Stacked (65): Comic-Con Edition

Hello again! Happy Sunday, all. Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend. This week's Stacked post is going to be focused on the books that I got at Comic-Con. Some are ARCs and others are things that I purchased. I have some e-galleys and books from an event I attended this weekend but I am going to save those for next week. On to the books!

Beautiful Bastard series by Christina Lauren - I have heard good things about this series and Christina Lauren (a writing duo) were doing a couple of signings at SDCC. Decided this was a great opportunity to try the series out and get my books signed. Simon & Schuster also had these awesome Beautiful Bastard pins available all weekend, which I got a few of. :)

Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan - Got this from the Random House booth. I still haven't read the first book in this series but it was highly recommended by the RH rep. Have to say though that I am a bit bummed that the cover design for this series changed. I think Unspoken is an awesome cover while this one looks a bit more generic.

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner - New James Dashner series that was being talked about at SDCC. This story is about gamers and looks like a crazy futuristic thriller.

Tandem by Anna Jarzab - This one has a really gorgeous cover. It's about parallel worlds, which is a theme that I always find interesting. 

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black - I really wanted to get this one and was excited when I did. I like Holly Black a lot and really want to see where this new series takes her. 

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger - You needed a secret password to get this one. I was a bit disappointed with the first book in this series, Etiquette & Espionage, but am interested to see where this goes. Gail always writes colorful characters and this series is full of them. 

The Troop by Nick Cutter - I talked about this one earlier in the week. It's a horror novel set on a mysterious island with troop of Boy Scouts. I think I might wait til it gets cooler and read this in the fall, just so I can scare myself more.

Rise Again by Ben Tripp - I mean it's a zombie thriller. What more do  I need to say? 

The Creature Department by Robert Paul Weston - This one just look really cute and I love the cover. I don't know much about it except it has cool monsters in it.

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston - This is the first book written by this husband and wife duo. Melissa, of course, is already a popular author but this is the first book she's written with her husband. I wasn't the biggest fan of Blue Bloods but I am willing to give this book a try.

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins - Received this ARC at the signing line after the panel Rachel was on. Rachel's pretty awesome and I am excited to read this paranormal story set in a Southern town.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - Another book I talked about earlier this week in a Comic-Con spotlight post. There are no super heroes, only super villains. This looks awesome.

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews - Thank you, Mysterious Galaxy for putting out some early copies of this. My friend and I were ecstatic when we found them. And OMG it's so good! Fans of this series will not be disappointed. One of my faves.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - I always hear great things about this book and I figured I should just get it already. Was able to get it signed by Brandon, too.

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland - Diana was signing at the Mysterious Galaxy booth so I bot the third book in her series signed. I love the covers to this series and Diana is always super nice.

Bronze Gods by A.A. Aguirre - Ann was signing copies of her new steampunk book over the weekend. I don't read much steampunk but I like Ann and think this series looks fun.

Ghost Projekt by Joseph Harris - This came highly recommended at the Oni Press booth. This is set in Cold War Russia and has some paranormal aspects to it. Also, the cover glows in the dark.

Severed by Scott Snyder - This looks dark and super creepy. Perfect for me. :)

Saga by Brian K Vaughan - I am a big fan of Vaughan and have been meaning to read this series for a long time. Finally decided just to pick up the first trade and can't wait to start it.

RASL by Jeff Smith - I haven't had a chance to read Smith's newest series yet and they were selling a really nice looking special edition at SDCC so I decided to grab it.

Phew! Gold star if you made it this far. I tried not to go too crazy this year at Comic-Con though I still picked up a lot of books. I have a bunch of books I need to read first but I am really looking forward to reading some of these soon. Thanks for hanging out and happy Sunday!

*Special thanks to Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Little Brown, Orbit and anyone else I am forgetting. And thanks to Mysterious Galaxy for providing so many awesome books during the panel signings.

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Comic-Con 2013 Spotlight: The Comics

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another spotlight post for Comic-Con 2013. This post is focusing on the comics. It is Comic-Con after all.  I've been reading comics since I was a kid. I've always thought that they were a really wonderful medium that didn't get enough respect. But these days it seems like comic books and comic properties are everywhere. And judging but some of the films and shows coming out next year, I think this trend is going to continue. Sometimes it's easy to forget that these popular franchises are based on comic books. I don't read as many comics as I used to but I still love going to Comic-Con and seeing what's new and what looks good. Below are some of comics that I am most excited about.

Battling Boy by Paul Pope - I attended the YA Graphic Novels panel that included Paul Pope where he talked about his new graphic novel. I haven't actually read any Paul Pope before though I am familiar with his body of work. This sounds like an unconventional superhero story with monsters. Gotta love monsters. Paul was a great panelist though and I am really interested in reading this one.

Severed by Scott Snyder, Scott Tuft, illustrated by Attila Futaki - I read the first volume of Snyder's American Vampire and enjoyed it. I actually didn't know that this was by Snyder and just picked it up based on the awesomely creepy cover. I see now that the reviews on this are pretty mixed so I m curious to see what I think of it.

Revival, Vol. 1 by by Tim Seeley, Mike Norton (Illustrator), Mark Englert (Illustrator) - This one came highly recommend at the Image Comics booth. Unfortunately it was sold out. I did run into author Tim Seeley at the booth though and we had a laugh about the unavailability of his book. This seems to have zombies and a murder mystery. Definitely right up my alley.

Sandman Overture by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III (Illustrator) - I attended the panel with Neil Gaiman and the original creators of Sandman at SDCC. I actually haven't read a lot of Sandman. It was around when I started reading comics as a kid but it just didn't interest me at the time. Gaiman was a big name back then (obviously he's even bigger now) and I've always meant to catch up on the series. This new series looks like a prequel of sorts to the original Sandman. They showed us some of the artwork for Overture and it looks amazing. Maybe this will prompt me to finally catch up on the original Sandman before this comes out.

RASL by Jeff Smith - Ahh Jeff Smith. Jeff Smith always reminds me of my youth. Bone was one of my favorite series growing up. I still don't have the Bone collections (I used to buy monthly issues) but hope to add them to my library soon. Some of the new editions have been colored but I prefer them in B&W since that's how I originally read them. Anyway, I stopped by Jeff's booth over the weekend and picked up a the special SD ashcan edition of RASL. I haven't read this yet but it's described as a gritty, sci-fi noir thriller.  Awesome.

Those are some of my top comics picks from Comic-Con this year. Did I miss anything good? Let me know what your must-read comics are in the comments below! :)

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Comic-Con 2013 Spotlight: Television

Hi and welcome to my Comic-Con spotlight on television. If you missed it, I highlighted some of my most anticipated book reads from Comic-Con earlier in the week. Today I am focusing on television. 

My friends know that I am not the most avid television viewer. It'll take too long to explain but I am just really terrible at watching television in a timely manner and it's actually worse when there are a lot of episodes available on DVD or online. The idea of a hundred episodes of something is so daunting and I end up watching one episode every few months. Terrible, I know. But I do like television and am hoping to get caught up this summer on some shows. Even though I was only able to do a few TV panels this year, there were definitely some shows that caught my attention. Some are new series and some are returning. Let's see my picks.

Psych (USA) is coming back for its final season later this fall. I have been a fan of this show from the beginning. I think it's just so funny and it's the kind of show that I can watch at any time and still enjoy. My friend and I stood in line Wed night for the midnight screening of the musical episode. It was a long line but totally worth it. The cast came and said hi at each theater and they gave us popcorn, soda and candy. If you have never seen this show, do yourself a favor and give it a try. I think almost all of the seasons are on Netflix streaming and Hulu right now.

Orphan Black (BBC) is a new show from BBC America. I think it's only had one season so far. I have several friends who have been urging me to watch this sci-fi thriller about clones. I actually have the first disc in my Netflix queue right now. Orphan Black was all over Comic-Con with a big presence at the BBC booth and its own panel. I wasn't able to make the panel but I heard it was great and I am looking forward to catching up on this show. 

Intelligence (CBS) is a new show from CBS. Another spy-type show, it's about a man (Lost hottie Josh Holloway) who is the ultimate spy. A man whose mind basically has a computer in it. He can access the internet, databases, satellites, etc. all inside his head and at a second's notice. Once Upon A Time alum Meghan Ory is the badass Secret Service agent assigned to protect the US's most valuable asset. I actually did make this panel. Josh Holloway is adorable (though you knew that). There are a lot of spy shows out there right now and I don't t know if this one look particularly unique. Marg Helgenberger plays Holloway's boss and she plays things a little too seriously at times. But it wasn't bad and I could see myself tuning in when it airs this fall.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland (ABC) is a spin-off of the popular show Once Upon A Time except it's about Alice In Wonderland. I love all things fairy tales and Alice especially and I really wanted to go this panel. However, I knew it would have taken getting in line in the middle of the night and hours of waiting to get into this one. It looks great though and I am really looking forward to it.

Bob's Burgers (Fox) is an animated show about a family that owns a burger restaurant. I've only seen a few episodes of Bob's. I am a huge fan of the show Archer and the main voice actor on Archer is the voice of Bob in Bob's Burgers. I decided to sit in on the Bob's panel since it was right before the Archer panel. I had a great time at this panel and the clips they showed were hilarious. Jeffery Tambor even showed up to ask a question. It's going to be fun catching up on this series.

Those are my Comic-Con television picks. Are there any other great shows that I need to watch? Let me know in the comments below. :)

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Comic-Con 2013 Spotlight: The Books

Hi, everyone. I am going to take a cue from my friend and co-blogger Alethea and am going to highlight some of the fun things I found at Comic-Con this weekend. I'll probably split it up into different media (books, movies, etc) and hope to also have a few panel recaps for you as well later in the week.

I had a really great time at Comic-Con this year. I was exhausted most evenings but, surprisingly, not as exhausted as I usually am during the con. I still walked a lot and basically subsisted on trail mix and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all weekend but I don't feel too bad. I barely went into Hall H this year and only hit Ballroom 20 once. Other that that I tried to go to the smaller book and comics panels. Let's get to the books

The Troop by Nick Cutter - Described as a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Ruins, this book is about a troupe of Boy Scouts who find themselves on an island and they are not alone. It's about the monsters out there and the monsters within. Creepy! The editor of this book said it was one of the scariest books he had read in a long time. I haven't read a good horror book in a while and this one sounds fantastic. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for giving me an ARC of this one.

Rise Again by Ben Tripp - I am not sure but it looks like this book may have been self-published previously and it now going to see a big publisher release. This is about a zombie outbreak where a war veteran turned sheriff has to fight the odds (and zombies) to find her sister, who has run away. Sounds fun and scary. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for an early copy of this one.

Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine - This one looks really cool. It's a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet from the point of view of Romeo's cousin Benvolio. Hot teens, Shakespeare and intrigue. Sounds good to me. This one will be coming out next year from Penguin.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - This book was a hot topic at SDCC this weekend. Random House was really pushing it and Sanderson was on several panels and had a few signings going on over the weekend. I saw Brandon on a panel on Sunday and it made me really excited to read this one. It's about a world in which super powers exist except only bad people get them. There are no super heroes, only super villains. Doesn't it sound good?

Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer - If you follow me on Instagram you will know that this was the one book that I really wanted this weekend. Macmillan was only giving away copies to the first 20 in line for Marissa's signing on Fri. I really didn't think I had a chance at this since 20 is nothing at SDCC. There are literally thousands of people there. But due to some help from a friend and nimble feet on my part, I managed to be #8 in line. I have a few books to read before I can read this one but I am sooooooo excited to start it.

Gris Grimly's Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Gris Grimly -  I am sad that I didn't make it to Grimly's booth to pick this one up. I am a fan of Frankenstein and Grimly's illustration work. I think the combo of these two is going to be pretty amazing. This comes out in Aug from Balzer + Bray.

If Dogs Run Free  by Bob Dylan and illustrated by Scott C. - This book is based on the lyrics to song by Bob Dylan with Scott C. illustrating. I am a big fan of Scott C.'s and was able to take a look at this at his booth. It looks super cute and I think it's going to be a really great read. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for showcasing this one. It is definitely going on my wishlist.

So there you have some of the books I am most looking forward to later this year. I did snag some other books over the weekend as well but I'll save those for my Stacked haul post. Check back later this week for spotlights on comics, television and more!

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