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For complete article: Harry Potter Walking TourNext spring, Warner Bros will unveil its "Making of Harry Potter" walking tour at Leavesden, England, the production base of the Potter films. Deadline.com reported that the three-hour tour "will give fans the chance to see sets, costumes, props and effects used in all eight Harry Potter movies.... Potter fans will be able to walk onto sets including headmaster Dumbledore's office and the 120-foot-long long Great Hall featuring 'the tables and benches used in the films.' "
On Sunday, April 3, at 9 p.m., HBO will feature a "15-minute sneak peek" at the first episode of its new fantasy miniseries Game of Thrones, based on the series by George R.R. Martin. The teaser will air just before the beginning of part three of HBO's other spring book-to-miniseries adaptation, Mildred Pierce, which will be delayed until 9:15. Game of Thrones premieres April 17, Deadline.com reported.
Entertainment Weekly featured the "best Game of Thrones trailer yet."
“And the living prayed to their gods and begged for rescue from the armies of the dead, and there was no answer. For there are no gods.”— from The Book of Truth, Origins, Article 12
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.(link page has an excerpt)
Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.
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| UK May 2010 |
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| Germany (Feb. 2011) |
Our favorite Viking vampire suffers from amnesia for a large portion of the season—as Skarsgård puts it, "He messed with the wrong people,"—and because he loses that crucial matchup, he also loses his memory and therefore his entire personality.
At the 28th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival in Beverly Hills, Skarsgård told assembled fans, "This powerful character is just gone—it's not what we've built up over the past three years; it is just gone. And it's a lot of fun for me because it's the polar opposite of who Eric really is…He is lost. He doesn't know how he is, he knows he's a vampire, but he slowly finds out stuff, like, 'Did I do that? I killed those people? Why would I do that? Oh. Really?' It's not easy to hear—and not knowing who he can trust, who's a friend or an enemy. He's very vulnerable."
Ick-Factor: none—Jeaniene Frost excels at writing sexual interactions without crossing into the ick-zone;
Plot: fairly complex and fast paced;
Cliche-level: moderate—expected and accepted.
An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness...and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.
Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she's only imagined in her worst nightmares.
At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he'd seen it all. Then Kira appears - this fearless, beautiful....human who braved death to rescue him. Though her burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.
But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose either the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.
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| Pyramid of Menkaure Giza Plateau, Egypt |
 Image via Wikipedia |
| Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia(1456-1462 (died 1477) If you ignore the byzantine-like stylization and iconography he would be a cute guy. |
"My friends, we have always known this day would come."
A snowy winter's night. Three small children are chased from their home by the forces of a merciless darkness. Ten years later, Kate, Michael and Emma are no closer to the truth about what separated their family.
The answer lies with an enchanted atlas.
Brimming with action, humor, and emotion, The Emerald Atlas is the first stage of a journey that will take Kate, Michael, and Emma to strange, dangerous lands and deep within themselves. It is the story of three children who set out to save their family, and end up having to save the world.
Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.
Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.
Until now.
Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey to dangerous and secret corners of the world...a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is correct—what they do can change history, and it is up to them to set things right.
The Emerald Atlas brims with humor and action as it charts Kate, Michael, and Emma's extraordinary adventures through an unforgettable, enchanted world.
Author John Stephens spent 10 years in television, and was executive producer of Gossip Girl and a writer for Gilmore Girls and The O.C. He holds an MFA from the University of Virginia.
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/emeraldatlas/
Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of her grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.
A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce's own remarkable singing talent makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However, her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?
The first book in a trilogy, Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.
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| Popular views of mermaids rarely have them acting the siren luring sailors to their deaths as in the Leighton painting. |
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| Is she helping him? Howard Pyle |
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| chelseadaniele |
Ick factor: A little breast suckling but other than that none: very respectful
Cliche: Follows the pattern set by other books in the series, reluctant future lover and pursuing eager future lover overcome obstacles to be together, fighting against the forces of evil.
DESTINED TO BE ENEMIES...
Raine Spenser is on the brink. Held prisoner because of her abilities, Raine—a powerful psychic as well as vampire desperately needed a savior. But the last one she expected was the green-eyed soldier who’d once hunted her kind. Since her rescue, she’s tried to forget Seth McConnell, unable to cope with the strange, simmering attraction that draws her to the compelling human.
But their goals—find the Kraven who held Raine captive and destroy him—are the same. The ever-growing web of danger surrounding them draws these two unlikely allies closer together, and anger slowly turns into an explosive passion they’re finding harder and harder to deny...(www.rhiannonbyrd.com)
Ick Factor: nothing I noticedCliché: No. This is a Cat and Bones novel and so they are Cat and Bones.Pace: Quick, finished too fast!
Danger waits on both sides of the grave.Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they've triumphed over the latest battle, Cat's new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance . . .
With the mysterious disappearance of vampires, rumors abound that a species war is brewing. A zealot is inciting tensions between the vampires and ghouls, and if these two powerful groups clash, innocent mortals could become collateral damage. Now Cat and Bones are forced to seek help from a dangerous "ally"—the ghoul queen of New Orleans herself. But the price of her assistance may prove more treacherous than even the threat of a supernatural war . . . to say nothing of the repercussions Cat never imagined. (Amazon.com)
Ick Factor: made me shudderPassion: High, not always amorous passionPace: Pretty quick.Cliché: For a fairy tale, not at all. Even for erotica quite twisty.
Paul Rumsfeld, a lonely, rich, widower, seeks Evangeline's hand in marriage. He is her first real marital prospect, as the entire village considers her damaged goods. Rumors abound about the way Evangeline and her sister Rose Red, serviced the Black Bear who resided at their hearth during one particularly hard, bitter winter. Evangeline did no such thing, but no man pays her court. She accepts Paul's offer to marry him, while trying to ignore the vile gossipmongers' talk in the village that Paul's last four wives died under bizarre-and troubling-circumstances. Is Paul a Bluebeard, or is he an innocent man? Evangeline trusts her husband implicitly, but the rumors are hard to ignore.
They marry and she travels with him to his marvelous villa on the sea. Once there, she is introduced to the household servants, including the grim and reproving Mathilda. Mathilda is a formidable opponent, and it takes all of Evangeline's guile and resources to outmaneuver the imperious maidservant. Evangeline soon finds herself with child, and with the support of the midwife, she begins to exert her will. Out with the restricting corsets and stays! Evangeline has no desire to confine her body to the dictates of fashion. She wants her baby to be healthy and strong, and the only way to do that is to ensure her own comfort. Mathilda is horrified, but cannot bend Evangeline to her will.
At the same time, Evangeline is attempting to breach the citadel that is her husband's broken heart. Paul honestly cannot say how it has come to pass that he is the widower of four deceased wives, each one expiring under odd and distressing circumstances. As a result, he has locked down his heart to any further intimacy. He is half-convinced that Evangeline shall also die, and it would be unbearable if he were to allow her into his heart.
To My Readers: As a child, I loved the Grimm Brothers' fairytale of the two beautiful sisters, Snow White and Rose Red, who rescue Black Bear from a certain death during one bitterly cold winter. If you've already read Rose Red and Black Bear, then you know the fate of Rose Red, but do you know what happens to the other sister, whom I have renamed Evangeline? Evangeline has a completely different journey from her sister, as she travels with her new husband to his villa by the sea. There are dangers waiting for her, and it will take every shred of her will and inner strength to overcome the evil waiting for her in every corner and shadow.
