The Sword of Shannara

Back in January 2016, I wrote a post about the show The Chronicles of Narania that had premiered. I went on to say that I as I thoroughly enjoyed the show (which only went on to get better from that first episode onward) I hoped that it would draw people into the books. Well, I got my wish. A friend messaged me not long after the show ended for the season, asking me where to start in the series (a question I highly discourage because my answer tends to be long-winded at best, mind-numbing at worst) as she wanted to read the books that inspired the show. I pointed her to The Sword of Shannara partly because that was where Brooks started, and partly so that she could get a little bit of backstory for some of the things she would be seeing later on in the series (book or show). As we talked about it, I decided to join her and read the books again as well. While it took me a lot longer to finish, only because life got really in the way, the story was everything that I remembered it to be.

Sword tells the story of Shea Ohmsford, small town boy looking to mind his own business until the Druid Allanon appears to tell him that he is the heir to an overwhelming birthright in the form of a legendary sword that would be the one weapon that could take out the incredible powerful evil that is the Warlock Lord. A lot of traveling, fighting, chaos, confusion, and adventures ensue. It is a great place to start the series if you have never read the books before.

This is not the beginning though. Even that first time I read the series, when I was around 10, I started with The First King of Shannara which tells how the sword came to be, sets up the stories of the families, the druids, the world that is the Four Lands. I encourage everyone to read it!

But with the next season starting soon, I am glad that my friend started with Sword because I am going to quickly jump into Elfstone of Shannara, the next book upon which the show is based, and hopefully get to Wishsong of Shannara before the show starts getting too far off track from the original story line (which has already been confirmed to mixed reviews).

Anyway, I absolutely loved getting pulled back into this story once more. I have loved this series, this world for so long, getting to fully step back into it again was like returning to an old friend. And we picked up right where we left off. Once more I have the insatiable urge to read them all! Getting to talk with a new fan was a real bonus that I greatly enjoyed as well. So if you have recently picked up the books, please let me know so we can talk about them! If you have only just found the series, that's great too, because I love it just as much! And if you need a push to get into either, let me know, I will gladly give you a nudge as I pick up Elfstones and program the TV to record season 2 on Spike! Join me in one of my very first fandoms! Trust me, it is so worth it!

You're Never Weird On The Internet (almost)

June: Books written by celebrities.

When did I first become aware of Felicia Day? I don't even know. I remember seeing her on Eureka and recognizing her immediately, so I had to have seen Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog by then. I don't know if I saw the episodes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer before or after I knew her name. But I know for a fact when I saw her on Supernatural I fangirl squealed and did a jumping dance in the middle of the living room because Felicia Day was so cool and on my new favorite show! I didn't get to watch her show The Guild when it first aired but I have since made up for that by watching it multiple times and mentioning it to all my friends. So basically it's like I've always been aware of Felicia Day, even though she has only been an actress since 2001. Maybe it's like Joss Whedon said in his intro: "She's something more than a self-made woman - I sometimes think she's not a human woman, that she willed herself into existence, before willing the world to make a place for this new, unfathomable creation." Felicia Day willed herself into my life, and it has been glorious ever since.

In her memoir Felicia tells the incredible tale of how she grew up home-schooled, managed to start college at age 16, and obtained two Real Degrees while never getting her GED. Than she moved to LA with the feeling that she was just meant to be an actress. And it seemed that anything she wanted to do, she put her mind to, and rocked it.
Only, it didn't keep happening that way.
While most of the world sees Felicia Day as this incredibly bubbly, happy, bright person who is not only beautiful but is also a gamer, which is just awesome, people don't suspect the underlying anxious, over-worked, neurotic that hides behind the games she played until she had pushed most of the world out.

And this is why I love Felicia Day. On top of the fact that I always love her bigger characters, I started to catch glimpses of the real Day sometime after she stared in Eureka and what I saw fascinated me. I'm not a major gamer, but I love to sit and loose myself in some Zelda when I can. I spent most of my teen years behind a computer screen in RPG chatrooms because I could be better than who I was IRL. I am addicted to stories because they are the easiest way for me to loose myself (and reading is something that people will encourage). And with all the convention panels I was getting to watch on YouTube, I started to see someone that I could relate to. And she was awesome!

Reading this book I got a closer look at Felicia Day than I ever had before. She opens her soul for the readers and welcomes them in to follow her journey through not only her childhood and move to LA, but the tough years including the two she spent literally addicted to WoW and then later when depression and anxiety got a hold of her so bad that her health took a turn for the worse. Day does not sugarcoat how hard things got for her, and I love that, because people that go through the same need to see that other have it just as bad. And her making her way out of it and doing something incredible, gives the rest of us real hope.

When I saw that Felicia Day wrote a memoir I got so excited, because she is awesome and I love to read about peoples' lives, how they got to where they are, and what they take from that experience. I got so much more in this book. I got to see hope that even though I am incredibly anxious and what people think of my work terrifies me, I can still put it out there, because I made a think #LookIt.

I really encourage everyone to read this one. It's full of laughter and sweet stories and awkward moments. And then it's full of truth and honesty. For the gamers, the women, the socially awkward creative people. Everyone feeling like maybe their passion is just too weird. Everyone that overthinks things to the point of insomnia. Here is a book written by a woman that gets it. And says that it is ok to be like that, you can make something of it, you just got to try. So give the book a read, and tell me what you think about it!

Fangirl

This is Cath's story. Well, actually Carry On, Simon is Cath's story, her fanfiction story that she wrote about her favorite book character and his sub-textual love for the guy the original author painted as the bad guy. Because in Fanfiction anything goes, any ship is welcome, and the story never ends. Cath firmly believes all of this. And it's ok, because in that world she knows her characters, she knows the way they really feel (about each other), and she knows what comes next. And thousands of fans think she is an amazing writer, so that's got to count for something, right?
But now Cath is starting college and her twin sister doesn't want to room with her, and her actual roommate is kind of like a force of nature, and her roommate's boyfriend(?) smiles way too much, her father is really having trouble coping with being alone in the house, and her fiction writing professor does not approve of faniction. Could anything else go wrong? At least she has Simon and Baz.

This book was everything. For me at least. While reading, I stopped and told me husband that I was so glad that I didn't find fanfiction until recently because I would have been Cath, locked in the world someone else had created. Although, if I admit it out loud I was already like that, even without fanfiction, and even now I tend to get too far caught up in stories for my own good. But more than that, I could relate to Cath's anxiety, her fear of change, her shut down mode to avoid it all. I saw so much of myself in Cath while reading this book, maybe that's what had me reading in in just two days and getting downright giddy over every good thing that happened to Cath.

Of course it could also be because Rainbow Rowell is an incredible writer. Her characters are amazing. They are stunning in all their little imperfections and it's those flaws that make you love them and want to hold them close. The fact that her main character is a hot mess is wonderful. Rainbow is letting the reader know that it is perfectly fine to be a little crazy, a little obsessive. Just come out of your shell every once in a while.
And her humor! So many times I found myself laughing out loud, having to close the book to let it out for a long minute. And once I was forced to put the book down completely to wipe away the tears from laughing so hard and walk away to gather myself to keep reading. She really had just stunning dialogue throughout the whole thing!

And, yes, the subject matter was a big draw for the book. Fanfiction is such a big movement and it is also the most frowned upon literary genre out there. And yes, it's a genre. When thousands of people write it, when people have to update servers to support it, when so many people read and follow stories, when books get published (shhh, I know, but it supports my point), it is more than a hobby, it's a movement. I read fanfiction, I have read some astonishing works by incredible writers that would put some books I've read to shame. I even write it. But it's not something we bring up in polite conversation because so many people look down on it. Rainbow brings it to the forefront and says "Here, it's a thing, it changes lives, and it's actually ok." And I applaud her so much for that. For writing a book with a character people can relate to and feel better about something others may put them down for.  And that's awesome.

This book was so many kinds of amazing. You need to read it. I don't care if you like fanfiction or not, you'll fall in love with Cath anyway. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go track down every other book by Rainbow I can get my hands on. Right after I update my fanfic!