Yesterday was the official release date of Black Magic Sanction, the eighth book in Kim Harrison’s ongoing Rachel Morgan/The Hollows series.

In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Black Magic Sanction

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she’s never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

If you’re a fellow Hollows addict (as Thea is), you’ll be interested in learning that io9 has the first TWO chapters up for your reading pleasure. You can read the i09 article and excerpt online HERE.

And once you’re good and hungry for more Black Magic Sanction, check out Harper Collins’ awesome Browse Inside feature, where you can read the first SEVEN chapters of the book:

We’ll be having our own review of Black Magic Sanction very, very soon – so make sure to stay tuned.

Howdy folks! We’ve been seeing a number of surveys and questionnaires pop up around the blogosphere – and we want to join in the self-improvement sentiment. We’ve put together a little survey about our site, and we are dying to hear YOUR answers and suggestions. After all, you awesome folks are the reason we do what we do, and we want to keep you happy! The survey is completely anonymous, and will only take a few minutes of your time. You can fill out as few or as many questions as you like – we are thrilled to hear from each and every one of you.

(If you have any problems with the embedded survey below, you can access the form online HERE)

Thanks, and here’s to an awesome 2010!

For the past few months, we have been including an “On our Radar” section in our weekly stash for books that have caught our eye; books we heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. This is how the Smugglers’ Radar was born, and because there are far too many books that we want than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?) we thought we could make it into a weekly feature on its own – this way YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar:

I saw this reviewed at Bookshelves of Doom and I really want it now.

Micheal, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren’t just from the wrong side of the tracks–they’re from the wrong side of everything. Except for Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher, no one at their high school takes them seriously. Haberman calls them “gentlemen,” but everyone else ignores them–or, in Bones’s case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman.

YA – Coming out May 15, 2010: by Jeri-Smith Ready

When her boyfriend dies a most untimely death, Aura–who can see ghosts–is forced to reconsider her relationship with the living and dead in SHADE.

Coming out February 2 2010 – another fairytale retelling which is based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Saw this at Janicu’s and now I want. Want. WANT (our March 2010)

At the edge of the known world, an ancient nomadic tribe faces a new enemy-an Empire fueled by technology and war.

A young spiritwalker of the Aniw and a captain in the Ciracusan army find themselves unexpectedly thrown together. The Aniw girl, taken prisoner from her people, must teach the reluctant soldier a forbidden talent – one that may turn the tide of the war and will surely forever brand him an outcast.

From the rippling curtains of light in an Arctic sky, to the gaslit cobbled streets of the city, war is coming to the frozen north. Two people have a choice that will decide the fates of nations – and may cast them into a darkness that threatens to bring destruction to both their peoples.

On Thea’s Radar:

Ana and I are on this freaky wave where we can read each others’ minds (unlike earlier this week when we were doing the sine/cosine wave thing…

Yes I just used math as a metaphor OH MY GOD WE ARE SUCH DORKS). AHEM. We BOTH want the following books:

In less than a day I had been harassed, enchanted, shouted at, cried on, and clawed. I’d been cold, scared, dirty, exhausted, hungry, and miserable. And up until now, I’d been mildly impressed with my ability to cope.

At her boarding school in New Zealand, Ellie Spencer is like any ordinary teen: she hangs out with her best friend, Kevin; obsesses over her crush on a mysterious boy; and her biggest worry is her paper deadline. Then everything changes: In the foggy woods near the school, something ancient and deadly is waiting.

Debut author Karen Healey introduces a savvy and spirited heroine with a strong, fresh voice. Full of deliciously creepy details, this unique, incredible adventure is a deftly crafted story of Maori mythology, romance, betrayal, and war.

There was a time when Maeve O’Tullagh led a simple life; a time when she and her mother, Nuala, collected kelp on the foreshore near their cottage in Ard Macha; a time when she played among the Celtic ruins with her older brothers and daydreamed about the legendary Holy Isles, an enchanted land ruled in a past age by a beautiful goddess.

But after Maeve’s sister, Ishleen, is born, her mother sinks into a deep, impenetrable trance. For years, Maeve tries to help her mother “awaken,” and then the unthinkable happens: Ishleen succumbs to the same mysterious ailment as Nuala.

Heartbroken to think that her sister and her mother might be lost to her forever, Maeve sets off on an unimaginable quest to a world filled with fantastical creatures, a web of secrets, a handsome, devious villain who will stop at nothing to have her hand in marriage—braving them all to retrieve a powerful glowing stone that will help her recover the souls of her loved ones and bring them home to Ard Macha.

An adventure-filled and spellbinding novel, The Fire Opal will enchant fantasy readers young and old.

This cover is stunning, and the premise sounds fantastic.

When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back — if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie’s own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her — until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

And finally, It Is Time! Elegy Beach, the long awaited sequel to Steven Boyett’s cult classic novel Ariel is almost here! I’ll be reviewing it very, very soon…

Thirty years ago the lights went out, the airplanes fell, the cars went still, the cities all went dark. The laws humanity had always known were replaced by new laws that could only be called magic. The world has changed forever. Or has it?

In a small community on the California coast are Fred Garey and his friend Yan, both born after the Change. Yan dreams of doing something so big his name will live on forever. He thinks he’s found it-a way to reverse the Change. But Fred fears the repercussions of such drastic, irreversible steps.

Also, in an attempt to read more science fiction, I’m looking forward to this book (a full length adaptation of his prior novella):

When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son Shel discovers that he had constructed a time travel device. Fearing his father may be stranded in time-or worse-Shel enlists the aid of Dave MacElroy, a linguist, to accompany him on the rescue mission.

Their journey through history takes them from the enlightenment of Renaissance Italy through the American Wild West to the civil-rights upheavals of the 20th century. Along the way, they encounter a diverse cast of historical greats, sometimes in unexpected situations. Yet the elder Shelborne remains elusive.

And then Shel violates his agreement with Dave not to visit the future. There he makes a devastating discovery that sends him fleeing back through the ages, and changes his life forever.

What about you? Any books you are really looking forward to reading? Do share!

Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its final revised guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials. While this usually would not be of interest or concern us in any way, these revised guidelines have a new stipulation covering bloggers and other word-of-mouth marketers. From the FTC Press Release:

The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

Basically, what this boils down to in our situation is that any bloggers who receive books from publishers/publicists/authors in return for a review or giveaway published on that blogger’s site is now an official, legal endorsement. **Note that “endorsement” in this sense does not necessarily hold a positive valuation as it does in the everyday vernacular – it simply means a promotional statement. For the full-on legalese, the FTC Guidelines currently define an endorsement as “any advertising message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature or likeness or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual or the name or seal of an organization) which message consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser.”**

And since this exchange now qualifies as an endorsement, bloggers need to disclose the specifics of their relationship with whomever provided that book.

Now, the FTC did not specify HOW bloggers should go about disclosing things, so we’re just going to explain our position and how we plan on disclosing this information in the future (in the spirit of full disclosure and all that).

If you read The Book Smugglers, you know that we have a bunch of giveaways. We also receive books from publishers, third party publicists, and of course, from authors themselves. We LOVE receiving review copies, and we encourage publishers et al. to contact us if they have review or giveaway copies they think we’ll be interested in. Review copies are great, because when you read as much as we do, spending on books can really add up. That said, this next point should be painfully obvious and self-explanatory for any reviewer:

We DO NOT promise a positive endorsement for ANY book that we receive.

We pride ourselves on our honesty, even when our opinions might not be popular ones (see our recent review of Gail Carriger’s Soulless). Any blogger worth their salt won’t trade glowing reviews for free books (or, heaven knows, cash) – this is the kind of thing that readers pick up on. We all know there’s a huge difference between the Harriet Klausners of the review world and review sites like Dear Author, for example. In this sense, the revised FTC Guidelines really don’t affect us, because we think we make it pretty clear that we are not some kind of publisher automatons that parrot back positive reviews for every book we read.

That said, we do plan on making a few changes to honor the FTC Guidelines.

In our reviews, we have a section titled “Why did we read this book” in which we informally disclose our motivations for reading a book – and oftentimes we’ll also use this section to say if we received an ARC of the book, a review copy from the publisher/author/publicist, or if we shelled out for the thing ourselves. In light of the new FTC Guidelines, however, we’ll be adding a new section to our reviews, titled “How did we get this book” in which we’ll formally disclose if the book was purchased by us, or solicited/received as an ARC/Review Copy, and if the latter from whom the book originated.

Also, you’ll notice a nifty new disclaimer on the bottom of our sidebar, and on our “About Us” and “Contact Us/Review Policy” pages:

“In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, The Book Smugglers would like everyone to know that while we do purchase our own books for review on occasion, you should assume that every book reviewed here at The Book Smugglers was provided to the reviewers by the publisher or the author for free unless specified otherwise.”

(This template was shamelessly copied from Jane of Dear Author)

Of course, we’ll be breaking down where we procured our books on a by-review basis with the new “How did we get this book” section.

That’s basically our professional, toned-down take on the matter and how we plan to proceed with the new FTC Guidelines in place as reviewers. That is not to say that we reacted in the same way to the news this morning:

Ana’s reaction:

I heard it first on Twitter. My first reaction, as our Twitter readers can attest to, was rather explosive and I managed to work myself up in a matter of seconds. Firstly, I felt completely furious at the idea of some unknown far away entity regulating the blog. Please bear in mind, I live in the UK and the first thing I thought was how exactly do they plan on regulating this? How does that apply to a blog that has one half in the US and one half in the UK? How do they propose to rule this?

Some of the books Thea receives in LA come from me, after I receive them from UK publishers: does that count? What constitutes “free”? We do get free books from publishers but more often that not, I have to pay for shipping. Further to that: how can they know? That is the point that boggles the mind: how would they know when someone is telling the truth whether a blogger bought a book or not? It expands to questioning about what exactly do they have in mind and how that does not infringe our own freedom.

I need to be very clear here though. It is not a matter of disclosing where I got a book (I always do that anyways) it is the thought of HAVING to do that, that does not sit well with me.

I got myself a headache I was so angry. Then Thea woke up and helped me cool down. And then I went and read this article from book review blogger, Edward Champion where he tells about a phone call with a representative of FTC and now I am utterly, completely furious all over again because the FTC rep makes assumptions of something he clearly does not understand! The nerve, the nerve!

Thea’s reaction:

I woke up this morning and logged on to the computer to meet a flurry of emails from Ana. That’s a pretty normal scenario. But, when I delved into the emails, I saw that Ana was totally, royally pissed off. And the culprit was not one of the usual suspects, but the dreaded Federal Trade Commission!

The horror!

After reading through tweets, press releases, and skimming a few super-dense official documents, I wrapped my mind around the FTC Revised Guidelines and was able to start calming Ana down a bit. My initial reaction was slightly indignant and PO’d, like Ana, but I also find the whole thing kind of humorous. This is what you get when an antiquated system attempts to keep up with a rapidly changing society of technology. Reading through the FTC official legalese and red tape, I came to the exact same conclusion as Ana: these old models of laws based on “compensation” and “endorsement” are simply NOT applicable to a lot of online media (such as blogging).

And then, there was the interview. I just finished reading this article from fellow book review blogger, Edward Champion. Edward relates a phone call he had with a representative from the FTC about these new guidelines and how they pertain to book review bloggers, and the huge gaping holes in the FTC’s arguments about the “compensation” angle for book review bloggers are big enough to drive a sixteen-wheel semi through.

For one thing, anyone that blogs knows that the whole blogging and reviewing process is a whole bunch of effort and cost with little tangible reward. Reading books, writing in-depth reviews of books, covering mailing costs for giveaways and promotional materials, not to mention day to day maintenance of a blog (including monetary costs of web hosting and domain purchasing, plus the time and effort cost of keeping things going day after day)…well, receiving “compensation” in the form of review/giveaway copies of books and having that be the constituting factor of payment is laughable. There’s a huge double standard – wherein (PAID!!!) reviewers of Newspapers and Magazines do not retain ownership of books and therefore are not seen as “compensation” by the FTC, versus (UNPAID!!!) bloggers who receive and retain review copies of books as individuals are seen as being “sponsored” by the publisher/author/publicist. The idea proposed by the obtuse fellow interviewed at the FTC to get around this compensation angle, that bloggers should send their review copies BACK after reviewing them, is even more laughable. (And by the way, Mr. FTC Drone, I also review books for a local print periodical, and I can tell you now that the newspaper certainly does not retain ownership of the book. Those books are mine now. And I’m pretty damn sure this is the case with other “professional” reviewers for magazines and periodicals that don’t fall under the “new media” umbrella.)

I’m not even going to expand on the FTC’s asinine view that reviewers who receive review copies of books do so with the understanding and expectation to write positive reviews for those books. (SERIOUSLY? If the world were made solely of happy fluffy reviews, what would be the point of critics? The FTC clearly hasn’t read Smart Bitches, or reviews like these. Our lifeblood, our CREDIBILITY rests on our ability to write honest – at times harsh and negative – reviews. And contrary to the FTC’s view, we don’t receive monetary compensation that would “buy” us off.)

I’ll say it again: the FTC’s approach to blogging is laughably antiquated and not applicable.

The economic model of compensation for advertisements and testimonials makes sense when you’re watching commercials for Tide or HydroxyCut or whatever (FTC DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK SMUGGLERS HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH TIDE OR HYDROXYCUT OR ANY PARENT OR SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES THEREOF – are you happy Mr. FTC Drone? Are you?!), but does not hold water when it comes to bloggers. We are legitimate critics and members of the new media. We have our own code of ethics and online etiquette when it comes to reading and reviewing books, and the blogosphere has an ability to self-regulate that works pretty damn well. If reviewers are perceived of as “bought” by publishers and only publish positive, glowing reviews in return for free books and giveaways, or clog their pages with ads and promotions, they will be pushed out of the market. Their reputations will be marked, and no one in the blogging community will take them seriously – even to the point where readers may stop going to such blogs.

Not to mention as Ana so aptly puts it, HOW does the FTC plan on regulating the enormous (and international) blogosphere? Will The Book Smugglers, with its UK half, be subject to these regulations? I’m assuming that the FTC will deal with only the most egregious offenses (sort of like the Limewire/Napster situation) on a case-by-case basis, but in the age of social media where blogs die and new ones start up every day, Big Brother certainly will have his hands full.

We’ll play by the rules and put up our disclaimers, but it seems like repetitive, bureaucratic bullshit, and shouldn’t apply in the first place. We blog because we WANT to blog, because we LOVE to read and to write, and to share our love with other avid readers and writers. And as Ana says, the fact that we have to do this now is insulting.

We’re not exactly dealing with Bear Stearns or AIG here. Come on, government. Surely there are better places to worry about regulation.

Bloggers and readers alike, please feel free to comment here if you have any questions, concerns, or if you just want a good laugh or rant.

The FTC Revised Guidelines are effective December 1, 2009. For more information, check the official press release HERE, or you can read the Guides in their entirety HERE.

September 26 – October 3 marks Banned Books Week 2009. It’s a week during which we celebrate our rights of intellectual freedom – our freedom to read, express, and explore ideas, even if such ideas are “unorthodox or unpopular.” Every year, the American Library Association takes the last week of September to sponsor BBW, to raise awareness of censorship, and to celebrate the educators, librarians, and readers who have fought against book banning.

We Book Smugglers are taking this week to celebrate our intellectual freedoms, because we believe in the ALA’s message and disagree with censorship and bigotry.

Here’s a list of the Books Banned & Challenged in 2008-2009, which include:

A
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part?Time Indian.
Anaya, Rudolfo A. Bless Me, Ultima.
Anonymous. Go Ask Alice.
Avi. The Fighting Ground.

B
Bailey, Jacqui, and Jan McCafferty. Sex, Puberty, and All That Stuff: A Guide to Growing Up.
Barron, T. A. The Great Tree of Avalon: Child of the Dark Prophecy.
Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story.
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War.
Brannen, Sarah. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding.

C
Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Colfer, Eoin. The Supernaturalist.
Collier, James Lincoln, and Christopher Collier. My Brother Sam Is Dead.
Comfort, Alex. The Joy of Sex.
Cox, Elizabeth. Night Talk.
Crutcher, Chris. Chinese Handcuffs.

D
de Haan, Linda, and Stern Nijland. King & King.
Drill, Esther. Deal With It!: A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL.
Dubberley, Emily. Sex for Busy People: The Art of the Quickie for Lovers on the Go.

F
Follett, Ken. Pillars of the Earth.

G
Gardner, John C. Grendel.
Green, John. Looking for Alaska.
Grove, Vicki. The Starplace.

H
Harding, Kat. The Lesbian Kama Sutra.
Harris, Robie H. It’s Perfectly Normal: A Book about Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health. Hartinger, Brent. The Geography Club.
Heinlein, Robert A. The Day After Tomorrow.
Holmes, Melisa, and Trish Hutchison. Hang?ups, Hook?ups, and Holding Out: Stuff You Need to Know about Your Body, Sex, and Dating.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.

J
Jackson, Jon A. Dead Folks.
Jahn-Clough, Lisa. Me, Penelope.

K
Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted.

L
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.
Lockhart, E. The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them.

M
Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Mason, Bobbie Ann. In Country.
Meyer, Stephenie H. Twilight Series.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye.
Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels.
Myers, Walter Dean. Hoops.
Myracle, Lauren. ttfn.
Myracle, Lauren. ttyl.

N
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Alice on Her Way.
Nixon, Joan Lowery. Whispers from the Dead.

O
Oh, Minya. Bling Bling: Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels.

P
Picoult, Jodi. My Sister’s Keeper.
Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes.
Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass.

R
Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and Full?Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.
Richardson, Justin, and Peter Parnell. And Tango Makes Three.
Riley, Andy. The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don’t Want to Live Anymore.

S
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye.
Schreier, Alta. Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba).
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones.
Seierstad, Åsne. The Bookseller of Kabul.
Silverstein, Charles, and Felice Picano. The Joy of Gay Sex.
Sittenfeld, Curtis. Prep: A Novel.
Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand.
Stroud, Jonathan. The Golem’s Eye.
Stroud, Jonathan. Ptolemy’s Gate.

T
Tarbox, Katherine. A Girl’s Life Online.
Taylor, Mildred D. The Land.
Tucker, Todd. Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan.
Twain, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens]. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

W
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple.

Z
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States.

(Items in RED denote books we have read)

Here’s the list of the top 10 most frequently banned books of 2008.

Other items of note – you might want to check out the opinion piece that was in the Wall Street Journal last Friday, in which Mr. Mitchell Muncy argues that “censorship” is no longer present in the United States, and that Banned Books Week is in itself a form of censorship against concerned parents who seek to protect what their children read. He also argues that in the age of amazon, even if books are “banned” they are easily available with the click of the mouse.

Once you’re good and riled up over that, check out author Ellen Hopkins’s response post at her blog. Ellen Hopkins is the bestselling author of young adult novels Crank and Glass (which are about a young girl’s addiction to crystal meth) and was recently banned from speaking at a middle school in Oklahoma.

And for more information, take a look at the most recent statistics concerning book banning in the United States, by year and by reason (click to enlarge):

Then go forth and check out other bloggers who are celebrating Banned Books Week:
Angie of Angieville
Karen of Karen Mahoney
Katie(babs) of Babbling About Books, And More!

And finally, we leave you with a particularly memorable, and hilarious audio clip from Field of Dreams. You’ll remember the PTA scene? I think Annie Kinsella says it best:

Annie Kinsella: They’re talking about banning books again! Really subversive books, like “The Wizard of Oz”…”the Diary of Anne Frank”…

And of course:

Annie Kinsella: At least he’s not a book burner, you Nazi cow.

The Book Smugglers have been bestowed with not one but TWO (!?!?!?!) awards for Book Blogger Appreciation Week:

When we found out the news, both of us were ecstatic. Rapturous. Freaking delirious! And, at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, we really owe it all to you folks that read our tiny little corner of the vastness that is the internet. We’re thrilled that our Graphic Novel reviews have gone over so well (and we vow to review more of them in the future – just wait, next week we’ll have a review coming your way), and we cannot think of a better award to win than one for Best Collaborative Blog!

So folks, this one is all for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! A million times over, thank you for reading our site, and for motivating us to continue to write reviews, compile lists, run contests, ramble on ponderings, etc. Y’all rock. And a huge thanks once again to Amy and the crew for their tireless work in putting together BBAW. If you haven’t been over to the website, you should hop on over and grab a badge to show your appreciation:

It’s been a great week.

After two weeks of entries, our Catching Fire Giveaway bonanza has come to an official close!

The lucky winners of a copy of the book, a limited edition T-Shirt, and collectible mockingjay pin are:

Congratulations to the winners! Send an email to contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your winnings out to you as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone that participated! We hope you all love Catching Fire as much as we did.

Welcome to the second day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week! Today’s topic is Blogger Interview Swaps! We are extremely happy that were paired up with Sheri from A Novel Menagerie, which was a new-to-us blog and now is a regular in our lineup of must-read sites.

A Novel Menagerie is a blog with not only book and entertainment reviews, but also great features such as the “Monday’s Movie“. And we so love her special banners for each section like this one for the Monday’s Movie feature:

Isn’t it cute? We have banner envy. It’s such a great idea. But we digress. We had a great chat with Sheri and here is what she has to say:

Ana and Thea: Hi Sheri, it is great to have you here!

Sheri: I’m thrilled to be here! Really… I am! I recently discovered your blog through BBAW and I just can’t believe that I’ve been under a rock so long. How could I have not known about your blog? But, now that The Book Smugglers are added to my Google Reader, it’s safe to say that I will be visiting here much more often.

Ana and Thea: Can you please tell us a bit more about you, The Person Behind The Blog?

Sheri: Now, that’s a scary question!

In my “real life,” I am a single mom of twin 12-year old daughters. We have a house filled with way too many animals: 2 dogs (Tori & Claire), 3 cats (Tommy, Oliver & Dante), and 3 fish aquariums… hence, my menagerie! “A nearing-40-year-old soccer mom with an addiction to key lime martinis,” can also adequately describe me. For those who know me, they would agree that I’m a complete nerd, an animal lover, and can most times be found with my nose in a book as I try to escape the unrelenting hormones of my tweenie-daughters.

Ana and Thea: The Origin: How and why did you decide to become a blogger?

Sheri: I’m a fairly new blogger and have been doing it for just a tad over a year now. If you can believe it, I didn’t even know what a blog was in July 2008. How sad is that? I became a blogger after meeting the fabulous Lisa of Books On The Brain/TLC Book Tours. Ever since I started blogging, the person that I am has changed considerably. Instead of being tethered to my computer for work, I’m married to it because of my passion for reading and writing. All of this came out of losing my professional career in 2008. I am currently enrolled in school and working towards my college degree.

Ana and Thea: You review mostly Literary Fiction – Is it safe to say that it is your favourite genre? Do you read other genres as well?

Sheri: You noticed! (“My name is Sheri and I’m addicted to novels.” )

Due to J. Kaye’s 100+ Reading Challenge, I have read soooo much in the past year. I used to mainly read ChickLit & women’s fiction. But, in the past year, I have read everything from historical fiction to mysteries to “How-To’s” to YA. It has changed me as a reader. I found that I really do enjoy all kinds of books. Being a member of a book club has also forced me to read some books that I would have otherwise said “no” to.

All of this reading, I hope, has helped me to become a more well-rounded reader. I’m finding that I have a passion for memoirs in addition to fiction. My readers will get to read about some non-fiction this fall, as well as some cookbooks.

Ana and Thea : How do you approach your reviews? Like for example: how do you pick the books for review? Do you have a reviewing process?

Sheri: When I first started blogging my book reviews, I only reviewed what I purchased. There’s a certain amount of ownership you tend to take when you are picking out books, you know? In my beginning months as a blogger my mentor, Lisa, helped me to discover the world of reviewing for publishers and authors. Over time, I have built my relationships with the publishing community and I do review provided books more than 50% of the time. I still make my monthly purchases from Amazon.com (love love love Amazon.com) and check out books from the local library. Oh, and I do review books for TLC Book Tours and a few select book tour groups.

When the books arrive at the doorstep (*oh, don’t you just love those days?*), I enter them all into a spreadsheet. I enter when they were received, their date of publish, and whether or not they are for a book tour. I keep my spreadsheet updated when I write my Sunday Salon post on Sundays. This color-coded sheet helps to keep me up-to-date on cross posting my reviews on Amazon.com and The Library Thing. It serves as a great database that I can sort by type, author, rating, date, and origin. With the use of this spreadsheet, I try to use it as a tool to force me to read the books in date order (by when it was received or when it is being published). But, every now and again… I cheat. There are just some books that come in that are too hard to resist!

When I review, there are some things that are very important to me:

Reading the entire book… even if I want to put it down. I’ve only “partially read” one book that I’ve reviewed. I feel good about this because I’ve reviewed over 150 books in the past year. I have found that some books get really good after you’re ½ way through with them. Give the book a chance. Give the author a chance.

Find the good in every book… I’m such a “wanna-be” writer. I truly am! I’ve started writing “my great novel,” but who knows if and when it will ever be finished. My hat goes off to anybody who can write and publish a book. That’s such an accomplishment of mind and heart. I want to try to honor authors by always saying something positive about their book. And, my “positives” are always honest!

Write honest reviews… If I was not true to my readers, and myself for that matter, the reviews would not come across as authentic and true. If I didn’t love a book that everybody else did… so be it. That’s okay. And, vice versa! It’s totally okay in my book to love-love-love a light-weight ChickLit escape book.

Ana and Thea: We are very nosy like that so we would like to ask: are you happy with the way things are for your blog? You stats? Your readership? Would you wish to change anything if you could?

Sheri: That’s totally not nosy! Man, your questions are freakin’ awesome… you’re killing me!

Am I happy? Well, I get bored with the look of my blog frequently. I think it’s because I am looking at it too much. I’m considering a re-design… partially in-thanks to you guys! I love your design and artwork!

My stats… yes… and no. I have changed URL’s 3 times over the course of 1 year. Because of this, I’ve lost readers. However, I’m totally set and will never change my URL ever again! I see that my stats are high Sunday-Wednesday. I don’t know what happens to my readers, but they go away Thursday through Saturday. I always wonder why. Of course, we all want higher stats… but, I’m thrilled to have received as many visitors as I have.

My readers… I love my readers! But, you know… you only really get to know your readers through their comments. I can’t thank my readers enough for their comments! I make and effort to spend the time reciprocating on as many blogs as I can.

Ana and Thea: You are quite the prolific blogger: you post book and movie reviews and you take part in several challenges, plus you have children and several assorted pets: how do you keep up with all that? Would you say you are one of us – Obsessive Bloggers Anonymous?

Sheri: The thing is, as a woman, I love to be entertained. I love juicy gossip on movies, tv, and books. When I go to play Bunko with my girlfriends or talk to moms on the soccer team, these are the things that I like to talk about. Why not blog about them? I decided earlier in the year that my goal was to provide my readers with an overall “entertainment review” blog. Therefore, my focus became to provide movie reviews, television reviews, music reviews, and book reviews. I also throw in juicy current headlines when I can. My passion is my series called The Writer’s Block in which I write personal articles about my life. What I hope is that I can appeal to a range of readers…

All of that being said… you want to know how I manage to keep up such an active blog? Well, I’m an insomniac. I also have not been working 80 hours a week, like I used to. When I go through some life changes this fall with full-time work and school, I’m sure that my blogging activity will suffer. I will try to pre-post as much as I can on the weekends or nights when I can’t sleep. Also, my kids are older… they hang in the same room as me and watch tv or play games while I pound away at the keyboard. We’re all in the same room… I’m just not watching tv with them. I do make it a point to take the dogs and girls to the park, beach, and out and about.

But, in all truth, I do belong to your club. I’m a most Obsessive Blogger! Only, now I’m not anonymous.

Ana and Thea: A Novel Menagerie has been around for just about one year – looking back at your first year, did it work well for you? Do you have any regrets?

Sheri: I hope y’all are still reading this. I feel so long-winded… SORRY!

My first year was probably typical to what most bloggers encounter… it was a learning curve year. I mean… I didn’t even know what CSS or HTML were a year ago! (Let alone a RSS feed…). I blew up my blog… I fixed my blog. I messed up my URLs… I fixed my URLs. I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth plenty of times. But, I also made friends. In the past year… I’ve made new friends. That’s amazing to me. No regrets.

Ana and Thea: What do you think is the best thing about blogging?

Sheri: OMG! The best thing? It’s a tie. For me, it’s the creative release that blogging provides and the people. By people, I mean other bloggers in the community and the readers. On the creative release… I should share that my creative side had been stifled and completely hibernating for over a decade. It feels great to play with art, design, and to write! Oh… to write! I love it!

Ana and Thea: If there was a zombie apocalypse and you could only save 5 books and 5 movies – which would they be?

Sheri: If there were a zombie apocalypse, I’d cal l you guys. You’d know exactly what to do!

After that… the books I’d save: Gone With the Wind, Life of Pi, The Holy Bible, The Glass Castle, and Snow Flower & The Secret Fan.
The movies I’d save: Gone With The Wind, The Notebook, Forrest Gump, Always, and Kingpin.

Ana and Thea: And finally A Very Important Question: you know how we are so obsessed with books and keep buying and buying them and then had to resort to have them delivered to our offices so that we could smuggle them home undetected in order to escape admonishment from our Significant Others? Did you ever suffer similar plight? Come on, share with us: Are YOU a book smuggler?

Sheri: I wish I could be a smuggler. I don’t have a S.O. I would like to have a S.O., but just can’t find a silver-haired hottie! Do you guys know anybody 41-48 in Orange County, California? I would dig some romance in my life!

But, the minute that I become a smuggler, I’m totally going to tell you guys. The thing is… once I find romance, will there be time to read?

________

Our reply to Sheri is…hell yes! There is ALWAYS time to read. And thanks Sheri for the great chat!

Now, make sure to stop by her place to see our answers to her fabulous questions!

Also, check on the BBAW website to see more Blog Interview Swaps!

Today is the official start of Book Blogger Appreciation Week…

…in which over 1000 blogs get together to celebrate books and blogging (The Book Smugglers’ most favorite things in the whole wide world). As you probably know by now, there are suggested daily topics that everyone can follow, and today, bearing in mind the Awards, we are encouraged to write about blogs that did not make the final ballot. There are many, MANY blogs that we love (just check out our blogroll *points to the left*) and these are just a few of the many that we think deserve a shout out:

Author blogs:

Some of our favorite authors also have ridiculously awesome blogs:

• Karen Mahoney
• Diana Peterfreund
• Meljean Brook
• Sarah Rees Brennan
• Patrick Rothfuss

Ana: Yes, they sometimes talk about serious, writerly things but mostly they are just great fun to read; these authors are like, our author crushes because they are SO cool in their geekyness and it’s no wonder we love their books. I mean, Sarah Rees Brennan writes GREAT movie parodies, Karen Mahoney is a total geek, Meljean Brook is full-on a Batman/Wonder Woman shipper and Diana Peterfreund went to DragonCon dressed as a clockwork can can dancer and Patrick Rothfuss, well, Patrick Rothfuss is just made of awesome and he loves me.

Thea: What Ana said! On top of writing kickass stories about unicorn slayers and equally venomous ivy league secret societies, Diana Peterfreund also writes an awesome blog in which she divulges the history of the unicorn, the love story Ballad of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, and Zombie Bo Peep/Steampunk CanCan/Zombie Bride chic. I don’t think it gets any better than that! Meljean Brook is my moviegoing soulmate, with her love for horror, for Mulder and Scully, Nazi Zombies, and everything Dark City, not to mention her kickass Wonder Woman love posts.

And Karen Mahoney, ahh dearest Kaz! Book pimp, honorary Smuggler and all around cool lady who loves Neil Gaiman just as much as Ana and I do. She’s so full of awesome that I can almost forgive her for writing about books that I want but cannot afford in her addictive Friday Five posts…

Most chatty:

This is one of our favorite categories – just check out what it is all about:

This blogger has a very “chatty” style. You feel like you could be sitting together, sipping wine, and chatting about life.

We feel that way every time we visit Carolyn Jean’s blog Thrillionth Page, Christine at The Happily Ever After, and Kris from Kris ‘n’ Good Books.

Best Speculative Fiction Review Blog:

Ana: Definitely Fantasy Book Critic, our Go-To site for all things Fantasy. Most of the Spec Fiction books we want to read, we found out via this blog.

Thea: I think this is the category where I’m the most disappointed in the final ballot – probably because my reader is chock-full of SF Review Blogs, and I’m really sad to see some of them didn’t make the shortlist. In addition to the incredible crew at Fantasy Book Critic (seriously, I have MAJOR blog envy for the folks that run that site), I also highly recommend:

• Fantasy Cafe – Kristen writes some of the very best reviews out there, in-depth without spoiling. And her taste is impeccable! I’ve picked up many a book because of her awesome recommendations.
• Fantasy Debut – Tia and Mulluane do a fantastic job of running this smart, savvy niche blog that celebrates debut fantasy/speculative fiction authors. Their debut spotlights are the reason for many of my bookstore picks.
• Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review – I don’t think they make bloggers any cooler than Graeme. He posts reviews and contests nearly every day, and he has a great variety of coverage. One of the few SF bloggers I know that reviews horror, I can always count on great titles and fun, engaging posts from Graeme.

Best Collaborative Blog:

Ana: (And also one of the coolest blogs EVER): Alert Nerd – Matt, Jeff, Chris, and Sarah are 4 supergeeks that talk about all things awesome: comics, TV Shows, Movies, Books, etc. We lurves them.

Thea: What Ana said! Alert Nerd is effing sweet, and I can’t believe we only discovered it this year (after their wonderful “What’s Your Scott and Jean” bonanza). And of course, I gotta add Fantasy Book Critic to this category too.

Best YA Blog:

The shortlisted nominees are all wonderful, but I can’t help but wish that Presenting Lenore made the ballot. She has some awesome coverage of YA titles.

AND two of my new favorite blogs that I think should be included on multiple categories including this one are Angie of the superb Angieville and new to me blogger Rhiannon Hart, who has wicked good taste in dystopian YA lit.

What about you? Which blogs do you think deserved to be shortlisted?

In conjunction with Angry Robot, the new global publishing imprint from HarperCollins,

we are pleased to present five daily excerpts from their upcoming Fantasy novel, Triumff by Dan Abnett (which sounds gloriously good and we will be reviewing in the future):

Sir Rupert Triumff. Adventurer. Fighter. Drinker.

Saviour?

Pratchett goes swashbuckling in the hotly anticipated original fiction debut of the multi-million selling Warhammer star.

Triumff is a ribald historical fantasy set in a warped clockwork-powered version of our present day … a new Elizabethan age, not of Elizabeth II but in the style of the original Virgin Queen. Throughout its rollicking pages, Sir Rupert Triumff drinks, dines and duels his way into a new Brass Age of Exploration and Adventure.

Day Four Excerpt:

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