Tuesday, November 30, 2010

| 3 Molnija Marks
I know this is going to make people both sad, jealous and angry, but I thought you'd want to know anyway. ;-)

My friend Nina was actually lucky enough to pick up *drumroll* Last Sacrifice in store today!!!


Thanks Nina for sending the pic! (She's part of an awesome Swedish Hunger Games site that you should totally check out. :)

I've ordered my copy from an online bookstore, and according to them, they have the book in stock as well, so they should be sending it out soon. Of course I'm incredibly excited about that, but I really wouldn't have minded waiting another week to get the book. I'm just relieved that I hopefully will be able to avoid most spoilers before reading the book.

This happened with Spirit Bound as well, and it's because the Swedish stores that import US and UK books don't usually wait for release day to put out the books. They have them on sale as soon as soon as they are delivered.

So for some people they're not really concerned that we still haven't gotten the first chapter. We are still waiting for Penguin to post it, but at this moment some are reading the actual book... Okay, so maybe I am a little jealous. ;-)

Have any of you been able to find the book already? I know there are people who have gotten review copies, but this book was in a shop.

Monday, November 29, 2010

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Phew! I just got back from my weekend trip a few hours ago, and what do I get as a welcome home present? The fourth Teaser Quote from Penguin Paranormal!



There are a couple of things this quote can mean, I think. Either way, it got my mind and heart racing! How about you?

Friday, November 26, 2010

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Arcane Vault are closed for the holidays, but they're always busy thinking up fun things for us fans. This time they are doing a Thanksgiving Trivia Contest!

Visit Arcane Vault's Facebook page to see all the questions, and to find out how to send in your answers. There are some really fun questions there.

Are any of you sending in your answers? I don't think I'll have the time, unfortunately. I should've looked for the answers today, but in a few hours I'm going on a weekend trip and I won't have access to my books. (And I'm not one of you amazing people who manage to recall every detail of the books, not yet anyway! ;-)
| 0 Molnija Marks
Well, it's finally here! The one many of us have been waiting for! ;-)

Penguin Paranormal has posted Dimitri Belikov's character trailer. As always, there is a spoiler for Spirit Bound in the character videos. (Although, the fact that there is a Dimitri Belikov trailer at all is kind of a spoiler for the earlier books as well. ;-)

Here it is:



This one really intrigued me! I wonder what the images are supposed to mean? Because, as you remember, "Every image a clue, every word a possibility". Hmm, I'm wondering about the second image...

The fourth Teaser Quote will premiere on November 29.
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As I think most of you know, you can order Vampire Academy books signed when buying them from University Bookstore in Seattle. If you want to know the details of how to order, you can read about it on Richelle Mead's website.

Richelle also talks about when she'll be at University Bookstore to personalize orders of Last Sacrifice and her other books:

I will be personalizing any mail orders received by November 16, and they will ship out November 17. After that, I won't be back in to personalize until December 1. So, no personalizations will ship out during that time period. You may still place pre-orders for autographed/personalized copies of Last Sacrifice. I will sign them (and any other orders) before I go on tour. Autographed copies of Last Sacrifice will then ship out on release day, December 7. Please contact University Bookstore with any other questions.

There hasn't been a definite date set yet for when to order Last Sacrifice signed, if you want it shipped by December 7. Of course you can always place an order after that date, but since Richelle will be going on a book tour for Last Sacrifice, she won't be able to sign any books until she gets back from the tour.

I asked her about a deadline for ordering if you want the book sent out by release date, and this is what she said:

As you can see (and as I mentioned) there is no definite date set, but this is Richelle herself guessing. There are a lot of books that will need signing, so she'll have to fit that into her schedule sometime before going to New York, which is her first stop on the tour.

I ordered my books a couple of days ago. I'm so excited! But neurotic as I am, of course I'm going to worry if I really filled out the form right. :-)

Funnily enough, just as I was writing this post, Vampire Academy on Facebook posted a (new?) video from Open Road. They have a lot of videos of Richelle Mead, and this particular one is about her relationship with University Bookstore!

I haven't figured out if it's possible to embed just that video, so the video you'll see below is the Halloween video (which I hadn't posted yet, so maybe it's just as well! :-). To watch the video about University Bookstore you can either click on See More on the embedded video, or you can view it on Richelle Mead's page over at Open Road. Just click on the video about University Bookstore.

| 0 Molnija Marks
I want to take the opportunity to wish all of you who happen to celebrate Thanksgiving today a Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have great day, relaxing and eating good food. :-)
I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so I've spent the day preparing for a trip I'm taking this weekend.
(This weekend is actually kind of a big holiday here in Sweden. It's the First Sunday of Advent, which also makes it "Skyltsöndag", which is a day where all the stores are open longer and there are Christmas marketplaces. Basically it's the beginning of Christmas celebrations. :-)

Regardless of whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, however, you can take advantage of the Black Friday Sales!

Arcane Vault is giving 30% discount off the entire order, if you place an order this Friday, November 26. All you have to do is type in the discount code Turkey in the promotion box when you check out.

Janet Cadsawan is also having a a Black Friday sale. She too is giving a 30% discount if you place an order this Friday. The discount code for Cadsawan Jewelry is BF10S30.

So make sure that if you've had your eye on something from Arcane Vault or Cadsawan, that you take this great opportunity and order some things. The discounts are only for this Friday!

In other holiday offer related news, Synde is also having a special offer of free shipping all through Christmas! She makes amazing jewelry, and has made a lot of Vampire Academy pieces, some of which I've ordered. (You can see those pieces here.) She does custom orders, so if there is something you're interested in purchasing, that isn't available in her current selection, make sure to ask her if she can create that for you. :-)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

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No technical difficulties this time! Penguin Paranormal posted the next Quote Trailer as announced. :-)

This one's really going to leave you wondering.




Every image is a clue...

Next up is Dimitri Belikov's character trailer, one we've really been waiting for! It will premiere November 26.
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While we're waiting for the next trailer quote, Amazon has released another trailer for Last Sacrifice. They previously posted more of a teaser trailer, but this one is longer.

As usual it isn't possible to embed an Amazon video, but someone has uploaded it to YouTube, so here is that version:



You can find the trailer on Amazon, here.

Mel alerted me to it by posting it in the VA Facebook Group that Janet Cadsawan created during the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt. If you're interested in chatting with other Vampire Academy fans, that's a good group to be part of. :-)

As usual - what do you think it means? ;-)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

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Woohoo! After some technical difficulties, we finally have our Adrian Ivashkov Trailer!

Penguin Australia
just posted it - and here it is:



As with all the character trailers, there is a spoiler from Spirit Bound in there. So if you haven't read the book, and don't want any spoilers - don't watch this trailer.

And as always, along with the trailer come the words "Every image a clue, every word a possibility."

What do you all think? I've actually had a bad feeling about Adrian when it comes to this ever since I read Spirit Bound. Am I the only one?

The third teaser quote will premiere on November 23.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

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YA author Daniel Marks (who may or may not also be a published author of urban fantasy zombie books ;-), is also a poster of hilarious vlogs on YouTube. A while back he started a vlog series he called "Bookshelf invasions" (and yes I agree with Richelle - I want that as my ringtone as well!), and he's hinted for some time that there would be a Richelle Mead episode of Bookshelf invasions.

As we know Richelle had her (annual?) Halloween party, and we've seen the photo of her dressed up as Cleopatra. But here we get to see the costume live. :-)

We also get an incredible look into her office (full of different Vampire Academy editions lying around). We get to see what books she has in her bookshelf (of course - it is called bookshelf invasions for a reason). And we (gasp!) get to see a draft of Last Sacrifice.



We also get to hear a few words from Synde (aka Psynde) who is not only a friend of Richelle's but also maker of beautiful jewelry, including Vampire Academy inspired ones. :-) Btw, Synde recently announced that she will only be making VA by request. So if you've seen a particular piece in the past, for example, you can still ask her if she'll be able to make one for you.

If you listen carefully, you can hear that we (or the fansites in general) are mentioned by Synde when they talk about Richelle starting Nicole Peeler's graphic novel for her. If you haven't seen Richelle's efforts before, you can see them in the post I wrote about her art. :-)

And if you look closely you get a hint as to whom Daniel Marks' other persona is (or one of them anyway).
Did you also notice that one of the books we see in the clip is Mists of Avalon that Richelle has mentioned before as her favorite book? :-)

I loved this whole video for several reasons. All of those mentioned above, but also because I could spot one of my absolute favorite books in Richelle's bookshelf - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I know I've mentioned her books before, but if you're looking for a great book you ned to read that book! Be aware that it's an adult book, and the supernatural elements are not as important as they are in VA for example, but it's an amazing book.

You really should watch all of Daniel Marks' vlogs. They're hilarious (and sometimes even informative ;-). He's written one of the short stories in the anthology Kiss Me Deadly, and you can find out more about that, and about Daniel Marks, on his blog or you can follow him on twitter.

The bookshelf invasion also comes with a contest, so make sure you participate in that!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

| 1 Molnija Marks
Do you have Last Sacrifice in your hands? No? Some people do!

With all the teaser videos and re-readings, the excitement for Last Sacrifice keeps building. One thing that doesn't always make the wait easier, is to hear about people who've had the great fortune of being able to read it already.

Rachel posted a video showing how happy she was when "The Mystery Book of Awesome" arrived today. :-)



According to Rachel her book is a review copy from Penguin UK. Jessica is another lucky reviewer who's already got her copy of Last Sacrifice. She tweeted earlier today that she had to sign a contract promising not to reveal anything about the book until release date, and Rachel also talks about an embargo in her YouTube description of the video above.

I really have to speed up my re-reading! Release date is fast approaching!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

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All this in one hour! It's almost too much at once! :-)

Yep, aside from the Last Sacrifice trailer from Amazon, we also get the second Teaser Quote from Penguin Paranormal today!



As always the question is who exactly is saying this...
Next up is Adrian Ivashkov's character trailer on November 20!
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Wow! This one's really awesome! Minamostaza just tweeted that Amazon has now added a trailer for Last Sacrifice!

I still haven't figured out if it's possible to embed an Amazon video, so you'll have to watch it on the Amazon page, here.

I think the voiceover is saying "Everything has lead to this." What do you think of the trailer? :D Has it gotten you even more excited about Last Sacrifice? Is that possible?

Monday, November 15, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
Oh, I'm feeling a bit behind on all the news at the moment! Today I've been to a very fun birthday party, and I'm also knitting socks for Christmas presents. I really want to knit one of Adriatika's beautiful Vampire Academy scarves, but I haven't quite mastered the double knitting yet! .-)

Penguin Australia, who are the ones releasing all the teasers, are going to alternate between character and quote teasers it seems. So since the last teaser was a quote, this time we get a character trailer. The first one was about Christian, and this one is about Lissa. All the character trailers have the same theme, and contain the same spoiler for Spirit Bound, just FYI if you haven't read that book yet.



So what do you think of this one? I know there are A LOT of different guesses as to what it all means, but I'm really not sure. My only guess is that the eye color is important.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

| 2 Molnija Marks
It's not November 12 here anymore, but the important thing is that it's still Richelle's birthday evening where she is, right?

We here at VampireAcademy.org want to wish Richelle Mead a very Happy Birthday! She has said on Twitter that she's had a great day, so let's hope that it's the beginning of a great year. :-)

This is for you, Richelle. (I kind of loved the juxtaposition of the pretty frosting and the tattoos. ;-)

Pic source: Here and here.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

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Tomorrow, November 12 is an important day in literary history. That is the day The Great Richelle Mead was born. :-)

VampAcademyAus on Twitter had a great idea, and started a Twitition (a petition on Twitter) to congratulate Richelle on her birthday.

There are currently about 30 signatures on the list, but surely we can make that list a lot longer? What do you say? Click here to go directly to the petition.

Of course there are lots of other ways to wish Richelle a Happy Birthday if you can't/don't want to sign the twitition. You can tweet her directly, post a comment on her LiveJournal, e-mail her or possibly write her a letter.
(Thanks to jajensha_dimose!)

You can also make your birthday wish part of the Last Sacrifice Fanbook. I think I'm going to start on my contribution soon. :D
| 0 Molnija Marks
So, just as I was mentioning that the first teaser quote should appear any moment now, here it is:



Penguin Paranormal just posted it on their Facebook page. They also hade a few cryptic words, just like with the Christian Ozera trailer.

Every image is a clue.

The next trailer will be about Lissa, and it will go live on November 14. Exciting!
So who do you think is saying this? And what is happening in the clip?
| 1 Molnija Marks
After a weekend full of excitement, of course with teasers, but mainly the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt, organized by Janet Cadsawan, I was going to say we can take a breath and relax a bit. However, it will be a short rest, which is also fun seeing as it's due to the release date for Last Sacrifice soon approaching.

To summarize the Treasure Hunt:

This is the amazing booty that the randomly selected Mel won, posted by Janet on the Cadsawan Facebook page!


The question mark is the Dimitri charm that isn't available yet.

On her personal Facebook page, Janet also posted a note with the first 15 people to complete the treasure hunt:
1. Guardian Keri 11/7/2010 15:07:37
2. Lbarra 11/7/2010 15:11:26 [sorry, Lillie, I thought it was closer]
3. locketlove 11/7/2010 15:19:06
4. Marie
5. melk_va
6. NinaFreakingOut
7. xxlenalenaa
8. Lillis
9. Guardian Kenia
10. Tina
11. Bina
12. Vianney
13. Stina
14. little_vampire8
15. mouseswife
Yep, that's me in fourth place. :-) I know a few of the people on the list. We were a group of people working together on the clues, which made it even more fun. We stayed up late, talking on msn, waiting for the next clue to be posted. :D
And I think #10 and 11 might be the girls from Lildhampir.com. Is that right?

Are any of you on the list? :D How many of you finished the treasure hunt?

I want to once again thank Janet for doing this for us Vampire Academy fans. I think most of us had an incredibly fun weekend. :-)

For the treasure hunt, Janet created a VA Group on Facebook, which is being held open. You can join that if you want. At the moment there is a discussion going on about the teaser video that was released a few days ago. (Btw, we should be getting the second one very soon now, on Thursday, but I don't know in which time zone.)

Monday, November 8, 2010

| 1 Molnija Marks
Yay! One good thing, and one bad thing.

The good thing: Penguin just posted a teaser trailer for Last Sacrifice!

The bad thing: It seems like we have to wait for until November 11 for the first quote to premiere.

The trailer is called VA Christian Ozera trailer. If you haven't read Spirit Bound, be aware of spoilers.



Penguin posted these words along with the trailer:

Every image is a clue, every word a possibility.

What do you think it means? And what do you think of the video? Did it make you reconsider some things?
| 0 Molnija Marks
With all the excitement of the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt, I'd completely forgotten that the first Last Sacrifice teaser was supposed to go up today! However, Penguin Paranormal let us know not to expect it for a few hours yet. (Although, that could be any minute now!)

What they did give us, though, was a chance at finding the Last line of Last Sacrifice! As you probably know, we already have the first line, so all we need now are all the words in between. ;-)

The line was posted in Penguin Australia's Vampire Academy Forum. Heather commented on Penguin Paranormal's post, giving us the link to find it.

I don't know if I should post it here, since not everyone is going to want to read it. So if you want to read it, you can click here and scroll down to the post by a VA Admin.

And, as Richelle Mead pointed out in the post on her own Facebook (when she posted about this little nugget) - you really should be following Penguin Paranormal on Facebook. It's always the first place where Vampire Academy news is posted.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

| 0 Molnija Marks
The girls who run Lildhampir.com came up with a really fun idea, that we on November 7 (today) should trend #VampireAcademy on Twitter! It's exactly a month until the release of Last Sacrifice, so kind of a perfect day to do it on.

I'm a bit late in writing about this, I've been searching for clues in the Vampire Academy treasure hunt all weekend. (So fun!!) So I hope you still read this post in time. Vampire Academy fans are spread all over the world, so in Australia, for example, it's already been the 7th for a while.Here, it's soon 2 am, so it's Sunday.

So, what do you say? Let's make a collective effort and let people see the power of the Vampire Academy fans! ;-)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

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Finally, the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt has gone live! It's all made by Janet Cadsawan, who designs official Vampire Academy Jewelry. So far only a couple of clues have been posted, so there is still time to catch up. :-)

Janet has made an amazing job putting this together, and some of it is very sneaky (which we love, even if it's frustrating).

Here is a little summary of what is good to know when you make your way around the treasure map:

First, you should visit Janet's blog. There she's explained all the details of how to find the clues, and the treasure hunt starts there. Basically you find the answer to a question, and the link where you should use the answer as a password. You will then get a clue for where you can find the next question to answer. When you find that website, you look for the molnija mark, and there is the question and the link to where the answer is also a password. And so on! :-)

Does it sound confusing? I think when you start going through the steps, you'll get the hang of it. And, like I said, read through what Janet has written on her blog. She goes through everything in detail, and there are also a few hints there.

You should check out both Janet's blog for Cadsawan Jewelry + Design, and Janet's own Facebook page.

It could be a good thing to keep tabs on both Janet's Cadsawan and personal twitter accounts.

Make sure to sign up for the Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt event on Facebook.

All these different sites are not just to get clues from Janet and her Guardian helpers. :-) There are a lot of people searching at the same time as you/we are, and these sites are good places to get help from them as well.

In the blog post where the treasure hunt begins, Janet also posted a list of the booty we're competing for:

1. VA Charm Bracelet

2. Pure 80′s CD

3. Inspired Spirit Ring

4. Amor Amor perfume

5. A signed copy of Last Sacrifice


So how's everybody doing? Are you finding the clues and the websites? Isn't it fun?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

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The Vampire Academy Treasure Hunt is drawing near. Are you as excited as I am? :D I'm having problems with my internet connection this morning, so this is not going to be a very pretty blog seeing as I'm writing this on my phone. Hopefully my internet will be working later tonight, and then I'll post more details for the hunt, but for now I can say this. To get all the information about the treasure hunt, make sure you're following: 1. Cadsawan Jewelry' twitter http://www.twitter.com/cadsawanjewelry  2. Cadsawan Jewelry and design on Facebook   3. Janet's blog  http://www.cadsawan.com/blog   4. RSVP for the treasure hunt on the Facebook event    (A little hint: it might be helpful to follow Janet's own accounts on Facebook and twitter. :-)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

| 6 Molnija Marks
As you know, ReelzChannel have posted a series of guest blogs about Vampire Academy, written by different fan sites. The most recent blog is written by Laura from ShadowKissed.net, and she lists her Top 5 Fanmade Vampire Academy Movie Posters.

I'm actually not that familiar with what's out there in the way of fan made movie posters, so I haven't seen a lot of these posters, but out of the five that Laura picked, I'd have to say that this one by theatrebabyy-x is my favorite:


These are Laura's opinions about this particular poster:

Pros: This looks like a real movie poster — and a Vampire Academy one at that. It's captivating, Rose in the middle with Dimitri and Lissa either side of her, with great character-setting poses!

Cons: It's a wonderful fanmade poster, but there's no St Vladimir picture or tagline.

Verdict: Rose's pose is what draws you into this poster; this kind of theme for the posters would go a long way. This poster is ALL over the web as a fan-fave!

I agree with Laura that one con is the fact that there is no St. Vladimir's Academy in the poster, and there definitely should be because, you know, Vampire ACADEMY? And I also love how they've posed the characters. Rose in the middle, of course, since she's the narrator and main character. And seeing as a lot of the plot boils down to Rose trying to juggle her duty to and friendship with Lissa, with her feelings for Dimitri, the way she's placed between them is appropriate.

See all of Laura's poster picks, and read her opinions on them over at ReelzChannel

Congratulations to Laura for an awesome guest blog! :D

You can also check out ReelzChannel's new Facebook Page, where they are running sweepstakes. Right now you can win a Fandango gift card. Visit ReelzChannel on Facebook to find out more.