Mt. Moon Community

I want to stop spending so much time on my comp, which is mostly caused by boredom. I'm looking for some good books to read, so if you'd care to post some good reads I'd appreciate it.

Example:

Another Day, Another Dungeon - by Greg Costikyan
Science Fiction and Fantasy

Timaeus d'Asperge, a newly minted fire mage, is in need of building his fame and fortune. Sidney Stollitt and Nick Pratchitt, have a firm that deals in adventure (well, actually theft recently), and both need some money. Kraki, a barbarian warrior (think Arnold), needs adventures to spark epics sung in his honor. Garni the Dwarf likes adventure, and could use the money, while Father Thwaite merely needs another drink.

The solution to all of their problems seems simple, an adventure in the Caverns of Cytorax. Along the way, they encounter trolls, orcs, a basilisk, a rather large monster named Rog, and evil bureaucrats. Their find of a large, valuable and magical treasure seems to put the stamp of success on their adventure. However, a return home isn't the end of the adventure; you see, their find is more important than they realize, and quite a few people are out to acquire it for themselves. Soon, marching in the direction of our heroes is an army of zombies, a shadow mage, a bunch of demons, a shipload of elves, a vampire, a lich, a crime lord, and quite a few do-gooders. It's going to take a lot to get our heroes out of this one.

This book is quite funny! The book starts out making fun of over-zealous RPGers, such as when one of the characters carves up the legs of a table, in case there is a wand hidden therein! However, after these, the story quickly becomes a wonderful, and very funny, story. The action is non-stop, and the comedy clean and well written. I highly recommend this book, especially to those who like D&D-style games!

Timaeus d'Asperge, a newly minted fire mage, is in need of building his fame and fortune. Sidney Stollitt and Nick Pratchitt, have a firm that deals in adventure (well, actually theft recently), and both need some money. Kraki, a barbarian warrior (think Arnold), needs adventures to spark epics sung in his honor. Garni the Dwarf likes adventure, and could use the money, while Father Thwaite merely needs another drink.

The solution to all of their problems seems simple, an adventure in the Caverns of Cytorax. Along the way, they encounter trolls, orcs, a basilisk, a rather large monster named Rog, and evil bureaucrats. Their find of a large, valuable and magical treasure seems to put the stamp of success on their adventure. However, a return home isn't the end of the adventure; you see, their find is more important than they realize, and quite a few people are out to acquire it for themselves. Soon, marching in the direction of our heroes is an army of zombies, a shadow mage, a bunch of demons, a shipload of elves, a vampire, a lich, a crime lord, and quite a few do-gooders. It's going to take a lot to get our heroes out of this one.

This book is quite funny! The book starts out making fun of over-zealous RPGers, such as when one of the characters carves up the legs of a table, in case there is a wand hidden therein! However, after these, the story quickly becomes a wonderful, and very funny, story. The action is non-stop, and the comedy clean and well written.

Want an appetizer? Greg's orcs speak with a heavy New Jersey accent. "We tanks you for our victory over da youmans", that sort of thing. (No offense to Jersey intended.) The book is full of great touches like this, such as a lisping lizardman and a fraternal order reminiscent of the Elks.


----------------------------------
Post away children.

I'm sure you've read some of these ones, so I won't go into depth:

- Harry Potter
- Eragon / Inheritance Cyle
- LotR
- Artemis Fowl (OMG! I have Eoin Colfer's autograph on an ARC of the AF Graphic Novel!)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Narnia

Some you may not have read....

Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse.
A Vampire series written by Stephanie Meyer.

Twilight - Bella Swan moves from Phoenix to the shady town of Forks. While there, she meets the Cullen family and take interest in one member of the family in particular - Edward Cullen who she falls in love with. He, however, doesn't want anything to do with her because he's a vampire and does not want to hurt her in any way. Nevertheless, they both fall in love with each other but things get complicated when Bella is soon being hunted down by a vampire named Victoria.

New Moon - The Sequel. Victoria is on the loose, but to protect Bella, Edward finds it best to simply leave her. The Cullens leave and Bella goes into a state of depression. In hopes of getting out of it, she comes close to a good friend in a small Indian tribe, Jake. But soon Jake changes and Bella finds that Jake is part of an old legend and has been marked as a Werewolf. What's more, Victoria is after Bella and now she has stumbled upon an ancient vampire family just as Edward re appears. Now that the vampires know that Bella is aware of their world, they have given Edward a few options on what to do with her. She must either be killed, or become a vampire herself. What's more is that bitterness between Jake and Edward becomes apparent (Vampire vs Werewolf). Now Bella must choose between her two best friends.

Eclipse - Things get worse as reported killings in Seattle spark attention in the Cullen family who have reason to believe that someone is trying to create an army of vampires within Seattle (hence the killings). Then, they discover that someone has been sneaking around in Bella's home. Is it the ancient vampire family to check up if Edward has been keeping his promise? Or could it be Victoria? Now, the Cullens and Jake's werewolf pack are trying hard to keep Bella safe, but will it all turn out good in the end?

--------- These are considered "girly" books by most. However, a teacher at my school is related to the author, so the author came over to our school before she got "big." this was about two years ago. Being the guy I was, I didn't take the that chance to meet her when she first came, and I regret it immensely. After hearing that even guys could enjoy the books (and looking at the tight covers!) I began to read Twilight about a year later, New Moon had just come out. I LOVE these books now! The author was supposed to come back to our school, but she got too big and couldn't come anymore. Fortunately for me, the author lives in my area so I plan on going to any book signings she has here sometime soon. ;D Chances are that you've heard about this book. Girls tend to talk about it A LOT. They all want to run away with Edward XD! These books are so popular that they kicked Harry Potter off of the New York Time's Bestseller's Number One Spot. (Which is good but sad at the same time).

This book is now being turned into a feature length film by MTV and Paramount Pictures. What's more, they're actual CLEAN Vampire novels (something that's hard to find).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey.
Time stops but Max Quick doesn't seem to be effected. He soon discovers that others aren't as well. He along with Casey Cole, Ian Keating, and Sasha Fwa try to discover the mystery behind this all. But what they really learn is that Max is quite literally out of this world - he's an alien. Now, Max and his friends are on a quest to stop his own kind from dominating Earth and taking all humans as slaves.

The Two Travelers (Sequel)
A few years after book one, more problems erupt and the team must split up to solve an ancient mystery of the aliens that are called the Archons.

--------------- I know this author personally. We exchange emails with each other. Anyways, you can get book one for free as an audio book under what is called a PODIOBOOK. It's really cool! ^^;; Just about a month ago, Book two was released. He had it done for a while. I actually had the chance to pre-read/review/edit it. They're simply pure genius! Ask Picori. I convinced her to listen to most of book one. They're REALLY good. Search for him on lulu.com His site is currently down (I think he wanted me to help him set that up >.<;; ).

He self published this book, so don't expect to find it on shelves. However, you will find it on amazon.com, bn.com, borders, etc. You can even find it listed in the computers that BN and Borders have at their stores. Keep in mind, that book one has some grammar and formatting errors - they don't get too much in the way though. He never had it edited. As for book two, he had a team of people (me being in it) edit it for him. I think we did a pretty good job

He's self published but last I spoke to him some major publishers were working on getting the rights to this series.

What's more is that it was optioned for a TV series by WB. The day he was going in to sign the papers, it was halted because a show with similarities was in production. I'm going to take the guess that the show that stopped it was HEROES. Read the books, and you'll know why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Revenge of the Shadow King - Derek Benz and Jon Lewis
Max Sumner and his friends love to play a card game called the round table. Now they discover that the monsters and characters from their favorite card game are appearing all over the world! Now, they must stop the evil Shadow King from destroying the world.

The Rise of the Black Wolf (Sequel)
Max and his friends are invited to stay at his dad's mansion. However, his dad is kidnapped by the evils of the fantasy characters from their trading cards. Now, Max must save his dad. But there's a bit of a twist at the end.

------------------------- I know these authors They come to my school a lot, so I've had the chance to discuss a nice bit with them. I surprised them with some of my theories. We carried it on through email afterwards. They were even kind of enough to email me once and ask about the production of my own novel =D! Anyways, this book is a CHILDRENS book, but is suitable for Young Adults. I'm going to admit that book one was not the best book I've read. The kids would be told to not do something, and then they would do it two seconds later. But it was still good =P As for their second book, it is MUCH better, and WAY cooler. Big thumbs up to them. They're next book comes out in January(?).

The trading card game that was mentioned in the summaries is being turned into an actual TCG game.

The authors have dropped hints that a movie could be in the works. ;D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Kendra and Seth are invited to stay at their grandparent's home in a reserved area. They soon learn that this reserved and mysterious area is a sanctuary for fantasy creatures, and their grandparents are the caretakers. But, and evil force led by a tricky witch is trying to take over Fablehaven, and then the world.

Fablehaven Two: Rise of the Evening Star (Sequel)
I'm currently reading this one....

------------------- I met this author too XD! Again, these books are considered Children's books, but are suitable for Young adults too. Book one was good - I like it a lot. However, the ending was sorta stale if you ask me. I felt like I didn't get the chance to bond with the characters like I should of had. Book two is def. better. It just came out last April. These books are on NY Times Bestsellers list, and you will most likely find them in any book store.

I was at this author's presentation. I had the distinct feeling that he was dropping hints of a movie in the works. Someone asked him and he said, "Possibly...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

There are two more books that follow. The third just came out recently.

I met this author a while back too. (lol). My librarian found out that I wrote a novel and it happened to be on the same day that this author was visiting our school. So, I got a free pass to cut in line of everyone else, even though I hadn't read a word of his books XD. The illustrator for these books though is AMAZING!

Anyways, I just bought the first book. After I met him I was convinced to actually read his books. I've finished the first three chapters. It's pretty good so far..... Again, another NY Time Bestseller.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Alchemyst (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott

I currently reading this one, I'm about halfway through and it is AWESOME!

So, these two twins accidentally get sucked up into a feud between Nick Flamel and Jon Dee and seem to be part of some sort of prophecy....

Again, I'm not done with this book, so I don't know too much about it....

And I'm sad to say that I don't know this author

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Space Dog and the Solar Stone Code by Saul Marquez
This book takes place in the future where Space Dog is a real full-time professional super hero. He doesn't know anything about his past, but he has been given a mission to stop the evil Dr. Catazoid from obtaining the Solar Stone which can completely destroy the sun. Now, in order to stop Catazoid, Space Dog has to crack a code that lies within the stone and stop Catazoid from destroying the world he loves.

I've met this author too

This book isn't out yet.

That was a WAY watered down version of what happens in it.

I hope this author finished the final touches in editing this book....

I hope someone makes this connection =P

And yes, that was shameless advertising right there XD!

If Space Dog gets on the Aussie market I'll be in. How cool would it be to say "I've worked with the author!"?

Left Behind - Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
The world is in turmoil. Thousands have disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. Those who knew these people well also knew the truth. Jesus returned for His people.

Pan-Continental pilot Rayford Steele is in a rut. His wife is an over-zealous Christian, continually trying to "convert" him to live her life, as is her also zealous son, Rayford "Raymie" Jr. His daughter Chloe is much like her father, too calculating and skeptic. But when his wife and son disappear in what the Christians call the "Rapture", Rayford and Chloe realise that maybe there was some truth in what they were saying, as they are left on a dying world...

Senior writer for Global Weekly, Cameron "Buck" Williams is succeeding at his dream job of journalism, living his happy un-interrupted life. As he is interviewing award-winning Israeli botanist, Chaim Rosenzweig, he is thrust into terror as Russia launches a terrorist attack on the peaceful Holy Land. When the planes are brought down by a supernatural power, Buck learns that there is more to this world than he originally thought...

Assistant pastor Bruce Barnes finds himself alone after his entire Church has gone with the Rapture. Realising that he has missed his opportunity to be taken to heaven with Jesus, Bruce makes a lifestyle change, hoping he can prevent others from making the mistake he made.

Romanian President Nicolae Carpathia is a powerful and persuasive man. When he wrangles an invitation to give a speech to the United Nations he lets his influence effect the world who is terrified from the disappearances of loved ones everywhere, and turn to the one man who appears to be in control of it all... But does the peace he claims to bring have an ulterior motive?

After the Rapture, all these lives will collide with each other in every manner of way as they live the end days. The seven years known as the Tribulation.

Well there's a description I made up on the spot. The first book takes a bit of time to get through, but after that it's action, action, action.

Also, if you've seen the episode of The Simpsons "Thank God it's Doomsday" you will remember Homer watching a move "Left Below". That's a rip off of Left Behind.

Here is a good book. It's called "The Riddle of Penncroft Farm". By Dorothea Jensen.

Lars Olafson moves with his parents to the old family farm near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to live with his Great-Aunt.
Her name is Aunt Cass. She is 90 years old. Lars is lonely and miserable-until he meets Geordie, whose tales of the Revolutionary War are as exciting as an eyewitness.
Lars soon discovers that Penncroft farm is full of riddles. There is an old "riddle" in the barn, and the puzzle of Geordie and his family. And when Aunt Cass suddenly dies, Lars faces an extraordinary mystery linked all the way back to the Revolutionary War-and Geordie's ghostly stories are his only chance of solving it.

Here's a pic.