Authors and Publishers

Dear author's and publishers. I would love to review and/or display your books on this blog. For more information visit my Policies/Contact page.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Feature Friday!

Hey, everyone! I'm going to do a new segment on Knite-Tales: Feature Fridays! This is where for one whole week (Friday to the following thursday) there will be an author, actor, director, editor, publishing company, etc. that will be featured on Fridays!

I'll even put everyday "heros" or upcoming authors or whatever! So if you want to be featured on my blog, send me a message! For one week you will be featured on Knite-Tales. Let me know a little about yourself and why you want to be featured!


Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Best Comedy Ever:

The Sketch Show:
I have to say, America is good at some things, but England has the best comedy! Check out this awesome video:

Dear [Blank],

Why do you insist on saying the words “or whatever” at the end of everything you say? Do you not know what the word “whatever” means? Every time you say that at the end of your sentence you are contradicting what you previously said. I’ve had people say this every time they tell a story and it drives me mad. If you say that you went skydiving and say “or whatever” at the end of it…well what did you do if you didn’t go skydiving? What is the “whatever”?

Now, I do get why people would be thinking that it’s just a phrase, but honestly, I don’t get why you would say that at the end of your sentence. If you didn’t do the thing you said, then what is it?
It’s a become a pet peeve of mine, and I have restrained from yelling at people for it.
Is this just me, or do you a have a pet peeve about a common phrase commonly used by the populous today?

Book Review: Across the Universe

Beth Revis

  • Reading level: Young Adult


  • Hardcover: 416 pages


  • Publisher: Razorbill; (January 11, 2011)

  • As the spaceship Godspeed travels toward a new earth, the lives of 100 cryogenically frozen settlers hang in the balance after someone endeavors to quietly murder them. The other passengers aboard the ship have never known life outside its walls and are enslaved by the machinations of Eldest, their tyrannical leader, who divides them into three distinct classes. When Amy, a frozen settler from earth, survives being thawed in a murder attempt, she immediately bonds with Elder, Godspeed's lone teen and future leader. Amy’s individuality, her rebellion, and her fierce desire for freedom, inspire Elder to act on his own doubts and defy Eldest--his mentor and keeper--with shocking results. Eldest’s methods of twisting history and altering the lives of this captive community are a frightening echo of tyrants in our own history, and Across the Universe challenges readers to consider the impact of unchecked power, blind trust, and the ability of one dissenting voice to make a difference.
     
    This story was very different from most YA novels that I’ve been reading. First: it was set on a spaceship in the future. I don’t read much sci-fi so I was a bit skeptical about this book. But it actually turns out I kinda liked it. The story started slow and the main problem of the story- trying to figure out who is killing the frozens- is pushed to the back burner as the “dystopian” aspect of the story kicks in. The author sends a lot of messages about differences and individuality. God is a fictional character to those on the ship and Sol-Earth’s history is changed to feel like Hitler was a great leader, and that all differences are bad.
    The characters weren’t flat, but they weren’t my favorite. Elder is madly in love with Amy, while Amy is stuck in the past. Eldest is an evil tyrant. The entire ship is loony, and the loony ones seem to be the only normal ones. The only character I really liked was Harley.
    And, maybe this was just me, but I kind of figured out most of the lot twists before the author told us in the end. I can’t say it was completely obvious, but I guessed most it…
    All in all this book was rather different and I like different. Ms. Revis did an amazing job of creating a sci-fi- dystopian world. I would have liked to see more action, but it was a great book altogether. Creative and entertaining, you may experience a few nightmares of being frozen alive…

    Tuesday, July 26, 2011

    Armor for Sleep- The Truth about Heaven


    I just love Armor For Sleep!

    I wish I were in heaven, though! It's so hot here!!!

    A Young Writer’s Journey: Preparing for the Journey

    In every novel ever written the main character has to take a journey. This can be a physical journey, a mental journey, whatever. Once they have accepted the challenge presented -or not- every character, fiction or otherwise, must prepare.
    Any item with an asterisk (*) is optional.

    So, I am preparing for my Journey: A Young Writer’s Journey. If your tagging along, here’s what you’ll need:
    Supplies:
    • Writing material- pens, pencils, sharpies, crayons*, colored pencils*, markers*
    • Notebook (preferably anything to write in. A folder with paper is fine, but a good notebook is preferred.)
    • Your imagination

    • A critique partner* (Don’t worry if you don’t have one)
    • A computer (to store work after planning in notebook, good for spell check)
    • Nourishments- any types of foods and beverages that will sustain you for the torturous roads ahead. I like cream soda and butterscotch, myself.

    • Your favorite teddy bear (for when you break down crying)

    • And patience, because this road is going to be a long and hard one.



    Hope to see you on the road

    Sunday, July 24, 2011

    Critique Partners

    Everyone needs a someone who will tell them what’s wrong with ________(enter problem here). Same is true when writing a novel! Now, I’m still just a writer. I haven’t actually finished a novel, least of all published one, but from some research I’ve done, here’s one thing I know to be true: Get A Critique Partner!

    Critique partners are your best friend in writing. This might be someone who has a knowledge of writing or just someone who loves to read and can tell you what you might be doing right or wrong.

    No matter what anyone tells you, your writing may be good or bad-people have different opinions. However a critique partner is that one person who can keep you on track.

    It is a long and traitorous road ahead for young writers, so why not have someone to tag along?

    I'm Really Going To Do It...

    I’m really going to do it! I’ve been planning to write my novel for a while. And although I’ve had most of the details knocked out and I’ve been going on and on about my book as if its real, there was a part of me the was scared about the whole thing. I mean, it’s great to dream that some day… but to put it in motion is another thing. I’ve written pieces and I just love this story so much. It’s in my every thought and now I’m really going to do it!
                          

    Dear [Blank],

    For those who make characters like Bella Swan: stop! Why is every female character in YA fiction seem just like Bella Swan? There is always something wrong with their appearance, when really everyone thinks they’re super hot! Or they have some stupid flaw, or that no one likes them, or they are new to town, or thay have "old souls", or they make really stupid choices, or they are really, really annoying!

    Like really? Come on! Not every pubescent teenager thinks like that. Some actually think the world revolve around them-trust me, I know a few kids!

    I’m just saying that maybe a character who, I don’t know, actually have a personality would be a great change from the ones I’ve been reading.
    So for all you young writers, try techniques that make your characters more 3-d, rather then the flat paper kind.

    Saturday, July 23, 2011

    Amanda Hocking and Self Publishing


    For those of you who have the words "Self-Publishing" on your mind or on your Google search history, here's a video of one author who has made it BIG in both YA fiction and the self publishing world. Amanda Hocking! Gives one a second opinion on the choice-but then every story is differnet. Check it out!

    Tuesday, July 12, 2011

    Book Review: Matched

    Ally Condie  
    ★★★★★

    Reading level: Young Adult
    Hardcover: 384 pages
    Publisher:Dutton Juvenile
     
     
    I really enjoyed this book. It was a great story that I think Ally did an amazing job of creating. I was a bit saddened by some of the characters at first. There seemed to be little character development throughout some of the book, but as the story finished off and Cassia, the heroine of the story, found her true path, the story really caught my attention.
    I loved the idea of this dystopian world and the way that Cassia and Ky fell in love. It was gradual and as the story unfolds, you won’t want to put it down.

    Winnie the Pooh

    I remember the days, sitting in front of the TV. screen watching a silly old bear and his friends go off on adventures and wishing that I could be there, too. It has been some time since I’ve thought of these characters, and now that their back I fell like I’m six years old again. If you watch early morning Disney, you’ve probably seen the now adventures of Pooh and his friends, the computer animated one with the little girl and they act like investigators. Gosh, I hated to watch what Disney did to them. But now I’m so excited to see the movie in it’s original form, in a sense.
    Pooh was actually the first drawing that I’ve ever done that was perfect, not the drawing of an average child, but one who could actually draw. So the characters hold a lot of old memories for me. I’m just dying to see this movie! While thousands of people will be waiting to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part2, expect to see me across the theater with a jar of honey- and possibly in a Winnie the Pooh costume- waiting to see that movie instead.

    Hero


    Skillet is the AMAZING band that, for today among many days, has once again become my favorite band. I just love this song. My sisters and I first heard of them a long time ago for a promo for WWE and since then we've loved to listen to their music.

    If I became a famous author:

    About 3 years ago, a guy on YouTube.com, named Kaleb Nation (and yes, that is his real name) made a video about what he would do if he became a really famous author. Since first seeing the video over two years ago, I wondered myself what I would do. So, here are the things I would do if I became a really famous author like J.K. Rowling or Stephan King:
     
    1.Travel the world. I’ve always wanted to do this. But not in that organized way that people usually do. I just wanna get up one day and think “I feel like going to Germany today.” That would be soooo fun!

    2.Become a Disney Imagineer. Come on, you have to admit that it would be cool to work for Disney! I’d work with other writer, animators, and other people.

    3.Own part of Disney World. Hey, if I have the money and I’m working there I might as well bye part if it (if I can) and be a part of the parade and get to ride all the fun rides.

    4.Try to become friends with all my favorite authors and tag along with them on their book signings and stuff, because that just sounds cool to me.

    5.Make an organization for people of all ages who love to read, write, draw or anything pertaining to the arts, where they can learn about the things they love.
     
    So, those are just 5 things I would do if I became a really famous author. What would you do?

    Monday, July 11, 2011

    Angels on the Moon


    I am an old man now. As I sit on my porch, in a time unlike where I started, I look out to the sunset and I see that it has not changed. My children have grown and gone away. My wife is buried in the cemetery- her soft hands and withered smiles bless my days no longer.
    Now, I sit and wait my days out. I have lived a full life and regret nothing that has happened. I sit and wait for the day that she will come for me- like she did with the others. She has promised me this, if nothing else. I sit here, waiting eagerly for her lovely face to peak on the horizons and see her milky skin once again.
    It is she that I sit here for. It is she that I am waiting on.
    Ã
    I hear the sounds of my grandchildren laughing. Oh, how it reminds me of her. I do not wish to part form them, but I must leave, for it is the way of life. My children have come to say their final goodbyes. No one wants to admit that my days are drawing close, but I know it well. They stammer in their farewells, never really saying goodbye.
    “Remember when we went to France and you side that it was the place you meet the Angel you had been searching for…,” my eldest daughter says, smiling at the memory with tears in her eyes, “we believed it was a real angel…as children do.”
    It is their way. I know this. They talk for hours: Kate, my eldest, Liam, the second, and my sweet Lily, the youngest. We talk of old times, but they never say goodbye.
    They are leaving. Hugs envelope me before they begin piling into the vans. Tears are shed because I will never see them again. I know this.
    Promises of later visits are yelled out the windows of the departing cars and I wave and nod as if agreeing that it will happen. But they won’t. I know she is coming tonight-like I always seem to know.
    I eat my last meal. My favorite dish: rice with mushrooms. It is a simple meal. One I had made with her and one that she loved. The rice is over-boiled- a much of white starch, but the mushrooms are juicy and flavorful. I always make it when I think of her.
    The sounds of the night begin to echo through the house as I bathe and get ready for bed. I have said my goodbyes. Now, I wait.
    Ã
    I go to the hammock on the back porch and I watch the sunset. Just like her soft skin, her bright eyes, and her dazzling smile, the sun has not changed. Are they one? I wonder. No, I know they are not. The sun cannot match her in beauty.
    It is the same sun I stare at now that had set on the day I first meet her…



    An original work by: Jessie K.

    Friday, July 8, 2011

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part: 1

    Hey, all you Harry Potter fans! If you haven't already seen or even purchased the movie, here's your chance to watch the beginning of the end for only $0.99 on http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=vUbuG9NfNiI&feature=related for 24 hrs. Sure I know it's only a day, but hey, if you watch it over and over and skip the credits at the end, you can see it at least 10 times! (Not counting the time for a potty break). Soooooooooo, check it out!

    Only one more week until the Final Battle begins!

    Take That


    Heard this song when I watched Stardust some time back. Love the band. Great song!

    Wednesday, July 6, 2011

    Poets of the Fall

    Inspired a new chapter in my book.
    I just had one of those moments: When you go back through you're itunes library and you stumble upon and old song and it sparks an idea... Oh, how I love those moments

    Tuesday, July 5, 2011

    I wish I my...I wish I might...

    As I gaze upon the sky tonight,
    I dream of dreams that feel so right.
    Dreams that I hold so tight.

    I wish upon the stars so bright,
    That everything would be alright
    That you would be that shining light
    The light that will brighten my night.

    Raven Symone...Always Beautiful!

    Raven Symone is the charismatic actress from the Cosby Show and the Disney channel original series That So Raven.
    Raven Symone had always been one of my all-time favorite actresses. She was funny, creative, and all around an amazing person to look up to. Recently, we can see that she has lost an amazing amount of weight and she looks like what today’s society makes us think we should look like.
    Raven has always been a beautiful, no matter what her size. I’ve read an article recently where she said that people used to tell her stuff about her weight, and they never seemed to like her before she lost the weight.
    It’s sick the way society has poisoned our minds. People are beautiful no matter what their size. I know that’s corny to say, but it’s true.
    Raven is an amazing actress and she continues to make us laugh.
    I’ve always loved to watch Raven onscreen and her size will never change the way that I look up to her.

    Monday, July 4, 2011

    Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

    Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
    ★★☆☆☆
    Reading level: Young Adult

    Paperback: 592 pages

    Publisher:Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
    Beautiful Creatures is the first novel in the Beautiful Creatures series. Being a lover of gothic styled love stories and a fanatic for fantasy, I thought this would be right up my ally. However, early on in the book, I realize my mistake. The authors put every cliché remake about the south in this 600 page book of ridiculous, unedited mess of a novel.
    First, the characters are unreal. Ethan is not like any sixteen year old boy I have ever met- I’m sixteen, I should know what I’m talking about. He has no hormones, I swear. I’m not saying that every teenage boy is a hound dog, but he’s just lacking in that field. Lena was a bit boring. Amma could have been a good character, but failed. And every kid in Jackson High School fit every high school cliché ever written.
    I was still in my “I’ll finish a book no matter what” phase when I read this book, and it may have been the reason that I stop reading a book as soon as I start to lose interest. I really tried to finish it, I did. But page after page of droning on and on I just couldn’t do it.
    I have to say sorry to the authors. You have amazing fans, but I am just not one of them.

    Saturday, July 2, 2011

    Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

    Rating: PG-13
    Action, adventure, science fiction, and fantasy
    Directed By:Michael Bay 
    ★★★★☆

    This is the third installment to the Transformers series. Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us.
    I was never a fan of the cartoon series, but I did love the story and the action behind the movies. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox had made an amazing couple and the story for both Sam and the Transformers were great. I was not happy with this story.
    They just dropped Megan’s character, and added this new blond who, to me, felt needy and stupid. She looked lost the entire movie, and she didn’t care about the other Autobots like Megan’s character did. Their relationship felt kinda strained and robotic. I didn’t like it.
    Great CGI and amazing action scenes, but I hated the story behind Sam and Carly.

    Friday, July 1, 2011

    Book Review: Die for Me

    Amy Plum
    ★★★★★

    Reading Level: Young Adult
    Hardcover: 341
    Publisher: Harper Teen 2011

    I completely devoured this novel. Die for me, tells the story of a girl named Kate as she moves with her sister to Paris to live with her grandparents after her parents die. Kate is enveloped with sadness because of this, and spends most of her summer losing herself in art and novels at cafes. When she meets Vincent, a handsome and mysterious young man, she finds herself wanting to open up to love again, but there are secrets about Vincent will put her life-and her family's- in jeopardy.
    The characters in this novel was a bit refreshing. Kate, although is intensely attracted to these handsome beings, she keeps knows of the danger this could mean for her life and her heart. Vincent deservingly earns the title hero, and has the looks to match.
    I’ve never heard of a revenant before and after some research on the subject I loved the story even more. It was a great tale on an old folklore.
    Just brilliant!