Blood,Sweat and Books

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly blog post hosted by  Breaking The Spine  where readers showcase which books they are highly anticipating. This week I'm turning my spotlight on Shadowshaper by   Daniel José Older. Expected Publication:  June 30th 2015 from Arthur A. Levine Books Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra's near-comatose abuelo begins to say "No importa" over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep.... Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on. Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order's secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wan

Manga Monday is a new feature to the blog which will be replacing (or at least existing alongside) Book to Movie Monday. Although I don't talk about them much on the blog, I am actually a huge, huge fan of Anime, Manga's, Graphic Novels and Comics. This feature will sort of be a catch all for all of the above. Some weeks I might just showcase a title, others I might talk about an artist or even (least here's hoping) feature an interview or two. We'll just sort of roll with the punches together. Sound good? As you watch, read or play Japanese games and anime you'll probably start to notice that the same types of character archetypes pop up time and time again. The most commonly used archetypes among these are known as the “deres”: tsundere, kuudere, dandere, and yandere. The term “dere” comes from the Japanese word “deredere” (デレデレ) which roughly translated means to be lovey dovey or lovestruck.  By combining this word with other words, we get these new

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly blog post hosted by  Breaking The Spine  where readers showcase which books they are highly anticipating. This week I'm turning my spotlight on The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy.  Expected Publication:  April 14, 2015 from Grand Central Publishing In Benjamin Percy's new thriller, a post-apocalyptic reimagining of the Lewis and Clark saga, a super flu and nuclear fallout have made a husk of the world we know. A few humans carry on, living in outposts such as the Sanctuary-the remains of St. Louis-a shielded community that owes its survival to its militant defense and fear-mongering leaders.  Then a rider comes from the wasteland beyond its walls. She reports on the outside world: west of the Cascades, rain falls, crops grow, civilization thrives. But there is danger too: the rising power of an army that pillages and enslaves every community they happen upon.  Against the wishes of the Sanctuary, a small group sets out in secrecy

Manga Monday is a new feature to the blog which will be replacing (or at least existing alongside) Book to Movie Monday. Although I don't talk about them much on the blog, I am actually a huge, huge fan of Anime, Manga's, Graphic Novels and Comics. This feature will sort of be a catch all for all of the above. Some weeks I might just showcase a title, others I might talk about an artist or even (least here's hoping) feature an interview or two. We'll just sort of roll with the punches together. Sound good? So, what is a Manga? Well, in short, it's a comic style created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.  Manga stories are typically printed in black-and-white (although full-color manga certainly exist) and they happen to be read back to front instead of the typical western style being front to back. If you'd like to know more, I highly suggest checking out A Brief His

I know a few of you have probably been wondering where I've been? Don't worry, I haven't quit blogging, I've just been busy. However, I have been working on two new features which will be replacing (for the time being) Trailer Tuesday and Book To Movie Monday (starting next week). That doesn't mean I'll be giving either of those features up but that I just needed a break from both because it's hard finding things to showcase that I want to either watch and read or share out to you all. Since I have the next two days off of work, I'll be pre-scheduling a bunch of things so I don't fall behind again and also reading a large pile of books that I've acquired in the past few weeks. I guess that's a bit all for now. Let me know in the comments below what you've been reading recently and if it's been good. I need new recommendations! Kristin