More JK Rowling News!

When the news about JK Rowling comes out, it comes thick and fast (and then we sit by the computers for YEARS, waiting for a titbit).

Anyway, as you guys know, information about JK Rowling's first adult novel The Casual Vacancy was revealed and the internet exploded. A day later, the internet has exploded, yet again. All due to the FAQs & Rumours section of JK Rowling's site.

On the site, the question was asked that all Harry Potter fans have been asking for years: "What about the Harry Potter Encyclopaedia?"

And JK Rowling's answer was... "For a long time I have been promising an encyclopaedia of Harry’s world, and I have started work on this now – some of it forms the new content in Pottermore. It is likely to be a time-consuming job, but when finished I shall donate all royalties to charity."

*imagine all Harry Potter fans (myself included) doing a Kermit Flailing Arms movement... NOW!*

We've all known about the Harry Potter Encyclopaedia since the end on 2007, when Jo mentioned it on the PotterCast podcast where the book was given the nickname "The Scottish Book", but this is the first time to my knowledge that she has DIRECTLY confirmed the news.

My reactions: OH YEAH!!! *Now screams and faints* ... *recovers* Although... it would be interesting to see who publishes this? Harry Potter is home to Bloomsbury in the UK and yet, JK is publishing her new book with Little Brown. I sense a bidding war...!

The Casual Vacancy

Little Brown has released information about JK Rowling's new book. It's gonna be called... THE CASUAL VACANCY and this is what the story is about, as revealed on the Little Brown website:

The Casual Vacancy

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

Little Brown, also, confirmed the international date of release - THURSDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER (so, I fear no midnight launches... *sigh*) - and the UK prices for hardback (£20.00), ebook (£11.99), audio download (£20.00) & CD (£30.00)

So, reactions? This is as far removed from Harry Potter and I love it! It's like The Archers, but darker! I CAN NOT WAIT!

I'VE BEEN QUOTED! *faints with shock*

I discovered in the past few days that I have been quoted! MY WORDS ABOUT BOOKS I HAVE REVIEWED ON THIS VERY BLOG HAVE BEEN USED IN A BOOK AND AN AUTHOR'S WEBSITE!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! *faints with delight and shock*

And here are the two books in question:



Now, this is HUGE FOR ME! STUPIDLY BIG! I adore both Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson and the first two books in the Tiger's Saga by Colleen Houck (will read the third soon! [Thanks Bella from Cheezy Feet Books for giving me her copy! She knows how I LOVE this series!]) so the fact that Sarah put my reaction on her website and Hodder put my words on the "Praise" page of Tiger's Voyage is a WONDERFUL honour! Just wonderful! I am thrilled and honoured. And I wanted to show you my excitement/shock/disbelief/honoured-ness to you all!

EXCITING NEWS!!! (aka MundieMoms Did What?!)

I AM VERY EXCITED! VERY VERY VERY EXCITED! And I was VERY HAPPY late Tuesday night & throughout the whole of yesterday. Why, I hear you ask. Well, because of the image below.



I AM ON MUNDIEMOM'S AFFILIATE LIST!!!

I told a few people about this and I just got blank stares, but to me, this is a HUGE deal! Not only is my little (slightly insane) blog on another blog's affiliate list, but it's a huge blog site that I ACTUALLY use and love (I discovered them while I was reading the Mortal Instruments trilogy as it was called back then!), but I am on a list with other blogs that I love and have huge respect for like Fallen ArchAngel, Girls in the Stacks and Wondrous Reads!

I can't tell you how thrilled and honoured I am about this! I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to MundieMoms for thinking my blog is WORTHY enough to be put on the list!

Well, actually, I think I should take a small paragraph to say thank you to every book blogger who I met, tweet, and facebook for all the advice, book excitement and general making me feel like I'm not the only book addict in the world. Thanks guys! You are awesome!

Anyway, because of MundieMoms putting me on their affiliate list, I was asked if I had a Blog Button. I didn't so after manic tweeting about ideas, HTLM coding & advice (must thank Iffath from Love Reading X who helped ALOT, but also thanks to Jennifer from Fallen ArchAngel, Mitali from Alley Of Books & Jeremy from Novel Thoughts!), I HAVE A BLOG BUTTON! YEAH!!! So, if you want it on your blog (if you want), you can have one!

Now, I wanted to show you the image I used and the image I was considering using, but after asking twitter, I decided against it... But again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

The Atom Books Blogger Party

(Or, as I would like to call it, "How to Scare Pro Book Bloggers in Several Easy Steps...")

Okay, I am going to admit this to you now. I have NEVER been invite to a blogger's event before. NEVER! I have no idea how/why I was invite (I think it was because I tweet them A LOT about books!), but, nevertheless, I was invite. And I was giddy as hell!

And nervous as hell! Seriously, I thought they made a mistake. Me? They want ME there? Why? I feel like I was a mistake. All those REAL book bloggers will be there and then there will be me, going "Look at the shiny shiny!" (and yes, I do believe I said that once). I was so nervous when I walked in, Rose (aka the lady who invited me and, for that, I thank and cyberhug her) had to help me put it on.

So far, so unprofessional.

While everyone mingled with each other with cake & drink (champagne, juice and water - I went for the bubbly stuff to kill the nerves!), I got chatting to Matthew from Teen Library & Rhys from Thirst for Fiction (they were cool! Dangerous chats about libraries, politics and Harry Potter is always a good thing!) and then, we settled round a HUGE Apprentice-like table (I sat next to Liz from My Favourite Books - and I freaked her out by randomly hugging her! What can I say? We talk on Twitter! & I won a book from her site), we listen as Atom's finest: Rose, Kate, Sam, Gina and Kirsteen (who were lovely. And I fear might have begged for a job at one point), talks to us about they books for next spring.

Can I say now that we all went a bit giddy? We're book people! We'll get excited over this type of thing!

Now, I am going to show some self-control and go excited about books that are MEGA exciting! That, and what I want in my To Be Read pile in the future (er... that's nearly all the books. Maybe I should half it...)!

NIGHTSHADE by Andrea Cremer - I have heard SO MUCH about this book on Twitter and the Blogsphere. It's got werewolves and seems to ooze sexual tension. And, it's original! I read the first few chapters last night (I got an ARC - Advance Reader Copy. My first EVER! SQUEE!) and, I have to admit this, I forced myself to stop because this is going to be a "Read In One Sitting Book" or, as someone said Tuesday night, a "Gulp In One" Book. I like that term.

HALO by Alexandra Adornetto - An 18 year old writing about Angels. And it's published?! *hides jealous thoughts away* But seriously, I really have high hopes for this book. It seems to fit, yet standout, in the YA world of Angels. Angels (not fallen, FYI!) come to Earth to save us from dark forces and our heroine, Bethany, falls in love...

THE GATHERING (Darkness Rising: Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong - Before I go any further, LOOK AT THE COVER! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?! Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, I know of Kelley, but never have read her. So, this seems a great place to start.

ROSEBUSH by Michele Jaffe - Another book I quite excited over (and not just because I got the ARC to this book. THANKS ATOM!), but because this is Atom's first non-paranormal novel. ... yeah, I know! (Atom is publishing Pretty Little Liars but they stole them from their sibling, Sphere so that doesn't count!) Jane is a victim of a terrible hit and run. She barely survived. But as she recovers in hospital, she realises that what her friends have told her and what she's slowly remembering doesn't match up. Someone tried to kill her, and her friends are covering for them...

There are LOADS of books I could go into. Like Awakened (the 8th House of Night book), Bloody Valentine (a Blue Bloods novella), Red Riding Hood (a book written as the script for Warner Bros was being written so it's different from regular movie tie-ins), Lois Duncan updated novels (include "I Know What You Did Last Summer"), The Alone series (Zombies in New York? SO WANT THAT!) The Game (Atom's first Translated series. Again, want!) & ... wait for it... One Seriously Messed-up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite (British talent! Imagine Inbetweeners with a dash of Adrian Mole). And, of course, The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (which is, despite rumours, is actually written by Stephenie Meyer)

Oh! We were also told about a new project called Atomics! So, if you're 18 or younger, keep an eye out on Atom Books' site (http://www.atombooks.net/) over the next few weeks cause you might wanna get involved!

And... that's it. We talked about books, drooled over covers (we saw Wolfbane - the sequel to Nightshade and a possible cover for book 2 in the Monster High series) and we left. With information, books and me not making a complete fool of myself! All good!

Now, the links! If you would like to check out these sites, please do (because they were at the event too and I love them for making feel welcome!).

Atom Books (of course)
Ana's posts at The Book Smugglers
Liz and Sarah's posts at My Favourite Books
Jo's posts at Once Upon a Bookcase
Lynsey's posts at Words and Pieces
Karen's posts at Reading Teenage Fiction
Rhys' posts at Thirst for Fiction
Amanda's posts at Floor to Ceiling Books
Sammee's posts at I Want to Read That
Sarah's posts at Sarah's Book Reviews
Matthew's posts at Teen Librarian

Once again, I would like to say thank you for being invited to this event. It was made of awesome.