tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25340093656053584142024-03-13T03:19:37.207-07:00Bookish Dame Goes SteampunkBooks are the primary reason for any of my blogs...but Steampunk is a joyful new thing in my life. This blog is a celebration of that joy! You'll find book reviews, fashion, jewelry, interior design and more here. I hope you enjoy and that you enter into a time suspended moment or two with me.....Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-83161514562673167352011-10-30T04:13:00.000-07:002011-10-30T04:38:38.384-07:00Steampunkish Books To Be Reviewed! Coming Soon~<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These are just some books in my stacks that I plan to read in November. I wanted to share some quick notes on them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-azrRtqpybFw/Tq0kevyKQiI/AAAAAAAADxo/2n3v0JoGtck/s1600/Book++Ganymede+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk+novel++8+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ida="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-azrRtqpybFw/Tq0kevyKQiI/AAAAAAAADxo/2n3v0JoGtck/s400/Book++Ganymede+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk+novel++8+11.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Book #4 in the Clockwork Century Series by Cherie Priest</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">this is not-to-be-missed if you're a steampunk aficionado!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Cherie Priest has put her stamp on what it means to be a woman writer of the steampunk genre.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Others of the books in this Clockwork Century Series are:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">"The Boneshaker," "Clementine," and "Dreadnought" respectively.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u>Read more about this book here</u>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">"The air pirate Andan Cly is going straight. Well, straight<i>er</i>. Although he’s happy to run alcohol guns wherever the money’s good, he doesn’t think the world needs more sap, or its increasingly ugly side-effects. But becoming legit is easier said than done, and Cly’s first legal gig—a supply run for the Seattle Underground—will be paid for by sap money. <br />
New Orleans is not Cly’s first pick for a shopping run. He loved the Big Easy once, back when he also loved a beautiful mixed-race prostitute named Josephine Early—but that was a decade ago, and he hasn’t looked back since. Jo’s still thinking about him, though, or so he learns when he gets a telegram about a peculiar piloting job. It’s a chance to complete two lucrative jobs at once, one he can’t refuse. He sends his old paramour a note and heads for New Orleans, with no idea of what he’s in for—or what she wants him to fly. <br />
But he won’t be flying. Not exactly. Hidden at the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain lurks an astonishing war machine, an immense submersible called the <i>Ganymede</i>. This prototype could end the war, if only anyone had the faintest idea of how to operate it…. If only they could sneak it past the Southern forces at the mouth of the Mississippi River… If only it hadn’t killedot inside it. But it’s those “if onlys” that will decide whether Cly and his crew will end up in the history books, or at the bottom of the ocean."</span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynzNAJ8ah4k/Tq0lp1zBgiI/AAAAAAAADxw/stHKMn_yLTw/s1600/Book++pic++Steampunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ida="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynzNAJ8ah4k/Tq0lp1zBgiI/AAAAAAAADxw/stHKMn_yLTw/s400/Book++pic++Steampunk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Just a picture of me and my grandmother Charlotte Flowers Triplett last week in London after the World's Fair honoring Queen Victoria. I'm the girl on the left-hand side. Grannie's on the far right. What fun we had!! We tripped the boardwalk home afterwards.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rk9-kwZYHKU/Tq01IA84h-I/AAAAAAAADyI/i2-X8uPbUNo/s1600/Steampunk+Week++October+2011+The+Buntline+Special+A+Weird+West+Tale+by+Mike+Resnick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ida="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rk9-kwZYHKU/Tq01IA84h-I/AAAAAAAADyI/i2-X8uPbUNo/s400/Steampunk+Week++October+2011+The+Buntline+Special+A+Weird+West+Tale+by+Mike+Resnick.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wild, wild West, anyone? It's a strange treat to meet all the "boys" of the OK Corral in steampunk! What was once a veritable freebie has now fled up the charts in sales and 5 stars category.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Here's a quick summary</u>:</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The year is 1881. The United States of America ends at the Mississippi River. Beyond lies the Indian nations, where the magic of powerful Medicine Men has halted the advance of the Americans east of the river. An American government desperate to expand its territory sends Thomas Alva Edison out West to the town of Tombstone, Arizona, on a mission to discover a scientific means of counteracting magic. Hired to protect this great genius, Wyatt Earp and his brothers. But there are plenty who would like to see the Earps and Edison dead. Riding to their aid are old friends Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson. Against them stand the Apache wizard Geronimo and the Clanton gang. Battle lines are drawn, and the Clanton gang, which has its own reasons for wanting Edison dead, sends for Johnny Ringo, the one man who might be Doc Holliday's equal in a gunfight. But what shows up instead is The Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo, returned from the dead and come to Tombstone looking for a fight. Welcome to a West like you've never seen before, where "Bat Masterson" hails from the ranks of the undead, where electric lights shine down on the streets of Tombstone, while horseless stagecoaches carry passengers to and fro, and where death is no obstacle to The Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo. Think you know the story of the O.K. Corral? Think again, as five-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick takes on his first steampunk western tale, and the West will never be the same."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hope you have great reading plans for November, too. Leave me a comment and let me know!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">*Note: All summary quotes are taken from Barnes & Noble</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-52892896367697268372011-10-25T17:58:00.000-07:002011-10-25T18:24:36.284-07:00Steampunk Fascinating~ "The Art of Steampunk" by Art Donavan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zN7yk_rEeSQ/TqdVjfMEUII/AAAAAAAADtg/hOKgGKP931g/s1600/Book++The+Art+of+Steampunk+by+Art+Donovan++9+11+review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ida="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zN7yk_rEeSQ/TqdVjfMEUII/AAAAAAAADtg/hOKgGKP931g/s400/Book++The+Art+of+Steampunk+by+Art+Donovan++9+11+review.jpg" width="333" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Published by: Fox Chapel Publishing</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Pages: 128</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Genre: Art Exhibit</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;"><u>The Dame's Review</u>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Steampunk by its very conception was meant to be quirky and odd-placed, not-of-this timeframe; actually, quite disarranged. In this collection of museum-exhibited pieces of steampunkery (if that's even a word)we find a daunting group of work from artists of all minds and capabilities. I found this book both charming and awe-inspiring. I could look at it over and over for ages.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Art Donovan, the man who coordinated the exhibit and compiled the works in this small book, has a keen eye for the wonders of steampunk and its place in the world of fine art. He comments that, "Steampunk has already influenced everything from product design to fine art and fashion." To which I want to make a resounding clap of hands! Jules Verne would be so amazed and joyful to see what his imagination wrought, and how man has taken it to the next steps and beyond.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">In this book we see the beautiful, clean line and artistic aesthetic of physical scientific materials juxtaposed with natural products</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">and man-made materials such as refined leather and rubber. I'm only touching the surface when I give that much description because the clocks, lamps, laptops and other pieces shown in this exhibit will sit you back in your seat, spellbound and gaping. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">This book may answer that question we had as children; why would someone want to be a "Cat Burglar?" Why in this case is because the amazing, inventive gadgets made into works of art are so superior and elegant they are incomparable treasures!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">When you peruse this book, it will take you out of the 21st century and place you someplace else, and you'll want to don brass, iron, leather, jewels, stone, crystals and time-pieces...you'll want to be wound up in a time machine and a steampunk gizmo for a trip. You'll wish you'd been at this amazing display of formidable artists' designs.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Please enjoy a part of the exhibit yourself!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">5 clockwinding stars</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-48796220474482082042011-10-03T21:14:00.000-07:002011-10-03T21:34:17.081-07:00Steampunk Jewelry Artist~Dereck Maltez's Extraordinarily Weird & Wonderful Work!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dereck Maltez Rocks Steampunk Jewelry Designs!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1iRt2YJyLdg/Top-6-Te3pI/AAAAAAAADW8/qh_V0bcxDag/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+red+rep+eyed+ring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" kca="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1iRt2YJyLdg/Top-6-Te3pI/AAAAAAAADW8/qh_V0bcxDag/s320/Steampunk++Derecks+red+rep+eyed+ring.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-size: large;">Red, Taxidemist's Reptilian Eye Ring w/ Copper Wiring and Gear</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pm7J9KcI_eQ/Top6gMrvgXI/AAAAAAAADWw/8lmUhcT7cA0/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+taxi+rep+eye+ring+on+finger++etsy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" kca="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pm7J9KcI_eQ/Top6gMrvgXI/AAAAAAAADWw/8lmUhcT7cA0/s320/Steampunk++Derecks+taxi+rep+eye+ring+on+finger++etsy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steampunk Reptilian Eye Ring Screams Futuristic!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><u>Mr. Maltez's Description of These Rings</u>: </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "...ring is hand made with insulated copper wire and electric copper wire, this is a craft, with a rifle Bullet Casings and mounted, glass taxidermy eye and gear from watch and bead.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><u><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Dame's Point</span></u>:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Visiting Mr. Maltez's "Wire Jewelry and Steampunk Jewelry by Dereck Maltez" on Etsy is an incredible experience! I ran across the shop by a crazy happenstance this past weekend. The jewelry designs jumped out at me because of his use of taxidermy, of all things! What a genius idea for the perfect concoction of steampunk and sy-fy accouterments.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">What I also love about Dereck's designs is that it reflects steampunk's vital genre grounding: female and male equality. Both men and women will look kranked in his jewelry. The assortment of styles and pieces Dereck has mixes things madly. And, his prices are too reasonable, with the rings shown above going for under $60.00. That's just a steal. </span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AtlGeq6XFK8/ToqFXePbaUI/AAAAAAAADXA/rvXAMJIkk3c/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+cyberpunk+ring+heavily+geared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" kca="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AtlGeq6XFK8/ToqFXePbaUI/AAAAAAAADXA/rvXAMJIkk3c/s400/Steampunk++Derecks+cyberpunk+ring+heavily+geared.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-size: large;">I Love The Heavily Geared and Sproketed Look of This One with the Jewel!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTE2KwhxRDE/ToqFwTlYi5I/AAAAAAAADXE/0E4V6r-gjUw/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+mechanical+spider+250+dollars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" kca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTE2KwhxRDE/ToqFwTlYi5I/AAAAAAAADXE/0E4V6r-gjUw/s400/Steampunk++Derecks+mechanical+spider+250+dollars.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Frightening Masterpiece of a Mechanical Spider--Pendant or Pin</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">$250.00</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a2A-7v38RwE/ToqMFMTANiI/AAAAAAAADXI/vqejfDegFlk/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+mechan+spider+best+pic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kca="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a2A-7v38RwE/ToqMFMTANiI/AAAAAAAADXI/vqejfDegFlk/s1600/Steampunk++Derecks+mechan+spider+best+pic" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Spider's inspiration was the mechanical one in "Wild, Wild West" movie!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dereck Maltez is the Dame's choice for Steampunk Jewelry Artist of the Season. I hope you've enjoyed the tour of his creations and that you'll visit him on his Facebook and Etsy sites.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Dereck's Etsy Blurb</span></u>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Jewelry Designer of the Steampunk Movement" : </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steampunk Rings, Bracelets, Watches, Necklaces, and more.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Exclusive designs by : keoops8 and steamwire, </span><a href="http://steampunkwire.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://steampunkwire.blogspot.com/</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u>Visit Dereck Maltez here</u>:</span></span></div><span style="color: #76a5af;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/steampunkwire"><span style="color: #76a5af;">www.facebook.com/steampunkwire</span></a><span style="color: #76a5af;"> (fans page)</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/feathersOnhair"><span style="color: #76a5af;">www.facebook.com/feathersOnhair</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/steampunkring"><span style="color: #76a5af;">www.twitter.com/steampunkring</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/steamwire"><span style="color: #76a5af;">www.twitter.com/steamwire</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u>In Conclusion </u>:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">I'm hoping to get an interview with Dereck in the near future with a forecast of his new designs for the Winter and Spring. Can you see the influence of Florida beaches and sunshine?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">*Please let us know what you think of his jewelry. We'd love some feedback!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-16301264948748018952011-10-03T18:53:00.000-07:002011-10-03T18:53:44.045-07:00Steampunk's Crankin' New Books ~ Steampunk Week Wonders!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u>The Dame Speaks of Steampunk Week</u>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">These are some choices taken from Barnes & Noble. One of the things I enjoy about this genre is the inclusion of strong women characters. These books live up to that equation. Bully for them in this 21st century!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65wPDzNa1DI/TophryPOnQI/AAAAAAAADWg/66sVYPIvKTg/s1600/Steampunk+Week++October+2011+The+Buntline+Special+A+Weird+West+Tale+by+Mike+Resnick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kca="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65wPDzNa1DI/TophryPOnQI/AAAAAAAADWg/66sVYPIvKTg/s320/Steampunk+Week++October+2011+The+Buntline+Special+A+Weird+West+Tale+by+Mike+Resnick.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">...a weird Wild West story.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Complete with a dead, mangled Doc Holliday, horseless stage coaches and Wyatt, Women and the Boys</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Steampunk style!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zaqHXtQQaxQ/TopjRgOGKUI/AAAAAAAADWk/8bycPaWru5A/s1600/Steampunk++Week++Greyfrier++Vampire+Empire+Bk+1+by+Clay+Griffith++Susan+Griffity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kca="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zaqHXtQQaxQ/TopjRgOGKUI/AAAAAAAADWk/8bycPaWru5A/s320/Steampunk++Week++Greyfrier++Vampire+Empire+Bk+1+by+Clay+Griffith++Susan+Griffity.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steamy tropical environs of late 1800's where plague survivors take steamworks to flee vampire hordes...to 2010 battles</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Love and looming dangers!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxMJkUKyIPI/Topks-0fRSI/AAAAAAAADWo/_TESHbHg7Pw/s1600/Book++Ganymede+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk+novel++8+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kca="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxMJkUKyIPI/Topks-0fRSI/AAAAAAAADWo/_TESHbHg7Pw/s320/Book++Ganymede+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk+novel++8+11.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Book 4 in the "Clockwork Century"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> novels</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">"Gandymede" the underwater war ship to end the war?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Cherie Priest is the womanpunk writer personified!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">If you can't read one of these, at least think about buying a steampunk book this week! Support the writers who are making this genre a stand-out for this generation.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">What are your favorite steampunk novels of the year??</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-67773082690269989012011-10-03T17:51:00.000-07:002011-10-03T18:08:42.814-07:00Cory Doctorow's Dickensesque Story in "Steampunk!" Anthology Foreshadows Good Book!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mrGMvGYEKYQ/TopU4NVjTQI/AAAAAAAADWc/elc_ii1lNKk/s1600/Book++Steampunk+edited+by+Kelly+Link+and+Gavin+J+Grant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" kca="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mrGMvGYEKYQ/TopU4NVjTQI/AAAAAAAADWc/elc_ii1lNKk/s400/Book++Steampunk+edited+by+Kelly+Link+and+Gavin+J+Grant.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Published by: Candlewick Press</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Pages: Preview Ebook</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Cory Doctorow Story: "Clockwork Fagin"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><u>Available Free</u>: Barnes & Noble/Nook</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Summary</u>:</span></span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">Imagine an alternate universe where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. In Steampunk!, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre's established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. </span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">Get a preview of the anthology by sampling one of these inventive tales for free-Cory Doctorow's "Clockwork Fagin," in which orphans use the puppet of a dead man to take control of their lives.</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><u>The Steampunkish Dame's Review</u>:</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">Far be it from me to put the kabosh on anything Cory Doctorow has a hand in contributing to! He is one of my idols of sy-fy, fantasy (?), and contemporary other-worldly writing. I can't turn around without reading or hearing about his adeptness at curving the words and making characters stand on end for his adoring fans. I'm one of them.</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">Once, I took that survey that's supposed to tell you whom you write like most. Yep, you guessed it...my evaluation came back "Cory Doctorow." This was some time ago, and frankly, I'd never heard of him. Since then, how things have changed! And, how certain I am that nobody can really write like he does.</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">This Anthology of steampunk stories has foreshadowings of madness and gear clickings. If Doctorow decided to participate along with other very well known authors of the mystic and strange, it's a book we need to snap up as soon as it becomes available. </span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">You'll get a "charge" out of Cory's Dickensesque story. Go by and get it for free if you have a Nook!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">An anticipated 5 grinding gears of goodness</span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-60346150043337925662011-09-29T09:40:00.000-07:002011-09-29T09:40:16.423-07:00Steampunk Series Coming! "Nightshade" Author Andrea Cremer signs deal w/ Penguin...<div class="widget Blog" id="Blog1"><div class="blog-posts hfeed"><!-- google_ad_section_start(name=default) --><div class="date-outer"><h2 class="date-header"><div class="post-header"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qsT5jACdjhY/ToLSGaFhQKI/AAAAAAAADRo/I_7f6n9Wifw/s1600/Book++Nightshade+by+Andrea+Cremer++9+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" kca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qsT5jACdjhY/ToLSGaFhQKI/AAAAAAAADRo/I_7f6n9Wifw/s400/Book++Nightshade+by+Andrea+Cremer++9+11.jpg" width="266" /></a></h2><div class="date-posts"><div class="post-outer"><div class="post hentry"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8524119638390520469"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Published by: Penguin Group</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">Pages: 480</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">Genre: YA fiction</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">Released: June 2010</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><u>Summary</u></span>:</span></span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">"Nightshade" ~ Calla is the alpha female of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She is destined to marry Ren Laroche, the pack's alpha male. Together, they would rule their pack, guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But then, Calla saves a beautiful human boy, who captures her heart. Calla begins to question everything - her fate, her existence, and her world and the orders the Keepers have asked her to follow. She will have to make a choice. But will she follow her heart if it means losing everything, including her own life?</span></div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><u>NOTE from the Dame</u>:</span></span></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/andrea-cremer-lands-book-deal-for-YA-steampunk_b38922"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;">Media Bistro's,"Galley Cat</span></a><span style="color: #d9d2e9;">," newsreporter Maryann Yin has released yet another scoop detailing author, Andrea Cremer's deal with Penguin for a steampunk series! Given Cremer's success with "Nightshade," I can only grit my teeth and yearn for the release of the first book!</span></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">But, first, here's one of Yin's interviews with Ms Cremer, who's just a young adult, herself talking about "Nightshade"~</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;"><br />
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</span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><u>Interview with Andrea </u>: October 22, 2010</span></span></strong></div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;"></span></div><div align="left" sizcache="2" sizset="5"><strong sizcache="2" sizset="5"><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Andrea-Cremer-profile.html"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;">Andrea Cremer</span></a></strong><span style="color: #d9d2e9;"> (pictured) did that in her debut novel, <em>Nightshade</em>. She used her scholarship and research to incorporate social issues about gender, power struggles, and sexuality into her book. We caught up with Andrea to find out a little bit more.</span></div><div align="left" sizcache="2" sizset="5"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-toZz1hAtJY0/ToLWKswrmwI/AAAAAAAADRs/rGxmZNweSPw/s1600/Author+Andrea+Cremer++9+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-toZz1hAtJY0/ToLWKswrmwI/AAAAAAAADRs/rGxmZNweSPw/s1600/Author+Andrea+Cremer++9+2011.jpg" /></a></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;">Q: <em>Nightshade</em> is about a werewolf. How do you stick to conventional werewolf canon and mythology and how do you deviate?<br />
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A: One of the things about <em>Nightshade</em> that I think is really different is that it’s described as a werewolf book, but I often tell people it’s not a werewolf book because it does break so much from werewolf convention. I grew up in the north woods of Wisconsin. I’m literally right on Lake Superior and in the middle of a national forest, so the wilderness to me was something that was really wonderful. I spent most of my days as a young girl out making up imaginary worlds and imaginary people with my brother and my best friend in the forest. That was the way we liked to spend our days.<br />
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Wolves and other wild animals to me were always fascinating; they weren’t something that were scary or monstrous, they were just cool. And so, I never pictured myself actually liking werewolves in terms of people picking teams for either vampires or werewolves. In all my reading, I had always firmly been in the vampire camp. I couldn’t figure out why it was that I didn’t like werewolves.<br />
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So when I got the idea for <em>Nightshade</em> and it was inspired by the main character, Calla [Tor] who is the alpha female wolf of the pack, I knew she was a girl and I knew she was a wolf. I felt just stuck because ‘Well, I don’t like werewolves so how am I going to write a book about a girl who’s a werewolf?’ And I realized what I needed to do was to create a new mythology of wolves that matched the way I felt about them.<br />
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That wasn’t wolves who were half-man/half-beast and its hideous mutations where it took an awful amount of time to change that involved the cracking of bones and lengthening of snouts and left you with something that was just awful to look at. But, was actually a creature that was fully wolf and fully human; Calla and her pack love their ability to change into wolves. That it was an instantaneous change and something they considered to be a gift; that it wasn’t a disease or a curse the way so many werewolf mythologies have been portrayed.<br />
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Q: How do you handle writing about touchy subject matters like the violence, gender issues, power struggles, and sexuality featured in <em>Nightshade</em>?</span></div><div align="left"><br />
<span style="color: #d9d2e9;">A: I have a “day job.” It’s definitely more than a day job; I’m a history professor. I have a PhD in early modern history and my research specialization is the history of sexuality and violence, particularly the way it ties into warfare and religion. So just in studying the history of gender politics and sexuality for the last ten years, it was what I wrote my PhD on. It’s something that I have just been aware of in all the historical research I’ve done as a major under-fitting of the construction of human society. To write a story that was largely about power and struggles for power. It’s a coming-of-age story about this girl’s sexual awakening and her struggle to maintain her identity despite external forces that are trying to limit her strength.<br />
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It was so important for me to have those issues at the forefront because I think books offer a really important safe space for people of all ages, teens especially because they really need those spaces but I think adults as well. To be able to reflect on the way society puts expectations for sexuality and gender out there and try over and over again to thwart them. Sometimes it’s in very subtle ways through media and pop culture. Other ways it’s very overt in actual forms violence for people who step out what are considered to be societal norms. I really wanted to not be afraid to touch on those issues, not just even touch on them but really explore them.<br />
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In the book, I really wanted to address sexual double standards for young men and young women. It’s such a huge, huge problem that’s infuriating. More and more women are strong and in positions of power in society, yet still we have an attitude of girls have to be responsible for their sexuality but boys will be boys. I just feel like that happens over and over again. The recent slew of stories about texting scandals and bullying in schools towards LGBT students, but also straight students, the blame is almost always put on the girls for not being sexually responsible and not acting like good girls. And for boys it’s just, ‘Oh, boys will be boys. Of course, they’re going to spread around this scandal because they’re boys.’ I feel like that is something that hurts our society so much and sends a terrible message to girls about trying to figure out who they are and what their place can be in the world. I just really wanted to hit on those issues without fear.<br />
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Q: What courses do you teach at Macalester College?</span></div><div align="left"><br />
<span style="color: #d9d2e9;">A: I teach courses on violence in early American history (colonial through the Civil War), gender and sexuality, Native American history, historical philosophy and methodology, and religion in early modern history (1500-1800).<br />
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Q: Describe your writing process.<br />
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A: My writing process is really chaotic. I don’t write chronologically. I write scenes as they come into my mind. So what I do is, the key conflicts and key points tend jump into my head as I’m thinking about the story. I just write them down as I feel them. I feel like I almost go into a trance when I write; it takes over my entire life. When I’m in the middle of writing a first draft it happens very quickly. I wrote the first draft of Nightshade between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. There’s a lot of revising that happens after that, but the initial process is just all consuming. I’ll do things like pour orange juice on my cereal, throw clothes into the trash instead of the laundry hamper, or get into the shower and get right out again having totally forgotten to wash my hair because I’m just so lost in the story. When I write, I basically create those major scenes and then it’s almost like a web of thinking about how they’re connected. I refer to myself as jigsaw puzzle-writer because I end up with all these pieces and then it’s fitting them together to make the story.<br />
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Q: What are the differences between writing academic papers and fiction novels?</span></div><div align="left"><br />
<span style="color: #d9d2e9;">A: In academic writing you make an argument and defend it using evidence that other scholars can track, vis a vis footnotes. When writing a novel I’ve found that my process is much more about being carried away by the story rather than deconstructing its content.<br />
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Q: What plans do you have for future projects?<br />
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A: <em>Nightshade</em> is a trilogy. The second book <em>Wolfsbane</em> will be published in July 2011 and book three, <em>Bloodrose</em>, is due out spring 2012. The fourth book is a prequel to the series that chronicles the origins of the Witches War in the 1400s. I’m working on a steampunk trilogy that I describe as historical dystopia about an alternate 19th century where the American Revolution failed. The steampunk is not as yet under contract.<br />
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Full Disclosure: This GalleyCat Correspondent has been an intern at Penguin Group (USA) in the past</span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><u>Now: Maryann Lin's Newest Article: September 27, 2011</u></span></strong></span><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/andrea-cremer-talks-about-werewolves-gender-issues-and-power-struggles_b14626"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bbbbbb;"><em>Nightshade</em> trilogy author</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #d9d2e9;"><strong>Andrea Creamer</strong> has inked a deal with Penguin Group (USA)’s Philomel imprint for a </span></span><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/five-ya-authors-interviewed-at-the-same-time_b25269"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">new YA</span></a><span style="color: #d9d2e9;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> steampunk series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The first book, titled <em>The Inventor’s Secret</em>, is slated for publication in fall 2013. Executive editor <strong>Jill Santopolo</strong> negotiated the deal with InkWell Management literary agents <strong>Richard Pine</strong> and <strong>Charlie Olsen</strong>.</span></span></div><div align="left" sizcache="2" sizset="6"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">Here’s more from the release: “The series is set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery…As part of the deal, Philomel has also acquired a second prequel to <em>Nightshade </em>entitled RISE, which is scheduled for publication in summer 2013. The first prequel to <em>Nightshade,</em>entitled RIFT, is scheduled for publication in fall 2012.” (</span><a href="http://www.andreacremer.com/faq.html"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">Photo Credit</span></a><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">: <strong>Gina Monroe</strong>)</span></div><div align="left" sizcache="2" sizset="6"><span style="color: #d9d2e9;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left" sizcache="2" sizset="7"><span id="more-38922"></span><a href="http://www.andreacremer.com/books.html"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;">In addition</span></a><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-size: medium;"> to the <em>Nightshade</em> prequels, Cremer will wrap up the trilogy with <em>Bloodrose</em> which will be released in January 2012. She also has a collaborative book project with <em>Will Grayson, Will Grayson</em> author <strong>David Levithan</strong> in the works; this project is called <em>The Invisibility Curse</em> and will be published in 2013.</span></div><div align="left"><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>The Dame's Final Word</u>:</span></span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-size: medium;">My thanks to Maryann Lin and Andrea Cremer for sharing this great news with those of us who love her books! Meanwhile, any of my readers who've missed reading "Nightshade," need to catch the wave!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-size: medium;">I saw her final book in this series at the bookstore yesterday. The covers are going to look gorgeous on library shelves, y'all!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOETen7Mz4/ToSchFCRCXI/AAAAAAAADRw/i7X48U9aCBc/s1600/Book++Wolfsbane+by+Andrea+Cremer+2nd+bk+Nightshade+series.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" kca="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOETen7Mz4/ToSchFCRCXI/AAAAAAAADRw/i7X48U9aCBc/s400/Book++Wolfsbane+by+Andrea+Cremer+2nd+bk+Nightshade+series.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You really have to go to <a href="http://amazon.com/"><span style="color: #bbbbbb;">Amazon</span></a> to see the book write-up</div><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Deborah/TheBookishDame</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-88018101741064896892011-07-19T14:37:00.000-07:002011-07-19T15:07:21.482-07:00Pawnography! "License To Pawn" by Rick Harrison<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DK6HYOH3K_A/TiXtEa2CX-I/AAAAAAAADAY/bFRPgVwU3Tg/s1600/Book++License+to+Pawn+by+Rick+Harrison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" m$="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DK6HYOH3K_A/TiXtEa2CX-I/AAAAAAAADAY/bFRPgVwU3Tg/s400/Book++License+to+Pawn+by+Rick+Harrison.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Quite often my sweet husband takes a nosedive into the unknown and takes up with a new adventure/obsession with something "strange." I found this serendipitous oddity a very attractive characteristic when we first met (I know...red flag??), and frankly, it's had its ups and downs on my last nerve over the years. All in all; however, there's never a dull moment with Anthony if you just sit back and brace yourself.</span><br />
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</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">The show is mind-boggling. As I sit in my little apple green recliner writing reviews while DH watches "his" shows, I'm wont to look up once in a while to see what's going on. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Against my better judgement, sometimes I'm captured by the absurdities of men: Men in the greater outdoors hunting with lots of equipment (guns, bows & steel tipped arrows, whistles, bright florescent suits, misshapen, weird hats & assorted other "gear"), excavating big mountains with equipment they don't know how to maneuver & in icy weather, clambering about and becoming lost without food in crumbling old caves <u>with</u> their teen aged daughters, panning for gold in muddy streams and gleefully coming up with minute particles which value is less than the cost of the pan, or pulling up by hand man-eating fish in mosquito infested jungles... Recently, I've been pulled in by pawn shops on the Tube! Ugh! This wars against every bone in my WASPish, DAR body, and would disgrace my family. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Primary among the shows is Rick Harrison's straight from Las Vegas "Pawn Stars." </span><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><em>Pawn Stars</em> is a fabulous program! I love it, and it's become my latest dirty little secret...now out in the open!</span><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Rick is an intelligent, witty and well-informed guy who actually makes wise choices about some seriously fabulous items brought to his shop. The experts Rick brings in to evaluate some of the items are so learned they add a dimension of knowledge and intelligence that rivals experts I've seen and heard from auction houses and museums in Boston. A couple of them are experienced in museum collections and authentic documents of early America and England...so interesting to hear and watch. I have learned a good deal from Rick, his dad and these experts.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">One of the most fetching (did I use that word?) and hilarious things about the show is Chumly, Rick's doofus nephew. Chum is a complete novice at pawn, and life, it seems. He has no idea what's "good" and what's "fake," what are stolen goods, what's trash and what's treasure. He is a guy whose life is chockful of accidents and mishaps; i.e., nearly everything he touches falls apart, breaks down, or costs the shop money. In fact, Chum nearly costs his grandad more money than the shop brings in on some days! In the latest episode, Chumly test flies a valuable, antique kite and snags it on a highwire electrical tower...you flew it--you can't get it down--you bought it! LOL</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Chumly is the fall guy for the show, and makes it all worthwhile to watch...just for the hilarity of it. Rick's dad is also sooo funny as he glumly and stoically mumbles his way through all the trials and troubles of the shop and Chum. And, Big Hoss, Rick's son, who is assigned to watch over and teach Chum, as well as to be the Ass't Mgr., lumbers along making a couple of wise choices on the way, but mostly watching Chumly mess up and telling on him. Honestly, Chum is the best comedic character on tv.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">All this to give you some kind of intro. into Rick Harrison's new book "License To Pawn" which I wholeheartedly recommend for your sweethearts...and you when you want a different ride on the wild side. :]</span></div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cfe2f3;"><u>Book Summary from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press</u>:</span></span></strong></div><div align="left"></div><div class="bookDesc"><span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">In Las Vegas, there’s a family-owned business called the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, run by three generations of the Harrison family: Rick; his son, Big Hoss; and Rick’s dad, the Old Man. Now <em>License to Pawn</em> takes readers behind the scenes of the hit History show <em>Pawn Stars</em> and shares the fascinating life story of its star, Rick Harrison, and the equally intriguing story behind the shop, the customers, and the items for sale.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">Rick hasn’t had it easy. He was a math whiz at an early age, but developed a similarly uncanny ability to find ever-deepening trouble that nearly ruined his life. With the birth of his son, he sobered up, reconnected with his dad, and they started their booming business together.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em>License to Pawn</em> also offers an entertaining walk through the pawn shop’s history. It’s a captivating look into how the Gold & Silver works, with incredible stories about the crazy customers and the one-of-a-kind items that the shop sells. Rick isn’t only a businessman; he’s also a historian and keen observer of human nature. For instance, did you know that pimps wear lots of jewelry for a reason? It’s because if they’re arrested, jewelry doesn’t get confiscated like cash does, and ready money will be available for bail. Or that WWII bomber jackets and Zippo lighters can sell for a freakishly high price in Japan? Have you ever heard that the makers of Ormolu clocks, which Rick sells for as much as $15,000 apiece, frequently died before forty thanks to the mercury in the paint?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">Rick also reveals the items he loves so much he’ll never sell. The shop has three Olympic bronze medals, a Patriots Super Bowl ring, a Samurai sword from 1490, and an original Iwo Jima battle plan. Each object has an incredible story behind it, of course. Rick shares them all, and so much more—there’s an irresistible treasure trove of history behind both the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop and the life of Rick Harrison.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: large;">From the Bookish Dame's perspective this is a no-brainer book purchase. Everyone will love it...you, your husband/significant other, and your teen aged kids, and the neighbors!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: large;">5 stars to the TV Show, and to this book</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: large;">The Bookish Dame/Deborah</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: large;">PS: Have you ever been into a pawn shop? Ever pawned anything?</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-52123291400433771242011-07-18T12:58:00.000-07:002011-07-19T13:18:45.903-07:00Off My Steampunkish Path, But A Great Book!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOfRkJub1Fo/TiSPxTnAlQI/AAAAAAAADAM/J1GNN5tGpBE/s1600/Megans+Way+Best+Beach+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" m$="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOfRkJub1Fo/TiSPxTnAlQI/AAAAAAAADAM/J1GNN5tGpBE/s1600/Megans+Way+Best+Beach+2011.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O2mn_9E61A8/TiSPuGXzdzI/AAAAAAAADAI/7xe0Ye7Jkzw/s1600/Megans+Way++Melissa+Fosters+Summer+Blog+Tour+Giveaway+Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" m$="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O2mn_9E61A8/TiSPuGXzdzI/AAAAAAAADAI/7xe0Ye7Jkzw/s320/Megans+Way++Melissa+Fosters+Summer+Blog+Tour+Giveaway+Banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3k3UG2zr4ZE/TiSPq1jOSfI/AAAAAAAADAE/IcZ7DPKWw10/s1600/Book++Megans+Way.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" m$="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3k3UG2zr4ZE/TiSPq1jOSfI/AAAAAAAADAE/IcZ7DPKWw10/s640/Book++Megans+Way.jpg" width="412" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zFkvuIfpMO8/TiSP3KKEwGI/AAAAAAAADAQ/7gRnqc2mxLA/s1600/Megans+Way+Globe+Ebooks+Award.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" m$="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zFkvuIfpMO8/TiSP3KKEwGI/AAAAAAAADAQ/7gRnqc2mxLA/s1600/Megans+Way+Globe+Ebooks+Award.png" /></a></div><div align="left"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><u>Book Notes</u></span></strong>:</div><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">"Megan's Way is a fine and fascinating read that many will find hope in." Midwest Book Review</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The Megan's Way film will be entered in the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, South By Southwest Festival (SXSW In Austin Texas), Amsterdam Film Festival, as well as New York, LA , and Miami (just to name a few). This is a "Fest-Best" type of film and expected to make a major impact on festivals world wide.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt7UEyktm6k/TiSJZpIqj0I/AAAAAAAAC_8/D3grjiKDvdk/s1600/Megans+Way+Indie+Book+Awards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" m$="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt7UEyktm6k/TiSJZpIqj0I/AAAAAAAAC_8/D3grjiKDvdk/s320/Megans+Way+Indie+Book+Awards.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><strong><u>My Review</u></strong>:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">I first want to share with my readers the personal perspective I bring to this review of "Megan's Way." Some 29 years ago I was widowed as a young woman with three children under the ages of 9. My precious young husband died of melanoma that had metastasized to major organs: we had several months to prepare for his death. This came after the original cancer of 11 years in the first year of our marriage. So, I'm someone well acquainted with cancer's toll on a person and those who love them. I read this book with that intimate awareness.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">Melissa Foster has given us a true-to-life rendering of the process of dying. From the earliest stages of the person's acknowledgement of impending death, to their release of loved ones, their body and spirit; to the angst and responses of those who live with and love them, Ms Foster paints a portrait of the struggles and survivals. She understands the pain of those left behind and the awareness of those who have to do the leaving.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">hrough her very beautiful and tender portrayals, we come to know Megan and her intimate friends as if they were family. We get a clear and close up understanding of Megan's loving and tumultuous relationship with her teen aged daughter, Olivia. And, we are given unique insights into Megan's personality, thoughts, fears and death and dying processes from her own perspective, as well as from the perspectives of her friends and daughter. Ms Foster is spot on in her every detail of this experience with death, in my experience.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">I found Melissa's writing, however, to be somewhat stilted in her efforts to get across all the points of the process, and then the major theme of the choices we have about our own death and dying. There is something lost in the flow of a story as the book progresses when it starts to be overtaken by a series of details on these numerous processes and points of dying, rather than having it more balanced within a storyline. This, however, does not take very much from the book or enjoyment of it in total, since I think it's worthy on many other levels.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">While Megan considers her options of ceasing any other chemo or "prolonging" measures, and as she also contemplates the virtues of taking into her own hands the method and timing of her death, we are allowed to witness her conflicts. This option to choose is one that many come face-to-face with. Ms Foster gives us a balanced and open view of a woman who looks boldly into the face of death, weighs her options and takes into loving consideration the daughter she will leave behind.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">The complexity of "Megan's Way" made this novel one that I loved reading. Certainly, it rang true to me in so many ways. It also touched my heart with its attempts to bring readers into a center of meaning and choices that will be an evitability in most of our lives.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">The intertwined tale of friends and surrogate family lends itself to be a realistic possibility in light of the "secrets" that people tend to hold close in relationships. While one is living, the secret is easily kept and the "family" can pretend to overlook and rationalize...but once a foundational/pivotal person is going to be removed--the structure that holds it all together is jeopardized and must be delicately "readjusted." This is an element I'm also familiar with, personally, and one I thought Ms Foster handled elegantly.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">I recommend your choosing to read "Megan's Way" before it's made into the movie for the Sundance Film Festival. It's going to have a great impact! And, it's a very enjoyable read on the order of a Jodi Picoult novel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">Strongly urge you to read more about Melissa Foster and her outreach programs, her newest book "Chasing Amanda," her soon-to-be released book, and her social community for women called "The Women's Nest." </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><a href="http://www.melissafoster.com/">http://www.melissafoster.com/</a></span></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">4.5 stars from TheBookishDame</span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p7ajuQfcj5M/TiSJWLdIvqI/AAAAAAAAC_4/8mHeNc_OKew/s1600/Megans+Way+Globe+Ebooks+Award.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-83128944909121142972011-03-08T12:46:00.000-08:002011-03-08T12:46:30.337-08:00Steampunk Jewelrymaking!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rJReA5znB1I/TXaUBQwyjDI/AAAAAAAACxM/kfA4_Awc1k0/s1600/Book++Steampunk+Style+Jewelry++by+Jean+Campbell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" q6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rJReA5znB1I/TXaUBQwyjDI/AAAAAAAACxM/kfA4_Awc1k0/s320/Book++Steampunk+Style+Jewelry++by+Jean+Campbell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Anyone who loves steampunk will have a party with this fantastic book of jewelry styles! With easy to follow "recipes" for creating some funky and fun pieces you'll be proud to wear, this book is one to keep on your shelves!<br />
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I just stumbled upon the book searching for steampunkish things, and I'm so glad I did. Wanted to share with you.<br />
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I haven't been feeding this site at all in the past months due to a number of things, most recently having to do with a bout of pneumonia. But, I hope to have a new review within the next couple of weeks, and hope I haven't lost all of my following!!<br />
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Please leave a comment so I can follow your blogs!<br />
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Thanks for stopping by,<br />
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Deborah/TheBookishDameDebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-83067819383953897052010-12-07T22:05:00.000-08:002010-12-07T22:50:14.120-08:00"Outdo Yourself" 2011 Reading Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8iLx2IO6I/AAAAAAAACug/in-QktiY6Do/s1600/Blog+pic+Outdoing+Yourself+Reading+Challenge+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8iLx2IO6I/AAAAAAAACug/in-QktiY6Do/s1600/Blog+pic+Outdoing+Yourself+Reading+Challenge+2011.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://thebookvixen.blogspot.com/">http://thebookvixen.blogspot.com/</a> <br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm the worst at knowing how to put a button on my blog entries, but if you look to my right side bar you'll see a direct link (I think) to The Book Vixen's blog for signups for this "Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge" for 2011. Or I've placed a tiny one above.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think this is an awesome chance again this year! Yay! Another year of book renewals!!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">All the information you need to know will be at the Vixen's blog in detail, but suffice it to say that this gives all of us bibliophiles another opportunity to top our scores against ourselves from 2010, and to read even more books than ever in 2011. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A tiny bit of "cheating" (my words, not Vixen's) is in the category of being able to count audiobooks. I can't actually justify listening to a book as "reading" a book, but if you walk that fence and you can...then, it's fair game, too! I say, go for it, ye young and foolish and bookish of this great millenium!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of the books don't have to be reviewed, either. I find it difficult to stop myself doing that. Generally readers are also "wordy" people, aren't we? Didn't your English teachers at some point call you "wordy?" If you are only a reader and not a reviewer, you'll absolutely have a leg-up on us in this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I believe we can't start until January 1st. But, I'm going to start gathering my list asap. In fact, which one of us self-respecting bookish types doesn't already have a stack set aside to start in 2011?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This year my resolution is to:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 1) continue to read more new authors' 1st books, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 2) read YA fiction more,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 3) give a bit of time to political and/or national issues author(s),</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 4) decide who is the best of the Steampunk authors of the year, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> and</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 5) give an award to that 'punky author...request an interview too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So, those are my goals. My semi-full list will be ready shortly. But, let me just start with these: I want to read about 80 books in 2011</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8e7sg8ACI/AAAAAAAACuM/Ntg48pnRnfE/s1600/Book++Blameless+by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8e7sg8ACI/AAAAAAAACuM/Ntg48pnRnfE/s320/Book++Blameless+by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8fkuKBmvI/AAAAAAAACuY/8Ni2tzJ0pk8/s1600/Book++Visions+of+You++book+one+of+the+Retribution+Series+take+of+Twilight+series++by+Arielle+Jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8fkuKBmvI/AAAAAAAACuY/8Ni2tzJ0pk8/s320/Book++Visions+of+You++book+one+of+the+Retribution+Series+take+of+Twilight+series++by+Arielle+Jones.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8f5OlZeWI/AAAAAAAACuc/jTdwcDOwy_Q/s1600/Book++The+Forever+War+by+Dexter+Filkins+Winner+Natl+Bk+Critics+Circ+Award++2010++nonfic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP8f5OlZeWI/AAAAAAAACuc/jTdwcDOwy_Q/s320/Book++The+Forever+War+by+Dexter+Filkins+Winner+Natl+Bk+Critics+Circ+Award++2010++nonfic.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hope you'll leave me your blog link and share some of your books to be read, too. Now, off to finish "Death of a Beauty: Immortal" which review you will soon be reading on my blogs...I hope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Deb/BookishDame</span>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-3637905726196367912010-12-06T19:33:00.000-08:002010-12-06T19:33:06.111-08:00Romance Goes Steampunk!<h3 class="productDescriptionSource"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP2W8lQQOyI/AAAAAAAACuE/l1-cnhiRN70/s1600/Book+Steamed+A+Steampunk+Romance+by+Kate+MacAlister.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TP2W8lQQOyI/AAAAAAAACuE/l1-cnhiRN70/s400/Book+Steamed+A+Steampunk+Romance+by+Kate+MacAlister.jpg" width="400" /></a></h3><h3 class="productDescriptionSource"><span style="font-size: large;"></span> </h3><div class="productDescriptionSource"><span style="font-size: large;">Katie MacAlister of Historical/Romance fiction fame has turned up the volume with a slide into the Speampunk genre...."a steampunk romance" is now available! Oh, my! I fear invasion of the love-drenched is not far away... Here's a review below:</span></div><h3 class="productDescriptionSource">From <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000027801"><span style="color: #003399;">Booklist</span></a></h3><div class="productDescriptionWrapper">*Starred Review* Captain Octavia Pye is surprised to find an unconscious, oddly-dressed man and an equally unusually clad woman aboard her airship. There’s evil afoot in her world, and Octavia wonders if these two are pirates or secret agents. After an explosion in his lab, Dr. Jack Fletcher is shocked to wake up beside his sister in a Victorian airship, complete with a no-nonsense captain and crew, all of whom are outfitted in late nineteenth-century fashion. Jack thinks he has gone back in time; instead he’s astounded to learn that it’s the same day as the explosion. Caught in a parallel universe where technology is still at the steam engine stage, Jack finds himself pulled between a longing for home and an increasingly stronger desire for the intrepid Octavia. MacAlister hits it out of the park with this highly entertaining steampunk fantasy. There’s danger, adventure, romance, and lots of humorous moments as Jack and Octavia discover that the laws of love always trump the laws of physics. --Shelley Mosley </div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> </div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"><span style="font-size: large;">I happen to be a fan of MacAlister's or I would be cringing and worrying. She is a writer who charms with humor and excellent writing skills, so I look forward to reading "Steamed." I hope you will, too.</span></div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"><span style="font-size: large;"></span> </div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"><span style="font-size: large;">Let me know what you think about Romance writers dipping into our beloved Steampunk genre, though. Not all of them are Katie MacAlister!</span></div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"><span style="font-size: large;"></span> </div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"><span style="font-size: large;">Your Bookish Dame/Deb</span></div><div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> </div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-15842005356338552622010-12-05T13:26:00.000-08:002010-12-05T14:11:09.622-08:00New Steampunk Genre Split??? Bustlepunk!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: large;">I read recently that one or two of our women authors want to call their steampunk books "steampunk~bustlepunk" books. It's interesting enough since most of the time-travel books to this point have been written by men and mostly about men, and the more recent "steampunk" genre was actually born-again by male writers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Women writers have a huge following...I would think mostly women read their books, but I understand from surveys that a slew of men do, too. It just galls me that women have to been seen as authors on the up-take on genre such as this, and I tend to think there are two sides to this Bustlepunk issue:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One side is that it's a fabulous name that will by all means draw the female crowd to a genre specific author and book. There is so much to say about a story written by a woman, about a woman, for a woman. That's good fun and good fantasy. The Bustlepunk tag helps us find those books so readily. And I love the name as it connotes the clothing, the Victorian timeframe, and the steampunkish genre. Really, so many pluses to the concept.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">However; and secondly, I'm ashamed of it. And here's why. I'm a feminist. It just galls me that we single ourselves out even in literature. In some ways it sets us apart in a good way (as I mention above), and in another way it continues to mark us as "second best to the male author." Since a male author first came up with the idea of time-travel; i.e., H. G. Wells, women can only be followers at best. Since we have gained so much in equality, why give it up now?? By singling ourselves out, we destroy the ideal that authors are all equal in their intelligence and capabilities to confir and express their imaginations and knowledge. It's a battle women have fought for ages. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think of Charlotte Bronte' and sisters who had to publish under such names as Currier Bell. And of other books like "Middlemarch," written by George Eliot who was Mary Ann Evans; the Baronne Dudevant otherwise known as the french writer George Sand, mistress to a famous musical genius and author of more than 40 books and plays, and, did you know that J.K.Rowling used that name because she didn't want anyone to identify her as a woman writer only in writing the "Harry Potter" series? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are many more examples of worthy and famous women writers who felt they had/have to hide their identities and genders behind male pseudonyms. Isak Dinesin, one of my very favorite authors, was actually Karen Blixen and she wrote "Out of Africa."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Another of our childhood beloved authors who did the same male name cover was the author of the "Nancy Drew" series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On another note: Have you noticed that more Steampunk authors are starting to use just first initials and last names? Wonder if this is a Wells copy thing...or if it's a disguise of male/female gender? Interesting....</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPwDGzGBHpI/AAAAAAAACtg/VWZNeLByqrY/s1600/Book++The+Native+Star++by+MK+Hobson++Steampunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPwDGzGBHpI/AAAAAAAACtg/VWZNeLByqrY/s320/Book++The+Native+Star++by+MK+Hobson++Steampunk.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPwCr9zkALI/AAAAAAAACtY/MXJav7-vhqg/s1600/Book++Boneshaker+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPwCr9zkALI/AAAAAAAACtY/MXJav7-vhqg/s320/Book++Boneshaker+by+Cherie+Priest++Steampunk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">These rights of women authors are something that remain close and clear in my mind and, I'm certain in the minds of those of us who took to the streets, the writing formats and college halls to protest and call for their equality and recognition. It was time in the 1960's and it's time now to remain steady. Are we back-tracking?</span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What do you think?</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Your Bookish Steampunk Dame/Deborah</span></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-85768404880201019742010-12-05T01:30:00.000-08:002010-12-05T01:50:46.502-08:00Steampunkish Jewelry by Talis Bijoux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPtXyrkHyHI/AAAAAAAACs8/je5mcGLZ9oI/s1600/Talis+Bijoux+jewelry+11+2020+329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPtXyrkHyHI/AAAAAAAACs8/je5mcGLZ9oI/s320/Talis+Bijoux+jewelry+11+2020+329.JPG" width="211" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">I've just started designing Steampunk jewelry (and my photography is awful!) so I'm going to be showing some on my blog for the fun of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">This one above belongs to my daughter. I named it:</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> "I Remember the Paris Flea Market circa 2022." </span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPtebHghOnI/AAAAAAAACtE/peQ03R6BSsg/s1600/Steampunk+necklace+Debs+Talis+Bijoux++c+1944+Space+Model++Trip+3+pr+229+ear+40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPtebHghOnI/AAAAAAAACtE/peQ03R6BSsg/s320/Steampunk+necklace+Debs+Talis+Bijoux++c+1944+Space+Model++Trip+3+pr+229+ear+40.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">This is one I made thinking about a journey so it's called:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> "c. 1944 Space Model Trip 3"</span><br />
<div align="center"></div><span style="font-size: large;">You will see if you click on the pictures that both have hands on them. I love hands. They are so beautiful to me as an artist and they say something about the trips we make through time and fantasy. Our hands grasp and express, they sense and relay touch, they are beautiful to see and preceed us in most of our discoveries. To me they symbolize alot in travel and space...time travel and grasping the possiblities... I incorporate hands in my Steampunk jewelry whenever I can.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My jewelry company, </span><a href="http://www.talisbijoux.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">Talis Bijoux</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> is the place to see all of my jewelry, and while most of it is not of the Steampunk variety right now...I expect to be featuring more over the next few months.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for looking!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remain,</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Your Bookish Steampunk Dame/Deborah</span><br />
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</div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534009365605358414.post-49986055818688358122010-11-30T16:58:00.000-08:002010-12-05T01:06:20.344-08:00Time To Go Steampunk!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWUMPx0fBI/AAAAAAAACrc/8NuajW75iRA/s1600/Book++The+Windup+Girl+by+Paolo+Bacigalupi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWUMPx0fBI/AAAAAAAACrc/8NuajW75iRA/s320/Book++The+Windup+Girl+by+Paolo+Bacigalupi.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWUaf82meI/AAAAAAAACrg/7DHIwHNYYDo/s1600/Book+Android+Karenina++by+Tolstoy+and+Ben+H+Winters++2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWUaf82meI/AAAAAAAACrg/7DHIwHNYYDo/s1600/Book+Android+Karenina++by+Tolstoy+and+Ben+H+Winters++2010.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXTZozLXI/AAAAAAAACro/d6GZaEF4WZw/s1600/Book++Changeless+by++Gail+Carriger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXTZozLXI/AAAAAAAACro/d6GZaEF4WZw/s320/Book++Changeless+by++Gail+Carriger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXZBYn3mI/AAAAAAAACrs/dJwCnouqXWo/s1600/Book++Soulless++by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXZBYn3mI/AAAAAAAACrs/dJwCnouqXWo/s320/Book++Soulless++by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXftOwULI/AAAAAAAACrw/FI3nZ4vctmM/s1600/Book++Blameless+by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3mvG4loDKRw/TPWXftOwULI/AAAAAAAACrw/FI3nZ4vctmM/s320/Book++Blameless+by+Gail+Carriger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">Here you see them! These are the very books that stole my heart and made a Steampunk of me in the last couple of years. Although, I realize I was always a Steampunk in my heart of hearts...I just didn't know what to call myself. I just used to refer to myself as a "woman out of time and place."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">I haven't finished reading all of them, so they will be the first of my reviews on my new blog. So psyched to get this started.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">My plans are to show some steampunkish jewelry...fashions...and odds and ends. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">Any suggestions you may have to help me, please don't hold back!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;">So happy to be coming here! Your Bookish Steampunk :G</span>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318926277089882125noreply@blogger.com2