Libraries Around The World

These libraries certainly make you think again what a library should look like… In my mind a library is old, full of books and nooks… Some of these libraries certainly don’t fit that bill!

Abbie Lu's avatarCafe Book Bean

lookbookThere are so many amazing, unique, and gorgeous libraries all over our beautiful world. Today I’ll highlight a selection of wonderful and culturally diverse libraries:

Stunning Literary Harbors from all around the World!

bristol central librarycentral public library vancouver canadabaltimore george peabody libraryConnemara Public Library, IndiaConnemara Public Library, India2stuttgart-city-library-interiorReal Gabinete Português de LeituraTaipei Public Library, Beitou Branchteechconsult-library-jose-vasconcelos-library-mexico-city-952x392Villanueva Public LibrarTom Fruins outdoor sculpture_Kolonihavehus_in the plaza of the Royal Danish Librarywall of knowledge Stockholm public libraryOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Amazon Warning Labels

Heehee – This is a good one… There has been a lot of discussion in the author circles about Amazon alerting people that there are faults in a given book – the so-called quality control initiative. Authors have been wondering if this means that in case of a typo you’ll be getting the warning label on your book’s page which will then scare your buyers off. As often is the case people may have been overreacting slightly…

John Doppler created this hilarious picture: what kinds of warning labels you can expect to see… (Follow this link to John’s excellent writing site)

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Clever Cubbies Lookbook

Gotta love them all! 🙂

Abbie Lu's avatarCafe Book Bean

lookbook
I love all things book related, and I especially love clever fun ways to display and enjoy said books. So, I have compiled a fun assortment of amazing little cubby reading/book storage spaces.

Please enjoy this Lookbook of Clever Cubbies:

unique-bookshelvesI love the style of and functionality of this, so cool! I think I would get a little matching ottoman (which could also have books too, and store a blanket 🙂 .)

house-shaped-bookcaseHow adorable and fun is this little bookhouse! I love that there is a little place to put your book and read! It just need a quaint little stool.

imagesI’m over the moon for this one, I think the design is beautiful, and I just want to grab a book and curl up in it right now!

whaleAnother fun one, it’s just so cute! Also, it has wheels so very functional while being just a joy to look…

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Pre-Review of Nephilim Quest 1 Shadowhunter by Leena Maria

Oh my goodness – my first review…

mybookwormblogger's avatarmybookwormblogger

A stunning and magical debut novel!

Five StarsNephilim Quest CoverLength: 561 pages         Publishing: 31 January 2016

Description

Dana’s best friend Kitty has died in a car accident, and the only ray of light in the misery is when her grandmother appears in her spiffy red sports car to cheer her up. At the same time a nightmarish shadow appears to hunt Dana and she has to flee from her ordinary life with grandma, who turns out to be something quite different than what Dana had thought – a Huntress of Shadows. 

The truth about her ancestry is not an easy thing for Dana to accept – she was deliberately created to perform a task, to find something that should stay hidden, or it might threaten the world of humans as Dana knows it. Her existence is tied to the myth of the Nephilim, the descendants of angels, and her…

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So what’s with the dream world and buffer zone?

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Ok, so some people who have read my book Shadowhunter asked how I came up with the idea of the buffer zone around our world, and interacting with the “other side” through dreams. Not to mention life continuing after death.

Well, I have often seen precognitive dreams and even received information on how to do things – information I did not have read about before.

For example if I see a dream where fish or seals are swimming in the air, I know someone is about to make their transition from this physical existence. I have seen beforehand events that happened the next day  – the exact place and event, even though everything was a mirror image.

And once I had a dream where I walked in a forest and came to a little hut. I knocked on the door and an old man opened it. He welcomed me in and said he would now show me a special painting technique. He showed me a black and white painting he had made, and then how he layered thin layers of color on top of it, bringing it to life with vibrant colors. I tried to technique the next morning with a horse painting I was working on in acrylics, and to my surprise it worked perfectly. Only later did I learn the very technique is called the grisaille- technique. I had never heard of it before.

People who have died often come to my dreams, and the fun thing is that they are younger and more vibrant every time they appear. The encounters are brief, but I always feel good after such a dream.

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When I was younger I studied interpretation and translation at the university, and by accident ended up doing interpretation in a rather surprising environment – an English medium had arrived to where I live, to give a public demonstration, and the lady who was supposed to interpret for her caught the flu and had no voice. Someone knew me and asked if I could help them out. Well, I have to admit I was pretty curious about mediums, and so I agreed.

I was expecting a dim-lit room with a skull and a crystal ball and the medium wearing a turban, but instead I found myself in an ordinary lecture theater with a completely normal looking lady and ordinary people filling every seat. The medium began to talk and deliver messages from the “dead”, and I was totally surprised on how exact the messages were.

I interpreted for her and other mediums as well a few times, and they did not fish for information. Actually they told the clients were not to tell them anything, it was their job to deliver the information. I also got a message from someone I had known and the medium told the exact way this person had died. There was no way she could have known this beforehand. And all the messages from the “other side” were loving and encouraging, never dictating what the one still living here was supposed to do with their lives. The messages emphasized the fact that we are to make out own decisions in life. And that life continues after the doorway of death, and those who have already walked through it are still obseving our lives, and loving us.

So, these kind of experiences from my own life had an impact on Shadowhunter when the story began to form in my mind years back, and so this story has a buffer zone where the dearly departed can come to interact with us, and where dreams can be used for these interactions. The actual visiting this buffer zone in physical form is all imagination, though.

Nephilim Quest 1: Shadowhunter at Amazon

Why I Write

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How can I explain a passion I’ve always had?

 I have been writing stories since I learned to write, and I intend to continue as long as I can hold the pen / tap the keyboard (or whatever form writing takes in the future).

My fascination for books and writing rises from how a well written story takes the reader to another world, gives them a safe environment to feel deep emotions, and maybe makes them look at the world around them with new eyes.

And written words leave space for the imagination to fill in the gaps – the story can be different at each reading.

Also it is amazing how the written word connects people across the ages… In my Egyptology studies I read texts that were thousands of years old, and still felt a connection to the writers – their hopes, dreams, beliefs and emotions. Writing must be the most magical thing the human kind ever invented… I want that magic to continue.

Maybe one day in the future someone reads my books, finds my values and thoughts hidden in the story, and feels a connection to me. That magical touch or words and emotions through the years between people who have never met.

Yes, that is why I write.

 

New Year’s Letter

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While visiting friends during Christmas, I was shown a letter written to them. It had been sent by a family who had been living next door to them, but had moved away several years ago. They have the habit of writing a letter to their friends once a year around Christmastime, telling all the things that had happened to them during the year.

 

The events themselves weren’t the thing that caught my attention. It was the tone of the letter. All the things that had happened, even the challenging ones were written with a positive angle. Take for example unemployment of the father – the family found a positive take on it in the fact that he knows his way around the kitchen and now they have delicious meals waiting for them when they come home.

 

I know people who find this kind of attitude extremely irritating. They don’t find it “realistic” – surely you’d need to face the fact that life sucks and a Pollyannaish attitude is plain stupid.

 

But is it? The fact that someone is actively trying to find positive things in life tells me that is a person who is not giving up. Who falls and rises up again. And who can spread a little positivity around them as well (well, the irritable people won’t accept the positivity, but that’s their problem).

 

What if you tried this? Sit down and write a list of the main events in your life this year. Then write a few sentences what was good about the events. From your perspective alone, no need to please anyone else. What made you stronger? What made you happy? Remember that if you met with a circumstance you did not like, even that had a good aspect up its sleeve – it made it clearer to you what you DO like. After that it is your job to steer your life towards the wanted thing.

 

Obviously you cannot bring back a job you lost. Or a person who died. But you may decide to build up a self esteem that doesn’t depend on your title. You can concentrate on taking care of your remaining personal relationships, and building new ones.

 

So write that New Year’s letter. If you don’t want to send it to anyone, put it away in an envelope and read it a year from now when you are writing your next letter. See how things developed in a year’s time. Think about how you have been changed in the process.

 

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The First 13 Chapters

After almost two years of writing and editing my book will come out at the end of January 2016. It is the beginning of a fantasy books series and yes – the story moves in ancient Egypt (as well as modern times and ancient Greece).  The characters are based on human mythology.

You can read the first 13 chapters of Nephilim Quest 1: Shadowhunter on my blog HERE.

(I shall be publishing the first 25 chapters of the book on my blog.)

Start with the link at the end of the page saying Whispers

If you’d like to read the whole book for free, the information is at the end of each chapter what to do. Very easy.

This pile of papers…

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Is now transformed into this:

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Rejection Letters

As I am publishing my first ebook as an indie, it has been interesting to follow the discussion indie vs traditional publishing.

There have been researches that show ebooks are losing their popularity, and when you have a closer look at the subject, you find out the non-ISBN ebooks have not been counted in the sales numbers at all. (It is not necessary to have your own ISBN if you publish with for example Amazon and Smashwords)

The world is changing regarding self- and traditional publishing. I am sure both have their role in the world of reading, and neither should mock the other. Traditional publishing houses might expand their services to the direction of assisted publishing – hire their expertise to help wannabe indie authors, even if the publishing house itself isn’t publishing the book.

Also good indie e-books may be noticed by traditional print-publishers, which may lead to contracts to authors (though not all such offers are beneficial to the authors).

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Here is an interesting article regarding rejections by the publishing houses. Made me chuckle – I once received a rejection letter years back. Now I am not saying my writing was the best, as I was in my twenties, but on hindsight the comment of the publishing house was funny.

You see my book told about a school for wizards and witches. The rejection letter stated there was no market for that subject line. Not long after Harry Potter appeared (and mind you – I am not comparing myself to JK Rowling as an author). Goes to prove the publishing houses themselves often don’t know what will sell and what not.

But let us hope the cooperation between independent authors and publishing houses will move from opposition to cooperation.

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