H.S. Stone's Blog, page 28

Announcing Through a Tangled Wood

I'm happy to announce the release of Through a Tangled Wood, a collection of fairy tale re-tellings written by a group of great indie authors... oh, and me. As if that wasn't enticing enough, the anthology is FREE! So get your copy now before they run out. OK, they won't run out, but why wait?

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A variety of writers come together to twist traditional fairy tales into unusual and mysterious st...

Book review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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Description:
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the...

Cover reveal: Through a Tangled Wood

For the last few months, I've had the privilege of collaborating with a group of talented authors on an anthology of fairy tale re-tellings. Not only was it a great experience for me to participate in this project, but I think the end result was a great collection of short stories based on some of your favorite fairy tales. 

Our anthology, titled Through a Tangled Wood, will be available on December 6th, and the best part is, it's going to the FREE! Seriously, you ask? Stories from six fa...

Book review: Rebel Heart by Moira Young

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Description:
It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.

What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get...

Everything is a story idea

Last month, I read a news story about the discovery of a toxin that has no antidote, a toxin so deadly that the scientists who discovered it had to withhold its DNA sequence for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. So did I panic? Was I worried? Of course not! When faced with such information, my first response is naturally going to be, "How can I turn this into an awesome story?"

It's not just news of killer toxins that spur my imagination into action. Almost anything that I run into in l...

Book Review: The Cave Man by Xiaoda Xiao

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Description:
The Cave Man is an exceptionally moving portrait of a brutalized man named Ja Feng, who has survived punishment in a 3 x 4½ foot solitary cell for a miraculous nine months, a time that has forced him to question his basic human faculties.

The Cave Man follows Feng as he is released from his solitary confinement and as he integrates with fellow prisoners who view his skeletal figure and screaming fits as freakish. It follows him through his heartbreaki...

Re-reading Ender's Game and Catching Fire

I'm re-reading Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game in anticipation of watching the movie, which just hit the theaters. It's been over thirty years since I first read the book, and aside from the basic premise, I've forgotten what happened in the story. I'm almost done with the re-read, and I think I enjoy it more as an adult than when I read it as a kid. From the trailers, it appears as if the movie adaptation is fairly true to the novel, but I'm afraid that they revealed the big surprise already...

Book review: The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

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Description:
Individuality vs. conformity. Identity vs. access. Freedom vs. control. The bar code tattoo.

The bar code tattoo. Everybody's getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.

But what if you say no? What if you don't want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There's no option but to run . ....

Popular YA SF/Fantasy books I never got into

With the recent movie release of City of Bones and the upcoming releases of Catching Fire and Divergent, millions of people will be introduced to these new YA SF/fantasy series. Having read all three books, I have very different opinions about these movies. I highly anticipate Catching Fire and the Divergent movie because I enjoyed the books, but I could do without City of Bones.

It's true, not all YA books that become movies are good. That said, let's take a look at some popular YA SF/fantasy...

Book review: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde

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Description:
In the virtual reality game Heir Apparent, there are way too many ways to get killed--and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Which is a darn shame, because unless she can get the magic ring, locate the stolen treasure, answer the dwarf's dumb riddles, impress the head-chopping statue, charm the army of ghosts, fend off the barbarians, and defeat the man-eating dragon, she'll never win.

And she has to, because losing means she'll die--for real this...