So what I thought I would do today, is share some series of books which I have really enjoyed reading over the years, which may or may not provide inspiration for me. I guess it completely depends on where I decide to go with it because at the moment, I have an idea which is just a seed I am planting - what it'll grow into is as much a mystery to as it is to you. In the interest of making this flow a bit better, the first three images are going to be in relation to this and will be pictures 699, 700 and 701, there'll be a fourth also but you'll see that down the bottom of course in the 'me' section. Where I talk about me. I don't think I needed to explain that..
So the first book series is by Anthony Horowitz and is the Alex Rider series.
The series follows a young boy who falls into the world of spies and ends up going on a number of missions - if you couldn't tell by the number of books above. Now these books are aimed at teenagers and I read them during my time at secondary school so suited me quite well, I could imagine if I read them now I wouldn't feel as engaged but that is the idea of having a target audience and adjusting your style to fit them. I think what really caught my attention was the adventure and complete impossibility of was appealing. Well, I say impossible, but for all we know this could be going on right under our noses! I think this series really stuck with me as even after I felt like I was outside of it's target audience in age, I bought the newest book and set to work on it straight away because I feel this need to know what happened next.
Anthony Horowitz himself has also written a lot of on screen stories such as Midsummer Murders which I also really enjoyed, I used to watch it with my Mum quite a bit. The broad spectrum of work that he has done is pretty amazing to me, someone who has always found it hard to stick to one thing - he just sort of flits around and they all seem to come up trumps for him so all I can say is bravo!
The next series of books which I thoroughly enjoyed - and am thinking about re-reading as I still have them all is the Demonata series by Darren Shan.
This is one of the better pictures I could find but am a little confused as it is in the wrong order but.. That's not the point. I was suggested these books by someone I went to school with, he also did a little presentation about them in an English lesson - and it really caught my attention. I really like the artwork on them as well and bought a couple and that was it - I was sold. The books follow a group of people who travel between worlds fighting demons to keep everyone safe. I definitely place this into a teen to adult audience and is of the horror genre. Some of the imagery that is in it is very profound and really doesn't mind to get into the nitty gritty of it all. I really liked the super natural element of them and the character development because they never always saw eye to eye. The only thing I will say, is for me the ending was a little pants.. I obviously won't divulge, I have also had discussions with people who really liked the ending so of course this is subjective and down to you to make a decision wether or not you feel it was fitting.
I know he has done a couple of other series, his most recent is a Zom-B series which I have a couple of but haven't had the change to read yet.. I have actually got so far in a couple of books and then got distracted and forget about them.. They can't remember whats going on so I start them again and then I end up in a recurring cycle of never finishing books but.. If his other work is any where near as good as this series then I would be a happy chappy. As I said though, very strong violent theme within this series so it might not be suited to everyone.
Now this next series may come as a surprise to some people.. Unless you haven't heard of it then.. You will likely have no clue, the Otherworld series by Kelly Armstrong.
So, it is a supernatural collection, with a bit of a twist.. In the sense of it contains adult material? I think is the polite way to put it. When I bought the first book, Bitten, I was on holiday with my parents and me and my Mum were looking around a bookshop. She picked it up, read the blurb and suggested it to me - neither of us knew the contents at the time. Once I got into it though, it was a really good story. I admit, I haven't finished the series because they appeared to pick up popularity half way through the series for me personally, and got all new art work for the books and were printed in a different size. I quite like things I own to match so I can't bring myself to buy the new covers so I am looking for the ones you can see here.
The books are interesting because you follow a series of supernatural women, the first couple are based on a female werewolf who is the only one of her kind. There are witches and wizards, zombies and other supernatural creatures. Of course, this is easily directed at an adult audience and I would recommend them if you enjoy the fantasy genre, whilst some people may think they are devalued for their extra content, it plays to the situation. If all wolves in this universe are male bar one, what do you expect?
Plus I really like the art work. Judging a book by it's cover - for shame.
So I hope to pick on parts of these for inspiration, not the adult content, I don't see myself venturing down that route.. Not my thing in terms of writing. I want to keep myself motivated, I am looking around the old interwebs looking for different reading material to help me along. A book is a story which you want to be able to believe, even if you know the genre is completely fictional. You have to develop the story and characters and have multiple peaks and likely spend more time planning what you want to happen than actually writing it - then you might not feel like it fits. And redo it. It'll be a journey but if I can finish it, I think I will have an immense feeling of pride for myself. And if I don't I wouldn't be terribly surprised - conflicting confidence eh?
So, I would like to invite you all to share anything you have found that I or someone else might find useful. If you are on the same journey, have been, will be or want to be - sharing is always good. I'll try and share anything I find particularly useful also.
So lets talk about little old me, how selfish. Of course, I have been at work this week - as per the norm.
Day 702
The weather this week has been rather lovely, if I do so say so myself. Today for example, was the hottest day recorded so far this year - and it was also darn humid which I do not get on well with in all honesty.. I was having flashbacks to Florida which was so much worse, I am not sure how I managed that for two weeks. This morning there was a thunderstorm - apparently. I got woken up by thunder at 6:30 I am presuming but I thought it was my phone, had a look and went back to sleep. It wasn't until my colleague showed me a picture of their road which had literally flooded I realised I had missed a good one.
With the longer days comes lots of sun - which for us is translating into lots of walks. We were lucky enough to get a nice closeup of a family of swans which you can see here!
The signets are really cute, and fluffy. You can tell at the moment they were really young because they didn't seem all that phased by us being there. The one closest to us was being very protective and sort of gave us a stare until stopped taking pictures and walked on. Then again, they may not have been phased because mummy and daddy were there to protect them.
I also walked past a man peeing in a bush, and he looked up - most awkward eye contact ever.
We continued round to the park to find two dead mice/rats on the path and no evidence as to why they were there. I would like to think they just saw us and were playing dead because I quite like rodents even though I know I shouldn't - in terms of wild ones. I'd never touch one, of course. Then we got to the park and saw the wave or rabbits run into the bush which we are becoming accustomed to. Some of them let you get pretty close before bobbing away whereas others literally disappear at first site of humans. All we want to do is love you!
I want to have a quick chat about games, as I am myself a self confessed gamer. Not that it is something you should confess to.. It's pretty normal.. Anyway. Steam have made an announcement which I think is pretty awesome. Refunds! Which is obviously a big deal as they work on the basis of digital downloads which I would assume would be pretty hard to manage. The idea is that if it is within two weeks of buying the game and you've played it for less than two hours - full refund, no questions. They have also said that you can do this if you have bought a game, and it then goes on sale - so you still get the saving. Also, you can check if it even runs on your device to a playable standard and not worry. I don't know how Steam works exactly but I can see people making copies of the games and refunding them - but I know they've probably thought of this so I am just speculating.
Fallout 4 has been announced - I am so excited. It is one of my favourite game series ever! I played the hell out of Fallout 3 and got all of the achievements in an offline profile, I played Vegas as well which was just as awesome. I really am excited for what they'll be able to do with it on next gen consoles, because the trailer is beautiful to look at. I have never seen such a HD deathclaw ready to rip me to pieces - brings a tear to your eye. I think the only problem will be that the game is likely to be huge in terms of installing onto the console but.. I will make room. I don't care.
I am also really interested in getting a game on Steam called Nuclear Throne - recently I have been addicted to watching people play it but it is £9.99. I know that is a good price but at the same time it is still showing as an early release - I know the price will go up afterwards but the optimist in my is trying to make me sit it out for a sale of some kind. May never happen. I think the other thing putting me off it the aiming is by mouse control which is hard to do on a touch pad. I have a mouse, no problem just I know if want to play it I need to sit up a table or something.. It's the little things..
Day 703
Movie time! Well, we've already been - we watched Spy.
Ignore the date, that was the American release, it was out on the 5th in the UK. It was really good, I am not going to lie - it was also really nice to see McCarthy playing a lead role that isn't purely a comedic character. I think it was very well put together as well as it is a great balance of humour, action and also some quite gross stuff.. Of course I always try to not go into any detail because I want you to see it yourself in all its glory - you shouldn't need to hear it from me. The thing I quite enjoyed is when Jude Law made an appearance, a lady on the row in front clapped her hands and said "Oh yay!" maybe louder that she realised.. She got a laugh and joined in though - all in good spirit.
So I would like to think you for reading, I shall be off for now of course. I would love if you could send your happy thoughts this way and encouragement to keep me motivated. All will be appreciated. Blog you later!
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