30 Days of Books - Day 3

Day 03 – Your favorite series


My favorite series is actually the Vesper Holly Adventures by Lloyd Alexander. There are six books: 

The Illyrian Adventure

The El Dorado Adventure

The Drackenberg Adventure

The Jedera Adventure

 The Philadelphia Adventure

The Xanadu Adventure

The books following the adventures of teenage scholar and adventurer Vesper Holly who is the rich orphan of a famous and wealthy archaeologist and is being raised by her guardian Professor Brinton and his wife whom Vesper calls Uncle Brinnie and Aunt Mary and lives in a mansion outside of Philadelphia.  She's 16 when the series starts and 20 when it ends. Oh yeah and it all takes place in the 1880s. 

The first book, the Illyrian Adventure, starts shortly after her father dies when she meets Brinnie and Mary for the first time and convinces Brinnie to take her to Illyria to find out what happened to her father who disappeared while on an excavation there.  

Her adventures take her to many fictional lands (which is a brilliant way to avoid bein historically inaccurate) and a few ones that are real (only two - Philadelphia at the World's Fair of 1875 - and Greece in the Xanadu adventure.)  It follows her from her father's death to her marriage to great guy and their first child. 

She is described in the first book as having "the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear in all of them." She is a high spirited, unlady like, brilliant victorian woman and really far too good to be true, but I totally wanted to be her so I didn't mind.

The thing about the books that I really loved, more than the fun heroine and stuffy but fun Uncle Brinnie who is actually the narrator of the books and keeps making pointed jabs at the cutthroat world of academia, is the way Alexander misses legend, history, and mythology in all of the books and introduces the reader to real 19th century problems in fictional situations - like the native of El Dorado having to deal with losing their culture to the white men and slavery issues in the Sahara region of Jedera.  THe Illyrian adventure has a fantastic sequence about a myth, a village ceremony, and a set of statues.  So they appealed to me on many levels.

And of course there is the villain - Dr. Helvitius.  He's totally awesome - her equal in every way although much older and wealthier and is totally what I like in my villains - ruthless, rich, sophisticated, brilliant, and has an interest in the heroine.

I first discovered the series when I was 11 or 12 and ended up at my Grandma's farm in the middle of a hot summer with no more books to read (I'd finished what I brought with me).  So my mother took me and my sisters to a bookstore and told us we could get any two books we wanted.  I picked out the Drackenburg Adventure and the Jedera Adventure.  I read the Jedera one first, not realizing it came after the Drackenburg one and that they were #3 and #4 in a series.  I fell in love with them and re-read them two or three times at week.  When I got home I found and bought the first two.  Three years later I found out he had released another book - The Philadelphia Adventure and immediately purchased it (within a day or two of finding out about it.).  Years later in 2006 I found out that he had written and published the final book in the series, the Xanadu Adventure, and rushed to the store to purchase it.  I re-read all the books (which were pretty worn out by now) before reading the final one twice. 

It's fairly predictable as young adult books go but it full of great characters, great details, and is a fun romp through history, mythology, and fiction. I recommend it to all young adult readers and any adults who just want a fun and fast read. 

30 Days of Books - Day 2

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 time


There are a lot of books I've read more than 3 times.  If I like a book I'll re-read again and again whenever I feel like it.  I can't remember which one I've read the most but it's probably one of the Vesper Holly series but that's being used in another day's answer so...I guess I'll go with the Iliad.


It's a strange book to read cover to cover multiple times (four at least) but I really like it for some reason.  It's fun to get different translations and compare the best chapters and see the differences (yes, I'm weird).  I was first introduced to it in a short action-adventure pamphlet of classic story told for fourth graders (we read the scene where Hector and Achilles are fighting) and then I read a book in seventh or eighth grade called Greeks Bearing Gifts by Bernard Eyslio which is a summary of the Iliad and the Odyssey bridged together with what is missing from between the two books.  After that I read the Iliad in high school (sophomore year), then again before college and again in college.  I started rereading it yet again in 2005 but didn't finish it because I got busy with work.  I should really read it again in a different translation. (Fagles is my favorite translator thus far)

My favorite thing to do when I read it is fill in my own commentary and summarize each chapter in the most humorous way possible, because - let's face it - the Iliad is pretty funny if you read between the lines and actually question the historical feasibility of it.     

                                                          Photo from Amazon.com

30 Days of Books - Day 1

Day 01 – Best book you read last year



I don't really remember what books I read in what years so I started keeping a list of them about two years ago so yay!  I can answer that!


I read some good books last year including Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill and Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar by Thomas Cathcart - both of which were really good and fun.  I can't pick just one though - I have to pick two for different reasons.  


The book that was the best in terms of drama, suspense, and fascination is definitely The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory.  It follows the tales of two of Henry the VIII's wives (Anne of Cleaves and Catherine Howard) and Anne Boleyn's sister in law, Jane Boleyn. It was a facinating look at how Anne Boleyn left a legacy that allowed Henry to cast off any wife he didn't like and what living in the kind of tense court where everyone is watching you can be like.  Also it delved into the life of Anne of Cleaves - my favorite of Henry VIII's wives, and I learned a lot more about her even though the book is technically fiction, it still gave insight into what she probably faced and felt. 

The book that was simply the most fun to read was Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh, a graphic novel that sets in steampunk London and the heroine is a prim school girl who is kidnapped by pirates who think she knows the location of her mother's treasure, thus revealing to her that her mother was actually the Queen of Pirates.  It's a fun romp with wonderful characters and a great ending.  And I just found out there's finally a sequel!  Guess what I'll be reading this year...

Been a while...

Been a while since I posted here.  I'm going to do another meme thing for fun and because I don't have a lot else to do while I wait for the big move to CU in another ten days.  So here goes - for the next 30 days (scheduled postings probably) I will be doing this:

30 Days of Books

Day 01 – Best book you read last year


Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times


Day 03 – Your favorite series


Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series


Day 05 – A book that makes you happy


Day 06 – A book that makes you sad


Day 07 – Most underrated book


Day 08 – Most overrated book


Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving


Day 10 – Favorite classic book


Day 11 – A book you hated


Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore


Day 13 – Your favorite writer


Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer


Day 15 – Favorite male character


Day 16 – Favorite female character


Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book


Day 18 – A book that disappointed you


Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie


Day 20 – Favorite romance book


Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood


Day 22 – Favorite book you own


Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t


Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read


Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most


Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something


Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending


Day 28 – Favorite title


Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked


Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time

30 in 30: Day 30 - The Tri-Iko

Yay! I did it! Here's the 30th character. Actually it's three characters, do I get extra points for that?

The Tri-Iko (Fiddler's Plain...iverse)

The Tri-Iko are the guardians of Rykiki, a wild and mountainous land whose few inhabitants suffer frequent attacks by dragons, ogres, giants, and all sorts of other dangerous predators. At least it did – generations ago. Today it’s a mostly peaceful land thanks to the original guardian who passed the sacred duty down through his family. But as the years passed and no knew threats came the need for the guardians died out and now the Tri-Ikos are the last of the family line and are determined to bring back the guardian tradition and fulfill the sacred duty of their family.

The villagers and government view them as eccentric idiots or children playing a game and no one takes them seriously. Of course all that changes when their land is threatened by a terrifying force no one can understand – a teenage high school student from a futuristic world in an alternate dimension. When they share this information with the locals they are finally taken seriously – as in “you kids seriously need help”, and they’re thrown in what passes for a mental institution, which is pretty much like a prison, only worse.

The future girl – named Karen – rescues them and seeks their help searching for an important clue to a mysterious and almost forgotten landmark, and warns them that she’s been followed by people who are actually dangerous (she really isn’t). Eager to uphold their sacred duty they join her in fighting foes far more dangerous than dragons or giants and discovering the secret to a long forgotten treasure trove of scientific technology.

Riko is the oldest and is the leader of the trio. He is a good leader and a great fighter, but he’s impulsive and often acts without thinking. Niko is the middle-child and she is very intelligent, specializing in strategy. Although she may seem arrogant and unsocial at first it’s just her way of dealing with being shy and not wanting to be laughed at anymore. Miko is the youngest and is the builder, creating all kinds of weapons that she co-designs with Niko. She also loves to cook and is generally in charge of the domestic stuff like cooking, sewing, and laundry, which she enjoys doing. Her nickname is “Little Mother”.

Their father died before they were born and their mother died when they were 12, 10, and 9 respectively, leaving them for fend for themselves. They were raised in the run-down gatehouse on the grounds of the ancestral home – a crumbled and decaying castle that was accidentally burned to the ground a hundred years ago.

30 in 30: Days 23-29 - The Pleiatic Seers

Okay so I've been working on a set of seven characters which took longer then I thought to work out some things with them so that's why I haven't posted for a while. I'm not going to post the individual bios though, I'll just add links to their pages on the 30 Characters website.

The Pleiatic Seers - Curseiverse (State Line Road)

The Pleiatic Seers are a group of the seven most powerful and pure oracles in the world. Once every thousand years seven seers are chosen to be part of the creation of a set of prophesies for the next one thousand years. The gathering is called the Prophesy of the Whole and is held on the summer solstice. The ruling constellation of the ceremony is the Pleiades for mythological reasons (the original seers were the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, hence the name Pleiatic Seers.) The event is signaled by the birth of a child that contains all seven of the oracle powers - Sight, Touch, Smell, Head, Heart, Spirit-Light, and Blood, who is known as the Pleiona (the mother of the Pleiades in the myth) who is in charge of choosing and gathering all the seers together (this Cece Montgomery, she's mentioned in other posts here). It can take years to find the right ones and then wait for the ages to align correctly - each seer must be a virgin woman between the ages of 7 and 49 (7 years apart each), with a single, specific, and powerful oracle ability.

Each ability is linked to a specific sister (ie star) in the constellation and each seer, once found, is often referred to by that name rather than their real one.

Although it's a great honor to be chosen (technically pre-destined) as a Pleiatic Seer, and it brings great rewards and fame to the seer and her family, it's not an easy life once chosen. Seers can never marry, have kids, or even have sex - not even relationships since dating is tabooed in order to preserve their physical purity. To preserve their spiritual purity they can never receive material compensation or gain from using their powers and have to spend most of their time learning, training, and practicing their powers in order to achieve the maximum level for the ceremony. They are compensated for all this by having all their expenses, including housing, paid for by International Seers United, a group set up, funded, and controlled by the Grand Council (the global council of the most powerful and elite sorcerers). It may sound like a sweet deal, but the seers work hard and are often lonely, being separated from their families most of the time, and also from each other. None of them meet until three days before the ceremony starts.

The Prophesy of the Whole ceremony involves the seers being fed booze and halucingenic drugs to get them into an altered state of spiritual conciousness and then they spend seven days and nights (straight with no sleep) tripping, communing with the Fates and the Universe and writing a big book of prophesies that include all the major global events, chosen people, etc. over the next one thousand years. As you can imagine the ordeal is intense. In fact very few seers survive it. No more than three of the seven seers has ever survived the ceremony and the Pleiona, the "mother" and eighth seer who leads the whole ceremony always dies. Certain seers have always died at the conclusion of it, including the oldest and youngest seers and the Odorata seer. So all the women go into the ceremony knowing that they will probably not live through it, which is part of the reason they are made comfortable in the years leading up to it and those who survive and the families of those who die receive great rewards including wealth and fame.

The powers are divided into three categories: Sensa, Anima, and Sangua (Sense, Spirit, and Blood)

The Sensa powers are Touch (seeing the past and future by touching people or objects), Sight (seeing the past and future by looking at people or objects), and Smell (seeing the past and future through smells and tastes)

The Anima powers are Head (seeing the past and future through dreams, reading minds, etc.), Heart (feeling what the past and future, and present through emotions), and Spirit-Light (communicating with the dead and seeing the souls of living creatures through auras.)

The Sangua power is Blood (seeing the past and future through the sight, sound, smell, taste, and texture of blood. Someone who reads animal entrails is a Blood Oracle.)

The Pleiatic Seers have to be women, but there are some male seers - although most of them are Blood seers. Also there are Dark Seers, or Rogue Oracles that misuse their powers for personal gain or other evil or misguided reasons.

Whew! That's a lot of info. I've been working on this basic idea for well over a year, but I never sat down and made up the characters for the Pleiatic Seers, so this was a lot of work but a lot of fun.

Links:

Sheridan:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/23-sheridan-mcdonnell/

Nakimera:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/24-nakimera-somersby/

Priya:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/25-priya-chopra/

Eztli:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/26-eztli-ortiz/

Iris:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/27-iris-starshine/

Wakanda:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/28-wakanda-fulton/

Aiko:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/11/30/29-aiko-ushiba/

Oh, and a costume note (cause it's me) - their "ceremonial" outfit is what they wear under their uniform style formal robes. Since none of these women were allowed to get married and some weren't even allowed to go to dances, etc. most women choose to wear either a wedding gown, a prom dress/evening gown, or a traditional costume of their country or family. Those who are smart wear something that's comfortable as well as nice. Cece opts for comfy pajamas under her ceremonial robe, cause she's that awesome (and smart).

30 in 30: Day 21 & 22 - Prince Aidric & Kavikeen

Forgot yesterday so, as always, here's a double post. Two more characters from the Prince&Pauper twisted time universe thingy.

Day 21 - Prince Airdric

Adric is the prince of Hannerfief – a small island kingdom off the coast of Norway. He is handsome, charming, and everything a woman could want – on the surface at least. But he suffers from the worst of 16^th century world views. To him women are inferior and unintelligent, only meant to bear and raise children and smile pretty for handsome men. They are easily courted with flattery and easily won with expensive gifts. He also has disdain for everyone beneath his station – which is most people, and does not care what happens to ordinary people. He was spoiled as the only son and heir and grew up to believe whatever his father told him because after all he was the king.

He doesn’t love Catherine or care how she feels because it’s an arranged, political marriage for both of them. He just assumes that Catherine knows that and won’t try to interfere with his private life, letting him bed whoever he wants and do as he pleases. Women are easy to control, right? When he meets Princess Catherine – who is actually Kathrina – he slowly discovers that the marriage he expected won’t be the one he gets. He tries to dominate her intellectually, but he doesn’t stand a chance since he never expected her to be smart and she is.

Her initial flirtations and indications of falling in love with him suddenly turn to disdain when he tells her what to expect from the marriage. They are forced to be together since the marriage is still going ahead – neither one has the power to stop it. The more time he spends with her the more he starts to respect her and actually starts to enjoy having an intelligent woman beside him. She’s not bitchy or mean, but she does stand up to his insults and helps him see that a lot of the ideas he’s been raised with aren’t the only ideas out there. He starts to fall in love with her.

But all hell breaks loose when he discovers the switched princesses. In the end he and the real Catherine discover they have a lot more in common than they ever expected and both decide to face the challenges of saving the kingdom together without getting married, but of course they eventually do.

Day 22 - Kavikeen/Kevin Keene

Kavikeen is the mysterious hermit who lives in a cave deep inside the Crovan Forest. Princess Catherine gets lost in the woods one day and accidentally meets him, seeking shelter in his cave when it starts pouring rain. He appears to be a kind old man who still knows and practices the ancient lost art of magic which he offers to teach to her. He likes her bravery and intelligence, so he says, and wants to make sure someone knows the magic secrets before he dies and it gets lost forever. He is an old man, with all the traditional looks of a kindly old wizard – long white beard, white hair, long robe, etc.

Kevin Keene is the bookstore owner who suggests the book about the Lost Kingdom of Acmara to Kathrina. Once Catherine has switched places she meets Kevin Keene in the library and she asks him about a book on a paper she has to write. They get to know each other and he reminds her of Kavikeen. He introduces her to the new world once he discovers that she switched places with Kathrina and he says he wants to know more about Acmara. Unlike his alter ego, Kevin is younger – about thirty – and has wavy white-blond hair and glasses. He’s not traditionally handsome, but he’s got a strange sort of appeal to him and Catherine thinks she could love him.

Of course he betrays her before that happens. Turns out he’s a total bastard who’s only goal is to destroy the land of Acmara in order to fulfill an ancient prophesy/curse he placed on the kingdom centuries before. He is the physical form of an ancient water demon that has lived deep in the earth, beneath the mountains of Crovan forest since the dawn of time. He plans to sink the whole kingdom and drag it back beneath the waves, into his domain. In order to achieve this he needs a massive amount of energy and a crack in time. Switching the girls created the crack that continues to grow and as it grows it absorbs elemental energy until it will eventually have enough energy that he can use it to sink the island.

He’s a very cunning and deceptive villain, appearing to be nice and kind and sweet and harmless while manipulating everything to work out according to his plans. He’s patiently waited for this day when worlds collide and everything he’s wanted comes to him completely.