Hi, I'm James Dashner

Hey, I'm an author, and I've been having a lot of fun talking with the early reviewers on my upcoming book, The 13th Reality. Several people suggested I join this group, so here I am!

Just thought I'd say hi, and if any of you have questions or would like to learn more about my books, feel free to ask. What I'm trying to say is that I have no idea WHY I started this topic, but I did it anyway.

Nice to meet you guys!

Welcome! I think author participation on the forums is one of the coolest things about LT, and The Green Dragon in particular.

I didn't manage to snag an ER copy of The 13th Reality (although I can't complain too much, as the book I did get from that batch was fantastic), but the reviews I've read have definitely piqued my interest. *sigh* - there go my hopes of getting my TBR pile under control any time soon. :)

Welcome to The Green Dragon group, jamesdashner.
:o)

Welcome aboard, James. Have a glass of whatever you fancy, and tuck into one of the threads here.

Welcome, James! I know you'll enjoy the people here. We have some very...uummmmm....interesting discussions!

I enjoyed The 13th Reality very much! I look forward to reading the sequels.

By the way, "interesting discussions" could mean juvenile silliness, middle aged angst, female vs male teasing, bragging about our pet dogs, cats, or reptiles. Don't be shy. Welcome to our pub.

Oh and and to add to #6 you can also be sure to expect seemingly ordinary threads that start off as simple "hi I'm new around here" type things to be hijacked into random parties including but not limited to offers of drinks and cheese with warnings to watch out for runaway roombas.

Did you say random parties, elbakerone?

Woohoo!

Hi James! I enjoyed The 13th Reality and passed it on to my son, Michael, who is reading it now. He says, "I think that the Gnat Rat was ingenious! I mean, how did you come up with that?"

Welcome to the GD!

Thanks for the welcome. I love parties, runaway roombas, AND cheese, so I'm obviously in the right place.

I'm glad some of you have already read the book. I'm especially ecstatic about Michael liking it, since I wrote it for younger folks. I do love the Gnat Rat. I feel sorry that you guys are reading the ARC, which doesn't have the illustrations. The description also changed a bit by the final version to make it cooler.

You can see the illustration on one of the links at the 13th Reality website, but I can't remember which one.

As for how I came up with it, I don't know. I think it worked backwards - I thought of the NAME Gnat Rat and then figured out what it was.

Anyway, thanks for the welcome - I'm happy to be here.

Welcome James, it's great to see you here. I read The 13th Reality a second time and enjoyed it even more on the repeat. I'm glad to hear that some of the bugs, like the time zones have been worked out, I'm looking forward to seeing the illustrations and can't wait to read the sequels.

Hi James, and welcome once more! But seriously, watch out for the roombas ... they do get a little out of control every now and again.

Hi James, welcome from me too :)

I clicked on the touchstone & theres a big red error across the top of the page which says

"Warning: array_shift(): The argument should be an array in /var/www/html/inc_work.php on line 247 "

Anyhoo, I got past the error & by the reviews your book sounds like lots of fun, I'll have to add it to my TBR list :)

Well, you certainly pulled off a far more charming entrance to the GD than I ever did, JD.

Now that I think about it, JD is the name of the main character of Scrubs, and James Dashner sounds vaguely like a handle a hard-boiled crime thriller writer would have, like Dashiell Hammett.

On both comparisons you win out, since both Scrubs and Dashiell Hammett are awesome.

Plus I too am a fellow Wordsmith, but you probably have years under your belt I don't have.

In addition, you didn't spam.

I think I like this man already...

Welcome, James, from a fellow James! Looks like I've got to add another one to the ever-expanding TBR pile. I'm not usually a reader of YA books, but all the good reviews seem to suggest I should check your book out...I want to be able to say "I knew him when.." when you turn out to be the next JK Rowling!
;^}

Don't forget to check out your abortive first post. ("Hi. I'"). We said nice things about you in there, too!

When the roombas roam, you'll find me on top of the bar. Best seat in the house!

#8 - Any reason is a good reason to party!
Pass the cheese around!

Yum!

Welcome, James! When can the rest of us read your book?

Thanks again for all the welcomes. My abortive post made it? I thought I got rid of it. Darn that stupid enter key!!!!!!

littlegeek, the book comes out on March 3rd. In fact, I'm doing a really fun charity drive in conjunction with its release. I hope you guys will read about it - I think once you do, you'll see it's not a shameless promotion. I just hope I have some money left over to feed my family. :-)

You can check it out at my blog. Since I'm too stupid to know how to add a link, I apologize. But the address is www.jamesdashner.blogspot.com.

teenauthor, it's always good to hear someone else loves writing. Write on!!!!!

elbakerone, thanks for the cheese. Insert own joke about "cutting" here.

Seanie, I don't even know what a touchstone is, so I guess I have a lot to learn.

Thanks again, guys, I'll check back in soon.

Yes, good question littlegeek - I'm interested too! I'll be sure to add it to my TBR list.

Welcome to the GD James, I hope you like it here as much as I do. =)

Helpful info:

Any book title enclosed in square brackets (not these "{}", the squarer ones) will automatically come up as a link to the book's page - aka "a touchstone" - like this: The Journal of Curious Letters. (See the text to the side of the area where you type a message post for more info - double brackets around a name will link authors such as James Dashner)

And also, the simplest way to provide links is to just type the link with spaces before and after the address like this:
http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com

(And no, I'm not super smart, I learned these and many more wonderful tips from other LT users - so many people on here are just so friendly and helpful and wonderful and great! *cue group hugs all around*)

#17 - Many thanks, elbakerone! You've just given me another good reason to keep coming back to this thread.
:o)

I'll keep an eye out for your book, James.

#7 elbakerone - Why, oh why, did you mention the runaway roombas? Those things are scary!!

**jumping up on top of the table**

Do I smell a future GD read in the making?

No? It's a roomba stuffed with all the cheese crumbles we've dropped onto the floor?

Either way...Welcome to the GD, Mr. Dashner!

What runaway roombas?

**knocked to the floor**

oh, THOSE runaway roombas.

#23 - Sorry Georgia, I figured a GD welcome wouldn't be complete without mention of them. But no worries, at the present time I think all the roombas are safely and securely docked. :)

(Edited to add: In light of #25 I guess there's still a few that haven't made it to their homing stations....)

We could get leashes for the Roombas...

Welcome to the Green Dragon, James! I've read lots of great reviews for your book on various users' 50 Book Challenge threads, and I'm looking forward to reading it when it's released.

#27 - LOL - roombas on leashes.... (funny mental image, "Honey, it's time to walk the roomba!")

Also, if anyone wants any other info on posting pictures or doing crazy text stuff there was a helpful thread about it here but be warned that you'll want to look at posts 11, 19, 21, 62, 63, 66 and 75 - the rest would be an ideal example of the phenomenon known as Thread Drift. ;)

I'm not cleaning up after those things...Oh, I guess they clean up after themselves! 8^}

Welcome James, come for the conversation, stay for the cheese (or vice versa ;-))

Hi JD....saw your promotion on your blog. Its a very admirable thing to do.

oooo - Illustrations in the final copy? I was already pretty sure that I was going to get myself a copy when it was released, but now I think I'm going to have to make a point of it. And I saw your promotion on your blog today, as well. Great idea! I like to see people take an initiative like that.

(and thanks for pointing this thread out, Irish)

I think that the back of the ARC mentioned there would be illustrations. Just another way this book is like HP right? ;-)

j/k

:P

One comparison, one comparison and you'll never let me live it down, will you? lol

of course not ;-)

Very funny, Irish. Actually, the last illustration in the book looks so HP it's not funny.

You guys have to go read the latest review for 13th Reality. I'm all for constructive criticism, and I take it well, but that one is a doozy. I guess I should feel like a real author now that I have my very first one star review. At least I got one!

I do feel really good about the "professional" reviews that are coming in and most on this site. I think I should feel pretty happy all things considered. You can't please everyone I guess.

Funny story: Today a Barnes and Noble in my hometown built this huge display of my books. But then they had to take it down because my publisher found out and won't let them sell it yet. Wow, I feel so JK Rowlingish. (definitely kidding)

elbakerone also started this conversation of the inevatable comparrison between HP and JCL here

(I'm also loving my new found skills at making HTML links....so any excuse to make one....I am so there!)

better a drawing that looks like HP than that pesky error with the timezones still in play. A textual error like that bothers me a lot more then drawings that remind me of other things.

Sorry to hear about the one star review? Shall I call out the angry mob....gather the whips and chains.....public flogging at dawn?

read the review...and am all confuzzled now. They didn't like it because Tick had both his parents? Oy. Guess I missed the memo that a good story can only be achieved if the family in questions is broken in some way.

But I shall not judge.

Much.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. To find a positive. I do like the use of the word tepid. You just don't hear many people say tepid anymore.

I won't give much credence to the latest one star review. I have no problem with people not liking a book but if you are unable to accurately explain why you are giving something such a harsh evaluation.... *ugh* At least have the decency to make your review well-written.

Sorry, JD I'm sure that's annoying but I'd say don't sweat it. The book is still averaging about 3.9 with over thirty reviews in and it's pretty obvious how many people are interested in checking it out based on the other reviews! :)

elba - maybe we should invite that person to either this discussion or the on the ER group to explain why they gave the rating that they did.

I'm curious to see the rationale behind it. But then that could just be the science geek in me coming through...the endless desire to know the why of things.

Yeah I'm pretty curious too. It seemed like a pretty bogus reason to be disappointed with the entire work. You want to invite him/her? Maybe the ER discussion would be a better forum in case they aren't familiar with the GD and all it's insanity.

....of course if you brought him/her here we could sic a roomba on them! ;)

You guys are seriously hilarious. I especially loved the "tepid" comment.

I totally agree that we shouldn't begrudge someone's review, and I hesitated to even say anything. But it seems contradictory to rip on it for being cliche (like HP) and rip on it for not being cliche (loving family).

It's all good. I was actually quite proud of myself. It didn't puncture my thickening skin one bit.

elba - I'll send an invite to the ER thread. if need be we can teleport a roomba from here to there.

JD - the review is very contrary. it both proves and disproves their thought all at once and makes it all just impossible.

"Tepid?" You were surprised by tepid? I had to go look up "pablum"... Maybe my vocabulary isn't what it should be, but that left me clueless. Oh well, to each his own!

personally I just find the word tepid more fun to say than pablum. i also didn't say I was surprised by it....just that I liked the use of it. I mean seriously, how often do you hear people saying tepid in day to day activities? Its such a fun word and doesn't get the props it deserves.

Gotcha. Just a misread on your post. Apparently it's passed my bedtime. Sleepiness and posting don't mix so well.

i should head out too....5 AM is going to come pretty early (can someone explain to me why I thought it a good idea to give up the job that is 10 min from me for the one that's an hour away??)

I also wanted to see the eclipse and now there is a new book to guess on the 20 question thread in what are you reading now - and that's always addicting.

This goes back to some of the earlier posts here, but if we want to compare HP something think about The Wizard of Earthsea(Book One) by Ursula K. LeGuin which was published in 1968! Let's see...orphan boy, powers he doesn't know he has, sent eventually to a place where he learns to control the powers, discovers that a dark, evil force is trying to destroy him..... It's been a while since I read the book, but I think I have the gist of it correct.

**bracing for the throwing of tomatoes**

GeorgiaDawn....I think you've pretty much just described almost every YA fantasy book ever written. ;-)

Hello, Joseph Campbell! Not just YA fantasy, and not just books (anyone see star wars?), it's the pigboy parable, as discussed (by us!) here.

You guys are dead on. It's like saying a romance writer is ripping off Nora Roberts because it has two people fall in love.

Yes, you're welcome for that brilliant analogy.

#53 - Now be fair, they're ripping off Jane Austen not Nora Roberts.... ;-)

#54 who in turn was ripping off ideas from someone else....

No, see, my analogy was even more brilliant than you at first thought! People keep saying YA authors are ripping off HP, like JK Rowling invented orphans and witches and wizards and giants and boarding schools and magic wands and broomsticks. That's like saying Nora Roberts invented romance. She may write it really well, but she didn't invent it.

Of course, I've never read a book by Nora Roberts, so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

56 > which just strengthens your analogy even more...

;)

what readafew said....because if you've never read Nora Roberts then how do you know that it involves two people falling in love.

*tip toes in quietly*
and
*whispers*

"I've read Nora's work and its not bad, usually has at least some love in it".

*runs and hides.*

why are you hiding maggie? no one will stone you for having read nora roberts.

she's one of my mom's favorite authors. I've absorbed a lot of NR bits over the years while not actually having read any myself.

Ah, James. You and GD are such a perfect fit. You belong here!

No need to hide maggie, I haven't read any Roberts, but I'm about as cross-genre as readers can get.

#60 - I've absorbed a lot of NR bits over the years
Is that like when you sleep with a textbook under your pillow so that you can learn by osmosis? ;)

something like that ;-)

I'll admit to liking Nora Roberts. She doesn't write literature, but she does manage a number of different styles well -- her books are not the cookie cutter stuff a lot of other romance writers produce. I haven't read her mysteries (written as J. D. Robb), so can't speak to them.

> 64 - I have read her mysteries and they are pretty good. As you say, not great literature, but after reading 10 of her Eve Dallas books (there's currently 27 in the series - and she's still writing them), they're still not stale. I don't know too many other series you can say that for.

Hey guys, amazon will finally let you post reviews on my book. I won't ask for 5 stars, but please remember the old rule about perception is reality. And on Amazon, people see anything less than 5 stars to mean it sucks beans. But if your conscience won't let you, that's okay. :-)

Anyway, have at it when you get a sec.

I'm on my way to buy the latest Nora Roberts. Okay, not really. No offense, I'm just not the romantic novel type. I like kids' books!

Hi James. Posted my review over at Amazon. Good luck with the release!

I've posted my review there as well.

Anyway, have at it when you get a sec.

There's just one little problem... I was somehow overlooked when the ER books were distributed :P.

Which made me wonder... is the author allowed to reveal which "similar books" the algorithm was looking at, or is that classified information?

edit: by which I mean the shortlist of 2 or 3, not the longlist that might reveal somehow how the algorithm works and therefore actually is classified.

Wow guys, that was some seriously fast work. I really appreciate it. I'm thinking the GD might have to get a mention in my next acknowledgements section.

If it was bad form to solicit 5 star reviews, please know I was being somewhat tongue in cheek (somewhat) and I apologize. Of course I want honest reviews on there. So have at it.

Have any of you guys heard of Foreword Magazine or Chicago Parent Magazine? They both just gave very glowing reviews to my publisher. No negative professional reviews so far - yet - I'm sweatin bullets over here.

#69: (no snickers please) I hate to yet again admit my idiocy, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Algorithm for what now? Hey, I just noticed that Al Gore's name is in that word.

tapestry and irish, thank you very much for those nice reviews. I feel all warm inside now.

Can't speak for everyone....but today I've been in a serious non-work mood so I've been on LT...and any additional excuse to procrastinate is a welcome one. ;-)

I pretty much just copy & pasted my review from here to there. (I'm lazy like that.)

B&N.com is also accepting reviews now. As for the mags....I've never heard of them. But I tend to lean more towards Scientific American than anything else. (have I mentioned that i'm a dork?)

I'm assuming the people who already have your book got Early Reviewer copies from LibraryThing. The publisher provides a list of a few similar books, and then LT works some magic to distribute the book to people with similar tastes. I'm just nosy and wondered what the similar books were :)

JD - she is talking about the Almighty Algorithm that Tim and Abby use to match up ER books with LT members. Part of it, is that the publisher gives a list of like books to the one that they are offering and it gets factored into the equation to find a match.

If you mention GD in your next acknowledgments then you might reach godlike status in the eyes of the group. After all, who doesn't like to be acknowledged. Except for maybe your friend who you said needs more deodorant. ;-) lol

(which by the way is a memorable thing, he left me a comment on my blog post and mentioned the comment....he also warned that you should watch out for his upcoming acknowledgment section)

My review is up on Amazon too!

I thought about adding in the paragraph about how James Dashner is a fabulous author with a penchant for bashing Nora Roberts.... but decided against it. ;) Best luck with all of it!

(And chances are too that the people who liked the book are more inclined to post their reviews outside of LT where as the ones that gave it low ratings - and compose poorly written reviews - will probably not bother to take the time to do so.)

#72 - kinda true for me today too, on all accounts!

And off to B&N now to post the review there.

Thread hijack to address a pet peeve:

>64 aviddiva: She doesn't write literature...

*the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc
*the profession of a writer or author.
*literary work or production
*the writings dealing with a particular subject
*any kind of printed material, as circulars, leaflets, or handbills
-Random House Unabridged Dictionary

Looks like Nora Roberts qualifies as literature to me.

End hijack.
(keeping the word literature genre free since 2006)

Amen, to that flee!
I suppose "literary fiction" is the more acceptable genre term but even that one seems a little crazy to me. (There were massive debates on NaNoWriMo last year about the differences between "Mainstream Fiction" and "Literary Fiction"...I still don't think I understand it.)

And a question for JD too - how come we're able to post reviews now? For lots of other ER books reviews haven't been postable until the book is on sale. Was it your call or did Amazon change the rules?

Argh, literary fiction bugs me too. Look at my tags, ALL of my fiction is tagged literary fiction. I've had a few rude comments about that, so I guess my evil plan is working. ;)

#79 - That comment should be followed by a chorus of evil laughter....

muahahahaha

p.s. JD, your book is on my wishlist, for me and for my son.

fleela, I love you! I hate pretentious distinctions which accomplish very little but make the discriminators feel superior. Boring.

But don't misunderstand me. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Nora Roberts apologist. I just read her books among many other books I read. (-; Oh, and I really was just teasing about running off and hiding. No worries.

OK, OK... "serious" fiction? She writes "genre" fiction? "Popular" fiction? I don't even know what "mainstream fiction" is supposed to mean. Her books are fun to read, they don't have great depth or reflect on the universality of the human condition, but they deliver a satisfying emotional charge just like a good romantic comedy will do at the movies. I guess you could call them the equivalent of excellent B movies. I think of them as "book candy" and enjoy them, and no, I don't consider them literature. I don't consider my VCR manual to be literature, either, but it fits the Random House Dictionary definition above.

If that's your pet peeve, fine, but please provide an alternative, or get off your high horse.

Sorry to bring dissent into the GD, but this got my goat.

>83 aviddiva:

Horsies!

Huh? I must have missed a thread somewhere.

Sweet! We've had our first fight. I only have 2 classifications: good books and sucky books.

I think the reason Amazon is allowing reviews is because they got their shipment in and are fulfilling orders! This is a nightmare for my publisher. I wasn't big enough to have a hard street date, but they really wanted people to wait until March 3rd so we could try for some bestseller lists. Oh well.

So yeah, you can now buy it from Amazon and get it. And I'm amazed it's 34% off. 12 bucks? What a deal for a hardback! (how's my car salesman voice?)

I bet my second book has a hard street date . . . :-)

Lesbian horses......they're lurking in the GD.

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=30027
post #32

LOL!

>#86: i like those classifications, jd. I wish my local bookstore would use them. I get frustrated by the arbitrary selections in their "literature" and "fiction" sections. Plus the fact that the staff don't seem to understand the concept of alphabetical order.

Of course, i would probably feel compelled to swap books between the "good" and "sucky" sections. sigh.

#89,

Just wanted to chime in on behalf of booksellers everywhere: it's not us who don't "understand the concept of alphabetical order" (most of the time); it's a handful of customers who treat the store like a Wal-Mart and place things where ever the hell they see fit.

/end defense rant

I now return us to our regularly scheduled off topic-ness. ;-)

edited for clarity

>#90 dodger: quite right. Darn sticky fingered customers. I didn't mean to diss' booksellers, i love 'em.

But... there's this one particular store that is the only one that i can reach within my lunch hour, and they seriously seem to have a problem with it. Either they are suffering from teeming hordes of dyslexic customers and just can't keep up with the pace of reshelving required; or, they can't be bothered checking and reshelving; or, the owners are radical anarchists and are actively seeking to disrupt the petty bourgeoisie approach to sorting books that our society slavishly follows; or just possibly, they have one or more staff that have a lackadaisical approach to shelving order while restocking. It's a little frustrating when i'm trying to find particular authors and not be late back to work.

wow... i don't usually rant but that felt good! OK, i think i'm done ranting for the year. Thank you for the indulgence. Now you may all carry on telling jd how great he is, i think he deserves it.

What about bookstores that sort their books, but sort them in an idiotic order so that you can never find anything? For example, an author has written three quartets and one pair of books set in the same world. They involve the same characters and should be read in a particular order. The store decides to put them in the series section.... with each group of four as a separate series. So you have to know the name of the quartet in order to find the books, and if you're just browsing you may not start with the earliest book. All of an author's books should be together! A pair of books is not a series! Gah.

MrAndrew (#91),

Wow! How'd that feel? ;-)

Yes, I cannot speak for every bookseller in every store ... there very well may be an idiot working at the store near you. Or it's a combination of all the elements in your rant. Certainly, the lackadaisical employee is quite possible. I will say that at another bookstore I worked at, years ago, there were a few of those. I sort of felt that many of the employees didn't even like to read.

> 79, 83 "genre fiction" is the one that cracks me up. I mean, which genre? I should start referring to "literary fiction" as "genre fiction", if "literary fiction" is allowed to be considered as a genre in itself.

(and yes, I've used the tag "literary fiction" three times, but I felt dirty doing it.)

Don't talk to me about genre theory. Imagine a splitting headache that is enforced on 18 year old schoolchildren at my place of education twice a week. That's what it feels like at first period in the morning. 8:30 am.

Yesterday my best friend somehow talked me into helping out her sister who was moving. Thankfully the sister's husband had plenty of brothers to help with the lifting & stuff but I was enlisted to help watch all the kids....which included 3 two years, a 9 yr old and 13 yr old boy (her daughter, niece & nephews). The main work was with the 2 yr olds. 1 of which (my pseudo-niece) is an amazing kid listens - most of the time - and is just fun to be around. The other 2, twins, are out of control. Oh my lord the tantrums that they threw...over nothing! I've been around a lot of kids, but these two....man they were something else.

Anywho, after only a few hours my friend and I needed to escape the madness...so we grabbed her daughter and the two older boys and went out to lunch and the mall. During this escape the boys and I talked a lot about video games and books...and at one point I mentioned JCL and both boys said that it sounded "cool". Which is high praise from these two.

Thanks, Irish. I'll take any association with the word "cool."

Do any of you guys live in Richmond VA, Atlanta GA, Phoeniz AZ, or Salt Lake City, UT? If so, you'll have to come see me during my tour the first 2 weeks of March. I'll be visiting other cities in the couple of months after that.

If anyone ever mentions they are in the GD, I'll have to think of something special to give them.

I don't see South Bend, IN on that list.

/pout

No Chicago either.

/more pout

Nor Lansing, MI.

/triple pout

Nor Boston....

quadruple pout (??)

Nor Sydney...

pentuple pout?

I just read A Door in the Woods this weekend and enjoyed it. Another good start to a series; maybe a little colloquial-heavy, but still an interesting premise all the same. I've got the second one on order now at my local B&N.

Sorry guys! Those are all cities I'd love to visit. I'll be doing a lot more touring once I go full time this fall, so I'll try to hit those cities. I promise!

Tapestry, my heart skipped a beat when you said you'd read A Door in the Woods. First, thank you so much! Second, please be forgiving. That was my first book ever, and it was by a small publisher that didn't have the greatest editors. They do get much better as you go through the series.

I really love the story of those books. I just wish I could give them all one extensive rewrite. Maybe someday - I have a feeling they'll be bought out by a bigger publisher.

Anyway, thanks again, and I hope you like A Gift of Ice.

Don't apologize for it! Everybody has to start somewhere. Besides, like I said, I did really enjoy it. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have ordered the second one!

**possible spoilers**

I liked the premise of the books, and am intrigued by who/what the Givers and Stompers are. And I'm hoping that we'll be getting to see Joseph again. And with the weather (weather=too much snow for me!) we've been having here, I could sure use my own version of his first present (trying to keep this enigmatic).

**hijack of the thread**

I noticed you posted up some movie reviews on your blog. Did you watch the Academy Awards the other night? I love the Oscars! I usually throw a party every year and have my friends over, and we fill out ballots before hand and see who can guess the most winners. I don't have any prizes or anything, we just have a good time of it. I thought this year's Oscars seemed a little lackluster; maybe the writer's strike had something to do with it, but it just seemed that a lot of people's hearts weren't into this year.

**hijack over**

no prizes???

What's the point of winning if you don't get a prize? Seriously, you might want to consider buying a cheesy trophy at the dollar store or somewhere slap on some sort of name for the contest & the year and present it to the winner. Then he/she shall forever have proof of their triumph! Not to mention the fact that everyone loves to have a trophy. =)

cheesy trophy ... in the GD, a hunk of cheese might just do for that!

Thanks, Tapestry. I appreciate that.

And yeah, I'm a huge movie buff, and the Oscars are a definite must see every year. It was a little dull this year. And it had its worst ratings ever, I think. They need to bring Billy Crystal back.

Part of it may have been that this year's big nominees were mainly independent, smaller films. The industry really needs another Lord of the Rings. The rare combo of quality AND blockbuster. I can't wait for The Hobbit in 2010.

Next year I'll send you an autographed copy of my book for your prize. :-)

>109 jamesdashner:
I doubt The Hobbit will be out by then since the Tolkien estate is suing New Line for past proceeds and hoping to terminate the rights New Line has to make the movie(s).

I thought that it was Peter Jackson who was suing New Line for not getting his full proceeds?

Then there was talk of the guy who did Pan's Labyrinth taking over to do the hobbit...and last I heard was that PJ and New Line settled and that he was going to be back at the healm.

This is a different case, brought by the trustees for the Tolkien estate.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2255898,00.html

the suit also calls for "a declaration from the Court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works under the agreements, including The Hobbit, due to the serious and material nature of the breach of the agreements".

The root of all evil is the love of money, huh?

@ fleela - Well that's depressing. I loved how PJ did LOTR and was really looking forward to seeing the hobbit brought to life as well.

@JD - That would make an excellent prize, seeing as most of my friends are readers (2 of them are on LT, too!).

@Irish - Yeah, I know I should do something. I wanted to get a little Oscar statue and have it go to the winner each year, but I've never been able to find one. Not that I've really looked all that hard....

@hfglen - I could go for just a hunk of cheese, too! mmmm - cheesy goodness.

As far as the Hobbit is concerned, I would be thrilled to see a film version by PJ! The LOTR films are some of my favorites. I've got the standard and extended releases on DVD. I had a marathon viewing one day and watched all 3 extended versions right in a row. It was like 20 hours of movie watching. That was an experience!

@tapestry - one of my friends and I watched all 3 films in a row once too. We also saw each film multiple times in theaters. It was kinda funny though because when I first learned that the films were coming out she couldn't care less (she wasn't a fan previously) and would get so annoyed with me when I talked about them. When the first one came out I literally had to drag her to go see it....fortunately I've seen many a bad film that she just HAD to see so I had lots of ammo to use....after seeing it the first time she fell in love and the sickness seeped in from there.

Although she didn't read the books until after the second one and she got all upset that Aragorn had "died" it was kinda funny. Another friend and I strung her along for a bit before taking pitty and walked her through it all. Asking B what the name of the 3 installment was...and then who Aragorn was...

You guys do realize PJ isn't directing The Hobbit, right? He'll just be producing it. That might actually be a good thing since he has a bit of a heavy hand when it comes to smaller more personal scenes. The guy who directed Hellboy will be directing The Hobbit. (I don't know about the rest of you, but I loved Hellboy.)

Well, I did know that PJ would only be producing, but I didn't know that Guillermo del Toro would be directing. I can live with that! He also directed Pan's Labyrinth, which was an amazing film, and if he can do as good a job on The Hobbit as he did with Pan's Labyrinth, then I have high hopes for this movie.

I haven't had a chance to see Pan's Labyrinth yet, but I've heard wonderful things about it.

Yes, I have high hopes, too! I just have my fingers and toes crossed (and my thumbs held, Busifer) that they get Howard Shore to compose the score!

I liked Pan's Labyrinth too and so I'm sure the Hobbit will be good, but I have reservations, just because I love Peter Jackson and loved what he did with LOTR, plus I want consistency between the two and I'm afraid the Hobbit will be too different for me. That's my main complaint with the Harry Potter movies - they're too different from each other because of all the different directors.

Pan's Labyrinth was a great film. You should defiantly go rent it clamairy. You won't regret it. =)

So JD - four days until the big day....any big plans?

clamairy, you just went up on the Dashner likable scale. Howard Shore is my hero, and I have the full score to LOTR. I write to it all the time. He is just as important to the success of those films as PJ, in my opinion.

Irish, I'm so excited I can't breathe. Really. My stomach hurts from it. I just found out some great news from Borders. Check it out on my blog.

Okay, this Early Reader thing can sometimes be annoying. People are reading my book who wouldn't usually read it, in my opinion.

I'm dumbfounded by the latest review. If a book is a "page turner" and you "love" the ending, why give it 2 stars? Meh, Borders likes me, so who cares? :-)

You got the two stars because you "failed to illuminate something universal about the growing up process" and you broke the cardinal rule of YA fiction that adults should be absent.....as if rules weren't meant to be broken?

I'm sorry but I liked seeing a book in which the parents were involved. So few parents are these days. My parents were a big part of my growing up. I wouldn't be who I am without their support. Kids need to see that support in the things they read and watch on tv every bit as much as they see kids being able to handle difficult things on their own.

Borders has a special section/display for original voices? How have I missed this - since there is one literally 10 min from my house and I practically live there. Although I didn't know that they had little shopping baskets either until a friend mentioned it recently and they just jumped right out at me the next time I was in the store....so I probably shouldn't be surprised that they have this as well. *lol*

But to make me feel better I'm just gonna assume that I've seen it but never fully realized what it was. =)

(Oy for a scientist i can be so unobservant sometimes lol)

Anywho...kudos to you for the love that Borders is showing you.

Congrats on the Borders news - how exciting this must all be for you! I don't have a Borders anywhere near me (the closest is almost an hour away), but I just emailed my sister (she lives in Portland, ME) and told her to go check it out when it's released.

** And, as I said before, the fact that you had Tick's parents so involved in the story (and the same with the Jimmy Fincher books) is one of the reasons I think the book should stand out more to kids and their parents. Seems odd that this should be such a negative sticking point for some people. Like Irish, my parents were an important part of my childhood (they still are for that matter, and I'm 33 years old!) - I just don't get why some people are against such an idea?

I just realized that I'm going to be in Chicago next weekend and there's a HUGE Borders there, so I'll make a point of stopping by and checking out the Original Voices section.

Tapestry - be careful in the bookstore.....its always a dangerous idea to enter one while on vacation. At least it is for me because I am very weak when it comes to the temptation of books.

Isn't that the truth! My sister came into town over the New Year, and we spent a Saturday and Sunday in Chicago visiting some friends. We stopped by a great used bookstore, and I ended up leaving with 5 books! We also went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and I picked up a book about the zoo there, too.

**le sigh**

It's no wonder that my unread books never seem to diminish in numbers...

*laughs*

I know the feeling.

Speaking of used book stores if you are ever near Niantic, CT you MUST go to The Book Barn

http://www.bookbarnniantic.com/

This place is heaven for all bibliophiles....and hell for their wallets!

I'll have to check that out. Whenever I come out to visit my sister, I fly into Boston, and we try to find somewhere around there that we haven't been to before, so maybe we'll give that a try sometime. I know there was a great bookstore in Boston that I went to once, but can't remember the name of it - had a great big pencil as it's sign out front (as far as I remember, at least).

Remember, it'll be in that section in April, not March. Just clarifying. But it should be on the normal shelves everywhere by Monday.

tapestry....boston is a large city...I've walked all over it and don't recall any stores that had signs in the form of pencils. although as my observation skills seem to come and go that probably doesn't mean much. Many of the great independent used bookstores have been closing down here of late. Its a very sad state of affairs. =(

If you do remember the name....or a better idea of where that store was located let me know & I'll scope out the area one day and let you know if its still there. =)

>131 tapestry100:

Is it this bookstore? http://www.flickr.com/photos/moca121/1719383820/

http://www.brattlebookshop.com/

James, just want to reiterate that I thought Tick's whole positive family experience to be one of the best things about the book (among many other things) too. I love his relationship with Edgar, I love his mom's baking, and the love between the siblings. It's wonderful to read about a happy positive family for a change, instead of a struggling trying-to-be happy family.

I know you won't be able to please everybody, but there's certainly lots of us here that are pleased :-)

I've been to the brattle book shop....I don't recall the pencil though. However there were lots of books to see outside and in....and I was with my sis and bro-in-law who was looking for poultry books so we were all a little focused on that task.

That and apparently unless I'm looking at Batch Records, Chromatograms or excel spreadsheets or reading a book I'm not all that observant. 'Tis a sad revelation about me...I must bury this information deep within my psychy

@fleela - YES! that's the one! It's a great store - there's an open lot next to the store that they've hijacked and use as more space for books - they've got these big rolling shelving units that they bring outside that are just stuffed with more books. I'd be sad to see it gone.

Next time your in Boston tapestry look at this thread....lots of bookstores mentioned there

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=396

#123 - "Howard Shore is my hero, and I have the full score to LOTR. I write to it all the time. He is just as important to the success of those films as PJ, in my opinion"

I agree 100%. In fact, I've told everyone who'll actually listen to me (all three people) that Shore's music made three pretty good films into three great films. I'd never those kinds of scenes choreographed to music before. Some of that score still makes me cry after all these years. (Like 'The Lighting of the Beacons of Gondor, for one.)

Thanks for the tip, Irish. I've got that thread bookmarked. I go out over Labor Day weekend every year, so I'll keep that in mind this year.

I love the LOTR soundtracks. As Clamairy says....they really make the scenes. I think that for certain films the soundtrack is more important than the actually acting that is occurring. Howard Shore has a gift of bringing out all the right emotions at just the right time to really make the audience feel something. When I just listen to the soundtrack I can still feel those emotions even without the visual of what is happening on the screen. I'm glad that he'll be doing the Hobbit. I think that his influence, more so than Jackson's, will help make the film great.

I don't know if we 'know' that Shore will be doing The Hobbit yet, do we? I know at some point Jackson said that he wouldn't do the film w/o Shore, but then halfway through the filming of King Kong he and Shore had a parting of the ways. (Reasons unknown.) The film score Jackson ended up with for Kong was good, but not great. I often wonder how much better that film could have been if Shore had stayed on board... It's possible it sounded too LotR-ish, though.

I was listening to Howard Shore's music all day yesterday in the car. I think his music is so wonderful. I never get tired of hearing it. I hope he does do the music for The Hobbit

From this bit on The One Ring it certainly sounds like HS is going to do it

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/02/24/28408-howard-shore-talks-hobbit-in-sw...

Ahh One Ring.net. It has been awhile since I visited

#144 - Well, that IS good news!!!!

I didn't know you were an tORn member, Irisheyz77! Many of us here in the Dragon (including the two of us that started the group) are KiKners, which is a tORn sister site. :o)

It is good news. I use to love going in Torn. I haven't as of late. A Kikner I am also. Irisheyx77 Did I read somewhere that you are familiar with bookstores in Boston? I visit the area often.

I've always been more of a lurker on tORn than anything else.

And yes jewels you did read that I'm familiar with bookstores in Boston. I work in Boston...lived in Quincy for a bit...and now am a bit further south. But still in MA. =) Its a fun city and I can't wait until it warms up so I can linger after work....or visit some of my favorite places during lunch.

You don't mean Southie do you?Ha Ha Any good pubs. Seriously, hi neighbor. I live further north from you in NH but do go to Boston often. I love to go through many of Boston's bookstores. I recently attended a filming at the Cutler Magestic Theater near Emerson College. I met Howard Zinn. I am not sure if you know of him. In my humble opinion, his work on The People History... should be required reading in any high school or college history class.

No I mean literally more south. I'm down near Attleboro and the RI border. About an hour by train from Boston. =)

I don't know of Howard Zinn. But I looked up The People's History and it sounds interesting. I'm going to have to add it to my list.

I was kidding about Southie. Well it is nice to meet you Irisheyz. I am newbee here. I don't come in that often but I do enjoy visiting and reading everyone suggestions. Howard Zinn's book is a long read but it is so interestingto read.

nice to meet you as well jewels. welcome to LT....I've found it to be a highly addicting and friendly place to be. There has only been one instance where I've encountered negative comments directed at me, but thankfully that is not the norm and so can easily be forgotten. =)

(I'm so far behind on some of these threads it's almost disgusting. Geeez, you leave LT for a day and when you come back -BANG!- 40 messages unread here, 62 there, 83 somewhere else....)

But yeah.... Howard Shore? Brilliant beyond my ability to describe!!! My husband and I actually used one of the tracks of the Fellowship soundtrack as the introduction music at our wedding reception. And the Beacons of Gondor music ALWAYS gives me chills!!

And congrats, jd on the Border's Original Voices distinction! Oddly enough I'm familiar with that program not so much from the store but more because of the emails that Border's sends out saying "Check Out Our Original Voices Authors". I'm sure it will be great for your publicity and then all of us here in the GD can say we called you original even before Border's did!! Do you know if more stores will be carrying The Jimmy Fincher books now? I would guess a lot of people will be wanting to read them since there will be a wait for Book 2 in the Thirteenth Reality series.... hopefully not a long wait.... ;-)

elbakerone: It'll be interesting to see what happens with The Jimmy Fincher Saga. It's still mostly unknown, but I imagine that anyone who really likes 13th Reality will seek it out. I think the kids will really enjoy those books, so I hope it resurrects. They have really awesome covers. Useless trivia: Shannon Hale blurbed the second book on the cover.

And no, the wait won't be too long. We plan on having a 13th Reality book every March (5 book series). I'm already on rewrites for Book 2.

Thanks for asking!

Long live Howard Shore. If my books are ever made into movies, I will do everything humanly possible to get him. :-)

Ah....so another series that will make me wait a year for the next book. Although with HP done I currently only have 2 and they are much more consistent than HP was. I generally get a new Dresden Files book in April....and the Codex Alera in December (though I was spoiled there since I came into the series late and had the 1st 4 books available to me, now I am horribly hooked and am going through withdrawal - even though I only just finished book 4).

We plan on having a 13th Reality book every March

So...Book 2 would be March of 2009?!?? *groan* You do realize that that seems an interminable amount of time away..... I guess knew what I signed on for when I ER'ed Book 1. *sigh* I'd rather wait longer for the story as you want it to be than to have publishers rushing you into mass producing something that wasn't as good as you could make it. Does that ever happen or are deadlines negotiable if you feel that something needs more time? And of course if you need reviewers for book two.... ;)

But yeah, it would be neat to see the Jimmy Fincher Saga hyped up in stores. I have yet to meet a YA reader that doesn't find a book they like and then devour everything possible by that author. Also, I just looked on Amazon and they only have three copies of Door in The Woods in stock, not sure if that's a result of Curious Letters (which has great feedback there), but I suppose it's likely.

When I get around to rereading JCL I'll be sure to read while listening to Howard Shore and see if any of the music lines up. ;)

JD - I don't think you'll ever be hard pressed to find eager volunteers to read your books and give you good honest feedback

I'm with elbakerone and Irish - if you ever need some more readers for the later books, I'd be more than happy to volunteer.

157, 158 - I think we just qualified ourselves as an unofficial fan club. ;)

@159 - think being part of an unofficial fan club will get us anything? after all don't fan clubs usually give out perks?? I'm thinking future ER copies. How about you? ;-)

Sweet, my first fan club. Not sure if it's much of a perk, but I just might take you guys up on the early reader thing - WAY earlier than normal LT early readers. :-)

I'm sure at some point JK Rowling's fan club only had 3 members, right?

I have yet to enjoy your books, but hey I'm game. Maybe I'll love your books so much that I will be the unofficial president of the unofficial fan club, well unofficially, of course.

JD - you may not see it as a perk but your fan club of 3 would. =)

Cal - I think the unofficial presidency of the unofficial club goes to Elbakerone since she recogised our unofficial greatness. Either her or Tapestry since he has actually read more than one of JD's books. You should definately check out the book though when it comes out. Then you can be an unoffical member of the unoffical club. ;-)

Yay for the spontaneous creation of fan clubs!! Can I really be president? That sounds like something I would list on my imaginary resume right below winning my seventh grade science fair. Sweet!

On a totally random note, I have to point out that there's something really funny about seeing the name of this thread and the name of the most recent poster on the message board. For example, when I clicked it just now it said "Hi, I'm James Dashner" followed by Irisheyz77 - sort of like Irish is currently pretending to be James Dashner. And then of course the impostor changes depending on the most recent message....

Anyone else think that's a little funny? Maybe I've just had too much coffee and too little sleep.

I think that you've had a little bit too much coffee and not enough sleep. ;-) Unless of course there are royalties involved...for that I'll pretend to be most anyone. ;-)

And yes you can be president of the unofficial fan club. Your idea you get the vote. Though don't let all the unofficial power go to your head or we'll might have to send a gnat rat after ya.

ok, I'll join. Now you have 4 members. I think the last fan club I was involved in had something to do with an early 80's heart-throb (perhaps Kirk Cameron?). It makes me feel young again...woohoo.

OK, OK, I'll follow Elbakerone anywhere as the unofficial president!!!
Hail to the chief!! (unofficially)

JD - look how fast your unofficial fan club is growing. After only a few short hours its grown to 5....those numbers are all unofficial of course.

drsol and cal....i extend my unofficial welcome to you both. =)

Yay! A fan club! Who cares if its unofficial... it's for a good reason. And I back elbakerone, too! Seems unofficially official now. :)

**sigh** I just got home from seeing Atonement. I'm still in my movie afterglow. It was so good! Worth seeing if you haven't seen it already.

This is awesome. I officially pronounce myself the unofficial person to whom the unofficial fan club directs its fan clubbiness. I'm really quite unofficially honored.

I just hope that someday I have an official one!

Perhaps when you become JK Rowling style famous we'll move from unofficial to official.

Or you could consider bribery. Bribery could work.

You could give us something bright and shiny...or i've heard that cheese works. Although as I am not a fan, I can't say that I understand the appeal. ;-)

Right now....for me....the bestest bribe in the whole wide world would be to have hot water. Not having hot water is so not fun. Especially when its single digit temps outside and all you want to do is take a shower before work. My apt bathroom is possessed. I am sure of it now. Anyone know how to unpossess a bathroom? If so, let me know!

Thanks Irish. I'll be happy to join. When this thing goes official, look out world!!!

And if you find a way to banish your bathroom spirits let me know because my microwave has a playful spirit in it.

playful I could deal with (and in fact do, I have a friendly ghost named Simon who likes to play with my tv)....evil vengful spirits I cannot

Since I've moved in a few years back I've had to deal with a light that leaks every time it rains. That took almost 2 months to fix. It didn't help that the electrician would make appointments but then never show up....or that they'd play with the wires but then not do anything about the roof (which was the cause of the leak in the first place). It still leaks on occasion if we get a really bad rain....so I've just stopped using the overhead and deal with the little light over the mirror.

Then last winter, I went for a week without a working bathroom. Something wrong with the pipes...water wouldn't drain. Worst part of that was when the plumber was there one day he muddled around and then left at one point saying he'd be back the next day to finish the job...this after I'd already taken a day out of work and been a few days without a bathroom (crashing on a friends couch gets majorly old in a very short time!). I go to leave and see that the guy left the light on in the bathroom...so i go to turn it off and notice that somehow in his fixing he managed to make dirty nasty used toliet water go up into my tub. I was so pissed. That was so gross to clean afterwards and used up lots and lots of bleach.

Then another winter day I came home to find no heat. It was another single digit night and it was already 9pm...and couldn't get a hold of the property managers (always available my ass!)...and yes I know the heating system isn't the bathroom, but all the things that make the heat work are....you guess it directly under the bathroom. That one I couldn't wait a week for the PM people to fix so I called the place I got oil from and had them came out. Took til 4 in the morning and ended up costing over $1500 but when he left I had heat so I was happy. I just sent the bill to the PM team. They weren't happy, but hey I called them each at least 15 times trying to get them to send their own people. They never picked up or returned my messages. So they had to deal.

And now I have no hot water. *sighs* I don't think that these evil spirits are going to be leaving anytime soon. I need to move. Let them torment some other poor sap.

Your landlord's behavior is inexcusable. You do need to move, as soon as you can! And meantime, get everything fixed and send the landlord all the bills. You pay rent, you should have liveable place.

I'm so sorry for your house woes. It is aweful when everything breaks and the people responsible won't fix it. It's a wonder that you can't contact someone for help... Like the better business bureau or our state representative's office will give advice and help for such things. Maybe you could try that. It's horrible when you can't have the basic needs meet for living.

I'm on month to month so I can leave at any time. Currently searching for a new job so once that stress is over and I know where I'll be working I'll start apt hunting.

I hate apt hunting. but any place has got to be better than where I am now....right? *lol*

for sure!!

Awww! That's awful Irish. Sending wishes for hot water your way!

Poor Irish, I hope you find a new job and then a great apt very soon. It sounds really awful now!

I'll join the JD unofficial fan club. I've never joined a fan club before. There's a first for everything and this is a good first. Sign me up!

Looks like I need to read the book so I can join the fan club as well....

There's something oddly amusing about our growing numbers - maybe we're official without even knowing it! Next stop will be t-shirts - choose a slogan (or create your own cause mine are lame):

"I wouldn't burn the letter!"
"Honorary Realitant"
"I *Heart* James Dashner"

(I suppose now would be a bad time to mention that I said fan club as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek jesting... But once perks were mentioned, I'm all in!)

And readafew, I think I can unofficially say that there really aren't any official prerequisites for officially joining our unofficially official club. I think any Green Dragoners that are hovering and chatting with JD can consider themselves members - at least unofficially.

And I think we're officially gonna have to throw an officially unofficial book release party here on Monday - (yeah I know, technically it's already released but since Monday was the day JD wanted as the release we can celebrate then!)

well...what does it take to be official? endorsement from the person that the fan club is for...and JD does seem all for having a fan club.

Although once you go from unofficial to official there must be some sort of perks involved. =)

(elba - always be wary of what you say in jest....one never knows to what mischief it will lead to)

readafew - i'm with elbakerone...anyone can be a fan. it was the determination of who would be president that required the reading of the books. ;-)

Oh please Elbakerone, Let me in the fan club unofficially,
I promise I will read JD's books as soon as I find one. With his subject matter and good reviews I feel that I will enjoy them.

#182 - Official Fan Club sounds like there should be work involved.... As president I should point out that I'm highly opposed to work... Unless there's a nice cushy office....


*snaps out of daydream*
Oh wait...someone said I'm not allowed to let power go to my head, right? Okay back to the GD pub for me. We can be official! Irish and tapestry - you guys wanna be official Vice Presidents? And drsol and cal and katylit and readafew (are we really up to 7? anyone else I missed?) you can all be official members or unofficial members or you can give yourselves other official or unofficial (or officially unofficial) random appointments to the JD Fan Club cabinet!

Bring on the fans!!

Thanks for the unofficial offer. I will consider myself official once I read JD's work. I love your office but I think the GD pub makes for a better meeting place.

I officially accept the office of unofficially official VP.

**wow - that made my head hurt**

I can be secretary *waves pen around*

*ducks to avoid getting poked in the eye from the pen that katylit is waving about*

elbakerone....I too hearby accept your nomination to be the official co-vp of the unofficially official club.

Cal - you show such will power and restraint. I hearby nominate to the post of the official unofficial treasurer of the complelty non-existent funds. Well, that will be your post once you read the book and decide to join the ranks. Book comes out officially on the 3rd....if you buy it between now and the 9th then leave a message for JD on his blog. For all books sold during that time he's going to donate royalties to the One Campaign.

Personally I think its shameless self-promotion to try to get onto the best seller list, but it will benefit a great cause so let him self-promote away! ;-)

I also agree that the GD makes a much more cozy meeting place. Plus the GD has beer....and you can't have a meeting without beer.

OOH!! Beer meetings! Great idea! Take a pint and pass one around!

Hmmm....one of the bosses at my work sent out an email last fall that he was scheduling scientific seminars for every other Monday evening and said that there would be beer, wine and other refreshments served. Five months later, the strongest they've served us is Diet Coke....

And katy you can certainly be secretary but please do remember that the pen is mightier than the sword. It's all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye with a pen. Then it's just fun and games and a wild trip to the emergency room. ;)

As for the shameless self-promotion, let's reassure jd that we mean shameless self-promotion in the most kindhearted way that GD buddies can always love each other as shameless self-promoters. But perhaps we can clarify is it unofficially shameless self-promotion? J/K, jd - I love the idea of the charity drive! Totally awesome! Personally the offer of illustrations not included in the ARC had me already wanting to buy a copy but making you give all your money to charity even before you're a super celeb is certainly the icing on the cake!

So to all of the JDFC (James Dashner Fan Club) mark your calenders to stop by the GD (Green Dragon) on Monday and look for a thread about our JCL (Journal of Curious Letters) book release virtual party! Woohoo!!

Would Kinokuniya have JCL in stock on Monday?

The Japanese version?

No, Kinokuniya in the Sydney CBD. They stock heaps of Fantasy books, the only bigger stock of Fantasy books is Galaxy Bookshop where I live. And they're pricier than Kinokuniya is.

Not sure if JCL has a world-wide release date. Your best bet would be to call your favorite bookstore and ask if they have it.

But don't let not having a copy of the book stop you from coming to the virtual party. The inviatation is open to all and is really just another excuse to have a party. =)

Guys, you're all nuts, which is why I like you.

Dang, I can't believe you guys figured me out on the shameless self promotion. Oh well, can't hurt to feed a few kids along the way. :-)

I'll try my best to drop in on the party Monday. I'm speaking at 5 schools and doing a book signing, so it might be very late when I do. I expect you guys to leave me some food.

Thanks for all the comments on my blog. I leave tomorrow!!!!!!

Good luck and travel safe on your journeys!

I'm honored to be the official treasurer of the official unofficial fan club with nonexistent funds. I've never had such an easy job. I promise to make you proud of me.(sniff). I think we should buy some band-aids for the pen injuries inflicted by katy.

Sorry, JD. We don't have the funds to sponsor your book signing tour. I hate having to bear bad news.

You seem to be doing a lot better than I am in your writing career, JD. At least you have some kind of fan club. Though my fan club consists of a legion of Faerie Fanboys who pay me in faerie gold royalties.

I'd be more than happy to support a fellow new writer, since you could probably help me out when I finally finish my first official novel.

Trust me, it helps to have Faerie Fanboys backing your projects, they can only really pay you in plot devices, but that's worth it to carry on when writer's block strikes...

Hey, I'm unofficially in! I haven't read the book yet, but I'm sure having a good time reading this thread -- and juvenile/YA fantasy is right up my alley. Plus, my ears always perk up when I hear that there's going to be a party. . . .

*wanders over to the party thread*

Hi Foggie & welcome to the club. =)

The party has started...and can be found here

Make me another unofficial member.

I'm in. *runs to Amazon looking for book*