Awesome book cover Friday: The Warded Man
This week’s selection is The Warded Man (also called The Painted Man) by Peter V. Brett, part one in a fantasy series and first published in 2008.
Brett’s series features some cool international covers. Check out the ones for the US, Germany, Portugal, and Estonia below.
Which one is your favorite? I love the German design, but I can’t get over how awesome Portugal’s is!
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Microsoft gives $300 million to Barnes & Noble to fund new Nook subsidiary
Technology is expensive.
Microsoft recently granted Barnes & Noble $300 million to form a subsidiary dedicated entirely to the Nook. The Redmond-based corporation will have a 17.6 stake in the division, temporarily called “Newco,” which also incorporates B&N’s college textbook business.
The partnership is unexpected, since the companies were previously engaged in a lawsuit over supposed patent infringements associated with the e-reader. Their shared investment in Newco puts that feud to rest.
Perhaps Microsoft is considering its own agenda: “Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them,” Andy Lees, president of Microsoft, said. “We’re on the cusp of a revolution in reading.”
These days, e-readers are doing a lot more than storing books—they’re becoming multi-purpose devices, and that’s causing them to rise in price. The Nook Tablet, B&N’s most expensive model, costs $199. Compare that with the basic Nook Simple Touch, which is now priced at $79. Amazon offers a similar price range—the same at its lowest and highest ends, actually.
How much are you willing to pay for an e-reader, and how important are multimedia features to you? Reading will always be my top priority with these devices, but I do occasionally salivate over the glowing, full-color screens of better models.
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Still flying, still stylish in affordable boots, still helping the helpless: a review of Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion
As you might guess from that mouthful of a title, Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion* spans the creator’s biggest productions and a number of smaller topics, such as his foray into comic books and his (returning) screenwriting days. It’s also a mammoth book. A good whack with this thing will knock a vampire right out.
Anyone who plucks down $18.95 or less will be getting exactly what they pay for: a whole lot of Joss Whedon, presented as a series of essays … after essay … after essay. The Complete Companion isn’t serious, dry-as-sand academic writing, but it is formatted that way, and that sensibility shows in some pieces more than others. You’ll likely fluctuate from bored to fascinated with each new read. Whatever your interest level or preference of writing (occasionally you’ll encounter an essay that’s bogged down with verbose and weighty language), the book caters to a variety of tastes and topics.
The Complete Companion covers it all: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Serenity, the comics (including ones you might not have read), Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, and finally Whedon’s films (counting those that came before he was famous). It’s a lot of reading, but even seasoned fans will learn some new insight or secret from behind the scenes.
But be warned: This book is laden with spoilers. If there’s absolutely anything you haven’t seen to completion but plan to, skip the entire section and return to it later. The editor didn’t censor the plentiful essays, so there’s no avoiding discussion of crucial scenes, characters, and plot points.
Luckily for me, I’ve already exposed myself to most of Whedon’s work, so I could handle the contents. Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion is a deeper look at the world of Whedon, but for the fan, it’s strictly post-show and movie-watching/comics-reading material.
*This book was provided for honest review courtesy of publisher Titan Books.
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Awesome book cover Friday: Perchance to Dream
This week’s featured cover is Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev, the second book in her Theatre Illuminata series.
It’s a teen book for ages 12 and up that tells a story of “romance, magic, adventure, and fairies.”
I love illustrated covers, how about you?
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A call for comics! April’s pick of the month
As some of you have probably guessed, I’m a big reader of books … and that includes comics! The good thing about comics is that not only are they a fantastic medium for prose and visual storytelling combined, but they’re also much easier to get into than you might think. There’s something for all tastes.
While we can’t always read the same books at the same time (read-alongs are a nice idea, but they’re up there with book clubs: not always practical), we can read the same comics on a regular basis. They’re not as much of a time sink. That’s why I wanted to reach out to my fellow lovers of comics and anyone who’s interested in learning more about them with this proposal: What are your favorite series currently on sale? Recommend them to me! And would you like my suggestions? Together we can expand our familiarity with genres and talented writers and artists.
Before you say no, keep in mind that you don’t have to understand decades of a comic’s history to enjoy it—and not every series has years to its name. New books are always coming out, and for the ones that have been on shelves longer, many writers make “cannon” a very accessible, non-scary word. Plus, you can now buy comics digitally as well as in print (if you can find a local comic shop).
I’d even be up for discussion! What do you say?
My first pick is THE LI’L DEPRESSED BOY from publisher Image Comics. “LDB,” as he’s called for short, isn’t so much a boy as he is a young adult who doesn’t fit in. The comic is an accurate depiction of the shyness and self-doubt that accompanies cases of depression. “What,” you say, “like the mental illness?” Yes! Comics deal with real life issues! Awesome, right? Even the fantastical can be grounded in the realistic … not that every comic is unrealistic.
Everything seems to go wrong for LDB when he’s at his lowest, and for anyone who’s ever been down, you know that when one bad thing happens, it seems like your whole world starts to fall apart. Although LDB might not always feel included, he’s surrounded by people who care about him—and a few people who don’t quite understand his needs, like his crush Jazmin, who seemed to reciprocate that affection until she revealed she had a boyfriend.
One of the major recurring themes in LI’L DEPRESSED BOY is music, which can be used to enhance any situation. Sometimes we see LDB listening and then leaving a crowd. Other times music is a source of empowerment and positivity. The language of music is very personal, especially for LDB, and a good many of us are familiar with the contrasting effects music can have on mood.
For me, the most singular aspect about LDB is that he is literally a blank slate—a doll figure without any remarkable features. For a depressed character like LDB, that self-reflective attribute is spot-on. Credit to artist Sina Grace for making it so visually convincing.
What do you think? Have you read LI’L DEPRESSED BOY before? Would you like to? Let me know in the comments whether you’re interested in more of these features and if you’d like to join the conversation. Feel free to hop over to the digital service ComiXology to make a purchase.
LI’L DEPRESSED BOY #10 hit stands yesterday, on Wednesday—new comics day!
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A hearty snack: spring vegetable and goat cheese dip
Yesterday I made a great appetizer: spring vegetable and goat cheese dip. I forgot to snap a picture (not that my dish came out quite as presentable as the one in Bon Appétit Magazine), but you can find the recipe online.
Here’s a quick rundown of my experience making the dip:
Since I’m slow, I didn’t bother preheating the oven until I was most of the way through mixing the ingredients. Like the recipe advises, I started by preparing the 3/4″ asparagus pieces. Then I focused on everything else. I couldn’t find mild white cheddar cheese at the grocery store, so I substituted monterey jack. The only other ingredients I left out were the peas, mint, and parsley. I think peas are gross, and others seemed too minor to justify spending extra money on.
My changes didn’t make much difference—the dip was absolutely delicious, although it didn’t turn out as golden-brown as I would have liked and the remaining goat cheese (sprinkled on top before putting the dip in the oven) didn’t melt very well even after 20 minutes.
I made this dip for four people and served it with pieces of baguette. It went fast! 
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Awesome book cover Friday: The Hobbit
Why Cabin in the Woods wasn’t scary
Okay, so this post has only a little bit to do with books. Right now I’m reading a collection that examines the accomplished career of Joss Whedon—you know him as the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse, to name a handful. Shortly after I received the book, I went to see The Cabin in the Woods, a horror movie co-written by Whedon and Drew Goddard, who contributed to some of Whedon’s work in the past.
Imagine the supernatural “scares” of Buffy, add in a lot more humor and less camp (no singing vampires here), and you’ve got Cabin in the Woods. I had planned on waiting until my review of the Joss Whedon book to talk about the movie, but necessity calls: When someone writes an article as misleading as the one at Vulture.com, it demands a counter-response.
First off, the title: “Why Wasn’t Cabin in the Woods Scary?” I hoped the article was going to educate those who were missing the point because they were disappointed over the movie’s real nature (non-stop funny, smart, well-characterized—the list goes on, but “scary” isn’t on it), but instead the writers used it as a soap box to discuss what the movie allegedly did wrong … thus missing the point themselves.
(Warning: contains spoilers)
