Mundie Moms

Sunday, October 21, 2012

My Weekly Round Up in the Stacks (IMM #144 / Stacking the Shelves #8)

Happy Sunday! Welcome to this week's edition of IMM/ Stacking the Shelves. I'm really excited about this week's goodies. There were some fabulous surprises that arrived this week, and some awesome Middle Grade reads. Here's a few of my favorite goodies that arrived this week. 


For Review:

Penguin Teen: 
MacMillan:
Little Brown:
Random House Kids:
Harper Collins Children:
Aladdin / Simon Kids:
Entangled Teen:
From the Author:
Gifted:
Thank you to: 

Penguin Teen, Harper Children's, Random House, MacMillan, Aladdin, Entangled Teen, Sophie, Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, and P.T. Michelle for this week's fabulous reads!

********

The Week in Review:

TMI Movie News / Cassie News:

Weekly Features:

Book Reviews:

Giveaways/ Blog Tours: 
Thank you for stopping by and have a great week!

The Cross Roads Blog Tour: Day #1 Amanda Ashby


The Cross Roads Blog Tour, hosted by author Judith Graves kicks off today. Be sure to stop by the tour blog page HERE to check out the awesome line up of authors who are apart of this year's tour, as well as the bloggers who will be hosting each author. Mark your calendars for Monday, October 29th, as MM's will be hosting the Cross Roads author chat on Twitter! Trust me, you won't want to miss it. More info that will be posted soon.  



I'm excited to be featuring author Amanda Ashby today on the blog. 




You're a superhero fighting for truth, justice and the creative way. What writing "villains" would you banish with your mighty pen? (and what will your costume look like?

My costume would be very snazzy, though it would also be comfortable and allow me to stretch without fear of ripping anything, so I’m thinking some cute hot pink skinny jeans (which I might already own) along with some green Converse (again, which I might already own). I would team it up with a top that covered all the necessary lumps and bumps. As for what writing villains that I would banish, it would have to be the ‘But’ Monster. This beast is the one who is always making excuses:

I would write some more words today, but… 
I would like to try my hand at doing a ninja alien book, but….
I would stop eating chocolate today, but…

Actually, with the last one I really must deal with that or I won’t be able to fit into those skinny jeans anymore!

You're quite the world traveller! How have these experiences influenced your writing?

Probably the biggest thing that I’ve learnt from my travels is that while the scenery, language and customs might change from place to place, people are predominantly the same in that they still worry about getting their washing dried and paying their bills. I think this really helps me as a writer because I try and look for universal truths that a character might be feeling, rather than something that only relates to their specific culture. And actually, the book I am working on now is set in London, which is the first time I’ve actually written a book in a setting that I’m familiar with! 

We agree - Joss Whedon IS a genius! What writing tips can new - or seasoned - writers learn from his genius?

Yay for team Joss! For me the thing that he teaches better than anyone else is emotion! He always looks for the true emotion that a character is feeling and then he explores it as fully as he can. And while we know he can do great action scenes (hello Avengers) he always looks for the heart of a character. Plus, he is funny as anything! 

You're deserted on an island with ONLY bananas. You certainly won't eat them (you hate them) - how will you use them for survival?

Okay, this is a very evil question and if you run into a superhero dressed in cute pink skinny jeans and green sneakers, then you really only have yourselves to blame!!!! Thankfully, I am a complicated woman and while I do in fact hate and detest anything to do with raw bananas I do like them in muffins and cakes so, being the genius that I am, I would somehow figure out a way to make banana and coconut muffins and then lie in the shade and read. I can have some books, right?


Thank you Amanda for being on the blog today and to Judith for supplying the questions for this stop.

About The Author:

Amanda Ashby was born in Australia and after spending the last sixteen years dividing her time between England and New Zealand, she’s finally moved back and now lives on the Sunshine Coast. When she’s not moving country, she likes to write books (okay, she also likes to eat chocolate, watch television and sit around doing not much, but let’s just keep that amongst ourselves, shall we?)

She has a degree in English and Journalism from the University of Queensland and is married with two children. Her debut book, You Had Me at Halo was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice award, and her first young adult book Zombie Queen of Newbury High was listed by the New York Public Library’s Stuff for the Teen Age 2010. Her latest release, Fairy Bad Day, has been selected by Voya as one of their Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers 2012 and is a SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist for the Australia/NZ region.

Visit her via her Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads, where you can also check out her YA books: Fairy Bad Day, You Had Me at Halo, and Zombie Queen (each published by Speak).




The Tour:




Each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page:http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/crossroads-2012/ and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour.

Answers are to be emailed to judithgraves @ ymail dot com by October 28th at MIDNIGHT. Winner of the grand prize will be announced on OCTOBER 31st – HALLOWEEN.

The Giveaway:




The GRAND PRIZE you’re vying for? A brand new KINDLE, preloaded with a title from each of the participating Crossroads Blog Tour Authors. That’s right folks, a free KINDLE and 13 free EBOOKS!

TMI Movie News: Cassie's Recent News and a TMI Movie FB Page Milestone



Cassie recently did an interview with RaceBending.com and addressed Diversity, the casting of Magnus, and much more. Here's part of what was posted in their interview with Cassie. You can read the entire interview HERE.




RACEBENDING.COM: How did you advocate as an author when most of the time authors are very powerless over movie casting or in the depictions of their characters in other media?

CASSANDRA CLARE: As a creator, you know going into working with filmmakers who are adapting your project that you are going to have a limited amount of power. There are some cases, I think, where the author has more power, but those instances are very rare. About the only choice you get to really make is who you sell your rights to.

....... You are correct that most of the time authors are powerless over movie casting. It is a terrifying feeling that the project that began as your brainchild is in the hands of others and you can only hope that they choose to allow you to have say. 

People think authors have power that they don’t. I just want to be clear that though I did insist Magnus be cast as an actor of Asian descent, another studio could have shut me out of the [casting] process entirely.

I was looking at old emails about casting and I found one of mine that just said this: “MAGNUS IS ASIAN. HE NEEDS TO BE PLAYED BY AN ASIAN ACTOR. PERIOD.” Early on, before any auditions or real discussions, names for Magnus were bandied around. When I saw some were white actors and I said, “Please don’t do this, and this is why,” they could have easily chosen to ignore me. I am lucky they didn’t.




RACEBENDING.COM: Did you also have to be adamant about the inclusion of the Alec and Magnus romance and their sexual orientations?

CASSANDRA CLARE: Yes, I got a lot of pushback about having gay characters in my books when my film agent was trying to sell the rights: “No one cares about your gay characters.” That’s the one I remember.

I asked before I sold the rights to Unique/Constantin if the gay relationship would be preserved and they said yes. I was adamant from the start that Magnus and Alec’s romance and sexual orientation remain. So adamant that I can’t say what would have happened if I hadn’t been!

About her covers: Cassie answered saying, 

"Authors generally don’t get any input over what’s on their book covers. I had no say over what appeared on the covers of my first series of books. For later books, I was able to get cover consultation written into my contract. “Consultation” still isn’t “approval” — but Simon and Schuster has been good about listening to my opinion.

Magnus hasn’t appeared on the covers of the Mortal Instruments — the publisher has been very insistent that the main protagonists, and only them, appear on the covers — though I am always hopeful for a repackage or special edition that would allow for a Magnus cover.

As for Jem, I insisted from the start with Infernal Devices that each cover would feature one of the three main characters — Jem, Will, and Tessa. When the time came to do the cover of Clockwork Prince, I said I only wanted to see Asian models for the boy on the cover. I was only sent sheets of Asian models, and I picked one who was LA-based because that’s close to where Cliff, the cover artist, works. Didn’t hurt that he was also really gorgeous. I thought he would make a perfect Jem."

Yes, I hope Magnus gets featured on a cover soon too. I HIGHLY recommend you read the entire interview HERE. There's a lot more than just the movie, and movie covers that gets discussed. I think this is one of the best interviews I've read of Cassie's in awhile. (photo credit and interview content is credit to RaceBending.com).


Cassie posted another hands picture this past week. Check out Hodges (Jared Harris) and Cassie's hands. I'm so excited to see the scenes with Hodges. You can see Cassie's post about this pic. HERE.


In other exciting news, the TMI Movie Facebook page hit over 100,000 fans!!! Don't miss out on LIKING this page HERE


Also in other TMI Movie FB page news, there are now International facebook fan page sites. Check out the links: Canada / France / Germany / Mexico / Singapore

TMI Movie News: Fan Q&A with TMI Movie Director Harald Zwart

There were a few exciting things posted this week from both Cassie and director Harald Zwart. This post features yesterday's fan TMI movie Q&A with director Harald Zwart. Harald posted the following (which is condesened here in the post) on his tumblr account. 


When asked about the technical side of the production collaboration he replied:

"Absolutely. I will try and post as much stuff that I can on the creative process of making City of Bones into a movie and give anyone interest a little sense of what directing a film like this is like. :) "

In that same reply he also addressed fans saying:

"I also apologise to everyone that have written me on tumblr and haven’t gotten a reply, I will try to keep answering your questions as much as I can and have time to. Thanks again for your support!"

In regards to the question about him directing THE INFERNAL DEVICES film:

"Don’t know what’s next. Have to focus on this one first."

In reply to his favorite scene to have filmed so far:

"It’s hard to say.  Demonized Dorothea beating up the shadow hunters was a lot of fun."

On the movie’s faithfulness to the book:

"We’ve been working closely with Cassandra. It’s hard to turn a big, great book like that into a movie. We have to make choices."

In response whether THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES will be epic and on Jamie Campbell Bower using his British accent in the film:

"I think it will be epic.  And, yes, Jamie is."

On the release of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES teaser trailer:

"Not sure. We’re working on it right now.  Very soon."

On what the best part about being the director of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES:

"The best part is putting it all together. When the pieces are edited and we add music and you finally feel the magic."

On the cast’s relationship:

"Yes, they have a great time."

His favorite characters from the series:

"I get this question a lot. It’s hard to say,  but I have to say I like Dorothea a lot.  And Hodge. Hodge is very complex."

On where or not he'll be directing more MORTAL INSTRUMENTS films and possibly the INFERNAL DEVICES movie (which is still in the early development stages):

"It’s a flattering idea, but I am concentrating on the first one right now."

On what his relationship with the cast is like:

"I have a great time with all of them."

In response to when we’ll get our first look at Godfrey Gao as Magnus:

"I can’t tell you. It’s all in the marketing machine.  You’ll have to wait and see.  He’s great by the way."

In response to when we’ll get a preview of the film:

"Preview is coming soon."

On how filming is going:

"The movie is going great. Just a few weeks left of our filming, and we’re all having a great time."

The scene he’s most excited for fans to see:

"I am excited about all the scenes.  I can’t choose. I’m sorry."

On directing the film:

"I’m having a great time with all the actors.  I love directing this movie."

About the film’s release in Norway:

"There’s a big premiere in Fredrisktad (the city I come from). So if you get up there sometime in August next year, you might see the stars on the red carpet."

The hardest scene to film so far:

"So far I think Hotel DuMort was a pretty hard one. But it turned out great."

On fan support:

"I am having a great time directing this movie. Thanks to all the fans, it’s even more fun."

The craziest thing that’s happened on set:

"So many crazy, good things have happened.  I guess the craziest was some of the stunts. The actors are very good at doing them themselves."

Bringing Cassandra Clare’s world to life on film:

"I am happy to hear you like the cast and design.  We’ve worked closely with Cassandra to make sure we came close to the book."

The books:

"I love the books."

The best part about being involved with the film:

"The best part is every day when I come in the studio and see our wonderful sets."

Getting to see Godfrey Gao as Magnus:

"You will have to wait for the trailers.  Godfrey was great."

Be sure to follow Harald on tumblr. You can read the more in-depth questions that were asked clicking on that link. Thank you to Harald for answering those questions! I'm in awe over any time someone associated with the movie takes the time out of their busy schedule to post about the movie, and answers questions about it. Thank you Harald!

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