This week on the blog you can check out:
- Papertoy Glowbots: A (Crafty) Review
- The Princess and the Warrior: A Picture Book Review
- Who Needs Magic?: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review
- The Serpent King: A Review
- Author Interview: Jeff Zentner on The Serpent King
This week I had a four day weekend and it was fantastic.
I got a lot of cooking and winterizing done at home.
I got some glass pumpkins at Pier 1 and they are glorious.
On Sunday I went to Books of Wonder to see an author panel including Garth Nix.
It was delightful hearing Garth Nix talking about his inspiration for the Old Kingdom series He wanted good necromancers who used a unique form of magic. After dismissing candles as impractical and not dramatic, he decided to go with bells. While reading a Dorothy Sayers mystery, the idea of bells with names and characteristics stuck and thus the Abhorsen’s bells were born. Nix also unearthed a photo of an English wall while cleaning out a photo archive in Harper’s Australian office–where he worked–and in the photo one side of the wall was green grass and full summer while the other side was winter. That is where the idea of having the Old Kingdom abut Ancellstierre started.
The panel also included Lauren Oliver, Victoria Aveyard, and Kendare Blake. Blake explained that her inspiration for Three Dark Crowns started with the fact that queen bees lay eggs before leaving their hives and then the newly hatched queens have to fight it out.
Anyway, the panel was a lot of fun despite the dreary weather and Garth Nix is one of the most personable authors I’ve ever met (twice now!) and I’m thrilled to be reading Goldenhand right now.
If you want to see how my month in reading is shaking out be sure to check out my October Reading Tracker.
How was your week?
Miss Print 