Sunday, October 31, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
I've mentioned this on Twitter, but I know I'm late with it on the blog. (I'm in Gothenburg this weekend, and there is an ongoing bomb threat here, so it's taken a bit more planning to go meet friends etc.)

This weekend MCM Expo is going on in London, and Emma Vieceli, who is the comic artist for the Vampire Academy graphic novel, is there, organizing, among other things.

Emma has a new book out right now; it's her own series, Dragon Heir: Reborn. You can read more about it, and buy it from Sweatdrop. From what I understand, the book is also available to purchase from Amazon. The page says that it's out of print, but Emma herself has stated on twitter that that is incorrect. (Also, according to what I've read on twitter, the book has some awsome gold details that don't translate well in this picture:


A twitter friend, and fellow Vampire Academy fan, Nachtangel, is also at MCM Expo this weekend, and she'll be reporting on her adventures when she gets home. Maybe she'll have managed to track down Emma, who knows? Either way, you can follow her on Tumblr or twitter.
| 0 Molnija Marks
Some of you may remember that I posted a couple of weeks ago about an ongoing charity auction, where a lot of authors were donating signed books and other things for people to bid on. The money raised will go to either Doctors Without Borders or Fisher House Foundation, and the winning bidder decides how the money is divided.

Richelle Mead is the last author out, closing a month of amazing auctions. In her auction, you are bidding on ALL her Vampire Academy books, signed and personalized.

Since I wrote my original post about this auction, there has also been a Molnija mark necklace made by Cadsawan Jewelry added to the items you're bidding on!

So hop on over to the For What It's Worth blog to read about the rules of bidding, and then place a bid. There is currently only one bid, and it stands at $200. The auction ends at Midnight on Sunday (EST). (In Europe we are setting our clocks back this weekend. I guess this means that the time difference between Europe and the US will be different this week? So watch out for that! :-)
| 0 Molnija Marks
Dates for Richelle's Last Sacrifice tour have finally been posted. Congratulations to all of you who are lucky enough to be able to go and meet her!

Richelle posted the tour dates on her blog, and here they are:

Tuesday, December 7 - New York City - 7:00
Barnes & Noble (Tribeca)
97 Warren St., New York, NY
(212) 587-5389
Live webcast!

Wednesday, December 8 - Philadelphia - 7:00pm
Location: Mercer Museum
84 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA 18901
Bookseller: Doylestown Bookstore
16 S Main St, Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 230-7610

Thursday, December 9 - Chicago - 7:00pm
Location: Northside College Prep
5501 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
Bookseller: The Book Cellar
4736 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 293-2665

Friday, December 10 - Cincinnati - 7:00pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2692 Madison Rd # M
Cincinnati, OH 45208
(513) 396-8960

Saturday, December 11 - St. Paul/Minneapolis - 1:00pm
Location: The Mall of America
Bookseller: Barnes and Noble
118 E. Broadway Suite 238, Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 854-1455

Sunday, December 12 - Detroit - 2:00pm
Borders
43075 Crescent Blvd.
Novi, MI
(248) 347-0780

Monday, December 13 - Atlanta - 6:00pm
Location: Decatur Public Library
215 Sycamore St., Decatur, Georgia 30030
Bookseller: Little Shop of Stories / Georgia Center for the Book
133A East Court Square, Decatur, Georgia 30030
(404) 373-6300

Tuesday, December 14 - Dallas - 6:30pm
Borders
965 West Bethany Dr.
Allen, TX 75013
(214) 383-9676

Wednesday, December 15 - Salt Lake City - 7:00pm
Location: Salt Lake City Public Library
210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Bookseller: King’s English
1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84105
(801) 484-9100

Thursday, December 16 - Seattle - 7:00pm
University Bookstore
4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 634-3400

For those of us who won't be able to go to one of the signings, there are also some awesome news!

There is going to be Last Sacrifice release parties in some stores, and there you'll be able to win prizes and get autographed bookplates. We'll hopefully get a list of those cities in a couple of days.

What's most exciting to me, though, is the fact that the New York signing will be webcast live! That is so awesome! We'll be able to participate in the Q&A, and see the signing. I don't know if the webcast is going to be recorded for people who won't be able to watch it as it's happening. Hopefully it is.

Richelle has signing policies written down in her LiveJournal post about the tour dates, so it could be a good idea to read through those if you're planning to go to a signing.

Wow, we really are getting close now!

Friday, October 29, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
I love how Arcane Vault are always coming up with fun new contests and things. It's awesome how enthusiastic they are about Vampire Academy and listening to the fans! :-)

Just in time for Halloween, Arcane Vault has posted a riddle on their Facebook Page:

The best place get Vampire Academy Product + the total number of Vampire Academy Books (as of December) x 11 + half that = 20% off coupon code November 1st – November 7th.

I love these kind of things! Hmm, what can it be? When you figure out the answer, e-mail it to vaultkeeper@arcanevault.com. If you're correct, you will get an e-mail, and a coupon for 20% discount on the website.

The answer to the riddle will be given on Monday, and if you need a little hint as to what the answer might be, you can find a few here. (I didn't want to post it here in case you wanted to figure the riddle out without any clues. :-)
| 0 Molnija Marks
Janet from Cadsawan Jewelry had another awesome announcement for us today. We have a lot of new designs to look forward to, but today's is a special one, because it's taken directly from the books. This is a picture of the Vampire Academy Chotki, given to Rose by Lissa, designed by Cadsawan Jewelry:



On Twitter Janet talked to Laura from Shadowkissed.net about the challenges of making the Chotki:
it's hard to make something authentic, esp an object that so many people have imagined from the same description. I did a lot of research and tried to make the chotki as much Lissa's as Rose's
On her Facebook Page, Janet also wrote this comment about the Chotki:
I just want to make a note that the beads are all the same size they look graduated because it was shot at an angle to do a close up of the cross and that the beads are made out of seeds so they will vary in color and size because they are made out of organic material BUT from a 100% renewable source!!
The Chotki will be available for pre-sale this weekend.

So what do you think? Is it like you pictured it?

I really love the cross! I haven't read the books in a while, so I didn't remember the details about the Chotki, but Lily from Shadowkissed.com posted the description, which made me realize that it's most likely the Dragomir crest we get to see an interpretation of. Exciting!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
You've heard about Cadsawan Jewelry's awesome plans for a Vampire Academy treasure hunt, right? If you haven't, then here's some info for you.

When: November 5, 9 AM - November 7, 10 PM (All times are EST)

Where: All over the internet. Janet will post clues on her Facebook and Twitter

Janet has also created a Facebook event. So you can sign up for the Treasure Hunt there. It's going to be fun to see how many people participate, and I hope all of you do, because I have a feeling that this is going to be really cool!!



While we're on the topic of Cadsawan, Janet also posted an article on her Facebook page. Times Square Chronicles has written a great piece on Cadsawan Jewelry and Design. Here's an excerpt:

Ever since her story-inspired designs adorned actors Alexander SkarsgĂ„rd and Allan Hyde on the last two seasons of HBO’s True Blood, Janet Cadsawan has become known as the unofficial jeweler of the vampire genre phenomenon. And, with only one month until the last installment of the highly acclaimed Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, Cadsawan is stocking up on her newly licensed pieces for Halloween and the holiday season.

[...]

"People looking to escape reality through vampires buy my jewelry because it captures a piece of the supernatural universe which continues the story even after the book, movie, tv show has already ended," Cadsawan says.

Read the rest of the article here.

And don't forget to sign up for the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt!

| 0 Molnija Marks
It's time for the third podcast in my series of podcasts where I talk about my re-read of the Vampire Academy books.

I'm also part of Vampire Book Club's Re-Read Challenge this fall.

In this podcast I've read through Chapter 10 of Vampire Academy. And as always, since it's a re-read of the books, there are spoilers. In this particular podcast I'm talking about things that come up in all the books, so if you haven't read all the books, and don't want any spoilers - don't listen to the podcast. :-)

I had a lot to talk about this time, but the podcast was still not as long as I thought it would be. I think I talked a little faster this time, though, so I hope you can still hear what I'm saying! :-)

I also managed to add the intro and outro that Stephanie made for our first podcast. So we have our own Frostbite theme. ;-)

As always, you can subscribe to our channel. That way the next podcast is automatically downloaded when it's available.

Or if you want to download it directly, you can do that by clicking here.

You can also listen to it directly, here on the site:


| 0 Molnija Marks
I know a lot of you have been waiting for this, so you can rest easily now, because Last Sacrifice is available for pre-order in the Amazon Kindle store. I don't know about other e-book formats, though.

I found the info through eReaderIQ. You can pre-order Last Sacrifice here.

This might be a good time to post the final version of the Last Sacrifice cover. I don't think we've done that yet.

In this post from July of this year, Richelle Mead explains why we saw covers being passed around on the internet, but still didnt get an official announcement from her until July.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

| 3 Molnija Marks
These days we're all eagerly awaiting news of Last Sacrifice, and the last couple of days we've been given a few hints about how the promotion is going to look this time. Richelle wrote this in her latest blog post:
The other news is about the first chapter of Last Sacrifice. My publisher is in charge of when it'll be available, and they've decided this time to put it out around the fourth week of November. That's later than usual, but since sometimes excerpt aren't allowed at all from new books, I'm glad we're able to have any sneak-peek at all.
I thought that the fourth week of November was a little late for an excerpt to be released, particularly since I got hold of Spirit Bound a week before its release date. (Although, that may not be the case with Last Sacrifice. It depends on when the books are shipped from the US, I guess.)

The Facebook Page for Penguin Paranormal is a great place for getting information about new YA releases. They are almost always the first site to post news about Vampire Academy.

I took the opportunity to ask Penguin Paranormal about their promotion plans for Last Sacrifice, and this is what they had to say:


So, it seems like we're going to have a quite a few things to look forward to other than the excerpt. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! :-)

Monday, October 25, 2010

| 3 Molnija Marks
This is something I've been wanting to post for a long time, but the news keep on coming, so other posts take priority. However, I think we need something really fun today, so here's a real treat for you! :-)

When Richelle tweeted about the Vampire Academy graphic novel a few weeks ago, a couple of her author friends were a bit jealous of the fact that Richelle was getting her own graphic novel, and they weren't. :-)

So, Richelle being the great friend that she is, decided to give them what they wanted, and here are the results.

First she drew this fine picture for Nicole Peeler, featuring her main character, Jane True.
Then, as things go, Jackie Kessler (who also happens to write a book series about a succubus), was disappointed that Richelle didn't draw anything for her, after which Richelle followed up with this masterpiece. According to Richelle herself, her technology had improved vastly since she drew Nicole Peeler's 10 minutes earlier. ;-)

Naturally, after seeing this, Nicole Peeler felt short changed, and requested a color rendition as well. Of course, Richelle obliged, and here is the result:
Don't you just love Richelle?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

| 2 Molnija Marks
Blogging is supposed to be fun, but it's also a lot of work, and it isn't very fun when someone uses your work without giving you credit for the work you've done.

Lily from Shadowkissed.com and I started talking about this last night, and we came to the conclusion that now is a good time to post about this issue. Lily has written a very good post about it, and you can read that over at Shadowkissed.com.

I'd been planning this post for a while, basically ever since I first read Twilight Lexicon's post on blogging courtesy. Stealing content, and not giving credit has been an issue for the Twilight sites for a while, and finally the major sites had had enough, so they wrote posts about it. You can read Twilight Lexicon's here, and Twilight Poison's here.

These are very important posts to read if you own a blog, and I learned a lot by reading them. I know there is a difference between those sites and the Vampire Academy blogs. None of the VA blogs are as big as the most well-known Twilight ones. However, given the fact that Vampire Academy has a good chance of becoming a movie, some of the blogs we have now will grow in size, and others will be added; and I feel it would be great if we could find common ground in this before the blogs grow in size.

I know a lot of the bloggers who make these mistakes, probably do it because they don't know any better. But if you think a little bit about it, you realize how important it is to be able to check your sources. When I post something, I have to know where that information comes from. If you do a report in school, you can't just copy something from a book, and not write down that book as a source.

Also, copying something takes less time than actually writing something yourself. Don't take something that someone else has written, and translate it, and think that makes it okay. Create your own content. If you use pictures that I have found and put up on my blog, give me credit for finding them. If they're available on an official site, and you don't want to give me credit, then grab the pics from the official site. Although, you still should credit that site.

It's important to give credit to those who originally posted something and/or the site where you found the information. It's important to link back to that site, with a working link to the post where you found the information.

Just like Twilight Poison wrote in their post, I don't want this to sound super serious, because Vampire Academy is fun, and blogging about it should be fun! :-) But one way to make it more fun is to be fair.

So if you're a blogger, Vampire Academy or otherwise, or if you regularly post content on internet sites, go read one or all of the posts. It's important reading.
| 0 Molnija Marks
Arcane Vault posted their trivia question today on their Facebook page. There is some confusion as to when it's actually over, so I'm posting it here anyway, so you can enter the contest if you want to.

This is what you can win:

The question you need to answer is:

Who teaches “Slavic Art”? What kind of accent does he have?


This is how to submit your answer:

Please send an e-mail to: vaultkeeper@arcanevault.com

Subject Line: Arcane Vault Trivia Contest Oct. 21 2010

Answer to Question:
Your name:
Your address:
Shirt Size:

One of the reasons I'm not quite sure of how long the contest is open, is the fact that it's a Friday contest for October 21st, and since Friday was the 22nd, I'm thinking the contest maybe ends tomorrow Saturday? I actually have no idea!

The contest IS (was?) open internationally.
| 4 Molnija Marks
It's been a while since we wrote about plans for the movie. Preger Entertainment, the producers who've procured the rights for a movie, are continuing with their search for a studio.

Preger also maintains a presence online with their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and if you aren't already following Preger on Facebook, you really should. They are actually on their way to 50 000 followers, which is really amazing! Our support is important to show possible studios that there is an audience if the movie were to be made.

On the official Vampire Academy Movie Facebook page, you can talk to other fans, but you can also take the opportunity to talk with the producers and ask them questions, and answer some of theirs. Preger ask the fans questions a few times a week or so, and the last few questions they've asked have been about whether fans think it's important if the writer/director of a movie is male or female.

That question became important in the Twilight world when Chris Weitz was picked as director of New Moon. There was a lot of talk in the fan community about whether it was the right choice or not. If maybe a woman director should've been chosen since the majority of the audience was female. For me, Chris Weitz proved, in his words and actions, that it isn't about which gender you are, but it's about your sensitivity to and understanding of the material.

It's an interesting question, and I think you should visit the VA Movie Facebook page and tell Preger what you think.

They posted a reminder on their wall, that is very important to consider when posting something on the Official Vampire Academy Facebook page: Be polite, respectful & keep the topic on VA. Remember that this is MORE than a fan site, it's a tool to get the movie made. Be thoughtful of your comments.

I haven't seen many comments that weren't respectful, but it's still an important thing to have in mind when posting. Most of us want this movie to be made, so we should show all possible studios that we're serious about it. :-)
| 0 Molnija Marks
If I'm correct, then this is actually our 100th post. :-) So then it's only fitting that this blog post is a really special one. Because today we got our first peek at Last Sacrifice!

This is of course incredibly exciting, but as always, if you don't want to know anything about Last Sacrifice before you have the book in your hands, don't read on.

Those of you who do read it, what is your opinion of it? What do you think it means?



We got this opportunity thanks to @Blakeygirl on twitter! She mentioned the ad to Richelle, and was kind enough to scan the magazine for us. Thank you so much Blake! :D
According to Blake this is the Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine December issue if anyone wants to try and find it.

This is what the ad says:
"I don't like cages."
That's the first line of Richelle Mead's sixth and final Vampire Academy book, Last Sacrifice (Razorbill). We can't wait! While the book was unavailable for review at press time, check out RTBookReviews.com on Dec. 6 (the day before Last Sacrifice hits stores) for our review as well as a giveaway. Five readers will win signed copies of the book, and one lucky winner will get a complete series set!
So this is something to write down in your calendars, so you don't forget to check their website on December 6! Although, again, fair warning for all who don't want to know anything about the book beforehand. Don't read any reviews either!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
ReelzChannel have featured Vampire Academy and fan opinions about the possible making of a Vampire Academy movie in several articles in the last couple of months, which of course we love. It's great that more people become aware of how wonderful the books are, but it also increases our chances of seeing a Vampire Academy movie get made.

The latest guest blog for ReelzChannel is written by our affiliates Lildhampir.com. They've summarized the pros and cons for five fan made Vampire Academy trailers.

Stephanie is our resident fan video expert. She's spent hours on Youtube selecting her favorites, and she's introduced me to some of them. However, I'm still a novice. :-)
I have a couple of favorites, though, and one of them was featured in the ReelzChannel article. Stephanie also posted it to our blog a while back. You can watch her favorite fan videos by selecting the fan video category in the sidebar.

This is my favorite Vampire Academy trailer, and one of those mentioned in the article. It's made by o0tash0o.




This is how Tina and Sabrina from Lildhampir.com broke down this trailer:

Pros: It does the best job at introducing the Vampire Academy story line.

Cons: It mentions nighttime rituals, which are not in the book.

Final Verdict: If the actual movie introduces the story in an intriguing, Bad A** way like this trailer, then we have a box-office hit!

I absolutely agree with them. I love how it's put together, with the music and the fighting footage especially. But when it comes to the cons, I have to say, that in addition to the trailer mentioning nighttime rituals, it also suggests that the Strigoi are somehow trying to make Lissa into one of them, which seems confusing.
Other than that, I think it's a great trailer!

The trailer I think is my favorite, though, isn't a Vampire Academy trailer - it's a trailer for Blood Promise. So watch this ONLY if you've already read Blood Promise! There are HUGE spoilers for Blood Promise, and especially for Shadow Kiss.
Because of that, I'm just linking to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfoAnAAJ1dc

If you haven't already seen it - and if you've read Blood Promise - then you really should. :-)
| 0 Molnija Marks
Lily from Shadowkissed.com and I were discussing on Twitter about how you pronounce "dhampir". We'd heard different versions of it, and we were trying to explain how we thought it should be pronounced, which is kind of hard, since there aren't really any words like it in the English language. I of course speak Swedish as well, and in that language it would be pronounced in a different way. The question is how Rose herself pronounces it. I've heard Richelle say it in a few interviews, but I'm still trying to find them again.

Anyway, while we were debating this, Jennifer sent us a link to an interview that My Favorite Author had done with Richelle Mead, where the interviewer asked her exactly this question. This interview was done while Richelle was working on Blood Promise

MyFavoriteAuthor: What is your favorite part from the first 3 VAMPIRE ACADEMY books?
Richelle Mead: Well, my favorite part would give away too much for anyone who hasn’t read the books, but I always love it whenever Rose delivers one of her witty one-liners—particularly when it’s a completely serious situation. The contrast always amuses me, but then, I’m biased.

MFA: Who is your favorite character in the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series?
RM: Rose, of course! That’s why she’s the narrator.My favorite thing about reading the VAMPIRE ACADEMY books is how strong Rose's personality and voice are.

MFA: I read that you started writing the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series when someone suggested you write a vampire story for the Young Adult genre. Did you have any idea what you were getting into and how popular vampire stories are in YA? If you had, would it have changed your mind as to whether you wanted to give it a shot or not?
RM:
I had no idea what a phenomenon it was and what it would become. If I had, it’s hard to say if I would have written it. I cringe at the thought of knowingly writing something that a lot of other people are doing, so that might have scared me off. Honestly, though, it’s impossible to say for sure what I would have done, and I really do love the story.

MFA: How do you pronounce Moroi, Strigoi and Dhampir? I'm not sure I'm saying it right in my head when I read, and it's making me crazy!

RM:
Honestly, I can’t say for sure either. I’ve read and researched the names, but I’m no speaker of the language. Phonetically, I’d say: muh-ROY, struh-GOY, and dam-PEER

MFA: Since this is MyFavoriteAuthor, who are some of your favorite authors?

RM: My favorite authors don’t write in this genre at all! Marion Zimmer Bradley, who wrote historical/mythological fiction, is my all-time favorite, followed closely by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman who write fantasy and sci-fi together.

These are just a few of the questions and answers. To read the interview in its entirety, click here. It's a great interview! And it also has a couple of pictures of Richelle that I don't think I've seen before.
| 0 Molnija Marks
Do you want to be represented in a Georgina Kincaid book? Well, here's your chance! For those of you who don't know, Georgina is the main character in Richelle Mead's Succubus series.

Richelle posted this update a couple of hours ago:

Richelle later tweeted this message, to clarify exactly who the members of the team will be. :-)


If you want to make a name suggestion, post it to Richelle's Twitter account or in a comment on her Facebook page. There are a lot of funny suggestions already! :D

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
Today I recorded the second podcast for my re-read of the Vampire Academy series that I'm doing for Vampire Book Club (and myself as well :-).

I still haven't gotten very far in the book, because of all the thoughts going through my mind, so this is podcast is still about just the first few chapters of the first book. However, I talk about things that happen later on, so there are still spoilers for those of you who haven't read all the books.

Hope you find it interesting, and I'd love to hear your thoughts about everything, and if there is something you think I should address or if there is something in particular that you'd like me to give my opinion on. :-)

As always, you can subscribe to our channel. That way the next podcast is automatically downloaded when it's available.

Or if you want to download it directly, you can do that by clicking here.

For this podcast, I also happened to find a page with embedding options, so if this works, you should also be able to listen to the podcast here below, which I think is so cool!

| 0 Molnija Marks
Teen Read Awards posted a video of interviews with several of the authors that were nominated and attended the awards.




These are Richelle's answers that were included in the video (hope I got them right):

What was your favorite book as a teen?

I'm not just saying this because I'm in Canada; I actually love the Anne of Green Gables series. I read those over and over. Maybe it's the read hair, but those are one of my favorites.

What's your favorite way to connect with fans?

The internet actually. Facebook, Twitter. I love that it's just so easy to pass a message out to them, and then I get responses back. I love it.

And we love you for that Richelle! :D

Click here to read the article or see some awesome photos from the awards.
| 0 Molnija Marks
So exciting news yesterday!!! We've told you that Cadsawan Jewelry is planning a treasure hunt, and now we've got a little more information on how, when and where.

Janet blogged today giving us some details:
This fall, I’m going to go out of my comfort zone to have a treasure hunt for Vampire Academy, which will entail blogging, twittering, FBing and all sorts of things that deal in the 2D world. There will be more than just jewelry in the treasure. I have some fun swag that I will be posting frequently until the start of the contest, which is just one weekend: November 5, 6 & 7th.
There will we a treasure map with ten clues, naturally related to Vampire Academy. When you've answered the questions, you'll be able to dig for the treasure.

To take part in the treasure hunt, you have to follow Cadsawan Jewelry on Facebook and Twitter. There you will also get the clues on where to go to find the treasure.

Janet has started a discussion topic about the treasure hunt on her Facebook page. So if you have any questions about it, you can ask her directly there.

I love that Janet called the blog post "Molnija marks the spot"! ;-)

And last, but not in any way least, take a look at the bracelet that's part of the (pirate) booty


Don't you just love the sound of this? I love solving puzzles and looking for clues, and I have a feeling this is going to be really fun! :D

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a sidenote, Cadsawan Jewelry are having a a sample sale right now, and they're planning an entire section for this in the future. Click here to read more.

Also, don't forget that Richelle's discount code for 15% off (RMVA15) is good throughout the month of October.

Janet mentioned as well, that you can now buy single charms from the site, if you prefer that.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
You're probably familiar with Bookcrush-A-Thon, since we've mentioned it a couple of times before. It's a fun contest where voting will determine the ultimate literary crush.

The first round of voting is now completed, and it's time for the Survivor style elimination to commence. ;-) Before that, though, we got a complete list of votes for all the nominees.

These are the results for all of our Vampire Academy guys:

11. Dimitri Belikov VAMPIRE ACADEMY, Richelle Mead (59)
15. Adrian Ivashkov VAMPIRE ACADEMY, Richelle Mead (53)
23. Christian Ozera VAMPIRE ACADEMY, Richelle Mead (36)
44. Mason Ashford VAMPIRE ACADEMY, Richelle Mead (13)
52. Eddie Castile VAMPIRE ACADEMY, Richelle Mead (5)

Eddie and Mason didn't make it into the final 24, and unfortunately, due to ties between some of the characters, Christian ended up just outside the final 24. However, we still have Dimitri and Adrian left to vote for!

Bookcrush-A-Thon are looking for fan art now, to represent the final 24 candidates. So if you have a particular fan art piece that you think represents Adrian or Dimitri (or any of the other nominated characters), visit the site and submit your recommendations.


I just had to mention one of my all time favorite literary characters, who was nominated, but unfortunately didn't make it into the final 24 either - Jamie Fraser OUTLANDER, Diana Gabaldon. I don't know if it was because not enough people have read the books, or maybe the people voting are a bit younger in general than those who've read Outlander, but I have to say if you haven't read the books, you really should. They're absolutely amazing!! Just an FYI: They are adult books.

I also had to say that I loved the fact that Jane Austen's Mr Darcy is in the running too; that one of the classics managed to squeeze in among the newbies :-)

What did you think about the final 24?
| 0 Molnija Marks
A week or so ago, Richelle told us that she had gotten to read the script for Vampire Academy the Graphic Novel. I guess this means that drawing of the pictures can begin in earnest?

Emma Vieceli, the artist who has been given the great privilege of drawing Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and the others, tweeted this just the other day:

And a couple of days ago, she reported that she was two pages into inking!

She also posted a really fun VA poll. :-)


My answer was that I really love him with his hair down since it's a sign he's more relaxed, and that he isn't working, like when Rose comes to his room in Vampire Academy. Emma replied that that scene was in the test pages!

From what I could gather by the responses, there was a slight preference for Dimitri with his hair down. My opinion about how I like that Dimitri's hair up or down represents different sides of him, the fighting side and the more relaxed, seems to be the way Emma is looking at it as well. If you want the hair down to make an impact, then you have to have it up most of the time. Or what do you think?

The whole discussion made me so excited about the graphic novel! Even if there is a movie, it will take a lot of time before we get to see it, so the graphic novel is going to be the first time we see the book realized in pictures.

Follow Emma on Twitter, och visit her website to find out more about her.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
We have great news from Cemetery Cat Jewelry as well, this week. Synde posted a couple of new Vampire Academy pieces for sale in her Etsy shop.

First we have a bracelet called Key to Adrian's Heart.


Then we also get another chance at purchasing the Siberian Tears necklace. This is a variation of it, but close to the original one with the nazar.


I have this in one variation, without the nazar. It's amazingly beautiful. I should've posted these pictures a long time ago, but I keep forgetting (and I'm not all that fond of how I look in the pictures ;-) . I bought a few items from Synde this summer, and they are so beautiful, I love them so much!

In the first picture you can see my Siberian Tears necklace, and you get a glimpse of the very cool octopi earrings that I also bought.


I bought this Vampire Academy inspired bracelet called Rose's protections:


I love that Synde has posted a few new pieces for Vampire Academy. She has talked in the past about not making Vampire Academy jewelry anymore, because of fewer sales, and I think it would be a real shame if that happens. I love the fact that there is also the option of buying book inspired jewelry. In addition to VA, Synde makes jewelry inspired by Nicole Peeler's Jane True books, and Jaye Wells' Sabina Kane books, among other things.

Also, remember that she makes jewelry by request, so if you see something that she's sold in the past, and you want a similar piece, or you get inspired by it, drop her a line!

You can find Synde at her Etsy shop Cemetery Cat, on twitter as @psynde, or her blog Tombstone Tales.
| 2 Molnija Marks
I happened upon a tweet from teamsheltie talking about a Halloween Charity Book Auction that the For What It's Worth blog is hosting.

This is a really great thing, where the money raised goes to Doctors Without Borders or The Fisher House Foundation. Since I'm in Sweden, I don't know anything about The Fisher House Foundation, but I give monthly to Doctors Without Borders, and admire their work so much.

Throughout the rest of October there will be a new auction every three days, featuring signed books from different authors. The first one has already ended, but the Meg Cabot auction ends today, so make sure you bid on that soon if you're interested.

So why am I mentioning this, you ask? :-) Well, because one of the authors who've donated books to the auction is Richelle Mead. Her books will be auctioned off between October 29th and 31st. She is actually the author that closes the entire auction series. And she will be signing ALL of her Vampire Academy books for the person who wins the auction, including Last Sacrifice!

Click here to see a list of all the auctions.

If you want to read all the details about how the bidding works, you can visit the current auction.
All the auctions are INTERNATIONAL. :D

| 0 Molnija Marks
Arcane Vault have hinted for a while that they would be releasing some exciting new merchandise soon, and that we might get a sneak peek of it this weekend. Well, we got several of them, all of them amazing!

Arcane Vault have asked a few times which Vampire Academy quotes we'd love to see on merchandise, and now we're starting to see the results of that.

First they posted a picture of this awesome shirt:


Arcane Vault answered some questions about which quotes we might see in the future, and they confirmed that they will be making shirts with Adrian's poem on them! :D That is one shirt I am definitely going to have to get! The plan is to release those next summer.


People have also asked Arcane Vault about less expensive merchandise, and they've responded to that, and will be making these pins:







The pins will have a limited production run and they're going to cost between $6 and $10.

Both the shirt and the pins are going to be available for purchase in November 2010.
| 1 Molnija Marks
We've mentioned before that Cadsawan Jewelry have decided to work with Arcane Vault in designing the Vampire Academy marks. Since Cadsawan Jewelry had already designed their own versions of the molnija and promise mark, that meant those designs were changed, and new jewelry has been created.

We've been waiting patiently(?), and now finally, after some delay, the new design for the molnija mark has been revealed!


I love it! The necklace is just beautiful! I'm still curious, though, to see the mark in other kinds of jewelry.

In a comment from Janet, she says this about the necklace:
They will be on pre-sale this weekend. We'll have stock by the end of next week. :) ALSO, single charms will be on sale too.
As I mentioned, Janet has also created a new promise mark, more in line with Arcane Vault's version. I don't think we've posted that yet, so here it is:


Janet also posted a bit of general information a while back:
1. Yes we ship internationally
2. Pictures of New Molnija and Promise Mark tomorrow
3. Chotki, Spirit Rings & Dimitri/Adrian Charms to come in late October
4. Elements out closer to The Last Sacrifice
5. 15% off all October code: RMVA15
As you can see, the molnija mark design was a little delayed, but of course we have it now. :-)

Notice especially the 15% discount they're offering through October.

Janet has also mentioned plans for a Vampire Academy treasure hunt:
I'm putting together a weekend Vampire Academy treasure hunt that will happen towards the end of the month.
It's going to be epic, full of puzzles and clues, and studded with chutes and ladders. You're going to have to work for this one! Whomever wins gets a charm bracelet with all the symbols including the NEW Dimitri charm!!!!
Doesn't this sound fun? :D

Thursday, October 14, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
Hopefully you've all heard about the re-read of the Vampire Academy series that Vampire Book Club is hosting. (If not, you can check out the banner in our sidebar.) I'd already been thinking about re-reading to refresh my memory with all the little details that may have slipped by me in the first read, but their initiative made me even more excited.

First I'd thought of doing some kind of review here on the blog for each book I read. But just starting to read the first book, made me think of so many things, and I realized it would be too much to write everything down in one single review. So I decided to to a podcast instead!

I don't know if you know, but Stephanie and I have already done one episode of a podcast that we planned along with the site. We call the podcast Frostbite, and that is the reason for our twitter name being @VAfrostbite. Unfortunately we haven't had time to do any more together, which is really a pity, because it was really very fun! Hopefully, fingers crossed, we'll be able to do a podcast at least before Last Sacrifice is released.

So anyway, this podcast is something I've done on my own, which makes it even more nerve-wracking than a normal podcast. :-) I'm not very used to talking for long stretches by myself. Also, since English isn't my first language there are a lot more "uhms" in there than I'd like. Please take those facts into account when listening to the podcast, but hopefully it's not so horrible that you can't listen to it. :-)

If you want to listen to the podcast, you can either subscribe to our channel here, where you'll also find our first podcast.
Or you can download the mp3 here.

To those of you who listen to the podcast: What are your thoughts of my thoughts? :D
| 0 Molnija Marks
Over at Bitten by Books, they have a weekly book chat, and this week they're talking about Vampire Academy!

Their discussion questions for the books are:

1.) If you were Rose, what are some of the decisions she made that you would have chosen differently?

2.) Aside from Rose, who are your favorite characters from the series?

3.) Book Six, Last Sacrifice, will be the last in the series. What are some things you would like to see happen to end the series?


All great questions! However, there are a lot of great comments about Vampire Academy as a whole as well.

So swing over to Bitten by Books and give your opinion about things. Just be on the lookout for spoilers if you haven't read all the books.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
I promised you, when I introduced our affiliates, that I would post about the really cool thing that Lily over at Shadowkissed.com is planning. Well, here you go!

Lily got the great idea, that because the Vampire Academy series is now coming to a close, that we should show our appreciation for Richelle Mead and how much we love the books. (It also happens to be Richelle's birthday shortly before Last Sacrifice is released, so this could be kind of combined birthday present. :-)

What Lily has planned, is to organize a fan book with cards, fan art, poems etc from Richelle's readers and send them along to her in time for the release of Last Sacrifice.

For all the details about the fan book, and how to submit your contributions, visit Shadowkissed.com.
Lily has also created a Facebook page for the Richelle Mead Fan Book Project, where you can discuss all about it.

This sounds so fun! I'm going to have to think about what I'm doing, but I really love making cards, so that might be my contribution. :-)

Monday, October 11, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
I don't think we've done a post introducing our affiliates, so I thought it was about time!

Im going to list them in the order that we added them. :-)

ShadowKissed.net
Katie and Laura have a really great site, and it's the one I visited first after reading Vampire Academy. They have special days when they present fan fiction and fan art, and they're always really fun and enthusiastic in their posts both on the site and on twitter.


Shadowkissed.com
This site is run by Lily, and her goal is to have the most comprehensive Vampire Academy site online. I'd say she's already accomplished that, and she is not finished by far. :-) Any detail concerning the books, characters etc, that you need to know, you will find here.
She also has a really special project planned right now, that I will be writing about soon. But if you don't want to wait for me to post about it, visit her to find out more.

Vampire-Academy.com
This is a beautiful site that's been around since January this year. They post news, and you can also find general information about Richelle and the books.

Lildhampir.com
Lil dhampir is a special site, where you can become a member of the site and then get your own page where you can upload pictures etc. They recently opened their own shop, and they've just done their first video blog.

Vampire Academy Brasil
This is a great site where you can read all the news you need about Vampire Academy in Portuguse.

Le Monde de Francesca
Francesca runs a wonderful French blog about all things Twilight, Vampire Academy and other YA books.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
A few days ago we wrote about Book-Crush-A-Thon, where you vote for your favorite book crush, and the characters then go head to head until we finally have a winner crowned as the ultimate literary crush. :-)

Voting in the first round has closed, but there are a few ties, which means that before the duels can happen, there will be some polls to determine the order of the top 24. If I've understood it correctly, I don't think this voting is determining whether they will go through to the second round.

For example, Dimitri tied with Patch from Hush Hush in the first round. I'm guessing that the voting will be seeded in some way, which is why it's important what order the book crushes are in, in the first round.

So if you want to give Christian and Dimitri an advantage, visit Book-Crush-A-Thon and vote! From what I can gather, Adrian has already been voted through.

Voting will last through Monday October 11.
| 0 Molnija Marks
Today we got to hear a little bit more about the Vampire Academy related things happening at New York Comic Con.

Penguin tweeted a picture of their booth
, and as always, Vampire Academy is very visible there. :-)


Arcane Vault took this photo while visiting the Penguin Booth:

I love that shirt! I have another shirt with that print, which I've been promising to show pics of, and I will get round to it soon!

Cadsawan jewelry wrote about their meeting with Arcane Vault
. Cadsawan jewelry have decided to use the same symbols as Arcane Vault, so I guess they're going to be collaborating regarding the designs from now on. They've also been to visit the Penguin booth today, where Janet is showing her jewelry.

Janet tweeted this photo of the Vampire Academy necklace she would be wearing at NYCC. It's just amazing!!!


She wrote in a comment on Facebook that she'd be happy to make another one, if someone wanted their own. :-)

So those are a few pics from NYCC. If you have any of you're own (Vampire Academy related), we'd love it if you sent them our way! :-)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
So, so, sooo many fun things to write about! Where to begin? How about an interview with Richelle Mead and Charlaine Harris?

Erin came across this video on Amazon. I don't know if it's possible to embed the video. Anyway, I haven't been able to figure out how to do it, so click through to Amazon to view the video. (Warning! Possible spoilers!)

It doesn't say when the video was filmed, but Richelle is wearing the same dress that she wore at the Teen Read Awards.

Richelle talks about Last Sacrifice and how it's all going to end. So if you don't want to know anything about the final book, don't watch the video and don't continue reading. I'm torn between what I want. I want to know things, but I still want to be surprised when I read the book!

I wrote all of it down, for those of you who aren't able to watch the video.


RM: It's interesting, because in an upcoming book, the last book (maybe I shouldn't be talking about it) but there we do visit the South a little bit and...

CH: Oh, that's fun!

RM: Yeah, Rose is a little contemptuous of the South, because she's going off on stereotypes, but by the end she likes it so...but she would do okay down in Louisiana, I think.

CH: Oh, I think she would. She's very adaptable

RM: Yes, and she likes food, and there's good food down south.

CH: There is.
Richelle, like everyone else who reads your books, I wanna know if you're gonna resolve the love triangle in the last book.

RM: Well, I have to resolve everything, pretty much in the last book, which makes it, I guess, the ending of a series. Which is hard for me, because usually I end on cliffhangers and leave people, you know, dying in suspense. But yeah, Rose's romantic woes have to be wrapped up here. A lot of the other hanging subplots will as well. So people will finally get closure.

CH: Awww.

RM: I know not everyone will be happy with the choices and the outcomes 'cause people have sides that they're on and not everyone can win.

CH: I think about that often.

RM: At least not in a YA book. And so, yeah, it'll be interesting to see. You know, I know everyone may not get their guy in the end, buy my hope is that the ending is still going to feel satisfying, and that after these six books they'll look and say, you know: Oh, you know, this feels right.

CH: Yeah. Oh, I'm sure it's gonna be great. I can hardly wait to read it.

RM: Aw, thank you!


So what do you all think? I think it's very exciting! We're starting to get glimpses into what's going to happen in Last Sacrifice, what it's about and how it's all going to end. I still worry though, because we all know that Richelle loves to break our hearts.

Friday, October 8, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
It's time to gear up for this year's New York Comic Con. It begins today, and just like with San Diego Comic Con, there is going to be a Vampire Academy presence at different places of the convention.

Richelle Mead won't be there, but people connected to Vampire Academy in different ways, will be. So if you're going to NYCC, make sure you check these people out!

Penguin Teen:
As you know, Penguin is the publisher of Vampire Academy. They have their own booth, #2414, so be sure to visit them. At San Diego they had an awesome booth with quite a few Vampire Academy goodies (and books, of course).

Arcane Vault:
Arcane Vault is where you can find official Vampire Academy merchandise. They are arranging something very exciting, namely a kind of Vamire Academy treasure hunt.
All you have to do is find them walking around and say Hi to win over $100.00 of Arcane Vault merchandise. So be sure to look for the Red Molnija mark key chain on a bag.
Note: They are only going to be at the convention today!

Cadsawan Jewelry:
Cadsawan Jewelry make official Vampire Academy jewelry, and Janet from Cadsawan Jewelry is going to be at Comic Con. So if you find someone wearing her beautiful Vampire Academy jewelry, it's probably Janet herself!

Emma Vieceli:
Emma is the graphics artist for the upcoming Vampire Academy graphic novel. You will be able to find her in several places. In her own word you can find her "loitering" :-) at thePenguin and Oni booths. She has signing times at the Comic News Insider booth on: Friday: 6-7pm, Saturday: 12-1pm, Sunday: 3:30-4:30pm.

Are any of you going to NYCC? If so, I'm so jealous, and I want to hear all about it! :D
| 0 Molnija Marks
A couple of days ago Richelle tweeted that she had gotten to read the script for the graphic novel of Vampire Academy, which made me think that it was time for us to finally post the cover. Richelle posted this on her website when it was revealed at Comic-Con in July, but we never got around to posting it then. So here it is now:


According to Amazon, the Vampire Academy graphic novel will be released on August 23rd, 2011. Of course, that date can always change, but that's the one we're putting in our calendars for now. :-)

You can already pre-order the Vampire Academy graphic novel from, for example Amazon.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
I think a lot of us simultaneously squeed and got insanely jealous when we saw this photo that Penguin Paranormal posted on their Facebook Page:


I don't know who the lucky owner of this e-book of Last Sacrifice is, but we know of a few people who've been fortunate enough to read the book two months before its release.
Casey McIntyre and FlossAus, both publicists, are two of those people. Given this fact, I'm definitely considering a career change!

Here are a few tweets exchanged between FlossAus and Richelle Mead about Last Sacrifice. Be aware, though, that these might be considered to be SPOILERS if you don't want to know anything about Last Sacrifice before the release.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
As I mentioned in the previous post, Richelle Mead has managed the amazing feat of actually having books banned that are not yet released (or finished by the time of the banning either, for that matter).

Comics Alliance has an interesting (and funny) interview with Richelle Mead regarding Last Sacrifice being banned before it's out.

ComicsAlliance: What's it like to have a book banned IN THE FUTURE?

Richelle Mead: I first heard about the banning from a sci-fi artist who lives in Texas and is very pro-active about arts and whatnot down there. The FUTURE part came from a special time machine. Er, actually, I found out about the future part from another Facebook friend. Who may or may not be from the future.

But to seriously answer the question, The situation is more amusing to me than anything. First, because when I hear "banned books," I think of the greats -- Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger. How "Vampire Academy" is in those ranks is beyond me.

Second, I can understand how whatever board came up with this list in Texas thought they were doing something good. But, the fact that they've banned the series in its entirety -- before the content can even be reviewed -- makes it hard to take seriously. It makes me wonder just how careful the review was. Not that I would approve of banning even if someone had read the book a hundred times. It feels unreal.

CA: It says you were banned for "sexual content or nudity."

Mead: Well, here's the extent of the content. In Book 1, clothes are shed and making out ensues. In Book 2, two teens have (protected) sex essentially "off-camera." In Book 3, sex again, very "fade to black." Book 4, making out. Book 5, heavy semi-clothed making out. And Book 6... is not available to the public.

CA: I think you mean "Only available to the public OF THE FUTURE."

Mead: Yes. That is exactly what I mean.


The article is called The 7 Most Ridiculous Reasons For Banning Books, 2009-2010. Read the full article to find out what the other 6 ridiculous reasons are. :-)

| 0 Molnija Marks
Arcane Vault, the company carrying official Vampire Academy merchandise, has so much going on at the moment, that when I was going to write a post about it, I decided that it might be best to do it in installments! There is just so much fun news at the moment, and I want to make sure you don't miss any of it. :-)

We'll start with something that's time sensitive. Arcane Vault is retiring one of their designs later in the week. It's the grey molnija shirt that won't be available anymore. So if you've wanted to buy that particular design, make sure you do it soon, before it's too late!

| 0 Molnija Marks
Banned Books Week has come and gone, but I think this is such an important issue, that it shouldn't be talked about just one week out of the year. What Banned Books Week does though, of course, is shine a light on what happens in a lot of places.

Banned Books Week, specifically, is about books that are banned or challenged in parts of the US. I know about this kind of thing happening in the US, but I don't think I've ever heard about something like this happening in Sweden, except for maybe in religious private schools. I do remember ministers speaking out against Harry Potter when the books were at their most popular, though. Does this happen in your country? Is this something you're familiar with? What do you think about it?

Richelle Mead wrote a blog post about this, after realizing that a lot of people were not aware of the existence of Banned Books Week, and what it stood for.

Richelle had this to say about book banning:

Now, do I think there are books out there that are terrible? Yes. Books that promote racism, sexism, and all the other hates in the world are books I would never want to read. And that's the thing: I don't want to read them. That's my choice. I don't agree with their views, but I don't have the right to force others to read or not read them. That's what banning does. It takes away choice and freedom of speech.
When it comes to the banning of her own books, Richelle has an interesting take on it:

In closing, people often send me condolences about VA being banned by that school in Texas. Honestly, though, I'm not offended at all. Like I said, many books that are banned are ones that make people think, and if VA has made that list and is controversial enough for someone to hold a meeting over it, then I'm honored. And I'm actually kind of amused that they banned the entire series before it was finished--meaning my books have been baned...IN THE FUTURE.

You can read Richelle's post about Banned Books Week here.

I have to say, that last part is particularly ridiculous, which is also the thing that makes it funny. Richelle retweeted:


A lot of other sites also mentioned Vampire Academy specifically in their articles this past week, talking about the unusual fact that she had managed to get books banned that weren't even written yet.

Andrew Shaffer writes an article about this in the Huffington Post

One Texas school district has taken book banning to an entirely new level.
Young adult author Richelle Mead holds the distinction to perhaps be the only
author ever to have a book banned... before it was even written.

The ALA reports:


[All six books in her Vampire Academy series were] banned at Henderson Junior High School in the Stephenville, Tex. Independent School District in 2009, [prior to the release of the 5th and 6th books in the series]. The entire teen vampire series was banned for "sexual content or nudity."
Stephenville ISD actually banned books that have not yet been published and perhaps even books that have yet to be written. There is no way the district could know the content of, and yet they have been banned.*

This information and a list of all the other books that were banned and why, can be found in this bibliography published by the American Library Association (ALA). Vampire Academy is listed on page six. This is apparently the twenty-ninth annual Banned Books Week. One would hope that there won't be the need for a thirtieth anniversery, but unfortunately I think there will be.

You can read about the 10 most frequently challenged books here.

Read about 50 books that were banned at one time or another, somewhere in the United States, here.


On the Biting-Edge blog, author Mario Acevedo, who is also part of The League of Reluctant Adults, where Richelle is a member, writes:

Banned Book Week is over and the buzz, in case you didn't hear it, was that fellow Leaguer Richelle Mead is probably the first American author to have a book banned before it was ever written. I'd always imagined the author of a banned book as a Ted Kaczynski type, some bearded misanthrope writing manifestos, or a Marquis de Sade penning anti-church pornographic screeds.

So imagine our shock when our own sweet Richelle not only had her current Vampire Academy books banned, but all future books in the series as well. Not even Henry Miller or Kurt Vonnegut managed such a feat. Those schoolmarms in Stephenville are such fraidy cats. Very un-Texan behavior. Yes, redheads are so subversive.

And perhaps that is an appropriate conclusion to this post. Redheads are subversive! ;D