Claw Pride

Not a book review, but book related... or more specifically, Harry Potter related. Yes, I finally gave in and joined Pottermore! Flash sites annoy me so I only stayed long enough to get sorted. Turns out I'm a Ravenclaw, which I've pretty much known since age 13. Still, it's nice to have it confirmed by J.K herself.

 

The Hobbit - China Release Date

Books into films. Don't you love them? Anyway, I have good news and bad for all us Hobbit geeks living in China.

• The good: The Hobbit will be released in China. (A friend, looking at this list on IMDB, was terrified it wouldn't be released over here at all.)  

• The bad: According to Variety, we'll have to wait until after Spring Festival. They've named February 15th, 2013 as a probable date. 

Which really sucks for me, as I'll be back home in New Zealand by then! Hopefully the tourist hype will keep in on screen for a while. In the meantime - a video. It looks amazing so far; I can't wait to see the real thing.

Fantasy Pin-Ups

So it turns out that Patrick Rothfuss is producing a calender for 2013.

Every month will portray a different female character from a big-name fantasy author, and all proceeds go to charity. Sounds awesome, right? Especially when you look at the authors involved: there's Jacqueline Carey, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Geogre R.R. Martin... The only one I don't particularly care for out of the 12 is Jim Butcher, but 11 out of 12 ain't bad.

The catch is that this is meant to be a literary pin-up calender, heavy on the pin-up. Look right for the cover, or here for some images from last year's version. It's nasty. I've got nothing against sex and sexuality, but this is objectification, plain and simple.

The images of the characters haven't been released yet, and I admit to being curious about the final product. I particularly want to see how Phedre (from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy Series) will be portrayed. But based off last year's attempt, odds are I'll end up disappointed.

The Lake in Naamah's Kiss

I love Jacqeline Carey's writing. I am a complete and utter raving fangirl. Her Naamah series is not my favourite – although I liked Kiss better than Curse and Blessing - but her storytelling is still a damn sight better than a lot of other books on the market.

So here is an excerpt from Naamah's Kiss. Be warned that although this book came out in 2009 (so you really should have read it already!) this quote is from the last 10% of the novel. It describes a landscape rather than crucial action, but remains rather spoilery. Read at your peril!

We had gained the lake. True to the dragon’s vision, it reflected the snow-capped peak of White Jade Mountain in its depths. The water was very pure and clear and still. In the unaltered daylight, it would have been a translucent shade of green. The reflected mountain barely wavered on the surface of the waters, suggesting a placid, enduring eternity. Even in the twilight, it was a beautiful sight, a sight I could have gazed at for a thousand years.

The point of this post? This book is set in Carey’s fabulous alternative Earth. A lot of the tale unspools in China (or Ch'in, as she calls it). In interviews, Carey said she travelled around 中国 with her girlfriend to get a feel for the country, and the lake above was inspired by a real place. When I asked her on Facebook about it, she named Black Dragon Pool in Lijiang, Yunnan, although apparently the topography was "reimagined [...] somewhat for the purposes of the book." Beautiful. I know where I'm going for my next holiday!

Here’s to geeky book trivia.