Happy Sunday to all and to all a good night!

Wait. I think I’m getting my greetings mixed up. Oops.

Covers, Covers, Covers:

Quite a lot has been going on in the world of speculative fiction-fantasy cover-land. Orbit has another fabulous, insightful, and hilarious survey up (a reprisal of their original census of covers from 2008). Here are the results (click to enlarge):

Also, io9 has an interesting post up about the two rules of awesome sf/fantasy art, worth taking a look at.

On the opposite end of the cover spectrum, however, more of the same ol’ shit strikes again. We’re talking…

Whitewashing: Yeah, It Happened Again

This time, the subject is Catherynne M. Valente’s The Habitation of the Blessed. Here is the proposed cover, from Night Shade Books (whom you may have heard of – publisher of this year’s Nebula award winning novel The Windup Girl):

First, the cover is kind of ridiculously out of proportion and the art frankly bizarre. Comments on Ms. Valente’s site make fun of the Ghost Rider-esque head on fire, the ginormous man hands, the fact that Prester John looks shockingly like China Mieville. As one commenter puts it, “If I had to guess for this? I’d say it’s a book about a European guy who, idk, hangs around Europe summoning pretty “exotic” ladies from books? Or something? Which, yeah, no.” When one takes into account the fact that Cat Valente’s book is about a non-white main character and cast, this all sort of comes to an awkward convergence. Cat has already been fighting her publishers for changes to the characters’ appearance on the covers – apparently, Nightshade Book’s response to her request to nix the whitewashing was to change the girl on the cover from a blonde to a brunette. Umm…great.

Fan Onaleopard, on her The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland LJ has read the book and has a passionate, awesome post about the whole fiasco. She says:

*The action of covering a book full of characters of color with pictures of white people, throwing some mehndi and eyeshadow on one of them, is fully an exercise and manifestation of staggering privilege, not a shrewd decision or anything that “inspires a sense of awe and wonder.”

The mehndi lady keeps making me choke out in impotent rage. I’ve read this book. The one character she could possibly represent is the woman in yellow. The woman in yellow? Has red-brown skin. And wears yellow. And is not running around naked and white covered in mehndi being partially disembodied and in the background behind Prester John like an Exotic Lady Assistant, let me tell you what.

This is infuriating. Everything about this is infuriating – the short shrift given to Cat’s name, the slapdash, garish, busy design, the utter lack of congruity between the book and its cover, the way in which the cover represents every trope the book subverts, the gross departure from the look and feel of a Valente novel, the cheap appearance…the fucking whitewashing…it’s just bad. I saw my friend saying, over and over, that they weren’t listening to her. This is not what I am used to when the newest Valente cover comes out. I expect HOORAY JOY HAPPY from the comments section, not “What is this? What is happening? Why can’t I read the title? Why are Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and some white lady who went a little overboard at the MAC counter and the “henna tattoo” shop at the mall running amok in Prester John’s kingdom?” It’s like a bad dream. It’s like they fed this book to the Opposite Machine and put the results on the cover.

We could not agree more. Hopefully Night Shade Books will get the message and change the cover – and if you post about it or write them a letter, you can help get the ball rolling, too.

Mockingjay 13 District Tour and Tor.com:

Thanks to everyone that entered (and continues to enter) our Mockingjay Giveaway! The tour is still moving along and we still have 25 iSkins up for grabs. If you haven’t entered yet, there’s still time before the contest closes on September 1!

Also, in addition to the giveaway, we have put a post up at Tor.com about what to read after you’re done with Mockingjay – you know, to counter the shaky Katniss withdrawal. Check it out.

An Awesome Trailer:

You might have guessed that we (or at least Thea) are big Walking Dead fans. Well, AMC has finally released the official trailer for the comic book’s television series adaptation (under the guidance of Frank “Shawshank Redemption” Darabont). We cannot freaking wait.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, we have our latest entry in our A Dude Reads Paranormal Romance segment, with Harry’s review of The Bloodgate Guardian by Joely Sue Burkhart.

Tuesday, we have Thea’s review of young adult novel Nevermore by the wonderful Kelly Creagh, with an interview with the author later in the day.

On Wednesday, Thea reviews Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, the final book in her Hunger Games series, at long last. Is it everything she could have hoped for?

Thursday, we have a joint review of zombie novel Dust by Joan Frances Turner – with a giveaway opportunity.

Finally, we close out the week on Friday with Ana’s review of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

As always, we remain…

It is the END, my friends! THE END of YAAM! It was the best of months; we had loads of fun, we nearly collapsed under the stress but we.Did.It. And of course, we loved it! It is with a bit of sadness that we say goodbye to YAAM (until next year) and resume with the usual programme.

But before we move on, a little recap:

Books Reviewed: 32.

Some we loved, some we didn’t. One of them – Sisters Red – became a heated discussion about Rape Culture.

Thea’s Favourite YAAM Book: We by John Dickinson (barely beating out Pod by Stephen Wallenfels)
Ana’s Favourite YAAM Book: The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty

Fabulous Guest Posts:

- Michael Grant on writing the Gone Series
- Zetta Elliott on Diversity in YA
- Sarah Rees Brennan on Why Ya
- Interview with Malinda Lo on LGTB
- Zombies vs Unicorns: Diana Peterfreund and Carrie Ryan fight to the death (ours)
- Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson on Inspirations and Influences
- Karen Healey on awesome female characters

And of course, The Party, an open post where bloggers added their own links to posts about YA.

Thus, we hereby declare YAAM officially over! See you next year.

Giveaway winners

We have quite a few today:

The two winners of the anthology Zombies vs Unicorns are:

MarieC (comment# 27)

Sarah Olson (comment#78 )

The five winners of Dark Life by Kat Falls are:

Darren (comment#4 )

Caroline (comment#37 )

Melanie L (comment#28 )

John J (comment#62 )

Gerd D (comment#47 )

The two winners of The Familiars are:

Heloise (comment#20 )

Marco Miranda (comment#67 )

Congratulations! You know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your winnings out to you as soon as possible.

News:

There is a new website around called The Contemps: A new website created by a group of YA authors with contemporary novels that releasing over the course of a year.

Some of their books are definitely on my radar!

This Week on The Book Smugglers

On Monday, I, Ana, talk about my new-found love for Jaclyn Moriarty and her books:

(You are probably thinking right now: WAIT A MINUTE, isn’t that YA? Didn’t you just say that YAAM was over? Well, I LIED. I can’t go cold turkey like that!! Please, take pity on me!)

On Tuesday, we post an exclusive video with author Brent Weeks, answering 3 interview questions from us. The video is part of Orbit’s awesome promo for the author’s new book, The Black Prism, which we will be reading very soon.

On Wednesday, I review my first Beth Kephart novel, Dangerous Neighbors:

Then, on Thursday we post our joint review of one of our most anticipated reads of 2010, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson…

and finally on Friday, it is our turn to host the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour, as tributes from…

and Thea promised to rock it with her post about Katniss! Plus, we have a super cool giveaway! It is going to be awesome and I don’t even read the books (*ducks*) but I feel the tingly anticipation that reminds me of the good days of Harry Potter books! Good times.

And that’s it from us today! As usual, we remain….

~Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Alas, it is our fifth and final week of Young Adult Appreciation Month! But fret not, because we have some awesomeness planned to send YAAM out with a bang.

Giveaway Winner:

We haz one. The lucky winner of our giveaway of The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice by Stephen Deas is:

Congratulations! You know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your winnings out to you as soon as possible.

YAAM Party!

Join us to celebrate YA by linking to a post of you own on anything YA related – go here to add your link!

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, it’s Bloody Zombie and Unicorn MAYHEM! Thea reviews the highly anticipated anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns, and guest authors Diana Peterfreund (Team Unicorn) and Carrie Ryan (Team Zombie) fight to the death! Arrgh! (Ok, not really. But they DO throwdown in a guest post) We also have TWO copies of the coveted book for giveaway – so stay tuned.

On Tuesday, Thea reviews another highly anticipated novel with Dark Life by Kat Falls (to be adapted for the big screen, and directed by Robert “Back to the Future” Zemeckis).

On Wednesday, Thea reviews scifi novel We by John Dickinson, and Ana reviews John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles.

On Thursday, we entertain with Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson – authors of The Familiars (another book that will be adapted into movie form, and produced by Sam “Spider-man/Evil Dead” Raimi).

On Friday, we have a joint review of BEA buzz book Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

And finally, on Saturday we close out YAAM with a guest post from Karen Healey on awesome female characters!

It’s a crazy week, but we hope you enjoy our bon voyage to YAAM! And since we mentioned Back to the Future (click to enlarge)…

Oh hello there, 4th week of YAAM! You look NICE!

Mockingjay Fever:

It looks like everyone has the Mockingjay fever – the release is so close you can practically taste it! – and a group of intrepid bloggers and authors are putting together QUITE the showdown. Here’s the skinny:

Something is going down. Something big.

How would you like to see Edward duke it out against Hermione? Or Katniss and Katsa? Well, guess what? You can, in the first ever YA Fantasy Showdown. In celebration of Suzanne Collin’s final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, a group of bloggers are pitting some of the best-known characters in YA in the ultimate showdown. And you get to pick the winner.

That’s right. You read the battles, evaluate the characters, and vote for who has the honor of moving on to the next round. It’s a tournament like you’ve never seen before (because there’s more). The authors have been asked to participate and advocate their character in writing their own version of the battle. It’s going to be truly epic. Or at least a good way to pass the time until Mockingjay comes out. It all goes down August 10th.

Exciting, no??? We cannot wait to see the virtual smackdown.

This week on the Book Smugglers

On Monday, Ana reviews the 40th anniversary edition of the first ever LGBT YA novel, I’ll Get There, It Better Be Worth The Trip by John Donovan

On Tuesday, Ana reviews Freak Show by James St. James

On Wednesday, Thea reviews Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder…

On Thursday, we joint review the first YA novel by fantasy writer Stephen Deas, The Thief Taker’s Apprentice…

On Friday, Thea reviews The Agency books by Y.S. Lee as part of a day dedicated to the author’s Notorious Victorians series, in celebration of the release of The Body at the Tower. Lee stops by later during the day with a guest post about the “Edinburgh Seven” – women who, like Florence Nightingale, challenged social expectations to pursue careers in medicine.

Finally, on Saturday, we post an interview with Malinda Lo, author of Ash.

So kids, enjoy your Sunday and we leave you with a message from ALA and Nathan Fillion:

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

It’s sayonara Week 2, and konnichiwa Week 3! The madness continues with another ridiculously full week of reviews, but first, a few announcements:

Giveaway Winners:

First up, we’ve got our winner of For the Win by Cory Doctorow:

And our two lucky winners of Early to Death, Early to Rise:

Bits and bobs

So, our book discussion of Sisters Red on why we did not like the book, seemed to have caused quite an impact.

The author herself came over to comment which basically consisted of telling us in CAPITAL LETTERS, what were her INTENTIONS when writing the book. We, of course, replied to her comment at length trying to explain that once a book has been published, the author’s “intentions” don’t mean a thing: the book is out there in the world to be interpreted by the readers. Although we might as well have simply said: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” because the author probably did not read our reply – since she was very vocal both here and on twitter that “she doesn’t read the comments” and “For the record, I haven’t re-read the review in question since responding, and don’t plan to. I’ve said my piece, no interest in arguing”. Which is totally her prerogative of course, but we wonder: why comment at all if you don’t plan to be a part of a conversation? But we think that the best answer came from this post at Manifesta: The Difference Between Intention and What Actually Happened which is well worth a read.

Join us in celebrating YA!

Don’t Forget: on Sunday 15th of August, as part of our last week of YYAM, we cordially invite you to write a post about anything Young Adult. Anything counts: a review of an old favorite, a review of a new (or new to you) YA novel that you recently discovered, a post examining YA, or even a piece on why you DON’T read YA. Anything at all, as long as it is about YA.

You still have some time to prepare and you can comment on this post and/or email us (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) if you have any questions or need suggestions.

Anyone with a blog can join. On August 15th we will post a Mr Linky post and you can add the link to your blog. Join us!

This Week on the Book Smugglers

On Monday, Thea reviews the first two books in the Salt trilogy by Maurice Gee – Salt and Gool

On Tuesday, Ana reviews her first ever Jaclyn Moriarty book: The Ghosts of Ashbury High

On Wednesday Thea reviews…… while Ana reviews LGBT novel My Most Excellent Year

On Thursday, we post our joint review of award winning How I Live Now by Med Rosoff

On Friday it is a What She Said day! Thea reviews Ana’s favorite book of 2010 so far Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves while Ana take on That Book That Made Thea All Tingly Inside: Hero by Perry Moore.

And finally, on Saturday, author Sarah Rees Brennan is our guest author for the day with an article on Why Read Ya.

aaaaand that’s it from us today!

Gosh, can’t believe the first week of YAAM is already behind us! But the madness is far from over and this week, we get to read and review five books…..each.

This Week on the Book Smugglers

On Monday, Ana reviews Fantasy novel Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda and contemporary novel 8th Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

On Tuesday, Thea reviews Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison and Passing Strange by Dan Waters

On Wednesday, Ana reviews The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie followed by Thea’s review of East by Edith Pattou

On Thursday, we post our joint review of Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce

and on Friday, another joint of A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliot

Finally on Saturday, we invited Zetta Elliott for a guest post on diversity on YA.

So stay tuned ’cause we have a lot going on. AND if you would like to a part of this YA celebration here is your chance:

An Open Invitation

We did it last year and it went down really well so we are doing it again this time! Our YAAM is like a love letter, an ode to Young Adult literature and we would like to invite YOU to join in the fun as well!

On Sunday 15th of August, as part of our last week of YAAM, we cordially invite you to write a post about anything Young Adult. Anything counts: a review of an old favorite, a review of a new (or new to you) YA novel that you recently discovered, a post examining YA, or even a piece on why you DON’T read YA. Anything at all, as long as it is about YA.

You have about one month to prepare and you can comment on this post and/or email us (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) if you have any questions or need suggestions.

Anyone with a blog can join. On August 15th we will post a Mr Linky post and you can add the link to your blog. Go on, you know you want to!

And this is it from us today! I saw this vintage poster over at Bookshelves of Doom and I thought it fit our YAAM so here it is:

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

This week’s Smugglers’ Stash & News is being forgone – because we have Young Adult Appreciation Week to usher in! BUT, we do have some winners to announce.

The six lucky winners of Johannes Cabal The Detective are…

Congratulations to all the lucky winners! You know the drill. Email us (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your books out to you as soon as possible.

Thanks again to all that entered! And that’s it for now. We will be back later today to kick off our second annual Young Adult Appreciation Month…

Howdy!! *breaks out the vuvuzelas* Final day of the World Cup! Are you Team Spain? or Team Netherlands? Before we get into full football mode, a few bits and bobs:

Giveaway Winners:

The two winners of a copy each of Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh are:

Pamk (comment#30)

Stephanie Martiin (comment#43)

Congratulations! Now, you know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your winnings out to you as soon as possible.

To Kill A Mockingbird – 50th Anniversary:

July 11th marks the 50th Anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird, Haper Lee’s classic tale which examins race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. To celebrate the date, many stories around the US are throwing parties for the book. You can find dates and participating stores here.

Plus, to commemorate the Golden Anniversary of the “Best Novel of the 20th Century” (Library Journal poll of American librarians), filmmaker Mary Murphy has interviewed prominent figures—including Oprah, Anna Quindlen, and Tom Brokaw—on how the book has impacted their lives, and compiled the interviews in Scout, Atticus, and Boo: the perfect companion to one of the most important American books of the 20th Century. Additionally, Scout, Atticus, and Boo features a foreword from acclaimed writer Wally Lamb:

TV Shows:

Nominations for the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards were announced last week and we were delighted to see some of our favorites – Lost got a nod for best outstanding drama as well as nominations for some of its awesome actors, Terry O’quinn, Matthew Fox, Michael Emerson and one for Elizabeth Mitchell. Also happy to see Dexter and Mad Men on the run for best Drama. The Comedy categories were the ones that presented the most surprising nods: newcomer Glee got shit loads of nominations. We love Glee, we really do, but the show is too uneven to be “best” at anything. Some of the noms are well deserved (Jane Lynch – who plays Sue Sylvester – for best OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY is one of them) but Matthew Morrison for best actor? Really? Other than that, we are super delighted to see Modern Family getting so much love. I am rooting for Ty Burrell to get an award for best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

And for some good news: The Guild is coming back! Season four starts on July 13th. Watch the trailler:

<br /><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/season-4-trailer/y08waqri?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Season 4 - Trailer">Video: Season 4 &#8211; Trailer</a>

Young Adult Appreciation Month……

IS COMING!

This Week on the Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Ana reviews City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton the second in the Legengs of the Red Sun series….

On Tuesday, Thea reviews Lord of the Changing Winds, the first in the Griffin Mage Trilogy by Rachel Neumeier…

On Wednesday, we post this month’s Guest Dare post, where Janice of Janicu reviews Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier….

Then, on Thursday Ana reviews two Graphic Novels by Mark Waid: Irredeemable, Vol. 3 and Incorruptible Vol. 1

Finally, on Friday, we will have a Johannes Cabal Special: Thea reviews the two books in the series followed by a guest post by Jonathan L. Howard on Inspirations and Influences and a giveaway.

And that is it from us today! Have a great week, folks!

Hogwarts! Burning! Noeeeees!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Happy Sunday, everyone! If you’re in the US, hope you’re enjoying the long weekend (with barbecues and beers and fireworks, etc).

Demon Blood Giveaway Winners:

The two lucky winners of Meljean Brook’s latest are:

Congratulations! Now, you know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your winnings out to you as soon as possible.

Whitewashing: It. Just. Won’t. END.

The blogosphere is abuzz as, once again, publishers are Doing It Wrong. This time, the victim is Cindy Pon’s Silver Phoenix – a YA fantasy novel set in medieval China, featuring Chinese protagonists (I reviewed the book earlier this year, and although I wasn’t enamored with the story or the writing, the treatment of the cover is a whole different can of worms. Here’s the original – beautiful – hardcover:

And here are the new covers:

The Powers That Be have deemed Silver Phoenix’s lack of sales success to its cover, and have refitted those covers to resemble something a little more…homogeneous.

These new, teen paranormal stylized covers (the half face! the dark lighting with a glowy random photoshopped object!) certainly fit the current look for uninspired YA art:

But that’s not really the point either. The thing that really bothers us is the underlying message this cover change represents. The message is that the first cover was too specific (Bullshit Translation: TOO ASIAN), and didn’t appeal to a broad enough audience (Bullshit Translation: White people).* In order to rectify that and to boost sales, The Powers That Be have created new covers with more familiar art, with models whose ethnicity cannot be determined. Because there are no tell-tale slanted eyes, broad noses or high cheekbones, these models could be Chinese. They also could be Caucasian.** And this, in Bullshitese, means that a “mainstream audience” will feel more comfortable buying this book.

This sort of assumption-making really, fucking rankles.

Many other bloggers have written incredibly passionate, eloquent posts about the debacle, and we highly recommend you check them out:

Inkstone’s “I Guess I Still Have A Post In Me – Phoenix Rising: go all out or just don’t go
Ari of Reading In Color, “Guess What This Post Is About?”
Bookshop’s “I don’t want to be this person. Dear Publishing Industry, stop FORCING me to be this person.”
The Rejectionist’s “Insert Animated .gif of The Rejectionist Jumping Up And Down And Screaming” (with quite possibly the best cap to illustrate the complete and utter FRUSTRATION this new cover fiasco causes)
__________
*Never mind the fact that poor sales figures might have something to do with buyers (not readers, mind you!) not stocking Silver Phoenix in Borders or in very few Barnes & Nobles – meaning customers have incredibly limited opportunity to browse and buy this book in stores. Nope. The obvious problem MUST be its alienating (ASIAN!) cover. Maybe this is a case of a publisher trying to get around the idiotic bias of one or two retail buyers. Regardless, there is something clearly very, very wrong with this system, and needs to be addressed.

**I cannot write this post without at least addressing the hideousness of the two covers, aesthetically. On the cover for Phoenix Rising, don’t the arms look like they belong to someone else? And why the hell would Ai Ling be wearing a sparkly halter dress?! Never mind the whole cut and pasted magic knife (snort) or the model’s light brown hair or suspiciously Caucasian features. I’m not even GOING there with the Secret of the Ooze green medallion on the new cover for Silver Phoenix. It looks like a radioactive booger. Or…is that SLIMER? Ectoplasmic residue?

A Teaser…

Guess what?

Young Adult Appreciation Month (part deux). It’s coming.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Ana reviews Bonds of Justice, the newest psy-changeling novel from Nalini Singh – there will also be an opportunity to win two copies of the book.

Tuesday, Thea reviews I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, the first of a planned Dexter-esque series.

Wednesday, Ana reviews classic science fiction novel Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock…

And on Thursday, Thea reviews Kraken by China Mieville (at long last!).

Closing out the week, we give you a joint review of Peter and Max by Bill Willingham – an illustrated standalone novel set in his Fables universe.

That’s it for now. Until tomorrow, we remain…

Hello and a good Sunday to all!!! Getting ready to watch the England x Germany World Cup match? We know we are! But before:

Giveaway Winners

The winner of one signed copy of Shades of Gray by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge is:

Jocelyn Z.(comment# 32)

Congratulations! Please send us an email (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your book out to you as soon as we can.

Meanwhile, on the Internets:

A couple of really good articles:

The first article comes from John, a 15 year old reviewer (who reviews for Dear Author and on his own blog, Dreaming in Books) who wrote about being a guy who reads romance and how there is nothing even remotely wrong about that. It is well worth a read: He’s Reading WHAT?! The In’s and Out’s of a Guy Who Reads Romances.

Second article comes from author Mark Charan Newton, entitled “Sexual Healing”, on the subject of writing sex scenes (both straight and queer) and how people react differently to each but also to the violence in books and how sex scenes seem to warrant more warnings than violent scenes. Two great quotes:

I wrote a few sex scenes in the book, but deliberately made the homosexual scene the mildest – because I was interested in seeing if there were any reader prejudices. I’ve seen on one or two dark corners online where people muttered, “Did we really have to see the gay scene?” To which I would say, if I cared to converse with them, “Yes you did. You didn’t complain about the straight sex, which was far more graphic. Deal with it.”

But it’s the perception that we feel we need to highlight sex and make a point of it, not violence and killing (and the more culturally damaging issues such as gender in Twilight as linked above) that I’m interested in.

And the comments are pretty interesting too. Check it out.

Videos!

1. Zombies coming to AMC

Television chanel AMC is adapting Robert Kirkman comic “The Walking Dead.” This is a series of comics that we both love and we are so excited about this for several reasons:

A) Zombies. ON TV.
B) AMC produces Mad Men which is FREAKING AWESOME.
C) Dudes. The series is going to be written, produced and directed by Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame. Seriously.

Check out this video where Darabont talks about the show:

2. The Green Hornet’s Trailer

Seth Rogen to play The Green Hornet in upcoming 2011 superhero-action-comedy film! But is Seth Rogen Superhero/Vigilante material even if he totally can pull off the comedy part of it? Only time will tell:

3.Super Hilarious Video: Gandalf Goes to the World Cup

No words to describe. Just watch it:

This Week on the Book Smugglers

On Monday, we have our Guest Dare of the month: Kris from Voracious YAppetite reads Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

On Tuesday we post our June edition of Cover Matters:

On Wednesday, it is Harry’s turn to write his A Dude Read PNR column, reviewing Gena Showalter’s story in The Deep Kiss of Winter anthology, followed by Thea’s review of The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan.

Thea comes back again on Thursday to review of one her most anticipated reads of 2010: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, third in the celebrated Chaos Walking trilogy.

Finally, on Friday Ana reviews Demon Blood by Meljean Brook, 7th in the Guardians series – one of her top favorite series.

And that is it from us today! For now, it’s good luck to England and we remain, as usual:

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers