Beatle around as an improvised sleigh. Jim Butcher needs to write a Christmas story!

7) You invite 10 fictional characters to your new years eve party, who do you pick?

Oh boy, this will be entertaining:

1. Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files)

2. Carswell Thorne (The Lunar Chronicles)

3 & 4. Jackaby and Abigail (The Jackaby Series)

5, 6& 7. Lockwood, Lucy and George (Lockwood and Co.)

8. Richard Gansey III (The Raven Boys)

9. Howell (Howell’s Moving Castle)

10. Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, duh)

8) What character would make a good santa (Doesn’t have to be appearance, personality counts too)?

Okay so the first idea that popped into my head for this was either Crowley or Gilan from the Rangers Apprentice series. I don’t know why, but either of them I could totally see :P

Interview with Author Daniel Ottalini

I once again welcome Daniel Ottalini back to my blog with the release of the newest book in his Steam Empire Chronicles!

Emperor Hadrian Appius is dead, and the man responsible is his own brother. Unable to prevent the assassination in IRON TRIBUNE, Senatora Octavia and her allies flee Rome, leaving the smoldering capital behind them, determined to fight on against their rebellious countrymen. In the east, rightful heir-to-the-throne Constantine Appius faces disaster at every turn, his forces stretched thin against invading Mongols and rebel Romans alike. With the help of new friends and old, a desperate plan is formed. But will it be enough to save the Empire and the throne in STEEL PRAETORIAN?

Interview

Steel Praetorian is the fourth book in the Steam Empire Chronicles a Roman Steampunk adventure series. Tell us a little about the series and the world for new readers.

In short, The Steam Empire Chronicles is a series all about the ‘what if’ factor of the Roman Empire - What if it had survived? What would it be like? Imagine the world without the Dark Ages? Without the Crusades? I explore this possibility in the series, starting with Brass Legionnaire. The series starts small, but quickly branches out with new characters, new plot lines, and new locales in subsequent novels!

What is the best part about writing an alternate historical story and what are some challenges?

Oh wow. I love reading about Alternate History, and writing about it is nearly as much fun. It’s fun because you can take so many real elements and tweak them just so, creating something entirely new.

Biggest challenge? Making that something new also something believable. The best alternate history writers are perfect at doing this. Your tweaks don’t need to be massive to have massive changes to history.

Who is your favorite character to write, and who is one that gives you problems?

Hmmm. My favorite character to write is actually Corbus, because his motives start very basic and pure (if not good intentioned) but get complicated very quickly. His progression from basic villain to arch villain to someone inhabiting a very dark grey zone between the other characters has been incredibly interesting to watch!

Right now, the hardest character to write is actually Julius, because while I have a great track of where he’s going/planning, it’s hard to make it fit into the flow of the story. Julius was, and still is, the main ‘introducer’ to the world. He’s the one who explains crazy things to us. In some way, I feel guilty that he’s gotten so complex it’s hard to write from his point of view!

What are you working on next?

Right now, I’m working on Laurel Emperor, the final novel in the Steam Empire Chronicles. I’m roughly 35 thousand words into the novel, so I’m a little over a third of the way through the book. I’ve been brainstorming some ideas to fill in some voids in the series using novellas. Eventually I’d love to create an anthology and get it into print!

What was your favorite book that you read this year?

Hmmm too many! If required to narrow it down, I’d say that I really enjoyed a book called the Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan of Percy Jackson fame. Riordan writes great books, perfect for a lazy afternoon.

What book or movie release are you most looking forward to next year?

Was looking forward to Star Wars (which is this December, not next year) but I’m actually really looking forward to seeing the movie Dunkirk. Not only for it’s alternate history opportunities (imagine how the war would have gone if the Germans hadn’t stopped their tanks!) but also because all those scenes provide such great inspiration for writing.

What would you say to people who haven’t yet started the Steam Empire Chronicles to get them to try it out?

I mean, Romans with Airships, what more could you want?

But seriously, the novels grow in complexity, excitement, and intensity as we hurtle towards the last novel. My latest book, Steel Praetorian, was just released. You can grab Brass Legionnaire for only $1.99 in ebook form, so why not give it a try!

Check out more info on the Steam Empire books from Daniel’s Blog danielottalini.com and follow him on his facebook/twitter accounts

Links for Steel Praetorian

Amazon,

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

And Here's the links to Brass Legionnaire to start off the series!

Amazon

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

November Wrap Up and Book Haul 2016

NaNoWriMo is Over. Now What?

So, NaNoWriMo 2016 is over! This is the part where many emotions are rampant. Relief, excitement, and possibly even sadness over the fact that you no longer have an excuse to stay up all night writing, and pass on all social events. 

But now you also have some choices-- and some recovery on the way.

First off, deal with your Caffeine Abuse

If you're like me and can't write without the muse a cup of java provides, you may need to ween yourself off of the coffee. Of course, then, you may as well just waiting until the editing process is complete.

Week One: ALL THE CAFFIENE

Final Week: All the caffeine 

Jump Right into the Editing Process:

While you're still caffeinated and have your gumption, maybe it's best just to jump into the editing process. Reading over your novel, especially when you haven't read any of it during the entirety of NaNo can be exciting. But it can also be nerve wracking.

But no matter. If it's bad, you still have that first draft and that is something you can work with! Here are some tips for editing:

(1) Read through for content first. Make sure the story flows, and that your characters's actions and reasons for doing them make sense. Don't worry about editing too much this time around, just see how your story sounds.

(2) This time read through your story slower and do the page edit. This is where you fix all the typos and stuff like that. This is more tedious, so you'll want to not have sworn off coffee quite yet.

(3) Take a rest, put your book aside for a while so that you can some back to it later with a clear head. Maybe now is the time to get a trusted friend or family member to read it for you and give you their opinion. Sometimes other people can give you ideas and pointers that you never even thought of.

(4) Read through it again after waiting a few weeks. See if it's still good, and do the second page edit. No one is a superhero about editing, even grammar Nazis (though they want you to believe the Grammar Reich is infallible)

But I'm exhausted! I just Want to sleep again!

If you really don't want to edit your story, don't fret. No one says you have to go right into editing! Maybe you haven't even finished your story yet. This is a great time to do NaNo Part Two! If you have finished your story and you still don't want to do anything take a break! Fix your caffeine addiction, and get some sleep. When you come back to your story, it will already be with a clear head. 

Maybe you can even offer your services to be a beta for a friend who just doesn't know when to quit.

It's also perfectly acceptable to just sit back and bingewatch something. Netflix is your friend post NaNo.

So there you have it! How to survive after NaNo is over. I wish everyone who won this year my congratulations, and to those who didn't make the 50,000 keep trying! Not every story wants to be written.

See you guys, next year!

~~~~~

Gif credits:

Sink me I win again: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/96/57/d2/9657d2089306279cdcb91302a3f46686.jpg

Brain dead: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3e/42/41/3e4241b2fa7bfb2c27cf4d8f6be9b681.gif

Caffeine abuse 1: https://66.media.tumblr.com/ff8c97b080a509ff2760805a2a1a2976/tumblr_mnn49bkK4v1qd099xo1_500.gif

This is literature: http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/37/37ed909a1904c3bb27b3ec91a32230c934a6f8080eca977abfba66d3b0e80da8.jpg

Aragorn: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a4/25/67/a42567d258f1d1e7e689951de8aad328.jpg

I can’t: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c1/b4/a7/c1b4a7366ca8dececae0498fcab6fca3.jpg

Reading Loki: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/28/49/3e/28493ef2982a2d5930847b4b76becf1c.jpg

Bingewatching Cas: http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/cc/b5/5b/ccb55b664998d9e955fb8f0b6cce6c7f.gif