Time to Regroup

As you may or may not have picked up on by my erratic posting schedule and some of the content I’ve written about, my life has gotten a little crazy the past few months. Back at the very beginning of June I went through a major life change and have been struggling to keep up with everything while also adjusting to this change. I haven’t done as poorly as I might have, but I haven’t exactly been successful with it either.

Why do I bring this up? Well, because I have made a very tough decision. I have decided to take a break from my blog for at least the entire month of September.

The past three months I have had to begin the difficult process of rediscovering and redefining who I am (and I’m not finished). Thankfully, this process has been incredibly freeing and, well, FUN! But it has also sucked up a lot of my *free* time that I normally would use for writing. This week was the first time I even opened my manuscript file since the end of May. That’s not a good thing for one who wants to be a writer.

Since I haven’t been doing all that well with keeping up my blog anyway, I figured that it would be better for me to take the creative energy I was using for it and turn it back towards my fiction. Once I get my feet firmly on the ground once more I will return to blogging. I have grown to love this little blogging community and the interactions it has sparked, so there is no way I could leave it forever.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me over here this past year – you are all amazing. I hope to see all of you again when I come back. In the meantime, I would love to keep in touch with you through Twitter, Facebook, or over at Hypable where I podcast. *HUGS*

Beyond Fantasy

Today I was thinking back on all the different books that I have written about and I realized that they are pretty much all a part of the fantasy genre. While that obviously is a huge percentage of what I read, it is not the only thing I read. So I decided that I needed to write about the other genre that fills my bookshelf: historical fiction.

I love history. I love learning about what life was like at various times in the past in different parts of the world. The only problem is I fall asleep whenever I try to read an actual history book. This is why I enjoy documentaries so much – they teach me about history in a way that holds my attention. But sometimes even those can get a little dry, which is when I turn to historical fiction. Through these books I get a glimpse of what it would have been like to live in different periods of the past and it always inspires me to learn more about the time and place it was set. The only time I can sit and read articles or books on history is when I have just finished an historical fiction novel.

Recently, a certain notorious family from the past has become a topic of main stream interest. With two different television series chronicling the rise, and eventual fall, of the Borgia family, they are beginning to fill the void that was left when people became sick and tired of hearing about the Tudor family. Several years ago I discovered an author who has since become one of my favorite historical fiction authors. Her name is Jeanne Kalogridis and most of her books, while all separate of each other, overlap during the ago of the Borgias and de Medicis.

I, Mona Lisa creates a story for the woman featured in da Vinci’s famous painting. Set in Florence in 1478 the de Medici family features heavily in the story as well as the infamous priest, Savonarola.

The Borgia Bride follows the story of Sancha de Aragon, a dughter of Naples who is wed to Rodrigo Borgia’s youngest son. Through her eyes we are shown the intrigue and depravity that accompanied the reign of the Borgia Pope.

The Scarlet Contessa tells the tale of Caterina Sforza through the eyes of her maid. Caterina Sforza is a fascinating woman from history who was not afraid to stand against the tyranny of the Borgias.

The Devil’s Queen is a novel that takes place after the Borgia reign has come to an end. Instead it follows the de Medici family with the story of Catherine de Medici. Thanks to her friendship with Nostradamus and her role in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, her name is another that has gone done in infamy.

Jeanne Kalogridis has a knack for weaving together gripping stories of real people and events without losing historical integrity. Naturally, there is some license taken, but not much. Her books definitely taught me more accurate history than a certain television show has and learning about history is, after all, why I read historical fiction.

Have you anything by Jeanne Kalogridis? Who are your favorite historical fiction authors? Let me know in the comments.

A Talent Worth Sharing

Going to a school of the arts for both middle and high school I have had a lot of talented friends over the years. The one talent that I’ve always been the most envious of is visual art. I am not an artist. When I was younger I used to try to be one by copying scenes from my favorite Disney books, but that was as far as I ever got and even then I wasn’t exactly awesome at it.

A little over a year ago I was introduced to girl named Jessica Lynn who shared my love for Harry Potter. Jess and I were pretty much destined to become great friends what with our shared interests and names, but I will forever be envious of her. Why? Because she is one incredible artist.

Jess is a self-taught artist who specializes in portraits. She has done a lot of portraits of musicians that she loves, including the members of Son of a Bad Man who I introduced you to earlier this year. She also does portraits of the characters from fandoms that she loves, like Harry Potter. Recently she has even started experimenting with more abstract art and different materials, such as water colors. I am proud to say that I now own several Jessica originals and I plan on collecting even more.

Jess’ drawing of Shawn Fisher from Son of a Bad Man

My birthday present from Jessica this year.

One of her abstract experiments that I loved so much she gave it to me as a gift.

The most recent addition to my collection. I love the combination of pencil and water color.

This is just a small sample of what she has done. If you like her art, you should check out her Facebook page where you can see much more than what I have shown here. I felt compelled to share her talent with you – she is simply too good not to share. I hope that everyone here appreciates her talent as much as I do.

Who are your favorite artists? Do you have any artistic talents yourself? Let me know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

The Greek Gods: Zeus

I kind of just realized that in all the crazy that’s been going on I never wrote up the promised post on Zeus. That would be my bad. But today I am going to rectify the oversight. In case you missed the previous posts (which, considering how sporadic they have been, wouldn’t be that surprising) I have already talked about the Titans, Hades, and Poseidon. Now, without further delay, on to Zeus!

Zeus

After the overthrow of the Titans, Zeus and his brothers drew lots to determine what realms they would each have dominion over and Zeus was given the sky. He ruled with his lightening bolt and came to be the “Father of Gods and man.” Just like his brothers, Zeus was a bit temperamental, so naturally, most of the more fun and interesting stories are not exactly the most flattering.

Zeus was kind of full of himself. He was powerful and he knew it, so anytime someone attempted to defy him he went a little berserk. One of the most famous examples is with Prometheus. Prometheus was a Titan god and was given the task of forming man from clay. As their creator, he wanted to make things better for mankind and this desire often brought him in conflict with Zeus. On one occasion, Prometheus had the audacity to sneak away the best portion of food from a feast the gods were having and give to mankind – gods gotta eat too, you know.

But the act that sent Zeus over the edge occurred when Zeus decided to withhold fire from mankind. Prometheus went and stole that fire and sneaked it down to man within a fennel stalk. Zeus *punished* mankind by creating Pandora, the first woman, who was supposed to bring all kinds of misfortune upon man. He then punished Prometheus by tying him to a stake for an eternity of torture at the beak of an eagle. I don’t know about you, but the idea of eternity with an eagle eating my regenerating organs does not sound like much fun.

Zeus’ behavior did not always go over well, even with the gods. Perhaps the reason he thought Pandora was such a great punishment was because of all the trouble a certain female caused him. I’m talking, of course, about his wife, Hera. She caused no end of trouble for Zeus in her jealous efforts to end his affairs or harm the children they created, and at one point she grew so frustrated with Zeus and his rule that she organized the gods against him. They managed to drug Zeus and tie him up with rope, but while they argued about what to do next Zeus was released by a god still sympathetic to his side. As you can imagine, Zeus was kind of pissed off and ended up hanging Hera up in the sky.

But let’s be honest here, it’s not exactly like Zeus showed an overwhelming respect towards women. Like his brother Poseidon, Zeus had quite the lusty appetite. He coupled with pretty much whomever he wanted to – god and mortal alike – whether or not they consented. In several instances he even changed his form. He took women at various times as a swan, a bull, and a shower of gold (yes, you read that correctly). As would be expected, these many unions of the flesh (or whatever it is you call a shower of gold) produced many, many children. Zeus fathered gods, demi-gods, and mortals. He is the father of the fates, the muses, and the graces. It’s no wonder he is known as the “Father of Gods and man.”

In spite of all his crazy, Zeus was a god that the people worshiped and looked to for guidance. He was the god above all the other gods. There are countless stories that could be told about Zeus and the antics he got up to – it would be impossible to cover them all in this little blog. I hope you enjoyed reading about those stories that I was able to share. I have had a lot of fun writing about these moody and volatile Greek gods, and I am sure that one day I will revisit the topic.

What do you think about Zeus? What are your favorite stories involving him? Let me know in the comments.

What’s on your line up?

With August coming to an end and September right around the corner it’s time to get prepared for start of the new fall season of television. This year there are many new shows that will be debuting and even more old favorites returning. I haven’t yet decided which new shows I plan on checking out, but there are a ton of returning goodies that I can’t wait to tune in to.

Glee premieres on September 13 on Fox and I am ready for this new “revolutionary” season.

Grimm returns to its regular time slot on September 21 on NBC after and early post  Olympic premiere  this past Monday.

New Girl returns to Fox on September 25. “Who’s that girl? It’s Jess!”

Modern Family premieres the next day, September 26, on ABC.

The Big Bang Theory rounds out the week of sitcom returns that I’m looking forward to on September 27 over at CBS.

And finally, Once Upon a Time returns to ABC on September 30. ***Sidenote: I have joined a new podcast called Onceable, which is all about this fantastic show. I will be joining four other wonderful ladies (including fellow blogger Karen Rought) starting with episode 2 of the podcast. You can check it out on Hypable or iTunes.

There are many other shows that I watch – yes, I watch way too much TV – but these are the ones I’m most looking forward to. What about you? Are you excited about any of the shows I have mentioned? Which shows did I leave off that you are excited about? You can check out a premiere date calendar here and then let me know in the comments.

LeakyCon Adventures

Selina Wilken, Me, Zack Luye, Blaire Riley

As you may or may not know, this past weekend I packed my bags (complete with 8 pairs of shoes) and flew out to Chicago for LeakyCon 2012. No, LeakyCon is not a convention for plumbers, it is a Harry Potter convention that is put on by the website TheLeakyCauldron. This was the third year that the convention has been held and there were approximately 4,000 Harry Potter fans in attendance. Needless to say, it was a bit of a madhouse, but in the best way imaginable.

For me, one of the coolest things to see was that, even though the Harry Potter series is technically over, the fandom is still going strong. To see so many people who share a deep love for the amazing series that JK Rowling created congregated together was incredible. The energy it created simply cannot be described and could never be replicated. It was just one more huge reminder of why this fandom is so special and such a privilege to be a part of.

As with any convention there were tons of events available throughout the four days. There was the Opening Ceremony featuring actors from the films (including the much beloved Evanna Lynch), Wizard Rock stars, and even several members of Starkid. It was hours of fun performances that ended with an appearance of the Doctor carrying the Olympic torch. As the days went on there were many different lectures, discussions, meet and greets, even yoga classes – there was quite literally something for everyone. And then, of course, the last evening there was the ball. Thousands of Harry Potter fans living it up, dancing and having fun with one another was quite the sight to behold.

Live recording of the Edition podcast with Dylan Spartz, Zack Luye, and special guest Andrew Sims

Beyond the stars, beyond the events, beyond the incredible costumes, the thing that made this Con such a memorable time were the friendships forged. I got to meet so many of the people that I work with but have only ever communicated with online, as well as see a couple of friends again that I have only ever met in person once. Just getting to hang out with these people was worth all the money and stress of planning this trip.

Got to meet my fabulous Glee Chat co-host, Natalie, who came all the way from Australia

I am so glad that my very last minute trip out to LeakyCon was able to come together. I had so much fun that, in the 72+ hours I was there, I only spent about 6 of them asleep and I kept forgetting to take pictures. I think that both of those are pretty darn good indicators of a good time and they are certainly enough to make me put next year’s LeakyCon in Portland on my calendar.

Have you ever been to a Con? What about LeakyCon? What are your favorite parts of a Con? Let me know in the comments.

If you want to check out another first timer’s take on LeakyCon, you can go read my new friend Selina’s write up over at Hypable.

Chicago Bound

This week a very exciting thing is happening for me – I get to go to Chicago for the first time and attend the Harry Potter convention, Leaky Con! I am beyond excited about this. I’ve also got a ton of stuff I need to do to get ready to leave bright and early Thursday morning. For some reason I thought I could work three days this week, get everything ready and packed, and still write 2-3 fabulous blogs posts, and then I remembered that I’m not Hermione. So, I am going to take this week off from blogging. But I will be back next week and I am sure I will have many fun stories and pictures to share from my Chicago adventures. See ya then!

One Book, Three Movies

I don’t know about you, but ever since I heard that Peter Jackson would be visiting Middle Earth again in order to create a film adaptation of The Hobbit I have been absolutely giddy. Then I heard that he was going to split it up into two films. The news surprised me since it is a smaller book than any of the three volumes that make up The Lord of the Rings, but I shrugged and was glad that I would be able to spend even more time in this incredible world.

Several days ago a new announcement was made. After looking at all the footage, Jackson decided that there was more of the tale he wanted to tell, so he decided to turn The Hobbit into a three part film series instead of two. I must admit, when I first heard this news I thought it was a bit ridiculous. Jackson was able to take three much longer books and turn them each into one film for The Lord of the Rings, so why does he need three films for The Hobbit?

There has been much debate amongst the fans on whether or not this was a good decision and both sides have valid points. Jackson does seem to genuinely care for this story and he will be using material from some of Tolkein’s work outside of The Hobbit (similar to how Jackson pulled the Aragorn/Arwen love story from the appendices) to flesh it out, but will it be enough to make three good films? I don’t know.

The only thing I am certain of is that, no matter how odd I think this decision may be, I will be in line to see all three of these films when they are released in the theaters. I love the world that Tolkein created and Jackson brought to life, so I will take any chance I have to visit and I will do so with a huge smile.

What do you think about the decision for three movies? Do you trust Jackson and his vision? Will you see any or all of these films? Let me know in the comments.

The Olympics have begun!

Before I get into this post I feel I need to apologize for my very inconsistent blogging lately. I’m going to lay the blame on summer and the craziness that always seems to attach itself to the season. I’m trying to get back into a routine, but with several big events still to come for me there is a good probability that I will miss another post here and there. But enough of that, let’s talk about the Olympics!

This past Friday night the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic games aired. Talk about a frustrating night! If you’ve been following my blog, you know how excited I was for this event, and I almost missed it.

We were getting new cable and internet installed and the people who were supposed to install it were running late. Several hours late. Someone else was finally sent in and was able to get everything installed in record time, but we still missed about the first 15 minutes of the opening ceremonies.

I have no idea what kind of set up was given for the scene from Abraham Lincoln: Orc Hunter that we came in on, so I’m not entirely sure what it was supposed to represent. I had accidentally seen a few tweets from people who were watching it live earlier in the day who joked that it looked like Hobbiton, so all I could think of was the Shire and the fires of Mordor (eventually I will go back and watch the beginning). All joking aside, though, the scene was absolutely beautiful and I did really enjoy what I saw of it. And, of course, when I later learned that the grassy knoll they left out the entire time represented Glastonbury my nerd heart did a little jig.

I absolutely loved the section with the children and British literature. I squealed like a crazy person when Jo came out and read from Peter Pan and the gigantic Voldemort may have been the creepiest thing ever. But even aside from the Harry Potter moments, everything about this segment was fun and there were a ton of references that made me smile.

I’m not that big into music, especially music from before my childhood, so the digital journey section with all the music was not as exciting for me as it probably was for other people. I did, however, enjoy the dance numbers and I thought that the engineering of all the different components was quite impressive. The highlight for me, though, was when they slipped in the sound of the TARDIS during Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We may not have gotten the Doctor lighting the torch, but at least we Whovians got some kind of a nod.

Which brings me to the torch lighting – how cool was that?! First of all, that was a really neat gesture to have the younger generation of athletes light it. And second, that was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I can’t even imagine how amazing that looked in person. Well done, London!

And now we are well into the first week of the 2012 Olympic games and there have already been some incredible achievements. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings continue to dominate in beach volleyball as they fight for their third Olympic gold medal, there have been victories (and disappointments) over at the pool, and for the first time since the “Magnificent Seven” did it back in 1996 our female gymnastics team won the gold. Yes, there has been much to cheer over and we haven’t even reached the halfway mark. I can’t wait to see what is yet to come!

Have you been watching the Olympics? What did you think of the opening ceremonies? What have been the most exciting medal wins for you? Let me know in the comments.