Author: Ruth Arnell

First off, congratulations to BookobsessedGrl who won Stacia Kane’s Demon’s Inside in our drawing from Monday. Please e-mail SB Frank by Sunday with your address.

Secondly, the future of an unborn child is in your hands. Names have power. Fantasy is replete with stories about how to know the name of a person is to control it. Rumpelstiltskin springs readily to mind. The many names of Gandalf is another example. Many religious traditions hold this belief as well, from Adam gaining dominion in the Garden of Eden by naming the other creatures,

I come from a family of bibliophiles.  Family dinners inevitably turn into discussions of what everyone is reading.  For a bibliophile, there is a special kind of joy that comes from finding a copy of an out of print favorite in a used bookstore, and adding it to your collection.  And why do you need multiple copies of the same book?  To give to your friends, of course!

I recently tracked down a copy of one of my favorite out of print books, Heroes of Zara Keep by Guy Gregory, a simple YA sword and sorcery novel,

‘Twas the day after Halloween, and all through the store, Not a ghost or a goblin could be seen anymore.

And what in the twinkling displays should appear? But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With apologies to Clement Clark Moore, it seems that the Christmas shopping season is upon us.  Even those who don’t celebrate the season get to take advantage of amazing sales designed to make you buy buy buy!  And while the holidays we are celebrating really have nothing to do with commercialism, it’s still nice to find a present with your name on it and wonder what could be inside.

Fantasy novels are all about escaping into another world, or at least a different version of this one. That is one of the things that was mentioned repeatedly in the post from Tuesday, the possibility for escape. Saturday is Halloween, another occasion for escaping into another world, or at least a character from another world, and getting the chance to be someone else for a little while. I would love to be Menolly, from Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. How cool would it to have a real fire lizard?  Or convince my sister to dress up with me and we could be the Crow Girls from Charles de Lint’s books. 

With apologies to Dire Straits for the title, I want to talk about free books today.  Recently, the FTC announced new rules for bloggers who are given free items in exchange for advertising.  While the biggest concern is over bloggers being paid to shill for corporations and not disclosing the remunerative relationship, it is something that the reviewers here at FanLit have to keep in mind because we get lots of free books.

Literature bloggers are now part of the official publicity push for publishing houses.  We are frequently sent ARCs, advanced review copies or advanced reading copies,