Big Orange Book Festival Just another WordPress site 2013-10-14T22:01:53Z /feed/atom/ Val McNutt <![CDATA[Thank You and Best Wishes!]]> /?p=1344 2013-10-14T22:01:53Z 2013-10-14T21:10:35Z + read more]]> Great speakers, perfect weather, and happy festival-goers. It was the ideal recipe for another successful Big Orange Book Festival. Thank you to everyone who joined us at Chapman University, Oct. 11-13. We had a great time and hope you did, too. Please share your ideas, suggestions, and requests with us right now, so that next year’s BOB Festival will be better than ever before. Until next October – best wishes and happy reading and writing!

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[The BOB app is here!]]> /?p=1301 2013-09-24T23:13:03Z 2013-09-24T23:10:07Z + read more]]> BOB has so many great panels and events that we know it can get overwhelming. Get prepared by downloading the BOB app in the App Store or Google Play store. The app has tons of useful information including bios of all the speakers and a full list of event times. Create your own custom schedule list by ‘favoriting’ the panels you want to see most.

Not sure where you’re going? There’s a map for that.

And best of all you can share all of the BOB fun with your book fan friends through integrated Facebook and Twitter sharing. Join in the fun and download the app today!

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[A classic “book” movie and GMA’s yard sale aficionada]]> /?p=1248 2013-10-10T20:44:27Z 2013-09-19T17:10:45Z + read more]]> We have less than a month before BOB is upon us. YAY!

A Kick-Off Movie Screening? As You Wish

Frequent visitors to our website may have noticed that the screening of The Sound of Music has disappeared from our schedule. Sadly, there were some conflicts regarding the rights to screen the film, and we had to move on to Plan B. The good news: plan B is one of our all-time favorite “book” movies, The Princess Bride.

We hope that fans of all ages will try to stay awake for this story of “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”

The screening will kick off this year’s fest at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 11.

 A Garage Sale Guru

Good Morning America anchor and author Lara Spencer will be coming to the Big Orange Book Festival to talk about her book I Brake for Yard Sales. She’ll be sharing all of her favorite ‘frugalista’ tips for finding the diamonds in the rough at flea markets, thrift shops, estate sales and, of course, yard sales. Give your home a new look without breaking the bank!

And the best part? Everything is free! Can’t wait to see everyone there.

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[Visions of the Future]]> /?p=1116 2013-09-27T20:57:07Z 2013-08-28T23:34:54Z + read more]]> Science fiction has long held a treasured place in literature. It can take us to unimaginable worlds and introduce us to creatures who become friends and foes. Sometimes it gives us an imagined glimpse of our very real future.

We are happy to host some amazingly creative science fiction authors this year, led by 2012 Nebula award winner Kim Stanley Robinson.

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the most well-known and respected science fiction writers in the world, with a reality-based approach in the spirit of Isaac Asimov that has made him a social thinker speaking “for the future and from the future”.

Raymond E. Feist is the award-winning author of 29 novels that make up the bestselling Riftwar Cycle series. The final book in the series will come out this year.

Michael Cassutt’s latest novel with writing partner David S. Goyer, Heaven’s Fall, has been sold to Warner Bros. as a feature film series. His other works have appeared in Asimov’s Magazine and The Year’s Best Science Fiction among others.

Check out our speakers page for more great authors, and tell us who you’re looking forward to seeing!

 

 

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[Guess who’s coming to BOB?]]> /?p=953 2013-09-30T16:42:02Z 2013-08-12T22:53:15Z + read more]]> Our lineup for the 2013 festival is filling up fast!  This year’s speakers will include a writer that channels his inner ghost, the creative force behind a teenage ‘firecracker’, a short story author who provides a view on being born and many more to come. These authors and speakers cover a wide variety of genres and tracks including Home & Family, California Voices and Chapter & Verse. We can’t contain the excitement any longer, so here it goes.

David Iserson works as a film and television writer and most recently wrote for Fox’s New Girl. His first young adult novel, Firecracker, introduces readers to Astrid Krieger, an unusual teenager who lives in a rocket ship in the backyard of her parents’ estate. The Goodreads community has given this debut four out of five stars and the Los Angeles Review of Books says readers young and old can enjoy Astrid’s confidence and wit.

Derek Taylor Kent is known to most of his readers as Derek the Ghost, an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the halls of Scary School. Scary School is the scariest school on earth where just making it through lunch with all your limbs is considered a good day. The series recently won an award for “Funniest Chapter Book of 2011” by Children’s Literature Network, and has become one of the most popular new series for middle-readers.

Kevin Fagan is the creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip, Drabble, telling the stories of the Drabble family and their wacky friends and neighbors in more than 200 newspapers across the U.S. Kevin has also published 8 Drabble books. The most recent is Wally’s Weinerful World of Golf, a hilarious look at golf from a dog’s perspective. Everyone in the family will want to spend some time with Kevin and the Drabbles.

Ramona Ausubel‘s first novel, No One is Here Except All of Us, was awarded Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Huffington Post. Her new collection of stories, A Guide to Being Born, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and the Star Tribune says “The need to love, and the fear of love, permeate these odd and touching short stories.”

We’ll be announcing more authors and speakers in the coming weeks so keep checking in, and let us know who you’re looking forward to seeing.

]]> 1 Val McNutt <![CDATA[New additions to this year’s book fest]]> /?p=932 2013-08-14T23:31:34Z 2013-07-23T16:27:26Z + read more]]> The 2013 Big Orange Book Festival is expanding to three days of family-friendly fun and activities on Oct 11-13. After last year’s successful festival, we took stock of what you, our festival-goers, wanted for this year. Some of the most frequent questions our 2012 speakers received were “how did you get published, and what can I do to get published?” The answers were as varied as our authors, but we saw an opportunity.

That’s why this year’s festival will include two panels that address the details of writing and publishing. These panels will include writers, agents and other literary insiders from across several genres. Despite being one of the new kids at the fest, we’re sure that these panels will be among our most popular.

Our other addition takes it’s status as a new kid literally. We’re very excited to announce the addition of a new lineup of speakers focused on Home & Family to go along with existing presenters in favorite categories like California Voices, Mystery, Mayhem & Romance, Chapters & Verse, and From the Book.

Home & Family will showcase children’s and young adult writers from across the literary spectrum. We want to give readers of all ages the opportunity to share their love of books and find their next ‘new favorite book’. This year’s extraordinary array of speakers and presenters will be announced shortly. You’ll find someone (or something) for everyone in your home to enjoy.

We look forward to seeing you in October.

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[Happy 4th: Fireworks, Barbeques and Books]]> /?p=892 2013-07-01T23:19:38Z 2013-07-03T17:00:34Z + read more]]> From fun facts and satire to more serious reflections, Americans never seem to tire of reading about America. The bestseller lists always seem to contain at least one book about the attitudes, traditions and the people that shape our country. In celebration of our country’s 237th birthday, we asked around for some recommendations on an ever-growing list of books about the great U.S. of A. When you’ve had your fill of barbeques, sun and fireworks, you can settle into the shade and keep up the patriotic spirit with one of these books.

For those who like a humorous spin on their American tales, we recommend Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!). Judging from its 24 weeks on the NY Times Bestseller list, we aren’t the only ones that liked this fun riff on American life.

If you’ve ever dreamed about creating your own state and banning all annoying people this next book is for you. Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It is full of quirky facts about America’s might-have-beens.

In his recommended reading list for 2013, Chapman president, Jim Doti, recommended a book about another president, Robert Caro’s The Passage of Power. This is the fourth installment of Robert Caro’s ambitious, award-winning five-volume biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson. The Passage of Power covers the years LBJ served as vice president under JFK and his first few months as president after President Kennedy’s assassination.

To wrap up our July 4th inspired reading list we’ll end with the only book that was recommended multiple times, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. Zinn’s most well known work has become required reading in many classrooms. Even if it wasn’t required in yours, this wide ranging history is well worth a read.

Happy 4th and let us know in the comments if we missed any of your favorites.

 

 

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[Summer Reading: Six new books from our 2012 authors]]> /?p=859 2013-06-26T18:35:36Z 2013-06-26T18:17:42Z + read more]]> We’re spending our summer planning a full schedule of amazing authors, films and literary insiders for this year’s Big Orange Book Festival, and we will be posting about some of the authors and events in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we wanted to catch up with some of authors from last year that have new books to add to your summer reading list.

Things that Go Bump in the Night

If vampires and werewolves don’t give you goosebumps, check out the latest in Jess Haines’ paranormal P.I. series, Forsaken by the Others, which comes out just in time for binge reading over the long fourth of July weekend.

If you’re looking for more undead adventures, Nancy Holder’s short story ‘Passion Play’ is featured in The Living Dead anthology alongside stories by Stephen King, George R.R. Martin and many others.

A Little Austen Perhaps?

Syrie James returns with The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen, which Publishers Weekly calls “A literary feast for Anglophiles…[with] an Austen-worthy ending.”

Sharon Lathan returns with The Passions of Dr. Darcy, the next book in her best-selling Darcy Saga. The New York Journal of Books says, “It’s a splendid tale of one man’s determination . . . to be the best in his chosen profession . . . and to find love.”

Get Lost in Worlds Apart

For fantasy fans, Garrett Calcaterra has released Dreamwielder, the epic adventure of a magical girl using the power of dreams to stop the extermination of magic in humans and their bond with nature.

In The Aylesford Skull, steampunk pioneer James P. Blaylock returns to the genre for the first time in more than twenty years with a new adventure featuring the brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives.

Tell us what you’re reading this summer and check back for more reading recommendations and festival updates. Can’t wait to see everyone in October.

 

]]> 0 Val McNutt <![CDATA[Mark Your Calendars … BOB is back Oct. 11-13, 2013]]> /?p=840 2013-04-02T22:34:30Z 2013-04-02T22:31:08Z + read more]]> The Big Orange Book Festival is returning this fall; bigger, better and hopefully, with more brisk fall air than last year. This year’s book fest will feature the unique panels and lectures that made last year such a success, but we’ll be incorporating children’s and young adult events to make the fest a destination for the whole family. The festivities will start on Friday, October 11 and continue through Sunday, October 13.  Check back here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for announcements on this year’s authors and events.

]]> 0 loehner <![CDATA[Steampunk Pioneers: Blaylock and Powers]]> /?p=661 2012-09-11T17:12:54Z 2012-09-07T16:05:17Z steampunk-blog

Steampunk is coming to the Big Orange Book Festival! We are honored to have two of the founding originators of this fantastical genre, James Blaylock and Tim Powers, speaking about the history, influence and progression of this popular style. So gather up your top hat and reading goggles, jump into your personal steam-powered zeppelin and fly down here on the 21st and 22nd to enjoy with the rest of us. And for those of you who have somehow missed the wave of Steampunk influences in pop culture, here is a little rundown to get to you up-to-date. What is Steampunk? Steampunk is a literary genre that has spread all throughout pop culture including movies, clothing, music and design. It has influences of science and speculative fiction, horror, and fantasy, referencing authors like H.G Wells and Jules Verne. Often times the style and settings are filled with steam-powered machinery, anachronistic inventions, and diabolical weapons mixed with victorian era style. Storyline contain alternate histories, post apocalyptic universes and dystopian themes. What is the history of Steampunk?   The term "steam-punk" was originally coined in the 1980s by K.W. Jeter who was trying to find a general way to describe the books coming from the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter camp. While influences and other seminal works came from the 60s and 70s it wasn't until these three pioneers took the reigns that the genre really took off. Now the growth and influence is exponential. What are some of the most celebrated Steampunk books? If this hasn't sparked your interest then we highly recommend attending the Steampunk Authors Panel with James Blaylock, Tim Powers, Nancy Holder and Suzanne Lazear. Immerse yourself in the fantasy!  ]]> steampunk-blog

Steampunk is coming to the Big Orange Book Festival! We are honored to have two of the founding originators of this fantastical genre, James Blaylock and Tim Powers, speaking about the history, influence and progression of this popular style. So gather up your top hat and reading goggles, jump into your personal steam-powered zeppelin and fly down here on the 21st and 22nd to enjoy with the rest of us. And for those of you who have somehow missed the wave of Steampunk influences in pop culture, here is a little rundown to get to you up-to-date. What is Steampunk? Steampunk is a literary genre that has spread all throughout pop culture including movies, clothing, music and design. It has influences of science and speculative fiction, horror, and fantasy, referencing authors like H.G Wells and Jules Verne. Often times the style and settings are filled with steam-powered machinery, anachronistic inventions, and diabolical weapons mixed with victorian era style. Storyline contain alternate histories, post apocalyptic universes and dystopian themes. What is the history of Steampunk?   The term "steam-punk" was originally coined in the 1980s by K.W. Jeter who was trying to find a general way to describe the books coming from the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter camp. While influences and other seminal works came from the 60s and 70s it wasn't until these three pioneers took the reigns that the genre really took off. Now the growth and influence is exponential. What are some of the most celebrated Steampunk books? If this hasn't sparked your interest then we highly recommend attending the Steampunk Authors Panel with James Blaylock, Tim Powers, Nancy Holder and Suzanne Lazear. Immerse yourself in the fantasy!  ]]> 1