If you like the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, you might enjoy Cory Doctorow’s latest book, Homeland. When Marcus, once called M1k3y, receives a thumbdrive containing evidence of corporate and governmental treachery, his job, fame, family, and well-being, as well as his reform-minded employer’s election campaign, are all endangered.
The movie debuts on Feb. 14 (how perfect). If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for?? If you’re a fan of paranormal romances/urban fantasy, I think you’ll enjoy Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia. In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.
The story’s also been adapted as manga. And there’s the soundtrack from the movie available now.
CD soundtrack
Kiersten White, author of the Paranormalcy series, has a new book/series debut, Mind Games.
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.
Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.
As an anime fan and cosplayer, my year revolves around one major event: Ohayocon. I have attended this convention six times now, and each year I come back home afterwards with my geekiness in full force (and my suitcase loaded with merchandise). This year was no exception. Back in January 2012, right on the heels of the last con, I decided on a new cosplay–Asellus from the video game SaGa Frontier–and got started.
I had an entire year to prepare for the con, but I still found myself working on my costume every spare minute I had until the night before I left for Columbus. As I patterned and sewed my outfit, I found myself delving into other forms of arts and crafts to finish the job: polymer clay-working and jewelry-making techniques for my accessories, and embroidery for the decorative blue stitching on my sleeves. I even considered learning how to knit in order to make my black and white stockings! (I ran out of time, but hey, there’s always next year!) I borrowed piles of library books as I worked to try and figure out the best way to make each piece, and I am still looking through each one for hints on future projects.
Through my experiences and talking with other fans, I learned that for many of us, loving something doesn’t stop at just watching the series, reading the books or playing the video games. We create fanfiction or fanart to complement our favorite stories and characters, and cosplayers like me have picked up more than just a needle and thread to complete our costumes. Thanks to the Internet, I have stumbled across other ways to show your love for a series, where people have used their skills in music, cooking, even mixing drinks, to make tie-ins for them. My favorite of these is Final Fantasy Recipes, a blog dedicated to dishes inspired by the Final Fantasy video games. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the series, I highly recommend giving some of the recipes a try! Each one I’ve tried has been fun to make and turned out great. As for me, I’ve most enjoyed looking through the Final Fantasy 9 recipes and imagining what it would be like to stop by the pub in Lindblum for lunch, or to dine with the nobles in Treno.
So, no matter what you like or how you’d like to show it, the sky’s the limit! Try googling your favorite series and see what other people have been inspired to do with it, and maybe you’ll want to create something all your own.
Here’s some other titles with geeky themes, and check out our lists of anime and manga. For more themed recipes, try looking through some of our literary cookbooks.
Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson. When madness stalks the streets of London, no 
one is safe…
There’s a creepy new terror haunting modern-day London. Fresh from defeating a Jack the Ripper killer, Rory must put her new-found hunting skills to the test before all hell breaks loose…
But enemies are not always who you expect them to be and crazy times call for crazy solutions.
Gravity is a science fiction novel about Ari Alexander, a daughter of the military elite, begins falling for arrogant Jackson Locke, an alien spy, and she must decide whether to keep her father’s military secrets or divulge them to Jackson to prevent a war.
If you’re a fan of the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, rejoice! She’s starting a new series set in the same world, a few decades before Alexa’s adventures.
Etiquette & Espionage is set in an alternate England of 1851, spirited fourteen-year-old Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where, she is suprised to learn, lessons include not only the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, and espionage.
Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook – From Lamb Stew to “Groosling”- more than 150 recipes inspired by The Hunger Games Trilogy.
Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones
Steampunk and zombie fans, get excited! Cherie Priest‘s Boneshaker is coming to the big screen. From Cherie’s blog –
Hammer Films bought motion picture rights to Boneshaker.
The book is set in an alternate 1880s Seattle, in which the city is walled in and a toxic gas has turned many of its residents into Rotters (zombies). A young widow hunts for her teenaged son in the Seattle underworld while dealing with airship pirates, a criminal overlord and heavily armed refugees.
Exclusive Media Group’s Simon Oakes said “Boneshaker is a classic zombie movie with a modern twist which is quintessentially Hammer so it’s a perfect fit for us. Cherie Priest’s steampunk series are fantastic with a distinct, unique style and we’re really looking forward to bringing her ‘Rotters’ to the big screen.”
Talking about the deal, Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver said “It’s like Jules Verne meets Resident Evil, and we’re thrilled to have such a fun, commercial potential franchise in Boneshaker.”
Boneshaker is the first in the Clockwork Century series, and is followed by Clementine, Dreadnought, and the recently released Ganymede. (Two more books are due in this series: Inexplicables in 2012 and Fiddlehead.)
2010 DragonCon interview with Cherie –
Check out these new books coming to a library shelf near you:
Damned by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié. As the newly appointed Hunter, teenager Jenn leads the fighting teams who defend against the Cursed Ones–the vampires who are taking over Earth–but an even more sinister force now threatens the teams of hunters, with the fate of humanity at stake.
In the Forests of the Night – Goblin Wars #2 by Kersten Hamilton. The battle against goblinkind continues . . . but which side will Teagan be on?
Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man’s forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea’s goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea’s family and friends. Tea knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich. And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.
The Pledge by Kimberly Derting. In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she’s spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It’s there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she’s never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.