Chronicles of a Harry Potter Fan by Thomas Sailer

Hello Everyone! Today please welcome Thomas Sailor, author of Chronicles of a Harry Potter Fan. 

 For many years, Thomas Sailer was active in the virtual Harry Potter fandom: After he had developed a huge fancy for the story in autumn 2004, he started to help out on the renowned fan portal 'Emma Watson Empire' the next spring; and it did not take long until he advanced to the site's representative.
Two years later, he founded the 'Knight Bus,' a widescale directory for Harry Potter websites. And finally, he even tried to mobilise fans from all countries by means of an organisation.
During his years as an active member of the fan community, he has accomplished quite a lot and made contacts to fans and website owners from all over the world. However, what he has basically intended with his activity, did not happen to become real. 
In this book, he talks about his work in the international fandom, his motives and how the Harry Potter story has influenced his life. When first released in November 2012, the original German version of the book caused a stir within the fan community: Although it has never been on a bestseller-list, there appeared to be several reports about Thomas Sailer's story on many fan based websites from all around the world.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Beginnings and Endings

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Favorite Beginnings/Endings in Books. (All covers courtesy of goodreads.com unless otherwise posted.)

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Crime Tidbit: Weirdest Unsolved Crime EVER!: The Taman Shud Case

Unidentified Somerton Man
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Early on the morning of December 1, 1948, the body of a man was discovered on Somerton Beach in South Australia. It was destined to be one of the most baffling cases in known history, and remains unsolved today.

The man was believed to be British--at the very least, not an Australian native. He was in peak physical condition with many traits that pointed to his being either a dancer or an avid runner. (Given that this was 1948, the latter is more likely.)

He had no identification on him, and only a negligible amount of money. Based on eyewitness reports and autopsy findings, it was believed that he was poisoned, though no trace of whatever was used could be detected in his blood.

The only other thing found on the body was a torn scrap of paper with the words "taman shud" and a phone number on it. This paper was found in a secret pocket of the man's clothes. Eventually it was discovered that the page was from a book of poems called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The book the scrap was torn from was discovered in a car that was parked not far from where the body was found. The owner of the car had never seen the book before and didn't know how it got in his car. Police believed the killer tossed the book in the unlocked car to get rid of it.

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Follow Friday

Welcome to Week 11 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Once again, I don't have a review this week. As much as I'm loving these mermaid reads, the challenge is almost over (just a couple weeks to go) and I'll be kind of relieved when it is. The end of summer is proving ridiculously busy (mostly because I have a sister who's getting married next month) and I'm just not getting my normal amount of reading done. I got about half-way through this week's mermaid read, and am loving it, but will have to wait until next week to review it. So, the mermaid reviews will return next week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up below and be sure to visit any others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. 

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

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What do you do with your books when you are done reading them?

With me, it depends on the book. Of course anything on my kindle just sort of sits there. For my print books, I sometimes do giveaways. Often, if I find a book I know would appeal to a friend or family member, I  keep it for the next birthday or Christmas. (Shopping for presents in advance. :D) There are plenty I can't stand to part with, though, and they sit on my bookshelf until I get around to picking them up again.

What do YOU do with your books after you read them?

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Thoughts for Thursday: Fearlessness

Thoughts for Thursday is a new feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is fearlessness.  (For more quotes, check out my other blog.)

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Historical Tidbit: Origin of Pioneer Day

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Did you know...that today is a holiday?

So today is July 24th! For anyone living outside of Utah, it's just another Wednesday at work. But, for those of us in the Beehive state, today is Pioneer Day! It's the anniversary of when the Mormon pioneers arrived and began the settlement of our great state! 



Members of the early LDS church were brutally persecuted in the Eastern United States. Eventually, they packed up everything they had into the backs of covered wagons and handcarts and headed west. Back then, very little of the land between the Mississippi River and California had been settled. Of course American Indian tribes dotted the land, but, especially in Utah which is an arid desert, even they were few and far between.

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Teaser Tuesday--Fins are Forever

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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This weeks teasers come from my mermaid read: Fins are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs.

"All of a sudden, life drops into slow motion. I see Brody's attention slowly shift around me to Dosinia's--fashionably--slouching form. Doe bats her heavily mascaraed eyes at him, each bat taking three full seconds, I swear. Her glossy pink lips purse out into an extra pout. 

On my other side, an even more charming smile spreads across Brody's lips. 

Warning, Lily Sanderson. Danger approaching.Brody steps around my knees to stand in front of Doe, on the pretext of making a polite introduction. I feel like I'm watching a school of tuna swim into a gang of great whites, but I can't look away from the inevitable feeding frenzy."

What are you reading this week? 

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Need More Traffic to Your Blog? I have New Releases on the Way!

Hi Everyone!

Today, I'd just like to make a couple of announcements and make sure everyone is up to speed. The end of this year is going to be insane for me. For the past six months I've been working tirelessly (That's a lie. I often nap in the middle of the day.) on several different projects and several of them will come to fruition throughout the fall and winter months.

Hopefully some time next month I will be putting out a short novel--not quite short enough to be considered a novella, but shorter than what I usually write--of the crime drama/thriller genre. I'm going to put out a series of these shorts in preparation for The Botanist, which will release next spring, courtesy of Jolly Fish Press. This shorts series will be called Street Games. 

In September, I'm hoping to put out Quantum Entanglement, book 2 of Interchron. This is the dystopian sequel to Persistence of Vision. I'm still waiting on the cover design for this one, so I don't have an exact date yet.

In October, Citadels of Fire, Book 1 of Kremlins will be released. This is my first historical fiction novel to hit the market.

After that, I may (depending on what I can get accomplish amidst all these releases) try to get book 2 in the Street Games series out before Christmas as well. We'll just have to see. 

So, I'll keep everyone updated, but I'm going to need all the promotional help I can get. Generally I'm willing to hand out free ebook copies to my blogger buddies in exchange for honest reviews, so if any of these sound like something you'd like to review, or if you want to do something else to help with the blog tours, please let me know. (Contact me at lkhillbooks@gmail.com)

If you're just a reader and would like to be notified when each of these releases happen, make sure and join my email list (right sidebar) so I can let you know. (Incidentally, you get a free short story when you join my email list. :D)

Happy Monday, Everyone! 

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Follow Friday + Week 10 Mermaid Challenge Reviews

Welcome to Week 10 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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Thoughts for Thursday: Pioneers and Risk-Takers

Thoughts for Thursday is a new meme hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is pioneers and risk-taking.  (For more quotes, check out my other blog.)

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Review Day: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

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One of my best friends and critique group buddies game me an old ARC of this one. She wanted me to read it because I was writing The Botanist at the time (slated for release 2014) and I've never read Dean Koontz and she thought I'd enjoy it. After that, it sat on my shelf for about a year, but I finally got around to reading it.

And I'm so glad I did! I totally loved it! The narrations was so great! The character of Odd Thomas (that is actually his name) is totally neurotic and eccentric, but also a good enough guy that you totally root for him.

We learn on something like page 2 that he sees dead people--in a very Haley Joel Osment sort of way. They are all people who've died locally and ask for his help in bringing them justice. The funny thing about Odd is that, even though he does it, it all feels very run-of-the-mill. All in a days work. Then he goes to his day job as a short order cook at the local grille.

He also sees dark spirits which he calls bodachs. They have no substance and no one else can see or feel them (except perhaps animals) but they gather at scenes of violence, so when Odd sees them, he knows violence is not far behind. 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Little-Recognized Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition (All images courtesy of goodreads.com unless otherwise posted.)

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Historical Tidbit: Titanic Predictions

Did you know...?

That many writers predicted the disaster of the Titanic cruise liner?

It's true. No less than 4 writers in some way predicted the accident long before it happened.

Check out that crazy cover image!
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1) Morgan Robertson published a novella in 1898 entitled, Futility.  It was the story of a grand cruise liner that sank. In it, the boat was the largest and fastest of its day, and--get this!--was called the Titan. In his story, the boat has almost identical dimensions to the Titanic, and both boats, though they have huge amounts of people aboard, only carry enough lifeboats for half. In his book, Robertson's boat is known as "unsinkable." These similarities have been called "eerie." I say they're downright creepy!

2) M. McDonnell Bodkin wrote This Ship's Run in 1908. The boat in his story is called Titanic and it follows almost the same route the actual ship would four years later, though in the story it doesn't collide with anything. The similarities are so close that many people believe Bodkin might have seen early plans for the ship. (Source)

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Review Day: Insight by Terron James

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Terron James is a fellow JFP author and I received a free ARC of Insight in exchange for an honest review.

Insight is a brave new, YA fantasy set in a well-fleshed out world. As young children, Lon and his sister Mellai were uprooted from their home and moved far away by their parents after a strange, unexplained incident that would have left neighbors asking too many questions.

Years later, rumors that a Beholder--an individual of great, mystical power--has been born plague the countryside and the hated Raiders are looking for this person.

Adventure comes quickly as Raiders invade their home town and Lon starts to experience strange incidents with abilities he can't control. He has to decide what is best for his home and his family and whether he can lead a normal life with these abilities.

Overall, Insight is very well-written and Terron James is a promising new author. For me, the YA element of the story made it a bit less appealing. Of course, you all know I prefer adult literature, so it's really just my personal preference. I like edgier reads and can get bored otherwise. 

On top of that, I was really weighed down with other projects while reading this, so it took me a long time to get through it which made it seem harder to wade through than it actually was. But that was my life being annoying, and no reflection on the writing.

That said, I thought the adventure in this story was great. It flowed very well and I can see that we've been set up for future volumes. 

If you like YA fantasy--in the vein of John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice--then you will thoroughly enjoy this novel. I'm interested to see where the series goes and what else James has in store for us.

What's YOUR favorite YA fantasy?

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Teaser Tuesday--Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Today's teasers come from Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.

"Were I to walk up to him and give him a narcissistic hug, the paradox of two Odd Thomases might at once be resolved. One of us might disappear. Or perhaps both of us would explode. 

Big-browed physicists tell us that two objects cannot under any circumstances occupy the same place at the same time. They warn us that any effort to put two objects in the same place at the same time will have catastrophic consequences.

When you think about it, a lot of fundamental physics is the solemn statement of the absurdly obvious. Any drunk who has tried to put his car where a lamppost stands is a self-educated physicist."

Odd Thomas ARC, pg. 79.

What are YOU reading this week? 

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The Role of Fire Throughout Human History

Did you know...that fires are as unpredictable today as they were hundreds of years ago?

Stating the obvious, perhaps, but it's both true and surprising. Here in the U.S we've already seen some wildfire tragedy this season. Just this past week, 10 firefighters were killed in Arizona. They all belonged to the same department--in Prescott, AZ--and represented roughly 20% of Prescott's force. 

Fires are interesting things. They were a common part of medieval life and I'm sure of life in earlier periods as well. While most cities in Europe and the East were surrounded by stone walls, the structures within were largely made of wood. Moscow burned a number of times during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, taking hundreds with them, including many children. And of course there was the famous Great Fire of London in 1666, though that wasn't by far the only time it burned. 

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Follow Friday + Week 8 Mermaid Challenge Reviews

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day! To view Patriotic stories I've been posting all week, view earlier posts on both my blogs!

Welcome to Week 8 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

This week, I read Mirage by Jenn Reese. I read Above World a few weeks ago and so when I saw that my library had the sequel, I jumped at the chance to read it. :D


First of all, I should note that this really isn't much of a mermaid book. The kids in it are merekids, but in book 1 they got the chance to come Above World (get it?) and have an adventure on land. Mirage continues that adventure, but there's really no part of it that takes place under the ocean.

The only real mermaid element we deal with is the fact that Aluna *mild spoilers from book 1* swallowed a seed that perpetuates the growing of her mermaid tail fin and is trying to keep it from slowing her down the entire novel. *end of spoilers*

That said, it's still a great read! It continues the adventures of Hoki and Aluna, but we get to see a lot of Dash's homeland while the kids try to get their three peoples (Merepeople, Fliers, and Equians) to forge an alliance.

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Thoughts for Thursday--Freedom

Happy Independence Day!!!

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So this is the week day we will celebrate the birth of our country and the glory it has been since its inception. I come from a very patriotic family. My great-grandfathers on both sides fought on World War II and I have had lots of family in the military since then as well. So, in celebration, many of my posts this week will have a patriotic bent, and I may start out each one with a true story about the patriots in my family, or just a patriotic story in general.

I'll forego any stories today in favor of just really great freedom quotes. See earlier blog entries (over this past week) for Patriotic stories!!!

Thoughts for Thursday is a new meme hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is freedom. There are so many great ones, I could never even begin to scratch the surface, but here are a few to start out. (For more freedom quotes, check out my other blog.)

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Ann-Marie Meyers: Up in the Air + Patriotic Courage in the Face of Helplessness--A True Story

Hello Everyone! Today is the day before Independence Day so check out my true story of patriotism in the face of helplessness below! Meanwhile, please welcome Ann Marie Meyers to the blog. Her first novel, Up in the Air releases July 6. She's here to talk about finding your target audience. Make sure to click on the link below that to enter her Rafflecopter giveaway. Then check out my review of her book below. 

Ann Marie Meyers grew up in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. She has a degree in languages and translates legal and technical documents from French and Spanish into English. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and super energetic daughter. Meyers is an active member of SCBWI and facilitates a children's writing group twice a month. Welcome, Ann Marie!

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Teaser Tuesday--Up in the Air + True Story of Patriotism

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So this is the week we will celebrate the birth of our country and the glory it has been since its inception. I come from a very patriotic family. My great-grandfathers on both sides fought on World War II and I have had lots of family in the military since then as well. So, in celebration, many of my posts this week will have a patriotic bent, and I may start out each one with a true story about the patriots in my family, or just a patriotic story in general. (Teaser Tuesday Below.)

One of my great-grandfathers, Blaine Hill, fought in World War II. One day, he and a buddy were walking behind a U.S. tank who was making its way through a jungle in the South Pacific. Every time the men in the tank saw a land mine ahead, they would radio to the two men behind them (one being my grandfather) and one of them would step out and shoot the mine from a distance so the tank could proceed safely. My grandfather and this other American soldier (sorry I don't know his name) took turns shooting the mines. At one point, several hours had passed since they'd come upon a mine. When the guys inside the tank reported another one ahead, neither my grandfather nor his buddy could remember whose turn it was to fire. 

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Historical Tidbit: The Battle of Gettysburg

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So this is the week we will celebrate the birth of our country and the glory it has been since its inception. I come from a very patriotic family. My great-grandfathers on both sides fought on World War II and I have had lots of family in the military since then as well. So, in celebration, many of my posts this week will have a patriotic bent, and I may start out each one with a true story about the patriots in my family, or just a patriotic story in general.

Today, the historical tidbit has to do with patriotism by definition, so I'll let it stand on its own.

Did you know...that the Battle of Gettysburg almost lost the war for the North, as much as it won it for them?

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