"You Need to Come Back Right Now! NaNoWriMo Has Started Again!"

 OK, so I've been gone for a while, but it's time to get back to this blog. (I admit that I've almost forgotten about it until now, but it's good to be back.)

Of course I'll tell you about my other stories while I'm at it. Just be patient, OK?

Anyway, the blog feels a bit dated and (save for a few posts here and there) I'm going to have to start all over again! But not to worry, as I can backdate a ton of the blog entries to fit what I've written so far so you won't get lost in this inane rambling. 

Plus, this blog should only be used during the month of November, so I have a ton of editing to do. 

Sorry!

Anyway, I'm going to talk about my latest writing project within a few hours, so watch for it!

Backup Novels

In being a terrible person that I am, I have come up with a list of ideas which I will use in case I am unable to complete the story "The Imaginary Magical Worlds of Jacquel Chrissy May". These ideas are as follows:

1. February 30, 2012: in which February 2012 regains not only February 29, but February 30.
2. The House of Pain & Pride: in which a girl is forced to leave her family and move to a boarding house for disabled people.
3. Redeeming Devon Kirby: in which a longtime fan of "The Spirit Keeper" converts to Christianity and attempts to rewrite the book to reform the hated gay character Devon Kirby.
4. Hobbit Town: after watching The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies, an elderly man decides to rebuild his town into a hobbit village.
5. The Aspergerian Club: in which a girl joins a secret club at her new school.

I understand that this is just a list of ideas and if I manage to complete the story beforehand date ideas will be written for NaNoWriMo in the future.

The Bloodstone Key vs. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone

While almost everyone knows about "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone", here's what "The Bloodstone Key" is about:

14-year-old Cyrus Nicholson, a shy nerd, is suddenly whisked away from his home and sent to Atarerra Institute of Magics, which is in the city of Yarlford in the magical land of Erthana. While he struggles to understand why he was taken away from his family and sent to a magical school, he meets Jesse Barham, David Harrison, and April Weinstein, three children who were taken away from their broken and abusive families and sent to Atarerra Institute.

But when Cyrus meet the famous mage Dylan Drake (who survived an attack from the wicked mage Estazius Bloodworth when he was 2 years old), he gets more than what he bargained for when Dylan ends up taking him and his unexpected new friends on a magical adventure.

In spite of the book being well-received by critics and Publishers alike, Scholastic Books accused Theresa Beckett of plagiarizing J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. Yet, many people who read The Bloodstone Key believed that J.K. Rowling had stolen the plot from Beckett. Unfortunately, many bookstores and Britain and the United States refused to sell copies of The Bloodstone Key because they wanted children to read Harry Potter. Ironically, The Bloodstone Key became more popular than Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone among the high school and college students.

And to make things even more ironic, Dylan Drake became more popular than not just Cyrus Nicholson, people who read the Harry Potter books appear to like Bill and drink more than they like to Harry Potter, as Dylan ( who is seen as sassy and arrogant) is more confident and smarter than Harry Potter.

So what's the debate over The Bloodstone Key and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? I will let you know that in a later blog post.

So, what on earth is "The Silver Stones" series?

I'm going to leave it to Fantopedia.com to have this explained.

The Silver Stones Fantopedia page

From Fantopedia, the Ultimate Fantasy Encyclopedia

This article deals with “The Silver Stones” fantasy series. For other uses, please see The Silver Stones (disambiguation).

“The Silver Stones” is a young adult fantasy series written by Theresa Beckett. The books describe the adventures of Cyrus Nicholson and his friends Jesse Barham, David Harrison, and April Weinstein, who are all students at Atarerra Institute of Magics. Atarerra is a magical school that is located outside of Yarlford, Erthana, and is home to Funior the Vigilant, the most powerful mage in the world.

Cyrus also befriends Dylan Drake, who is the orphaned son of Harold and Susan Drake; his parents were killed by the wicked sorcerer Estazius Bloodworth when Dylan was just 2 years old.

Since the publication of “The Bloodline Key” in 2001, the book series has enjoyed some mediocre success (due to it being all but drowned out by the more popular Harry Potter series). Despite that, “The Silver Stones” series was translated into 12 languages and sold over 11 million copies.

Theresa (sister of famous author Julianne Perkins/Jodi Beckett) was criticized for putting some scenes of violence, sex, and bad language in her series as well as creating characters that were selfish, bad-tempered, and cruel towards other people. One of the books, “The Quantum Mystery”, infamously called for the death of “God-Worshippers”, which led to Christians around the world to boycott the book. Plus, a gay character named Shane Dinanham (which was featured in “The Cracked Roses”) drew some considerable ire and controversy for his unfavorable views about women and people of color (of which Theresa was accused of refusing to add some diversity to her novels).

Despite that, “The Silver Stones” continues to score a hit with high school and college students who are looking for something to read after Harry Potter. In fact, The Science Fiction & Fantasy Weekly calls “The Silver Stones” "one of the better-written fantasy series of the last decade".

A movie combining "The Bloodstone Key", “The Quantum Mystery”, and “The Hunter of the Night” is currently in negotiation with Moviemagic Films, which was responsible for the award-winning movies The "Frostfall" Trilogy, "Return to Her", "Atlantis 2020", and "A Tale of Magic".

*****

Publishing history:

Book 1: “The Bloodstone Key” (June 9, 2001)

Book 2: “The Quantum Mystery” (October 8, 2003)

Book 3: “The Hunter of the Night” (December 12, 2004)

Book 4: “The Edge of Night” (April 26, 2005)

Book 5: “The Cracked Roses” (July 2, 2006)

Book 6: “The Force of Magic” (November 7, 2006)

Book 7: “The Seventh Moon” (July 7, 2007)

Book 8: “The Cold Shadow” (June 21, 2009)

Book 9: “The Frozen Legacy” (September 5, 2009)

Now you know.