Cherry Mischievous

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Another one I'm looking forward to watching this year! Due to be released this Feb :)

Trailer 1:


Trailer 2:

I came across this highly combustible topic about a pissing contest between amazon and macmillan.

What it is essentially is that amazon pulled out of their inventory all macmillan books over the weekend. So if you are a buyer, one minute your book is there, the next your book(s) is not in your basket anymore. If you are a macmillan author, that means the public cannot buy your book from one of the biggest online bookseller. If you have a book release, you are screwed.

I think John has some valid points there and he did admit that he is not subjective in this matter as an author whose books got pulled out of the market by one of the biggest online bookseller. What do you think?

Below is a quote of John's issues:

Leaving aside the moral, philosophical, cultural and financial implications of this weekend’s Amazon/Macmillan slapfight and What It All Means for book readers and the future of the publishing industry, in one very real sense the whole thing was an exercise in public communications, a process by which two very large companies made a case for themselves in the public arena. And in this respect, we can say this much without qualification: oh, sweet Jesus, did Amazon ever hump the bunk.

How did it do so? I’m glad you asked! Let us count the ways.

1. The Stealth Delisting. Look: Wiping out roughly a sixth of your own bookstore product inventory, even temporarily, is one hell of a dramatic statement. If Amazon had given it any sort of rational or at least tactical thought, they could have played it up for all it was worth, starting with strategically-placed rumors to trusted, sympathetic media about the behind-the-scenes struggle with Macmillan, which would build to a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger corporate decision to put Amazon shoppers first and to stand up to Macmillan, followed by the announcement of a public deadline for the delisting of Macmillan product to highlight the struggle, with a notation that all orders placed before that deadline would of course be honored (hint, hint), and so on. Basically, all sorts of public gamesmanship designed to put the pressure on Macmillan and to make it look like the bad guy. And in the meantime the media would be all abuzz with What It All Means. What drama! What excitement! What corporate theater. Amazon could have spun this its way for a week.

But no. Instead, we got the Foot-Stompingly Petulant Friday Night Massacre: One minute the books were there, the next they weren’t. And everyone was left going “huh?” Was it a hardware glitch? Was it a software bug? Was it a terrorist act in which renegade Amish attacked Amazon’s server farm and poured jugs of hard cider into the machines, shorting out the ones holding Macmillan’s vasty inventory? No! It was one corporate entity having a big fat hissy fit at another corporate entity, and everyone had to figure out what the hell was going on the weekend from bits and pieces that they found on the Internet, which was not easy to do. Which may have been Amazon’s plan all along: Kill every sixth book on your site, hope no one notices! Well played, Amazon, well played indeed.

2. Amazon Lost the Authors. Hey, you want to know how to piss off an author? It’s easy: Keep people from buying their books. You want to know how to really piss them off? Keep people from buying their books for reasons that have nothing to do with them. And you know how to make them absolutely incandescent with rage? Keep people from buying their books for reasons that have nothing to do with them, and keep it a surprise until it happens. Which, as it happens, is exactly what Amazon did. As a result: Angry, angry authors. Oh so very angry.

Amazon apparently forgot that when it moved against Macmillan, it also moved against Macmillan’s authors. Macmillan may be a faceless, soulless baby-consuming corporate entity with no feelings or emotions, but authors have both of those, and are also twitchy neurotic messes who obsess about their sales, a fact which Amazon should be well aware of because we check our Amazon numbers four hundred times a day, and a one-star Amazon review causes us to crush up six Zoloft and snort them into our nasal cavities, because waiting for the pills to digest would just take too long.

These are the people Amazon pissed off. Which was not a smart thing, because as we all know, the salient feature of writers is that they write. And they did, about this, all weekend long. And not just Macmillan’s authors, but other authors as well, who reasonably feared that their corporate parent might be the next victim of Amazon’s foot-stompery. Which brings us to the next point:

3. Amazon Lost the Author’s Fans. The interesting thing about the fans of authors: They feel somewhat connected to their favorite authors. So when their favorite authors kvetched on their blogs and Facebook pages and Twitter feeds about the screwing Amazon was giving them, what did many of these fans do? They also kvetched on their blogs and Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. So in pissing off a myriad of authors, Amazon also pissed off an exponential number of book readers, many of whom followed their favorite authors’ leads in complaining about Amazon, and who themselves were read and followed by an exponential number of others. Even on a weekend, the traditional slow time for the Internets, that’s a lot of pissed-off people.

So, two and a half days of the Internet being angry at Amazon. To be sure, there were people taking the side of Amazon, too. But those people lacked the social cohesion of an aggrieved class (writers) backed up by a mass of supporters — not to mention the relatively high profile of these writers online, which, if you were a journalist looking for reaction quotes while on deadline, made them the go-to sources.

Could Amazon have come out and given its side of the story? Sure, but it didn’t — not soon enough. First it let angry authors define the event, and then it let someone else, rather more damaging to them than the authors.

4. Amazon Let Macmillan Strike First in the Press Release War. Both Macmillan and Amazon took their time making statements, but Macmillan did its first, and when it did, it didn’t bother with any ol’ flack to make a statement — no, to underscore the significance of the event, it trotted out its CEO, John Sargent, who outlined in a calm and businesslike letter to his underlings (but presented as a paid ad in Publishers Lunch) the causes of the incident, as he saw them, and the issues at stake. The letter took time to praise Amazon but also did some interesting rhetorical heavy lifting — for example, labeling Amazon a “customer” of Macmillan rather than a “partner,” which is a fun corporate way of jamming Amazon into an ecological niche it probably would prefer not to be in.

Bloggers and journalists updated their posts and stories to include Sargent’s letter, launching another round of discussion and criticism online, largely at Amazon’s expense — not only because Macmillan was now shaping the rhetoric of the discussion, but because Amazon remained silent, offering no official version of the events for another full day. And when it did:

5. Amazon Flubbed Its Own Response. When Amazon responded, it was not via a letter or comment from Jeff Bezos, or some other major Amazon executive, or the head of Amazon’s publicity and marketing department, or even Amazon’s winter PR intern — no, Amazon’s initial reponse was an Amazon forum post from “The Amazon Kindle Team.” Which is to say, an unsigned comment from unspecified people, not in senior management, tucked away in a backwater of the Amazon site.

And not only a forum comment, but a mystifyingly silly one: the bit in the comment about Amazon having no choice but to back down in the fight because “Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles” was roundly mocked by authors, some of whom immediately started agitating against Amazon’s “monopoly” of the Kindle, or noted how terrible it was that Nabisco had a “monopoly” on Oreos.

Think on this for a minute, won’t you. Think about the disparity of corporate responses here. Macmillan issued a detailed statement from its CEO discussing the event and his company’s reasons and rationales for acting as it did. Amazon issued an unsigned forum comment written by someone who is apparently a little shaky on Macmillan’s relationship to its own product. Now, which of these two corporate responses seems most appropriate, given the gravity of the situation? Which of these responses appears to be the work of a company that understands what it’s doing on a corporate level and why? Which of these responses, in short, appears to be the work of actual adults?

But enough fiddling with all this inside pool! In the real world, no one actually gives a good healthy squirt about points one through five. So let’s trot out the real, actual stupid thing Amazon did:

6. Amazon Destroyed Its Own Consumer Experience, Without Explanation, For Several Days. Note to Amazon: Real people do not give a shit about your fight with Macmillan. Real people want to buy things. When your store takes them to a product page on which they cannot buy the thing on the page, they will not say to themselves, “Hmm, I wonder if Amazon is having a behind-the-scenes struggle with the publisher of this title, of which this is the fallout. I shall sympathize with them in this byzantine struggle of corporate titans.” What they will say is “why can’t I buy this fucking book?” Because, you know, they are there to buy that fucking book. And when you don’t let them buy that fucking book, they aren’t going to blame Macmillan. They are going to blame you.

Honestly, now, Amazon: Even if your weekends are slower sales times than your weekdays, how many times over the weekend was a customer not able to buy something they wanted to buy from Amazon? I’m guessing a lot. Do you think any of the frustration, irritation and anger for that is going to accrue to Macmillan? Seriously? Because, remember, you didn’t actually tell the public why you were doing what you were doing for two whole days, and when you did, you buried the explanation down a hole, where no normal person would find it. Do you think all of your customers read author blogs and Twitter feeds? Do you think they are imbued with some sort of corporate Spidey-sense that lets them know when you and a publisher are going after each other with hammers?

No, you silly, silly people! When they can’t buy something on Amazon, what they will think is Amazon is broken. And they would be right. It was. Because you broke it. Intentionally. For days.

(Oh, and: don’t even try the “they could buy from third party vendors” line with me. If you really believed people would, you wouldn’t have left it as an option.)

And all of this is why a final, ironic bit of Amazon fail will come to pass:

7. Because Of the Idiotic Events of This Weekend, People Will Just Want an iPad Even More. Again, Amazon: Well played. Well played indeed.

Source: Above quote was taken from http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/02/01/all-the-many-ways-amazon-so-very-failed-the-weekend/ on 06/02/10.

Closest book: Naked Dragon by Annette Blair
P56, 5th sentence:

The 5th sentence in page 56 (above) is a bit too short so I'm adding the following sentence on my F56 today (same book) even though it is not on page 56:


I love that sentence :)

Happy Friday!!!

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

It's February, we gotta have a valentine something!! There were a few suggestions for prizes and I am still open to suggestions. Don't wanna close it too soon. Let's give the late suggestions a chance. Anyway so the prizes in the pot so far is a box of chocolates. Next, we'll pick from the suggested books... and then we'll make it up as we go along...

TO ENTER: Register HERE.

Contest Particulars:
•You have to be a Cherry Mischievous blog follower via Google Friend Connect to enter the contest.
•You have to register in the contest form to enter the contest. Please see above "TO ENTER".
•There will only be one winner. Winner takes all!
•Contest is open to international participants.
•Contest ends on February 28, 2010.
•If this contest is not in concordance to your local legislations, it is up to you to follow your local rules.
•Under 13? Parental permission is required. Email us.
•You must have a valid snail mail address and email address to enter this contest. We need the snail mail address to send the book(s) and/or prizes to. We need the email addy to get in touch with you.
•Please read the blog Diclaimer.

•Questions? Ask! Shoot us an email. Please write FEBRUARY VALENTINE in the subject line.

Our monthly giveaway for January 2010, the Awakening Contest, has ended. And today, (after I've pulled my lazy butt to check the entries)... we have a winner... the name which came out of the hat is........



Congratulations to our winner, your book is on it's way to you. Please allow 1-2 weeks mailing time because I'm posting it as ordinary surface mail.

Thank you to Heather Long, I received this free copy of Remembering Ashby as the prize for winning the Daily Dose Holiday Blog Giveaway: Come to Ashby and See contest.

Genre: historical paranormal romance

About This Book:

Peace among the clans has been nonexistent for the past centuries.- But now that clan Lairds have decided to summon the God-touched people from their magical Isle to perform the rituals of Beltane to bless the peace talks between the clans, peace is within reach. Melanie is honored to be chosen as one of six maidens to represent the Goddess at this important event.

She is meant to be a vessel for the power of the Goddess while forgetting the failures of humanity during the festival. She knows should be concentrating on her part as a Maiden of the Hunt, yet she cannot banish the handsome Scot from her mind. Running in the Hunt is as sacred as the Goddess herself, and should her desires be known, there could be dire consequences for her and the clansman. However, she can't find the will to deny his pull.

The mists of the Black Mountains enhance the excitement of their forbidden love while providing an escape from the Islanders encampment.- Can they give in to their desires at the expense of their destinies? Especially once The Sorcerer discovers their dalliance.

Source: Info in the About This Book was taken from the author's website at http://heatherlong.net/Writings.html on 12/12/09.

My Take On This Book:
This is a love story set in ancient Scotland. The brogue is at times difficult for me to understand but understandable nonetheless. I have a feeling though that a true highlander would scoff at the Scottish accent used. But… I am not a Scotchwoman :)

This book is in eBook format only. That means I have to sit infront of my computer the entire time to read this book!! Good thing it is only 91 pages long. Won’t be able to sit still any longer than that!

And there is obviously some missing page(s)/parts between pages 19 and 20. The sentence reads broken. *sigh* But the story is very good that a reader can forgive such annoying clerical errors. I would give the story itself a 4 out of 5. The cover art is ok. I felt that this book deserved a better cover than what it got. Maybe they ought to hire that artist who did the cover for Wolf Tales 9 by Kate Douglas! The cover art only earned a 2.5 out of 5. The story telling quality is not a masterpiece… but… it is compensated by the story itself… I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5. Overall I would give this book an entertainment value of 4 out of 5.

Verdict: short and sweet!

Cherry's Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries




Buy Link:
Click here to buy Remebering Ashby.

I couldn't find a valentine book sweet enough to have for our February monthly contest... so can you good folks help me out... What would you like to have for free this valentines? Books? Chocolates? Okey the chocolates is a given, there will be scrumptious european chocolates in the prize pot!! Keep in mind though that it has to be mailable. And could withstand 2-3 weeks transit. So tell me what you want!!

First, I would like to apologize for the delay with announcing the winner... it just seems like one problem after the other... anyway... I've done the checking, la di bla di bla, and the name which came out of the hat is........



Congratulations to our winner, your book is on it's way to you. Please allow 1-2 weeks mailing time because I posted it as ordinary surface mail.

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Closest book: The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly
P56, 5th sentence:

Happy Friday!!!

The Book Of Eli
Directed by The Hughes Brothers
Starring Denzel Washington

The Story Is About:
Post-apocalyptic America where few humans remain. They fight over a bible because they believe it to be a book which will give whoever possesses it power in a literal sense. Eli is some sort of a Rambo-styled lone ranger who makes it his mission to deliver the bible to someplace safe in the west based, on his faith. Meets good and bad people along the way.

My Take On This Movie:
I have to give Denzel Washington’s acting ability a 5 out of 5 here. He actually breathed life in an otherwise very poor and quite nonsense story. Okey, so faith could make somebody do near miraculous deeds. I’ll buy that. But, why would Eli protect the bible with his life from getting into other people’s hands when the whole point of his mission bottom line of his mission is to spread it? Anybody see any contradiction of principles here? I find myself having difficulty “suspending disbelief” as a movie viewer. Besides, to make a movie about post-apocalyptic humans fighting over a bible is stretching silly a bit too far for me. Entertainment value? 1 out of 5.

Verdict: silly

Cherry’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5 cherries
 

Movie Link: http://thebookofeli.warnerbros.com/

Shades Of Midnight by Lara Adrian
Book 7 of the Midnight Breed (MB) series

Genre: urban fantasy, paranormal romance, vampire, erotica

My Take On This Book:
The story telling quality is good but not quite a masterpiece. I would give it a 4 out of 5. The story itself is also good but not terribly original. Maybe because I've read the Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward and the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon already that it has now grown old on me?! Perhaps. I would give it a 2 out of 5. The cover art... If I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore on a retail therapy binge, I would pick this book up as a potential buy just by it's cover alone... that's a 4 out of 5. So for entertainment value, I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5.

This is the latest release of the Midnight Breed (MB) series which is by now composed of seven books. And this is the first MB book I've read. I probably would have a better appreciation of characters and events if I've read this series in sequence instead of jumping straight to Book 7. But, even though this is Book 7 of the MB series, it can be read as a stand alone. There is enough background information provided within the pages so that the readers don't get confused. But like I said, it would give the reader a better appreciation of characters and events if read in sequence.

Cherry's Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries




About This Book:

In a frozen wilderness steeped in darkness, the lines between good and evil, lover and enemy, are never black or white but drawn in SHADES OF MIDNIGHT . . .
Something inhuman is stalking the frigid Alaskan wilds, leaving unspeakable carnage in its wake. For bush pilot Alexandra Maguire, the killings stir memories of a horrific event she witnessed as a child and evoke in her the inexplicable sense of otherness she has long felt but never fully understood . . . until a darkly seductive stranger with secrets of his own enters her world.

Sent from Boston on a mission to investigate the savage attacks and stop the slaughter, vampire warrior Kade has his own reasons for returning to the frigid, forbidding place of his birth. Haunted by a secret shame, Kade soon realizes the stunning truth of the threat he faces--a threat that will jeopardize the fragile bond he has formed with the courageous, determined young woman who arouses his deepest passions and most primal hungers. But in bringing Alex into his world of blood and darkness, Kade must confront both his own personal demons and the even greater evil that could destroy all he holds dear.

Source: Info in the About This Book was taken from the author's website at http://www.laraadrian.com/ on 19/12/09.

Buy Link:

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Constable & Robinson for sending us the review copy of Shades of Midnight.

CONTEST:
Because this book was provided to me for free, I would now like to pass it on to another reader for review. That means, if you are not interested in reading the book please do not enter the contest!

Shades of Midnight is an adult book, that means this contest is for 18s only!!

To Enter: Please register HERE.

Contest Particulars:

• You have to be a Cherry Mischievous (www.cherrymischievous.com) blog follower via Google Friend Connect to enter the contest.
• There will only be one winner.
• You have to be 18 or older ot enter this contest.
• The winner promises to post a review of this book on the internet.
• Open to international readers.
• Contest ends on Feb 15, 2010.
• If this contest is not in concordance to your local legislations, it is up to you to follow your local rules.
• You must have a valid snail mail address and email address to enter this contest. We need the snail mail address to send the book(s) and/or prizes to. We need the email addy to get in touch with you.
• Please read the Disclaimer as it forms part of the Contest Particulars.
• Questions? Ask! Shoot us an email (mischivusfairy-shadesofmidnight@yahoo.com). Please write SHADES OF MIDNIGHT in the subject line.

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Closest book: Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

P56, 5th sentence: (The fifth sentence is only the one in bold letters. But it is too skimpy to post only one word so I decided to post the entire paragraph.)

Happy Friday!!!

Kiss Of Fire by Deborah Cooke
Book 1 of the Dragonfire series.

Genre: urban fantasy romance

Caption At The Back Cover:

For millennia, the shape shifting dragon warriors known as the Pyr have lived peacefully as guardians of both the four elements and the earth’s treasures. But now the final reckoning between the Pyr, who count humans among these treasures, and the Slayers, who would eradicate humans and the Pyr who protect them, is about to begin…

When ace accountant Sara Keegan decides to settle down and run her quirky aunt’s New Age bookstore, she’s not looking for adventure. She doesn’t believe in fate or the magic of tarot cards, but when she’s saved from a vicious attack by a man who has the ability to turn into a fire-breathing dragon, she questions whether she’s losing her mind – or about to lose her heart.

Self-reliant loner Quinn Tyrrell has long been distrustful of his fellow Pyr. When he feels the firestorm that signals his destined mate, he’s determined to protect and possess Sara, regardless of the cost. Then Sara’s true destiny is revealed and Quinn realizes that he must risk everything – even Sara’s love – to fulfill their entwined fates.

My Take:
I find that my love for fantasy changes over time. Two years ago I had a “vampire phase” where I was absolutely gaga about anything and everything vampire! The most memorable aspect of that time was that I was crazy about the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. Then that was followed by the “wolf phase” where most of the books I bought were about shape-shifting wolves. Sometimes I don’t even read the caption about the book, if it got a shape-shifting wolf in it I buy and read it! Nuts, I tell you!! Now, I think I’m into a “dragon phase”… probably one of the reasons why I bought Kiss Of Fire by Deborah Cooke.

I started reading this book not only wanting to “suspend disbelief” but wanting to “like” the story as well. Just because it got dragons in it. The “wanting” is in itself is a powerful motivational springboard to start off anything. It almost always ends with a positive five out of five feedback. But, I just hate inconsistent characters… It drives me up the wall! Flippin’ heck, in the beginning chapters Character A is said to divulge a very, very valuable info to the bad guys when they tortured her for it, because “she has to live” for the good guys to win the fight of good against evil seeing that she is their “prophetess”. Character A is even said to have major guilt issues for having done that. Fine, I’ll swallow that. Then in the last chapters, Character A informed Character B that she has the means to escape but purposely stayed captive to provide the protagonists a purpose to get together?!? I can't wrap my head around that… Inconsistent behaviour once is forgivable. Twice is pushing it. Several times along the story… makes the book an irritating read.

The premise of the story is very good. Shape-shifting dragons which lives for centuries to fight for the good against evil. Absolutely wonderful!! Honourable hero and feisty heroine. Magic. Airborne action. Firestorm attraction and romance. Then the story-telling quality tries to make the book quite boring... I’d give the story-telling quality a 1.5 out of 5. Despite the good fantasy elements, I had to force myself to finish the book! That’s how bad the story-telling quality is. But, I did finish the book so can’t give it a zero. I’d give the story itself a 1.5 out of 5. The cover art… a 4 out of 5. I have to say that the covers of this series are quite attractive to fantasy buffs like me. It was one of the persuading points for me to buy this book.

Overall I’d give this book a 2 out of 5. So, would I read another Deborah Cooke? Probably. But, I'll most likely not buy another Deborah Cooke!

Cherry's Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

I received a request to review this product and so I installed it on my computer to try it out. It looked good. It is user friendly, menu driven, and the functions are easy to understand. But, it also erased some components of my Paint software rendering it totally useless that I had to re-install it. It also messed up my McAfee security software. So to those interested in computers and softwares, this might be a powerful tool. But for people like me who are not very technically savy this program is a disaster! So I would recommend this program to those with programming degrees. If you do not have that, don't even try it. I have since removed the Windows 7 TuneUp from my computer and done necessary manual repairs to the damage it wrecked.