Hi, I'm Alex Bracken. I'm 26, live in NYC, and I'm an author who actually works in children's publishing. I reblog everything from interesting history tidbits, to fashion, to all of the great nerdy loves of my life.
THE DARKEST MINDS (Disney*Hyperion) is out now!.
You can order it now! (That would be super swell.) Or, you can check out the excerpt and nifty things over on TheDarkestMinds.com. You can also follow me on Twitter, or like me on Facebook. You can find all TDM-related stuff on this Tumblr by clicking here.
Book 2, NEVER FADE, will be out on October 29, 2013. It's available for pre-order on Amazon (and Kindle). You can add it on GoodReads here!
EW just revealed the cover of the next book in the Outlander series!! It’s different than the version I saw earlier this year (I work for the children’s side of her publisher, but I have access to their titlesheets/manuscripts—hence the peeking), but I love this one so much more.
#Outlander #Diana Gabaldon #Written in My Own Heart's Blood
“When I woke, I was trussed up in the wagon wi’ the chickens, jolting down the road toward Fort William.”
”I see. I’m sorry. It must have been terrible for you.”
“Oh aye. Chickens are verra poor company, especially on a long journey.”
(Source: sovietcop)
#Outlander #Diana Gabaldon #Jamie Fraser #Claire FraserEXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures TV has closed a deal for the rights to Outlander, Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling fantasy/romance/adventure series of books. Battlestar Galactica developer/executive producer Ron Moore will write the series adaptation, with Jim Kohlberg’s Story Mining and Supply Co producing. The project will be taken to cable networks this week.
The book series starts off in 1945 and follows Claire,
an engageda married WWII combat nurse who accidentally steps back in time to the Scottish Highlands of 1743. Catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that send her on the run and threaten her life she is forced to marry Jamie, a gallant and passionate young Scots warrior, igniting a passionate love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire… and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives. The seven-book series has sold over 20 million copies. An eighth novel is slated to come out next year. The books have developed passionate fan following, with multiple companies running “Jamie and Claire” tours of Scotland, where they visit locations from the books.
The success of this series is totally going to be in the actual casting. Because, for real, how do you ever cast a real human being as Jamie Fraser? (Richard Madden is still my first choice, but does he have the actual charisma needed for it?) I have a lot of faith in Ron Moore, but this series is tricky on several levels… Well, we’ll see if anything actually comes of it. So glad they’ve moved past the idea of a movie series to a TV series—there’s definitely enough content to merit a Game of Thrones style treatment.
“That dog is a wolf, is he not?”
“Aye, well, mostly.”
A small flash of hazel told him not to quibble.
“And yet he is thy boon companion, a creature of rare courage and affection, and altogether a worthy being?”
“Oh, aye,” he said with more confidence. “He is.”
She gave him an even look.
“Thee is a wolf, too, and I know it. But thee is my wolf, and best thee know that.”An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
(via janeaustenslibrary)
#An Echo in the Bone #Outlander #Diana Gabaldon #Oh those quakers #Young Ian #And Rollo too of course“What do you see?” he hissed, plucking impatiently at Fraser’s sleeve. The Scot thumped down on his heels and stared down at him.
“It’s that wee arse-wipe, Twelvetrees,” he said. “He’s going through Siverly’s papers.”
Grey barely heard the second part of this; he was already headed for the front door, and quite ready to break it down, should it offer him the least resistance.
It didn’t. It was unlocked, and he heaved it open with such force that it crashed into the wall of the foyer. The sound coincided with a startled yelp from the library, and he charged toward the open door through which light was streaming, barely aware of Fraser at his heels, saying urgently, “I’m no going to break ye out of that bloody castle again, just you remember that!”
There was a louder yelp as he burst into the library, to find Edward Twelvetrees crouched beside the mantelpiece, the poker clutched in both hands and poised like a cricket bat.
“Put that down, you bloody nit,” Grey said, halting just short of striking range. “What the devil are you doing here?”
Twelvetrees straightened up, his expression going from alarm to outrage.
“What the devil are you doing here, you infamous fiend?”
Fraser laughed, and both Grey and Twelvetrees glared at him.
“I beg your pardon, gentlemen,” he said mildly, though his broad face still bore a look of amusement. He waved his fingers, in the manner of one urging a small child to go and say hello to an aged relative. “Be going on wi’ your business. Dinna mind me.”
He looked around, picked up a small wing-chair that Grey had knocked over in his precipitous entry, and sat in it, leaning back with an air of pleased expectation.
- The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
“Infamous fiend” is my new favorite insult.
Oh shit, y’all! Book 8 has a title, and it is scaring the everloving crap out of me. Characters I am now genuinely concerned about: Jemmy, Willie, Brianna, and Young Ian. (And Roger Mac, but that kind of goes without saying seeing as at least one terrible thing has to happen to him in each novel.) She’s used the Gaelic phrase “A chuisle” (“my heart’s blood”) before a few times, usually in reference to someone’s child.
DG mentioned the theme of this one is betrayal. I’m going to assume that betrayal means we’re finally going to see Benedict Arnold betray the colonies (since she set him up so nicely in ECHO), but I’m also going to assume that William’s going to be so distraught after the revelation about his father(s) that he just might do something stupid after all. I’m also very curious about whether or not we’ll see Lord John come around to the American cause, or at least act in a way that might be deemed traitorous by the crown. Someone’s going to end up betraying their principles, methinks.
P.S. Am I allowed to say that while I like the title, I don’t know that it matches the rest of the series? It’s the “My” that’s throwing me off, I think—the direct reference to someone.
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone
Written With My Heart’s Own Blood
See? There’s just something slightly off about it. Hmm… (AN ECHO IN THE BONE is my favorite title, but I love the symbolism of DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. Really beautiful stuff.)
#Outlander #Diana Gabaldon #YAAAAAY #WHY IS IT NOT 2012 YETThe Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
This is probably my least favorite of the series so far, if only because the plot feels a little soggy. It’s a series of wonderful/exciting/heartbreaking scenes, all knit together, but the overall backbone of the plot isn’t quite as strong as the earlier books. I genuinely disliked some of the plot twists in The Drums of Autumn (don’t get me wrong, they make for a great story, but it’s tough to read about your favorite characters getting assaulted/hurt/sold into slavery due to a misunderstanding about their last name), and Brianna is far from my favorite character, but… man, when that Terrible Horrible Thing happens to Roger in The Fiery Cross and he can barely speak, let alone sing…
Roooooggggeeerrrrrrr :*(
