Dragons represent ultimate power. They’re far more dangerous and arrogant and are usually seen in literature and media as the ‘bad guy’ (who can ever forget the best dragon ever, Smaug, from The Hobbit)…

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the intro… :}

So many of our own fantasies come true with a dragon: the ability to fly, the strength to climb the steepest of mountains with ease, the addiction to things that glimmer and luster, the complete lack of fear, to BREATH FIRE AT THOSE WE’RE ANNOYED WITH! … I could go on and on.

For me, dragons have more attitude than the humble, quiet unicorn. They’re willing to fight fire with fire and do not take well to solicitors, but they can also be misunderstood because their appearance is so fierce. One of my favorite dragon books is Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, which turns the ‘maiden captured by dragon’ on its head. Honesty, I like evil, foul tempered dragons just as much as silly, intellectual ones.

I’ve written one book with unicorns taking the center stage, so it’s only fair (and obvious) that dragons get their turn, too. Quest for Milo has my own take on the winged lizards and I’m quite fond of one of them in particular. (You’ll find out more about her in a later post.)

As a writer, I keep trying to figure out how to attract attention to my books in a highly competitive environment. While searching for an update to my business card holder, I stumbled upon this:

Isn’t he fierce? He was made by Ken Fischer of The Clay Kingdom. I have a feeling handing out business cards might be a tad bit easier with a dragon for a friend.

For The Kingdom: I have added Kingdom to the NOOK. Check it out and download yourself a copy for just $5!

Quest for Milo: The train’s rollin’ down the track. I have a feeling that I’ve entered into the last third of the manuscript which means I’m hopeful of passing it to my editor sometime in the near future. Fingers and toes crossed that she likes it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel almost guilty for being the first “non 5 star” reviewer, but I am quite stingy with my 5 stars and certainly don’t give them out after the first read. That said, Unicorn Girl was a wonderful story. I received the book as a gift and once picking it up burned through it in a couple days. The story is engaging and entertaining, and is free from the blood, cursing, and sexual innuendo that is so commonly present in veritably all fiction now days.
The book has many of the common themes and twists that you would expect from this style of novel, making some of the events thoroughly predictable. However, LeGette did a good job throwing in a few twists and developing the plot in an engaging way. So I had no issue with the so called predictability (I’ve read enough books that truly surprising me is rather difficult).

Overall good book. I plan on picking up “For the Kingdom” in the near future to see if this author consistently writes such good books.

People! You MUST check out Of Monsters and Men. They are without a doubt one of the most awesome bands of awesomeness. My sister told me to download their EP from itunes (which I unhesitatingly did) and my ears have been rejoicing ever since. I’d never heard Of Monsters and Men until two days ago. From what I have gathered, they have not been able to release any songs outside of Iceland UNTIL NOW. Only four songs are available currently on itunes and Amazon (that’s where I do most of my shopping, so I am unsure about other outlets) but I have heard talk of the release of an album sometime in 2012. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Seriously people. Check them out. After one listen, they have skyrocketed to the top of my music collection. I am crazy excited.

I’m very excited about book 3, but I’m always excited about my books. As some of you already know, number three has been giving me the sort of development trouble I experienced with Unicorn Girl. But I feel that the clogs are finally beginning to move smoothly. The manuscript is still under massive construction. This evening I was working on Chapter 19 (and heck, because I’m feeling so festive I’ll include TWO gifts: Chapter 19′s current title is Nosy Nimbsey) of the first draft and I might be getting to the halfway point. Maybe.

Well, I guess it’s rude to keep you waiting too much longer…

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THE TITLE TO MY THIRD NOVEL….

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IS…

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QUEST FOR MILO

Cheers! I hope everyone has a very merry and truly wonderful Christmas and New Years!

~Melissa

What can I say! I loved this story as much as I loved Unicorn Girl. I knew I would love the first one since I was around at its birth, but this one was a perfect surprise! The story is beautifully written and keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page. I loved the suspense and personality of the characters. This book is geared toward teenagers, but adults can enjoy it just as well. Kudos to M.L. LeGette on another great read! Can’t wait to indulge in your next masterpiece

Dr. Miskec’s class was studying young adult fiction and my novel, The Unicorn Girl, was part of their syllabus. I believe it was the last book they read for the semester and part of their final exam was to discuss the book in course terminology to me.

The questions they asked were truly fabulous and I hope I did some justice in answering them. (I often feel like I’m a blundering fool when answering questions about my novels, but I think I did okay—Dr. Miskec had only wonderful things to say to me afterwards).

One of my favorite points (and there were many) that was discussed was something called ironic narrative. In young adult fiction, it is mostly dominated by the first-person narrative. The odd thing about this is that most authors of young adult fiction are adults, hence the irony. What the students pointed out was that The Unicorn Girl is one of the few exceptions. I wrote a story as a teenager, for teenagers, through the eyes of a teenager. I’m not exactly sure what you would call that, but it makes the novel feel even more special to me than it already is. I’ll never be able to write another like it. I’ve now moved into that ironic narrative category—an adult who writes through the eyes of children.

Thank you, thank you Dr. Miskec! I was honored to be a part of your class. (I hope they wrote some excellent finals).

Meet Lisbeth Salander. 24 year old. Pierced. Tattooed. Asocial misfit. Genius computer hacker.

Meet Henrik Vanger. 80 year old. Ultra wealthy company owner. Determined. Obsessed.

What do these three individuals have in common in Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger, niece to the powerful Henrik Vanger, disappeared without a trace. For those forty years, Henrik’s desire to find Harriet’s body and catch her killer has turned into an obsession. He is determined to find the truth before he dies and hires Mikael Blomkvist to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

As Mikael digs deeper into Harriet’s disapperence he begins to realize that he needs help and the odd and fascinating Lisbeth Salander joins the case. What they discover is far darker and frightening than they had ever imagined.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a story about abuse and fear. It’s about power and murder. It’s about the terribly dysfunctional Vanger family.

I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s a thriller and murder mystery that kept me glued, though I admit that it’s odd how glued I was in that nothing—nothing—really happens in the first half of the book. The writing is very modern and at times was a bit too sharp and choppy for my liking. The plot is twisting and full of horror, though (to be honest) I was never that concerned about finding the truth about Harriet. It’s the characters that shine.

Lisbeth in particular.

I found myself cursing under my breath whenever she didn’t start a paragraph. I liked Mikael fine. He’s a perfectly good guy—one of the few in the story—though I had issues with his sexual ‘whatever’ attitude. I mean, really?? It’s just that Lisbeth was so much more fascinating. I never really understood her. Not even when I finished reading the last page. After 400 pages, she’s still a mystery to me. More human, but still foreign.

I absolutely loved her. And I suspect that her numerous layers will be revealed in books two and three and I’m itching to dive into them.

Was the book fantastic? No. Was it captivating? Utterly. I would definitely recommend it for people who enjoy darker fiction. I don’t see myself rereading it, but I certainly don’t see myself forgetting it any time soon.

The amazing Norah Jones. Her latest album is my favorite, but the melancholy, rain falling, lazy sound of her earlier albums is highly pleasing on the ears.

The Mojito Literary Society: Thursday’s Recommended Reading from K. Cat

Cheers to happy readers!!!

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