The Vampire's Assistant Movie- GIVEAWAY

This contest is closed.

We have another contest for you!

Do you remember when Darren Shan came to see us a year ago? Well, if you weren't here then or somehow missed it, you can check out the post here. He had mentioned the Cirque Du Freak movie then and guess what? It's coming out in a few weeks! In honor of the movie, we have a giveaway for you.

Here's a little about the movie:

In theaters October 23^rd

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, based on the popular series of books by Darren Shan, is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

To find out more you can go to the website here.

In addition to the movie, a new edition of the book is coming out and this along with a mirror is what you could win!:

THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT and Other Tales from the Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan

New movie edition features the first three books--Cirque Du Freak, The Vampire's Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood-- bound up in one volume!

Do you love to be scared? Then don't miss the terrifying adventure that begins when Darren and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the CIRQUE DU FREAK, a wonderfully bizarre and creepy freak show. Brace yourself for thrills and chills as the boys witness a parade of grotesque creatures and face their deepest fears by entering the darkest world of the vampire. In the blood-curdling tradition of Anne Rice and Stephen King, CIRQUE DU FREAK will have you shrieking for the next horror show!

Rules

• Vote for your favorite t-shirt saying (in the sidebar) then comment or e-mail (yathenaeum@yahoo.com) with your name and e-mail address telling us you've done so.
• An extra entry can be earned for linking to this contest on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc. Each link is a separate entry, but make sure you comment/e-mail with the or all link(s) each to receive credit.
• Deadline is October 23rd at 6:00pm est.
• Only open to U.S. addresses.

Prizes

Two winners will receive:

• Cirque du Freak book Set (3 titles in one book)
• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant Locker Mirror

Good luck!

-The YAthenaeum Team

Death's Shadow Signing- RECAP

Brought to you by Lorena. (With comments by Erika in blue)

This event was pretty hectic if you ask me. Brigitte and I were at the store sometime around 5. Erika and Julie hadn’t arrived yet so we continued the task they had started the night before of spamming the entire Young Adult book section with our bookmarks. We worked the Children’s room and when Erika and Julie arrived they went to the 2nd division of YA in the other room. I think I had to go into the back room at least 3 times for stacks of bookmarks. (The bookmarks are for this blog...)

After a good ten minutes of this, the back door opened and Emily came out loaded with Party City bags. We all met in the antiquarian room to inspect what we would be working with. Originally we had planned to wear cloaks but we ended up wearing long black hooded robes, in which we looked, to say the least, like some suicidal cult. Em then showed us the rest of the things she brought. Candles that dripped blood, bloody gauze, votive candles, and the best way to top it off, red & black M & M’s. Oh, and the most amazing CD that contained classic slasher themes (Psycho, Friday the 13th...you name it, it was on there)

We then went to decorate the event room in what we believe would help set the mood for Shan’s horror stories. I believe we did a decent job. A few candles to surround the audience chairs, 2 on the podium, bloody ones on the signing table conveniently next to the M & M’s... (And I tried to wrap the bloody gauge around the podium, but apparently everything I do turns out too neat or nice...) After we felt it was eerie enough we proceeded to our usual crowd the bathroom stage of event preparation. Since I had originally planned to have a cloak, I had brought this weird skirt I had made a while ago. It had this dramatic flair to it, with it’s freakishly long train that managed to get stuck in every door, and stepped on by anyone who wasn’t paying attention (which was me multiple times... Sorry!). I just HAD to wear it. We paled down our faces and tried to get our best “dead” look. Though we ended up looking too much like the Volturri from Twilight.

As we left to cross to the other room, Emily got a call that the dry ice she wanted for our “fog” effect had arrived. It looked cooler outside while we played with the fog than it did as a big bucket under a podium; let me tell ya. Sometime during this, Darren arrived. Emily introduced us to him and his representative. We walked with them to the café, but there was a shortage of space so we retreated to the children’s room for emergency pinning of overly large cloaks. (Namely Erika's overly large cloak that she tripped way too much on prior to said pinning.)

After a failed attempt (it actually somewhat worked for me) at that we went back to the event room. Which was actually filled with people. We stayed near the entrance until Emily walked in. We turned off all the lights, and I was in charge to turn them on as soon as Darren was at the podium. And from there it started.

Emily introduced us to the audience, as well as our site, and then let Darren take over. Erika then pointed out that I had forgotten my camera. I ran to the back room, took the tripod and camera and ran back, slowing down only so I wouldn't make too much noise in the room with my heels when I came in.

Darren begun by reading from his new book Death’s Shadow. I’ll give him props. It was a good reading, longer than most, but it was good. He then gave an announcement about upcoming things of interest in the world of Cirque du Freak.

For one, it was being turned into a manga. Second being the release of a Cirque du Freak movie. He expects it released sometime next summer, but the official trailer will be released with the Twilight movie November 21st. He then went into a Q& A about his books , and his life in general. After that he did another reading of a new fantasy book he was working on. This didn’t last as long, and we soon went on post-it duty. (I was on passing out bookmark duty.)

We got through the line pretty fast and didn’t have much to do other than play around, so we whipped out the camera and started taking pictures. After all, why miss the opportunity to take pictures in our attire.

The last one in line was a guy who had come all the way from Georgia. I don’t quite remember how many books he had on him, though I’m guessing it must have been about 12, all hardcover. While he signed Emily introduced us to Darren’s rep who apparently had studied in college with her. We talked nonsense about the signings we had worked, who we had met and whatnot.

Eventually Darren got through the stack and agreed to take a picture with us. We waved our goodbyes and went to the back room to rip off the robes. I was in the bathroom desperately trying to wipe off the black lipstick I had on… I think I still have some left. We dined on gourmet Books & Books café sandwiches and went home after that.

It was a pretty good event. After all, how often do you get to act like a cult in a bookstore?

This Week in YA- October 25, 2008

Random things:

• In honor of John Green's birthday, the Nerdfighters banded together in order to get John Green to New York Times bestseller status and they did! Paper Towns will be #5 on the list. Congrats John! We all agree it's completely deserved.
• The 2008 Teens' Top Ten has been announced. Congrats to all the authors!
• Sarah Dessen posted the cover for her new book, Along for the Ride, that comes out next year on her blog.

Movie News:

• The movie based on the first three books in Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series that is coming out sometime in the next year will have it's trailer premiered on the big screen with the Twilight movie on November 21.
• Paper Towns by John Green has been optioned by the same producers and studio that made Juno.

Books that came out in the past week:

• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
  
• Twilight (Mass Market) by Stephenie Meyer
• Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider’s Guide to the World of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Books that come out in the next week:

• October 28: The Twilight Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series by Lois H. Gresh
  
• October 28: Headlong by Kathe Koja
  
• October 28: Guardian by Julius Lester
  
• October 28: Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk

-The YAthenaeum Team

Darren Shan Tomorrow!

Darren Shan will be at Books & Books at 7pm tomorrow! 

Books & Books

265 Aragon Ave.

Coral Gables, Florida

"With Beranabus, Grubbs, and Kernel off exploring the universe of the Demonata for clues about the Shadow behind the demon invasion, Bec is left behind in Carcery Vale for safekeeping. But with Dervish's health on the decline, Lord Loss knows she's the most vulnerable piece of the Kah-Gash. As hoards of demons, werewolves, and zombies advance, Bec needs to figure how to reach Beranabus with crucial information about the Shadow-fast. Death’s Shadow (Little Brown, $16.99), the highly anticipated seventh book in the bestselling Demonata series by Cirque du Freak author Darren Shan, is sure to make sure shudder. Don’t miss tonight’s bone-chilling event."

Come and make sure to say hello!

-The YAthenaeum Team

This Week in YA- October 18, 2008

Blogs and random other things:

• The National Book Award finalists were announced Wednesday. More information on our post on the subject.
• In honor of Melissa De La Cruz's third book in the Blue Bloods series, Revelations, she's posting a quote a day from it on her blog.
• Alan Gratz's publisher, Dial Books, is letting you read Something Rotten for free here.
• On Lauren Myracle's blog she posted multiple ways to win a Bliss Shirt.
• You can get a Paper Towns' collab album by doing three things: Watch this video to see how.

Books that came out in the past week:

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson
• Two to the Fifth by Piers Anthony
• The Twilight Saga Box Set by Stephenie Meyer
• Paper Towns by John Green
• Doomwyte: A Novel of Redwall by Brian Jacques

Books that come out in the next 10 days:

• October 21: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• October 28: Twilight (Mass Market) by Stephenie Meyer
• October 28: The Twilight Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series by Lois H. Gresh
• October 28: Headlong by Kathe Koja
• October 28: Guardian by Julius Lester
• October 28: Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk

This Week in Books & Books Teen Event News:

We'll be at all of them! Come and say hi! (There will be future posts about all three)

• Wednesday, October 22, 7pm: John Green for Paper Towns.
• Friday, October 24, 7pm: Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson for Science Fair
• Saturday, October 25, 7pm: Darren Shan for Death's Shadow

-The YAthenaeum Team