The Leviathan Book Club

Hey everyone, I hate to post twice in one day, but we just got a comment from Tommy Donbavand, the Scream Street author, on Lord Vader's review of his books:

Hey!Thanks for the great review! Delighted to hear you're enjoying the books!

Tommy Donbavand
author, Scream Street

We appreciate it, Tommy! We're always glad when authors write in to us.

I also have been trying to put up this post about the Leviathan book club since last week but have had trouble uploading one of the videos. Fortunately, one of our computer wizards came down to wave his wand and fix it. Here you go.

Greetings and Achtung! all you Clankers and Darwinists out there! This is Carl, aka Baron Karl von KARLMAN, and we had a great time at the Boys Book Club on Saturday the 15th of May. Our book was Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, one of my very favorites from 2009. Unfortunately, we had only 3 guys there that day. Several others had wanted to come, but two had to much homework, another couldn't make it, and one didn't like the book! (What???!!!) Well, next time, if you don't like the book, come anyway and tell us WHY you didn't like it! Anyway, the three of us had a good time. The first one to arrive was the Amazing Alex (aka AXEL SIMONE from the March Madness Contest). I was afraid he would be the only one but, in true CARLMAN fashion, I decided not to give up and have some discussion with Alex. Here's a video of that terrific talk. (it's about 5 minutes long, so be patient. It's good stuff)

But after we talked for a while, Crazy Cat Kyle and Legendary Leland showed up. Now we were ready for some fun! The first thing I did was to ask if they were Clankers or Darwinists. Leland said he was a Clanker and Kyle and Alex were Darwinists, so that meant it was Leland against Kyle and Alex. Our game was to have the Darwinists get the airship Leviathan across the room. It couldn't touch the ground or they lost. They moved it by hitting it with their hands. (A big balloon/globe was the mighty airship Leviathan) The Clanker had to try to knock it out of the the air but he had to move slowly, like a World War I machine. His weapon was a big cardboard tube. Here's a short clip of the game:

Then we had snacks and some more good discussion. Finally we had one more game. One of the best things about this book was the made-up slang expressions such as "barking spiders!", so we made up our own expressions. I put out two cups with slips of paper in them. Each slip of paper had a word on it, either a noun or a verb. One cup held verbs and one held nouns. Each guy pulled a slip out of each cup, put the slips together, and that was his expression. Someone might get "Dancing Giraffes!" or "Jumping Workboots!". Kyle got "Baking Pepperoni!" and Alex got "Running Gorillas!". Here's a video:

Our book clubs are always fun. We hope we can have another one this summer. If so, hope to see you there!

Once Again! The Boys Movie and Book Club!

Hey, hey, all you reader guys, we have good news! The CARLMAN is going to host another Boys Movie and Book Club. We did one in January and it was a lot of fun, so we'll have another one in May. Here's how it works--I pick a really good guy book and then pick a good movie that ties in with it. We watch the movie, I hand out copies of the book afterward for you to check out, then we meet two weeks later for our book club. If you've ever been to one the CARLMAN'S book clubs, you know we do more than sit around and talk! We always have snacks and some kind of activity along with some really good discussion. January's book was N.E.R.D.S. by Michael Buckley and the movie was The Absent-Minded Professor. May's book will be Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and the movie will be Back to the Future III (rated PG).

Leviathan is a truly terrific book. It's an "alternate history" story about what would have happened in World War I if the Germans and Austrians had walking war machines and the British and their allies had evolved animals into flying and fighting units. There are battles, escapes, and things blow up. As I said, it's a truly terrific story. And it's also an example of "steampunk" science fiction, which means the characters use modern technolgy with old-fashioned power sources. If Sherlock Holmes had a computer, for instance, he might have used a steam machine to generate electricty. That's why our movie will be Back to the Future III. It's the perfect steampunk movie. The characters are stuck in the Old West and have to get back to the present but their time machine (which is installed in a car) won't work because there is no modern fuel. It's a really, really fun movie!

OK--here are the times and place:

The movie will be on Saturday, May 1 at 2:00 pm in the Round at Imaginon.

The movie lasts two hours. Becuase we close at 6:00 pm, we have to start the movie on time, so please be there by 2:00! Bring your library cards to check out a book. If you come to the movie, we expect to see you at the book club!

The book club will be on Saturday, May 15 at 3:00 pm in the Round at Imaginon.

If you can't get to the movie, you can still come to the book club. There are plenty of copies of the book in the library system, but if you have a problem in getting one, call me. If you already own a copy, you can birng it.

Registration is now open for the movie. Call 704-416-4630 to register. There are 12 spots avavilable. You need to be from 9-12 years old. Registration for the book club begins on May 1, but if you sign up for the movie, I'll sign you up for the book club also.

Hope to see you there! This will be a good time!

(PS-click here to see my original review of Leviathan)