#artitupwithfriends : Wicked Fairy

For the month of May I am going to try and take part in a daily drawing challenge organised by @pabkins and @badaliceshop.  These will only be sketches but if you check out the #artitupwithfriends hashtag you’ll see some really excellent pieces of art!  Each day the aim is to sketch or draw using the word for the day.  Today is ‘wicked fairy’.  This is a sinister and sweet themed month.  Tomorrow’s prompt is ‘Wishes’.  (This could be either a fairy who has just stolen a fairy cake or just a fairy fairy cake!  You decide..

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If laughter be the food of love, read on…

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Books That Will Make You Laugh (or at least chuckle)’

What a great topic!  Everybody needs a good laugh every now and again and these books certainly gave me a good chuckle and earned me some odd looks from passing strangers on my way into and home from work!

  1. The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett.  I absolutely loved these books.  They’re an excellent combination of wiley plot, great characters and over the top silly goodness.  Tiffany Aching is a witch in training and her adventures with the Nac Mac Feegles or the Wee Free Men as they are better known are incredibly entertaining (there are five books in total – I’ve not yet read the 5th – I’m saving it!)
  2. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Adam Douglas – I shouldn’t be surprised to see Adam Douglas (and Terry Pratchett) on a number of lists this week and with good reason.
  3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman – this book, and film, just make me happy.  I can’t help it.  It’s just gorgeously outrageous!  Read it – watch it even!
  4. The Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch – I think this series is just excellent but one of the reasons why I really love it (apart from the obvious great stories – and Jean Tannen – lets not forget about Jean!) is that there is such a lot of humour involved and Scott Lynch has taken snarky creative cursing to a whole other level.
  5. The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore – I’m just going to be honest and say that Mr Moore has got a wicked sense of humour that can be a little bit crude and near the knuckle, but that had me laughing my socks off!  Too funny!  Wear extra socks just to be sure.
  6. The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker – I just can’t recommend this book enough.  I loved it – and Goodreads says it so perfectly that I stole this snippet : ‘the only fantasy on record with a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat. This is a book filled with intrigue, romance, sudden violence, and moments of emotional impact and a cast of charming characters….’ – how can you deny yourself such reading pleasure!  Really!
  7. Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio.  This book is crazy but in a totally great way.  Highly readable and apart from the fact that I was already drawn in by the mention of Transylvania Polygnostic University and Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (the ruthless baddie) the following would have definitely nailed it ‘a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! Romance! and Mad Science!’
  8. The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne – because of the simply brilliant relationship and mental telepathic communication between Atticus and Oberon.
  9. The Red Queen’s war series by Mark Lawrence which are wonderfully clever stories – these are not comedies I hasten to add, they can be downright down with the nasty but Jalan certainly kept me entertained and the friendship between Jalan and Snorri is very enjoyable indeed!
  10. Harry Potter – I just had to go there!  J K Rowling created a great series here, one that people started reading as children and grew up with!  So clever really when you just think about it.  But, on top of the definite appeal to a younger audience these books also managed to capture the minds of many adults too!  Very engaging and with wonderful laugh out loud moments!

 

Epicly epic!

Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Books Every X Should Read’

And in this case I’ve decided ‘x’ = epic fantasy lover.  So, if you want a series to really sink your teeth into here are my 10 choices for this week (all with links to 1st in series over at Goodreads):

  1. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
  2. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence
  3. The Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien
  4. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
  5. The Game of Thrones by GRRMartin
  6. The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch
  7. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb – I confess that I have only read the first but I will be completing this!
  8. The Copper Cat trilogy by Jen Williams
  9. The Red Queen’s War by Mark Lawrence- yet to be completed but the first two books are excellent
  10. The Divine Cities Trilogy by RJBennett – again, to be completed but so far excellent.

 

These are the blogs you’re looking for…

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Bookish People You Should Follow On…’

Far be it from me to tell you who to follow but I figured I would use the force anyway and compel you all!   Here are ten blogs that, for different reasons, may capture your attention:

  1. The Classics Club – I know that I don’t need to explain this one – get thee over there and read some Dickens (or Austen).  Culture darling. Culture!
  2. Rinnreads – who runs a sci fi event every year that is great fun and helps me to read more sci fi which is slightly out of my comfort zone.  Who doesn’t want to be uncomfortable (ahem, challenged!)
  3. Over the Effing Rainbow – because – the Lovely Lisa (it’s an official title) is always organising lots of readalongs that are great to get involved in and they’re all easy to follow on Goodreads so simple to get involved with. Easy peasy.
  4. Fantasy Faction– because, all the interesting and cool things.
  5. SF Signal –  because, ditto the above!
  6. Little Red Reviewer – like the Jedi Master of finding books for me to want to read.  Managed to avoid the dark side (just).  ‘These are the books you’re looking for!’  Plus Vintage Sci fi : so the whole getting out of your comfort zone again.
  7. Books by Proxy  – Friday Face Off.  If you love book covers this gives a great opportunity to focus on some covers.  Book tart over here!
  8. Breaking the Spine – Waiting on Wednesday – great weekly meme where we all get to rave about the books we’re looking forward to.  And. I.  Do.  Mean.  Rave.  Let loose people.  Let loose.
  9. The Speculative Herald – yes, this is a great new blog with all the latest and most uptodate book news (and the fact that I occasionally contribute has got nothing to do with my mentioning it here, no sirree, no self-serving nonsense, not from me, nope…okay, you got me, maybe a tad)
  10. Leaving this blank for you all to fill in!  Suggestions??

And, because this is a very sort of dry, in terms of colour and pics, TTT I thought we should have a silly picture (which reflects all of us and what good buds we are) so:

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You’re a star!

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

’10 Of My Most Recent 5 Star Reads’

This is a lovely topic isn’t it and easy to choose!  I just slipped on over to Goodreads and checked out my last 10 five star books which were as follows (book covers first with links to each post below:

  1. City of Blades by R J Bennett
  2. Murder by Sarah Pinborough
  3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  4. The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz
  5. The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M H Boroson
  6. The Silver Tide by Jen Williams
  7. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
  8. Monstrous Little Voices by Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Kate Heartfield, Foz Meadows
  9. The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
  10. Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
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