Leading Lads: Heart-throbs from Past to Present

Hey, I was a teenager once (at least that's what I tell my kids) and I had my fair share of impossible crushes on the heart-throbs of my day. Those actors made an impression, and definitely have an impact on the leading men (young and old) I put in my stories.

Waaay back when everyone was nuts for Shaun Cassidy (you can look him up on wiki) I wasn't. But I like heroes with less flash - more substance. When Tom Cruise was THE man in Top Gun, I was watching Val Kilmer. Then and now, he still tops my list. I loved his comic brilliance and quick wit in Real Genius and thought he rocked years later in movies like The Ghost and The Darkness and The Saint.

Then you've got actors like Harrison Ford who evoke dreamy eyes and sighs from female fans of all ages from the original Star Wars to the latest Indiana Jones. He remains a hot commodity, but there are some younger leading men who show similar stage presence now and great promise for the future.

Now, you're probably thinking Robert Pattinson (a fine actor) tops my list but I warned you I buck trends. Shia LaBeouf has shown a solid range of talent and courage, and while we'll always think of him as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe's already proved he's got a future beyond Hogwarts. And if your one who crushes on the geek, then you can't beat Michael Cera, in my opinion.

So who's your current leading man (past or present)? And now that you've got that dreamy expression on your face, can you remember why?

Happy Crushing!
Regan

Regan is the author of the Hobbitville series featuring four girlfriends known as the Pixie Chicks. Catch the latest adventure, Snow Covered Resolutions now!

Ban the Books! Oh, yeah, that works...

The concept of banning books cracks me up. It's hysterical. Obviously, whoever came up with the concept never actually met a child or teen, or talked to one at any length. I can tell you definitively that every single thing my parents told me not to do, I did. If this wasn't a family show here, I'd run down the list, but it is. Not to mention most of them were illegal and possibly punishable by fines, jail time, or deportation. Like that stopped me.

The primary contraband of the girls in my middle school wasn't drugs or alcohol...it was V.C. Andrews. One girl would be assigned "lookout" at the cafeteria table, while another read particularly entralling passages out loud. This wasn't the first group of 7th graders these teachers had dealt with, and they could spot a shiny, cutout cover and an overworn spine clear across five tables.

I was an avid reader, but these were the only non-assigned books I ever saw come out of anyone else's backpack. Other than Go Ask Alice, that is. A rather free-thinking teacher of ours assigned that in Reading. Only time you never caught anyone trying to nap in class.

But sex, drugs and rock n' roll aren't the main reason books are banned, at least in my opinion. It's ideas.

Take a look at the banned authors list. Maya Angelou. Steinbeck. Shakespeare. Benjamin Franklin. Kurt Vonnegut. Great thinkers who encouraged people to look at things from a different viewpoint, to challenge the accepted ways of thinking, the ways pressed on them by the government and the church. People are scared of thoughts, because thoughts turn into actions, and actions can become revolution. Martin Luther (not King, Jr.) nailed a paper to a church door, and it not only changed the course of Western civilization, but was also used almost 500 years later to fuel the Nazi's war on Jews. Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, started another revolution. If it weren't for his pamphlet, we Americans might still be paying for our morning coffee with British pounds.

Librarians, teachers, and parents will use excuses, like language, sexual content, etc. for banning a book, but if you look more closely, actually open the book and read, you'll find those few scintillating passages mostly obscured by the revolutionary thoughts they inspire.

In one of my favorite books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which, along with its fellows, has spent a fair amount of time on certain schools' banned lists), Hermione is thrilled when a magazine containing an inflammatory interview with Harry is made contraband by a professor. Harry is confused, until Hermione says, " If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!"

So grab yourself a banned book, and Viva La Revolution!

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a YA Fantasy novel. Click below to get your copy...before someone bans it!

Superhero or not?

When I first began thinking about this topic ("Who's your favorite superhero?") right away I thought of Claire, Hayden Panettiere's character in Heroes. It's hard to find a really good superhero who's female, and the unbreakable part--well, if you've ever met me, you know why I'd admire that.

But something about my choice didn't quite settle well with me, and suddenly I realized why. My favorite superhero is Harry Potter.

You might not think of Harry as a superhero--I didn't, at first, and I had quite an argument with myself over it--but the more I thought, the more I realized, well, yeah, he is. Let's break it down. He comes from humble means, but suddenly becomes aware he's special. He's a marked man from day one, and has to use his magical powers to get himself and others out of tight corners with vicious villains. He has two very cool, talented sidekicks. He can fly, and become invisible. And he uses his wits and other talents to save all wizardkind, and in the end, the world.

That description pretty much smacks of superhero to me, but what do you think? Is Harry Potter a superhero?

Fantastical Paths from Pages to Film

Fantasy books.

Fantasy movies.

Fantasy books adapted into fantasy movies.

Hey everyone! It’s Melanie Ryder, one of Alyssa Montgomery’s characters, and I’m back for yet another blog!

One of my favorite genres to read is fantasy books. I simply love how authors create their own universe that you can easily blend yourself into and understand.

But one thing that always amazes me, however, is how they are able to take that fantasy book and adapt it into a movie that plays on the big screen. An idea that was once on paper has now come to life as an absolute vision so everyone can now, not only read it, but see it.

How cool is that??

I think one of the best examples of this adaptation is Harry Potter. These are my favorite books, and I get so excited each and every time the next book is made into a movie. What the people who work on the Harry Potter movies are able to do is amazing! Both Cal and I absolutely love the floating candles in the Great Hall (and not to mention the sky). And what about Quidditch? Those scenes were exactly as I had pictured them in the books! (And Parker wants to let you all know that the scenes are exactly the way he pictured them too).

So now that you all know about my love (and Cal’s and Parker’s) for the Harry Potter books and the adaptation of them into movies, what about everyone else? Are there any fantasy books that you love the movie adaptations of?

Melanie Ryder can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).