Wow, I haven't posted in quite a while...hmmm. I moved! I now live in Tennessee permanently. It's summer vacation and I'm still exploring the Pagan world. The Summer Solstice is in two days, on Father's Day. I don't think I'll be able to do a ceremony, but I'm going to write a short story in honor of the holiday!

Butterflies

I was doing some random searches on Google. I found these pictures. This is one of my favorite kinds of butterflies, but I don't know what kind it is. I always forget to look it up or run out of time. Can anyone tell me?

Fan Made Trailer for one of My Favorite Book Series

I loved this fanmade trailer off youtube for Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments, which I mentioned in earlier posts. It was awsome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8WcRsajHfY

Watch it!

I Love Black Cats

I love all kinds of animals, but I love cats the most. Especially black ones. I just don't understand how people can treat them differently than any other-colored cats. I can understand if you're simply not a cat person, but even cat people discriminate.

So this is my mini-tribute to black cats, because they need more love.

More Books

I have found more books to my faerie tastes. The first is called The Fairy Reel, The Green Man - Tales from the Mythical Forest, and Waifs and Strays. All anthologies and all very good.

On a non-faerie note, I have also discovered the work of Ellen Hopkins, and am currently reading one of her books, Impulse. I'm working on getting her other stuff too, Crank, Glass, Burned, and Identical.

Some Interesting Books

Normally, I don't read anthologies.
But, one day in an airport bookstore, I happened to run across Firebirds, an anthology of science fiction and fanstasy short stories from various authors. For the most part, I chose it because I had flipped through it and found a short comic, and the cover looked really cool. Usually, that isn't how I choose my books, but I was in a rush and really didn't want to get on a four hour nonstop flight with nothing to read.

So, on that nonstop flight, I discovered one of my favorite books to date. I fell in love with quite a few of the stories within, and found them worth rereading many times over.

A long time later, I found the sequel, Firebirds Rising, in my home library. Eagerly, I took it home and read the whole thing through. Sharyn November, the editor of these wonderful anthologies, does not disappoint. The sequel had quite a few more science fiction tales than the first, which was sadly lacking, but both are very good.

My recommendations would be:

From Firebirds:

• Cotillion
• Beauty
• Mariposa
• The Black Fox (Both the illustration and the adaptation are good, also my favorite from this collection)
• The Lady of the Ice Garden
• Hope Chest
• Little Dot

From Firebirds Rising:

• Huntress
• The Real Thing
• I'll Give You My Word
• Wintermoon Wish
• Jack O'Lantern (My absolute favorite from this collection)
• Hives
• The House on the Planet (My second favorite)

I think anyone who has read any of the books from my previous post would love these stories. You should really give them a try. I'm really glad I did.

Until next post,

Thalia Cross

My First Post!

Hi, I'm Thalia Cross.
I'm new to the blogging world, but thought it would be a cool hobby to have, because I have a lot of free time on my hands. I'm a writer, and I also thought this would be a good way to get feedback and opinions on my work, as well as just network and make friends.
My writing mostly consists of poetry and fantasy stories concerning the supernatural, like vampires, werewolves, demons and magic. I won't be able to post any of those things for a while, however.
In the meantime, I am an avid reader, and thought it would be cool to share some of my favorite books and see the recommendations other people have.

Let's see, where to start...
Of course, I love the Twilight series from the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. I don't think I have to go into anymore detail than that. :)

Another good one would be Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. I absolutely love Vivian, and the author makes everything seem so natural and believeable. Another good story from her would be the Silver Kiss, although I find Blood and Chocolate more to my own tastes.

One of my other favorites would be Tithe, Valiant and Ironside by the delightful Miss Holly Black. When I first read Tithe, I had never read anything like it before, and I found it very intriguing. Always worth reading and rereading.

Also along the lines of Holly Black would be the Mortal Instrumants series, by Cassandra Clare. I have only read the first book, City of Ashes, but I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

(Does anyone have any suggestions as to good books similar to those of Holly Black and Cassandra Clare? If you do, I would love to hear them. I love their writing style and themes.)

Delightfully demented, as I like to call them.

These are my favorites and I think they sum up most of my reading and writing interests very well.

Well then, until next post, your new friend,

Thalia Cross :)