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Showing posts from October, 2013

10 Questions with Novelist Jane Chipperfield (@Jane_Chip)

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This Author Spotlight features Jane Chipperfield Author of Milo's Scale This week we are chatting with debut novelist Jane Chipperfield. Jane read Classical Civilisation at Warwick University, going on to enjoy a twenty-year career as a Primary School teacher.  She left teaching to explore other opportunities, initially studying at Sotheby’s Institute in London. After her time at Sotheby’s, Jane devised, wrote and presented a series of short programmes for schools.  Designed to interest young children in the art that is accessible in Britain, the films give insight by telling background stories relating to pieces featured in U.K. collections. The last few years have been taken up with writing, initially compiling and editing weekly news pages for websites as well as copywriting. Her novel, Milo’s Scale, is the first in a trilogy of thrillers featuring Rick Devan and Sophia. 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? I was a full-

Review: The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal

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The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read Mezrich's book after discovering it in the Overdrive ebook section of my library. I was curious as to how it resembled the film THE SOCIAL NETWORK. It turns out that it follows it quite a bit. Apparently screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich were writing their respective works simultaneously yet also independently. They got together a few times and compared notes, but worked in relative isolation from one another. (At least, so says Sorkin on the Wiki page for the film. We'll take him at his word.) I felt that the film version painted Zuckerberg as a real dick. I wanted to see if the book supported that. I was skeptical, given that Mark did not contribute to the book wheres Eduardo Saverin DID. This makes it look like Mark had something to hide. I can also imagine it was strange and a bit awkward being

Review: In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks: . . . And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy

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In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks: . . . And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy by Adam Carolla My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is Adam's first book, which was followed by NOT TACO BELL MATERIAL. I preferred NOT TACO BELL MATERIAL. CHICKS is similar in tone and rant, but with a more shotgun-patterned-style of subject matter. He touches on everything from driving to animals. TACO BELL focused a bit more on how Adam grew up and extricated himself from the surety of a life of relative poverty. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of how he met Jimmy Kimmel, as well as the antics they've gotten up to in the ensuing years. Fans of Carolla will like his books, as it's very much a written format of his rants popularized on his TV, radio, and podcast outlets. I'm looking forward to his next book, PRESIDENT ME. He's also becoming an accomplished race car driver. Maybe next year he'll be at Le Mans with his tool-borrowing

Review: Not Taco Bell Material

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Not Taco Bell Material by Adam Carolla My rating: 4 of 5 stars Fans of Adam will enjoy this. Others perhaps a bit less so. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Adam delves into his lackluster, challenging childhood and adolescence, shares anecdotes of poverty and teenage mayhem, and cites the many crappy jobs he endured after high school. Many jokes, asides, tan gents (no, that's not a typo; it's two words), and rants along the way. What I DIDN'T like about this book is that Adam mentioned but then neglected to explain some of the key developments in his life (such as meeting Jimmy Kimmel) because he expoused on them ad nauseum in his first book IN FIFTY YEARS WE'LL ALL BE CHICKS. For some reason, I read NOT TACO BELL MATERIAL first. So I'm now reading CHICKS after having completed TACO BELL. It is indeed filling in the gaps. Whereas CHICKS is (thus far) a lot of ranting similar to Adam's former morning radio gig (which I always enjoyed) and c

10 Questions with Author Michael Cairns (@cairnswrites)

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This Author Spotlight features Michael Cairns author of The Spirit Room Chocoholic Michael Cairns is a writer and author of the real-world epic fantasy trilogy, The Assembly and science fiction adventure series, A Game of War. A musician, father and school teacher, when not writing he can be found behind his drum kit, tucking into his chocolate stash or trying, and usually failing, to outwit his young daughter. 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? The writing I do now began three years ago. I was on one of my wife’s retreats, ostensibly to help with the cooking and washing up. Fortunately for me, the cook we’d hired was super-efficient and I found myself with a long afternoon and an empty Word doc in front of me. Two days, ten thousand words and lots of ideas later, I was writing! I loved English in school, and wrote bad poetry for some of my twenties, but hadn’t ever thought seriously about writing, despite a voracious appetite for re

10 Questions with 11-year-old Author H.G. Sansostri (@HGSansostri)

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This Author Spotlight features H.G. Sansostri author of The Little Dudes' Skool Survival Guide This week's interview features a debut author: H.G. Sansostri. Harrison (Harri) is an 11 year-old-boy who likes to read and write in his spare time. He has written two books to date: The Little Dudes' Skool Survival Guide  and W.C.P. (War Changes People) . He is also an accomplished child actor having appeared in film, commercials and West End Theatre ( Lord of The Flies ). He played 'Lenny Darwin' in Creation (Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly's youngest son) directed by Jon Amiel. He hopes to study law and become an Entertainments Lawyer and study English and history at a University in London, enabling him to continue his acting and writing career. What doesn't he like...? Brussel sprouts and Kit Kat bars. What does he like...? Chocolate and chips : ) 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? Well, when I

10 Questions with Bestselling Author Wayne Thomas Batson

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This Author Spotlight features Wayne Thomas Batson author of GHOST (A John Spector Novel) This interview is of particular note for me because back in 2006-2007, I spent a great deal of time writing (working on The Go-Kids ) at Border's Books near where I lived at the time. I often took breaks to stand up and stretch, get more coffee, and wander through the aisles of the book store, enjoying the volumes on the shelves and exploring new books and new writers. On one end cap I noticed a series of brightly-colored books with brilliant, fascinating covers. They were written by a guy named Wayne Thomas Batson. Fast forward six years, and here we are. I have the distinct pleasure of featuring Wayne and his books in this week's author spotlight. I encountered Wayne and his new book GHOST when Wayne did a guest blog on Joe Konrath's blog (which you can read HERE ). So, thank you, Joe! Now, here's Wayne. Wayne Thomas Batson