What’s all this? I won something? That never happens. The last contest I won was in high school—for neatest handwriting on a set of collegiate applications.

That’s not a joke. The college gave me a T-shirt.

No, really–I can’t even choose between two sealed Netflix packages to guess which one is the DVD I want to watch first. You would think that, eventually, the odds would fall in my favor, but no. Even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern didn’t have this kind of trouble.

All of this is leading up to my announcement: I’m one of the winners in the 365 Days of Manga giveaway offered via Suvudu.(!!!)

For this contest, the odds are actually really good. There’s a new name chosen every day, and that person receives five free manga from the writer of the 365 Days of Manga reviews, Jason Thompson (author of Manga: The Complete Guide).

I said I’d post a photo of myself with the manga I received, so here it is:

This is probably the only time you’ll ever see my photo (unless I end up at a convention somewhere, and I simply have to post about it). Call me camera shy if you like, but we all know it’s really just paranoia. ;D

The titles that I received include the following:

Speed Grapher
Category: Freaks, vols. 1 & 2
Flesh-Colored Horror: The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection
Tomie 2: The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection

Having seen half of the anime earlier this year, I’m somewhat familiar with Speed Grapher, and now I’ll be able to see how closely it follows the manga. Category: Freaks is a title I’ve never seen, and I’m definitely looking forward to trying it out. As for Tomie 2 and Flesh-Colored Horror, I think I was just surprised to see a ComicsOne manga show up at my door. I haven’t had one of those in years. I’m pretty sure the last ComicsOne title that I owned was Maico 2010 (wow, why don’t I just keep dating myself?).

Thanks, Jason! I’m really looking forward to reading them.

Additionally, I picked up 20th Century Boys, vol. 5 over the weekend. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (deadlines will prevail over my pleasure reading) but I’m absolutely itching for the chance to get started.

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Tags: 20th century boys, book get!, books, category freaks, horror, manga, naoki urasawa, speed grapher, suvudu

Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
Pyr, 2009, 278 pages, 978-1-59102-699-0, Trade Paperback, $15.00 in my cart. Finally.

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Magic Carpet Books, 2008, 438 pages, 978-0-15-205439-7, Paperback, $7.95

The Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory
How Books, 2008, 978-1-60061-086-8, Paperback, $19.99

Mainspring by Jay Lake
Tor, 2007, 358 pages, 978-0-7653-5636-9, Mass Market Paperback, $7.95

Midwinter by Matthew Sturges
Pyr, 2009, 344 pages, 978-1-59102-734-8, Trade Paperback, $15.98

Mushi-shi, vol. 1 by Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey, 2007, 978-0-345-49621-8, Paperback, $12.95

Mushi-shi, vol. 2 by Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey, 2007, 978-0-345-49644-7, Paperback, $12.95

The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
Bantam Spectra, 2006, 978-0-553-38403-1, Trade Paperback, $14.00

Zoo by Otsuichi
Haikasoru, 2009, 978-1-4215-2587-7, Trade Paperback, $13.99

You might have noticed, but when a bookstore doesn’t have what I’m looking for, it tends to make me a little tetchy. In fact, it makes me outright rebellious. You don’t have my book? Fine. I’m going to order it from someone else.

This doesn’t happen all the time—just when I go in expecting to find a particular title but end up leaving empty-handed. If I just went in to browse, and I happened to think of a book I’d like to find, I don’t get quite so annoyed; I just shrug and put it on the list of things that I’ll have to order eventually (or, perhaps, I’ll mention it as a birthday gift. Not that anyone gives me books for my birthday. I have yet to figure out why not).

Of course, what really bugs me is that failing to find the book I want will completely kill my desire to buy anything else. Finding a replacement for the original title is near impossible, and I generally lose interest if my hunting has been thwarted (oh, and it is hunting. Bookstore-hopping is all about the hunt and the immediate acquisition. Otherwise, I’d just order everything and never be disappointed). 

Read more….

Tags: art, book get!, books, catherynne m. valente, danny gregory, fantasy, ian mcdonald, illustration, jay lake, manga, matthew sturges, mushi-shi, otsuichi, ysabeau s. wilce, yuki urushibara

THE DROWNING CITY by Amanda Downum
Orbit, 2009, 370 pages, 978-0-316-06904-5, Mass Market Paperback, $7.99

Today I went to Borders with the intention of purchasing Midwinter by Matthew Sturges; after yesterday’s release of the cover art for The Office of Shadow (which is viewable on the Pyr blog), I wanted to go ahead and put the first book in my immediate reading stack.

Unfortunately, Borders’s inventory system is a dirty, dirty liar, because they did not have any copies despite it being “likely” in the store. I meandered about for twenty minutes, checking displays, end-caps, and carts just to be certain that it wasn’t hiding somewhere else. Alas, no luck.

As a result, I went back to the SF/F section and browsed aimlessly to kill another five minutes. I walked by The Drowning City, glanced at it, walked past, then took a step backward and decided to read the blurb. After that I read the first page and quickly decided to buy it.

The Drowning City is the first book in Downum’s The Necromancer Chronicles. Obviously, I can’t say much about it since I haven’t read it yet, but it has spies, pirates, smugglers, and an Imperial government–so many of my favorite fantasy elements. I do love books about intrigue, and I’m interested in seeing what this author manages to do.

A note about the cover–the woman on the front reminds me more than a little of the way the “evil” men were dressed in The Two Towers (and, yes, I just spent thirty minutes looking up that scene before finishing this sentence*). You know, the guys swathed in black with the heavy eyeliner who look vaguely Persian….

In any case, my acquisition of Midwinter was intended to lead into an essay about cover art, but instead you have that random little note about the Lord of the Rings film. Either way, an essay is forthcoming at some point during the week.
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* Actually, this thirty minutes involved a heated competition with my friend about which movie the Frodo-and-Sam-are-captured-by-Faramir scene was in, followed by a second heated competition over which chapter of the movie it was once we figured out it was in The Two Towers. Halfway through this competition I got backhanded in the mouth, and we eventually came to the conclusion that we were both half-right.

~

Tags: amanda downum, book get!, books, fantasy, the necromancer chronicles

BONESHAKER by Cherie Priest
Tor, 2009, 416 pages, 978-0-7653-1841-1, Trade Paperback, $15.99

I’m convinced that my present schedule–which is out of control and obstructs me from updating as much as I would like–has caused some kind of short circuit in my brain that prevents me from performing basic operations and from remembering things in general. My recent Amazon.com order is an example of this.

Two days ago, I decided to order several books that I’ve had my eye on (which will be discussed further once I actually have these books in my possession); among them was Boneshaker, which I’ve been reading wonderful reviews about for the last week. Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I received the “your order has shipped” notice only to discover that I never actually put Boneshaker in my cart.

After staring at the screen for about five minutes in complete consternation, I decided that something had to be done about this error as quickly as possible.

Of course the bookstore that I would normally turn to in this kind of situation has become utterly useless to me. Over the last few months, Borders has been focusing more on its sales numbers and less on its selection. I wasn’t particularly surprised to discover that Boneshaker was only available online through this vendor. Thus, my initial search yielded nothing.

So I crossed my fingers and, despite not having much faith that I would find a copy locally on the day of its release, I checked the inventory for Barnes & Noble.

Lo and behold–in a matter of moments Barnes & Noble re-established itself as my reliable ally.

I was able to find three copies of Boneshaker at the local B&N, which more than satisfied me–not only because it was in stock, but also because it was on the shelf on the day it was supposed to be on the shelf. This is rarely ever the case with Borders, nowadays, unless the book is something well-known and serial, like the Dresden Files.

Additionally, I discovered that Barnes & Noble had all of the Haikasoru titles in stock. This was incredibly surprising to me; my little section of Florida isn’t exactly known for its variety of selection when it comes to books, movies, or…well…anything else.

So, with Boneshaker in hand, as well as an adorable birdy notebook and a pencil case with what looks to be Japanese dolls on the front (both for 50% off, I should mention), I managed to leave the store happily with my order error satisfactorily corrected.

Finally, those interested in Boneshaker might like to take a look at Cherie Priest’s interview at The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf blog, which was posted earlier today.

~

Tags: book get!, books, cherie priest, fantasy, steampunk