Bruno Wants a Nose Horn

Alright guys, it's time to talk books. 

Publishing books in particular. Publishing one book in particular.

When I went to OsFest (Omaha Science Fiction Education Society's annual sci-fi convention), I met Nikita Rose Woltersen aka Nikita Dragonrose. This lady is amazing. She sculpts, she illustrates, and she's also obsessed with dragons. I bought some hair sticks from her with a dragon curled around the top of one and while she was showing me how to easily put my hair up with them within a few seconds (something I'd previously thought beyond my hair's capabilities) she showed me her new book. She's been working on a book called Bruno Wants a Nose Horn and it's an adorable book about a dragon names Bruno who was born without a nose horn and goes about searching to find one, getting into trouble along the way. She illustrated the book herself and has also made sculptures of the various dragons within the story. She hopes to expand the story after this first book gets published and to write more children's books starring the other characters in her series. For that to happen though, she's got to get this one published!

So if you have time out of your busy schedules (trust me, I hear ya!), check out her site at Dragonrose Designs to see her work. If you really want to support her, her Facebook site has the most recent updates for her book. 

She did a Kickstarter project earlier this summer to try to raise money for a hardcover publication, but it didn't reach full funding so she didn't get to keep any of the money. Publishing a book is actually a lot more expensive than you'd think, unless you can self-publish. Self-publishing works great, unless you want an audience other than those who know you already. Nikita Dragonrose travels to several conventions and such within the mid-west (as judged by the two that I've ran into her at and the schedule posted on her website) promoting her book and selling her dragon-related creations/wares. (Trust me, they are GORGEROUS!) This is a large step in getting a fan-base, but I really would like to see her get a larger following. So if you're out there and appreciate children's literature or at least books with dragons that learn valuable morals about loving themselves the way they are, I'd suggest looking up one of this lady's sites!

(She doesn't know I'm doing this, but I really wanted to see if I could try to get her a little more of an audience, and if we're really really lucky, maybe a donation? I don't want to push that too heavily on you though)

Don't Worry, It Gets Worse: One Twentysomething's (Mostly Failed) Attempts at Adulthood

This book started out as hilarious and ended up as touching. As a newly graduated college student, I found this book by Alida Nugent as a great find. I originally picked it out because I had just started my first job out of college and was feeling like I wasn't the right fit. Alida made me laugh with her as she was wallowing on her parents couch and not knowing where she was going to end up. I loved that she still kept acting like a college student who was coming home for vacation every time she visited her parents throughout the couple of years in the book. It was comforting knowing that some things change really slowly. That made me feel much better and as I kept reading, I was adapting to my new job.  I may be done reading it now, but as the last few chapters of the book aimed more towards being encouraging for the future rather than comedy, I remain hopeful. I'd recommend this book to any new graduate feeling a little unsure about their world at the present and who appreciates a good night of binge drinking.


Photo Google'd and taken from : http://powerhousearena.com/arena/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/9780452298187_Dont-Worry-It-Gets-Worse1.jpg

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

I finally caved and read this book. Being an English major in college, there were many jokes thrown around in the department about the quality of reading that this book must contain and I so I avoided it. I feared that I would be judged. Then, when I went to my grandma's house for Christmas last year, the whole family was talking about it. Family members who never read were talking proudly about how they'd read the whole series within three days or so. I started to wonder if it could really have such a stigma about it if it was doing the impossible, getting non-readers interested in reading. I signed up to be on the waiting list through the WILBOR program at my local library to get an ebook version of the entire series. After waiting for 50+ people to have read the book, I finally got it a couple of days ago.

I understand the appeal now. I appreciate all of the literary references throughout the book, although the music references are beyond me. I clearly see how this series started out as fan-fiction, but that is the purpose of fan-fiction - to bring new life to other stories. This series is so fast-paced and alluring that I could scarcely set it down. I stayed up till two in the morning one night while reading it and woke up again early in the morning to read more of it. I enjoy the wit and the banter (I've always been a fan of literary men who are more cocky than romantic - it makes me squeal with joy to see them out-bantered by a strong female),  the passion, and the general story line because being a college English graduate, I see many parallels in the story line to my own life.
While you would think of it as being a book about BDSM because that is what I've heard many refer to it as, I disagree. Sure, he ties her arms out of the way a few times because he doesn't like being touched and he refers to her as a Sub and himself as a Dom, but that is basically the extent of it. The focus of the novel is a relationship between a sexually and romantically inexperienced college graduate and a multi-million dollar businessman who had a terrible childhood and therefore has issues expressing intimacy in a non-sexual way. I started book two this morning, so I'll find out what that one is about soon enough. :) Happy reading!