Mundie Moms

Monday, July 25, 2011

A Sneak Peek at Cassie's Short Story in Steampunk!


Cassie just tweeted a link to the excerpt from her short story, "Some Fortunate Future Day" which is featured inside the Steampunk! anthology edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant. Its release date is October 11, 2011 and you can pre-order it here. This looks so good that I just clicked on the pre-order button, will you?
When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defac’d
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-raz’d,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay;
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate
That Time will come and take my love away.

Time is many things, her father told her. Time is a circle, and time is a great, turning gear that cannot be stopped, and time is a river that carries away what you love.

He looked at Rose’s mother’s portrait when he said that, hanging over their fireplace mantel. He had invented his time device only a few short months after she had died. It had always been one of his greatest regrets in life, though Rose sometimes wondered whether, without the all-consuming power of grief to drive him, he could have invented it at all. Most of his other inventions did not work nearly as well. The garden robot often digs up flowers instead of weeds. The mechanical cook can only make one kind of soup. And the talking dolls never tell Rose what she wants to hear.

Book Review: Alex Van Helsing, Vampire Rising


Published by: Harper Teen
Released On: May 1st, 2010
Source: Bought at TLA
4 stars- I Really Liked It


The Van Helsing name reborn

Fourteen-year-old Alex has no idea that he's descended from the world's most famous vampire hunter, but that changes fast when he arrives at Glenarvon Academy and confronts two vampires in his first three days. Turns out Glenarvon isn't the only school near Lake Geneva. Hidden deep underground lies an ancient university for vampires called the Scholomance. And the deadly vampire clan lord known as Icemaker? You might say he's a visiting professor.

When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by Icemaker, it's up to Alex to infiltrate the Scholomance and get them back—alive. Assisted by the Polidorium, a top-secret vampire-hunting organization with buried ties to the Van Helsings, Alex dodges zombies, bullets, and lots—and lots—of fangs on his way to thwarting Icemaker's plans and fulfilling his family destiny.

Alex Van Helsing isn't your average teenager. He hails from a strong family of vampire killers and lucky for him, he's carried on his family's unique skills. The only problem is Alex doesn't know any of this until he's sent to a prestigious boarding school in Switzerland where he's not only attacked by a vampire, but he comes to learn about his family's heritage. The things he thought were only found in books, like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, really do exist.

Alex is a character I really enjoyed getting to know. He's smart, he's instinctive, and when he's faced with the unthinkable he doesn't show fear or back down. Plus he has some made skills and can kill a vampire by himself. There's also some great supporting characters around Alex who play some big roles in the story and I liked how they developed over the course of the book. Aside from Alex, I really liked his professor Mr. Sangster. I enjoyed the twist on his character and loved the bigger role he plays in Alex's life. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Alex's friends Paul, Sid and Minhi and seeing what will happen with them as the series progresses. There's also some great paranormal characters that include the vampires, a unique kind of zombies which play a very minor rule in the story, and there's the mention of werewolves.

One of favorite things about the story is the historical mentions. I absolutely love it when authors add historical references to their books and then give them a creative spin to add something unique to their story. Jason did just that with his mentions of the Villa Diodati group, which consisted of few well known writers like Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Byron's doctor friend John William Polidori, whom are all apart the story's history. One of the most intriguing aspects of the story is the way Jason integrated Mary Shelley's famous story Frankenstein in Alex Van Helsing. This not only created a rich back story, but it provided the story with some key elements and a great historical setting.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an engaging, fun, quick read. There's humor, classical references, down to earth and enjoyable characters and of course some great vampire hunting, butt kicking scenes. Now I can see why Alex Van Helsing made the Texas Lone Star List. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Voice of the Undead. This is a clean cut book I'd recommend to older middle grade and YA readers.

The paperback version of Vampire Rising will be out TOMORROW! You can purchase it here.

Misfit Blog Tour: Character Interview

We're excited to be kicking off the Misfit blog tour hosted by The Teen Book Scene! Today we have the privilage of sharing our interview with Astarte, one of the books characters. Here's a little bit about Jon Skovron's Misfit, which will be out August 1, 2011:

Jael has always felt like a freak. She’s never kissed a boy, she never knew her mom, and her dad’s always been superstrict—but that’s probably because her mom was a demon, which makes Jael half demon and most definitely not a normal sophomore girl. On her sixteenth birthday, a mysterious present unlocks her family’s dangerous history and Jael’s untapped potential. What was merely an embarrassing secret before becomes a terrifying reality. Jael must learn to master her demon side in order to take on a vindictive Duke of Hell while also dealing with a twisted priest, best-friend drama, and a spacey blond skater boy who may have hidden depths.

To those who haven't yet read Misfit, how would you describe the story's world to them?
The world is far more interconnected and far more complex than most mortals prefer to believe. The myths, the gods, the stories, all that you have heard is true. Or mostly true. My name is Astarte, the goddess of Phonecia, a culture long ago lost to history. But in Greece I was known as Aphrodite, and in Rome I was Venus. In Egypt, they called me Isis. In India, I was sometimes called Durga, at other times Gauri, and occasionally even Kali. But now, I am merely a demoness--a succubus, to be precise. Why, you may ask? How have I fallen so far? I might ask you the same question.

What is one of the things you admire the most about who you are or what you're able to do?
Well, I dislike bragging, but I confess I've always been rather proud of my...early contribution to human development. If it weren't for me, humanity would still be running around in a garden stark naked and completely oblivious to the marvels of the wider world around them. Perhaps because of this, I feel a certain responsibility toward humanity. It's one of the primary reasons that, unlike many others of my kind, I haven't abandoned hope in you.

If you had the chance to change something about your past, what would you change?
There are many things I am tempted to say I would have liked to have done differently. Many foolish or impulsive choices, times when I was unkind or indifferent to what really mattered. One can't lived five thousand years and not amass a fairly long list of these things. But when I really think about it, the choices that I made ultimately led me to meeting Paul and having my daughter, Jael. And so, ultimately, I would change nothing. It was all worth it.

What is one thing you desire most for your daughter's future?
Is it too farfetched for me to ask for acceptance? That a child of both light and darkness, humankind and demonkind, Earth and Hell, might be granted understanding, some kindness, and a welcome place in our existence? That is my fondest hope for my daughter. That this world embrace her as she truly is, without reservation or compromise.

Now that your daughter is 16, is there any thing you'd want to tell her that you didn't get the chance to say to her?
You know, I go back and forth on this a lot. I have a few letters planted with various trusted people that she may or may not come across, depending on the journey she decides to take. Sometimes I fear I did not say enough, that I should have provided more guidance, perhaps recommended certain choices over others. But whenever that worry begins to creep in, I realize it is rooted in my own fears and doubt. And those are two things I don't wish to communicate to her. Instead I have chosen to trust that she will find her own way, perhaps even a better way than I could have imagined.
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Thank you Astarte for joining us today. You can keep up with all of Jon's latest news & book news by following him on his website and don't miss the latest Misfits news, listen to the playlist and more here.

I'm looking forward to sharing my review of Misfit when the tour stops back by on August 3rd.

Personal Demons Book 3 Title Reveal

"What happens when you can't outrun Hell....or trust the ones you love?"

I'm not sure, but with a tag line like that I totally want to know! My curosity is completely peeked and now I'm wondering what the heck is going to happen in the 3rd installment of Lisa Desrochers' next book in the Personal Demons series titled:


Judging by the killer cliff hanger at the end of Original Sin and the title of book 3 Last Rite, I can only imagine what Lisa has in-store for readers next. I'm crossing my fingers she'll give us a few teasers.... *cough, cough*

To keep up with Luc, Gabe and all of Lisa's book news, be sure to follow her on the blog, and her official website.

Thank you to Lisa, along with the title reveal we're also giving 1 copy of.....


To enter to win, please fill out the form below:
- Open to residents of the US
- 13 yrs & older
- one entry per person, per email
- giveaway ends on August 9th, 2011

Mundane Monday #94

Happy Mundane Monday!


"Your girlfriend?" Alec looked astonished. So did Maryse. Simon couldn't say he was unastonished himself. "You dated a vampire? A girl vampire?"

"It was a hundred and thirty years ago," said Magnus. "I haven't seen her since."

- City of Fallen Angels, page 251, Alec & Magnus

Image found here

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