This is an awesome short movie. And quite amazing considering it’s written, directed and animated by 1 guy:

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can certainly be charmed by a book’s cover! I love the cover from Geist; it’s so pretty and has got me at once interested in the book. You can straightaway see it’s about mages and ghosts, and reading the summary seems to confirm that. I’m intrigued by the lion though… nothing I’ve read so far seems to mention anything about him.

Here’s the summary from Amazon:

Between the living and the dead is the Order of the Deacons, protectors of the Empire, guardians against possession, sentinels enlisted to ward off malevolent hauntings by the geists. Sorcha, among the most powerful of the Order, is called to a small settlement, But more is occuring than just geist activity. It’s a conspiracy of evil that reaches back to her own Abbey. Even if she survives, what hell would she be returning to?

Do you like the look of Geist? I’ll need to wait at least a year before picking it up (because of my self imposed book buying ban), but I’m curious to see if this is any good!

Geist by Philippa Ballantine is £5.24 on Amazon.co.uk and $7.99 on Amazon.com.

I always had this idea that when I was grownup and rich, I’d have this huge mansion with different special rooms: a bean bag room for watching movies and hacking, a huge high-ceiling library with a balcony that you can only reach through a hidden door, a retro gaming room filled with old consoles and arcade machines. I think this Floppytable would fit perfectly in that latter one!

I love all the little details of the table; it does look exactly like a floppy. It was designed by Neulent van Exel and if you like you can order one from his website.

I love my mobile phone. It's one of those things that I'll always make sure I have on me, never leaving the house without it. At home it's never more than a few meter away from me, keeping me in constant contact with my friends, Twitter and other social networks. When I go out and on the go though, it's stuck in my bag, banished to the deep dark pockets of oblivion. I ALWAYS miss phone calls and text messages, and forget to check Twitter/etc. So I quite like the idea of having a watch that will connect to your mobile phone to keep you aware of these things.

The I’m Watch is a bluetooth smart watch with touchscreen that connects to smartphones to deliver calls, text messages, e-mails, and other apps directly to your wrist. It runs Android itself and should work with most iPhone and Android mobile phones. There are 3 versions: the Colour i'm Watch with a lightweight aluminium body and 7 different colours ($389), the Tech i'm Watch with a titanium body ($1049) and the Jewel i'm Watch with gold or silver body ($16990). I got sent an i'm Watch to try out myself and it looks interesting. I'm not sure this is the right fit for me, cause with my tiny wrists it looks a bit too big (see picture below). If you're going for a more geeky look though (and if you have normal wrists), I think it could look great.

I'm very curious to see how this smart watch works. Sadly though at the moment I won't be able to use it with my current iPhone 5, cause Apple don't allow tethering on Giffgaff (seriously Apple, sort this out!). If you have an older iPhone or an iPhone 5 that does allow tethering/personal hotspots, you should be able to use the watch. I'll be trying it out with another phone next week, so stick around for my review!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I'm provided me with a black Colour I’m Watch for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Round 2 of my book review roundup from last year!

Redshirts by John Scalzi

This was one of my favourite books last year. As I said in my giveaway, I think it’s a Must Read for every Star Trek fan. It’s (obviously) about the redshirts on a ship who notice disturbing things happen on away missions. I don’t really want to say much more beyond that. If like the sound of the book, go read it!

Redshirts is currently $10.19 on Amazon.com and £7.19 on Amazon.co.uk.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I had American Gods on my bookshelf for ages, but never got around to reading it. There’s something about Neil Gaiman’s style of writing that I don’t like. His stories are great, but it’s the way that they’re written that somehow doesn’t resonate with me. I loved the concept of American Gods though. It follows Shadow, a just released convict, who’s recruited by the mysterious man Mr Wednesday. You slowly learn America has gods: beings that are created because of people who worship them. Initially this meant the gods of old (like Egyptian/Norse/etc), but in the modern world that means gods of technology, of TV, of trains. It’s a great idea and it was fun discovering the different gods and their stories.

American Gods is currently $11.53 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk.

The Lady is A Vamp by Lynsay Sands

I always enjoy Lynsay Sands’s Argeneaus books. They’re not the usual take on vampires (it’s Atlantean nanotechonology that causes immortality) and they always tend to be funny and romantic. This book takes on a bit more serious note when a man kidnaps Jeanne Louise Argeneau to convince her to turn his dying daughter. It was a interesting read, but not as fun as Sands books normally are.

The Lady is A Vamp is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £4.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter

This is the 8th book in the Lords of the Underworld series. It’s about Strider, the Keeper of Defeat, and Kaia, a harpy. I’ve really enjoyed the previous books, but I struggled massively with this one. I had a similar problem with one of the earlier books as well and it turns out that in both books the heroine was a harpy… The book does set up some interesting stuff for future characters; I can’t wait to see Kane’s and William’s stories!

The Darkest Surrender is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire/Vamps In The City by Kerrelyn Sparks

I came across this series while trying to find new books, only to find it already has 13 books! And they’re fun. They remind me a lot of Lynsay Sands’ series. I have to say though I hate the name of the first book. Yes, he’s a millionaire vampire, but that’s barely got anything to do with the story. It’s about Roman Draganesti who accidentally loses a fang and needs a dentist, only to discover the dentist at the clinic he goes to is on the run from the maffia. The second book is about a vampire reality TV show. It’s ridiculous, but a whole lot of fun.

How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire is $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.24 on Amazon.co.uk, Vamps In The City is $7.99 on Amazon.com and £7.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

I had heard about Defiance a while ago, but this is the first proper trailer I’ve seen of it. The idea is interesting: it’s an upcoming scifi TV show on Syfy AND an upcoming MMO video game which was created alongside the TV show. I’m super excited to see how that turns out!

Here’s the first full length trailer:

I like the look of this! The acting doesn’t look fantastic, but the style and world look quite interesting. The series is set in the near future after Earth has declared ceasefire with the Votan, a collection of seven alien species seeking a new home after their solar system was destroyed. The Wikipedia page goes into more detail of the different alien species (well, 5 out of the seven at the time of writing this), each with their own unique facial/body features and even their own language (they’ve got the linguist that created the Dothraki language for Game of Thrones).

What do you think of the trailer? Something you’ll end up watching? Defiance is set to premiere on the Syfy channel on Monday April 15th.

As I’ve said many times this week already, I’m planning to write more reviews instead of doing these massive roundups. Fingers crossed that this is last one for a while! I only managed to write 1 review from the 13 books I read between July and December 2012 (read it here: Ashes of Honour by Seanan McGuire) which means I now have to do reviews for 12 books… So I’m splitting it up into two posts: 6 book reviews today, 6 book reviews tomorrow.

The Name of The Wind/The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I had heard a lot of great things about The Name of The Wind and I can’t believe how long I had it on my shelf until I finally read it. I loved loved loved it. It’s beautifully written and one of the best fantasy stories I’ve ever read. I love the story within a story structure; the book opens with a small town young innkeeper who we learn is “Kvothe”, an infamous and mysterious magician/assassin/warrior/kingslayer trying to hide from his past. After being discovered and convinced by the storyteller Chronicler, Kvothe decides to tell his life story, insisting it will last 3 days (one day for each book).

There’s so much I loved about these books. They’re beautifully written, have great characters (that actually grow) and a great story with an awesome world and magic system (the magic system is unique, based on what seems like almost realistic physic and chemistry principles). The story feels epic, even though we’re only following the life of one man. But what a life! I loved the juxtaposition of the young Kvothe and the older Kvothe telling the story; you just know so many things are going to happen to him to make him turn out that way.

The Name of The Wind is currently $11.56 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk, The Wise Man’s Fear is currently $10.98 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk.

Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin

The final volume of the Inheritance trilogy. It’s an interesting series; together the three books work as a cohesive whole, yet they can also be read by themselves and each is about a different set of characters. This concluding story is set a few decades after The Broken Kingdoms and is about Sieh, the godling of chidlhood. It’s again an amazing read; N.K. Jemisin has such an original and beautiful style.

Kingdom of Gods is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

Archangel by Sharon Shinn

This book is the first part of the Samaria series, about the angels and mortals who live side-by-side in the world of Samaria. Legend goes that Jovah created the angels to oversee Samaria, protect humans and answer their petitions. They can pray to Jovah through song, which grants them special abilities (like making it rain). Each year the Archangel and his consort, the Angelica, need to lead the Gloria, a mass prayer to Jovah (again through song) otherwise the god would destroy the world.

The book is about a new Archangel, Gabriel, who must convince the mortal Rachel to become his consort and prepare for the Gloria. It’s an interesting read and definitely a cool premise. I didn’t like the characters that much though, but as the other instalments won’t feature these two again, I’m going to continue with it. The only thing that bugged me though is there’s a sort of summary/description about the entire series on the first page of the book which contains I think a massive spoiler/twist. I first thought they spoilt the end of this book, but it doesn’t even happen in this one! I’m a bit peeved off by that, but to be honest I think there were enough clues that I might have figured it out myself anyway (as in: I’m not sure this twist is meant as a twist for the reader or just the characters).

Archangel is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £2.80 (secondhand) on Amazon.co.uk.

Stormlord’s Exile by Glenda Larke

This is the third and final book in the Watergivers trilogy. I remember having read this and enjoying it, but honestly I don’t remember much about the story. I’m sure it was a good end to the series, but well, obviously a bit forgettable.

Stormlord’s Exile is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £6.89 on Amazon.co.uk.

An Officer’s Duty by Jean Johnson

I loved the first part of this series and this second one is even better. The first book introduced us to Ia, a woman with incredible psychic abilities who saw a vision of how the world was to end in 200 years time and all the paths leading up to that event. She knows exactly what she needs to do and what she needs to convince others to do to make sure it doesn’t happen. Her powers aren’t perfect though and in this book she has to deal with the one thing that might disrupt her plans: a man whose future she can’t see.

If I have to admit it, this series is a bit over the top and unbelievable. Ia’s powers are ridiculous; she’s telekinetic, pyrokinetic, elektrokinetic, telepathic, postcognitive and precognitive. You’d think a story about someone as “perfect” as her wouldn’t work, but despite that though it’s a great read. I can’t wait to see where the next one takes us.

An Officer’s Duty is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.24 on Amazon.co.uk.

Time to announce the winners of my two Christmas Giveaways! There were some great comments left behind on both posts with your favourite musicals and favourite Christmas presents. I bet you’re all curious to hear who’s won…

The first giveaway winner will receive a Les Miserables Gift Pack, which includes the Les Mis movie soundtrack, a $25 Visa gift card, a t-shirt and a journal.

Drumroll, please! The winner is:

Rachel!

She left a comment behind about her favourite musical:

How can I only choose 1? I have 3 that immediately spring to mind – and they’re all slightly comedic ones rather than anything serious. So Who Wants to be a Millionaire from high Society and 2 from Singin’ In the Rain – Make ‘Em Laugh and Singin In the Rain. Given my faves are all comedic, really looking forward to how they are going to present Master of the House!

The second giveaway winner will get a copy of Redshirts by John Scalzi.

And the winner is:

Elisa Nuckle!

Her comment was:

I got a spiffy ergonomic keyboard this year, and it’s been awesome for my wrists, which do trouble me sometimes. Also a new Kindle cover that is perfect. I hear great things about this book and have been meaning to pick it up. 🙂

Congrats, to both winners! Your prizes will be with you soon. Enjoy! For those of you that didn’t win, why not try out my latest giveaway for Babylon 5 DVDs?

I love the style of this short video; it almost feels like a video game:

It’s a slow, lazy Sunday for me. It’s a perfect day for catching up on TV, watching some of my favourite shows. What better way to celebrate such a day with an awesome TV show giveaway?

Babylon 5 remains my all time favourite scifi series (although Firefly comes a close second) and I’m happy to giveaway two DVDs to one lucky reader! The first one is The Gathering which is pretty much the pilot of the entire TV show, while the second one is The Lost Tales, the last/latest addition to the series (yeah, I’m still holding a tiny sliver of hope that JMS might one day continue).

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment behind with your favourite scifi story. You’ll also get a second entry if you’re following me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #missgeeky. The competition is open to everyone, but bear in mind that the DVDs are Region 2 and may not work outside of Europe. The giveaway will end on January 13th after which I’ll randomly draw a winner.