8 Popular Children's Tales That Are Actually Horrifying

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From nursery rhymes to fairy tales and folklore, prepare to have your childhood ruined. You won't even want to have kids if they're going to have to hear these stories eventually, because their origins are so… bloodied.

1. "Jack and Jill"
Jack and Jill is just a story about two kids who get severely injured after performing hard manual labor searching for water. Jack falls down and breaks "his crown," aka his head, while his sister also tumbles while trying to help him. After somehow limping home, the only medical care he's offered is a patching of his head with "vinegar and brown paper," which hardly seems like an effective form of treatment.

2. "Rock-a-bye Baby"
For some reason, a helpless baby is placed in a crib on a questionable branch at the top of a tree. Also, it's clear that as the wind blows, so does the crib rock. Inevitably, the bough will break, taking the crib and baby with it. What exactly are we supposed to learn from this rhyme, other than that babies are extremely fragile and shouldn't be placed in trees? Did we not already know that?

3. "Hansel and Gretel"
Hansel and Gretel has just always been terrifying. It's the story of a neglectful and essentially abusive family whose daughter and son the mother (in the original) plots to ditch out in the forest. However, the kids overhear her plot and Hansel takes a slice of bread before they're led on their trek in the woods. Birds eat the crumbs and they can't find their way home. Fortunately, they find a house made of candy and begin to eat it, till they are taken prisoner by the house's owner, a witch with a taste for children. So Hansel gets locked in a cage and Gretel gets turned into a slave, until they eventually manage to one-up the witch and shove her into the very oven they would've been cooked in.

Well, sure, I guess this story has a "happy ending," in that the kids find a bunch of treasure and escape, but the story until then is simply the stuff of nightmares.

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4. "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe"
So we have this old woman who's somehow ended up with "oh so many" children, who literally inhabit the entirety of an inexplicable giant shoe. Not only is the environment worthy of child services' intervening, but the rhyme goes on to describe that there's not enough food for them, and even the broth they're served is sans bread. Oh, and then she "[whips] them all soundly" and put them to bed.

5. "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater"
Peter's this dude with a wife he clearly isn't getting along with, and also some kind of bizarre pumpkin fetish/addiction. Eventually he has enough of trying to keep his wife satisfied, so--obviously--he traps her in a "pumpkin shell" where she is subsequently "kept very well." Which presumably means she died from suffocation, so then he doesn't really have any idea how she's doing.

6. "Oh My Darling Clementine"
A boy falls head over heels for some miner's daughter, and one day while they're playing and enjoying each other's company, she trips and plummets into a stream. Also she doesn't know how to swim. As she's swept away by the current, the boy desperately wants to save her, but can't because he doesn't know how to swim either. So, she floats away and her body is then used to fertilize some flowers (which the rhyme makes sure to take note of).

Moral: If you fall in love, the object of your affection will probably die before she even gets to knows how you feel.

7. Saint Nicolas (and the "Krampus")
Santa Claus traditionally had a number of terrifying "companions" who came along with him to deliver toys. Take, for instance, Krampus, popular in Austria, who wore "black rags and masks, dragging chains behind them," using said chains to whip children who got in their way.

The Krampus appear after a child receives Christmas gifts; if he does not likewise receive a golden branch (for good deeds), then the Krampus would take the child's gifts for his own and leave in their place a silver branch. That just sucks.

8. "Little Red Riding Hood"
In the earliest versions of this classic tale, the antagonist is not always a wolf, but often an ogre or a werewolf as well. The wolf (or whatever) usually leaves the grandmother's blood-drenched meat and bones for the girl to eat, who unknowingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. Also, at one point the disguised wolf requests that the prepubescent girl remove her clothes, which he tosses into the fire. Then they get into bed together and he eats her.

by Josh Fjelstad
BuzzFeed

Win a Signed Copy of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Win a Signed copy of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Shelf Awareness: Enlightenment for Readers is a FREE emailed newsletter with reviews on the 25 best books publishing each week along with author interviews, book excerpts, giveaways and more. Right now they’re running a contest for new subscribers. Check out the button at the bottom of our website to sign up for the new publication and to be entered for a chance to win a great book!

And The Halloween Scream Winner Is .......

AND THE LUCKY WINNER IS ...........

Kristie Betts

WELL DONE!!

Leading crime authors compete for morgue prize

The winning crime fiction writer will have a morgue in Dundee named after them.

Author Lee Child

Leading crime authors are taking part in a campaign to raise a million pounds for a new morgue at Dundee University.

Among the ten participants are the writer of the most recent James Bond book, Jeffrey Deaver, and the Chinese-American Tess Gerritsen whose bibliography includes the title ‘Keeping The Dead’.

The competition is part of a fundraising initiative to raise a necessary extra £1 million to build a new morgue and research facility that will adopt a “revolutionary” way of keeping bodies for research and training.

Having all submitted detailed descriptions of grisly crimes, the authors will now compete against each other in a popularity poll online at www.millionforamorgue.com, which asks the public to donate £1 to vote for their favourite piece of fiction.

The authors are Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reichs, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Mark Billingham, Jeffrey Deaver, Jeff Lindsay, Stuart MacBride, Peter James and Val McDermid.

Suspense writer McDermid is a friend of the professor in charge of the project

“She has helped me tremendously with a lot of the sort of grisly technical detail that goes into my books,” she said.

The project, which has already raised £1 million, is lead by Professor Sue Black and colleagues in the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) to adopt the revolutionary Thiel method of embalming.

Professor Black and other members of the CAHID team featured in the major BBC2 series 'History Cold Case'. The CAHID team have developed groundbreaking techniques in areas such as hand identification, which has directly led to the successful prosecution of a number of paedophiles identified from images of their hands found in obscene photographs and films.

telegraph.co.uk

Its The Weekend Gathering Hops!!

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 Welcome to our Weekend Gathering Hops!  This 4 way link up is hosted by Adventures of Frugalmom, Beck Valley Books, Beauty Brite, mumwrites, and Nifty Mom to help socialize with fellow bloggers, gain traffic, new followers, make new friends, and more!

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10 Myths About Bookselling

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10 Myths About Bookselling

by Lacey N. Dunham

MYTH 1: Booksellers Spend All Day Reading

The quiet bookshop nestled on a tree-lined side street. Inside, the bookseller is perched at the register, an open book propped on her knee. Ah, wouldn’t it be wonderful to spend all day reading and discussing books? You spend your workday surrounded by books; ergo, you spend your workday reading them.

I’m not sure about the origin of the luxurious, all-day reading marathon bookselling myth, but it’s an utter fallacy. While booksellers sometimes read the dust jackets or (in the case of Russell Brand memoirs) hold impromptu giggle sessions that are an introvert’s idea of performance art, bookselling is a job.

Books don’t appear on the shelf in such a tidy order instantaneously. Someone has to unpack the FedEx boxes, add the books to the store inventory database, and place each one in the correct section (no Tolstoy in psychology, please!). Think of doing that for 200-300 books each day (double that on a new release day) all while answering phones, fielding customer questions, processing and sending out books ordered online, explaining e-books, setting up chairs for an author reading, hosting the author reading, updating the store’s social media, checking for shelving errors and re-alphabetizing as necessary, researching a rare title for a customer, collecting books for return to the publisher and selling books at the cash register — you understand why booksellers hate when people tell them, “Oh, I would love to sit and just read all day like you do.” Reading is the last thing booksellers have time to do.

MYTH 2: Booksellers Make Lots of Money, Otherwise Books Wouldn’t Cost So Much
Here’s an industry joke about bookstore proprietors that I think applies equally to booksellers:

Q: How do you make a small fortune in bookselling?
A: Start out with a large fortune.

Yes, books aren’t getting any cheaper, but neither is milk, bread, or a new car. At the bookstore where I work, customers often haggle over the jacket price under the assumption that we control all aspects of the publishing industry. The assumption is ridiculous, of course; books arrive at independent bookstores long after the author’s advance, the marketing budget, the printing costs, and the publisher’s staff (all except the interns) is paid. A bookstore typically makes only 35% of the price set by the publisher. If a bookstore discounts that cover price by 15% or 20%, that’s halving our revenue. And because independent bookstores aren’t in a position to price gouge the way Amazon or non-book retailers like Wal-Mart and Target can, we can’t give you a 50% discount because the cover has a teeny, tiny dent. Booksellers aren’t rolling in the scrilla. For many of us, bookselling is a career we do as a labor of love. None of us are getting rich from it—but if you are topping off your bank account with this gig, I’d like to know if your store is hiring.

MYTH 3: Bookselling Isn’t a Career (i.e. so when are you getting a real job?)
A colleague of mine describes herself as a “professional bookseller” and she’s experienced several eye rolls and questions such as “so what does that mean?” or “why?” Many of my colleagues have worked in bookselling for a decade or more.

We receive dozens applications each week (since the recession that number has tripled). When applicants are asked why they want to work for us and the response is, “I’m looking for a fun job,” their application goes to the bottom of the pile. Ditto for anyone whose favorite books are all staples of high school English classes. If you haven’t read a book since high school and you’re thirty-three, how are you going to keep up with the hundreds of books published weekly?

Although bookselling isn’t as lucrative as a law or business career, it’s still a career choice for literarily minded individuals who love working with the public by day and devouring books by night. Besides, if the legitimacy of a career is based on that career’s annual salary, than booksellers shouldn’t be the only ones asked by well-meaning family and friends when we’re finally going to get a “real” job: teachers, social workers, electricians, and pastors should have to field this question, too.

MYTH 4: Bookselling Is a Low-Stress Job
People who think bookselling is low-stress have obviously never worked retail on Black Friday. Any job is going to have high points and low moments; however, when you’re working with the public, it’s impossible to know if the next person who walks up to you is having the best day of his life and will shower you with rainbows and smiles or if he just lost the all-important Schnizicki account at work and is stomping into the bookstore like Godzilla.

Maybe I’m someone who inspires intense rage in others, but in my almost four years as a bookseller, here’s a partial list of things people have said to me (all one-hundred percent true):
■You’re an idiot
■You’re stupid
■You’re an unhelpful little girl
■Thanks for ruining Christmas
■You’re so hateful
■This is why my kids are getting a college education
■Where are all the nice, happy booksellers today?
■Bitch
■Stupid bitch
■You’re everything but a whore
Add to this a customer who — furious that his gift-wrapping was not “perfect,” —tore the wrapping paper from his book, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at my colleague who had wrapped the present.

Rudimentary name-calling and wrapping paper assault aside, bookselling is the most enjoyable of the stressful jobs I’ve had, although the horrors of the holiday shopping season still tremor through my body in nightmares.

MYTH 5: Booksellers Know Everything About Every Book Ever Published Since Gutenberg Invented the Printing Press
Booksellers possess pride in knowing the ins and outs of recently published books. However, if you’re looking for a book and you can’t recall the author, the title, what the book is about, where you heard about the book, or whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, we’re not going to be much help beyond recommending other books you might enjoy.

If a customer tells me she’s looking for a book by a man and there’s a girl in it but she can’t remember the author or the title, I give her Lolita. If she’s looking for “that popular book about the animals”: Animal Farm. “That controversial book my book club is reading”: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. “The book with a red cover and the word ‘the’ in the title”: The Joy of Sex. I’m a bookseller, not a magician. My dark-framed glasses and skinny jeans possess only so much magic.

It's Time for The Weekly Book Blog Hop !!

Welcome to our Weekly Book Blog Hop!!

This will run every Wednesday - Friday including a book giveaway linky 

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Our Book Blog Hop is here to unite all booklovers worldwide,

readers, book reviewers, authors, publishers, book bloggers, book sellers,

putting you all in touch with each other

and keeping real books alive x

We would love it if you could share our hop with all your booky friends

and display are book hop badge (optional obviously x)

Please follow our blog using Google Friend Connect,
leave a comment and I will always follow back,
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Wordless Wednesday

Couldn't resist - Its that time of year again !!

Book Review - The Imitation of Patsy Burke by John J Gaynard

The Imitation of Patsy Burke

by John J Gaynard

Author Bio

John J. Gaynard hails from Mayo in the West of Ireland. He has lived in Paris for many years.

'Another Life' is a crime novel (but not a police procedural!) depicting life in the rural West of Ireland.

'The Imitation of Patsy Burke' also contains a crime, however its main thrust is the rise and fall of the well-known Irish sculptor and hell-raiser, Patsy Burke, who has lived most of his artistic life in Paris.

 
Authors Blog  http://johnjgaynard.blogspot.com/    
Author on Twitter  http://twitter.com/JohnJGaynard
Author at Goodreads  click here

 

Book Description

 

World-renowned sculptor and hell-raiser Patsy Burke comes to in a cheap hotel in Paris covered in blood and with a broken arm—and no idea what happened the night before.

 

Thus begins a journey through the bars of Paris, during which Patsy, with the help of a few “friends,” including Caravaggio and the Scandal Man, attempts to unravel the events of the previous day and night.

 

Along the way, he relives the major occurrences of his past, most of which involve a combination of women, drink, and violence.

 

I suppose THE IMITATION OF PATSY BURKE could be described as being about an Irish Tinker who became an Irish Thinker, in spite of the discrimination. But then, as is the case of many original artists I have known in Paris, his personal demons begin to get the better of him, and give him the toughest fight of his life.

 

Book Review

 

I always know when my husband is reading a good book as its always with him wherever he goes, he sits in the lounge with it instead of watching the tv, he goes to bed early to read, its as if the book is glued to him.  This is what happened as soon as he started to read this book.

His review

A Must Read...Remarkable how the author, through exploring his past, he opens his conscious to the reader in a manner which draws the reader into his alter egos and inner voices.

The book challenges the readers own egos and inner voices and in a clever way asks the reader if they have the same issues, with their past, love and insecurities. 

With the startling revelation at the end of the book, the author reveals who he really thinks he is.

"One of the best books I have read this year in the way the author draws you into his life and questions our existence, once started I couldn't put it down."

Review rating 

Available to purchase at Amazon.com

Available to purchase at Amazon.co.uk

The Book Bonanza Giveaway has only 2 days left !!

2 DAYS LEFT !!  NOW CLOSED

Do you love to read?   Would you like to win the biggest book giveaway on the internet in 2011? 

Book Bonanza Giveaway 2011 is for YOU!

Each of you readers has the opportunity to win a huge stack of books - delivered right to your mailbox. The winner will receive books from each of the participating bloggers. (Yes, that means that you will be getting quite a few different packages in your mailbox from bloggers/authors and publishers!).

What is the prize?

27 books if the winner is US!
23 books if the winner is from CA or UK.
5 Ebooks to any winner!
Bonus: a cameo appearance in Book 5 of the Amelia Maylock Series by Jay Ellis
$10 Gift Certificate to Amazon, Book Depo or Barnes & Nobles (winners choice)

That's a huge prize!!!!

Here's how it works:

Each person can enter this giveaway by liking, following, subscribing and tweeting about this giveaway using the buttons below. You will have over 30 possibilities to enter. You can come back each day and tweet the giveaway for an extra entry!

The Book Bonanza Giveaway will run from Oct 1 - Oct 27, 2011,12.01am. Winner will be chosen by random.org, contacted by email and announced on October 29, 2011. Winner will have 48 hours to respond. If first winner doesn't respond, a 2nd winner will be chosen.

Open to UK/US/Canada Residents only.

Good Reads Group

All of the books that are included in this giveaway are listed on a bookshelf in Good Reads. If you’re not already a member, this is a great free resource that allows you to list your books that you have read, rate them and share with your friends.

 

Book Bonanza Prize

61 Hours - Sharon M - Beck Valley Books - (Bookstore/Reader)
A Passage to India -Sharon M - Beck Valley Books - (Bookstore/Reader)
American Gods - Kat (reader/reviewer)
Chasing Superwoman - Susan DiMickele- (Author)
Dracula in Love - How Was Your Day Greta - (Reader/Reviewer)
Espresso for your Spirit - Bees Knees Reviews Sharon W - (Reader/Reviewer)
Flat Out Love - (paperback) Lori- (Reader/Reviewer)
Maids of Misfortune - M Louisa Locke - (author)
Stumbling Into Grace - Hobbies on a Budget - & Real Life Deals Sharon W - (Reader/Reviewer)
The Bloke's Guide to Pregnancy - Baby Giveaways Galore -Kristen (Reader/Reviewer)
The Contented Little Book of Baby Weaning - Sharon M - Beck Valley Books - (Bookstore/Reader)
The Deep End of the Ocean - Sofia Day's Pen Sofia - (Author/Reader)
The Harvest of Grace - Hobbies on a Budget - & Real Life Deals Sharon W - (Reader/Reviewer)
The Heart of the Dales - Sharon M - Beck Valley Books - (Bookstore/Reader)
The Key - Felicia Rogers (Author)
The Graduate - Sharon M - Beck Valley Books - (Bookstore/Reader)
The Runaway Jury - Sofia Day's Pen Sofia - (Author/Reader)
The Seventh Commandment - Sofia Day's Pen Sofia - (Author/Reader)
Uneasy Spirits - M Louisa Locke - (author)

Amelia Maylock Series - Books 1,2,3,4 (Signed Copies) Jay Ellis (Author) ***Winner will also be given a cameo appearance in the story in book 5(due 2012/13 for release)

EBooks Prizes

The Dark Gifts: Birthright - Willow Cross (Author)
Dark Gifts: Inheritance - Willow Cross (Author)
Hike Up Devil's Mountain Penny Estelle (Author)
Oceans of Red - Volume One - Willow Cross (Author)
Flat Out Love - (ebook & paperbook) Lori- (Reader/Reviewer)

 

Books Also Included if the winner is US

Monarch - Tanya
Breathless - Scott Prussing (Author)
Devyne Envy - A Sankofa Queen - Madonna (author)
The Canary List - Let's Start Saving Now -Kelli (reader/reviewer)
**These books will not be included in the prize if the winner chosen by random.org is UK or CA.

 

$10 Gift Card

Amazon, Book depo or Barnes & Nobles (winners choice) Mary - Sweeping Me

Contest open to US/UK/CA only! (United States, United Kingdom, Canada)

I am NOT responsible for any parts of the book prize that are not delivered. Each participant is offering their piece of the book prize and has made a commitment to mail their book(s) within three days of the winner announcement.

Actual books delivered may be different condition, edition or cover from those listed on the Good Reads Group.

If you would like to follow our Beck Valley Books Blog please use the Google Friends Connect button to the left hand side of our blog, we welcome all new friends.

Unseen Hobbit images are published this week

Previously unseen illustrations produced for The Hobbit by its author, J R R Tolkien, will be published for the first time this week. The paintings and sketches, which were not used when the seminal children's novel came out in 1937, were recently discovered in the Bodleian Library, in Oxford.

The pen and ink drawings and a series of watercolours, three of which are reproduced here, were discovered by researchers in material bequeathed by the author's estate to the library in 1979.

They were looking for material to mark next year's 75th anniversary of Tolkien's second book. The illustrations, together with the long-awaited film version of the book due to appear in cinemas next year, are likely to stimulate renewed interest in The Hobbit.

Unlike the expensive special effects in the $500m (£315m) two-part film directed by Peter Jackson, Tolkien merely had pen and ink and a selection of watercolours at his disposal to bring his imaginary world of Middle Earth to life.

The images show how Tolkien took his distinctive style and developed it into the familiar illustrations that adorn the covers of his bestselling books. Experts say that when producing illustrations for The Hobbit, Tolkien borrowed heavily from those of an earlier book, Roverandom, which he wrote for his son Michael. The picture "The White Dragon Pursues Roverandom" bears a clear resemblance to "The Lonely Mountain" later used in The Hobbit.

Roverandom is a little-known novella written in 1925 by Tolkien, who had just lost his favourite toy dog. It follows the adventures of a young dog, Rover, who is turned into a toy by a wizard. However, it was always overshadowed by the success of The Hobbit and not published until 1998.

The new book of illustrations will feature more than a hundred sketches, drawings, paintings and maps.

David Brawn, of HarperCollins, said: "By the time The Hobbit was published, Tolkien was more than 40 years old, so he had spent a lot of his time painting and was an accomplished amateur artist. Tolkien's estate recently donated some money to the Bodleian and so the Tolkien holdings could be digitised and catalogued for the first time."

By Paul Bignell
Independent.co.uk

Its Time for The Weekend Gathering Hops!!

 Welcome to our Weekend Gathering Hops!  This 4 way link up is hosted by Adventures of Frugalmom, Beck Valley Books, Beauty Brite, mumwrites, and Nifty Mom to help socialize with fellow bloggers, gain traffic, new followers, make new friends, and more!

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Link up your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Giveaways!  Visit as many links as you wish!  Be sure to leave a comment after you follow someone so they can follow you back.  Have fun!

It's Our Weekly Book Blog Hop !!

“What is your favorite type of candy?”
Easy one, has to be licquorice.  In fact when I was pregnant I ate soooo much licquorice the poor shopkeeper ran out of supplies one night, I was devastated!!

Q.What superhero is your alter-ego?This weeks questions are a bit tricky, I cant really answer this one either.  I can say that my favourite was, wait for it.......... ' Wonder Woman '  by that takes me back :-)

I cant pick only five favourite book blogs because I have so many favourites, but the one that currently is at position #1 is ' I am a Reader not a Writer ' http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/ I just love everything about this blog, its design, full of booky information and giveaways, well done!!

Welcome to our first ever Weekly Book Blog Hop!!

Thankyou for coming along and taking part xx

This will run every Wednesday - Friday including a book giveaway linky 

<a href="http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/BECKVALLEY/bloghop-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Beck Valley Books Weekly Book Blog Hop" /></a><br />
Our Book Blog Hop is here to unite all booklovers worldwide,
readers, book reviewers, authors, publishers, book bloggers, book sellers,
putting you all in touch with each other
and keeping real books alive x

We would love it if you could share our hop with all your booky friends
and display are book hop badge (optional obviously x)

Please follow our blog using Google Friend Connect,
leave a comment and I will always follow back,
then add your blogs and giveaways below.....
(please follow instructions for each linky)

Remember to leave a comment on each blog for a follow back!!

Two beautiful childrens books by Lisa Weidknecht

I really wish I had found these books years ago, I think they are brilliant and so child friendly, I would have loved to have read these just for myself :-)  let alone the children!!  Unfortunately they are now too old for such books, but I'm not..........

Raindrop Dream is a story that teaches perseverance and determination. Readers will also learn concepts about weather, seasons, and the water cycle. Most importantly, children will be inspired to dream big and follow their dreams.
PREVIEW
Once upon a time, there was a raindrop. He lived on the edge of a fluffy cloud. He did not want to be a raindrop. His dream was to one day become...

"E is for Emotions" will help your young child learn to recognize the multitude of feelings he or she experiences. Through the use of rhymes, one for each letter of the alphabet, this books helps to develop children's social and emotional skills. The story is told from a child's point of view and an example is given for each emotion. Sure to be a favorite alphabet book!
PREVIEW
A is for Amused.
That’s how I feel inside
when something makes me smile,
Like a silly little poem
that makes me giggle for a while.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Weidknecht lives in Texas with her husband and three children. She has been an early childhood educator for 20 years. She earned her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Phoenix and her Bachelor’s degree in Child Development & Family Relationships from the University of Texas at Austin. She believes strongly in providing children the right environment and materials to facilitate learning and social interaction. Raindrop Dream is Lisa's first published book.

Both books available from Amazon.co.uk - Raindrop Dream and "E is for Emotions"

WHAT BOOKS HAVE ACHIEVED IN THE GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS

Most Guinness World Records™ books sold by a retail chain in 24 hours

For the record - Who:  Walmart   United States

Most stairs climbed whilst balancing books on the head in one minute

For the record - Who:  Ashrita Furman  United States

Most authors reading consecutively from their books

For the record - Authors for peace  Germany

Tallest stack of Guinness World Records™ books (team)

Where:  United States

Largest collection of books autographed

For the record - Richard Warren  United States

Largest auction of comic books

For the record - Heritage Auction Galleries  United States

Most people balancing books on their heads

For the record - Manuel Suplico  Philippines

Most books written in one year by an individual

For the record - Ryuho Okawa  Japan

Most books donated to charity in seven days

For the record - Clubs of Jamaica  

Most books exchanged in 8 hours

For the record - Ashraf Makarem  Lebanon

Most audio books published for one author

For the record - New Era Publications   United Kingdom (England only)

Largest collection of miniature books

For the record - For the record - Nikunj R. Vagadia  India

Check out the website http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

CS Foresters lost crime novel found at auction to be published.

Hornblower author's 1935 novel The Pursued disappeared until found at auction in 2002.

Finally, it is hitting the bookshops.

A crime novel by CS Forester, written during the period 70 years ago when he created the naval hero Horatio Hornblower and wrote The African Queen, is to be published for the first time.

The Pursued, which until recently was thought to have been lost, is a dark, gritty thriller about a woman who pursues resolutely the man who murdered her daughter. Like Forester's other works, it reveals his supreme skill as a page-turning storyteller.

The novel, which is complete and polished from start to finish, was accepted for publication in 1935 by his publisher, Michael Joseph, now part of Penguin. However, Forester and his publisher delayed its release, deciding that it would not be sensible to publish it between two Hornblower books. Forester then moved house and when his publisher was sold, The Pursued somehow disappeared.

Forester clearly felt its loss. Decades later in his autobiography he wrote: "The lost novel was really lost. It is just possible that a typescript still exists, forgotten and gathering dust in a rarely used storeroom in Boston or Bloomsbury."

He was right. It surfaced at Christie's in 2002, when Lawrence Brewer, a lifelong Forester aficionado, was astonished to find that the auctioneer was selling it as a "job lot" of 11 Forester-related items. "It was a pathetic little auction," said Brewer. "There was no … great publicity. Something should have been made of it."

Excited by the chance to own words by Forester that no one had read, Brewer bought the typescript with Colin Blogg, a fellow founder-member of the CS Forester Society, for just £1,500. "Goodness me!" Brewer exclaimed in pure Foresterese. "I found it. I was sky-high."

Brewer said his love of Forester began when he was eight. "I went to Oxford [University] and read all sorts of exciting literature. I always felt that …[in] the English language, CS Forester had it. There's not a word too many, not a word too few. Magnificent."

Once he realised the lost novel's quality, he knew he must share it by getting it published. However, he discovered that the copyright lay with Forester's estate. He recalled: "We might own the paper, but we didn't own the words. It took over six years to negotiate through that."

Negotiations with Forester's estate, represented by the literary agents Peters Fraser & Dunlop, have now led to the novel's publication by Penguin Modern Classics on 3 November.

It was as a crime writer that Forester made his name. Two earlier novels – Payment Deferred in 1926 (a psychological thriller filmed with Charles Laughton in the leading role) and Plain Murder from 1930 – were highly successful in their day. Penguin plans to reissue simultaneously the two earlier novels, which have been out of print for about 40 years.

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (1899-1966), who studied medicine at Guy's Hospital and, after leaving without a degree, turned to writing. He became a household name with his 11-book Hornblower series about a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars, which began with The Happy Return in 1937. Such is the character's appeal that the books are read worldwide. The Forester Society now has a German chairman, a Dutch secretary and, despite the novels' anti-French jingoism, a French membership secretary. "That's the way the world ought to be," said Brewer.

Penguin is excited by the new discovery. Adam Freudenheim, publisher of Penguin Classics, described the novel as "a dark, twisted tale of murder, lust and retribution".

He added: "It is a novel years ahead of its time, rewriting the traditions of crime fiction to create a gripping psychological portrayal of obsession, jealousy, torment and the grim underside of suburban London life."

Penguin has so far shown the novel to a handful of readers, including the novelist Sarah Waters, who said: "Forester has a great eye for grubby domestic detail, and a subtle understanding of the dangerous passions lurking just beneath the surface of everyday life. A riveting read."

Both the publisher and Brewer believe that it will appeal both to fans of Forester and crime novels, as well as those interested in social history. The novel's portrayal of the suburbs of 1930s London underlines how much they have since changed.

Precisely where the typescript of The Pursued had been until 2002 is unknown. Christie's has not revealed the identity of the vendor.

Dalya Alberge

The Observer,

Bee's Knees Reviews: {Book Tour} The Dark Age Giveaway - Open WW

Bee's Knees Reviews: {Book Tour} The Dark Age Giveaway - Open WW:

The Dark Age (Survivor of the Pulse) by Jeff W. Horton

About the book: About the book:

Suppose you learned that an ancient prophecy about an artifact, said to be powerful enough to dramatically change the world, was true. Would you risk everything to find it?

It has been five-hundred years since the Pulse caused the Great Collapse, ending the Golden Age, and civilization on planet Earth. Humanity has waited ever since for a long-anticipated sign from God, which has finally appeared in the night sky. The time has come for Ferrell Young, the Warrior Clan, and the Church to risk everything in an effort to restore civilization, and bring hope to a world full of despair.

Alex Montgomery is an archaeologist who has spent many years looking for a mysterious book on behalf of the Holy Christian Church. The book is said to contain the location of the Great Oracle which, according to legend, can endow the one who finds it with great power and wealth. Of much greater importance to the Clan and the Church however, is the fact that it may also enable the world to emerge from five centuries of darkness and suffering.
When a powerful, intelligent, but sadistic barbarian leader named Kraken learns of the Oracle, he plans to destroy the Warrior Clan and the Church, take the Oracle for himself, and enslave the rest of humanity.

Join Ferrell and his companions as they set out on a desperate journey to find the Great Oracle, and rescue humanity from The Dark Age.

Three lucky Bee's Knees Reviews readers will win an e-book copy of The Dark Age!

It's Time for The Weekend Gathering Hops!!

Welcome to our
Weekend Gathering Hops!
     This 4 way link up is hosted by
  Adventures of Frugalmom, Beck Valley Books, Beauty Brite , mumwrites, and Nifty Mom to help socialize with fellow bloggers,
 gain traffic, new followers, make new friends, and more!

<a href="http://beautybrite.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h472/beautybrite/6b7cffe2.jpg" border="0" alt="Beauty Brite Weekend Gathering Hops"></a><br />

Because we love everyone who links up, we also tweet your giveaways!

Do you believe in Karma?  We are a group of bloggers helping each other build our blogs!  Join: KarmaBloggers

Link up your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Giveaways!  Visit as many links as you wish!  Be sure to leave a comment after you follow someone so they can follow you back.  Have fun!

Now if only we had a real bookshop!!

If only we had a real physical bookshop aswell

as our online bookstore

without question, this would have to be my desk!!

Maybe one day.........

Book Bonanza Giveaway - 15 days left to enter - Dont Miss Out !!

Do you love to read?

Would you like to win the biggest book giveaway on the internet in 2011?

 ENTER HERE

What is the prize?

27 books if the winner is US!

23 books if the winner is from CA or UK.

5 Ebooks to any winner!

Bonus: a cameo appearance in Book 5 of the Amelia Maylock Series by Jay Ellis

$10 Gift Certificate to Amazon, Book Depo or Barnes & Nobles (winners choice)

That's a huge prize!!!!

 ENTER HERE

Boo!! Its Our Halloween Scream Giveaway - Win $100 Paypal - Enter Now

Boo!   

Welcome to our spooky Halloween Scream Giveaway

hosted by Generations of Savings and Beauty Brite! 

A fabulous group of blogs have teamed up to offer our readers an amazing 'Treat' for Halloween!

Reader Prize: $100 Paypal Cash!!!
We are also offering a Blogger prize of $20 to participating blogs which will be chosen by Rafflecoptor.

Please enter on the form below. Lots of ways to enter!!  You only need to enter once on any of the participating sites.  The form is the same on all of the blogs.  Comments will not count as entries and can be used for questions only.  This giveaway is open WW (payment in US Dollar) and will start Wednesday, 10/12 at 12:01 am and end on Sunday, 10/30 at 12:01 am. 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

My Time of Year

The best time of the year !!

  

      

Dagger crime fiction awards unsheathed

A first novel about a woman who loses her memory every time she goes to sleep has been named the best debut crime book of the year. SJ Watson's Before I Go To Sleep has picked up the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey New Blood Dagger at an awards ceremony in London.


An audiologist, who turned his hand to fiction after taking a novel-writing course, Watson tells the story of a woman whose memory is wiped clean every night. Chrissie keeps a journal to remind herself of her life, which becomes a record of her husband's deception. "As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me," she writes. The novel has already been optioned for film by Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free.

Watson said he was "stunned and delighted" to win the prize. "It was such an honour to have been shortlisted for the John Creasey Dagger, but to have actually won, especially when up against such fine books, is incredible," he said. Judges chaired by the crime writer Danuta Reah chose Before I Go To Sleep over three other shortlisted titles, Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller, The Dead Woman of Juárez by Sam Hawken and The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald, calling it "a powerful and compelling suspense novel that explores the intricacies of the human mind".

The Specsavers Crime Thriller awards also saw Tom Franklin's Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter win the Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. Franklin, a teacher of creative writing at the University of Mississippi, has set his novel in the southern town of Amos, Mississippi, telling of law enforcement officer Silas Jones's attempts to find out why his estranged childhood friend has been attacked, a young woman has disappeared and the local drug dealer has been killed. "What an amazing longlist! What an amazing shortlist! I'm truly happy just for the company, and everything else is gravy. All my thanks," said Franklin, who beat AD Miller's Booker-nominated Snowdrops to win the Gold Dagger.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller went to Steve Hamilton's The Lock Artist. About an elective mute with a talent for picking locks, it is, said judge Natasha Cooper, "a remarkable novel". "One of the most interesting things is that the main character never speaks, but his voice to the reader is completely extraordinary," said Cooper. "It is a very clever thing to have pulled off, this business of speechlessness and such an individual voice, and I don't think anyone else has even tried to do it."

She said The Lock Artist was also "very exciting – it's not all guns blazing and helicopters, but it's completely gripping and a really thrilling novel, which is after all the point of this prize". The thriller genre as a whole has been developing in a positive way, according to Cooper. "You do still get thrillers about pirates and drug dealing, but you also get these very subtle but still very thrilling novels," she said, categorising Watson's Before I Go To Sleep in the same way. "There is a great need for novels that really, really grip, and what I so much like about the way the genre is going is there is no place any more for page-turning breathless novels which aren't well written," she said.

Hamilton said that the work of Fleming "represents everything I've always loved about storytelling, whether it be books or movies [and] I can't even express how honoured I am to receive an award with his name on it."

Voted for by the public, the ITV3 People's Bestseller Dagger was won by Peter James for Dead Man's Grip, beating authors including Lee Child and Mark Billingham to the prize. James said he "could not be more thrilled" to win. "This is a wonderful award that strikes at the very heart of what good books are all about: enthralling readers with gripping, page-turning fiction – and decided not by an elite committee but by the very people who read and loved them – the general public," he said. "I don't think there can be a higher accolade for any author."

The ceremony will be televised on ITV3 on Tuesday 11 October.

Alison Flood
guardian.co.uk


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Book Giveaway - Blaze of Glory

Check out this amazing giveaway
(from Baby Giveaways Galore)

Author, M. Garzon has very generously offered to give away
an autographed & personalized paperback copy
of her fantastic novel Blaze of Glory to one lucky reader.

ENDS: October 26th 2011 (11:59pm EST)

Unfortunately only open to US/Canada but couldnt resist sharing with you all x

ENTER HERE

Blaze of Glory is written by fellow Canadian and Quebec mom, M. Garzon.The book is set in Ontario Canada on a ranch owned by the main character's step-father. Tea is a teenage girl with a love of horses and a rebellious nature that often gets her into trouble with her strict stepfather. She is talented in the horse jumping ring and has big dreams until they are tragically cut short. Jaden enters the picture as a protective older step-cousin. Jaden and Tea's relationship is stormy and forbidden. They try to deny their growing feelings until they have no choice but to relent. (Meant for ages 14+).

REVIEW by Baby Giveaways Galore
I absolutely LOVED this book. The characters are very well written and complex. They have subtleties to them that are not always evident in young adult novels. You can see yourself in Tea's shoes and you can understand why she does what she does, no matter the consequences. She provides a strong independent character that teenage girls can look up to.

Jaden is more than just the sexy male lead, he has great depth and morals. He is so easy to fall in love with that you can definitely understand why Tea is having such a hard time trying to stay away.

Any teenage girl would love this book, that I am absolutely sure. What surprised me was the fact that as a married woman with mother, I was just as enthralled as any teenager. During one of the juicer scenes I actually caught myself with my nose almost pressed up to the computer screen!

Speaking of computer screen, I received this book as a PDF file and I was kind of worried that I wouldn't be able to get into it the same as I would a paperback. I had never read an electronic novel before this. Once I started reading however I was completely captivated right off the bat. I did not even notice the computer screen until I found my nose almost touching it. ; ) This ebook has actually made me want to get an eReader because now I know I can get lost into an electronic book just as easily as a paperback. It is the quality of the story not the format that is important.

I think it is important to note if you are interested in this book for your daughters that there are sex scenes in this novel. They are not explicit or many but they are evident and detailed in some respects. The sex is between unmarried young adults (aged 17+). As an adult I thought these passionate scenes really added to the story. I am sure there are more conservative parents out there though that may not want their younger teens reading this story, so I would recommend ages 15-16 and up. The best thing would be for you to buy the book and read it yourself first. I'm sure any adult woman would love it. Then you can decide if you are comfortable letting your daughter read it after you.

The only somewhat negative thing that I could find with this book is the cover. It is beautiful and artistic but my first impression was that it looked like a book for children. The young cover model reminded me of my 11 year old niece and I thought that she would have been more interested in this book than me. Which is not the case at all, my niece is too young for Blaze of Glory and I absolutely loved it. It is definitely NOT a children's book. This just proves the old adage: "Don't judge a book by its cover." I personally prefer books that have abstract covers which do not showcase people because I don't like to have an image in my mind before reading the story.

To me, Blaze of Glory, it is not just a "horse" book, it is a wonderful, romantic, intriguing story taking place in a horse setting. You do not need to know anything about horses to enjoy this book. I know next to nothing about the horse competition world and it did not affect my enjoyment one bit. All of the horse references are clearly explained and intertwined seamlessly throughout the book.

{Conclusions}
Blaze of Glory is an easy read that keeps you entertained even when you are not reading it. I often found myself daydreaming about the book and wondering what the characters would be doing next. The characters are very well written and relate-able. It was very easy to get lost into the story and I did not want it to end. There are some sex scenes that parents should be aware of before letting young teenagers read it. The horse atmosphere was very interesting and provided a nice backdrop for the great relationships of the characters. I would and will highly recommend this book to my friends and family. I am actually planning to order a paperback copy of this book for my personal library. I love re-reading great novels.