Archives for June 2015

FROM PANEL TO PANEL | June Graphic Novel Releases I’m Excited About!

June 17, 2015 Comments : 9

from panel to panel

I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!

From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.

What an extremely belated post about the June graphic novels I’m excited about! I had been caught up in the beautiful whirlwind of May that I forget to make this post! But you know what they say, better late than never.

This month, a couple of awesome graphic novels have been published! And it is my job to alert you to the awesomeness of it all! I have my eye on three particular ones—one dealing with murders in four time periods; one revisiting Barbara Gordon as Batgirl; and one dealing with mysteries + a Gotham City school!

Here are the June graphic novels I’m excited about!

*BODIES*

LONDON, 1890. As Jack the Ripper stalks the streets, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead-the city’s most diligent detective-applies his skills to an even harder case. The victim is an unidentified male. The killer may have powerful allies. And Edmond’s darkest secret may be exposed if he gets too close to the truth…

LONDON, 1940. As the Blitz rains bombs down on the city, Inspector Charles Whiteman reigns over its streets. He escaped the Nazis in Poland only to run the very rackets he’s supposed to shut down. But when he discovers a mysterious murder victim, his double life may be destroyed…

LONDON, 2014. As racist rioters wreak havoc in the name of their prejudiced patriotism, Detective Sergeant Shahara Hasan leads the fight against them. As a Muslim cop, she’s English to the core. But the corpse she’s uncovered may reveal something rotten deep below the surface…

LONDON, 2050. As the mind-scrambling pulsewave plagues the last survivors of a terrifying techno-apocalypse, the amnesiac young woman known only as Maplewood can barely understand the body she’s discovered. But this ritual killing is identical to those from decades past-and the link between them all is stronger, and stranger, than anyone could dream…

In BODIES, writer Si Spencer teams up with Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay and Phil Winslade-four incredible artists, one for each era-to slice open the modern murder mystery and uncover the strange secret heart within! Collects issues #1-8. — Goodreads

Publication date: June 16th 2015 by Vertigo

Pre-order: Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository

Why I’m excited: Murders? Different time periods that are somehow linked together in London? Same murder victim? What’s not to be excited about that? I was instantly intrigued by the premise, and wanted to see how this comic will execute it.

Typography

YOU’RE JUST MY TYPE | {28}

June 12, 2015 Comments : 6

I love fonts. You can say I’m obsessed with collecting them all. It’s no secret to those who know me. You’re Just My Type is a new feature where I showcase the fonts I absolutely adore and use. And hopefully, you will love the fonts I pick. Add all of them to your font collection! Let it grow!

Another Friday, another font post. Let’s do this! (I’m amused that my last font post was Friday as well. I didn’t intend that.)

Go forth and add these fonts to your font book!

(Remember, when you download the fonts, look at the license to see what you can and cannot do with it. Majority of these will have Dropbox download links, so if it doesn’t download at first click, click it again.)

PONIENTE

Poniente is designed by Benito Ruiz.

Letters

SINCERELY, CEE | A letter from yours truly to The Wolf Wilder

June 11, 2015 Comments : 2

**Dear Katherine Rundell and The Wolf Wilder,**

I smell found family with wolves! And that’s everything I never knew I wanted!

[quote cite=”Goodreads” url=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24885821-the-wolf-wilder”]A girl and the wolves who love her embark on a rescue mission through Russian wilderness in this lyrical tale from the author of the acclaimed Rooftoppers and Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms.

Feo’s life is extraordinary. Her mother trains domesticated wolves to be able to fend for themselves in the snowy wilderness of Russia, and Feo is following in her footsteps to become a wolf wilder. She loves taking care of the wolves, especially the three who stay at the house because they refuse to leave Feo, even though they’ve already been wilded. But not everyone is enamored with the wolves, or with the fact that Feo and her mother are turning them wild. And when her mother is taken captive, Feo must travel through the cold, harsh woods to save her—and learn from her wolves how to survive.[/quote]

Lists

BLOG TOUR + ESSENTIAL READING | Books the Characters in Brutal Youth Would Love + Why!

June 9, 2015 Comments : 3

Three freshmen must join forces to survive at a troubled, working-class Catholic high school with a student body full of bullies and zealots, and a faculty that’s even worse in Anthony Breznican’s Brutal Youth.

With a plunging reputation and enrollment rate, Saint Michael’s has become a crumbling dumping ground for expelled delinquents and a haven for the stridently religious when incoming freshman Peter Davidek signs up. On his first day, tensions are clearly on the rise as a picked-upon upperclassmen finally snaps, unleashing a violent attack on both the students who tormented him for so long, and the corrupt, petty faculty that let it happen. But within this desperate place, Peter befriends fellow freshmen Noah Stein, a volatile classmate whose face bears the scars of a hard-fighting past, and the beautiful but lonely Lorelei Paskal —so eager to become popular, she makes only enemies.

To even stand a chance at surviving their freshmen year, the trio must join forces as they navigate a bullying culture dominated by administrators like the once popular Ms. Bromine, their embittered guidance counselor, and Father Mercedes, the parish priest who plans to scapegoat the students as he makes off with church finances. A coming-of-age tale reversed, Brutal Youth follows these students as they discover that instead of growing older and wiser, going bad may be the only way to survive.

Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Books-A-Million · Indigo · iTunes · Google Play · Kobo

I have a special Essential Reading post, courtesy of the Brutal Youth blog tour, and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Anthony Breznican to my blog! I love reading about the books that Anthony picked for five of his characters and reading how those books inspire those characters like Noah writing a paper on Mr. T or Hannah tattooing a certain quote on her arm.

For those who do not know what Essential Reading is, it is a feature on my blog where I ask authors to share five to seven books (children’s, YA, general fiction, romances, nonfiction, and all) that they or their characters love, or has impacted their lives or their characters’s lives.

Let’s see what Anthony picked, shall we?

**BOOKS THE CHARACTERS IN BRUTAL YOUTH WOULD LOVE (AND WHY!)**

by Anthony Breznican

I love this question! It’s one I would never have thought of on my own, but it gave me a chance to revisit the kids from Brutal Youth and imagine which books might strike a nerve with them.

Since the story is set in 1991 and 1992, I restricted myself to books that would actually have been available to them at the time, although there are many more recent ones these characters would love.

I should start by setting up the story: Brutal Youth is about a group of newcomers at a corrupt, crumbling private school outside Pittsburgh, where hazing is sanctioned as an hallowed tradition, and people will do anything to avoid the grim fate that awaits anyone at the bottom of the food chain.

Reviews

REVIEW | Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican

June 8, 2015 Comments : 2

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican
June 2, 2015
St. Martin’s Press
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
* Book courtesy of St. Martin’s Press

Three freshmen must join forces to survive at a troubled, working-class Catholic high school with a student body full of bullies and zealots, and a faculty that’s even worse in Anthony Breznican’s Brutal Youth.

With a plunging reputation and enrollment rate, Saint Michael’s has become a crumbling dumping ground for expelled delinquents and a haven for the stridently religious when incoming freshman Peter Davidek signs up. On his first day, tensions are clearly on the rise as a picked-upon upperclassmen finally snaps, unleashing a violent attack on both the students who tormented him for so long, and the corrupt, petty faculty that let it happen. But within this desperate place, Peter befriends fellow freshmen Noah Stein, a volatile classmate whose face bears the scars of a hard-fighting past, and the beautiful but lonely Lorelei Paskal —so eager to become popular, she makes only enemies.

To even stand a chance at surviving their freshmen year, the trio must join forces as they navigate a bullying culture dominated by administrators like the once popular Ms. Bromine, their embittered guidance counselor, and Father Mercedes, the parish priest who plans to scapegoat the students as he makes off with church finances. A coming-of-age tale reversed, Brutal Youth follows these students as they discover that instead of growing older and wiser, going bad may be the only way to survive.

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “The kid had taken a lot of punishment over the years, so he had much to give back.”

Brutal Youth promises you exactly what the title says—a brutal youth. From the aggressive bullying of the freshmen by the upperclassmen to the lack of concern from the teachers, it’s everything you don’t want to experience in a high school. For these kids, it’s become a norm—surviving this bullying culture that can make any kid and adult a monster.

Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER | Trend: Neon Lights!

June 7, 2015 Comments : 10

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe) and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

Neon lights! Big city! That’s what I wanna see! (I may or may not have “That’s the Life For Me” from James and the Giant Peach stuck in my head.)

Neon lights is the next trend I wanted to showcase. Like the post-it theme, I couldn’t find a lot of book covers with neon lights on it. I figured it would be fairly easy to find because designers can do excellent typography awesomeness with neon lights. Unfortunately, I only found four (which is better than none)! And those four are definitely fabulous ones.

TREND: Neon Lights

« Previous Page