A Two-Sided Experiment

Kaleb Nation, of twilightguy.com fame and author of the Bran Hambric series, is at it again. This time, he is reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvatar and in place of the blog posts he did for Twilight, there will be vlogs. Now, I have come to enjoy Kaleb's vlogs in the same way I enjoyed twilightguy.com, so I'd like to watch these vlogs. And I've always thought it would be intriguing to read twilightguy.com while simultaneously reading Twilight (except that it would almost be like reading spoilers since Kaleb is so perceptive to what's going on) . . . so I have decided to read Shiver along with shiverguy.com. In addition to this, I downloaded Barnes and Noble's digital version -- I'm also experiencing their eReader. I've only used the Mac version as of now; I may try out the iPhone app later on just to see what it's like, but no promises.

The first vlog is up already, and my, does this promise to be a reading experience like no other.

Kaleb Nation Book Signing

I did end up at Changing Hands Bookstore last night for Kaleb Nation's book signing (promoting his new/first book Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse.) There's one benefit of living in a city: I can actually go to events like this. I'm still trying to figure out whether I like that more than looking outside and seeing more than buildings and pavement and cultivated grass and more buildings.

I'm a little ashamed to say that I'd never been to Changing Hands. It's such a famous place, and I've certainly been close by many times. I took a look around before the signing; they have a great selection. I'll make it a point to go back.

And on to the signing. It's strange seeing someone in person after only seeing pictures/videos of them online, but it was great to be able to go. Kaleb has too many talents: he can do public speaking just as well as writing. He also read the book's prologue. It's always interesting to hear an author read their own work; you get to hear just exactly what these words are in their minds. There are so many ways you can interpret words on a page, so hearing them shows you how the writer interprets them. And here is my first signed book (minus a picture book from 2nd grade, I'm not counting that one . . . ) :

I asked him to date it because it is his first tour, that date will mean something in a few years. It's epic. Last bit of info: the letters for the sequel are TSK. I'm thinking "The Secret . . ." Maybe "Kingdom?" That just sounds like Atlantis, though. There's also "King" and "Second" . . . how about "The Second Kurse?" It could be an intentional typo . . .

I had to leave quickly to finish writing a paper, study for a Latin quiz. Speaking of which, I have half an hour until that quiz, so I'd better glance at my notes again before I need to rush off.

Bran Hambric

Alright, here is the book I was reading last week: Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation. I was only a few chapters in on my last post, but guess what attached itself to my hands all weekend long, allowing me to finish on Sunday night?

First, a little background. I started reading Kaleb's site, twilightguy.com, around March. It's a blog that recorded his thoughts on reading the Twilight books, chapter by chapter. What I loved about the posts was the unique perspective Kaleb had, with random humor and keep perceptiveness. So I started to get . . . curious about his book. Finally, I gave in and preordered it about a week in advance (it was just released on September 9th.) I still wasn't expecting to be particularly drawn in; I just wanted to support Kaleb and maybe find some of his humor in the book. Especially since I'd read the first four chapters online already, I didn't expect any more.

But Bran Hambric is about as unique as twilightguy.com. It's a teen read, dealing with magic and mysterious pasts, yet it's its own world. I think people are often tempted to create a fantasy (or halfway fantasy, like this one) setting based off of the ones they already know. While there are elements that we all love to keep, this can hinder originality. Kaleb Nation's originality isn't hindered. Neither the setting nor all the turns of the story are predictable. I especially like that when we learn about the main character Bran's past, we don't learn that he is some great, mythical figure destined to set all the world to right. We learn that he has a vast potential for evil, if he chooses. But by Bran not choosing to follow that, we get into some great themes about choice and identity.

There are still a few rougher corners, I think, given that it's a first novel, though in such a way that it can be passed over. I prefer to look at the good things. We have some parallelism in the plot (Bran's choices and Rosie's), some intriguing imagery, and yes, great humor. In fact, that's what makes this book worth reading: it's fun.

You can purchase it at these links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.

The book signing tour will be in Tempe next week; I think I'll just have to go.