It’s Coming…

After years of silence and hiatus, Lisa and I are thrilled to be returning to Fiction Fridays!

*Woot woot!*

I know I can safely speak for her when I say that writing our pieces of flash fiction has always been such a fun side project for the two of us, a great way to stretch those writing muscles and to jump into stories or ideas that perhaps we were afraid to expand upon until we actually wrote them down – and loved them!

We are starting slow, just to make sure we can really give it the care it needs as we get back into the swing of things. You well get one story from each of us (2 stories total) a month for the time being. My first will post on January 12th. Lisa’s will post January 26.

Join us! Maybe you have a hankering to try your hand at something short and creative. Share it with us!

We can’t wait to see what awesome, creative things we can explore together! 🙂

Books are for Lovers!

We interrupt our normal weekly schedule to announce something exciting… Books are for Lovers!

So, in case you haven’t seen it, there’s this article going around about how Barnes & Noble and little Indie bookstores are the “last stand” against Amazon taking over the book industry completely and you never again having a real opportunity to be in a store where you are surrounded by a plethora of books.

The idea of this is, to me, a travesty. And so, on my blog, I’ve asked readers and lovers of books to band together and show a little love to their brick-and-mortar stores. Really all I’m asking is for something you probably already want to do if you’re reading this blog: Buy a book on Valentine’s Day.

That’s simple, isn’t it? Just make sure you buy it from your local store, and not online. If you must buy it online, order it from an Indie store via IndieBound.

I know, I know… times are hard and money is tight for a lot of us. But if we can make a difference, even a teensy, tiny difference—isn’t that worth ten or twenty dollars, even in the hardest of times?

If you want to be a part of this, join us on facebook or Goodreads, and please, please, spread the word! Invite your friends, blog or tweet about it. Let’s give our bookstores a big “Thank you!” for all that they do to support the written word.

And come back here or to my original post about this and tell us what you bought! We’d love to know!

Fun Friday: Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side

Okay, so I’m not really a Family Guy fan.  Much.  Well, ish.  I like Stewie and Brian, and the rest of it disturbs me, most of the time.  I had to sit down and watch the Star Wars spoof episodes, though, and so I sat down and watched the first two episodes, Blue Harvest, and Something, Something, Something Dark Side, covering episodes IV and V, respectively.  Stewie (the baby, for those of you less familiar) is Darth Vader, which is probably enough to watch this for in the first place.  It’s a lot of fun to see characters from one franchise so seamlessly mocking another, and a lot of the explosions from the cartoon are actual footage from the Star Wars films.  There’s a lot of respect here (it’s Star Wars, after all) and some inner-show teasing as well, as Peter (the father) and Chris argue over the fact that Robot Chicken (which was created by Seth Green, voice of Chris) may or may not have done a better job of this.

I really can’t say a whole lot about this.  You know the story, after all.  I really enjoyed it.  There was a nice little twist of the ridiculous added on top of a storyline that everybody knows inside and out.  I give it an A.

Fun Friday: This Blog Post is Now Diamonds!

So I’m sure by now everyone has seen the Old Spice commercials. The guy is hysterical. Some of the things he comes up with crack me up. If you haven’t seen him, shame on you. Enjoy his deliciously smooth monologue here:

That’s exclusive from Old Spice’s Youtube page. Here is the commercial that plays on TV:

He’s brilliant, isn’t he? Ha ha. He cracks me up everytime. Anyway, point of this post? You can now share the Old Spice Guy with all of your friends. 😀 That’s right, in your voicemail.

Check this out: Old Spice Voicemail

It’s available for men and women and the options are brutally hysterical. This man is my new hero.

SWAN DIVE!

Fun Friday: Now Open! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We’re a little late on this!  A week ago today, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened up at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

I. Have. No. Words.

Except to say that I really, really want to go.  I’m dying to go.  I’m not one for swarming in crowds, but I’d chance it for this, almost.  Well, if I lived a little closer than I do, that is.  Here’s a fun little video highlighting the grand opening of the park, complete with glimpses of J.K. Rowling and all of our favorite wizardy boys…

In other Harry news, the filming for Deathly Hallows is now complete.  That news in and of itself hurt for me to hear a little bit.  I’m really glad the book is being split into two films, because I’m honestly glad to be able to stretch that little bit of new Harry Potter joy out for a wee bit longer, and now at least I know that when the films are done, I’ll have this lovely park to look forward to!  Hope the butterbeer is still fresh!

Fun Friday: Crafty Fantasy Fans!

Hello and Happy Friday!  Lisa here.  As some of you may know, in my other life, I’m a yarnie and bookbinder.  I’m also a big promoter of the craft site Etsy, and I have a little shop there where I sell my journals.  I’m far from being the only fantasy-loving craftie on the site, though, and I wanted to showcase a couple of the fun things people make, inspired by the very kinds of stories we love here.

Firstly, a journal from a fellow bookbinder… this is, yes, a Vampire Diary, by repaper.

It wasn’t exactly inspired by the show or the books, according to the listing, but personally I can’t help but thinking about a Salvatore or two when I look at it.  I think the toothy look of the binding and the bits of red “blood” are especially clever.  Fun!

Secondly, some Summer Fairies yarn by WeirdAndTwisted.

This yarn shop is fab.  I also really like her handspun that’s inspired by Hagrid’s coat on Harry Potter.  This fairy yarn is lush and perfect, though… it definitely looks fairy-worthy.

This next listing is reverse-engineered by BoopieCreations from the new movie Alice in Wonderland, which I just reviewed on Monday.

You can see just how close this knitter came to the originals, in the picture here.  You can also find a lot of Twilight knits on Etsy, of course!

And lastly, because I was so excited to run across it…

This is a lovely necklace by cynthial11 that’s inspired by Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series, shown with a cover of Shiver, one of my favorite books that I read last year.  The sequel, Linger, is due out in just a little over a month (July 20th!) and I can’t wait!  You can read our interview with Maggie right here.

I just love seeing how people can take inspiration from myths and stories and create beautiful things—or recreate, as the case may be.  Are any of you crafters?  What inspires you?

Fun Friday: Released this Week!

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce was released this week, and it’s one of the two books I’ve most been looking forward to this summer (the other is Maggie Stiefvater’s Linger, from the Wolves of Mercy Falls series!)

If you haven’t heard about Sisters Red, this is the summary from goodreads:

Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris– the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She’s determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her. Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax– but loving him means betraying her sister and has the potential to destroy all they’ve worked for.

Twenty-five-year-old Jackson Pearce delivers a dark, taut fairy tale with heart-pounding action, fierce sisterly love, and a romance that will leave readers breathless.

I’m so excited to read this.  The cover itself would have drawn me in and held me captive, but I’ve been watching Jackson Pearce’s blog and twitter, and I really just think she’s one of the smartest, sassiest authors to hit YA in a while, and I’m excited to watch her take the YA market by force.

Fun Friday: Happy Doughnut Day!

Today is… wait for it… National Doughnut Day. Yes, you heard me right. Today is the day we celebrate the awesome, sugary goodness of doughnuts, or as DD has corrupted us to spell it- donuts. 🙂

So forsake your diets for the day and consider yourselves freed of the evils of salads and turkey sandwiches. Indulge. Have a doughnut. Homer would.

Fun Friday: Happy Three Day Weekend!

A late Fun Friday to wish you a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend!  Be safe out there!

Saturday Surprise: Double Post

Apologizing for the double post. It seems Lisa and I got our wires crossed and both posted the Linger trailer… within a week of each other. We apologize for the glitch. To make up for it, I bring with me an equally awesome Fun Friday video that’s making the internet rounds. Totally makes me want to be a classic super heroine.