Wonder-No-More Wednesday (1)

Okay, really it's just an excuse to answer some of the questions I've so recently been receiving.



Each Wednesday I will answer any questions I've received as blog comments in the past week, well, to the best of my abilities, that is. Since there's no direct-reply option on comment feed, this seems to be the most logical solution to replying to my followers' and visitors' comments and questions.

This is a brand new and original Meme created right here in The Wolf's Den!

Wonder-No-More Wednesday Rules:


1. Answer every question to the best of your ability.
No one or two-word responses. Take some time with your replies.

 2. Each question must at least be acknowledged.
If you're uncomfortable providing a truthful response,
at least thank the commenter for their curiosity.

3. If there are no questions, provide a question of your own.
What're you reading? How was your day? What'd you do this weekend?
And then, of course, respond to it.
There's no reason you can't indulge your readers' curiosity.

This Meme may be copied on your own pages, but please link it back to me and my blog.
Thank you!

Firstly, a HUGE thanks to all my new followers and your compliments on my blog's appearance. It's really great to hear that the work I've done appeals to more than just myself. Even if, at the same time, it does make me a little more self conscious about it, too.

Savannah of Books With Bite asks:

Is [Diane Duane's Young Wizards series] similar to Harry Potter?

~ Yes and no, but mostly no. Where Rowling has a wizarding world cut off from the rest of society, Duane's wizards are very very much involved with the real world. The first book takes place in the middle of Manhattan, after all.
    Where HP has a villain with minions bent on conquering the world, these wizards are fighting what could be considered a god, the creator of death itself. In that respect, there's really no "end-goal" they're pushing for over the course of the series, it's more of a book-by-book, problem-by-problem theme.
    Yes, both series have young (teenage) wizards who grow and age through each book. But instead of a year's time in HP, the YW's events/books are only a few days or maybe a couple weeks. Thus, the YW kids age much slower (allowing for more books before they're no longer 'young').
    I could draw more comparisons, but I don't want to go into too much detail for fear of spoilers. Perhaps I'll make a longer, more detailed post after I finish reading and reviewing the series. In fact, plan on it.

Emma Michaels of The Thirteenth Chime asks:

My release date [for The Thirteenth Chime] is Friday the 13th, (August this year) isn't that crazy?

~ Yes, that is a little crazy, but an awesome kind of crazy. Crazier still is the fact that the release date is the day before my birthday. Hear that, people? Sounds like there's no reason why I shouldn't get this as a birthday present!

Blodeuedd of Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell asks:

How did you come up with the name for your blog?

~ Ooh, great question! It's a long story, actually, but I'll try to slim it down as much as possible.
    I've always loved wolves, probably starting at least as far back as Balto, but possibly longer. In 2005 I joined a Harry Potter fansite under the username StormyWolf, and shortly afterward I began to role-play a character of the same name. In the years since, my character acquired some wolfish characteristics and I acquired the nickname (from some friends) of Wolfy. Now, it's been quite some time since then. That character has 'retired', and most people refer to me by the first half of the username instead of the last. Yet...the affinity toward wolves still remains.
     However, I cannot take full credit for my blog's name. When starting this blog, I was scrambling for ideas of what to call it. One friend (who knows me primarily by my moniker) suggested The Wolf's Den and I glommed onto it immediately. Not only does it take in my online identity and love for wolves, but the Den can either mean the wolf's home or, in urban terms, a study or library. Perfect for a reader or writer's blog, no?
    As I continue outlining my UrbanFantasy/Paranormal novel, I've even found myself jotting in The Wolf's Den as a location. How's that for getting a head-start on publicizing? Hehe, but we'll see how far that goes.

Lit Addicted Brit of Lit Addicted Brit asks:

Including a 'read time' is a really good idea but how do you keep track?

~ Well, when it comes to reading along with audiobooks it's actually quite easy. For the few other books I have read and reviewed on this blog thusfar, I've made my best guess. I mostly like to read books in one sitting (often at night), so it's fairly easy to keep track.
    If I ever get in a situation where I'm stopping and starting a lot, I might just have to invest in one of those timer-bookmarks! I'd have to be pretty desperate for that, though, as I NEVER use bookmarks.

Elle of Media Molly asks:

...I need to practice commenting instead of just lurking most of the time. How else can bloggers know that people enjoy what they wrote?

~ Well, I see two options. They can either develop psychic abilities and use Cerebro to search the world for what people think about their blog, OR they can follow the yellow brick road to find the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and ask him.
    ...Or maybe we should just learn to lurk less and comment more? ;D

Josette of Books Love Me! asks:

Wow, how did you keep track of how many blogs you visited?

~ Well, there were 261 blogs listed at Crazy-For-Books' page, and I visited all of them, plus one. I didn't follow/add all of them because not all of them had Google-Follower as a part of their website (WordPress or LiveJournal).

Katie of Book Love asks:

Holy cow... This is crazy! Are you still following all of these [375] blogs?!

~ Ahem...yes. Yes, I am. It took me the better part of two days to get my Google Reader to say "Zero Blogs Unread". And since starting this post, I have 39 waiting to be read.
    I have, however, moved many blogs to my "Probationary" Folder and three to my "To-Delete" Folder. In one or two weeks, I'll start un-following the blogs I'm not interested in.

Katie of Book Love also asks:

[Concerning the Young Wizards series] Just based on your review... maybe a mixture of Wizards of Waverly Place and the Magic Treehouse series?

~ Wizards of Waverly Place is very, very comedic and concerns mostly the kids learning life-lessons in and around the magic use. The YW series is very much a life-or-death adventure series with some elements of comedy relief woven through. There's not so much a "the moral of the story is..." as there is a "Wow! I wanna see magic in the world like they do! -Well, I guess I can start out by..."
    Unfortunately, I've not read the Magic Treehouse series, so I can't really make a comparison there...

As many of you know, I posted MANY questions around the blogosphere over the weekend:
Care to venture into The Wolf's Den?
And, just because I feel like it, here's the best response to my question I've yet received:

Jen from In the Closet With a Bibliophile responds:

Hey Vicki, thanks for stopping by my blog. Lately I've had the notion to venture into a wolf's den, on the hope that it might spur my link to the world of werewolf, but alas I had not been able to. So, without further adieu yours is the first so I thank you! :D I'll be following you to see what lovely wolfy things you provide.

Oh, and though you've all been so kind and haven't asked this yet, I'll go ahead and do it for you...

All my followers ask:

Yo! Where's that latest update of the Young Wizards series you promised us "Tuesday at the latest"?!

~ Heh, well, I haven't yet started the 4th book yet. I've been a little bogged down with all my following, after all.
    *dodges rotten fruit*
    Hey! Alright! I'll read it tonight!
    In fact, I'll probably have to be reading one or two books a day in order to get through #9 in time for it to go back to the library on Tuesday. Sigh.

And That's A Wrap!