Ballad by Maggie Stiefater

I recently read a novel about a werewolf, Shiver by Maggie Steifvater, and it was one of the most original werewolf stories I have read in a very long time. The characters were realistic and although the novel is steeped in the supernatural, it was not far fetched or difficult to relate to. One of my favorite aspects of the novel is the writing. I am a big fan good writing and language usage and Shiver did not let me down at all. The language was both rich and lyrical and made me truely believe that each word was chosen with careful consideration. My enjoyment of Shiver has lead me to read Maggie Stiefvater's other novel, Lament. Lament is a wonderful novel that invokes many of the classical literary themes; right and wrong, good vs. evil, love and friendship, and the art of growing up to name a few. I have already suggested both of these novels to friends and will continue to do so because of the mastery of story telling and language present within these two novels. Both novels are awaiting sequels, one of which I have posted a link to. I am very excited to read the next instalments! Here is a teaser from Maggie Steifvater herself from the upcomming sequel Ballad.
Here's the teaser:




He turned towards me. For a long moment, he stood facing me. I was held, anchored to the ground – not by his music, which still called and pushed against the music already in my head and said grow rise follow – but by his strangeness. By his fingers, spread over the ground, holding something into the earth, by his shoulders, squared in a way that spoke of strength and unknowability, and most of all, by the great, thorny antlers that grew from his head, spanning the sky like branches.

Then he was gone, and I missed his going in the instant that the sun fell off the edge of the hill, abandoning the world to twilight.

Graphic Novels and Manga: Literature or Not?

I recently finished the Death Note series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata . It spans twelve volumes and has inspired two live-action movies and a television series that now airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It is an exciting series with hints of mystery and twists around every corner. The summary as described on the back cover says, "Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and bored out of his mind! But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal... or his life?" I read them non-stop for hours on end and talked about them excitedly with anyone who would listen. After one such discussion with my fiance', Asia, she turned and asked me, "Do you think graphic novels and manga count as literature?" I stopped dead in the middle of my thought process; I had no response. So today I plan to explore that question.

Literature, according to Merriam-Webster, is defined as: "writings in prose or verse; especially : writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest." With that in mind, let us continue. I have read a few graphic novels, but I have read more manga over the years. A short list includes; Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher, Wanted by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, World of Warcraft Legends, Death Note, and Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama. I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman and I plan to read his Sandman series, but that will cost a large chunk of money I don't have right now. People may think that these types of books are just anthologies of comic strips, but I believe they are much more than that. Well, here's the rub. Graphic novels (or manga) can vary wildly in quality of verse and in my opinion only some can be considered literature. That's not to say that they don't effectively tell a story. The fact is, some of these books are more reliant on their words and some rely on the pictures to move the plot along. A book series such as Legends is composed of short stories by various authors and those authors are paired up with prominent artists. These stories rely on the words of the authors and the artists interpretations of those words. But the stories are only as good as the author who wrote them. No matter how good the artwork is, a bad story with fundamentally flawed elements is not literature because it is not "excellent in form or expression."

Then there is a series like Death Note. By the time I reached the fifth book in the series I stopped looking at the pictures and just read the captions. They are well written and deal with very mature themes. I believe that the author effectively illustrated a message of universal importance and that they should be classified as literature. Therefore the literary merit of these books should be decided on a case by case basis by the reading audience. If children's books can be considered literature there is no reason why graphic novels can't be. Authors and illustrators work very hard at what they do. When they choose to combine pictures with written words they should not be discredited for doing so. However, people should not rely on illustrations entirely. It is important to make your own mental images of the stories in order to exercise your imagination and practice your wordcraft.

The Mortal Instruments Movies!

Just announced less than five minutes ago- The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare will be adapted to the Siver Screen. There will also be a fourth installment (March 2011) and graphic novel adaptations for all the books. Making graphic novels of popular books seems to be a fad right now since Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, the Twilight Series and Melissa Marr's books are all on the list for graphic novel remakes. I have no idea what the sucess of the graphic novel remakes will be. There isn't much stir over the waves right now about it. Movie adaptations on the other hand is a different story all together. With the success of the Twilight series franchise, no doubt more popular YA novel adaptations will be hitting the big screen. If it's YA (with a PG13 rating), has vampires, faeries, demons or deliciously hot antagonists, you bet your multimillion dollar production company that we will be seeing movie trailers in the near future.

Thank You, Maria V. Snyder!

I would like to say a big thank you to Maria V Snyder for sending me a signed copy of her novel Poison Study. It is incredibly generous of her to send me a beautifully signed copy for recommending her novel. I was only too happy to recommend her books to everyone I know! Maria V Snyder is a wonderful writer and I find her books to be just brilliant! I would like to encourage anyone who is a fan of fantasy and especially a fan of strong, female characters, to read the Study Series. The Study Series is comprised of three novels and each are equally fantastic. I can personally testify that this series will keep you not only entertained, but thinking about it long after you've read the last page.


Poison Study centers on a strong willed, female character named Yelena who is imprisoned for murder. BY some impossible miracle, Yelena is given a choice and a second chance. But is becoming the food taster for Ixia's ruler a new start or a prolonged execution sentence? Yelena's journey from prisoner, to poison taster, to hero is full of emotion, action and of course romance. Maria V Snyder is a master world builder but the characters she has created bring the world to life; even the minor characters sparkle and add vibrancy to the realm within the Study Series. Maria V Snyder has managed to write a great fantasy series that is sure to captivate fantasy readers and fiction readers alike because of her ability to make a magical world feel so realistic. If you would like to purchase Poison Study, or the Study Series in its entirety , (Which I strongly suggest you do!) click on the picture above.

As a side note- Cassandra Clare is holding a reading and signing in the Bryant Park Reading Room Saturday, August 22. According to her website (www.cassandraclare.com), she will be making very special announcements. I am sure that one of the announcements will be about her new series The Infernal Devices, especially the release date. I am also predicting that Cassandra Clare is planning on announcing a movie deal for The Mortal Instruments series. This is just my opinion, but who doesn't want to see a live action Jace? *Sigh*

Ponyo- The Rise of Studio Ghibli in America

If you've gone to the movies lately you might have noticed a movie called Ponyo. The movie poster reads: "Walt Disney presents a Studio Ghibli Film. Probably more than a few Americans are wondering, "Who is studio Ghibli?" Studio Ghibli was created in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. They produce anime movies and a lot of them have broken box office records in Japan. They have a small cult following in America that is growing rapidly. Don't let the term anime scare you away from these movies. They are essentially just cartoons. But, don't think that cartoons are just for kids. These movies are for people of all ages and the older you are the more you may appreciate them. In fact the Miyazaki film Grave of the Fireflies deals with some very adult themes. The soundtracks, composed by Joe Hisaishi, are amazing and will make you feel like you are there onscreen with the characters. The voice acting for the English dubbed versions are top-notch and include actors like Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Miley Cyrus, Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and many more. Everyone should see these Studio Ghibli movies. My first Miyazaki film was Howl's Moving Castle. It's about a young girl named Sophie who is cursed by a witch and as a result becomes an elderly lady. She then seeks refuge with the notorious wizard, Howl, and his fire demon Calcifer. She begins an adventure that spans several kingdoms in order to break the curse. You can get this movie from Amazon.com by clicking here. (If you choose to buy these movies be careful of the DVD collection sets. Studio Ghibli has not officially released a box movie set.) This particular film is based on the the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones and is very faithful to the storyline and especially represents the characters well. To get the original book experience you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here. We highly recommend using Amazon.com for their low prices, speedy delivery, and free shipping. I went to purchase a book recently that cost $39.99 at my local bookstore and instead purchased it from Amazon for $16.99!

Back to the heart of the matter. It's time to remove the glamour and uncover the wordcraft of Studio Ghibli and its new movie Ponyo. Obviously Miyazaki is not afraid to base a movie on a book, as seen in the case of Howl's Moving Castle as I mentioned above. So what are the roots of this film. As it turns out the concept of Ponyo is based on Disney's The Little Mermaid (do you see the pattern yet?). You're probably saying to yourself, "That's another movie!" Yes it is, but be patient. The fact is that the movie version of The Little Mermaid is adapted from a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. You can find the story online here. Or, if you prefer to have a hard copy, you can buy the complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen and find out for yourself that a lot of your favorite TV shows and movies are based off of his works.
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who lived from 1805 to 1875. He wrote over one hundred and fifty children's stories that have been translated into many languages. He was the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman and grew up in Funen, Denmark. Before his father died when he was eleven, he would take young Hans to the local theatre to nurture his creative side. He led a fairly succesful life and was even friends with Charles Dickens. Almost 200 years later Hans Christian Andersen's wordcraft continues to live on and, in this case, may even make Studio Ghibli a household name as big as Disney itself.

Reading: The Original Virtual Reality

First post! In order to lay the foundation for this blog Asia and I have decided to dig up one of our favorite Live Science articles. When you read, you may think that your brain is just processing words and archiving thoughts, but it is doing much more than that. Scientists are finding connections between reading words and experiencing actions. For example, if you read the word "jump" the part of your brain that tells you to jump is activated. The article can be found here. If you have ever felt the heat of dragon's fire, the weightlesness of space, or the freedom of flight; you have been ensorcelled by wordcraft. Caveat Lector!