Jason Segel and Paul Rudd happen to be two of my favorite
comedic actors. During a 2009 tandem interview about their film I Love You, Man, they got a bit giddy
when the subject of a bromance arose.
Rudd: “I
couldn’t think of a movie that had told it in quite this way...”
Segel: “Midnight Cowboy.”
Rudd
(nodding): “And Urban Cowboy.”
Segel: “And Rhinestone Cowboy.”
Rudd: “And Rhinestone.”
Segel: “And…
Stonehenge…”
Rudd: “And Romancing the Stone.”
After a
pause, Rudd continued: “Stone cold…”
Segel: “Cold Mountain.”
Rudd: “Brokeback Mountain… that would be one.”
Kind of fun, right? If you’re just immature enough. But
instead of citing movies, I’m going to do it for books.
Upon announcing that Why Not Books would be publishing the
second fantasy novel by young prodigy Luke Herzog, the most common question has
been: Is it a sequel? Luke wrote DRAGON VALLEY, believe it or not, as a nine-
and ten-year-old. It was published when he was 11 and captured the imagination
of kids all around the country. They sent him emails telling him they’d read it
several times. They chose it as their favorite book and wrote school reports
about it. One fan even sent a photograph of a sculpture he made depicting one
of Luke’s characters—Blue, the water dragon. Luke wrote his new book, GRIFFIN BLADE AND THE BRONZE FINGER,
from ages 11 to 13. But no, it is not a sequel.
Dragon Valley
tells the story of five baby dragons who were spawned in a laboratory and released
in the wilds of a hidden valley. They navigate the next one thousand years of
their evolution—the growing pains, the battles, the descendants, the myriad
creatures populating the magical valley. Griffin
Blade and the Bronze Finger is the tale of a good-hearted rogue, a thief
named Griffin Blade, who steals a gem, gets it stolen from him, and embarks on
a search for a jewel that becomes an epic quest for redemption. Along the way,
he encounters creatures ranging from dwarves, dark elves and djinns to
minotaurs, mermen and, oh, a massive sand worm.
So what’s the connection between his first book and his
second—besides the author, that is? Well, for that we need to climb aboard a
train of thought. Here’s one way to connect Dragon
Valley to Griffin Blade and the
Bronze Finger, with 69 titles in between:
1. Dragon
Valley
2. How
Green was My Valley
3. Anne
of Green Gables
4. Diary
of Anne Frank
5. Diary
of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6. Rules
of Civility
7. Civil
Disobedience
8. A
Disobedient Girl
9. Girl,
Interrupted
10. Mean
Girls
11. A
Prayer for Owen Meany
12. A
Prayer for the Dying
13. As
I Lay Dying
14. The
Lay of the Land
15. Alice
in Wonderland
16. State
of Wonder
17. States
of Mind
18. Empire
State of Mind
19. Empire
Falls
20. Things
Fall Apart
21. Needful
Things
22. Where
the Wild Things Are
23. Into
the Wild
24. Into
Thin Air
25. The
Thin Man
26. The
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
27. The
Cat in the Hat
28. Cat’s
Cradle
29. The
Cradle Will Fall
30. Free
Willy
31. Long
Walk to Freedom
32. A
Good Walk Spoiled
33. Alexander
and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
34. My
Name is Not Alexander
35. My
Name is Memory
36. Memoirs
of a Geisha
37. Autobiography
of a Geisha
38. The
Autobiography of Malcolm X
39. The
Joy of X
40. Joy
of Cooking
41. Paula
Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible
42. South
of Broad
43. Innocents
Abroad
44. Presumed
Innocent
45. Presumed
Guilty
46. Guilty
Wives
47. The
Time Traveler’s Wife
48. The
Time Machine
49. The
Homework Machine
50. Al
Capone Does My Homework
51. Al
Capone Shines My Shoes
52. The
Red Shoe Diaries
53. Where
the Red Fern Grows
54. A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn
55. Night
Tree
56. The
Night Before Christmas
57. A
Kiss Before Dying
58. Kiss
of the Spider Woman
59. Along
Came A Spider
60. A
Long Day in November
61. Four
Days in November
62. The
Sign of the Four
63. I
Am Number Four
64. I
Am Legend
65. The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
66. Go
the F**k to Sleep
67. Oh,
the Places You’ll Go!
68. The
Place of Dead Roads
69. Glory
Road
70. Blades
of Glory
71. Griffin
Blade and the Bronze Finger
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