Aeipathy

For literature lovers...

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ay - pah- thee

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Features

Letter from the Editors Dear Reader,

This is a dream magazine. A magazine about all things literature would have had us in utter, heavenly bliss.

Since we didn’t have one to enjoy, we’re giving this one to you. It’s not exactly what we were dreaming of, but it’s pretty close. We worked hard for this magazine not only because it was required, but because we actually wanted to put it into production. That can’t often be said about a high school class.

You can call us Aeipathy. We’re a team, we work together, and we have the same name. Don’t bother looking it up in the nearest dictionary. Chances are, you won’t find it. Our title is one of many words in the English language that are dying out, and we’re bringing this one back. The word means a deep passion and reflects our own attitude towards literature.

One thing that went through our minds while designing our magazine was what became our motto, “Simple, but Bold.” We’re here to make a statement in a creative way. We’re going to blow your mind away or get writer’s block trying.

This magazine is the product of much hard work and tons of very professional procrastination by our literatureloving ninja squad. Dedicating most of our time to “research,” but still a lot to the creation of our magazine, we managed to give you this packet of information.

Enjoy!

Love, Aeipathy 5

Features

Table of Contents Underground Exploring.....................................................................................5 The Huricane Author.........................................................................................7 The Eternal One.................................................................................................9 NaNoWriMo......................................................................................................11 Couch Potato or Book Worm?.......................................................................13 La Librairie EnchantĂŠe....................................................................................15 How to Write an Action Scene.......................................................................25 The Lackluster Lost Hero..................................................................................26 Fataly Flawed...................................................................................................29 No Longer on the Side of the Angels............................................................31 Top 5 Banned Books.......................................................................................33

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Biographies Features

Monica is studying to become a master procrastinator. Her methods include surfing the interwebs, being horrible at video games, taking naps, and reading novels in a day (only to never speak of them ever again). She wishes she had History this year instead of Geography because the American Revolution is close to the coolest thing ever. Actually, history is the coolest thing ever. It’s like a really, really long bedtime story.

DFTBA

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Clara is a bookworm. She loves literature and reads as much as possible. Unfortunately, that is never enough.

She also has enjoyed writing for most of her life and participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, which happened to be during the production of this magazine.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go very well. But she won’t let it dampen her dreams. Some of her other less favorite procrastination tools are her bicycle, her flute, and her dance shoes.

Features Features Biographies

There is nothing special about Katy. She has a dog, and two cats, and a little brother. She’s fairly normal, if a bit obsessed with learning Swedish. She likes suprises and books. The Smiths and Joy Divison give her musical frission. She enjoys history too, in particular the French Revolution, which only worked because of cobblestones. She’s a ‘hipster’ according to the people who know her. They’re probably right. The MBW formation gives her chills. And that’s about it.

Kassandra loves to read like crazy whenever she had time to do it. Her favorite kind of books are the ones that have a ton of action (ex: Hunger Games) but she reads anything from realistic fiction to manga online.

Other things that she does besides reading include drawing random stuff, listening to music, and playing video games.

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Underground Reaching new depths Exploring with the Austin Bat Cave Features

W

alking into the Austin Bat Cave, especially during summer weather,

is like a cool refresher. The AC is a relief from the oven-like Austin heat.

Writers of all ages go to discuss books, improve writing, or get help with school, sitting in a large circle on the floor with other students or adults. The local organization provides workshops, summer camps, and book clubs to people of all ages.

Fush Parker, a sophomore at LASA High School, is often involved with the Bat Cave. Mainly she attends the book club once a month. “It’s a teen, female book club, but sometimes I think of it as a writing club because we’ll talk about our writing as well.” Fush says. The book club reads books spanning different genres, including a book about Henrietta Lacks, books by Jane Austen, and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. “We really end up reading more classics and more outside what my normal comfort zone is; adult books as well.”

One book the club read about Henrietta Lacks and the original owner of the HeLa cell, Fush commented on, “I wouldn’t have read that on my own unless I was told to by Kirk.”

“I’ve gotten really close to the other girls and our host.” Fush said. Their host, Kirk Walsh, is a writer and freelance editor who leads the book club in a discussion about the book’s tone, character and plot lines, and the author’s writing style.

Fush said that the book club is an excellent part of the Bat Cave. “It’s really expanded what I read because most of the time I would just read fiction, teen fiction, or something in that genre.”

“I would definitely suggest it because we read a lot of books that you wouldn’t normally read like ‘oh, why would I want to read that?’ but then you read it and you find out it’s a good book. I think there’s only been one or two books that I’ve actually bombed, like ‘I don’t want to read this,’ but most

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of them were like ‘this is interesting,’ and sometimes it’s like ‘this is really

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interesting, but my book club’s in two hours.’”

Fush has also attended workshops at the Bat Cave, where an author would talk to their audience and then everyone would practice writing on sheets of paper. “It was a really nice experi-

to draw our own bikes and come up with preliminary ideas, which is not necessarily writing or reading related, but it’s the inspiration.”

Fush, who had volunteered at a young writer’s camp spon-

ence because we would talk about [our writing] instead of just

sored by Heart of Texas Writing Project, compared it to the

a teacher sitting, but everyone got their turn to talk about what

Austin Bat Cave. “The Bat Cave is better because it’s a little bit

they wrote,” she said about a workshop she took on writing per-

more free-willed. It seemed more interactive at the Austin Bat

spective. “We were just working on little things about writing.”

Cave.”

The “little things” matter for people like Fush, who would

Fush encourages readers and writers to attend workshops,

like to publish her work at some point. “In the future when I do

camps, or the book club hosted by the Austin Bat Cave. “The

some more writing and get better I think I will probably-- try

atmosphere is always friendly and positive. Both the volunteers

to, at least-- get some of it

that are working for the Bat

published, possibly a novel.

Cave and the students are very

I’m still having some difficulty writing novels because they take up so much time, so short stories are more my thing.” The Bat Cave has helped Fush in many ways, and not only by improving her writing. “It’s made me more motivated, seeing other people working hard, and it just motivates me to work as well, seeing other people there have the same goals as me.”

“I would suggest to anyone to join the Bat cave-- it’s really beneficial.”

Usually Fush also participates in the summer camps. “The camps really help mak you

intent and listen to each other with an impressive attentive manner.”

The Bat Cave, as well as improving writing and inspiring writers and readers, also harbors a good community and encourages children and teens to write outside of their comfort box and get better at it. “I would definitely suggest to anyone to join the Bat Cave-it’s really beneficial.” ¤

--Clara Altfeld

think outside the box because you do a lot of different things other than what you normally do because normally you’re just writing, whereas at the camps, they make you write outside of you subject area and comfort zone, so you write poems, et cetera, maybe you wouldn’t necessarily do this, but now you are.”

“It’s mostly writing and reading but art plays a bog part as well.”

Fush says to clarify the camps. At one of the camps the Bat Cave had an organization that does bicycle art come and show them a few of their bikes. They not only saw the bat bike, but also a bike that made ice cream, which they all tried out. “We also got

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Features

The Hurricane Author An inside look with Julie Lake

A

t first glance, people in Austin think she’s just your librarian. People pass by her in the streets and stu-

“I was in a critique group and this guy said my ‘back-story

dents enter the library thinking she’s nothing more

was dripping like Chinese water torture’,” Julie said. “The idea

than that. What they don’t know is that she’s one of Austin’s

is to encourage them to work harder in their story and if you

most successful book authors.

say something mean like that you’ll make them wanna give

Julie Lake is the Austin’s book author of Galveston’s Sum-

up.”

mer of the Storm. She graduated from the University of Texas

Even though there were mean things said about her writ-

at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1982. She

ing, Julie never gave up. She continued writing and improv-

decided to become a writer and then later published a book

ing herself and eventually she had a story published in 2003,

of her own in 2003. “Writing comes easy, but it takes disci-

Galveston’s Summer of the Storm. Having her first book pub-

pline to make time to write.” This is just one kind of advice

lished, Julie was really thrilled.

that drove Julie into becoming the writer she is today.

“I really like that the story I had an idea about had taken a

As a young girl, Julie hated reading. When she had to read

real permanent form,” Julie said. “There’s nothing so exciting

out loud in school, she stuttered. But that over time changed.

as when your book comes out and you see it in print. It’s just

She started to read more and she got into the habit of writ-

a real special thing.”

ing. She discovered that she enjoyed writing and she wrote whenever possible.

Once she was a known author, she did public speaking about her book. Julie said it helped her grow as a person be-

“One thing that encouraged me to write was just when I

cause she was meeting new people. Her book is about a hur-

would note something interesting and I wanted to tell a story

ricane that striked in Galveston’s shore and when she talked

about it,” Julie said. “When I was in high school, me and my

about it she just wanted to get one message through.

friends used to make these little books and we also had the school newspaper and I use to write stories for that.”

Julie said that the writing itself, when she did finally sit down and start writing, she usually didn’t have trouble with it.

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not everyone was nice when making suggestions.

“I tend to be careful about messages because I don’t want to be real preachy in my writing, but in the hurricane book that I wrote I really wanted to communicate that even when bad things happen you can get through them.”

Now being an author and publicly speaking about her book

“The more creative writing, like story writing, is easier for

was something that Julie really enjoyed. She probably would

me to do and I usually have no trouble putting lots of words

have a lot of good things happen to her in the future, but just

together,” Julie said, “they may not be very good but I can just

like every author, there is one thing they all dread from hap-

go on and on.”

pening. Bad reviews.

As Julie became a better writer, she decided to join writing

“I’ve been pretty lucky because there really weren’t any bad

critic groups have their advice help her with her writing. The

reviews, at least that I saw,” Julie said. “One librarian I know

people there really helped her improve her writing, but

didn’t like the cover of the book, she thought it wasn’t good

Features Features

enough, but that’s really the only bad thing.”

another way of storytelling, and I like to go to restaurants.”

Having no bad reviews is a good thing for any author and

Those are some of the things Julie does in her spare time.

Julie is glad to be one of those authors. Good reviews on the

Although, that’s not all she would like to do. There are some

other hand, Julie has plenty. Research anywhere and you find

things that she wishes she could do or just have time to try

her book having 3.5 out of 5 stars. And Julie has some of her

and do them.

own good reviews as well. Some of the books she really likes include some very talented writers.

“I worked with a magazine for a time,” Julie said, “and would like to work for a magazine again, but with all the techni-

“One I really like is ‘The Book Thief ’ by Markus Zusak,

cal things such as layout designing in computers, I’m just

Julie said, “I feel he’s really brave as a writer and his characters

not very good at that. I am also working on this story that I

are really good. Another one I really like too is Cut and Sold

would like for it to get published and this time I want to go to

by Patricia McCormick. Her writing is just really beautiful

a national publisher. Another thing I thought about doing is

and it’s kind of simple. It’s almost like reading poetry and she

becoming an English teacher, but right now I’m really trying

really gets deep about the characters she writes about.”

to figure out what to do.”

Those are some of the books she enjoyed reading. Other

With her wonderful writing abilities and skills as a story

things Julie enjoys doing besides reading her favorite authors

teller, Julie will keep on writing to make her goals come true.

include her jobs and her past-time activities.

As long as she can keep on writing, she will keep on sharing

“I work at Anderson library and I also have a part time job

her stories with everyone.

doing some editing. Then I started salsa dancing,” Julie said.

“No matter how much we evolve, the whole idea of story

“I spend some time with my daughter and then sometimes I

is really important,” Julie said, “because stories are how we

go out with my friends. I really like movies, because they are

make sense of the world.”

-Kassandra Cortez

¤

Galveston’ Summer of the Storm 14 year old Abby Kate is visiting her grandmother in Galveston for a few weeks. The illness in her family back at Austin, means that she will have to stay for more time than planned. The bad news is, Abby is there on September 9, 1900 when the deadliest hurricane disaster to ever hit the United States happens. What will happen as Abby is trapped in this deadly storm?

Photo crurtesy of: OpenLibrary.com

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Features

Do you long for a place you’ve never been?

Do you often experience the sensation of

déjà vu?

Do you possess skills or talents that defy explanation?

If you answered yes to any of these questions,

You may have experienced a previous life.

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Features

Kirsten Miller had her first book, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City published in 2006. Two years later, in 2008, the sequel, The Empress’s Tomb was released. Then, in 2010, the crowning glory of any author, her newest book, The Eternal Ones, became a New York Times best-seller. Since the release of Kiki Strike, Kirsten has also simultaneously run a blog of bizarre things.

By Katy Hanna Kirsten Miller is a rather peculiar person. Many have never seen her, or The setting for all of her books is inher New York City, where livedknow sincemore escaping herher small North heard physical voice.

Andshe’s yet, they about thoughts Carolina hometown. It’s common knowledge many things happen in New York.

A recent than they do about theirbizarre own. One might find this odd, as they should. example, provided by Kirsten, features “a group of people who to liveher onliterary houseboats in Brooklyn’s Every thought is analyzed for clues identity, to the next horribly polluted Gowanus Canal.”

It’s easy to see how she is inspired. plot line, to the next bizarre happenstance. Why? Kirsten is an author.

She

had her first book, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shad- And then there is her creations. The characters, the societies.

She Kirsten drawsMiller inspiration from other things too, many of which are clever ways to entertain herself. ow City published in 2006.

Twoas years later,around in 2008, the sequel, Perhaps “What the most If?” interesting Club, in The Eter“There’s a little game I play I walk town.

It’s called Whatisifthe allOuroboros the manholes The to Empress’s TombWhat was released.

Then, crowning nal Ones.

This clubwasn’t is a corrupt society for people whobe believe began explode? if I got intoina2010, cabthe and discovered the driver quite human?

It can glory of any author, newest book, The Eternal Ones, theydraws have lived past lives. the beginning of a her whole new adventure.”

Thisbecame creativity readers in.Without spoiling too much, it is run a New York Times best-seller. Since the release of Kiki Strike,

from the shadows by the “dark and twisted” Adam Rosier.

common knowledge many bizarre things happen in New York.

guess they’re all mixed in a little bit. I don’t wish the Ouroboros

AndKirsten then there her creations. the societies.

Perhaps most interesting is the Sohas alsois simultaneously run aThe blog characters, of bizarre things.

On the mostly secretthe society, Kirsten says “The Ouroboros Ouroboros Eternal This isshe’s a corrupt society people whoinbelieve The settingClub, for allin of The her books is in Ones.

New York City,club where ciety isn’t based for on any one society particular,they but I have read havelived lived past lives.

Without spoiling too much, it is run from the shadows by the “dark and twistsince escaping her small North Carolina hometown. It’s a great deal on the Hellfire Club, Skull and Bones, and others. I ed” Adam Rosier.

A recent example, provided by Kirsten, features “a group of Society was real.”

On the mostly secret society, Kirsten says “The Ouroboros Society isn’t based on any one society people who but live on houseboats horribly polluted Evil, too, Skull is a theme her book.

Arguably, evilI guess is a theme in in particular, I have readina Brooklyn’s great deal on the Hellfire Club, andinBones, and others.

Gowanus Canal.” in It’s a easy to see howI don’t she is inspired. everySociety life, but Kirsten’s evil takes the form of Chinese gang thugs they’re all mixed little bit. wish the Ouroboros was real.”

She draws inspiration from other things too, many of which are

and man eating rats. Then, she gets serious. “When you reach

Evil,clever too, ways is a theme in her book.

Arguably, evilI play is aastheme in everyage, life, evilwhatsoever takes thethat evil to entertain herself.

“There’s a little game my advanced youbut willKirsten’s have no doubt formI walk of Chinese gang thugs and man eating rats.

Then, she gets serious.

“When you reach my adaround town. It’s called “What If?” What if all the man- is very, very real.” vanced will have noif doubt whatsoever that evil very,save very real.”and therefore, you must escape.” ¤zz holesage, beganyou to explode?

What I got into a cab and discov“Youiscannot yourself, ered the driver wasn’t quite human? It can be the beginning of a

“You cannot save yourself, and therefore, you must escape.” whole new adventure.” This creativity draws readers in.

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NaNoWriMo “National Novel Writing Month”

N

ovember is a month of raking up leaves

first year, his freshmen year, he stopped writing

and turkey and pie. But not for Archer

because of technical difficulties that arose in the

Storskarve. For this seventeen year old,

middle of the month that he could not overcome.

November is a mad race of scribbling down word

His computer crashed, taking all of his novel with

after word, pausing only to ponder the newest plot

it.

twist, the villain’s next move, and the hero’s next

The second year, he tried writing the entire novel

battle. November is novel month for him and mil-

out with just pen and paper. He got farther along,

lions of others across the world. Welcome to Na-

stopping at around thirty or forty thousand words.

tional Novel Writing Month.

And in his third year, he decided to stick with

The event’s title describes it well. National Nov-

“It’s easier,” he says. “You don’t have to worry

el Writing Month, affectionately referred to as

about saving your file. I’ve had computers lose

“NaNoWriMo” by its participants, was founded in

documents for really important school assign-

2001 and is a challenge open to anyone. The goal

ments. And when you’re typing it up, you need to

is simple: Write a 50,000 word novel in a single

have a computer with you, and sometimes inter-

month. It sounds difficult, next to impossible. But

net.”

thousands rise to the challenge every year. And thousands make the mark.

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However, writing a novel by hand does have some drawbacks. With a challenge centered around the

Archer has never reached 50,000 words in the

number of words you have in your story, clicking

two years he has participated in NaNoWriMo. The

a button to check on your wordcount is preferable.

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Picture Taken by Emil Erlandsson

“I box off ever hundred word and just count how many boxes I have at the end of each chapter. ,” Archer says. “It’s actually pretty fun.”

He works on his novel at home, after his homework is finished. It’s time he usually spends surfing the internet, but for National Novel Writing Month, you have to have a little self-control. Sometimes he takes his journal with him to school and works on it on the bus.

“It’s an hour long ride,” he says, shrugging.

“If I’m not talking to my friends, I might as well use it to write.”

So finding time for writing isn’t an issue.

And when it is, he just writes twice as much as usual. Archer is optimistic about making it to the big 5K this year, but there is the overlying question...What do you write about?

According to Archer, the two most common approaches to finding the plot of your NaNoWriMo novel are to either outline and plan everything out beforehand or to make up everything as you go, also known as the seat-of-the-pants method. Both have their merits and Archer’s tried them both as well.

For this year’s novel, he opted for the first approach, outlining and planning. Near the end of October, he sketched out his characters and their basic plot.

“In my second year [of NaNoWriMo] I had everything outlined,” says Archer. “And at thirty thousand words, I had no plot left. So I just stopped.”

But because of the nature of NaNoWriMo, having a decent plot all thought out isn’t really necessary. The official website says so itself “Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is

output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.” Quantity over quality. It the numbers that count!

“It’s about getting a complete story out. It doesn’t have to be a novel.” Archer says. He suggests making a 50,000 picture comic if writng isn’t your thing. There’s also a 50,000 word scriptwriting challenge available to anyone interested, supporting the notion that that NaNoWriMo only exists to force people to be creative.

Speed writing works well as a group activity.

During November, lots of participants speed up their writing process by declaring word wars on each other. A word war is when two or more writers set a start and end time and then write as much as they can. Whoever has written the most in that time period wins.

NaNoWriMo is a fun challenge for anyone who’s thought about writing a book but never quite got around to it. It’s for all ages. Granted, the lack of a prize may discourage some and the huge challenge turns most away. But if there’s nothing else going on it November, NaNoWriMo is worth a try, even if you only end up writing 500 words instead of 50,000.

“I like reading. And I like thinking up stories. But I never write them out.” Archer Storskarve says. “NaNoWriMo is a reason for me to work on writing fiction. It’s fun. I’d definitely recommend it.” ¤

- Monica L.

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Opinions

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Couch Potato or Bookworm?

W

Why reading should be chosen over TV

ouldn’t you like to know the secret to improving

your brain so you are really not doing much thinking.” While

your brain? Well here’s how!

you read a book, however, your brain has to imagine the char-

If you are one of the many teenagers who

acters and the story in your head and this requires you to think.

spends most of their time watching TV, you need to drop that

She aslo said that, “As the saying goes, laughter is the best medi-

control and get your hands on a book! Believe it or not, reading

cine. Watching a good comedy on TV can be great way to find

makes you smarter and who doesn’t want that? It’s a great way to

something to laugh about.” I agree with Jennifer that laughing is

improve many things like your memory, creativity, and vocabu-

the best medicine, but watching TV is not the best way to obtain

lary. Many people don’t read because they believe it’s a waste of

it. Reading a good and funny story can have you laughing as

their time or that it has no benefits. They prefer to watch televi-

well, and while you read, you increase many other things such

sion, thinking that they can get out the same information as a

as your vocabulary and creativity levels. Also, according to the

book, but they are mistaken! The thing is, reading is better for

Media Awareness Network, “Because of its ability to create pow-

you than watching TV.

erful touchstones, TV enables young people to share cultural ex-

Although I can’t say that for everyone because not

periences with others.” Cultural sharing is a big part of books as

everyone agrees with me. Blogger Jennifer Wagner said that,

well because they can take you all around the world! The stories

“Complex TV series such as Lost, Heroes, and Battestar Ga-

can take you back in the past or further into the future or even

lactica require a great deal of thinking to understand what is

new imaginary places you would never had thought of. There

happening,” implying that watching TV requires you to think. So not the

is always new adventures and new people to encounter when you read a book.

case. It has been proven by many

But because some people are still not

studies that reading books, as

convinced that reading is better than

opposed to television watching,

watching TV, I will explain some rea-

make you use your brain more.

sons further.

Studies have shown that, “When

First off, some things that reading

you watch TV, the images are be-

does better than watching TV is vo-

ing automatically implanted in

cabulary, creativity, and memory en-

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Opinions hancement. Who has trouble writing a paper or a story at school?

ing TV still sound appealing? Hopefully not. Reading doesn’t

Everyone. But if you want to stop struggling with essays or sto-

cause any of these health problems and, in fact, does the opposite.

ry writing, you might want to consider adding reading to your

It keeps your mind sharp because as you encounter new words,

schedule. “A good writer has a good vocabulary-one the is both

your brain memorizes them, and your knowledge increases. It’s

broad and deep-because a good vocabulary is essential to clar-

like exercise to your mind that strengthens your brain over time.

ity, power, and precision,” says Ed Serenson, and according to

With all this said, it’s clear reading has its advantages over watch-

Write To Be Done website, “Over time, our writing becomes in

ing TV when it comes to health.

some ways a compilation of all the things we’ve learned as readers,

blended together in our own unique recipe.” This explains that

person has been through one thing one time or another. That thing

reading will improve your vocabulary and creativity over time.

is stress. Everyone hates stress and no one want to deal with it. So

Also reported by psychologists Andrew Parker and Neil Dagnall,

wouldn’t it be nice if we knew an effective technique to reduce it?

“Moving your eyes from side to side can help improve the accura-

Well surprise, surprise it’s reading! New research has revealed that

cy of your memory.” Who knew reading improves memory? That’s

reading is the best way to relax. Even six minutes can be enough

something useful to keep in mind considering that watching TV

to reduce stress levels by more than two thirds. The studies of the

doesn’t help any of these skills. That means sitting there staring at

University of Sussex showed that, “Reading a newspaper or a book

the screen for long periods is just a waste of your time and con-

works better and faster than listening to music, going for a walk

stant watching can cause problems like eyestrain. We all need the

or sitting down with a cup of tea to calm frazzled nerves.” When

skills mentioned above in our life, and reading is just the right way

they conducted a stress reliever test, the results showed that read-

to improve them.

ing reduced stress levels by 68%. Listening to music reduced 61%,

Other than the fact that watching TV does nothing more

having coffee or tea reduced 54%, taking a walk 42%, and playing

than entertain you, there has been research that it actually affects

video games 21%. Psychologists say this is because “The human

your health. Researchers conducted a survey on 3,920 adults and

mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction eases the

about 70% said that they watch more than two hours a day and

tensions in muscles and the heart.” Now some might say that TV

66% were classified as obese. Obesity, unhealthy eating, and the

reduces stress as well, but does it really? Negative content is always

lack of physical activity were tied to the high levels of television

happening on TV and, “Once you watch the news, related videos

watching.

and expressed opinions, those thoughts linger in your mind and

“As hours of television increased, so too did a person’s level of depression and anxiety,”

researchers concluded. In a new study, researchers have found that children who spend long hours watching TV could develop attention problems like ADHD later in their life. “Their young brain became used to the flashing screens and rapid-fire editing of video games which makes it harder for them to concentrate in the classroom, because less visual stimulation there,” according to The Health Age article. From the studies of researchers in Australia, “Watching an hour of TV after the age of 25 can shorten the viewer’s life by just under 22 minutes. Smoking two cigarettes has approximately the same effect.” Now, after all of this, does watch-

Think that’s all reading does? Think again! Every single

you start thinking about it for a long time,” according to Hubpages article. So the answer is no, TV actually causes stress. When you start to visualize those negative circumstances happening to you, you keep replaying them in your head, and you start to feel the stress. And the best way to fight this new introduced stress, like I explained earlier, is to sit down and read a book.

So those are some of the great benefits reading has over

watching TV. If those who already read in a daily basis (like myself) encouraged those who don’t, maybe we can have an increased number of readers. They may not like it at first but, who knows, if they keep at it they could start to love reading as much as those who already do. Once we establish that, then the problems such as high television watching would disappear and people would have a greater knowledge. So next time someone recommends you a good book, don’t hesitate to accept! ¤

-Kassandra Cortez

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La Librairie Enchantée Austin’s most inspired bookstore.

Pictures from the collection of BookPeople booksellers PHOTOGRAPHER KATY H. BOOK PROVIDER BOOKPEOPLE

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s e n e c S n o i t Ac How to Write

The Right Way

Often times, young writers find it diffiucult to write the perfect action scene. It just feels lackluster and unauthentic. There are certain things a writer should and should not do when narrating a fight between character. Here are some tips!

ur pacing is fast!

Make sure yo Focus on your characters’ emotions and what they are experiencing.

Keep your sentences brief.

Do not pause the action to comment on the weather. Kill adverbs and adjectives. They will only slow you down.

The longer it takes your reader to get through a scene, the slower it feels to them. Action is supposed to be exciting, not a slow stroll through the park.

The point of an action scene is to be exciting. To do this, you need suspense, you need your characters to have a clear set reason for fighting, you need your reader to care about the outcome. This means you need some form of plot so that the reader doesn’t feel as though they’re just reading filler.

Do not just write a fight scene for the sake of having a fight. The best was to go about this is to have the fight be a form of plot development. You can make a fight interesting in many ways. Stack the odds against a character. Have him/her experience a relevation in the middle of it. Have an unexpected ally appear or a traitor exposed. Never ever have a fight scene for no reason.

you write. That is The idea is to manipulate your poor little readers into caring about what scenes. I have the reason you are writing. And you can draw them in with awesome fight se given you wooden planks and nails. No go make the metaphorical treehou

A writer once said

Don’t write action scenes.

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nes scereso e c n e sp su te ri W lve. that require action to

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Image cortesy of Rachel Sharp

The Lackluster

Lost Hero

I

What is Wrong with the sequel to the Percy Jackson Legacy?

begged my parents to drive me to the nearest Barnes

it? After much pondering I had decided the cause: Rick

and Noble the day The Lost Hero was released. It

Riordan’s writing in The Lost Hero is worse than in his

was a race to the children’s literature section of the

previous books. What a pity.

store and a mad dash to the checkout. I sped through the book, eager to see the plot twists and lovable characters I had come to know in the Percy Jackson series. Fifty six chapters later, I felt a little confused. Why hadn’t I fallen in love with this book the way I had with the five before

Why would I think this? Well, why not?

The plot of the new book was worse than the previous’. The characters, humor, and voice suffered as well. The incorporation of ancient gods, the very basis of the series, was sloppy and made me wince

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Opinions on occasion. Either my expectations have risen-- which is very possible seeing as it had been more than a year ago since the The Last Olympian-- or the writing had actually downgraded between books. A quick reading of the fifth Percy Jackson book took place. I still cried. I still laughed. I still felt like it was a book worth reading.

So it wasn’t me. It had to be the books.

There are many who protest against my negative view on The Lost Hero. In both professional and fan reviews we hear positive feedback. Publisher’s Weekly says “Riordan’s storytelling is as polished as ever, brimming with wit, action, and heart.”

And the New York Times thought it was good enough to be deemed a #1 bestseller. And there is merit to what the fans on Goodreads say about the book. It is great to read about Camp Half-Blood again. There are elements of surprise that could be construed as good plot. And new characters are exciting.

The Lost Hero is fun. It isn’t a bad book, especially considering it is for young adults. But I can’t help but feel it is a letdown after five fantastically quirky books that kept so many fans up at night, distracted at school, and away from the TV. Rick Riordan is a great writer. We’ve read Percy Jackson and the Olympians which was one of the most fantastic children series America has seen. [citation needed] But in comparison, The Lost Hero was lacking.

He needs to stop his Superman impression and focus on one series at a time or sacrifice the quality of both the Kane series and The Lost Heroes. Publishing two books in one year is a crazy feat. Publishing two quality books in one year is impossible.

Let’s look at the plot. Assuming you have already read the book and have a decent understanding of what happened in those fifty six action packed chapter, you know that the Greek gods that conceived our favorite heroes

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have another aspect they have kept hidden from their demigod children. This is their Roman aspect which is drastically different in personality and appearance than their Greek aspect-- the one we have been reading about in the five books prior. This is a novel concept. It is a dramatic twist! How could the gods have kept this from us for so long? Why couldn’t they have let us know? Does this even affect our heroes in any way? Wait, there is a Roman demigod camp? Why haven’t we run into any of these Roman demigods? Riordan answers these questions. However, the execution is a little messy. None of this was ever foreshadowed in the Percy Jackson series, not even the fifth and last. Anything concerning the Roman demigod camp, whether a lie to cover it up or a slip of the tongue, conveniently takes place after the end of The Last Olympian or during the course of The Lost Hero. The transition from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians to The Lost Hero is rough. But there’s not much to be done now. Riordan and his readers have to make do with his poor planning.

But there is more to a book than its plot! There have been several cases in literature where likable characters overrode any discrepancies in the story. We have new characters in this book: Jason, Piper, and Leo. The story is told in third person from their perspectives, alternating every other chapter. This is probably the biggest difference from the Percy Jackson series. By having more than one main character and using third person perspective, Riordan is making this adventure less personal than the original series. You don’t worry as much for the main characters if the story doesn’t seem personal. The more you can relate to the characters, the better.

There was certainly an effort to make the characters easier to relate to. They all come from very different backgrounds, which makes it easier to find one you can identify with. But at the same time, the supernatural situation makes it hard for the audience to find similar

Opinions qualities with themselves and the characters. In Percy Jackson, there was always school to deal with at some point, which is definitely something most readers relate to. In The Lost Hero, school is a setting for a few chapters at the beginning. We hear Leo and Piper talk about their school experiences later in the book, but there’s a very serious case of show don’t tell. It’s all narrative; the reader isn’t there. On top of that, the character’s situations are very unique. The plot wouldn’t work if they didn’t have the history that they do, but it’s distancing the reader from the story even more.

There is so much more. Jason and Piper’s romance was practically thrown at us. We were handed their drama to deal with before we could meet the characters. And the it keeps popping up. Piper, we know you like the guy, but he’s amnesiac and confused. Give it a break. Why can’t you worry about saving the world first and then talk about Jason?

The cyclops fight was lack luster compared to Annabeth taking one down as a child.

Leo’s magic belt can make anything appear. If it was a superpower it would be the superpower of having all superpowers. Rogue has to deal with lack of human contact and memories that don’t belong to her. Leo’s magic belt doesn’t have any negative side effects. It’s impractical.

There were good points of the book: the insight on Aphrodite and Hephastus’s cabin, seeing the effect of Percy’s absence. The characters’ back stories, while hard to relate to, were interesting. And it is always great to be back at Camp Half-Blood. The premise is very intriguing, despite the rough transition from The Last Olympian. The recently released The Son of Neptune should be uphill from here.

We were promised mysteries solved, peeks into the Roman demigod camp, and our cast favorite, Percy Jackson.

Read The Lost Hero, if you’re a Riordan fan. It’s good for a few hours of entertainment, but don’t expect it to be on par with his previous work. The main characters are shiny and new but are hard to relate to, and you’ll find that when the plot doesn’t match up to Percy Jackson’s, the subject will be waved away. Nonetheless, it’s a fun book.

Read it and then get your hands on The Son of Neptune. ¤

--Monica L.

In Need of a Good Read?

Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce This fast-paced fantasy novel is the beginning of Alanna’s story of breaking rules and achieving the title of a knight in a place where women aren’t allowed to be warriors.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster This book is about Milo, who sees boredom in everything and interest in nothing.

When a tollbooth appears in his room, he rides through it on his toy car for lack of anything better to do, and drives into another world where he finds ironic characters, adventure, and an impossible task.

Swords: An Artist’s Devotion by Ben Boos Accompanied by exquisite pictures, this book highlights swords in different cultures, including the Ninja, Samurai, and female warriors.

Redwall by Brian Jacques This book is about a mouse who must find his courage to save the Abbey of Redwall from attack by the army of the rat Cluny the Scourge.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Clary, after witnessing a murder at an all-ages club, discovers the Shadow World. But the Shadowhunters, who hunt demons trying to feed on Earth’s resources, don’t understand how she can see them without Shadowhunter blood.

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Opinions

Fatally Flawed The Failures in What Should Have Been the Greatest Conclusion Since Harry Potter

I

It was there when I came home. A rectangular, plain brown box, stamped with ‘Rush Ship’. I was ecstatic. I tore into the box, and pulled the glossy blue book free, hugging it to my chest. Mockingjay. My brother and I fought for it, and I emerged the victor. I stayed up late into the night, huddled under the blanket, using my phone screen to light the words. As I read on, my heart sank. When I finished, I was frowning. I tucked the book under my bed and refused to look at it again. Mockingjay was the worst conclusion to a series one could imagine.

Of course, there were those who loved Mockingjay. The next morning, when I walked into the kitchen, my mother immediately weighed in on her opinion. She had loved it. My best friend too, loved it, and for several days we argued the merits of the book.

In Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins created lots of expendable characters and then spent most of the book killing them off. We had a blitzkrieg of constant attrition to remind us that they were in a war. This endless dying is interspersed with even-more-endless strategy and technical details. But these passages were so boring, I ended up skipping them, and I wanted to find that Katniss had figured out a purpose or an orientation or had reached out to Peeta or even just accurately assessed something-

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-but no luck. I desperately hoped Katniss would stay alive, and though she did, she was alive in the most boring way possible.

That brings me to the book’s most fatal flaw: character development and relationships were completely abandoned.

They were vital in the previous two books, but they are nearly nonexistent here, and the book is fatally flawed because of it. Peeta is barely present, and if you discount the time that Katniss spends crying in corners, injured and in the hospital, taking morphling, or being manipulated or controlled by others and wandering around confused, she isn’t really present either. And she’s the main character. It completely disgusted me, as I had loved her from the beginning. I hate to see a character that was once so strong become so weak.

And the last of the biggest three flaws, in the last four pages, we finally learn: Peeta or Gale? An afterthought.

This was the source of tension between fans: Gale or Peeta?

It was akin to Edward versus Jacob in the Twilight series.

To have such an important aspect of her life as an afterthought, it made me annoyed. And while I was happy Katniss ended with Peeta, it just seemed she had chosen the one who didn’t leave her. The love that was so vital to the plot before was completely gone.

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Image courtesy greendesire.deviantart.com

This book was the most horrible conclusion I could have ever read. I would have been able to write a better ending than that. So I did. Angrily and frustrated, I took to fanfiction websites and published my own Mockingjay. Twenty four chapters, with nearly three hundred

“ ...I have learned the hard way how deadly these beauties can be.”

-Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay favorites in the first three weeks.

From this, I supposed other internet users users would hate Mockingjay as much as I did, and, curious, I went to Amazon. I was flabbergasted. Page after page of positive reviews. They were all quick, short reviews stressing the importance of the portrayly of war.

To quote user NaturalLife, “The epilogue was not meant to be a trite look at hope and love. It had one purpose and that

was to squash your naive romantic dreams.

Gale did not come back. The epilogue put an end to millions of readers pining for Gale to ride to the rescue of an emotionally destroyed Katniss.

Peeta will always be messed up. Katniss will always be messed up.

This is a serious look at war. And if you think this is bad - imagine real life for women and men in war zones that include vicious rape and torture - all happening right now in this world of ours.

Those that survive go on by putting one foot in front of the other - courageously every day. And some of those days are very bad indeed.”

I read to escape reality. To find that there are no wars and happy endings still exist. This is why I found Mockingjay to be the most heart wrenching, awful conclusion imaginable.

I would like to thank Suzanne Collins for reminding me what I read for, and for showing me that every dream must come crashing to an end. I would like to thank her for showing me the brutality of reality, which is what I suppose she had intended all along. ¤ - Katy Hanna

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Opinions

No Longer on the Side of Angels

Did Cassandra Clare’s C i t y of Fal le n A nge l s fall too far?

T

An invisibility rune at its work as described in the City of Bones

he Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare based

completely different people. Simon, a Jewish vampire who can walk in

itself in romance with heavy accents in adventure and

daylight and is branded with the Mark of Cain (originally to save his

complications (make that very heavy on the complica-

undead life), has two girlfriends, which is such a difference from the

tions). Although there have been books and series about

innocent character in the first three books. Not to mention that one

vampires, werewolves, hunters, and angels, these blended elements so

of his girlfriends he’d already gone out with, and at a party before he

that it believably could be occurring in the real world. They were cap-

became a vampire the girl, Isabelle, stood idle as he turned into a rat.

tivating and hilarious, and highly worthy of recommendation. Clare

Isabelle, a tough young Shadowhunter (people who hunted demons

recently came out with a new addition to the perfectly ended series. It

that planned to lay waste to the earth), had always flirted constantly

incorporated everything the original three hadn’t: boredom and mo-

but never seriously. It’s weird and out of character that she liked Simon

notony, with no added humor. This is the first of three books that Clare

so much, or forgave him so quickly for cheating on her. Jace, the part

will write to continue the characters’ stories. It is an unnecessary addi-

angel who had (for a very long time) unclear lineage, irritated people

tion, and not worth the read to fans of the originals.

and made sarcastic comments that always seemed to get the group into

In City of Fallen Angels, all the characters are there with

more trouble than they were already in (which was a fair deal, even

their same histories and names, but they seem to be

for a bunch of teenagers). Yes, he loves Clary (a newly recruited Shad-

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Opinions owhunter who proved a hero), but it shouldn’t make him such a vulnerable or weak person, especially because it never had before.

The book read like a piece of fan fiction, not a continuation of the series, because it contained what could have been a different set of characters making it not desirable to read. Fans of the Mortal Instruments trilogy beware, because the appeal of discovering what happens is not worth the 432 pages with which you could explore a regular, mediocre book.

The entire book repeats itself, just with unnecessary char-

acters, contradictions from the original three novels, and unlikely situations. For the majority of the read, it seemed like the group chatted about what had happened in the previous books. With the expansion of the series, Sebastian (Clary’s demonic brother who Jace killed because he catalyzed an entire war) was bound to reappear. However, the first book explained that demons were parasites, not like humans, who have emotions and a sense of right and wrong, and that seemed to justify the morals of Shadowhunters to kill other things.

Therefore, Lilith (the donor of Sebastian’s demon blood) should not have come back with the body of her “son” because for as much as we know about demons, even if she

good decision (after being offered a favor from an insidious character-- if she recommended one of the queen’s minions she would in return help her in some way) to refuse the fairy queen and through which told the reader how perfect her world was to her. Luke and Jocelyn (Clary’s mother and her werewolf friend) were planning to get married. Alec and Magnus announced their relationship. Isabelle and Maia (a young werewolf) showed interest in Simon. The Shadowhunters never found Sebastian, which is better than them finding his body, because the Shadowhunters understand the demons will forever threaten them the way they always have. Sebastian’s absence is a symbol that just because they beat Valentine doesn’t mean that they conquered all demons.

Everything tied together nicely and the characters resolved their major conflicts. Adding on forced it too far, since the original series wrapped up everything, and that’s the way it should have stayed.

The ratings for this book on Amazon averaged out to a four, however reviewers who gave the book a high score admitted that it contained transition and change from the first three books. This proves the previous argument that makes it hard to extend a series when its progression never links back to its starting point.

The Mortal Instruments trilogy is a series worth reading, but City of Fallen Angels stretches that too far. Fans or potential readers, pretend that City of Glass concludes the narration because it’s a much more thrilling way to finish the segment of the characters lives so wonderfully given to us by Cassandra Clare. ¤

--Clara Altfeld

It is not worth the 432

pages

with

which you could be

reading a regular, mediocre book.

“mothered” them all, she doesn’t fit the qualifications. The referenced bible passage describing her role claimed that she was unable to bear children (which explain why they turned to demons) and she began an experiment to inject her blood into human children, all of whom died. Sebastian, however, was a veteran of the experiment and there was no justification for his survival, Lilith’s care of him, or her motivation to retrieve his dead body to bring him back to life. The original series did not support Lilith’s affection, which described demons as “hell’s denizens,” and they were neither humane nor caring. The new book, as described, twists things known from the originals, as though Fallen Angels continued a different series.

City of Fallen Angels ruined City of Glass’s good ending. Jace and Clary were happy, and she made such a

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Features

Top 5 Banned Books

why these are being kicked out of schools -Kassandra

5 Lush by Natasha Friend The book is about a 13-year-old girl named Sam. She struggles to live with her abusive, alcoholic father, who beats her younger brother, and she struggles in school where she is called names and is molested by boys.

Reasons for being banned:

Schools have argued that this book should be banned from libraries due to use of drugs, offensice language, sexually explictm and unsuited for its age group. Parents argue that middle school children should not be reading this kinds of books due to all the negative content.

Photo courtesy: Paperbackswamp.com

4 Crank by Ellen Hopkins

This book is about a girl named Kristina Georgia Snow who goes to her father’s house in Albuquerque. She then meets Adam a.k.a. Buddy and is introduced to “the mosnter” and she changes her name to Bree. She goes back to her old home and writes love letters to Adam, which doesn’t last.

She then is eager to get more of “the monster” and she ends up dating two guys, Chase and Brendon. Chase ends up leaving for college and Brendon ends up abusing her. At the end of the book she learns that she is going to have a baby.

Reasons for being banned:

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Photo courtesy: Ringo the Cat’s Blog

Parents protest to ban this book because is not adequate for children to read. It contains sexual content,drug use, rape, and offensive language.

Some schools have banned this book due to this and the author, Ellen Hopkins, has been rejected to do school speaking about her book in many schools.

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3 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins This book is about a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen who lives in the DIstrict 12. When the annual Hunger Games begin, Katiniss’s sister, Primrose, gets picked as on of the tributes that will compete in the games. Katiniss volunteers as a tribute to take her sister’s place. Who will surive out of all the 24 tributes?

Reasons for being banned:

This book is argued to be unsuited to its age group, and having to much violence. Schools are banning this book because about a year ago, a parent in New Hampshire complained that her 7th grade daughter was having nightmares. She claimed that having children fight each other to the death for “entertainment” purposes was inappropriate and that no student should read it as its violence will lead to more school violence.

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Photo courtesy: MovieFanatic.com

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

These books are a series that tell the story of a young wizard named Harry Potter.

Harry along with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, all attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story is about Harry’s quest to defeat the evil wizard Lord Voldemort who wants to rule the wizarding world, subdue non-magical people, and destroy all who get in his way.

Reasons for being banned:

Photo courtesy: Amazon.com

The main reason these books are being banned is because of the use of magic.

Parents argue that these books attempt to teach children about witchcraft and tend to lead children in the wrong direction. “God shows us that witchcraft, sorcery, spells, divination and magic are evil,” some people claim. One woman named Laura Mallory says the Harry Potter books promote evil and she is trying, for the second time, to have schools ban these books.

1 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

This book is about a seventeen-year-old girl named Isabella Swan, “Bella”, who lives a boring life until she moves to Forks, Washington with her father Charlie.

She believes that her life is nothing but dull until she meets a vampire who will change her life forever, Edward Cullen.

Reasons for being banned:

This book is is being banned for one main reason. Yep, vampires. People argue that vampires have a strong connection with the devil. Having these books in school libraries where any child can access them worries some parents. Other things this book is being banned for include fantasy, the supernatural, magic, witchcraft, and even science-fiction which are believed to be grouped with Satanism. Violence in another key issue that parents argue, as they believe this book should not be allowed in school libraries.

Photo courtesy: Snarkys Wonderland

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Features

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