Hello everybody, hope you are all having a good Sunday!

We start this mini-stash with some news:

Change of Address

Two of our favorite bloggers have moved to new and shinning adobes:

Racy Romance Reviews is no longer. Jessica has not only moved her blog but also renamed and revamped it (or sort of). Read React Review is the new name and she plans on reviewing not only Romance but other genres as well and keep on writing all of those awesome philosophy of fiction posts. Like this one.

Kenda of Lurv A La Mode is the other one and we luuuurves the new design – very cool. Be sure to check it – the content remains the same awesomeness as always: reviews of romance, fantasy and scifi.

Make sure to update your blogrolls and feed readers!

In other news

Meanwhile, the second part of Jackie Kessler’s “Carpe Noctem” – Tales of the Vampire, part of the Buffy Comics is up and you can preview it here.

Also, the *official* countdown timer for the third and final installment in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy has been released! Check it out:

So. Very. Pretty.

Finally, you may or may not have heard the fabulous news that Carrie Ryan’s paperback release of The Forest of Hands and Teeth debuted at #8 on the New York Times Best Seller List!

We are so thrilled for Carrie – and if y’all haven’t read The Forest of Hands and Teeth, NOW is the time to go forth and buy a copy. Speaking of…you may have seen the shiny new countdown widget in our sidebar. We cannot WAIT for the release of The Dead-Tossed Waves next week – and what’s this? Thea just received her ARC in the mail this afternoon!

Giveaway winners

We also have a few giveaway winners to announce.

The winner of one copy of Something About You by Julie James is:

Shel! (comment#42)

The two winners of the Stacia Kane giveaway taking home the complete set of the Megan Chase books are:

Mel Butcherl! (comment#3)

Sharon K (comment#70)

And the 20 winners of the Kresley Cole giveaway are:

brina g (comment#58)

Anna Shah Hoque (comment#1)

elaing8 (comment#64)

chelleyreads (comment#41)

maered (comment#10)

Amanda Isabel (comment#24)

Ava (comment#76)

Maria (comment#22)

Tracey D (comment#52)

iokijo (comment#74)

Dawn (comment#69)

Rebecca (comment#47)

Virginia C (comment#11)

KayAnna Kirby (comment#6)

GSM (comment#34)

Jennifer K (comment#3)

Laura Hadland (comment#15)

Maija A. (comment#59)

Bianca F (comment#14)

Stacy (comment#45)

You all know the drill. Email us (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your winnings out to you as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone that entered, and congratulations to all of the winners!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s it from us today. Well, sort of.

We will be back later with our calendar for the Steampunk Week and launch the event in all its glory! We are excited. Yes, we are!!

Title: Irredeemable vol.#1

Author: Mark Vaid/ Artist: Peter Krause

Genre: Graphic Novels/ Comics

Publisher: Boom! Studios
Publishing Date: October 6, 2009
Paperback: 128 pages

Stand Alone or series: This volumes collects the first fours issues in a brand new and ongoing comic series.

Why did I read the book: Author Kate Noble, in her Smugglivus entry listed this as one of her top reads of 2009. I bought it as soon as I read her post.

How did I get the book: Bought

Summary: IRREDEEMABLE dares to ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain?

Review:

Sometimes I really wish I could create new words, because I don’t think there is a word in the dictionary that can convey the awesomeness that is Irredeemable. And ok, let’s acknowledge the known fact that I have a tendency to exaggerate a little bit but this is really, really damn good.

Irredeemable is about how the world’s greatest, most powerful superhero becomes its greatest villain. This first volume #1 collects the first four issues and it opens with some of the most shocking pages I ever read: with an attack by the aforementioned former superhero, the Plutonian, on the house of another superhero and one-time ally. He proceeds to annihilate the Hornet’s entire family (including children) but for one child whom he ironically asks after murdering her father right in front of her eyes:

Do you know who I am, Sarah?
I am a superhero

After this intense introduction, the story focuses around his former teammates trying to find out what the hell happened to make such a good, heroic person turn into such an evil maniac out to get everybody and how in the world will they stop him. On the other side of the spectrum, the supervillains are also trying to figure out what to do. They don’t know whether Plutonian is now their ally or still their enemy. What everybody, heroes, villains, innocent bystanders agree on is that Plutonian is dangerous, to the entire world.

The first and most important point about Irredeemable is the author’s intense, deep study of what is like to be a hero and the cost of superheroics; about failure and villainy and what the path to both is. What is the emotional aspect and what is the burden of being a superhero? How can a person be prepared for all the adulation, responsibility that comes with their powers? How does one deal with family, close relatives, lovers and friends and foes? Although these four issues have not yet fully explored all of those they do open the possibility for those questions to be asked.

The second is fear. The Plutonian is the most powerful being in the world. It is as though Superman decided that he has had enough and decided to blow the Earth to smithereens. The thing that has always sort of frustrated me is how in the comics no matter how powerful the supervillain they are never as powerful as the superhero. In Irredeemable, the fear is absolute. There is not a question, that the Plutonian is unstoppable. Although, there is a shadow of hope which lies in the hands of a villain called Modeus, his arch-nemesis, still it says a lot , that humanity’s last chance may be in the hands of a supervillain. That’s supernovelty right there. But yes, fear. Irrevocable, irreducible, inescapable fear.

I also quite liked the format, the investigate tone of the story with the other superheroes investigating Plutonian’s past unveiling his journey from heroism to villainy to the reader.

And finally, there is the art, the absolute superb art. Beautiful and clean, it also sets the mood perfectly between past (bright, light colours) and (dark, shadowy colours) present. Consider:

The forth issue ends with a bang that left me with my mouth hanging open. No doubt that the Plutonian is indeed irredeemable regardless of who he used to be or what has led him down this path. All I know is that volume #2 cannot come soon enough. I shall devour it.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: The first 8 pages which you can read here, in the publisher’s website.

Additional Thoughts: Volume #2 collecting Issues 5-8 will be released in March and Volume #3 (issues 9-12) in July (although the individual issues are out and about up to issue 10).

This link will take you to see all the different covers of the different issues, I think this one is my favourite:

Also by the same author out last December following up on Irredeemable:

Super villain Max Damage had an epiphany the day The Plutonian destroyed Sky City. When The Plutonian turned his back on humanity, Max Damage decided to step up. Now Max Damage has changed his name to Max Daring and turned from his formerly selfish ways to become… INCORRUPTIBLE.

Verdict: Incredibly ballsy, interesting and gripping. Irredeemable is a read I highly recommend to those who love to read about a different side to superheroes.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading next: Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Today, we have a very special interview prepared with an awesome guest author. Jackie Kessler, author of dark fantasy and paranormal novels, has just joined one of the most prestigious clubs in all of geekdom: she has officially joined THE BUFFYVERSE. February 3, 2010 officially marks Jackie’s first foray in the comic book medium with the publication of short story “Carpe Noctem” in MySpace Dark Horse Presents #31. Her contribution to Dark Horse Comics’ “Tales of the Vampires” collection of short stories ties into the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comics, which (if you have been living under a rock and don’t know) is the comic book continuation of the iconic television show. Last week, an exclusive 8-page preview of “Carpe Noctem” was released on MTV’s Splash Page, and to get into the spirit of the release, we knew we HAD to have Jackie over for one of our infamous interviews.

Fellow Buffy fans! Comrade geeks! Whedonites! We are proud to give you the talented Jackie Kessler.

The Book Smugglers: First of all, congratulations on being inducted into the Buffyverse! How in the world did you manage to land one of the coolests gigs EVER?

Jackie: Thank you so much! It happened through a combination of chutzpah and serendipity. See, I went to Dragon*Con in 2009, and I was on a couple of panels with Scott Allie, the Dark Horse Comics editor of Buffy Season 8. After our last panel together, I chatted with him and told him that I’d love to send him a book. (This is the chutzpah part — I have to point out that I am horribly nervous at conventions, doing live interviews, speaking on panels…basically, being in public.) Scott asked if I wrote anything dark, and I said yep, so I sent him Hell’s Belles.

A month later, I received a carton of author copies of The Road to Hell in mass market. Now, what am I supposed to do with a carton of books? That’s right: have a Twitter contest! The first 10 people who RT’d my tweet won my spur-of-the-moment contest. Scott was #2. (And there’s the serendipity.) So I emailed him to confirm the address was the same. And that’s when he asked me if I would be interested in doing a project for him.

I was like, Sure!

And that’s when he asked if I would like to write a “Tales of the Vampires” comic book, set in the Buffyverse, for MySpace Dark Horse Presents.

And I was like, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. (But I think I said, “Sure!”)

Scott gave me some terrific pointers on how to switch my mindset from “novel” or “short story” to “comic book script.” And my friend C.E. Murphy (author of the Take a Chance comic book series, as well as author of the Walker Papers, among others) gave me some amazing tips. I sent a synopsis to Scott, and he sent it on to Joss. And then, Scott asked me if I was ready to start writing. And I was!

The Book Smugglers: Were you always a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? How does it feel to be a canonic part of Buffy?

Jackie: [LAUGHS] Canonic? I wouldn’t say that. Because then I would totally panic, because that’s BIG. I wrote a story, set in the Buffyverse. I’m flattered, honored, and just plain giddy to have this opportunity. Even when I realized it was happening, I thought that it couldn’t possibly be happening.

I started watching Buffy in the middle of its third season, and then I had to try to catch the previous seasons. (Thank God for the cable channel that ran the episodes every afternoon!) I fell in love with it — especially with season two. Man, talk about pre-marital sex having consequences…

The Book Smugglers: Your story, “Carpe Noctem” is one of the “Tales of the Vampire” shorts, published by Dark Horse Comics on Myspace. How does your story fit with the Buffy continuity? Can you tell us a bit about it?

Jackie: So here’s the thing, and spoilers abound if you haven’t read Buffy Season 8, so fair warning.

In issue #21, Harmony changed everything. Everything. In one fell swoop, not only are vampires real to everyday people…they’re cool. They’re on television, and they’re the good guys. Harmony killed a Slayer on live television (granted, in self-defense), and the ratings skyrocketed. Now you’ve got Slayers on the run, and Harmony, the star of her own reality show, is a guest on The Colbert Report. Simply put, the world (at least, the world presented to people via television) loves the vampires.

“Carpe Noctem” takes place during the “Harmony Comes to the Nation” short by Jane Espenson and Karl Moline, from MySpace Dark Horse Presents #25. So that would be around the “Retreat” main storyline in Season 8.

Scott, the editor, wanted me to show the world through a vampire’s perspective. So “Carpe Noctem” focuses on two vampires, Cyn and Ash, and shows how they’re dealing in this new reality. Ash is doing great — she’s loving every moment of her unlife. But Cyn can’t stand it. She’s supposed to be a monster, not a celebrity. “Carpe Noctem” follows Cyn as she makes an important decision (in part one), and then the consequences of that decision (in part two).

The Book Smugglers: The first part of “Carpe Noctem” was published last Friday – what was it like to see it published?

Jackie: It feels completely surreal. In a good way, not in an up-my-meds way.

The Book Smugglers: Vampires have a new status quo in the Buffyverse after Harmony outed them on TV, but there is now a huge problem with their own identity. All of a sudden, they are no feared as monsters by the population at large. One of your vamp characters says it all: they have been defanged. What do you think can happen next?

Jackie: That’s the sheer joy of it: anything can happen next. Vampire rights? Civil war? Something completely different? We’ve had the pleasure of seeing how other authors have tackled the “vampires living openly among the humans” route — for example, Charlaine Harris in her Sookie Stackhouse series, or Laurell K. Hamilton in her Anita Blake stories. I can’t wait to see where Joss Whedon & Co. will go with this new world order.

The Book Smugglers: The second (and final) part of “Carpe Noctem” will be published in MySpace Dark Horse Presents #32 – what can we expect next?

Jackie: It’s a vampire tale, so you know there’s gonna be blood. [GRIN]

The Book Smugglers: Your most recently published title, the superhero/villain book Black and White seems to have been influenced by comics (we definitely see a few Watchmen shoutouts in there). Are you a comic book fan? What comics do you read regularly (monthlies and/or trades)?

Jackie: Oh holy cats, yes — I grew up reading comic books with my dad. Every week, we’d go to the comic book store, buy a boatload of titles (er, he would buy them; I’d pick them out), and spend the day swapping comics and talking about them. My bat mitzvah present was Uncanny X-Men #94 – 100 in mint condition. (Best present EVER.) As a kid, DC Comics was my thing. As I got older, I was more into Marvel, with some independents thrown in there. In college, it was all Hello, Vertigo! (The entire Sandman series remains my favorite read ever. Joss Whedon is my master, but Neil Gaiman is my god.)

I haven’t been a regular comic book reader for many years, alas. But I watch Teen Titans reruns with my kids, and they tell me when there’s a good episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold on. Every once in a while, I head down to the local comic book store with my kids, and they pick from Marvel Adventures or Sonic while I get the latest Buffy and stare at ALL the freaking titles out there and wonder how I could ever begin to play catch up. (Spider-Man revealed his identity? Batman is dead? AAAAH!)

The Book Smugglers: What was it like writing a comic versus writing a novel or short story? And how do you feel about the free internet publication of “Carpe Noctem”?

Jackie: Talk about medium shock! Going from prose to script was tough. Figuring out how to break down each page, panel by panel, was eye-opening. And you have to visualize everything — not just the characters, but how the action looks on the panel, descriptions of everything in the panel, facial expressions. You have to give the artist enough information to bring the story to life. And the artist lets the characters act. It’s so freaking COOL.

The biggest change I had to make was cutting things down. When you write a novel, you have 300+ pages to get into backstory to explain motivation and whatnot. But you don’t have that option in a 16-page comic book.

I’m very glad that people can read “Carpe Noctem” online. It’s short, it’s free, it’s in the Buffyverse. Hurrah all around!

The Book Smugglers: Were you given pointers or guidelines that you had to follow for your contribution to “Tales of the Vampires” or were you given free rein?

Jackie: Scott gave me the basics on comic book script format as well as a number of key points to help me make the transition from novel to comic book, and C.E. gave me wonderful tips — and I’m very grateful for all of the help! Scott, as the editor, oversaw everything from synopsis to final product, and we had a few rounds before the synopsis and then the script moved to the next steps. He was wonderful to work with, as was Paul Lee, the very talented artist. All of the panel descriptions I had were guidelines; Paul truly breathed life into the story. And whoa, Dave Stewart, the colorist…wow, he did amazing things. (There’s a nightclub scene that’s simply spectacular to look at.) And the Comicraft letterist was terrific. (When vampires vamp out, their lettering changes. Dude, how COOL is that?)

Getting to see the pages, from the initial sketches to the final product, is just outstanding. I can’t put it into words. **jumps up and down in a happy dance**

The Book Smugglers: And now, for the full-force geek-out:

Jackie: OK, the coolest part of all this? When I was talking to Scott to go over the basic premise, at one point he said, “Jackie, that’s Joss on line 1. I’ll have to call you back.” And I said, “Okay, sure.” But what I was thinking was, AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! THAT’S JOSS WHEDON ON LINE 1!!!

The Book Smugglers: Buffy is one of our favourite TV Shows ever. Do you have a favourite season, episode, or storyarc?

Jackie: Season two was my hands-down favorite. As for individual episodes…toss-up between “Once More, With Feeling,” “Earshot,” “Hush” and “The Body.” Storyarc: Angel as Angelus, and Buffy forced to send him to Hell. God, I still see the look on her face as she leaves Sunnydale. **shivers** And let’s face it: Season two Spike is just the best Bad Guy ever. (Except for Hunter Rose. But that’s another story completely.)

The Book Smugglers: Who is your favourite character from the entirety of the Buffyverse? (And no, you cannot say Buffy!)

Jackie: [LAUGHS] I wouldn’t have said Buffy anyway. Toss-up between soulless Spike and Dark Willow. (“Bored now,” before she does the deed to Warren? FABULOUS.) Drusilla is a close second (rah, rah, insanity!), as is Angelus (remember Willow’s goldfish from season two?) I adore Xander…but the good guys just don’t hold a candle to the bad guys and gals.

The Book Smugglers: Do you read the Buffy comics? If so, do you have a favourite issue or storyarc? What do you think of the switch from TV to Comics?

Jackie: Yep, I surely do! My favorite storyarc in Season 8 so far is “Time of Your Life,” for various reasons. (Fray!!!) I think Joss et al. did a phenomenal job making the transition from television to comic book.

The Book Smugglers: As the comic book medium isn’t as constricted by pesky budgets or contractual issues as TV shows are, anything can, theoretically, be done. Powers can evolve, people can fly (Willow) and characters like Oz can make a comeback. But perhaps this freedom can also lead to “Jumping the Shark” moments and possible continuity problems. What are your thoughts on the freedoms (and possible problems) that comics allow for, especially in terms of Buffy?

Jackie: There’s always room for continuity errors, whether it’s television, comic books, or other media. There are a lot of people in place to help guard against such errors — the writers, the editors, the actors, the artists. But even so, mistakes are going to happen. Writers learn more about the characters after working with them for a while. Ditto the actual world created and the history. And when there’s more than one writer, well, the chance for error increases. The trick is to try to identify any inconsistencies before you go to press. [GRIN]

Novelists aren’t immune, by the way. I made a huge mistake in Hell’s Belles that I didn’t realize until after I was revising The Road to Hell. So I took that error and made it a subplot in Hotter Than Hell. (Points if you know what I’m referring to.)

Like I said, mistakes will happen. Hopefully, the creative team behind the story can pinpoint errors and either correct them or account for them. And sometimes, you just have to shrug and say “Whoops.”

The Book Smugglers: If you could extrapolate or change ANY Buffy storyline (from either the TV series or the comics) to suit your own twisted, dark purposes, what episode or storyline would you pick?

Jackie: Change? Nah. No change. Would have loved more singing episodes. (Avid GLEEk, that’s me!)

The Book Smugglers: A little bit of controversy to shaken things up. In the comics, Buffy has an experimental experience with a Japanese slayer called Satsu, What do you think of that?

Jackie: You know what? Buffy deserves whatever pleasure she can get for herself, in whatever quiet moments she has. Man, woman, vampire…let her take what she can get.

The Book Smugglers: And finally, a time-honored, Very Important Question: Spike or Angel?

Jackie: Soulless Spike. At the very least, for the fabulous coat.

Jackie Kessler likes to write about demons, angels, furies, superheroes, supervillians, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse…and vampires. Her upcoming 2010 works include “Hell’s Angel” (proceeds of which will go to the American Heart Association); Shades of Gray (in the UK, Shades of Night), coauthored with Caitlin Kittredge; Hotter Than Hell (mass market reissue); “Hell Bound” (in the anthology Those Who Fight Monsters); Hunger, under the byline Jackie Morse Kessler; and “Carpe Noctem,” her first foray into comic books and the Buffyverse.

For more about Jackie, visit her websites: www.jackiekessler.com; www.jackiemorsekessler.com; www.deadlinedames.com.

A huge thank you again to Jackie Kessler! And make sure to stop by MySpace Dark Horse Presents to catch the debut of “Carpe Noctem” on February 3!

Happy Sunday, everyone! If you’ll kindly step away from the football…

With the official end to Smugglivus, we’re back to our regular ol’ Smugglers’ Stash & News posts. But first, a few announcements.

Adrian Phoenix Giveaway Winners:

In all the excitement and chutzpah of Smugglivus, we forgot to announce the two lucky winners of our interactive Q&A with Adrian Phoenix! So, without further ado, here we go. The lucky winners of a complete, autographed set of The Maker’s Song books are…

Congratulations to the winners! You know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your winnings out to you as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone that entered the competition – your questions for Adrian were fantastic. And if you didn’t win this time around, you’ll have another chance at an interactive author Q&A with a great full set of books as a prize – so stay tuned!

News from the Interwebs:

You might have heard of the release of upcoming SF novel The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman – a book that has garnered a lot of buzz online, and is being pushed by publisher Penguin as one of their biggest fiction launches of the decade. To celebrate the publication of the book, Don’t Panic (a super cool, FREE, arts/culture/design publication based in the UK) has launched a visual design competition. The winning artist will have their artwork printed on a Don’t Panic poster, and the chance to have their artwork included in The Left Hand of God’s paperback release!

The guidelines are as follows:

What we are looking for is an artistic representation of the lead character Thomas Cale, who you can get to know through a selection of excerpts on our site. We want entrants to use any printable media they choose to create an interpretation of the young Cale using the text provided.

The top ten entries submitted will be put into the winner’s shortlist to be judged by Penguin with the top three entries given the chance to win some fantastic prizes, including £350 (or approximately $560 US) worth of Penguin books and signed copies of The Left Hand of God, as well as of course the opportunity to have their design printed. Also, every shortlisted entrant will receive a copy of the book.

You can check out the full details of the competition online HERE – if you’re artistically inclined, this sounds like a fabulous opportunity to get some real exposure.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

Smugglivus may be over, but we’ve still got a whole lot going on this week! On Monday, we kick off the week by hosting a stop on Elizabeth Eulberg’s The Lonely Hearts Club blog tour. Elizabeth will be stopping by to tell us a bit about her book, dating, and life before jetting off to the next stop on the tour. On Tuesday, Ana reviews The Lonely Hearts Club for extra measure.

Wednesday, we have dark fantasy/paranormal author Jackie Kessler over for an interview to celebrate some huge news. See, in addition to being a bestselling author of paranormal and superhero-inspired books, she’s also just become a comic book author – FOR BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. That’s right. The talented Ms. Kessler has just joined the Buffyverse (and, by proxy, the Whedonverse) with the online publication of “Carpe Noctem” – her contribution to Dark Horse Comics’ “The Tales of the Vampires” story collection, which ties in to the Buffy Season 8 comics.

With the publication of a sneak peek of the first part of the comic last friday (which you can view for free on the MTV Splash Page), we are thrilled to have Jackie over to talk about writing comics, Joss Whedon, and all things Buffy with us.

On Thursday, it’s back to the daily grind as Thea gives a doubleshot of a newfound favorite author Stephen Baxter with reviews for Titan and Moonseed (books 2&3 in the NASA series).

Finally, on Friday we close out the week with a classic science fiction novel, as Thea reviews The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin in honor of the book’s 40th anniversary.

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

Sayonara, Week 3, and konichiwa to Week 4 of Smugglivus! Before we delve into the goodies we have lined up this week, we’ve got a few announcements.

A Glory-ous Giveaway:

Sarah Kuhn, author and one of the fine folks that run the geektastic Alert Nerd blog, has a short sequel to her debut novel One Con Glory out now! “My Epic Win” is available in the new edition of Grok #5: Retcon. In honor of the release, Sarah is offering a wicked cool giveaway contest – the theme is favorite comic book kiss and/or favorite comic book couple. As for me, well, I don’t think it gets any better than Bigby and Snow from Fables (and since I’m traveling right now and can’t scan The Kiss panel, I’ll just give you my favorite moment between the two of them and the cover for Fables Vol. 8: Wolves):

Guh. They make me all squishy and warm inside. SO, if you’ve got a favorite comic book couple or kiss, head on over to Alert Nerd and leave a comment (or if you prefer twitter, tweet your entry @SarahKuhn. The prize is a copy of Sarah’s excellent One Con Glory (reviewed HERE by both Ana and myself) – and, even better, if you already have read/own OCG, you can still enter for another groovy book-related prize. The contest runs until December 22 at midnight (pacific), so get over. Now.

In other cool geek news, dunno if you’ve seen it yet, but holy rusted metal! The Iron Man 2 trailer is out! Yowza!

In other news, Ana and I are famous! Well, not really. But you can catch us guest blogging over at Opinionated, Me? about our holiday reads (or our lack thereof), and at Grasping for the Wind about our favorite fantasy reads of 2009 (and most highly anticipated fantasy reads of 2010).

Ok, now down to business.

Giveaway Winners:

We’ve got two winners to announce – first up, Kate Noble.

The winner of a copy of Revealed is…..

Also, our giveaway of Raiders’ Ransom is officially closed, and we have one lucky winner to announce! Drumroll please…

Congratulations! You know the drill. Send us an email with your snail mail address (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com), and we’ll get your prize off to you as soon as possible. Thanks again to all that entered – and hey, remember that we still have TWO excellent giveaways still running:

The ARC Giveaway courtesy of Little, Brown (US) and Sarah Rees Brennan’s Silver Dagger Charm Giveaway (of The Demon’s Lexicon) are still up and running. You have until December 26 at 11:59 (PST) to enter – so get those comments in!

This Week on Smugglivus:

Later today, we have two guests lined up. Susan Holloway Scott (whose post should have gone up yesterday but our site was down at the scheduled time!) with her favourite reads of 2009 , followed by Erin Galloway, publicist for Berkley and NAL with a list of books coming out next year from those imprints.

Then, we bid our guest authors adieu, thankyouverymuch, and say hello to some of our very favorite book bloggers. This week, and for the remainder of Smugglivus, bloggers will be stopping in and sharing their favorite reads of 2009, and what they are looking forward to in 2010. Kicking off the week, we have the prolific Aidan Moher of A Dribble of Ink. Then, Danielle of Opinionated, Me? stops by with her best (and worst) of the year. And later in the day, Ana gives her review of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore.

On Tuesday, our guest bloggers are Kristen of Fantasy Cafe and Lusty Reader of Lusty Reader. Then, later in the day, Thea reviews Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet.

Wednesday, Thea gives a double review of A Rush of Wings and In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix – two of the titles in her ongoing, edgy Urban Fantasy series. AND we’ll also have Adrian Phoenix over for the day – she’ll be around to answer YOUR questions. Plus, we’ll be giving away TWO complete sets of autographed books from Adrian Phoenix, so make sure to stay tuned.

Thursday, we have guest bloggers Rhiannon Hart of Rhiannon Hart, Angie of Angieville, and Doug, the SciFi Guy over. Later, Ana reviews Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale.

On Friday, Katiebabs of Babbling About Books, and More! gives us her rundown of favorite reads. Following that, Thea reviews Kelley Meding’s debut Urban Fantasy Three Days Till Dead. Finally, what would Christmas be without a giveaway? We have a Very Special Christmas Giveaway planned (there will be many, many books up for grabs).

Saturday, we have two more guest bloggers to close out the week – Jessica of Racy Romance Reviews and KMont of Lurv ala Mode.

Phew. It’s another action packed week, so stay tuned!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Hi-yo! Another weekend, another stash. First, a few announcements…

Giveaway Winner:

The lucky winner of a copy of M.L.N. Hanover’s Darker Angels, book 2 in The Black Sun’s Daughter series, is…

Congratulations! You know the drill – send an email to 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! Thanks to all that entered, and if you didn’t win this time, don’t worry. There’s plenty more where that came from.

Smugglerific Announcements:

Well, folks, it is official! You are now looking at the two newest bloggers for the fabulous Tor.com – home of Science Fiction, Fantasy, The Universe, and Related Subjects!

We are honored and thrilled to be part of the Tor blogging family, and are diligently working on our very first post there (which will be about Brandon Sanderson’s completely awesome Mistborn Trilogy). We’ll keep you up-to-date on our progress, and let you know once our inaugural post hits the site.

And in another big announcement, it’s nearly December…which means it’s almost time for Smugglivus! We have a number of fabulous guests lined up for this year’s event, and a shiny new poster in the works (thanks to the lovely KMont of Lurv a la Mode). Here’s a little teaser:

For those new to the site, Smugglivus (based on the non-denominational holiday, Festivus) is a monthlong celebration in which we invite our favorite authors and bloggers to post about their favorite books of the year, what they’re looking forward to in 2010, and what projects they have on the horizon. And of course, we end the celebration with the official rites – Airing of Grievances, Feats of Strength, and our very own Best of lists for the year, all culminating in our second year blogoversary.

Around the Internets:

Aidan Moher, prolific fantasy blogger that runs A Dribble of Ink posted last week about the irritations of repetitive fantasy covers, citing the art for Brent Weeks’ new title. This week, the debate concerning fantasy covers – innovation versus familiarity – rages on, in this thought-provoking discussion provoked by the upcoming cover of Mark Charan Newton’s Nights of Villjamur. We highly recommend checking out the comments – there are great points made on both sides of the cover argument.

In other news, we’d like to direct your attention to a new website, called The 5th Shelf. At first glance it looks a little like Shelfari and GoodReads had a lovechild – which isn’t too far off base. The 5th Shelf is a new website that is devoted to creating a “modern” version of the Harvard Classics (a 51-volume anthology of classic literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot in 1909). You can set up a free account on The 5th Shelf, and, as with GoodReads or other book networking sites, add your very own authoritative shelf of classics. The definitive list will be composed form the consensus of all members – which is pretty damn cool. We’ve signed up – you can check out the beginnings of our shelf HERE. And we hope others will sign up too!

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Thea reviews the highly anticipated new release from Pandemonium author Daryl Gregory, The Devil’s Alphabet. Will it live up to expectations, or fizzle flat?

Tuesday, Thea reviews Sarah Beth Durst’s newest novel Ice, a retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Then, Ana reviews The Stepsister Scheme, the first in Jim C. Hines’ Princess Series.

Wednesday, Thea reviews Tainted by Julie Kenner, a new urban fantasy title, with a giveaway. Ana takes on The Mermaid’s Madness the second book from Jim C. Hines’ Princess Series.

Thursday, Thea takes a break and eats far too much Turkey while Ana reviews Madam Xanadu Volume 1: Disenchanted from Matt Wagner.

Friday, we close out the week with a joint review of the much lauded new release from Lev Grossman, The Magicians.

It’s another busy week here at The Book Smugglers, and we invite you to pull up a chair, enjoy some delicious Thanksgiving food, and relax.

Until tomorrow!

~ Your friendly neighborhood Book Smugglers

Today the BBAW suggested daily topic is:

Reading Meme

We encourage you to be creative with this! Please choose one or two questions to answer or try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Or choose a picture to answer a question! Brevity is the goal of today!

We chose to answer only one question:

Q: Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Ana and Thea: HELL YES and that would be His Holy Awesomeness, Neil Gaiman.

We find that there is really only one word that can possibly describe how awesome he is and that word is: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Thea: Or “Ineffable.” You know, in the spirit of Good Omens.)

And, friends, this about as brief as it’s going to get. In part to celebrate making it on the shortlist for Best Graphic Novel Blog, we will take this meme opportunity to turn today into a Neil Gaiman Spotlight, and offer a joint review of Murder Mysteries. Here goes…

Title: Murder Mysteries

Author: Neil Gaiman (Writer) and P. Craig Russell (Illustrator)

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy

Publisher: Dark Horse
Publishing Date: June 2002
Hardcover: 64 Pages

Stand alone or series: This graphic novel is actually an adaptation of a short story by Neil Gaiman in his Angels and Visitations and Smoke and Mirrors anthologies, of the same title. It was also adapted earlier into a radio drama – narrated by none other than Michael Emerson (aka Benjamin “Bug-eyed Bastard” Linus, from LOST).

Why did we read the book: Because it’s Neil Gaiman.

Summary: (from amazon.com)

Constructing and maintaining all of heaven and earth is an immense task, which God has divided up amongst the various ranks and stations of angels. As with any such huge effort, there are bound to be casualties. This unique passion play sheds light on the hands behind creation, as well as one lonely man in Los Angeles who gets to hear the whole story of a most unspeakable crime: a murder in paradise!

REVIEW

First Impressions:

Ana: Murder Mysteries was first published as a short story in the Smoke and Mirrors anthology which I read and reviewed last year. I loved the anthology as a whole but Murder Mysteries was my favourite story. As soon as I finished reading it, I found out that it had made into a Graphic Novel and I immediately bought it but haven’t read it until now. What can say about it? It works even better in Graphic Novel format with the added visual to a most powerful story. This is not only a very good, traditional whodunit but also with gravitas and age-old discussion of Free Will versus Determination. Murder Mysteries stays with the reader long after you finish reading it (and Neil Gaiman is a freaking genius).

Thea: After Ana read Smoke and Mirrors for our Neil Gaiman Week last year and was drooling over the graphic novel adaptation of “Murder Mysteries,” I, of course, has to have it too. And so, I bought the hardcover. It languished on my TBR for a very long time, but finally we found the perfect opportunity to do a joint review. I started Murder Mysteries and wasn’t expecting too much – I’ll be honest. Neil Gaiman is a master (clearly) and one of my favorite authors, but I’m not completely stoked by P. Craig Russell’s art (sorry!), and at a slim 65 pages, I wasn’t expecting as much from this stand alone book. Well, I was wrong. Murder Mysteries is a deceptively deep story. About the first murder in the creation of the universe, this book tackles a lot of old questions (as Ana says, Fate vs. Free Will), and sets the stage for the inevitable battle to come. It also has a somewhat open-for-interpretation ending, which is fantastic. This is Gaiman at his classic best.

On the Plot:

Ana: A young man recounts his time in LA ten years ago, when his flight to London kept being delayed for almost a week. On the last night before returning to London, he meets Tink, a beautiful woman he remembers from years ago in London, with whom he had a fling with. They have a brief sexual encounter and although he can’t remember part of the night after that, he knows that he left her place and unable to sleep, he goes for a walk. He sits down on a bench for a smoke when a homeless man sits next to him. In exchange for a cigarette, the homeless man tells him a story: a story that starts with the Word. In the beginning of times when Angels were helping the Creation, we learn that the Angel Raguel, the Vengeance of the Lord is awakened to investigate the first-ever murder.

Murder Mysteries is one of my favourite stories by Neil Gaiman – it is everything that he can be, condensed in less than 60 pages. Just like with The Sandman, everything within Murder Mysteries matters – when you reach the end, you realise how all and every single information (relayed here in panels) is relevant.

The storytelling is effective and there are two stories being told at the same time, although you think one of them does not matter: it is a story within a story and the title says everything you need to know: it is in the plural, isn’t it? The main whodunit is expertly handled by the Angel of Vengeance, who acts like a Poirot-like figure, investigating the crime. But it is the very nature of the crime that makes this book so freaking brilliant – and where Neil Gaiman’s imaginative signature comes into play: because we are talking about the first crime EVER, committed in Paradise at a time where human beings did not even exist and the Angels were busy thinking about concepts such as “love” or “hate” . There is a thread of theology in the story as Gaiman once again, brings Lucifer and his role in the Creation to the forefront. It is all part of the story, of both stories.

With regards to the illustrations: I like the added visual to a story I already loved but I am not crazy about the artwork – I think it lacks something MORE as though the figures are way too simplistic for such a complex story.

Thea: Murder Mysteries tells the story of the first death in the creation of the universe; it’s the original murder mystery (for which the book is titled). Who killed Carasel? And for what reason? This is the sole purpose of Raguel, or Vengeance – to discover the facts behind the death of an immortal, whether it was self-inflicted or murder. And, as his name suggests, to exact the Lord’s Vengeance upon the perpetrator.

Plot-wise, Murder Mysteries seems straightforward – the heart of the story is the homeless man (who claims to be Vengeance) and his tale to the narrator of the book, as payment for a cigarette and matchbook. The beginning of the book, as the narrator recounts his short layover in Los Angeles years back, seems almost negligible; an unimportant detail to get to the meat and potatoes of the book. At least, that’s how I saw it, initially. Of course, nothing in a Neil Gaiman book is a throwaway – everything has significance, from the location of the story (my hometown and aptly set City of Angels), to the serpentine shape of freeways, to the image of a child’s painting, to the payment for a cigarette. The parallel stories of the nameless bespectacled traveller to the angel’s tale overlap beautifully, and by the end of the book, everything comes together and makes perfect sense. As always, I find myself awed by Neil Gaiman’s skill at telling stories – even a seemingly simple story, such as this one.

Though I’m not a huge fan of P. Craig Russell’s art here (I wasn’t crazy on his interpretation of Coraline either – I much prefer Dave McKean’s print-like surreal inks in the prose novel), I cannot deny that the images he uses to tell the story, from the city of Heaven to Los Angeles itself, are thoughtful and compliment the tale perfectly.

Then, of course, there’s the thematic concept of fate versus free will. It is executed beautifully in the book, and raises some interesting questions….but more on that later.

On The Characters:

Thea: There are two main characters to this dual story – the nameless narrator, and the angel Raguel, or Vengeance. We don’t know much about the nameless narrator initially…not until the end of the book do things become clear. But he exudes a sense of discomforting detachment (reinforced again by Mr. Russell’s decision to give him symbolic glinting, reflective glasses). Raguel, on the other hand, is nothing but forthrightness. He has been created for one purpose and one purpose only – as a tool of his master, to exact vengeance on those who deserve it…but is it that simple? Raguel shares thoughts of his own which challenge the determination angle, and seems to be able to make his own way (or rather, he is permitted to find his own way). This leads to more theological pondering, but, again, more on that later.

The other standout character, as Ana will most assuredly gush about, is Lucifer – the Authority’s second in command. If you’ve read the Sandman books, you will be familiar with Lucifer and his role in Neil Gaiman’s work – and indeed this early invocation of Lucifer seems very close to the Lucifer that Morpheus encounters. There’s something so beautiful and heartbreaking about Lucifer, especially in this portrayal. His loyalty, his tears, his beginning to question things…it’s damn near flawless. Really good stuff.

Ana: Ah, Lucifer Morningstar. My heart bleeds for you every time Neil Gaiman writes you. The author manages to portray Lucifer as a tragic figure instead of a pure evil one. In Murder Mysteries, his role, his demeanour are heartbreaking, because he dares. He questions, he thinks about the box and because of that, he has a role to play in the Creation – a role that has not being chosen by him, but which is solely based on his very own personality. The very principle of Free Will x Fate clashes in Lucifer: his Free Will is the very thing that condemns him to his Fate. It is a sad and beautiful thing. In here as in The Sandman, I find myself having sympathy for the devil above any other character.

Murder Mysteries is Lucifer’s story – he is at the centre of it all. That makes all the other characters pale in comparison. That’s my story and I will stick to it.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Ana: Murder Mysteries is one the best Neil Gaiman stories I’ve ever read and it’s sheer brilliance for all its depth and intensity. This book can be profoundly disturbing and it provokes the reader to think. The ending is open for interpretation and the outcome of it comes solely from the reader’s own beliefs and how they clash (or not) with what they read. For such a small story it sure does packs a punch but then again, that’s Neil Gaiman for you.

Thea: Murder Mysteries isn’t the best Neil Gaiman book I’ve ever read, but it is a fantastic standalone comic. I was immersed in it, I was ambushed by its depth and beauty, and I loved it. If you haven’t read anything by Neil Gaiman before and want a quick, fast read to see what he’s all about, Murder Mysteries is a great place to start.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

Ana: The moment when Lucifer QUESTIONS the Creator. Awesome stuff.

Thea: Following the classic Poirot-esque method of the Dramatic Parlor Room trope, the ultimate reveal of the murderer – who did it, and why they did it – is fantastic.

Additional Thoughts: On Fate (or Determinism) versus Free Will…

It’s a common enough dilemma, one that has been debated between philosophers and especially in religious connotations throughout history. Heck, it’s even a main theme in one of our all time favorite shows, LOST.

(And yeah, we didn’t include a picture of his holiness Jack, even though he’s our supposed “Man of Science” to Locke’s “Man of Faith”…)

So…with that theme in mind, we have a brief, SPOILERY DISCUSSION of the open ending:

WE REPEAT. SPOILERS BELOW. (To read, highlight the white space)

Thea: The way I interpreted the ending was that the English narrator killed Tink’s flatmate, Tink, and her daughter Susan – and Raguel, the homeless man, absolved him at least temporarily of his sin. My initial reaction was that Vengeance took pity on the man (because he gave him a “gift,” the same one he refused from God) because of how he felt after he smote the Saraquael. It’s a gift only temporarily for the narrator, absolution for only the time of his short life, but i do think he’ll “go down” the elevator later when he dies. (How could he not? Vengeance is the tool during life, but in death i’m sure the big man upstairs won’t be too happy with him, and send him to good ol’ Lucifer. Heck maybe that’s more of God’s cold planning in the book – temporary absolution, then to yank it away for eternity after death). And he can do all this because everything happens according to the big man’s will, right?

I’m not a philosopher and I don’t care for theological doctrine really, but the idea of a world that runs solely according to predetermination sits unwell with me. I like to think that Raguel turned his back on Heaven, but offers choice in his exaction of “vengeance.”

Ana: I interpreted in a very similar way as Thea did. I do think that Raguel , is still the Angel of Vengeance – after all he did not “Fall”. But he does offer the guy a reprieve by granting his forgetfulness until he eventually goes “down” to meet Lucifer. But everybody is still very much playing their roles as stipulated in the Master Plan.

The main thing about the book for me though is this: if the first Murder was committed so that Lucifer Fell according to The plan, then every single murder after that is ALSO according to the Plan. If God is the culprit of the first murder then he is the de facto culprit of every single murder after that – because he knows all, and is everywhere and has this Plan. In that sense, even Raguel’s gift is also according to the Plan. Where there is a master plan engineered by an omniscient and omnipresent being there is absolutely NO possibility of Free Will. And that sucks huge donkey balls. Excuse my French.

Rating:

Ana: 8 – Excellent – missing out being a 9/10 solely because I am not a fan of the art

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Next in our Neil Gaiman mini-special: come back later today for a chance to win one of two copies of one of our favorite books of 2008, The Graveyard Book!

Reading Next: The Declaration by Gemma Malley

Title: Rapunzel’s Revenge

Author: Shannon Hale & Dean Hale

Illustrator: Nathan Hale

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Graphic Novel, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: August 2008
Hardcover: 144 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone graphic novel.

Why did we read this book: How could we close out YA Appreciation Month without covering at least one graphic novel? Since Thea loved Shannon Hale’s Bayern series, and because of the awesome concept for this book, we eagerly agreed to do a joint review of this reimagining of Rapunzel. (I mean come on! It’s Rapunzel choosing not to wait for rescue and going out for revenge on her own. In the Wild West. With her hair as a lasso/whip. AWESOME.)

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Thea: Rapunzel’s Revenge is a little different from the few comics I usually read – certainly a far cry from Bill Willingham’s Fables series! – but in a very sweet, refreshing way. I loved this young adult fairy tale reimagining from first glance. This take on Rapunzel has the original Brothers Grimm background, but it dramatically transforms Rapunzel from a passive princess into the heroine of her own destiny, eager to thwart her so-called Mother, (the Evil Witch who stole Rapunzel when she was just a child) and to save her real mother from hard labor in the mines. Throw in a vagabond companion named Jack – yes, THAT Jack – bandits, gunslingers, angry and oppressed ranchers and dwarfs, and you get the wonder that is Rapunzel’s Revenge. I loved it.

Ana: I never read any of Shannon Hale’s books before and now I ask myself why, WHY, WHY?! After reading the first 30 pages of Rapunzel’s Revenge I knew two things: 1) that I loved this version of Rapunzel with the force of a thousand thunderstorms and 2) that I would be glomming Mrs Hale’s backlist pronto. Because this reimagining is imaginative, creative, funny and ever so empowering for girls – Damsel in Distress, saved by her hero?? Hell noes.

On the Plot:

Rapunzel’s Revenge takes the basic Grimm collected fairy tale as its base: a farmer couple finally gets pregnant after years of trying, much to their delight. But the wife develops an insatiable urge for rapunzel, a type of lettuce, planted in the garden of the couple’s witch neighbor. Her yearning for the rapunzel grows so strong that she know she will die without it, so her husband has no choice but to scale the wall surrounding the witch’s garden and steal some of the lettuce. On the third night of his endeavors, however, he’s discovered by the witch (named Dame Gothel) who spares his life in exchange for the life of his unborn child. Once the child is born, Dame Gothel cashes in on her bet and raises the baby girl – named, of course, Rapunzel – as her own. When Rapunzel turns 12, she imprisons her in a high tower in the woods, without doors and only a single window, visiting her every day but leaving every night. One night a prince is traveling through the woods and hears Rapunzel’s singing, falls in love, she lets down her hair to let him climb up, etc. The witch discovers them, cuts off Rapunzel’s golden locks, tricks the prince and blinds him. Later, he hears Rapunzel’s singing, her tears heal his blindness and they live happily ever after.

In Rapunzel’s Revenge, things are a little different. The first part of the fairy tale is true – Rapunzel is taken from her parents when she’s only a child and Mother Gothel raises her as her own. But by the time Rapunzel turns twelve, she is able to scale the wall surrounding the hacienda-like home she shares with her supposed mother – and she sees the ruins of the outside world, including her real mother. When Rapunzel confronts Mother Gothel and demands the truth, she is thrown into an isolated tower. As the years pass, her hair grows incredibly long…and then she decides she’s had enough of sitting and waiting around. Using her hair as a rope, she swings to a tree and makes her way to the ground. From there, she runs into a rogue thief named Jack (who is guarding a goose with his live), and together the two of them strike out back to Mother Gothel’s mansion, to save Rapunzel’s mother and to exact revenge.

Thea: Rapunzel’s Revenge is a melange of familiar fairy tales, using not only Rapunzel as inspiration, but also the likes of Jack and the Beanstalk and the dwarves of Snow White – all set against the backdrop of the wild west. And, I gotta say, I think I prefer this retelling of the fairy tale to the original! First off, Ana and I are suckers for westerns (no seriously, we had a whole Western Week to prove it), and what better way to spice up an old story than with some southwest flair? And, strangely enough, the story fits the setting beautifully. Rapunzel’s Revenge is a traveling tale, where Rapunzel and Jack work for their keep, protecting frightened and disenfranchised villagers, stopping horse thief outlaws, and slaying troublesome critters. In each dustblown town they ride to, Rapunzel and Jack always find trouble – but it’s all part of the fun of their adventure together.

I loved the different episodes they go through (not to mention the scene of their first meeting, when Jack’s dressed up as a lady trying to work as a barmaid), and the rapport that begins between these two characters. The writing is solid, as per usual with Shannon Hale – I loved the Books of Bayern by this author, but I was unfamiliar with Dean Hale’s writing and Nathan Hale’s illustrations. And, I gotta say, this is one talented group. Written by the wife and husband team of Shannon and Dean Hale, Rapunzel’s Revenge uses the same imaginative and subversive storytelling Ms. Hale wrote her Bayern Books with, but with a more comic touch. I am pleased to say that these two authors were able to translate from prose to comic form seamlessly – it’s clever, beautifully plotted and altogether winsome. One of my favorite things about this graphic novel was the dialogue employed, especially for Rapunzel. Really running with the western theme, Rapunzel’s lines are colorfully fun – i.e. “Well I’ll be swigger-jiggered and hung out to dry;” or “I can get off my own horse, you rumdum.” Awesome.

Nathan Hale’s (no relation to wife-husband team Shannon and Dean) illustrations are a little more…illustration-y than I was expecting. They are nicely drawn and use a wide array of colors, and I love that Jack is visualized as a hispanic, darker skinned young man and Rapunzel is channeling Pipi Longstocking with her red braided pigtails. Once I got acclimated to Mr. Hale’s style – as he is a children’s book illustrator and webcomic artist – I loved it.

But the best thing of all about Rapunzel’s Revenge has to be the empowering message it sends to young readers, especially girls. There’s romance and adventure in this book, but it’s all because Rapunzel is willing to get off her butt and save herself. And that, my friends, is a worthy message.

Ana:Yes, Thea, I completely agree. Words cannot describe how much I admired this version of the Rapunzel’s tale – in fact it completely overshadowed the original for me. Already in the first pages , Rapunzel shows spunk and determination and by the end of the novel through the various episodes she and Jack go through, she has turned into a veritable force of nature. From naïve young girl to the loss of that naiveté to becoming a strong-willed woman, every step of the way was a great joy to read and see. A graphic novel is a perfect medium for such a story, as every change in Rapunzel’s life was accompanied by a change in her demeanour. Case in point, the point where she turns into a young woman and replaces a virginal white shirt for trousers and vest. Evidenced here:

(both images copyright Nathan Hale 2007 – from here)

Even though like Thea, it took me some time to get used to the art –which at first seemed rather juvenile (not surprisingly, given this is a YA novel) but eventually turned out to be perfect for the story.

The driving force of Rapunzel’s Revenge is the heroine’s need to set things right – starting with her own story and her own need for revenge but ultimately becoming a proper heroine’s quest for JUSTICE. For all the poor people she and Jack met along the way, that were suffering in the hands of Mother Gothel. The Western set is a perfect fit for the story – oh hell, there is little about the book that is not a perfect fit.

And I absolutely loved the narrative as well, especially how sarcastic Rapunzel could be. At times she would narrate an adventure in one way whilst the illustration showed something else entirely. Like her escape from the tree tower: she says something like how gracefully she jumped from the window and the illustration shows her clumsy making her way out. FUN.

On the Characters:

Thea: It’s all about Rapunzel. Gone is the passive weepy princess of the luscious golden locks – and she’s replaced with a fiery, auburn haired whippersnapper. Shortly after saving herself from her tower prison, she runs across the Hero who was questing to save her – with slightly different results than the fairy tale.

HERO: Are you all right?
RAPUNZEL: Oh…Am I…Am I all right? Well, I was until someone shot my pet pig. I was going to call him Roger.
HERO: You’re welcome! All in a day’s work. I’m an adventuring hero.
RAPUNZEL: Well, it’s nice to meet you. It’s nice to meet anyone, really. Can you give me directions to –
HERO: I was getting so bored watching the workers farm my fields all day. So I left behind the civilized comforts of the Husker City, following tales of a beautiful maiden trapped in a high tower.
RAPUNZEL: Oh! That’s so noble of you to come all this way to help her.
HERO: Yes, noble is a good word for me. I can’t actually rescue her, of course. The word is she’s Mother Gothel’s pet and I won’t risk crossing the old lady. But I can tell her I’m going to rescue her. She’s bound to be too naive to know the difference and it’ll be such fun in the meantime!
RAPUNZEL: Oh.
HERO: So, tiny ragamuffin, as payment for saving you from that rampaging beast, you may point the way to her mystical tower.
RAPUNZEL: Uh, yeah, the tower is a huge tree just back that way, but…but she’s slightly deaf. If you keep calling out, she’ll hear you. Eventually.

Tee hee. Even when Rapunzel teams up with Jack, she’s the muscle of the operation – Jack being more of a thief and conman, naturally. She’s witty, and brave and stubborn as all-get-out, and that makes her a perfect heroine cowgirl in my opinion.

And then, there’s Jack. He’s a true delight as a funny, refreshing hero/sidekick character. He actually reminds me a bit of Razo from River Secrets as a jokester who knows when he’s out of his depth – but he’s much more cunning than Razo in his scheming. When Rapunzel strictly tells Jack that they cannot steal for their food and goods, instead they must earn their way back to Gothel’s Reach, he reluctantly agrees because he is the proverbial thief with a heart of gold. He and his “Punzie” (a nickname that Rapunzel detests) form a strong friendship that evolves into a romantic attachment…and it’s so very sweet.

I mentioned it a bit above, but another thing I think I should mention about Rapunzel’s Revenge is how much I loved the diversity in the characters. By diversity, I mean: Not everyone is white. There are hispanic villagers, there are black characters and asian characters, and best of all, Jack himself (a main character) is dark skinned. Diversity is lacking in a lot of “mainstream” fiction and comics, and I loved to see it represented here especially in this young adult book.

Ana:Again, I have to echo Thea’s thoughts for just about everything. The diversity is welcomed , but most of all, well employed (ie the Hispanic villagers are not used for comic relief for example. *coughlikethemovietheproposalcough*).

Jack was a delight to read as a con-man and a worthy hero – even if his ass had to be saved by Rapunzel over and again , which only added to my delight. Even in the end, in the showdown against Mother Gothel, when everything seemed lost and I feared that Rapunzel would end up having to be rescued, Shannon Hale never let me down and turned my own expectations around. I should have known.

The story really does belong to Rapunzel who shines from cover to cover with her determination, smarts, even her bossiness towards Jack. An absolute delight of a character, an example of a young woman who goes after what she wants.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: If you couldn’t tell, I loved Rapunzel’s Revenge. This is a book I will give to my ten year old sister to read because of its imagination, it’s beautiful illustrations, writing, and above all because of its model, empowering heroine. Absolutely recommended.

Ana: I had a LOT of fun reading this, for all the right reasons: writing, illustrations, plot and characters. MORE, please.

Additional Thoughts: Apparently we weren’t the only ones to love Rapunzel’s Revenge – it was nominated for the 2009 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Tweens/Teens (though it lost out to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline). In fact, a sequel is completed and due out next year! Here’s a look at Calamity Jack (love the title):

Jack thinks of himself as a criminal mastermind with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, a trickster …maybe even a thief? But, of course, he’s not out for himself he’s trying to take the burden off his hardworking mum’s shoulders. She’d understand, right? He hopes she might even be proud. Then, one day, Jack chooses a target a little more …’giant’ than the usual, and as one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk, his troubles really begin. But with help from Rapunzel and other eccentric friends, Jack just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of the people who live there …whilst catapulting them and the reader into another fantastical adventure.

You can check out some of the other cover drafts and art by clicking on the thumbnails below:

Also, check out this non-official trailer for Rapunzel’s Revenge. We think it captures the spirit of the book beautifully.

Rating:

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Ana: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

We haven’t had one of these in a while, so we decided to throw one up. Y’know. For Wolverine and all.

A few weeks ago, we stumbled across these covers over at Marvel.com. In celebration of Wolverine’s 35th anniversary, Marvel released a number of variant covers this month with depictions of Wolverine in the style of famous artists.

With that in mind, for this week’s ponderings we ask you:

Which Art Take on Wolverine do YOU Like the Best?

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 #12 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Skottie Young in the style of Edward Gorey

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #590 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Paolo Rivera in the style of C.M. Coolidge

HULK #11 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Ed McGuinness in the style of a cave painting

UNCANNY X-MEN #508 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Laura Martin in the style of Vincent Van Gogh

SECRET WARRIORS #3 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Gerald Parel in the style of Gustav Klimt

RUNAWAYS #9 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by David Lafuente in the style of Alphonse Mucha

MS. MARVEL #38 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Paolo Rivera in the style of Wyeth

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #592 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Paolo Rivera in the style of Salvador Dali

MOON KNIGHT #29 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Juan Doe in the style of Pablo Picasso

DAREDEVIL #118 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Juan Doe & Russ Heath in the style of Roy Lichenstein

GHOST RIDER #34 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Alina Urusov in the style of Japanese Woodblock

AGENTS OF ATLAS #3 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Gerald Parel in the style of Edvard Munch

X-MEN: LEGACY #223 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Morry Hollowell, using the art of Frank Miller, in the style of Andy Warhol

EXILES #1 Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover by Jason Chan in the style of Rene Magritte

All art courtesy of Marvel.com

The summer officially kicks off this Friday with the first official blockbuster film of the season – X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And, as we both have nothing but love for Wolvie, what better way to prepare for the film’s release than talking a bit about our own experiences with the character?

Ana:

Skini.

That’s the name of the culprit friend who introduced me to Geekdom: he lent me all of his X –Men comics collection, told me about something called Dungeons and Dragons and got me to watch this TV show called Married with Children of which he had every single episode taped.

I was 15 (or *gasp* 18 years ago) when I first noticed this new guy in my classroom back in high-school. I immediately realised we had something in common that distinguished us from the horde: we both sat in the back rows because we both spent the lessons…..reading. First let me tell why this connection is so important: generally speaking, Brazilians do not read. That’s even truer to high school kids. In fact when I was 14 I was called to the school’s psychologist’s office and was interrogated about my life back home: was everything ok? Were my parents getting along fine? Was I being bullied? Why was I called to her office you may ask? Because according to her, I read too much ergo I must be unhappy. Seriously, that is the sort of mentality I grew up with. But I digress.

Back to Skini and I: we both read a lot. But whereas I read books (mostly Egyptology books – I was in my archaeological phase) , Skini read comics. I was surprised as I had never heard of these comics he was reading: X-Men. When I was child I read a lot of comics – especially Brazilian ones like Turma da Monica’s but they were for children and I had stopped reading them when I was about 10.

Skini spoke highly and enthusiastically about the X-Men and one day, curiosity spiked, I asked if I could borrow them. Silence. I could see how precious these comics were to him and these days I understand WHY: he had every single issue of the X-Men since number 1. But he brought them to me, after telling me to take good care of them (or die). And he kept bringing batches of issues over the next months and I read them all. (memory flash: He also taught me to drive in his father’ s car and on my first lesson, I nearly drove the car into a tree. Come to think of it, I think Skini had a crush on me! OMG I was so clueless in high school).

The first issues of X-Men had this formation: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel.

I loved it, even though I wasn’t crazy about the heroes themselves. I mean, Angel and Beast were mostly OK but I was thought Cyclops was a bit lame. Then there was a clear break and then new stories with a new, better formation ( I learnt later that the comics had a publishing break for a few years back in the 70s): Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Banshee (LOVED these two) plus Storm, some oldies like Jean Grey, Angel, Beast and this new character called Wolverine.

Dear lord, it was freaking love at first sight. The character was as Bolt’s Rhino would say: FULLY AWESOME !! *takes a deep breath*

He had cool powers: strength, healing factor and the adamantium–covered skeleton with retractable CLAWS that made him near indestructible which in turn, made him such a bad-ass who was first to run into danger and sometimes he behaves like a mental berserker even though he hates it because it reminds him of his animalistic tendencies but he has a soft side as well, especially when it came to women, form his paramours to his closest friends like Jubilee and Kitty Pride for example plus he was sort of mysterious, no one, not even him knew details of his past and and and he was sarcastic, was always teasing lame-ass Cyclops and FINALLY he was, even in his comic form HOT.

Like, so hot, that Wolverine , to this date, remains the one and only draw comic book character to have ever featured in an erotic dream of yours truly (does that constitute TMI, Thea?. Oh well, too late).

I devoured these comics – Skini had also Uncanny X-men issues, X-factor and the Wolverine solo comics. There were so many great stories in them: my favourites remain The Inferno Saga and The Dark Phoenix Saga. (And then in later issues, Gambit showed up to rival my love for Wolverine but that is subject for another post, I think).

It took me MONTHS to read all the issues he had and when I was done, I started to buy them myself (lots and lots of money spent here dudes. Like, lots) and only stopped one year later, in 1993 when the horrible, horrible Fatal Attractions Saga happened. That was when Magneto removed the adamantium from Wolverine’s skeleton.

That was one of the most painful things I have ever read in my life, I couldn’t cope with it and that was the very last X-Men issue I read (I later learnt that he regained his adamantium back 7 years later). I went on with life and to university and the X-Men remained part of my teenage years. When the animated series made an appearance in Brazilian TV, I watched a few episodes but was already too old to really enjoy them. And I never played the video-games.

But then, the movie came along and HE with it.

From that first scene in the cage, I thought: OMG this is Wolverine and everything started all over again. The two first movies were awesome (despite Hale Berry and the most stupid incarnation of Rogue ever, talk about Character assassination) (the third was a piece of crap I’d rather forget about ) and now I am of course, looking forward to Wolverine: Origins.

I mean this movie is ALL about Wolverine, plus it has Gambit in it.

My tickets are secured for Saturday and I will be sitting there hoping it will be a Great Movie (whilst rooting for a Gambit spin-off).

Bring it on!

>Thea:

My love affair with the X-Men in general (and Wolverine, Storm, Gambit and Rogue specifically) began when I was in the second grade, and I was introduced to a certain animated show. X-Men: The Animated Series was my first foray into the world of the X-Men, and from the first sweet synthesized notes of the opening credits, I was hooked.

(On a side note, how badass is this intro theme? It’s so badass that no words are needed. Just a sick tune and sweet character introductions)

I loved these cartoons. I had always been a Saturday morning cartoon kind of gal, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were my cornerstone, which is a fine series in its own right. But X-Men was fascinating, different, and frankly infuriating. It was the first show I ever watched that I HAD to tune in to the next week because the show had a definite continuity, and so many “to be continued…” episodes (anyone that has seen the cartoon knows you have to be there when it starts or you might miss the “Previously, on X-Men” rundown essential to the rest of the episode). I collected toys. Trading cards. We used to “play” X-Men on the playground (when we weren’t playing Captain Planet or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was always Storm, and I would freaking hate it when I had to be Jubilee. Occasionally I would get to be Beast, but I think this has more to do with the fact that I am a badass on the jungle gym. That’s right.).

Two men in particular caught my eye as freaking awesome: Wolverine and Gambit. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Cyclops, but there was always something about Wolverine that I liked. Maybe because he was a hothead with awesome claws, and I like hotheads and claws. Maybe because he was short and different looking than the tall Scott and Remy; maybe because he said ‘bub’ a lot and had a cool gravelly voice. All I know is that I could not get enough of him.

Three episodes in particular sealed my love for Logan:

Out of the Past – Where Wolverine meets the changed, vindictive Yuriko (aka Lady Deathstrike) in the Morlock tunnels, resulting in heartbreak for poor Logan once again when they discover a Shi’ar ship in the sewers (eventually leading into the whole Dark Phoenix Saga, but that’s another can o worms). Out of the Past showed a different Wolverine, and a past love story that ended incredibly sadly. We’d seen him to this point in love with Jean, but always getting the short end of the stick.

Weapon X, Lies and Videotape – In which Wolverine starts to lose it mentally because of implanted memories, and Beast takes him to the government facility where the fated adamantium was grafted to his skeleton. What’s also cool about this episode was that we finally see Sabretooth in a different light (up to this point he’d been Wolverine’s enemy and they’d had their share of showdowns), as another part of Weapon X.

Lotus and the Steel – Right after Weapon X, when Wolverine completely loses it (over a picture of Scott and Jean too *ahh angsty sigh*). This is when Wolverine quits the X-Men, goes to Japan and works to establish control and inner peace. In an homage to The Seven Samurai (and The Magnificent Seven, one of my all time favorite movies period and probably why I feel so favorable towards other media that emulate the story), Wolverine intervenes to protect the villagers from the Silver Samurai and his bandits who demand tribute in return for their “protection”. And of course, Wolverine finds himself and his inner peace in the process.

So that’s where it all began. I watched all the cartoons, and to this day have every episode on crappy, pixelated recorded DVDs (so imagine my JOY when I discovered that the cartoons have finally officially been released on DVD this Tuesday! And you can watch streamed episodes for free online here). So, what else was a kid to do? As I grew older, I began to dabble in some of the original comics: The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past (Bishop is just cool), the Age of Apocalypse crossover. And the cool thing was…I could actually follow the stories without any trouble, because I had seen them in the cartoons. To my even further surprise, I discovered the cartoons were pretty loyal to the source material. Go figure.

After a while though, and due to the fact that getting comics while you’re living in third world countries is impossible (except for some reason Duck Tales comics were everywhere in Indonesia), I kind of lost touch. Lost interest. That is, however, until this guy came along once more:

With the first film, I was head over heels in love all over again with Wolverine. Cyclops never did it for me and his lame showing in the film only reinforced my good sense as a young girl; no Gambit unfortunately; and I was upset with the casting of annoying Halle ‘I-only-got-an-Oscar-because-I-got-naked’ Berry and the underage Anna Paquin as Storm and Rogue (two of my favorite heroines). But no matter. Because I had the ultimate Wolverine (and Xavier & Magneto weren’t to bad either).

With X-2 and X-Men 3: The Last Stand, I could only grow in my appreciation and love for Wolverine. His badass factor off the charts, the comic quippy relief, the (yes I’m shallow) man-candy…who could resist? This, along with my love for the X-Men Legends videogames (which totally, totally rock) got me back into the X-Men once again, and I can’t imagine it any other way.

I started to read the comics again, picking and choosing from the morass of material – Wolverine’s Origin, Weapon X, Ultimate X-Men, eventually leading up to this blog and Ana’s and mine re-kindled love for comics, and the monthly huge dent in my wallet with current issues (most recently I’ve enjoyed Deadpool, Magneto Testament, & X-Force/Cable Messiah War).

When we heard about the spinoff film, Ana and I were ecstatic. We bonded over our ubergeekdom: LOST spoiler whoring, book smuggling, and then one day we started exchanging PMs about – you guessed it – X-Men. In particular, Wolverine and Gambit. So, when we found out that Gambit WOULD be making an appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine we were completely beside ourselves.

In addition to Wolvie, he was my favorite leading man in the cartoon and in the comics. I loved his Cajun accent, his charm, his head-to-head fights with Wolverine, and most of all, I loved his feelings for Rogue. Their love story in the cartoon and then later in the comics is my X-Men flagship. It’s all about Remy.

Needless to say, I’m excited for the film. Even if it sucks, which it very well could, I still get that awe and wonder at seeing the characters I love in realtime, with high budget special effects…and that’s all I could ask for.

How about you folks? Love for Wolverine, or any other X-Men? Are you excited for tomorrow? Who has their tickets?