Adam Jay Epstein's Blog, page 2
August 9, 2012
Tournament of Heroes
To kick off our Familiars - Circle of Heroes release countdown, we're bringing you the first annual Tournament of Heroes. 64 of the greatest fictional heroes of all time face off and your votes will determine who is the ultimate hero.
Below you will find the match-ups and beginning tomorrow voting will begin in the Krypton Bracket. Be sure to come back and cast your vote!
KRYPTON BRACKET
Luke Skywalker
Arya Stark
Odysseus
Captain Kirk
Frodo
Simba
Thor
Jack Ryan
Percy Jackson
Ellen Ripley
Robin Hood
Lara Croft
Wolverine
Commander Shepherd
Katniss Everdeen
Jack Bauer
GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY BRACKET
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Superman
Mace Windu
Mario
Jason of the Argonauts
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Aquaman
Captain America
Snake Eyes
Gandalf
Starbuck
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Link
Aragorn
Scooby Doo
Han Solo
d'Artagnan
MIDDLE EARTH BRACKET
Harry Potter
Scully
Iron Man
Duke (GI Joe)
Princess Leia
Tarzan
Hercules
Spock
John McClane
Doctor Who
Optimus Prime
Sarah Connor
Wonder Woman
Buck Rogers
James Bond
Blade
HOGWARTS BRACKET
Batman
Lassie
Hermione Granger
Sawyer
Neo
He-Man
King Arthur
Ben-Hur
Zorro
Rocky Balboa
Lisbeth Salander
Daredevil
Jack Sparrow
MacGuyver
Indiana Jones
Eowyn
Circle of Heroes
In advance of the release of THE FAMILIARS #3 - CIRCLE OF HEROES (due out September 4, 2012) we are celebrating the heroes in our lives, those who have played an important role in making us who we are today.
In the weeks leading up to the 4th, we will also be hosting a tournament pitting the greatest fictional heroes of all time against one another. And by tallying your votes, only the ultimate hero will be left standing in the end.
Finally, we'll be inviting you to send in stories about your own heroes, the real people who have had an impact on your life. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and friends. We'll be featuring them here, on our Twitter feeds, and on our Facebook page. We want to know who's in your Circle of Heroes. The ones voted the most inspirational will win a signed copy of book #3.
July 10, 2012
Sony Animation - Upcoming Slate
Sony Pictures Animation celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 with a robust slate of upcoming films. Following box office hits and award-winning favorites like Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, The Smurfs and Open Season, Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania is next up in September, after which Sony Pictures Animation will welcome the July 2013 release of The Smurfs 2, the follow-up to the 2011 global sensation. Cloudy 2: Revenge Of The Leftovers, a sequel to Sony Pictures Animation’s popular comedy, will reach theatres worldwide in February 2014. Also now in development are Popeye; The Familiars, directed by Doug Sweetland (who previously helmed the Academy Award ® nominated Pixar short Presto) and co-directed by Fergal Reilly; Kazorn And The Unicorn, with Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2, Gnomeo & Juliet) at the helm and co-directed by Troy Quane; and Pooch Cafe, based on Paul Gilligan’s popular, long-running comic strip.
May 7, 2012
Starbounders - Publishers Weekly Announcement
Exciting news! Here is the Publishers Weekly Announcement for our brand new book series, STARBOUNDERS, coming in March 2013. See the full story here. In the second deal, which was for two books, Hoffmann sold North American rights to a tween sci-fi series called Starbounders by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson. Barbara Lalicki at HarperCollins Children’s Books is the acquiring editor. Epstein and Jacobson are the authors of the successful middle-grade fantasy series The Familiars (which is also published by Harper and is currently in development at Sony Animation); Starbounders is about a boy who leaves his quiet suburban home to train at a secret academy called Indigo 8, which produces "starfighters." The first book in the series is scheduled for March 2013.
May 1, 2012
The Familiars Illustrations: Germany and the U.S.
So interesting to see the differences between the artwork in the U.S. version of The Familiars and the foreign translations. Here take a look at the very different interpretations of the scene from Book One when the familiars battle Agdaleen and her Octopot. The first illustration is in the US copy. The second one is in the German version.
German Cover Reveal - Secrets of the Crown
These foreign book covers are always so much fun... especially the German ones! Here's Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert front and center for Animal Wizards: Das Geheimnis der Krone.
Sunshine State Young Readers AwardIn exciting news, The F...
Sunshine State Young Readers Award
In exciting news, The Familiars has been nominated for the 2012-2013 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Grades 3-5. We're so excited that young Floridians will be discovering our book series. Hopefully, all those kids who enjoy the first will also love book 2 (The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown) and book 3 (The Familiars: Circle of Heroes.)
Stay tuned later this week for a huge announcement about The Familiars book series!
See the list here.
In exciting news, The Familiars has been nominated for the 2012-2013 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Grades 3-5. We're so excited that young Floridians will be discovering our book series. Hopefully, all those kids who enjoy the first will also love book 2 (The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown) and book 3 (The Familiars: Circle of Heroes.)
Stay tuned later this week for a huge announcement about The Familiars book series!
See the list here.
April 30, 2012
Ideas and Insight
We thought we'd share a few websites that just might help expand your mind and vision! Because when we're not writing, we're always searching for creative inspiration.
Brain Pickings is your LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces across art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, you-name-itology. Pieces that enrich your mental pool of resources and empower you to combine them into original concepts that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful — a modest, curiosity-driven exercise in vision- and mind-expansion.
Because creativity, after all, is a combinatorial force. It’s our ability to tap into the mental pool of resources — ideas, insights, knowledge, inspiration — that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world, and to combine them in extraordinary new ways. In order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these ideas and build new ideas — like LEGOs. The more of these building blocks we have, and the more diverse their shapes and colors, the more interesting our creations will become. Visit Brain Pickings here.
The 99% is Behance’s research arm and think tank. Taking its name from Thomas Edison’s famous quote that “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration,” the 99% includes a daily web magazine, an annual conference, and the best-selling book “Making Ideas Happen.” Through articles, tips, videos, and events, we share best practices that help creative professionals move beyond idea generation into idea execution. Visit The 99% here.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Visit TED here.
Big Think is a knowledge forum. In our digital age, we’re drowning in information. The web offers us infinite data points—news stories, tweets, wikis, status updates, etc—but very little to connect the dots or illuminate the larger patterns linking them together.
Here at Big Think, we believe that success in the future is about knowing the ideas that allow you to manage and master this universe of information. Therefore, we aim to help you move above and beyond random information, toward real knowledge, offering big ideas from fields outside your own that you can apply toward the questions and challenges in your own life.
Every idea on Big Think comes from our ever-growing network of 2,000 Big Think fellows and guest speakers, who comprise the top thinkers and doers from around the globe. Our editorial team regularly sources ideas from these experts, asking them about the most important ideas in their respective fields. Our editors then sift through the submitted ideas and determine which qualify to appear on Big Think, subjecting each to our simple, three-pronged standard geared to your interests:
a) significance — how will this idea change the world and impact your life?
b) relevance — what groups and individuals does this idea most affect?
c) application — how can this idea change the way you think or act?
Big Think's editorial team then packages and presents these ideas to you, our users, using the range of multimedia tools the Internet makes possible, with the aim of distilling each idea to its essence. We think of it as optimizing the "speed of knowledge," conveying ideas' value as efficiently and effectively as possible, so you have the time to explore, and absorb, more of them. Because as we move from the information age to the knowledge era, the more ideas you command, the more you will be able to guide the course of your own life and positively impact the lives of those around you. That's our big idea. Visit Big Think here.
Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?
From the bestselling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single “gift” possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, and daydreaming productively, then he takes us out of our own heads to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective. We’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addiction of poets. We’ll meet a bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. We’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar designed its office space to get the most out of its talent. Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world. You can learn more about Imagine here.
Brain Pickings is your LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces across art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, you-name-itology. Pieces that enrich your mental pool of resources and empower you to combine them into original concepts that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful — a modest, curiosity-driven exercise in vision- and mind-expansion.
Because creativity, after all, is a combinatorial force. It’s our ability to tap into the mental pool of resources — ideas, insights, knowledge, inspiration — that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world, and to combine them in extraordinary new ways. In order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these ideas and build new ideas — like LEGOs. The more of these building blocks we have, and the more diverse their shapes and colors, the more interesting our creations will become. Visit Brain Pickings here.
The 99% is Behance’s research arm and think tank. Taking its name from Thomas Edison’s famous quote that “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration,” the 99% includes a daily web magazine, an annual conference, and the best-selling book “Making Ideas Happen.” Through articles, tips, videos, and events, we share best practices that help creative professionals move beyond idea generation into idea execution. Visit The 99% here.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Visit TED here.
Big Think is a knowledge forum. In our digital age, we’re drowning in information. The web offers us infinite data points—news stories, tweets, wikis, status updates, etc—but very little to connect the dots or illuminate the larger patterns linking them together.
Here at Big Think, we believe that success in the future is about knowing the ideas that allow you to manage and master this universe of information. Therefore, we aim to help you move above and beyond random information, toward real knowledge, offering big ideas from fields outside your own that you can apply toward the questions and challenges in your own life.
Every idea on Big Think comes from our ever-growing network of 2,000 Big Think fellows and guest speakers, who comprise the top thinkers and doers from around the globe. Our editorial team regularly sources ideas from these experts, asking them about the most important ideas in their respective fields. Our editors then sift through the submitted ideas and determine which qualify to appear on Big Think, subjecting each to our simple, three-pronged standard geared to your interests:
a) significance — how will this idea change the world and impact your life?
b) relevance — what groups and individuals does this idea most affect?
c) application — how can this idea change the way you think or act?
Big Think's editorial team then packages and presents these ideas to you, our users, using the range of multimedia tools the Internet makes possible, with the aim of distilling each idea to its essence. We think of it as optimizing the "speed of knowledge," conveying ideas' value as efficiently and effectively as possible, so you have the time to explore, and absorb, more of them. Because as we move from the information age to the knowledge era, the more ideas you command, the more you will be able to guide the course of your own life and positively impact the lives of those around you. That's our big idea. Visit Big Think here.
Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?
From the bestselling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single “gift” possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, and daydreaming productively, then he takes us out of our own heads to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective. We’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addiction of poets. We’ll meet a bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. We’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar designed its office space to get the most out of its talent. Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world. You can learn more about Imagine here.
March 29, 2012
Regional Awards
Over the past few months, THE FAMILIARS has been landing on the short list for a number of different regional awards. So far, we have been nominated for:
Nevada Young Readers' Book Award 2012-2013
See all the nominees here.
2013 Beehive Children's Best Middle Grade Book (Granite School District, Salt Lake City)
See all the nominees here.
The Bluestem Award: Illinois' Grades 3-5 Readers' Choice Award
See all the nominees here.
2012-2013 Nominee for the Mark Twain Award (Missouri Association of School Librarians)
See all the nominees here.
The Golden Sower Award (Nebraska Library Association)
See all the nominees here.
The 2012 Nene Award (Hawaii)
See all the nominees here.
EB White Read-Aloud Best Middle Grade
See all the honorees here.
Thanks to all of the kids who have discovered THE FAMILIARS and made it one of their new favorites!
Nevada Young Readers' Book Award 2012-2013
See all the nominees here.
2013 Beehive Children's Best Middle Grade Book (Granite School District, Salt Lake City)
See all the nominees here.
The Bluestem Award: Illinois' Grades 3-5 Readers' Choice Award
See all the nominees here.
2012-2013 Nominee for the Mark Twain Award (Missouri Association of School Librarians)
See all the nominees here.
The Golden Sower Award (Nebraska Library Association)
See all the nominees here.
The 2012 Nene Award (Hawaii)
See all the nominees here.
EB White Read-Aloud Best Middle Grade
See all the honorees here.
Thanks to all of the kids who have discovered THE FAMILIARS and made it one of their new favorites!
August 31, 2011
"Like" our new Facebook Fan Page
http://www.facebook.com/thefamiliars#...
Come get all the latest news on The Familiars. Giveaways, updates, and more!
Come get all the latest news on The Familiars. Giveaways, updates, and more!
