Category: Young Adult Fiction

+Blog Book Tour+ Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. Clark #Fantasy taken to the next level!

Posted Thursday, 29 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. Clark

Uncovering Cobbogoth Blog Tour by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media

Published By: Sweetwater Books ( ),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFort)
13 May, 2014
Official Author WebsitesSite | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Available Formats: Paperback
Page Count: 320

Converse via: #UncoveringCobbogoth

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By: The story behind how I was able to read “Uncovering Cobbogoth” is quite a unique story all the way around! Originally, I was selected to be on the blog tour with TLC Book Tours for this novel, but at the last minute I received a cancellation notice. Normally I do not chase after a novel when a blog tour falls through (although I have a few times this Spring 2014!) as I respect that circumstances can change or become altered from what was originally scheduled. However, I felt so strongly in this particular selection I simply had to contact the author on behalf of her personal website & I might have tweeted her as well – I cannot remember the order of events, but I did contact her personally letting her know how much I still believed in the story & on my disappointment of the blog tour cancellation.

Around this point in time I was in contact with one of the publicists I work with on blog tours, Ms. Amber Stokes (her badge is in my sidebar – Editing Through the Seasons) who had lamented via the twitterverse she was enjoying this book but was on tour with it through Cedar Fort! I had not at that point in time heard of or known of Cedar Fort Publishing! Much less realising that another Indie Publisher was organising blog tours for book bloggers! Within a short time frame I had contacted Ms. Clark AND I had contacted Cedar Fort’s blog tour cordinators at no less than four times, as I was trying to read their site & sort out the details for “Uncovering Cobbogoth”, the qualifications as a book blogger seeking a print copy as much as realising they offer more than one blog tour at once! I believe within a 24 hour expanse I had all my bases covered! Including thanking Ms. Stokes profusely for telling me about Cedar Fort initially!

The long short of this story ahead of the review is simply that I was accepted as a late stop on the blog tour, as I had a very short window of being able to receive the book and review it on my blog! I picked one of the last stops as I knew I would need every inch of that time to soak into the world of ‘Cobbogoth’! And, part of me knew this was a special book to request as well! Therefore, I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of “Uncovering Cobbogoth” direct from the publisher Sweetwater Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. This also marks my first blog tour as Hostess for Cedar Fort blog tours as I scheduled a few more throughout Summer!

Inspired to Read:

The very first moment I saw this book title being offered for a blog tour stop via TLC Book Tours, I simply knew after I clicked over to the author’s website that I had stumbled across a piece of magical bliss! When I pulled up the book trailer I even lamented to my tour director, “The book trailer nailed it for me!” It was the combination of the magical world and setting, the lushness of the characters & back-story, and the way in which the mythological arc is carried over and through the book trailer (attached below my book review!) which set my mind afire with the wondrous possibilities that were going to lie in wait for me! The fact that it involved ‘Icelandic’ origins was enough to whet my whistle of electrified joy! The beauty of Iceland is not only its appeal for mythological history nor being on the center-front edge of green technologic advances in science, but it sits on the fringe of adventure, discovery, and of a place rarely opted for a holiday!

I have dreamt of  wandering around the shores and inlets of Iceland for many a moon, and part of me always gets as giddy as a cat when Iceland is featured in documentaries! (if you follow the electric car ones, you know what I am referencing!) There is a pure allure and dynamic for story-tellers to feel captivated and wholly enthused to go to Iceland. From the bottom of my writer’s heart I long to talk to Icelanders about their own organic tradition of story-telling and their enchantment with the world’s story-tellers as Iceland is one of the singularly largest self-contained countries for literary explorers! The country boasts more readers per capita than most other locales on earth! To me if you combine everything we know superficially about Iceland and the bits and bobbles I just shared, wouldn’t you be stoked with a breath of anticipation to read Uncovering Cobbogoth!?

If my enthused opening to my review below is of any countenance, please take a moment to celebrate the wonderfully joyful revelation of a writer on the verge of seeing her book launch to the four winds, land in the loving hands of readers, and electrify her heart with an overwhelming sense of harmony knowing that her story has not only captured our attention but it is a story which has gone out into the world to find new readers & new appreciators of the work she etched into ‘Uncovering Cobbogoth’!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Uncovering Cobbogoth Release Day!! And a HUGE heartfelt THANK YOU!

via Hannah L. Clark

The lovely video which was embedded at the time of this post has been removed.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Hannah L. ClarkBook Synopsis: 

Follow Norah Lukens in her quest to uncover the truth about the fabled lost city of Cobbogoth! After her archaeologist uncle’s murder, Norah is asked to translate his old research journal for evidence and discovers that his murder was a cover-up for something far more sinister. Readers of all ages will be captivated by this tale of mythical beings, elemental magic, and the secrets of a lost city.

Author Biography:

Hannah L. Clark lives with her kinzura and their kynd in Utah. She has always known she would be a storyteller. In 2006 she graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor’s degree in English, and immediately began writing Cobbogoth. Hannah loves running, mythology, laughing, soulful bluegrass music, and growing things. Like Norah, she is slightly inclined to believe that trees have souls. To learn more about Hannah and the Cobbogoth series, visit cobbogoth.com.

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The back-story set in the Cobbogoth series:

I am always intrigued by how each writer of Fantasy elects to give us little nibblements of the back-story as the current one takes shape before our eyes! The inertia of my fingers grasping at the pages awaiting to read what was written next is a good barometer of knowing how well in tune Clark is with gaining her audience’s attention front and center from Chapter 1! There was an emotional turning point where you knew that the lead character was carrying far more than the world on her young shoulders, as I appreciated the symbolism of the Cherry Tree and of the theory of how trees can speak in low whispers if we were only able to believe in their presence in our lives. This is mentioned in the Author Biography, about a kinship between herself and her lead character’s beliefs in the living souls of trees; a theory and belief that I, a reader of Cobbogoth whole-heartedly believe true!

To bridge the extension of this belief and to paint a catalyst of memory for a young orphan’s heart for her unknown Mum was a touching sentiment! I also appreciated seeing the etchings of how friends can be betwixt mere ‘friends’ and ‘something more’ or even ‘as close as family’ as their relationships can alter and change over time apart. There are a lot of hidden insights into how our world can be perceived as we’re living through our ordinary days as much as how we grapple to understand the depths of our connections to the people we care about the most. Clark allows her characters to ‘breathe freely’, to excise their vulnerability, and shed the layers of their innermost thoughts as though carting away a discarded snakeskin. Emotions are always the elements of humanity held the closest to our person and the hardest to ease away from when facing conflict and tragedy.

Her brushstrokes include foreboding flashbacks and a combination of startling truths played out in the form of premonitions and second-sight visions, which besotted Norah to a wrecking level of heightened awareness. Her mind was prepared to handle the onslaught of knowledge she would need to process, but her emotional heart was written in the true scope of her seventeen years. For this, an extra layer of realism was woven into the context of the story. The flashbacks and moments of her enlightenment felt a close kin to ‘living ghosts’ as they faded in and out of recognition as though they were spatially translucent and remembered against will. Within these moments the fuller history of Cobbogoth becomes a living vessel beyond proportion.

My Review of Uncovering Cobbogoth:

Uncovering Cobbogoth by Hannah L. ClarkA mystery is underfoot at the start of Uncovering Cobbogoth, as Norah Lukens has short-term memory loss whilst in transit towards Boston on a commuter bus. The reflection of a stranger’s kindness was a nice touch on behalf of the writer, as it stirred my own memories whilst travelling in my mid to late teens when I too, received welcoming kindnesses by fellow travellers when I needed a bit of aide myself! Including during a cross-country red-eye flight where they did not tell us to expect to pay for in-flight headphones, snacks, and morning necessities in the washroom! A grandmother wrapped me inside a wicked film, heaps of snacks, and just enough peppermint candies and soap to make me feel properly refreshed before the plane landed! Such kindnesses always touch our heart as they arrive in our lives at moments we are not expecting help. In this way, I was swept into the shoes of Norah as soon as she appeared on the page! A nibbling awareness that this is a novel where everything is not yet as it seems would be beneficial to tuck away certain passages for future references!

Norah’s homecoming is forestalled by horrific tragedy jettisoning her onto a course of fated bravery, as she is meant to help the detectives solve the crime she walks-in on whilst expecting a transition from being away from home. Not yet a breath of her eighteenth year is broached before she starts to watch the embers of her life unravell and re-construct a new path for her to tread. The shattering realisation that one-half of her life is now ripped away and gone, whilst the other half remains elusive and unnervingly real at the same time gives her mind an off-balance reality.

As Norah’s emotional state wavers between solid ground and the shattering awareness of how intricate her life thus far has schooled her in what she would need to know to survive the moment ‘after’ her Uncle’s death; nearly puts her past her ability to function. Little pieces of a shifting puzzle float through her internal vortex, as her mind acts more like an automatic processor of information: where it has stored, analysed, and executed a thousand different pathways of knowledge only to be propelled into instantaneous flights of auto-retention! Gifted with a photographic memory and the devouring of ancient languages as though they were in high fashion in today’s age, she is guided by her years as a home-schooled pupil of her Uncle Jack’s. His presence might be taken from her, but his voice is ever present and his wisdom ever apparent.

I appreciated the ‘other world and other kind’ technology introduced into the context of this installment of the series, as I was most fascinated by the use of crystals and stones of having properties outside of their elemental physic natures! Rocks, fossils, gemstones, and all matters of geologic science were another fascination of mine growing up, and to see the protection bracelet (a name I dubbed it as I read!) brought into the story was quite bang-on brilliant! I loved the idea that there is more to the nature of stones than we first give them credit for having! Although anyone who has attended a gem and stone festival, (or a smaller version inside of an Arts & Crafts Fair) will denote that crystals of any size, but generally of medium or larger varieties have a ‘telling presence’, as they give-off a piece of themselves as they sit quietly on a flat surface. Knowing this, I was wholly fascinated by the presence of stones and crystals through the adventure I lived whilst inhabiting the soles of Norah’s shoes!

From the moment Norah first picked up her Uncle’s journals and started to decipher their hidden language contrasted against the flashback memories of a part of Icelandic lore I was not familiar of previously, this particular story has you mesmorised from the first page your turn against your heart’s desire to see it unfold faster! I felt my heart leap wanting to curl inside the story and wander around free of needing to read the words off the page! I felt as though I had finally found my ‘next adventure’ past the Cooper Kids, which made me feel as though I had stepped through the portal and taken up an active role in the story itself! I always wanted to find more books of this nature when I was a young adult myself, but they were always few and far between! Imagine my blissitude in realising I have found another writer who can pen a story that re-ignites the joy I had whilst I was younger?! The contrasting differences between Light & Dark foes keeps you on the edge of your seat, as you never know which is going to shift into view nor which moment Norah is going to finally assemble all the clues she needs to understand her Uncle’s greatest lesson! A riveting jolt through a fraction of what Cobbogoth has to offer us all!

On the style of Clark’s writing:

When the reader has to become aware of how her Uncle Jack’s life was taken from him, she did it with a measured fusion of shocked-horror from the niece’s point-of-view and realistic evidence of a man who was recently murdered. She takes the reader so far to enable the scene to become apparently raw and real, but holds back a bit from making it more than it needed to be as far as the level of intensity. I appreciated her willingness to keep the realism but not forsake the breadth of the genre: YA Fantasy.

Uncovering Cobbogoth is an adventure you know you can handle, but it keeps you suspended between the pages as much as the living story within its chapters is a suspension of time. Science was always a ready interest of mine growing up, as I had half a step inside the worlds of art and science within my childhood hours. I was drawn into the dimensional theories of Quantum Physics as I grew and examined different quantum realms on my own by my early twenties, because of the curiosity they engaged my mind inside. The theory of super-strings, hidden dimensions, black holes, and galaxies hidden within a space of a seed were an exciting read for me! I need to re-take up where I left off as I only just brushed the surface of what I wanted to study, but within that pursuit, I have noticed that the science within science fiction that enlightens my mind the most contains elements and theories woven around the concept of space-time dimensions and/or the continuum. This is not the first foray I have ventured on this year to read a story with time travel or the bending of time (as we see it peripherally) as it’s core center of scientific thought. The Skin Map uses the theory of ley lines whereas Cobbogoth is using the theory of hoption holes. In each of their own ways, they are breaking down a theory of how humans of any age can travel through ‘portals’ within the space-time vortex of dimensional space. And, I personally find that exciting!

Clark has a deft hand for writing the most scientific principles of the novel in a way that is not only easy to digest, but gets you excited to learn more than what has already been provided! The curious illustrations her sister, Ms. Shakespear contributed to the story’s element of past and present gave a visual reference for the sub-stories that draw out the focus on Cobbogoth itself rather than the story set in and around Cobbogoth on a whole!

I would say that due to the nature of the high octane adventure and action sequences, as well as the brief passages of violence which take place as Norah’s life is thwarted by more danger than you could blink through, I do believe the classification of this novel as ‘YA Fantasy’ is rather apt. It would be a great story for a teenager to sink their teeth into because it is on the verge of leaving the formative years behind and entering the world on your own merits. Lessons of courage and fortitude of spirit are organically woven into the texture of the story itself. If you watched the motion picture “The Dark is Rising: The Seeker” you will not have any trouble reading this novel! At some point, I’d like to read the novel the forementioned film is based upon!

After being entranced by the debut of this wicked sweet fantasy series, I can only hope that Book 2 will not only be too far behind Book 1 (I would wait a year or more! The setting is that compelling to return too!), but I am hopeful that at the time of its release I am in plenty of time to join the forthcoming blog tour! This is surely one series I do not want to miss out on continuing the next chapter of the ensuing adventure!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

This Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc.:

Cedar Fort Publishing & Media

Virtual Road Map

of “Uncovering Cobbogoth” Blog Tour:

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Uncovering Cobbogoth Book Trailer OFFICIAL 2014 via Hannah L. Clark

Sadly, the book trailer was removed or marked as private (UPDATE: February, 2022)

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and Cedar Fort badge were provided by Cedar Fort, Inc. and were used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.  The Book Trailer for “Uncovering Cobbogoth” and Hannah L. Clark’s personal video via Hannah L. Clark had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank her for the opportunity to include materials that help introduce readers to her work.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Thursday, 29 May, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, Archaeology, Atlantians (Atlantis), Blog Tour Host, Boston, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Dogrils, Earthen Magic, Elementalists, Equality In Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Good vs. Evil, Hyperborean (Hyperborea), Iceland, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Life Shift, Light vs Dark, Mythological Societies, Paleontology, Romance Fiction, School Life & Situations, Science Fantasy, Shapeshifters, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, TLC Book Tours, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

#ArmChairBEA (2014) : Jorie’s attending her *first!* #bookblogger extension of the Book Expo America! Thus, this is her Introduction!

Posted Monday, 26 May, 2014 by jorielov 26 Comments

ArmChairBEA 2014
Design Credit: by Amber of Shelf Notes

Jorie’s first #ArmChairBEA,

can you sense the excitement!?

As this wicked sweet badge will imply, I am not merely participating! in my very first #ArmchairBEA, but I am an officially a member of the C H E E R L E A D E R team (#4! Captain: Shannon @ The Most Happy Reader) as a C H E E R R E A D E R! Perfect fit, if you ask me! As I was inspired to create the hashtag “#bookcheerleader after conversing with Tif ahead of the event itself! Since then, I was inspired to create a new ‘twitterverse’ identity via creating my own badge via Canva off the inspiring collective which makes up #StoryDam! (one of the weekly Twitter chats I like to duck-in on! all of them are threaded through the List I curate on Twitter except my own #ChocLitSaturdays – the tag is in my Profile & the archived chats are alighting on my blog!) Leading into the event, I happily celebrated my parents 40th Anniversary, which was filled with surprises on both sides, as I was the one who knew that each of my parents was conspiring to surprise the other in a way that they did not want the other to discover! Laughs. It was a pure blast for me, except a bit tricky at times as they would each come to me to check on something within mere seconds or minutes of the other leaving! I was tickled to peaches seeing how the end result turnt out to be one of the best Anniversaries! Not a bad way to begin the #ArmChairBEA than in a sea of lovely joy! Likewise, the ‘Monday’ this wicked event kicks-off is Memorial Day stateside, which means right after I post this lovely Intro Note I’m off for hot dogs & ice cream! Not a bad way to start the week, eh!? I wonder how everyone else is starting Monday!?

When I return I will be blogging up a storm, digging into my duties as a #CheerReader, as well as donning my cape of bubbliness as I gather the routes through the book blogosphere and alight on each of the lovely bloggers who are adding their links to the linky! I cannot wait to start meeting everyone and getting settled into spreading the joy of blogging whilst we celebrate the book during #ArmChairBEA! I can only imagine how wicked lovely it will be for those who can attend the BEA in person this year! I am most esteemed to find all the lovely bookish souls I’ve interacted with or crossed paths with since I started my blog are also taking an active role this year:

 An Introduction : of Jorie

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? Where in the world are you blogging from?

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment.

You can read more about on under “My Bookish Life”. I am a Creative Dyslexic Writer who created Jorie Loves A Story on 31.March.2013 (blogoversary!), launched to the public on 6.August.2013 (blog birthday!), and sync’d to Twitter on 13.November.2013! As I curate Jorie Loves A Story as a labour of love, I elected to become active on two fronts: the book blogosphere (carrying on the joy I had found prior to creating my book blog!) AND the twitterverse! For this reason, I am exclusively only active in these social media portals! I do not cross-post my reviews either, as I feel that the main reason I wanted to create my blog was to have a place to write a heap of breadth and depth about the books I am choosing to read & share with my readership. I am not a traditional book reviewer in that sense! For more information on what I am hinting at please read: Jorie Loves A Story : an Introduction.

I am blogging from America, in the Southeast corner of the United States. I am a Southern Book Blogger who longs to relocate where blissful Wintry snow greets you after Autumn and Summer’s wrath does not include fierce tornadoes and hurricanes! I’d like to breathe in the joy of grey overcast skies which linger far longer than the ones I have now, and where being outside is a blissful treat year round rather than a ‘blink of an eye’ hiatus between Summer & Summer!

A great re-cap of my first thirty days as a book blogger was written with the idea of it being a monthly feature! I was not able to keep that promise to myself, but I am in the process of resuming where I left off, as I love looking back on what I have accomplished as much as seeing how everything came together!

Describe your blog in just one sentence. Then, list your social details — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. — so we can connect more online.

My blog is comprehensive, joyful, and full of heart with honest in-depth reviews which I hope resonate my observations as I read each book.

The best way to stay in touch with me is to click-over to my About.Me page* (linked to my Twitter profile & top of my blog’s sidebar), as I curate the links which allow you to stay in touch with me, on top of the latest posts for Jorie Loves A Story, as well as knowing how to find me on Twitter.

(*) a few years later I developed a landing page: Jorie Loves Bookish Blogs to replace my ‘About Me’ page.

What was your favorite book read last year? What’s your favorite book so far this year?

I will simplify this to what was the ‘best book’ I’ve read within the last few days!? As I have the tendency to appreciate a heap of books I read per year, and I am never able to quite narrow down the books to a list of 10, much less narrow it down to a selection of one! Therefore, over the past week I was introduced to two wickedly dynamic story-telling styles: the first was a genre-bender where you were placed inside the world of ‘comic-fantasy’ where superheroes of the age I adore were jettisoned into a sweet new (epic level!) fantasy! Giving us “Awesome Jones“! The author stopped by to give the impression of how her genre-bender was writ as well! I will be sharing an antidote of an experience whilst I was out and about towne when I broached the subject to my parents and had an unexpected conversation with a fellow superhero appreciator! Likewise, on the complete opposite spectrum of literature in the historical fiction branch, I soaked so vividly into the time of Hatshepsut I nearly had trouble re-adjusting back into our time continuum! And, as you will find this is the precise reason I am passionate about reading and book blogging! I love discovering authors and their stories which take us to whole new worlds of realistic thought and observation! Awesome Jones gave me a reason to vie for a cape and Hatshepsut (Daughter of the Gods) instilled an awareness of how she inspired Cleopatra & Elizabeth I to know they could rule as women! And, to me that is why we all should read! We read to give us an understanding of what we can only imagine, and endear us towards empathy for everything that deserves a deeper scope of thought! We give our hearts to the page, and the inked spilt words give us the joy of transporting to different timescapes and realities as we drink through the words left behind by their writers! There is such a beautiful circle between the writer who creates the story and the reader who consumes the words and carries the characters off the page!

What is your favorite blogging resource?

First and foremost, I cannot empathsis enough how much I love! being a WordPress blogger! As far as blogging on WP.com NOT through WP.org / self-hosted blog platforms! I have looked into self-hosting and realised that WP.com will happily be able to take care of my needs a book blogger for a very long time yet to come! I love the ease of maintaining my blog and the few bits of ‘extra help’ I would like to give a shout-out of gratitude to the following:

  • Ravven – is the lovely artistic soul who created my blog’s identity through the creation of my blog’s badge & banner!
  • Squeesome Designs – created the lovely badges which bespeak of coffee, libraries, & reading! As well as the “green banners” in my sidebar!
  • Parajunkee Designs – created the blog headers per post, such as “Book Review”, “Author Interview”, etc. As well as post lovelies like those on this post!
  • Fun Stuff for Your Blog by Pure Imaginationcreated the blog dividers which I simply adore!
  • Grab My Button – offers a way to place code on your blog for people to save your blog’s badge!
  • PicMonkey – my preference for creating collages & other badges when I am not using Canva! Originally I used FotoFlexer.
  • FeedPress – I used to pay a small fee for FeedBlitz, then gave it up. I just recently found FeedPress & love it more!
  • Book Blogging (Database)  – for networking with book bloggers!
  • Lianne @ Caffeinated Life & Hannah @ Once Upon a Time were mentors to me as a newbie blogger!

What book would you love to see as a movie?

Again, this is always a tricky question for me to answer but I think I will go with a Magical Realism choice and say, “The Golem and the Jinni“!!

The best bit to know about Jorie, is that she is a girl who loves to converse about the books she reads & discovers,… she truly does live up to these badges! And, you can follow her journeys inside her Story Vault!

Parajunkee DesignsParajunkee Designs

Music via #iheartradio (Chicago! 93.9FM) whilst Jorie composed this #ArmChairBEA post:

  • “Raging Fire” by Philip Phillips
  • “Dreams” by the Cranberries
  • “Happy” by Pharrell Williams
  • “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele
  • “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” by Train
  • “Story of my Life” by One Direction
  • “Home” by Daughtry
  • “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin
  • “Just Give Me A Reason”by Pink, feat. Nate Ruess
  • “Best Day of my Life” by American Authors
  • “Home” by Philip Phillips
  • “All of Me” by John Legend
  • “Wake Me Up” by Avicii
  • “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt

The very best part of #ArmChairBEA for me this year is to be cheering on the book bloggers & the readers who celebrate the joy of reading as much as I do with each book they pick up and consume! This is a convention for those who are bookish & geeky and proud of it! This is a way for us to get to know each other and champion the writers who give us such a hearty story to dissolve into throughout the year! Let us route our way through the book blogosphere and light up the twitterverse letting everyone know that even if we are not in person at the Book Expo America — they have our full support & attention!

{SOURCES: Blog News & “I Blog Books” badges provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. ArmChairBEA badge provided by ArmChairBEA for participants to help promote the virtual convention for BEA (Book Expo America).}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Monday, 26 May, 2014 by jorielov in #ArmChairBEA, Action & Adventure Fiction, After the Canon, Anthology Collection of Stories, Banned Books, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bookish Discussions, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, Crime Fiction, Debut Novel, Fantasy Fiction, French Literature, Gothic Literature, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Jorie Loves A Story, Juvenile Fiction, Legal Drama, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literary Journals, Medical Fiction, Military Fiction, Modern British Literature, Musical Fiction | Non-Fiction, Native American Fiction, Nautical Fiction, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Poetry, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Science, Science Fiction, Self-Published Author, Speculative Fiction, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Western Fiction, Women's Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

Day 4 of the #BoutofBooks readathon, gives Jorie a reason to forego half a #bookseries & launch into an Egyptological parfum legacy!

Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , 0 Comments

What I find most surprising as I go through the Bout is what I am finding as I read the stories I am picking up. I always consider myself an open-minded reader who appreciates a widely diverse reading life, yet what surprises me the most is that how surprised I can become whilst attempting to read a book by an author I previously felt I would be captivated by! :( On this note, I have become a bit disappointed and frustrated twiceover in one week! As I started to settle into The Reincarnationist, I was plumb aghast by what I was finding inside the opening pages of Chapter 1! To the brink that I felt that the author & publisher should have changed the genre from historical suspense to historical horror! I will write more about this in a moment, because what was even more interesting is before I boomeranged back the ENTIRE Reincarnationist series to my local library (they are such a blessing to have knowing how many books are in our local catalogue and thus are able to read when I am either about to seek a book for review &/or simply want to get caught up with an author’s work) I remembered what I had loved reading & listening about The Book of Lost Fragrances.

I also knew Seduction & The Collector of Dying Breaths would follow the same vein of thought & intrigue as this particular Book 4 in the series, so before I carted off this half of the series I was less than enthused to be reading now, I decided to take the high road. I thought, no wait! What if the books centered in a focus about ‘scent’ and ‘parfum’ are written in a different style than the previous books!? What if that style was more agreeable to where my reading sensitivities and interests could find common ground!? I pulled these books out of my library bag, placed them on the shelf, and walked out the door. As I returned, I was both apprehensive and joyful in knowing that I could quite possibly have found a way to enjoy an author I had read so very much about!

At the very same time, Richard Brooks was requesting I continue his journey, and I did not want to keep him waiting! :)

Book I am Reading:

  • The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose – barely made it to page 12! Books 1-3 go promptly back to the library!
  • The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
  • Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson

Books &/or Memes I am Blogging About:

  • Chain of Mercy: a book review of a debut novel (editing at time of post)
  • 10 Bookish and not So Bookish Thoughts (editing at time of post)
  • Booking Through Thursday (editing at time of post)

Blogs I am Visiting (including non-bouter blogs):

Twitterverse Events I Attended:

  • #k8chat – I enjoyed visiting Ms. Tilton’s chat during their 1st Anniversary celebration the prior week, and I could barely believe it was time to visit with them once more! Their topic of discussion was Diversity in Lit, which I have been talking about since Black History Month in February! I am enjoying keeping in the loop with the on-going dialogue of open-mindedness in reading & exploration of stories. I happily shared links to my own blog, engaged in the conversation, & rather unexpectedly had the pure joy in *winning!* a copy of a novel by an author I have been most delighted getting to know through tweetchats: Ms. Ellen Mulholland! And, coincidentally, the book I have won is a Young Adult novel set in the style of coming of age and is a contribution to LGBT fiction from a similar point of view of Etched On Me, on the level that the character is going through a moment in their life where they want to better understand & accept who they are. I do know the story is lighter than Etched On Me in its scope, but poignant in how the story is told by its author! I was thrilled to bits as this brings the author & I full circle in regards to going from acquaintances online, to fast bookish friends (we tend to have a bit in common as we converse), to a book blogger discovering a new author’s work! Isn’t life bookishly beautiful, at times!? I cannot wait to see “Birds on a Wire” arrive by postal mail! :) Cheers! Thank you K8chat!
  • #10MinuteNovelists – Except to say I did not stay very long because their tag for some reason was being wonky & quirky, and I felt as though I was not able to properly follow the line of thought threaded into the conversation! :( Such a shame as I enjoy visiting with them!
  • I had properly forgotten about #StoryDam! As I appear to be forgetting my regular tweetchats of late! Need more post-its!?

Notes:

I am not certain how I erred twice in one week with books I was quite eager to read, but apparently, I have as when I first opened The Reincarnationist novel I was expecting to be swept away into this historical suspense novel akin to The Skin Map (a still need to finish novel left-over from Sci Fi November!)! I was not expecting to be appalled and more than a bit grossed out by the gutting scene of murder and chilling attack of a woman before I even reached page 15! I promptly put the book in the stash of books being carted back to the library this afternoon! I mean, truly!? I am now a bit betwixt understanding how all my research into the Reincarnationist series is now ending on such a sour note, as one thing I cannot handle to read is brutal mind-bending gore inside of a historical novel! There was a delicate grace in my readings of Citadel by ?. I am not finding the same to be true of M.J. Rose as it is reading more like a horror centered novel than a historical!? I am most confused! As this reminds of how much I appreciate Anne Rice’s research and dedication to writing her novels but at the very same time, cannot find the heart of  mind to read the novels which have enchanted readers for decades! :(

After my library run,…

I decided that it was time to give The Book of Lost Fragrances a bit of a go, as what did I have to lose at this point in time!? From page 1 to page 34 I was literally entwined with the story, the characters, and this tingling nudge towards following one’s heart and nose through a story which was written with a passion for the past and the history of perfumery! :) I was greatly entranced by the Egyptology focus, as much as how a person can have a gift in ? ask Mum the word! ? that not only gives them a field to work in but a gift that takes on a path their life must travel. I loved being consumed by the crushing grief of Jac as she starts to reconcile her sorrow against the fact she does not want to admit that she’s gifted with the ability to see past death and visit with her Mum between the veils. I loved the atmosphere shifting between the tombs Napoleon Bonaparte was attempting to plunder in his quest for conquest, as much I appreciated the Gothic Literature undertones I have always enjoyed reading. This had the etchings of historical suspense, and I felt my spirits starting to soar a bit! The fact that I could reach page 34 and not find one thing wrong except for the fact my dear eyes could not drink in the narrative fast enough was a marker of improvement!

In Chain of Mercy, I found myself captivated and compelled to read Richard Brook’s story simply because he is a broken man in his spirit who needs not only a boost of encouragement but he needs to re-affirm his acceptance of understanding his own humanity. He’s at a cross-roads in his life where he needs to not only determine the course he wants his future to be set upon but in which method he wishes to arrive into that future. I love the fact that his character is not only flawed, but he is genuinely going through a lift shift that takes patience, perservance, time, and the ability to truly look in the mirror seeing your faults and knowing you can overcome them. And, to me that is a very compelling story to engage yourself and find the pages cannot be turnt fast enough!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Contemporary & More (#36) by padfootandprongs07

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Post Six: of

Bout of Books Readathon

{SOURCE: Bout of Books Badge created by Jorie in Canva to give readers & visitors who come to her blog a way to know of  its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it! The booktuber video “Contemporary & More (#36) via Padfootandprongs07 had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share a random joy discovery during Bout of Books. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov in #10MinuteWriters, #K8chat, #StoryDam, 10 Bookish (& Not-So-Bookish Thoughts), Blogs I Regularly Read, Booking Through Thursday, Bookish Films, Booktuber : Bookish & Geeky Readers, Bout of Books, Brenda S. Anderson's Blog, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literature for Boys, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Readerly Musings, School Life & Situations, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Young Adult Fiction

+Book Review+ A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet (a Shakespearean re-telling)

Posted Saturday, 12 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 4 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

A MidSummer Night's Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet
Artwork Credit: Dale Pease (of Walking Stick Books) http://walkingstickbooks.com

Published By: Xchyler Publishing () 18 November, 2013
Official Editor WebsitesSite  | Twitter
Converse via: #AMidSummerNightsSteampunk
Genres: After the Canon | Classic Re-Telling | Shakespearean | Steampunk | Fantasy
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and E-Book
Page Count: 324


Acquired Book By: I contacted Xchyler Publishing about receiving books in exchange for honest reviews and was asked to pick the two books I’d like to request. Moments in Millennia was my second choice, as my first choice was A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk. My interest in this novel is based on a life-long love of William Shakespeare’s writings! I received a complimentary copy of “A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk” in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Xchyler Publishing. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On Appreciation of William Shakespeare:

As a participant of the A to Z Challenge this April, whereupon each blogger is undertaking 26 Essays | 26 Days, I elected to focus on my love and appreciation of Classical Literature on Day 3: Letter C. Therein, I discuss my fascination and affinity for William Shakespeare from the very first moment I first read his plays and Sonnets. I knew I had found a writer I would be reading for the rest of my life. He had this classic way of ebbing out the human sphere of emotion, psyche, and our living observations. He was the best at conveying each dynamical evocation of human emotions as well. A champion of wordsmiths, it was through his bar of sophisticated eloquence I tend to seek out in other writers. He always felt to me to give great pause before enduing his characters with action or dialogue. He wanted us to have a legacy of thought left behind and for this I am in his debt.

Imagine my happiness in finding there was an author out there who would not only take his own passion for Shakespeare to a new height of re-telling the magically laced “A MidSummer Night’s Dream” and retrofit it into a Steampunkified re-telling of the classic tale with the bentings of a scientific quality of theory!


Author Biography:

Scott E. TarbetScott Tarbet writes enthusiastically in several genres, sings opera, was married in full Elizabethan regalia, loves Steampunk waltzes, and slow-smokes thousands of pounds of Texas-style barbeque. An avid skier, hiker, golfer, and tandem kayaker, he makes his home in the mountains of Utah.

You can learn more about Mr. Tarbet through the Interview I conducted ahead of this book review! He shares his thoughts on Steampunk as a genre, his appreciation of Shakespeare, and a lot of keen bits for writers & readers alike!

Book Synopsis:

Immerse yourself in this Steampunk retelling of Shakespeare’s classic, replete with the newfound wizardry of alternative Victorian technology, mistaken identities, love triangles, and deadly peril, set against the backdrop of a world bracing itself for war, and Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Pauline Spiegel, a master artificer like her mother before her, wants just one thing: to wed the love of her life, Alexander MacIntyre, a lowly undersecretary of the Royal Household. However, a long-term pact between her parents, and a noble House, stands between her and her happily ever after. When a priceless mechanoid of unfathomable power is stolen, Pauline finds herself entangled in skullduggery and international intrigue, upon which the fate of nations rest. Only with the help of her friends, and a brilliant scientist with a swarm of micromechanical insects, can Pauline survive the dark forces determined to destroy her. But will her betrothed and his rag-tag band of semi-mechanical soldiers reveal Alexander’s secrets as well?

 


To begin with a parting of prose:

A lover of quotations and bits of poetry, I am one reader who appreciated the warming of my reading palette with bobblements of poems greeting me at each interface! A lovely poem reminiscent of the innocence of fairies greets you before you reach the Prologue. And, yet another poem graces the upper corner of Chapter 1. A little nibbling of foreshadow in which I took the most delight! And off from here comes the divergence into a world of mechanisms and the air in which humanity’s door is slightly skewed towards automation. Rehabilitating veterans of war has been turnt on its heels to retrofit survivors into the most efficient entity of their trades. A fantastical yet questioningly haunting insight into how production and quantity can supersede plausibility and ethics.

Each chapter is lit with a piercing thought writ out through the hand of poets to help give heed to the next foray of intrigue!

My Review of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk:

As I nestled into the story of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, I attempt to recollect if I had read the original play or if perchance, I had seen an adaptation of it instead? The corridors of my memory are a bit foggy at best, which is why I had to shift a bit of my fragmented memories and emerge into the sadistic fever of mechs who were created not necessarily for the well-being of their inhabitors but for the progression of automated industrialism as I aforesaid. The shockingly brutal rebuilding of a sentient being is off-set by the fact that the mechs do not seem to realise their individualistic freedoms have become abandoned on the whim of their creator.

The words in which Tarbet uses to create his universal pace is a pure delight to this wordsmith’s heart! He gives you a felicity of choice as you ease your way forward into the chapters which yield the most foreshadowing to satisfy your appetite for the action yet to transpire. Picking up where Shakespeare had left off is not an easy task, but to knit together a story which honours the canon and gives such a creative spark to Steampunk at the same time is a celebration of his writing style.

The forbearing inertia of caution is under-stitched into the story of the classic tale, giving a new appreciation for the choices humans have made since the Victorian age as each path chosen has turnt out a different avenue of progress. If we had opted instead to keep the heart of what Steampunk gives the reader, the age of steampower and gaslight we might have made deviations in other areas where the Industrial Revolution had yet to enlighten. By keeping Victorian technology in place, we see how devious the experiments can take inventors when their minds are wired for clockwork and automation. A little too much good for their own souls if you ask me!

At first I found it a bit tricky to ascertain how to proportionate the mech characters in my mind’s eye, as I’m quite new to Steampunk & Clockpunk alike. Then, all of a sudden whilst the mech men made their way through to central London, it dawned on me how to visualise them! From that moment forward, I had this envisioning shadow of how they were created and how they would stand out in ordinary streets of London! I think if there were illustrative plates for this particular piece it might have helped me out a bit. Character sketches to off-set the lack of baseline recognition! Except to say, Tarbet expertly gives such a vivid viewing of each of the mech’s mannerisms to purport an honest impression of how they can be perceived! I am such a visual learner that at times, when I step outside a world I’ve previously visited, I must adjust my eyes to a new one! In this, I celebrated my ability to see visually in my mind’s eye what Tarbet was attempting all of us to embrace!

A clever re-telling by far, as he has etched in such a reformed rite of passage for women in the story, where there is an alliance between Lakshmi, Jennie, and Vicky – all women of equal power and without the ambiguity of being able to blend in from behind prying eyes. For them to launch a series of events to forestall a dictator’s diabolical plans to overtake surrounding nations is one of the best moments I was celebrating! It gave way to the expression that ‘behind all good men, is a great woman’; and in this particular story it could not be more true! A separate alliance was forged out of necessity from the mech men, a wickedly fascinating engineer Pauline, her two suitors Alexander & Winston, along with a besotted in love girl named Clementine who only has eyes for Winston!

At the very heart of the story is the searing warmonger Wilhelm who is blinded by carnal rage and a robust ill-fated sense of power. His intentions for his home country is strengthened by his assertion that power and proclivity towards violent rule are his inherit gifts. A madman on the collision course towards altering history whilst utilising another madman’s offering of technology. There are moments of intense fighting and heated battle between human and mechs, and mechs vs mechs with an equaling sense of unease. Each is caught in the cross-hairs of an emerging war neither fully understands. It is only when logic is cast aside and reason is indued by a spark of enlightenment which dances straight into the vortex of human understanding can true change be cast. Free will of man and mech is the turning point towards diplomacy and democracy.

As I was reading the story, I thought this particular book would be a great lesson in ethics for a University class to undertake. There is enough within the chapters to take both sides of the argument and dissect the worth of its message. What foolish folly and provocation can be found in the nettling and maddening proclamations of one man’s dream for supreme rule.

Equality & Diversity : Undertone Components

An undertone component of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk is the inequality of the mechs inside the story. They have become their own race of men as their lives were irrefutably altered when they came home from the battlefield and/or the hospital in which their very life hung in the balance between being medically altered through technology and death. Due to their new status of half man | half machine, they are no longer viewed as individuals outside the scope of what trade they perform based on their ‘upgrades’ towards industry efficiency.  And, therein lies the problem. Rather than being viewed as the people they were prior to the surgeries that were performed without their consent, they are no longer given the compassion of humanity by any person who crosses their path. Rather instead they are refuted from view, a mere glimpse of a hint of the ravages of war and a different age of invention.

Tarbet presents both sides of the argument giving a positive light on how restoration of a person’s self-worth, self-identity, and the living freedoms of liberty each of us is innately inherit to have is plausible if there are still those who agree all sentient life has rights to keep in tact.

Fly in the Ointment:

Although I enjoyed reading this re-telling of William Shakespeare’s “A MidSummer Night’s Dream”, there is a curious attachment in the second half of the story to bring out the full measure of Jack the Ripper’s presence. At first, the subtle nodding towards Hitler’s reign over Germany; the conquest of Napoleon through France; and the merciless tactile militant force of the mechs carved out of the unwilling criminally insane patients was taken for what each representation was given to highlight. However, for me, this stretched a bit too far into the darker shadows of the theories behind why Jack the Ripper killed and what his motivations were to hunt innocents in the streets of London. I was a bit surprised that the wielding of the alternative history components were writ as strong as they were, as the backdrop of the story which illuminated the most joy for me were the clockpunk and automation engineering technologic advances on the side of the good.

There is always a battleground arc for good vs. evil, but there are times where I feel the vile bits to highlighting said evil can inadvertently overtake the good bits. I was pleased to see Tarbet use the eloquence of Shakespeare to empathise the vocalisations of human emotion without falling into the quandary I normally express in Fly in the Ointment. No, it’s not an issue of language but rather of how far pushed the envelope felt to me for the level of violence against the backdrop of where the story was leading. Of course, all stories are open to interpretation of the reader, and I for one, felt the story was guiding me towards one passageway of an ending rather than diverting down another.

A decidedly splendid extra:

Behind the conclusion of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, the author’s biography & acknowledgements and a bit of a mini catalogue of titles via Xchyler Publishing itself, is a decidedly splendid extra: a preview of On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer! A book which is not yet released and an author of whom Mr. Tarbet spoke about in his Author’s Interview!


A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk Book Trailer by Xchyler Publishing

There is something magical afoot at Xchyler Publishing as their music accompaniments inside their book trailers draw your imagination into the narratives of their stories long before you pick up their books!


This book review is courtesy of:

Xchyler Publishing

check out my upcoming bookish events and mark your calendars!

I have been blessed with four spotlights on behalf of Xchyler Publishing:

An Editor Interview with Penny Freeman,

a book review of Moments in Millennia: a Fantasy Anthology,

and my Interview with author Scott E. Tarbet ahead of this book review!

I’d be keen to hear reader responses to my review of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, as I was happily settled into the alternative history backing of story against the clockpunk elements of automation before plunging head-first into the Jack the Ripper thread. Have you ever felt ensconced into a story-line which at a certain point in time arched into a different thread of discovery than you forethought? What do you look for within the realm of Steampunk, Clockpunk, and automation stories? What draws you in and what if anything disappoints you?

{SOURCES:  A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk Book Cover, and synopsis were provided by Xchyler Publishing and were used by permission. Author photograph & biography were provided by the author Scott E. Tarbet and used with permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.  The book trailer by Xchyler Publishing had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Saturday, 12 April, 2014 by jorielov in 19th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, After the Canon, Airship, Alternative History, Automation, Book for University Study, Book Review (non-blog tour), Book Trailer, Bookish Discussions, Bullies and the Bullied, Classical Literature, Clever Turns of Phrase, Clockmakers & Watchmakers, Clockpunk, Clockwork & Mechanisations, Clogs & Gears, Debut Novel, Dirigible, England, Excessive Violence in Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Good vs. Evil, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, MidSummer's Night Dream, Re-Told Tales, Steampunk, the Victorian era, Warfare & Power Realignment, William Shakespeare, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, Xchyler Publishing

_+ #atozchallenge _+ 26 Days | 26 Essays [epic journey] Today is Letter “E”. Hint: The World is a Melting Pot

Posted Saturday, 5 April, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

A to Z Challenge Day 5 Letter E I am involved in a world-wide globally connected blogosphere challenge where each blogger who signs into the participant linky is quite literally confirming their express desire to blog straight [except on Sundays!] for *26 Days!* whilst writing *26!* most intriguing & thought-producing alphabet essays! Or, to be comically inspiring, randomly cheeky, and otherwise delightfully entertaining! The bloggers who have signed into the challenge are from all walks of blogosphere life: book bloggers united alongside lifestyle gurus; writers of all literary styles nudged up against travelogues; the gambit runs the full course of each and every theme, topic, subject, and genre you could possibly light your heart with joy to broach in a blog! And, the curious bit to the journey is where your posts lead you as much as where other blogger’s posts inspire you! It’s this fantastic community to celebrate the spirit within the blogosphere as much as the spirit of connection amongst the bloggers who might not have crossed paths with each other otherwise. After all, the road map for blogs is as wide and large as the actual world outside the nethersphere of websites, pixels, and memes! Walk with us whilst we discover a bit about ourselves, our blog, & each other!

I am blogger #552 out of 2279!

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{ should be noted: @aishacs posted a multi-post Interview
on the blog Story & Chai
about diversity in literature; Part II, Part III, Part IV }

Originally I was going to focus on E P I C F A N T A S Y for Letter E, except to say, that throughout the twitterverse and the book blogosphere I was finding encouragement to draw light on another equally as important discussion of interest E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E! I grew up in a moderately sized city to the extent that the world was outside my door, the essence of the melting pot in vivid colours and dimensions was all around me. I loved the multicultural heritages I grew up near and I enjoyed the conversations I had with those who could help me understand traditions, cultures, and religions outside of my own. I have many fond memories speaking to Native Americans for instance whether I was at a bookshoppe or at an arts & crafts festival. I loved finding ways to engage with people who could dynamically shift my point of view and endear me to how our differences bridge the gap to how we are all interconnected and related.

Although I grew up in a house full of European descent (for the most part; mostly Briton though), the inertia of connectivity of other cultures was always encouraged and sought out. When you live in a city of any size, you get to see a beautiful cross-section of everyone who lives within the city itself. Whilst your riding the bus or walking down the boulevard you are greeting people as you come across them, accepting them as you speak to them, and within those brief moments of conversation you begin to grow curious about their own stories. Stories in which they grew up sharing within their own families and stories in which they grew up reading inside the books they cherished as bedtime companions.

I always celebrated then when I found multicultural characters in the stories I was personally reading as well as settings outside the norm of the net in which is regularly cast. E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E does not end nor begin on having different perspectives in ethnicity or nationality, as it also is inclusive of the ideal for a balancing of all characters and the lives in which they lead. This can include single | divorced | grandparent | foster parenting, adoptive or step-parent families, LGBT families and individuals; learning difficulties as well as those who are living with a medical handicap, illness, or affliction. Immigrant stories of people and families changing their stars for a life in a new country; biracial and multi-ethnic families. Whilst going further to extend past religious differences and spirituality freedoms to include a cross-section of all representations of a person’s beliefs as much as the differences in how we live, eat, and breathe. Full equality is giving the writer the will to focus on the characters they can personally identify with and as thus, can endear the reader to draw connection with as well. For every well-written story there is a reader who is aching to read a story which has transcended the living reality mantra of the earth being a melting pot and has taken the theory into practice in literature. I hint about my views about all of this under “My Bookish Life“.

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E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E for me is reading the world through the lens in which we live. Our world is a beautiful melting pot of cultures, traditions, religions and individualism. Why not celebrate those differences by painting living testaments of our lives as a portrait through the characters we breathe to life in novels? Giving back a bit of the grace in which we are free to live?
by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story

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Access to Different Kinds of Literature via Color in Colorado

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Books on the Underground; Books on the Subway; Jorie Loves A Story: Booking the Rails

I recently reviewed a book for my Booking the Rails Feature where I highlighted Wonder by R.J. Palacio who wrote this beautiful book about a boy whose face is altered from other children yet the light of his heart uplifts everyone who meets him. The beauty of the novel itself is showing the grace of living your life as true to who you are on the inside as to reflect back to those who perceive you through prejudicial eyes the joy in being authentically yourself. The barriers people build up between each other can be brought down one by one if we endeavour to understand what alienates us and be determined to draw out empathy and compassion as a first response rather than fear, ignorance, and indifference.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

August has a keen philosophical intuitiveness about himself, the dynamics of his family, and his personal living environment around him. He seeks to find solace out of uncertainty and squalls chaos with simplistic truths which etch out the stigmas of which society oft-times places on individuals who are in some shape or form ‘different’ from the ‘norm’. And, the sad truth is that normalcy is in the eye’s of the beholder! To be normal is quite definitively the ability to be wholly true to yourself, your internal resolve of spirit, and in knowing who you are without the prejudgements and negative thoughts of others assembling into your heart. August has instinctively dry humour to convey his thoughts about life, dispelling any unease to meet him because he breaks the ice by simply being himself! He draws you into his sphere by engaging you in a way you were not expecting! No pretense. He’s simply ‘August’, who prefers to go by ‘Auggie’, the brother of Via and the boy who wants to live like a regular ten-year old entering fifth grade!

– quoted from my review of Wonder by R.J. Palacio

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Each book I am selecting to highlight as part of my Booking the Rails feature will be a story which will challenge convention and/or the ideals of story-telling and branch out into new horizons for both my readers and those who find the books on the trains. I want to start a conversation on those posts of giving dialogue and conversation to topics and subjects that will benefit from having a light shined on them. It’s my own wink and a nod to creating a new pathway back into the culture of being ‘bookish’ and ‘conversational’ with each other. Rather than merely nodding in agreement or staying silent altogether. More of my thoughts on this are contained on my visit to The Star Chamber Show : Episode 16. (archived & easy to listen too)

Carol Antoinette Peacock & Pepper
Carol Antoinette Peacock & Pepper in the author’s office. Peacock Family Album.

Previously, I showcased the adoptive story of Carol Antoinette Peacock whereupon her story entitled: Red Thread Sisters embarks on the journey of adopting children from China. This is one of many yet to appear on Jorie Loves A Story, as one of my sub-focuses on my blog will be positive adoptive stories for those who are considering foster adoptive options as well as international, open, and other avenues towards adopting children into their family home. I wanted to find authors who give a positive testament of the emotional keel a child or teen experiences prior to adoption as much as the transitional period after they are adopted. (if the story broaches both time periods) What I appreciated about Ms.  Peacock’s writings are her honesty in leading with her heart and her own adoptive story in which the Red Thread Sisters stems from at its core.

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There are two sayings throughout “Red Thread Sisters”, as well as in the personal letter attached in the afterword by the author herself,… one is a meditative pause of ‘light reflected as brightly lit as lunar lanterns’, and the second is the poignancy behind the entitlement of the book itself, ‘of the delicate red thread that unites all of us in a shared common bond, where those who cross our path are meant to be in our lives, and despite the appearance of the thread’s nature, will hold steadfast and strong perpetually’. The book gives pause to any woman considering motherhood through adoption and any father choosing his path of fatherhood through adoption, because it touches on the raw emotions that are silently withheld from the adoptive parents, by children who live in constant fear that something they do or say or not do even will be grounds for them to return back from whence they came. To become un-adoptable simply because they didn’t live up to the adoptive parents expectations. It’s also a book that examines adoption from the reflections of the children themselves, as they struggle to yield and bend with a new rhythm completely different from the one they were used too whilst at an orphanage, group home, or foster home. They have to learn its okay to make mistakes, to learn and grow through their experiences, and that a forever family isn’t co-dependent on perfection but rather with honesty, heart, emotion, and love. May we always keep ourselves lit from within with a light of hope as powerful and strong as lunar lanterns, to advocate for adoption and the expansion of our hearts and worlds when a child in need of a family, finds one in those of us willing to open our hearts and homes to them.

– quoted from my review of Red Thread Sisters

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One author where I found a strong sense of giving E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E a new definition of purpose is Laura Resau. Her blog is linked to my sidebar where the RSS feeds join the mixture towards the bottom. I have been making purchase requests for her books at my local library each chance that I can as well. The tricky bit is to remember which book of hers I read first: What the Moon Saw OR The Indigo Notebook!? I have taken it upon myself to read all of her novels, but I am still in the middle of accomplishing this goal! I have also read Star in the Forest.

Laura Resau
Photography Credit: Tina Wood Photography

Laura Resau is the award-winning author of seven highly acclaimed young adult and children’s novels– What the Moon Saw, Red Glass, Star in the Forest, The Queen of Water, and the Notebooks series (Delacorte/Random House). She draws inspiration from her time abroad as a cultural anthropologist, ESL teacher, and student. Loved by kids and adults alike, her novels have garnered many starred reviews and honors, including the IRA YA Fiction Award, the Américas Award, and spots on Oprah’s Kids’ Book Lists. Praised for its sensitive treatment of immigration and indigenous people’s issues, Resau’s writing has been called “vibrant, large-hearted” (Publishers’ Weekly on Red Glass) and “powerful, magical” (Booklist on What the Moon Saw). Resau lives with her husband, young son, and beagle in Fort Collins, Colorado. She donates a portion of her royalties to indigenous rights organizations in Latin America.

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The Indigo Notebook Book Trailer by the Author Laura Resau

The Indigo Notebook Page on Laura Resau’s site

[ after the 1:00 mark the song continues to be enjoyed by audience ]

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The Indigo Notebook by Laura ResauResau has the natural ability of fusing the indigenous culture of Mexico and Ecuador into her novels in such a wonderfully skilled way, that whilst I was reading The Indigo Notebook I instantly flashed back to my own memories of traversing through the interior of Mexico in and around the Federal District and the Yucatán Peninsula! One of these days I want to collect her books for my own personal library, but what I appreciated about my local library is being open to bring in authors who write multicultural stories for a young audience who could benefit from the life lessons and story contained within her pages! As I start to re-read over the books I have already read and progress forward into the ones I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading, I will be writing down my thoughts on my blog! I am always hopeful that through the sharing of my own lamentations about the writers and books which speak to me to the point of being moved emotionally, I will in one small way impact another reader’s life.

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E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E : A sampling of Books to Read

{ books I have predominately found through my local library }

UPDATE: per rifflebooks.com errors I’ve moved this list to my #LibraryThing
(as I will be reading these selections throughout [2019] part of my #BeatTheBacklist challenge)

E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E : New Authors on the Horizon

A full list of the book covers & stories is on Riffle: (share at will!)

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Equality in Literature & Diversity in Literature : walk hand in hand – July 2014

Reaching past our own heritages and our own living environments gives us a wider world view and depth of understanding. We become wholly in-tune with the harmony of the world’s spirit by embracing all the lovely and unique differences which shape our identities. We grow out of love and we give back love each time we endeavour to forge a bridge between our culture and the culture of someone else. We give our spirit a bit of a lift by the joy of celebrating the history of people who live as passionately as we do and whose traditions are as rooted in their culture and families as much as our own. Lessons of connectivity and of friendship will always abound when two souls are willing to make a connection.

One of the books I have oft spoken about online via my blog and my Twitter feeds is “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker, which is an atmospheric enriched narrative which crosses the divide between mythology and immigration. She digs deep into the setting of her novel to shift between New York City and the old world in which the Golem and the Jinni originated from. She has a deft hand in revealing human emotions and convictions out of characters who are everything except human! What endeared me to the text is her gift of story-telling to not only enchant you with a magical kinetic plausibility but to give you a full score of characters who are each on their own individual journey towards self-discovery. It’s in this inherent quest to understand both origin and worth in a world set against the tides of where their destinies are taking them, Wecker infuses her narrative with a connection of heart.

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Each were set on a course to learn and grow out of their experiences in a place neither expected to be. They each succumb to their inherent natures, but I feel only one of them is able to change the other for the good. Because one of them is stronger than the other as far as knowing how to make good on what has been turned for the bad. Their journey leads not to a resolution of sorts to overcome their individual obstacles towards true freedom, but rather too a junction point that leads them to question everything they felt they knew thus far along. And, in that conclusion the reader has to sit back and ponder the true meaning behind “The Golem and the Jinni”, for was it a journey of theirs that you took or an inward journey of understanding the limitations of humanity?

– quoted from my review of “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker

I am hopeful that more readers will seek out E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E by choosing titles by all authors of all backgrounds who celebrate our united spirit within the global society of nations and nationalities.

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Not enough multicultural books? via Color in Colorado

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Thank you for joining me on DAY 5 | A to Z Challenge!

I am a girl named Jorie who loves a story!
I am a bookish library girl on a quest for literary enlightenment!
I am predominately self-taught and library educated!
I am Mademoiselle Jorie!
Thank you for joining me on this journey!

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This marks my fifth post for the:

A to Z ChallengeFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Which authors do you feel reflect the beauty of E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E? Which authors who are newly published OR have books which will soon be forthcoming would you recommend to be added to the “on the horizon” category of this post!? Which books have captured your heart whilst enveloping you in another person’s shoes and culture?! How do you feel progress has been made to give ever writer a voice and each story the gift for expanding our horizons?

UPDATE: 1 May, 2014: In the weeks since this post was first published I have participated in #diverselit & #WeNeedDiverseBooks movements on Twitter. I also created the tag #EqualityInLit to reflect my personal view and feelings towards diversity and equality in literature. You will denote a new category indexed on Jorie Loves A Story E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R Ewhich speaks to the heart of how this blog post inspired me to make my views a bit more well-known.

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{SOURCES: A to Z Challenge Participant & Letter C Badge provided by the A to Z Challenge site for bloggers to use on their individual posts & blogs to help promote the challenge to others.The photograph of Carol Antoinette Peacock was given to me by the author and used with permission. Laura Resau photograph, author biography & book cover for The Indigo Notebook used with permission by the author. The book trailer by Laura Resau had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portals to this post, and I thank them for this opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers provided by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

Diversity Solutions with Sherri L. Smith (author of “FlyGirl”) – (mayaprasad.com)

Why I Write About India – (mayaprasad.com)

Diversity in Kid’s Books – (nytimes.com)

Booklist 2014 (for multicultural literature) – (campbele.wordpress.com)

Exploring Diversity Through Children’s & Young Adult Books: Background Reading – (cynthialeitichsmith.com)

Embracing Diversity in YA Lit – (slj.com)

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Posted Saturday, 5 April, 2014 by jorielov in A to Z Challenge, Adoption, Book Cover Reveal, Book Trailer, Booking the Rails, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Whimsy, Brothers and Sisters, CFHS The Society, Children's Literature, Coming-Of Age, Conservation, Cultural Heritage, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut in United States, Debut Novel, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Life, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Guest Spot on Podcast, Hard-Boiled Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Interviews Related to Content of Novel, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Meteorology, Nanowrimo 2008, Non-Fiction, Orphans & Guardians, Quaker Fiction, Readerly Musings, Septemb-Eyre, Siblings, Sociology, Southern Belle View Daily, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, The Dystopia Challenge, The Rocketeer, The Typosphere, Time Travel, Time Travel Adventure, Travel Narrative | Memoir, Vignettes of Real Life, Wicked Valentine's Readathon, Writes of Passage, Wuthering Heights, Young Adult Fiction