Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony

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Castle Roogna (Xanth Novels)

"Castle Roogna" continues the Xanth story by Piers Anthony. In this book our old friends Bink and Chameleon are off on more adventures, but this time we don't join them. No, it's time we got to know Dor, their son who is now 12 year old. With parents like his, it's no wonder that Dor is a full fledged magician, but he still has a lot to learn before he truly understands his power.

Dor has a special relationship with King Trent, after all, there are very few magicians in Xanth, and therefore very few people who can truly relate to Dor. Despite his busy schedule King Trent always does his best to make time to give Dor council, especially because he knows that Dor's father is often gone on his business. 

At 12 years old, Dor stands at the door to manhood. It's time for him to truly begin to grow up, and that's placed him in a difficult position. You see, his care giver's talent is sex appeal, and he's old enough that it's starting to affect him. Dor is torn by his growing attraction to Millie, and the knowledge that Millie loves the zombie Jonathan. 

Seeing Dor's plight King Trent sends him on a mission 800 years in the past. This both gives Dor a chance to get away from Millie, and to do something for her. See magical talents do not repeat in Xanth, and 800 years ago there was a magician known as the Zombie Master. King Trent sends Dor to request an elixir from the Zombie Master that will cure Millie's love, Jonathan, and return him to life. Along the way Dor will learn a lot about what maturity really is. 

As always, I love the twists and turns that Piers Anthony puts in this book! 

A Contest and a Farewell

Thinking Spring Dangle Earrings

Who doesn't love a good contest? I know I do! Well I just wanted to remind you guys that I'm doing a comment contest on this blog! I'll be doing this each month, and whoever has the most comments for the month, will win a prize! The prize will be approximately $10 in value and I have a few different options that I will present the winner with...because I know different people like different things! I will tell you that one of the options is a $10 gift certificate to my jewelry shops! But I have some other ideas in mind too since I know the guys may not be interested in jewerly.

Stats so far (cuz I'm a geek):

~ Top Commentator so far has 6 comments.

~  26 Commentators total.

~ 47 comments total.

I look forward to seeing what the numbers look like at the end of the month!

Now for some sad news - I'll be deleting my entrecard account soon. It's just eating up too much of my time with too few results. My computer loads the blogs pretty slowly, and I really want more time in my day to focus on my jewelry business and to write. 

Having said that - I love reading other blogs! So before I delete my account I'm going to try to make sure I'm following all the blogs I do actually read. Please book mark mine if you enjoy it so you don't miss out on it! 

Aria's Quest - Fascination

Welcome to Aria's Quest! If this is your first time here this is what you need to know. Aria is a young woodland fairy on a quest in the big city to find a human she can help. If she's successful she can return to her tribe as a full adult. Aria's chosen to look for a true believer (one who already believes in magic and fairies) because she thinks that will make her quest easier...but finding a true believer may be harder than she thought! Read the rest of the story here. 

Section 2

Searching

Part 6

Fascination

Aria was so enthralled by the smell of coffee, and watching the humans, that before she knew it the entire day had passed! She’d spent most of it perched on one ledge or another just watching. Occasionally she’d hover in for a closer look, but she’d stopped after nearly getting her wings scalded near the machine that spit out the brown liquid, which she had learned was named latte, she thought. It seemed like there were a lot of different names, but that was the most common one.  Trying to read the menu board didn’t seem to help much either! 

One thing that fascinated her was how the humans seemed to just know what all the different names meant. They’d walk up to the counter, as confident as you please, and order something crazy like a “tall non-fat latte with a shot of sugar-free raspberry, and a blueberry scone please.” The workers would scratch some symbols on the side of a cup, and then get ready for the next person. It was almost like watching a dance! 

Aria had decided that these lattes must hold some important place in the human society and was excited to go home and talk to Gina about it to find out more. Even so, she was startled when she realized it had grown dark, and she was late for dinner by the time she made it home. 

“Sorry Gina! I was just so fascinated that I completely lost track of time!” She exclaimed as she flew into the apartment when Gina opened the door.

“It’s ok lassie, I put a plate aside for you. I’m used to it; Robyn was never very good at getting home at any sort of proper time.” 

Still hyper from her day, Aria giggled at the thought of Robyn doing anything that was proper, he seemed such the wild child! 

“So tell me, what did you do today?” Gina asked as she pulled out and reheated Aria’s food. 

“Oh it was so much fun! I stopped in this place called ‘Brew it Up’ and I just couldn’t leave! I was there all day, and…” Aria’s words were flowing out in such a torrent that she could barely keep from tripping over her own tongue, “they drink this brown stuff, I think it’s called a latte, and hundreds of people came in! They all seemed to order different things, but knew exactly what they wanted. I think it must be some sort of important ritual in human society. I was there all day before I knew it…” She trailed off when she realized Gina was trying not to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“Well for one it’s called coffee, and a latte is just a type of coffee…” 

“Oh.” 

“But I think it’s wonderful that you’re observing human behavior! Coffee is an important part of many human’s daily routine. We should get you some to try.”

“How will I know where to start? There seemed to be so many different variations!”

“We’ll start with just a regular cup of coffee with cream and sugar. You can go fancy later.” 

“Ok!”

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula R. Le Guinn

Buy Now! The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2)

"The Tombs of Atuan" is book two in the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula R. Le Guinn. In this book we meet a girl named Tenar who has been chosen to be high priestess to the Nameless One's. It's a solemn duty, and Tenar grows up in a pretty restrictive atmosphere. Then, once she's old enough, she assumes her position and all the duties that come with it. One of Tenar's duties is to learn the underground passages in the Sanctuary of the Nameless One's. The other priestesses who guide her there originally are only allowed to go to certain portions, on pain of death, so much of it she has to learn by discovery and by instructions passed down by mouth. Oh yes, and did I mention that no light is allowed underground? Tenar slowly learns her way around all the normal passages, and through the great Labyrinth where treasure is stored and kept sacred. Then, one day, she discovers that a sorcerer has managed to penetrate the underground, and is searching for the treasure. She's conflicted as she tries to figure out how to deal with him. She starts by trapping him inside the Labyrinth to give herself time, and then decides to keep him there as her prisoner. Eventually, as she gets to know the sorcerer, she begins to realize that all the things she's believed to be true can be seen in another light. This book is a beautiful story of self-discovery that I think you'll really enjoy!

Rebel Fay by Barb and J.C. Hendee

"Rebel Fay" is book 5 in the "Noble Dead" series by Barb and J.C. Hendee. In the previous book Leesil learned that his mother is still alive, but held captive by the elves, who consider her to have betrayed them. So Leesil, Magiere, and their companions set off to attempt to free Leesil's mother.

It is a difficult journey to get through the mountains, along the way they lose their supplies and faithful steeds, but in the end they manage to make it to the elven forests, with a little help from and unseen friend. Our friends encounter many strange things in the elven lands, and Magiere notices she has a strange reaction to the trees surrounding her. 

Through out the series we've learned bits and pieces about Chap, the wolven Maji'hi, but in this book we finally get to know him more fully, and he learns more about himself and what happens when the Fay sent him to take on mortal form. 

To save Leesil's mother will require the assistance of elves that our travelers have encountered before, elves that they have nothing but reason to distrust. Who they can truly trust, who's aligned with who, and even which side is right, are a tangled web that is difficult to unsnarl. 

Thanks Moms :)

I'm blessed with having not one, but TWO wonderful Mom's in my life! The top picture is a recent one of me and my Mom, and the second picture is my Hubbies Mom. Both are wonderfully supportive of both of us and I don't know what we'd do without them! So thank you to my Mom's, and Happy Mother's Day to each and every Mom out there :)

Star Trek

I don't get to go to the movie's that often - and I've done it twice in two weeks! For two awesome movies :) First for X-Men Origins last week and now for Star Trek today. I'm one lucky girl :) First a day out with my brother, and then today, a date with my hubby! 

Now before I get started talking about the actually movie, I should tell you I'm a major Trekkie. I grew up watching the shows, I've seen the majority of the seasons of all the different incarnations, as well as the movies! Not only that, but I love to read right? I can't claim to have read all the Star Trek books out there, but I've read quite a few. And let me tell you, the one's by William Shatner aren't worth reading ;)

So, understandably, this movie had a lot to live up to for me! Not that I think the originals we're perfect or anything, but I still really wanted them to do a good job. Which they did!

Now they made some mistakes - but I'll be a good girl and not bore you by analysing where they went wrong in this new movie. 

What they did a GREAT job with was the characters! I was the most nervous about Spock, he's always been one of my favorites, and I was worried that Zachary Quinto wouldn't do a good job. I was worried that I would see too much of Sylar of Heroes fame in his character. He did an excellent job though. I was quite impressed!

It must have been hard to cast and recreate characters that so many people know and love, but they did a good job at making each person familiar. As my hubby put it, they pretty much got all the catch phrases in! Which for a Trekkie like myself was great to see :)

I don't want to give anything away from the movie, so I can't say much more. There was only one tact they took that disappointed me, that had to do with Uhura and a romantic interest. Once you see the movie you'll know what I'm talking about!