Before I begin today's post, I must announce the winner! Congratulations WOLFSPAIN! You won not only the extra entry for being most creative, but my own copy of the ARC of CRUSADE. Just email me your address at parnormalpov at gmail dot com and I will send it to you! If I don't hear from you by this time next week, however, I will have to move on to another lucky winner since you left me no other way to contact you.
Now, on to the post!!
Dr. Frankenstein should've been a writer. I mean talk about perseverance, right? Everyone told him he was crazy, shot down his creative ideas, even sent an angry, torch-bearing mob after him. Okay, well, I've never had a mob come after me, but still...
Mr. Hyde should've been a writer. It would have been a much better outlet for him. Gotten him into far less trouble. And who doesn't love a good horror story. Yes. He would've been better off the writer instead of the MC.
Captain Ahab should've been a writer. He really knew how to get a handle on character. He was seriously in that whale's head. And I mean, really? A whale that has malicious intent? The man would've been a genius with voice.
Dracula should've been a writer. He could have set the record straight and prevented all these different versions of what a vampire truly is. Plus, seeing from the vampire's perspective? Priceless.
You have until Midnight Tuesday PST to enter my contest for an ARC of CRUSADE. I'll post the winner on Thursday. Good luck!!
A visit to Dromkeen is a magical immersion in the world of Australian children’s literature. On beautiful grounds with long vistas of the surrounding countryside, Dromkeen is the former country home of children’s book sellers and supporters Court and Joyce Oldmeadow. Now owned and administered by Scholastic Australia, the property houses the Oldmeadows’ collection of early Australian children’s books, a reference library, and a children’s library, as well as their lovingly assembled Dromkeen Collection of valuable original materials–manuscripts, drafts, sketches, book dummies, story boards and other evidence of the process of book production, over 6,000 pieces in all.
These resources are put to regular use by 7500 visitors annually. Schoolchildren come on day trips and for 3-day bookmaking workshops with illustrators and writers. (They stay at a nearby camp.) Teachers come for professional development seminars. Uni students and graduate scholars come to peruse the primary source materials. Changing displays of illustrators’ work occupy the four large public gallery rooms of the house. There’s an adjoining building where other art is exhibited and visitors can picnic or have tea on the grounds while they watch and listen to the peacocks–and the screeching cockatoos!
In warm weather, a writer arrives monthly on Sunday afternoons to read a story to visitors young and old. There’s a magic cape, decorated by Australia’s most beloved illustrators, and a throne-like storytelling chair. An outdoor sculpture garden features bronzes of characters from Aussie classics like the gumbaby from Meg Gibbs‘ 1918 Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. For a list of outstanding children’s books about the Australian natural environment, including Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, click here. (And here for Tim Young’s new book, Drawn to Enchant, documenting American children’s book illustration from the Yale Beinecke Library.)
Dromkeen also has a dvd library of writers and artists talking about their work and has recently published two Sketchbook dvds as teaching resources, “Illustrators at Work” and “Producing a Picture Book.” In each, noted illustrators, some also authors, demonstrate their process.The prestigious Dromkeen Medal has been awarded annually since 1982 for “significant contribution to the appreciation and development of children’s literature in Australia,” and a Librarian’s Award is also conferred yearly.
Dromkeen is only about an hour’s drive out of Melbourne, north of the airport. It’s a treasure that’s certainly worth the trip. Many thanks to Judith Macdonald for making my visit possible!
I’ve just come back from one month in Brazil (where I was, unexpectedly, pretty much incommunicado) to find that I missed the Australian stop of the multi-blog event One Shot World Tour, organized by the same group that put together the Summer Blog Blast Tour and this week’s Recommendations from Under the Radar. Some of the dishes served up at the several-course (Vegemite and all) Australian meal were: interviews with Margo Lanagan and Queenie Chan at 7 Imp Things and the YA YA YAs, respectively, and an exploration of John Marsden’s Tomorrow Series at Jen Robinson’s Page (see full OSWT schedule here).
I’d like to add my contribution, late as it may be, by pointing folks to award-winning Australian writer Susanne Gervay’s latest ya book, That’s Why I Wrote This Song, a cutting edge story set against the rock music scene, about sixteen year old girls connected through music as they search for identity. In a recent article contributed to PaperTigers, Gervay tells us: “[The book] embraces other mediums and technologies, in a collaborative work with my songwriter and musician daughter, Tory, who wrote the lyrics and rock music that are integral to the story (…). The story also has the dimension of film, as a young producer translated Tory’s song ‘Psycho Dad’ into a film clip.” The song and the video are available for downloading from the author’s website.
For more Aussie kidlit talents, check out the following: interview with Hazel Edwards, ‘personal views’ article by Chris Cheng, and Caroline Magerl and Shaun Tan online galleries.
Thanks for the chance!
spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com
LOL. When I first saw the picture on my blog roll, I thought he was Fez from That 70s Show. :-)
Sigh. I know there are words here, but after seening that cover. Oh. Wow. Double sign.
*slaps self in face*
I love this interview from Antonio's POV. I especially love his comment about loving monsters in YA lit.
stinalindenblatt (at) shaw (dot) ca
I'm off to tweet about it now. :D
Hope I get lucky
Loved Antonio's interview and him on the cover of the book!!! Thanks for the giveaway!
myra0502 at yahoo dot com
I am SO joining the fight. Wow, how can I not after that?! Loved this interview! Hotness! OH yeah:
h mccorkle (at) wildblue (dot) net
A wanna be priest who's a vampire? That is AWESOME! What a cool concept.
Antonio, sorry to say, but with a name like yours, and a face like yours, you're doomed to be loved by females.
Oh, oh, oh!!! You did a damned good sell on this book!!! (look I made a pun!)
I JUST have to share this with you though. I just came from reading Jess's underwear post on her blog and saw your answers, loved your answer 42 from Hitchhiker!!!! But then I come to your blog and this oh so serious, self-sacrificing save-the-world vampire. What a contrast! :)
And oh! oh ! oh ! you are giving it away!! I will totally tweet this and sidebar it. berendsen70 at yahoo dot com.
Great interview! And great giveaway!
[email protected]
I posted on my twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/unpredictable51/status/101733224157413376
and Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000045278183
Thanks for the giveaway! And I loved the interview!
bookluver1208(at)gmail(dot)com
Great Giveaway! Thanks for the chance to win Damned!
[email protected]
Great interview! I can't wait to read this! Thank you for the giveaway
[email protected]
Great interview! Love Nancy holder and Debbie viguie can't wait to read damned! Going to tweet now
[email protected]
Great character interview.And thansk for the chance to win Damned.
tweet
http://twitter.com/#!/elaing8/status/101785674734243840
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
Yet another Vampire with a conscience. How do they do that? Okay, I want to win. I want to win.
Oops! Got so excited I forgot to give you my email. cleemckenziebooksATcomcastDOTnet
Tweet,
fb,
Google Buzz for good measure.
Thanks for giving the chance to win!
[email protected]
Cute! And please enter me. :) [email protected]
Hmm, our new I.T. guy is named Antonio and he only works evenings or should I say ev-a-nings. I wonder. Dig the premise of a vamp/priest. The cover pic of Antonio es muy bien. I'm so in this contest. Off to tweet.
email: [email protected]
Would it be awkward if I said I know exactly how Anotonio feels? Some curses I just have to live with! (LOL)
Wow that cover is hot! Looks like a really good book! Thanks for the giveaway! I tweeted here
https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/itzKelseyD/status/102029912763940865
Poisnivyred AT gmail.com
AMAZING cover. I like it.
Love the interview! Awesome giveaway :)
[email protected]
Wow, Lisa, what an awesome interview! And what an amazing voice. I could just hear Antonio's voice so clearly in my head and the conflict is so intense. I cannot wait to read this! :-)
It is an amazing interview, and the book sounds great.
K. I'm sold. Awesome, AWESOME interview. Sign me up for the ARC, and now I'm off to order the first in the series.
Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse
i tweeted here:
http://twitter.com/#!/in_the_hammock/status/102185821322481664
inthehammockblog at gmail dot com
Thank you for the awesome contest!!
inthehammockblog at gmail dot com
Great interview! And this book sounds amazing. I can't wait to read it!
ruby95660[at]yahoo[dot]com
I tweeted here!
http://twitter.com/#!/Ruby95660/status/102239733995937792
ruby95660[at]yahoo[dot]com
Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway!
[email protected]
I cannot wait to read this! Big fan of the Holder & Viguie team. I just finished the Unleashed ARC (read it twice) and can't wait to read more. Your books rock!
najeramail at gmail dot com
Blogged about it too!
http://bookwormmom.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/books-teamwork-by-holder-viguie/
najeramail at gmail dot com