Friday, March 19, 2010

Challenge: Once Upon a Time IV – March 21 – June 20, 2010

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This gorgeous badge links to the challenge site and information below is taken directly from Stainless Steel Droppings.

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Carl V. States:

What reader hasn’t recognized that “curious thrill” at one time or another? It is the opiate that we so often chase whenever we pick up the next book, that readiness to experience something, to connect on a level deeper than mere ink on the page. That chance for something “remote and strange and beautiful” is what repeatedly draws me back to fantasy, folklore, fairy tale, and mythology. Tales of this ken are built upon foundations of storytelling that date back to our most ancient ancestors. There is just “something” about this kind of story.

The fourth annual Once Upon a Time Challenge officially begins on Sunday, March 21st and ends June 20th. In addition to the usual goings on over here at Stainless Steel Droppings, the next three months will see features on art, music, film and of course literature of a fantastical, mythical nature. The purpose of the challenges that I host is always to first and foremost have fun and secondly to promote a sense of community across the blogosphere, so I encourage you to become involved in any way that feels comfortable for you. To give the challenge some structure, I offer several options.

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Please see Stainless Steel Droppings for more information about all the options.  I believe there are six.

For my level of commitment I have chosen the following two elements of the challenge – The Journey and Short Story Weekends. Below are their descriptions taken from the challenge site - underlined text is for informational purposes:

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out4journey

1.) This is really as simple as the name implies. It means you are participating, but not committing yourself to any specific number of books. All reading is a journey, perhaps none more so than reading fantastical fiction. By signing up for The Journey you are agreeing to at least read one book within one of the four categories during March 21st to June 20th period. Just one book. If you choose to read more, fantastic! If not, then we have still had the pleasure of your company during this three month reading journey and hopefully you have read a great book, met some interesting people, and enjoyed the various activities that occur during the challenge. It has always been of utmost importance to me that the challenges that I host be all about experiencing enjoyable literature and sharing it with others. I want you to participate. Hence, The Journey.

and:

out4questssw

2.) This quest involves the reading of one or more short stories that fit within at least one of the four genres during the course of the weekend. Ideally you would post about your short story readings on Sundays or Mondays, but this is not strictly necessary.

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Join the fun! Even if its for only one book and/ or a short story. And for further enticement there will be prizes! Very nice prizes!

Here is where all the books will be posted.

All completed reviews and links for this challenge will be posted below:

Read at least one Fantasy, Myth, or Fairytale related book:

  1. Keeper by Kathi Appelt (young adult/tween, mythic - slipstream)
  2. The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner (slip stream, literary)

Read any number short stories of the same:

  1. “Antickes and Frets” by Susanna Clarke
  2. “The Goosle” by Margo Lanagan

This challenge is complete but I will keep posting till June 20th.

10 comments:

Amanda Makepeace said...

Best of luck on your challenges! I've left something for you on my blog, you can pick it up here.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

This challenge sounds fabulous! I'll think about it...

Meanwhile, I have an award for you here:

http://laurel-rain-snow.blogspot.com/2010/03/virtual-basket.html

Ana S. said...

I look forward to seeing what you'll be reading :)

Kris said...

More awesome challenges that I have to forgo; although still having great experiences reading the top 100. Have you read Tunnels or Deeper? Those were the last two books I read before this endeavor and they were great (fantasy/fiction).

Unknown said...

Amanda -
Thanks once again for the awards. I will be by to comment and pick them up. I hope you had a great weekend and got into plenty of mischief. ;)

Laurel -
What a cute award for charity too! Now lets see if I can figure it all out.


Nymeth -
This is such a wonderful challenge. I am only just exploring this genre - after a long fiction reading hiatus.

It will be wonderful to see your thoughts and reads your reviews as well. I see you have an incredible list of which a few I will pilfer for my tbr pile. ;)

Thanks for commenting.


Kris -
No I have never heard of either of those books - looking up on goodreads right now...
Oh they look very good... a young adult or tween dystopia.. I will have to add the first in the series to my tbr list.

I was checking out the "mythic" reads on your group site there which look interesting.

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Thanks for commenting all - sorry about late response. I have decided to try to do an "unplug" Sunday - no computer. Lets see how well I do? lol.

Unknown said...

Kris -
Sorry with the mix up about the site that you aren't attached too... :)
Just figured that out. lol

Julie (ASmAcc) said...

Thank you for visiting and commenting AND following! :) I haven't scanned your blog too much (YET) do you read YA? If you do, I am reading The Fairy's Return by Gail Carson Levine which is a collection of fairy tale short stories. I haven't finished, but so far it is very cute. (Just in case you were looking for more short story idea...)

Unknown said...

Hi Julie -
Yes I do read young adult - in fact I will be posting a few "previews" of books that I will be reviewing for publishers today - I think.

Almost everything gets read here.. no Christian lit, or political books with a specific party associated with it. Oh yes and pure romance...

We love speculative fiction... sci fi/fantasy/horror.. paranormal

Thanks so much for the recommendation I will add it to my tbr list on Goodreads. Are you on goodreads? If not highly recommended.

Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Jodie Robson said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting - unfortunately there was a glitch and blogger won't let me publish your comment. Please feel free to try again if you'd like to - so frustrating when you want to be welcoming to people and then the technology lets you down!

I hope you enjoy the challenge - look forward to seeing what you will read.

Unknown said...

GC -
I tried again - hopefully it works this time... :)

This is my first for this particular challenge, and relatively new to the genre so its going to be a great exploration for me.. seeing what everyone reads and their thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by

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