Where Imagination Lives

I had always wondered what it would be like to enter a bookstore and have everything I was thinking of burst into life. What if all the stories really did pop out of the pages? What if Peter Pan really did fly off, away from the words that conceived him? I know I’m not alone in thinking that during most of the times I visit a story-laden spot, whether it be a bookstore, a library, or a personal room of reading at home, I think of all the tales and truths between them. The treasures that everyone, not only bookworms appreciate.

And now, entering a Fully Booked store allows me that very pleasure: of having the books come to life, of having a character beside me, of watching the story unveil through another reality. The Fully Booked Imagine App creates an augmented reality in my smartphone (and yours too!), allowing me to see what it would be like if the dragons and cyclopes I had only read about did exist in our world! 

 Now, the dragons dance as if they were real! 

Here are some instructions so you can imagine, too!

1. Download the Fully Booked Imagine application from the iTunes store (for iPad 2, iPod Touch, and iPhone devices). You may search for “Fully Booked Imagine” or simply “Fully Booked” in the App store.
2. When visiting a Fully Booked branch, open the application, and hold it against the book covers featured in the window displays and in-store posters.
3. See the books come to life!
4. You may even snap a screenshot by holding the power button and the home button at the same time. The screenshot will appear in your camera roll.
5. Share the experience! Tweet us your photos (tag us: @_FullyBooked, #fullybookedimagine) or post them on our Facebook wall. We’d love to see what creative screen caps you can come up with. Why not try posing with the characters that come to life?

What do you think the animation will be for The Son of Neptune? :-) 

The most heartfelt of thanks go out to our friends at Bates Manila and Sindikato Productions, without whom the conception and creative execution of this project would never come to be. It was from their imagination that this was conceived, and because they shared it with me, I do the same with you.

Let’s pay the favor forward. Let your own imagination live, too!

Fully Booked Imagine App also features World War Z, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hunger Games and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Special thanks to Random House, HarperCollins, and Scholastic. :-) 

BOOK PICK + GIVEAWAY: Some Thoughts on The Son of Neptune

I will try to write the first part of this entry without any spoilers for The Son of Neptune.

When I first read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, I read all five books in one week. It wasn’t because I was so hooked; I just felt I had to catch up with the rest of the world, especially with the release of The Lost Hero, and just recently, The Son of Neptune.

Reading a series that fast doesn’t allow a reader to become a fan right away. Don’t get me wrong, I love the series now, having read until The Son of Neptune. But upon a first reading, I looked at facts and events rather than characters and motives. It was only when I reached The Last Olympian, when the final battle and ultimate conflict was about to be faced, that I actually stopped and thought about Percy having grown up so much since first meeting him, Luke having become so desperate since my first impression of him, and Kronos having built a real physical presence around himself since his haunting shadow in The Lightning Thief. The flashbacks in that book also helped in growing emotionally close to the characters, especially to Luke, Thalia and Annabeth. I’m such a sucker for flashbacks, I really am.

It’s funny; just as in Harry Potter we find a huge chunk of the story is about Dumbledore, here we find that in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, much of the events had transpired because of Luke Castellan.

By the end of the series, I didn’t know whether or not to believe Luke was still a hero inside (though the series does angle it towards his redemption), but I was left wishing I had read a little more slowly and perhaps gotten to know him a little more.

Thankfully, with the Heroes of Olympus series, we don’t have to say good-bye to everyone we grew to love before. And to continue the story with fans of the series, I am giving away:

1. One hardbound copy of The Son of Neptune 
2. One hardbound copy of The Son of Neptune with a Rick Riordan signed Percy Jackson and the Olympians book plate
3. One hardbound copy of The Son of Neptune with a Rick Riordan signed Heroes of Olympus book plate 
   

Simply e-mail your full name, and contact number to lucyscontests@fullybookedonline.com, with the subject I CAN'T WAIT TO READ SON OF NEPTUNE! You have until 12:00 nn on Monday, October 17, 2011 to e-mail your entries, and the winners will be chosen via Random.org. Only one entry per person will be counted. :-)

This giveaway is open to Metro Manila, Philippines residents only, as all winning books and book plates will be claimed at the Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street branch. Entries with incomplete or wrong information indicated will not be qualified for the contest, and requests for pick up in other branches will not be entertained. Please be patient with me as this is one of my first giveaways in a long time, and I would like to see how it goes before opening more giveaways to other areas there are Fully Booked branches in!  Hope you guys understand!!

Now for the real reason for this entry: some thoughts on The Son of Neptune. (Spoilers after this cut, so don't read the rest if you haven't finished the book!)