A weekly feature on my blog where I post up cover images that fit a weekly theme - art styles, artists, colour schemes, etc. In essence, this is a meme that celebrates book covers as pieces of art. Covers link to larger images and titles to goodreads summaries.

This week's theme: Jason Chan (concept artist)
artist website | artist gallery
Another artist feature! This artist technically hasn't done a lot of book covers (that I know of), but feel free to leave in the comments any of his other works that you think would work well with a specific book =)

1) Theatre Illuminata (novels) #1 Eyes Like Stars #2 Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev extra: author's interview with the artist

3) selections from gallery (names are all my doing, sorry) women from chinese fantasy fantasy game sorceress+beast bloodthirsty elf woman noble dude w/ flower petals mr.romero+zombies dark mecha-angel big friendly giant mermaid x octopus-man kid+unicorn vs. kid+dragon warrior woman riding panther characters posed as skull vampire twins junkyard angel dramatic dystopia modern girl w/ mp3 girl(?) pissing while standing space opera ensemble

2) other covers X-men Exiles: Wolverine (graphic novel) by Jeff Parker The Hunger Games (novel, UK ed.) by Suzanne Collins

The artist's name was mentioned in a post last week about the cover image for The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter. I was thinking about what theme I should have for my next Cover Cravings at the time and decided to look the artist up. Turns out he is also the artist for the Eyes Like Stars cover, which I'm sure many people have seen and adored. Of course I checked out his gallery and immediately decided I need to feature his work here. It's not apparent from the cover samples on the left column, but if you peruse his gallery a little (or click on the selections I've linked to on the right column), you'll see his art is very flexible in theme and style. I'd love to see more of his art featured on book covers, especially since there's potential for fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary, steampunk, asian fantasy, paranormal romance, children's fantasy, and humour/comedy.

So, which are your favourites from his gallery? =)

update on 50 followers giveaway poll
If you haven't voted on my 50 followers giveaway poll, please do (it's at the top of the page)! I need votes from at least half of my followers (25 in this case) to vote for either option 1 or 2 before I actually host the giveaway. I'm at 19 votes at the moment (2 votes for option 3), so I'm thinking of extending the poll until Monday. If I still don't get 25 voters for options 1 or 2, I'll postpone the giveaway until I reach 75 followers.
It looks like there's a pretty close tie between the giftcard vs the layout, so I'm thinking maybe I'll host a contest where the winner gets to choose the final prize? Either way, I'm in the process of setting up a sample layout design catalogue that highlights all the extra accessories I am offering to include. I'll link to it here when I'm done =)

A weekly event on my blog where I post about books (not necessarily pre-release or new) that I've just added to my wishlist, along with a little blurb on why I want to read it.
(hosted by Book Chick City & Breaking the Spine)


Black Blade Blues
by J.A. Pitts
release date: 27 April 2010

Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twentysomethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval reenactment group. After the lead actor breaks Sarah’s favorite, one-of-a-kind sword, one of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help repair the blade. And that’s when things start to get weird.
Could the sword really be magic, as the "dwarf" claims? Are dragons really living among us as shapeshifters? As if things weren’t surreal enough, Sarah’s girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase..."I love you."
Her life falls apart; Sarah hits rock bottom. At this moment, when she has lost everything she once prized, one of the dragons makes a move.
Sarah will have to decide if she can reject what is safe and become the heroine who is needed to save her world.

Why it's on my wishlist
Dude, lesbian urban fantasy. Plus, invested relationship rather than "hot new classmate/neighbour", AND she's a blacksmith!props master!roleplayer! (LOL) So yes, do want.

Giveaway Poll Reminder
If you haven't voted on my 50 followers giveaway poll, please do (it's at the top of the page)! I need votes from at least half of my followers (25 in this case) to vote for either option 1 or 2 before I actually host the giveaway. Poll closes February 6!

So, encouraged by Ah Yuan, I've decided to participate in this Chromatic Recasting meme. I actually really really wanted to do one for Let the Right One In (THE MOST AMAZING, ADORABLE, INTENSE, REALISTIC, GENDER-DEFYING VAMPIRE MOVIE YOU WILL EVER NEED TO SEE), but promptly realized I didn't know that many grade-school-looking actors, American, Asian, or otherwise lol.

So, instead, I've turned to my recent obsession, the Sherlock Holmes series! Prior to the 2009 movie (RDJ SO MUCH LOVE ♥), I had been a huge fan of Hound of the Baskervilles - I literally reread it multiple times per day when the mood hit me lol - so my choices are also influenced by the original novels as well. However, the moment I decided Takeshi Kaneshiro would be my Holmes, my actor choices immediately gravitated towards his co-actors from the recent John Woo epic Red Cliff. Okay, I can probably explain why most of my choices are actors from this awesome awesome movie: John Woo went ahead and casted some gorgeous and talented people. They're also multi-ethnic (to a degree)! Takeshi and Nakamura from Japan, Tony from Hong Kong, Lin Chilin and Zhang Zhen from Taiwan, and Hu Jun, Zhao Wei, Zhang FengYi, etc. from mainland China. As someone who watches all different facets of East Asian media, I've seen most of these actors in at least one film before, all of them quite memorable. So I'm not just randomly excusing myself to recast one movie into another fandom, really XD;

And thus, onto my Sherlock Holmes Chromatic Recast, aka "the meme wherefor I ended up recasting Red Cliff actors into Sherlock Holmes"!

Thanks so much to Nikki of Ramblings of a Bibliophile for this adorable award!

Like her, I will be passing this onto my top (5) commenters!

♥ Ah Yuan @ GAL Novelty
♥ miss cindy @ simple life and reading...
♥ Ryan @ Wordsmithonia
♥ Alyssa @ Teens Read and Write
♥ Sheila @ Bookjourney

Giveaway Poll Reminder
If you haven't voted on my 50 followers giveaway poll, please do (it's at the top of the page)! I need votes from at least half of my followers (25 in this case) to vote for either option 1 or 2 before I actually host the giveaway. Poll closes February 6!

A weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week.
(hosted weekly by J.Kaye's Book Blog)

Still Reading

• Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt
  Marla Mason #2
• Collision Course by William Shatner
  Star Trek Academy #1
• Nightlife by Rob Thurman
  Cal Leandros #1
• Hunting Fear by Kay Hooper
  Bishop Special Crimes Unit #7
• Hero by Perry Moore
• Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Still Listening To

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  Sherlock Holmes Anthologies #1
   (audio book read by John Telfer)
• Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri
  Another #1
   (audio book read by Katherine Kellgren)

New Reviews

• review: A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
• review: The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

It's Midterm Season (2 this week, and 2 the next), which means the only things I'll be reading for now will probably be my study notes and textbooks =(
I will sneak in some book-time when my brain starts cramping though, and maybe even finish one of the many listed above that I'm currently working my way through...

Giveaway Poll Reminder
If you haven't voted on my 50 followers giveaway poll, please do (it's at the top of the page)! I need votes from at least half of my followers (25 in this case) to vote for either option 1 or 2 before I actually host the giveaway. There's been 11 votes so far (on options 1 or 2), 14 more to go! Voting closes February 6th!