Catching my breath

Gosh, it's been a whirlwind lately.

First, in case you missed it, I wanted to share the "Behind the Scenes" video Steve and I made in Cambridge this past summer with the help of Harry, a grad student at Corpus Christi College. Though the video is expertly edited by Flatline Films, it soon will become very clear to you that Steve and I are not professional filmmakers. (Brace yourself for babbling and shaky cam!) Still, I'd love for you to see the setting of The Dark Between, and I know you'll be charmed by Harry.


My favorite part is the Monty Python-esque "Huge amounts of land" moment! Of course, Harry also shares details on murder, brothels, punting accidents, and somehow even manages to work Beyonce into the conversation.

So what else has been going on? Well . . .

-- I went on tour with Tessa Gratton, Tara Hudson, and Myra McEntire.


We hit Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Tess recapped the trip for Publishers Weekly!

-- I had a wee launch party at Barnes & Noble in Norman, and a signing at Best of Books in Edmond.


We enjoyed a Dark Between cake at the "after party" in Norman, and at Best of Books there were Dark Between cookies created by Amber Loberg. :)

And this week, Tessa, Tara, and I will make 11 library visits in 5 days. Insanity, right? And yet, so cool! Here's a poster for our Blanchard stop (click to enlarge):


You can find all the details at the Pioneer Library System webpage or check the events calendar at my webpage.

Big Hugs to all of you who came to events! Hope to meet more readers in the coming days.

P.S. If you've read The Dark Between, would you please consider reviewing it at Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble? It doesn't have to be a long review or a 5 star review, just an honest assessment. (I've developed a thicker skin. Really.) This sort of thing helps tremendously, and I'd be ever so grateful.

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

A tea for August

Haven't done a tea post in a while!


When we were in Lucerne, Switzerland, we spent some time in this lovely shop. After poking about and sniffing lots of lovely teas, I chose . . .


A black tea from Indonesia! This Taloon has the characteristic reddish tint of an Assam, but to me it tastes more delicate and requires little, if any, sugar (depending on your tastes). L'art du thé has a website . . . in German. I did find a few U.S. companies that sell Taloon, including Tea Fountain.


I enjoy the Taloon in the afternoon, and it pairs nicely with banana bread and fruit.

For your further enjoyment, I also offer a video. You might call this Tea Horror! (Or Tea Humor?) I've enjoyed Charlie McDonnell's vlogs for a while now, but this is his first actual film. I guess he's all grown up now (he, or his character, at least, lives in an apartment? has a girlfriend?), but he still seems about 12 to me.



[Cross-posted at livejournal]

Weekend discoveries

-- On Saturday Anjali Banerjee posted a link to this wonderful video on Facebook. Stick with it to the 30 second point and I promise you won't be disappointed. Oh, and please click the full screen icon for optimum viewing. :)

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

-- Yesterday I watched two 1935 films as research for a certain project. First up was Katherine Hepburn in Alice Adams, which I must confess I did not like at all. (And I'm a huge Hepburn fan.) Fortunately, the next selection was much better -- the original 39 Steps directed by Alfred Hitchcock. LOVED it! I was glued to the TV and even had to rewind a few times to fully admire Hitchcock's signature match cuts and quirky framing of shots. This film had a more credible script (in my opinion) than the recent TV adaptation starring Rupert Penry-Jones. (It definitely offered more roles for women -- I can think of at least 4 memorable female characters.)


Best of all was lovely Robert Donat, with his floppy hair and fetching guyliner -- my latest dead actor crush!

Procrastination

Saw this at sjaejones' blog. I'm certainly guilty of the exploiting the tea break in my procrastinatory lapses.



I must have an especially feeble prefrontal cortex.

I've only seen one other Charlie McDonnell video, but I totally have a crush on him now. Even though he looks 12. (He's nearly 21, actually.)

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Friday Five: giveaway WINNER and some links

1. The winner of a shiny new hardcover copy of L.K. Madigan's The Mermaid's Mirror AND an ARC of Jennifer Donnelly's forthcoming Revolution is:

brian_ohio!!!

(Brian, if you email me at sonia (at) soniagensler (dot) com, we can iron out the details.)

Thanks to EVERYONE who participated on livejournal and blogspot -- I appreciate you ever so much, and I hope you'll stay tuned for future giveaways.

2. Book banning makes me LIVID. If you haven't already, please read Laurie Halse Anderson's blog post about a mind-boggling challenge to her beautiful book, Speak: This guy thinks SPEAK is pornography. ALSO, go here to win a copy of Twenty Boy Summer, another book thoughtlessly maligned by Scroggins. And consider reading a banned book this week, won't you?

3. This brilliant blog post from Maureen Johnson almost pushes that Scroggins dude out of my head: Sell the Girls.

4. I saw this short little video linked on Facebook. It may have been around for a while, but was new to me. CRACKED ME UP. Perhaps I should advise . . . oh, I'm not even going to warn you. A commercial for Channel Bee.

5. These two film trailers make me giddy:

Happy weekend, everyone!

[cross-posted from Livejournal]