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Greetings again all you fine residence in the land of Blog!!!!! Tis I Darth Bill and I am greatly excited about a number of things. The first being that the sequel to Tunnels (click Here to see my review of that book), Deeper has just come out and I checked out from the library today. Man I can't wait to dig (get it dig - Hahahahahahahahahaha, I kill myself sometimes) into this one starting tonight.







Also I was looking on the Internet to see what cool movies will be coming out this summer and found "Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian." I loved the first movie, starring Ben Stiller, and this one looks like it is going to be pretty funny also. Check it out:






Preview for Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian


Well that's quite enough silliness, I say!!!!! Now for some reviews of some killer books and graphic novels I have read recently:



Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney -

Man this is a book series that just gets better and funnier with each new addition. The continuing adventures of Greg Heffley to navigate the traitorous waters of school and home life continues in this third volume. Greg chronicles his day to day existence in this diary formatted book in with he shares his triumphs and really and not so great accomplishments that any guy no matter how young or old can totally identify with because we did or have done very similar things that while at the moment may not seem funny, but down the line make us look back and laugh hysterically (the drawings that accompany the stories are pretty dog gone funny also and really add to the book). In this book Greg has to face many challenges that he deals with in his own unique style such as being forced to play team soccer by his dad, having to be responsible for his own laundry (gesh!!!), and somehow avoid being sent to a summer military academy. I ask you, what's a guy got to do to get a fair chance in this here life? Read this book to see how Greg manages to get by despite all this adversity!!!!! I tell ya I cried laughing at some of the events in this terrific book and finished it way to fast; I'm gonna die waiting for the next one. Two Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!!!!




Marvel Adventures The Avengers: Some Assembling Required - Do you like adventure? Do you like good laughs? Do you like Super Hero Team Ups? Do you like cool stories and art? Well do I have the book for you. In this volume of the very cool Avengers' Graphic Novels (the core team of this volume is made up of Captain America, Storm, Spider-Man, Giant-Girl, Iron Man and Wolverine) we have guess stars galor and super baddies to the extreme. The first story has one of my favorite Marvel Superheroes: "Hawkeye." He is an expert archer with all kinds of cool trick arrows (He is the Marvel equivalent to Green Arrow; also one of my all time favorite Super Heroes). What makes the story he appears in even cooler is that the Avengers are taking on the New Masters of Evil (made up of Man-Bull, The Melter, Whirlwind and Egghead). Loved this story. Other stories in this book feature such special guest as The Vision (an android that is all to human), the mythical Hercules, and the mutant Quicksilver (taking on the Super Adaptoid).

Well until next time all - Happy Trails,

Bill

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rock On Alll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Darth Bill Salutes You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Above is a picture of a couple of my Sith Buds I took on New Years Day. There a wild lot I'll tell ya that. These guys really know how to party!!!!!!

I was not going to do this originally, but after I saw the Calman's Post I felt compelled to do so. Okay here are my top 4 books of 2008 (the reviews are the same that I did earlier in the year):



1) Runemarks by Joanne Harris - This story is set 500 years after Ragnarok that ended the old world ruled by the Norse Gods. The main character in this story is a young girl named Maddy Smith who is born with a strange and magical birthmark. In Maddy's world "The Word" rules all with an iron-fist. In her world magic is taboo and imagination is highly discouraged. Because of what people perceive as Maddy's strangeness she is ignored by her father and has no friends. That is until one day when she meets and old wanderer called One-Eye who befriends here and teaches her to use the magic that has been lying asleep inside her. This book is filled with Norse Gods, Heroes, Villains and Monsters. This book will suck you in and you will not be able to put it down once you start reading it. This is a great book that I would put right up there with Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" book series. The one obvious difference is that this book rekindles excitement in Norse Mythology as opposed to Greek Mythology.

2) Ironhand: Book Two of The Stoneheart Trilogy by Charlie Fletcher - This book takes of where Stoneheart (click HERE to see my review of that book), the first book in the trilogy, left off. It takes off like a rocket and doesn't stop the whole way through the story. The story starts with George and Edie determined to rescue the Gunner who has been captured by the evil and mysterious Walker. Now I know some of you are scratching your head asking who or what is a Gunner and a Walker. Well this story is set in a London that most people are not even aware exists. In this London, stone statues and carvings are very much alive. The statues in London are divided into two types. The taints (gargoyles, dragons and other sorts of inhuman stone creations) are evil soulless creatures. The spits (The Gunner and other more or less human looking statues, but not always as we see in this book) whom are akin to humans in that they have souls and tend, for the most part, to be on the side of good. What it really boils down to is what the statue makers intended them to represent and thus become. The Gunner is a statue of a World War I English Soldier who helped George and Edie quite a bit in "Stoneheart." The Gunner is the Walker's prisoner because of this help after George inadvertently set off a war between the taints and spits. The Walker, a sinister sorcerer type, is a servant of dark powers and leads the taints in their war against the spits. This book moves through both present day and the past. The reader travels with the characters from present to World War I to a pre-industrialized England and other strange places and times. This book is full of wonderful twists and turns that will keep the reader turning page after page. One word of advice, if you really want to enjoy this book fully, you should definitely read Stoneheart first. Man, I can hardly wait for the next book!!!! They are that good!!!!!!!!!

3) Amulet: Book One, The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishint- Wow, this is a really cool graphic novel that I encourage everyone to give it a read. The story starts out with a terrible accident that forces major changes in the lives of sister and brother Emily and Navin. Because of the accident Em, Navin, and their mother are forced to move into an abandoned house once lived in by Grandpa Silass who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The kids find out that their grandfather was an inventor of sorts but even more importantly Em finds a magical amulet that is a total mystery to her. On the families first night in the house, they are awoken by sounds coming from the basement. While investigating the sound, a strange tentacled creature pulls their mother through a mysterious doorway to another world. Em and Navin determined to save their mom follow and thus begins their true adventure in a place like nothing they could have imagined.

Can you guide Mr. Basketball threw the Sith Basketball Backboard of Terror? Probably, I'm pretty sure (I think I did, or maybe I cheated) you might.
Yes it is I once again, the man of many names. Captain/Darth/007/Ninja/No More Mr. Nice Guy Bill welcomes and thanks you for visiting the blog (Aaaarrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!!!!). Well the voting for the Boys Rule Boys Read Book Series Tournament has been fast and furious. If you have not voted, as a reminder, you have until April 7th, Monday at 9:00 p.m. to get your votes in. Also keep shooting those 3 pointers. I have a feeling they may have a serious impact on who comes in the top three places of our little contest. I can feel it in me bones, I tell ya!!!!!

Just got the following vote cast by Mace Windu (those darn Jedi):

Harry Potter
Narnia

Har, Har, Har, it will be interesting indeed to see who are the two last books standing to compete for the Championship.

One other contest I would like to mention on this blog is the StoryTubes competition that is going on nationwide.




Rather than me just blab away about the contest, check out the following press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Public libraries partner in national online video contest:
StoryTubes encourages kids to talk up their favorite books on YouTube

April 3, 2008 (Charlotte, N.C.) – From New York to California to North Carolina, kids in grades 1-6 are talking up their favorite books in an online video contest that supports public libraries, including the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). The contest, which runs through April 20, 2008, is called StoryTubes, and your children can join in the fun, too!

Along with your parent or guardian, kids can follow these simple steps to participate:
1. Make a 2-minute or shorter video about your favorite book;
2. Upload the video to www.youtube.com; and
3. Click on www.storytubes.info and send in the link to your uploaded YouTube video using the online contest entry form.

There are four video categories: Hair-Raising Tales; From or For the Heart; Of Heroes and Heroines; and Facts, Fads and Phenoms. When entering, please don’t use your last name in the video. Entries will be evaluated on creativity, content and performance. Parents are encouraged to read the complete contest rules and regulations at www.storytubes.info/rules.

The video becomes part of a national contest!

The deadlines for entries is April 20, 2008. Voting mania will happen each week in May. At the end of each week, one lucky contestant will win $500 in books. The sponsoring organization they choose (school, library or designated organization for home-schooled youth) will receive $1,000 in books.

Bill Corder, a children’s librarian at PLCMC’s ImaginOn is excited about the project. “It’s so much fun to see kids having a blast creating these videos. They get to talk about their favorite books and have their 15 minutes of fame on YouTube. And they have a chance to win a prize. It’s really cool!”

Want help creating your video?
Kids and parents can come to ImaginOn’s Spangler Library on the following dates and times. Library staff will be on hand with all the equipment needed to help create your video.
- Monday, April 7 from 11 - 1 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 8, from 11 - 1 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 9 from 2 - 4 p.m.
- Friday, April 18 from 7- 9 p.m. (during the “Red Read Party” at ImaginOn)
For questions about the video sessions at ImaginOn, call 704-973-2720.

Everybody wins when kids get excited about stories!

Sponsoring publishers are: Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Eaglemont Press, DK Publishing, Charlesbridge Publishing and Shenanigan Books.

The StoryTubes partner libraries are: Northeast: Middle Country Public Library of Centereach; NY; Southeast: The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County/ImaginOn, Charlotte, NC; Midwest: Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL; Northwest: King County Library System, Issaquah, WA; and Southwest: Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, CA.

Sounds pretty cool to me. You get to be a star on YouTube and could win $500 worth of books!!!! Man I wish I could compete, but alas I'm not quite in the age range (I'm in the 7th grade; okay not really I'm in the 8th(; ). So guys (and maybe some girls) look into this and remember we will be videoing people here at ImaginOn!!!!

Lastly I would like to talk about some really cool books I have read recently:

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four – All 4 One, 4 For All by Zeb Wells and Kano – The Fantastic Four are back and better than ever!!!!! This graphic novel includes four stories that concentrate on each of our heroes. The first story focuses on everyone’s favorite rock guy The Thing. The Thing and a new friend learn the hard way that true beauty lays beyond one’s outside appearance while battling The Absorbing Man. The second story takes a look at The Invisible Woman. Susan Storm is beginning to feel that she is taken for granted by her teammates. So when Nick Fury approaches her about being a spy for the Government, she faces a dilemma in whether to stay with the FF or leave. The third story puts Mister Fantastic in the cross-hairs of Arcade and along with trying to stay alive; he learns that life is about more than numbers and calculations. The last story pits The Human Torch against Iceman (of the X-Men) as they are co-judges in the Miss Teeny Teen Pageant. Things go from bad to funny as these two guys try to one up the other (funny stuff). This is a fun read, so check it out!!!!!

The Midnight Library: I Can See You by Damien Graves – If you like scary stories, and I mean scary stories, this series is just wicked!!!!! The first story in this book is about Michael who along with his parents has relocated from the city to the country. Michael has trouble making friends, but finally seems to have made some in Stephanie and Jack. They tell him about the house he has moved in which once belonged to old Farmer Axby whose wife and children left him. Farmer Axby eventually went mad and the last time he was seen alive he was out in the fields with an old lantern looking for his children. The whole time screaming: “I can see you!” Well, he must have fallen sometime in the night because there was a massive fire and the only remains of Farmer Axby that were found were his broken lantern and the remains of his burnt coat. Ever since that night the kids in the area play a game on the anniversary of the fire called I Can See You. Stephanie and Jack invite Michael to play this year and he agrees. Maybe that was not the wisest of decisions? This is some super spooky stuff and if you like this story you will love the other two in the book. A word of warning however, these stories do not always have happy endings and, perhaps, could cause nightmares. If you like real scary stories this series and book are for you.

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams – This book rocked and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel. The main character of the book is 14-year-old Will Burrows who along
with his archaeologist father, Dr. Burrows, shares a passion for digging tunnels into the earth in search of buried historical items. Will’s family is extremely “different” and to say the least dysfunctional. His father is always involved with his work and little else, his mother watches TV non-stop, and his younger sister runs the families finances. Will is an extremely pale boy and picked on non-stop at school. That is until he befriends another outcast by the name of Chester, who is a rather large intimidating boy, and
gets him interested in digging. Life is going pretty good for Will between digging with his father and digging independently with his new friend Chester. That is until Dr. Burrows goes missing and Will finds that right in their basement is a tunnel that leads to a subterranean world populated with people time left behind. This book is full of twist and turns and just when you think you know what’s going on, the book kicks into another gear to throw you for a loop. I would classify this book as a mystery/action book. Whatever you want to classify it as is up to you, just make sure you don’t miss one of the truly great books of 2008!!!!!

One last note, I want to say it is so good to see so many Sith posting lately! It really warms my black little heart so much.

Well take it easy all you out there in Blogland (and remember to get your votes in along with 3 pointers). Peace,

Bill

Hi Neil,
I was considering your new book Odd and the Frost Giants. Before I started working in my current job I would have thought 'Odd' an amusing name for a character because of its meaning in the English language.

However, I now work for a company that employs a lot of Norwegians and there is many a person named Odd amongst them, including the wonderfully named Odd Erik Stangeland.

What made you choose 'Odd' for your character? (Incidently I did a quick search for Odd and found that its etymological meaning could be from Old Norse {oddr}, meaning 'point of a sword (weapon)' - I wonder how it came to mean what it does in modern english...)
Regards
Cameron
Aberdeen, Scotland

As you say. Actually the book begins,

There was a boy called Odd, and there was nothing strange or unusual about that, not in that time or place. Odd meant the tip of a blade, and it was a lucky name.

He was odd though. At least, the other villagers thought so. But if there was one thing that he wasn't, it was lucky.

His father had been killed during a sea-raid, two years before, when Odd was ten. It was not unknown for people to get killed in sea-raids, but his father wasn't killed by a Scotsman, dying in glory in the heat of battle as a Viking should. He had jumped overboard to rescue one of the stocky little ponies that they took with them on their raids as pack animals.

billingsgate language

This is how Chapter 3 of Odd and the Frost Giants begins...

Odd had imagined that the side of salmon would feed him for a week or more. But bears and foxes and eagles all, he discovered, eat salmon, and feeding them was the least he could do to thank them for seeing him home. They ate until the fish was all gone, but only Odd and the eagle seemed satisfied with their portions. The fox and the bear both looked like they were still hungry.

“We'll find more food tomorrow,” said Odd. “Sleep now.”

The animals stared at him. He walked over to the straw mattress, and climbed onto it. It didn't smell like his father at all, he realised, as he sat down on it, as he placed the crutch carefully against the wall, to pull himself up when he woke. It just smelled like straw. Odd closed his eyes, and he was asleep.

Dreams of darkness, of flashes, of moments, nothing he could hold onto, nothing that comforted him. And then into the dream a booming gloomy voice that said,

“It wasn't my fault.”

And a higher voice, bitterly amused, that said, “Oh, right. I told you not to go pushing that tree down. You just didn't listen.”

“I was hungry. I could smell the honey. You don't know what it was like, smelling that honey. It was better than mead. Better than roasted goose.” And then, the gloomy voice, so bass it made Odd's stomach vibrate, changed its tone. “And you, of all people, don't need to go blaming people. It's because of you we're in this mess.”

“I thought we had a deal. I thought we weren't going to keep harping on about a trivial little mistake...”

“You call this trivial?”

And then a third voice, high and raw, which screeched, “Silence.”

There was silence. Odd rolled over. There was a glow from the fire-embers, enough to see the inside of the hut, enough to confirm to Odd that there were not another three people in there with him. It was just him and the fox and the bear and the eagle...

I wonder if they eat people, thought Odd. Whatever they are.

He sat up in the bed, leaned against the wall. The bear and the eagle both ignored him. The fox darted him a green-eyed glance.

“You were talking,” said Odd.

The animals looked at Odd and at each other. If they did not actually say “Who? Us?” it was there in their expressions, in the way they held themselves.

“Somebody was talking,” said Odd. “And it wasn't me. There isn't anyone else in here. That means it was you lot. And there's no point in arguing.”

“We weren't arguing,” said the bear. “Because we can't talk.” Then it said, “Oops.”

The fox and the eagle glared at the bear, who put a paw over his eyes and looked ashamed of himself.

Odd sighed. “Which one of you wants to explain what's going on?” he said.

“Nothing,” said the fox, brightly. “Just a few talking animals. Nothing to worry about. Happens every day. We'll be out of your hair first thing in the morning.”

The eagle fixed Odd with its one good eye. Then it turned to the fox. “Tell!”

The 30 Second scary story will be broadcast on the 27th of October on Weekend America. If you don't get NPR you should be able to listen to it -- and many other things -- at http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/.

I finished the first typed draft of Odd and the Frost Giants tonight. It's 14,000 words long, more or less, which makes it (I think) a novelette. I've sent it to a few people to read, and tomorrow I'll read it myself, and scribble on the printouts and change things, and wonder if it works or not, and try and make it work better.

Here's a link to Guillermo Del Tor and the lovely Selma Blair talking about Death: http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6447

The just-as-lovely-as-Selma-Blair Colleen Doran has re-inked her chapter of A Game of You in Absolute Sandman Volume 2, and you can see what the same page looks like in the two different versions over at http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4192671.html. Also Colleen put up a couple of pages of Sandman #20 pencils at http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4192671.html.

Someone sent me a link to a film that was meant to be H.P. Lovecraft talking in 1933, which just made me want to take everyone involved in creating it aside and show them interview films from that period, and make them really listen to the kind of questions that were asked back then and the way that they were answered. You can date interviews in seconds, in the same way you can date old commercials, or old TV shows. (I watched the first couple of episodes of The Tomorrow People with Maddy recently. We were a couple of minutes in when she said "This is the Seventies, right?") It was a good idea, but the joy of faking period stuff has to be getting the tone of voice and the tiny details right, because they make everything else work.

I clicked on the next YouTube link along, which turned out to be me talking about the Necronomicon, and why I want mine to have been signed by the author...



Right. Bed now.

The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it's about and why you're doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising ("but of course that's why he was doing that, and that means that...") and it's magic and wonderful and strange.

You don't live there always when you write. Mostly it's a long hard walk. Sometimes it's a trudge through fog and you're scared you've lost your way and can't remember why you set out in the first place.

But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything.

No, it's not quite finished, but I don't mind right now, and I suspect that I can persuade my publisher to wait another couple of days. It's alive, and a real book, even if it's a short one and I cannot wait to get back to it.

....

The Hype Machine is a wonderful music discovery engine and internet music channel, and I've loved using it ever since I learned it on the Fabulist. Now, as you learn from the latest Fabulist posting, it's going to take 10,000 of us leaving the Hype machine window open to launch the new version of Hype Machine. They have about 1800 people right now, so if you wouldn't mind going to http://hypem.com/new and not closing the window I'd be very grateful. Thank you.

You may want to point these out, for those of us in the UK who haven't already spotted it.

Making of Stardust (Documentary)

Time - 14:20 - 14:50 (30 minutes long)

When - Sunday 14th October on five

A behind-the-scenes look at the new film Stardust, which stars Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Also - Film 2007 with Jonathan Ross is at 23.05 on Tuesday 16th, on BBC, and includes reviews of Stardust...


Consider it posted. And the Daily Mirror are giving away Stardust CD Roms (do not ask me what is on them for I do not know) - details at http://www.mirror.co.uk/2007/10/12/free-stardust-cd-rom-89520-19940921/

And I am still posting links to things instead of writing interesting things in the blog, because I am still somewhere in the hell that's either Chapter 5 or Chapter 6 of THIS DAMNED BOOK which seems determined to be longer than it was meant to be. (You're not a novel, I tell it. You're not even a novella. You're a novelette. And you're due in on Monday. But the story merely laughs and stretches ominously and I have no idea what this bloody pool is doing in the middle of the forest.)

Read Josh Olsen, and know that nothing on the Internet is true. http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/the-life-and-death-of-jesse-james/17427/

And here's Laura Miller on the Charles Schulz biography.

Not a lot to report. I flew Virgin to Tokyo -- I had fond memories of Virgin Upper Class from about a decade ago, when I flew once it to LA and found it spacious and pleasant and really nice. It's nowhere near as good as it was back then, but the seats turn into all-the-way-flat beds, and that on its own is wonderful.

Less impressed when I realised, when I got off the plane, that one of the bottles of Talisker I'd bought in duty free as presents for my Japanese hosts (given the Skye connection with Stardust it seemed appropriate) was no longer in the duty free bag. I hope whoever wound up with it enjoys it.

I worked on Odd and the Frost Giants on the plane, typing up stuff that was handwritten. Odd is a slim book I'm writing -- a novelette, I guess -- that will be published for World Book Day 2008.

(I lost the notebook [left it on the plane from China to Amsterdam, en route to Budapest] that had the next chapter handwritten in it. So, having no other option, I'll shrug and write it again. Mostly it was just the fox talking and the bear interrupting anyway.)

Arrived in Tokyo and had the smoothest experience walking through any airport I've ever had -- passport, baggage, everything was simply ready as I got there, and I was out of the airport before the plane was even meant to land.

I was introduced to my people at UIP Japan, and put in a car with my driver and my security person (I have a security person here) while the UIP people followed in a minibus. And then I got to the hotel...

If you ever saw the film ANNIE, the bit where she arrives at the Warbucks Estate and is introduced to everyone while walking through the building, that was what it was like arriving in my hotel. I tumbled out of the car and was swept inside a tide of people into the hotel, led by the general manager while shaking hands with er... everyone, or that was how it seemed... and soon found myself in the most beautiful hotel room I think I've ever been in (and I have been in many lovely hotel rooms around the world), with a view over Tokyo that's astonishing. The hotel has only been open for about two weeks, and it still has that new-carpet smell. The hotel room doesn't feel like anyone's stayed in here before. I was shown how to work things, and I needed to be shown -- it's the HAL 2000 of hotel rooms, with all sorts of strange technological innovations hidden away. The toilet seats that rise to greet you when you nervously open an unmarked door to see what's in there are the least of it.

(Having a panda on my lap was better than this hotel room. But as hotel rooms go, it's the best. It has an old telescope too, for looking at the stars, or at the scenery, or something.)

I checked the schedule -- the 43 interviews I was doing in two days has shrunk to a slightly more manageable 37. The Kadokawa event on Friday night should be enormously fun, presuming that I can still remember by then a) who I am and b) how to sign my name.

Today I get to recover, but plan instead to go out to Studio Ghibli and pay my respects there, something I've wanted to do since they first invited me, when I was working on Princess Mononoke, all those years ago.