Tag Archives: genres

News: Books & Publishing, Music & Film

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Books & Publishing

‘City on Fire,’ a Debut Novel, Fetches Nearly $2 Million | TNYT
Donna Tartt’s novel “The Goldfinch” has 771 pages. “The Luminaries” by Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize, is 834 pages long. And then there is “City on Fire,” the 900-page debut novel that took the publishing industry by storm last week. It was even more evidence that the long novel is experiencing a resurgence, as a dozen publishers competed for the rights to release the book, set in New York City in the 1970s.

Music & Film

Hey MPAA, Why Are PG-13 Movies More Violent Than R-Rated Ones? | Flavorwire
A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds something more disturbing: though initial PG-13 films contained about as much gun violence as G or PG-rated pictures, “since 2009, PG-13-rated films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films” (emphasis mine). And hey, funny story, that rise matches gun violence off-screen too.

News: Books & Publishing, Music & Film

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Books & Publishing

BuzzFeed Decides Criticizing Awful Books Is Too Mean | The Atlantic
Put away the hatchets, BuzzFeed book reviewers. The Internet’s foremost listicle-maker will now be taking its ‘No Haters’ policy over to its rising books section, as BuzzFeed’s new books editor said…that he will only accept warm and cuddly book reviews.

Music & Film

Why Video Games Succeed Where The Movie And Music Industries Fail | FastCompany
The video-game industry is projected to grow from $67 billion in 2013 to $82 billion in 2017. At the same time, global movie revenue, both DVD and ticket sales, hit an estimated $94 billion in 2010, down 17% after inflation from 2001. Why is the video-game industry on the ascendance? And are there any lessons that the movie (and to a lesser extent, the music) industry can take from its success?

What is the best YA novel of all time? Round one | PopWatch | EW.com

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Check out EW’s bracket game to vote on the best young adult novel of all time.

We’re pitting 64 young adult books against each other in a March-Madness style game to determine which you think is the best of all time. Check out the full bracket and vote!

Vote: What is the best YA novel of all time? Round one | PopWatch | EW.com.

Also see: EW asks: What’s the best YA novel of all time?

EW YA Bracket

 

Book News Links

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Two Gaimen stories: Author Neil Gaiman to join Bard College faculty | The Wall Street Journal and Recurring Dream: Morpheus Returns In Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’ Prequel | NPR

What Do I Tell My Daughter About Ender’s Game? | HuffPost
A gay father’s perspective on Orson Scott Card’s homophobia, the book and the new film.

Amazon First Provides Early Access to New E-Books | PCMag
“Amazon [launches] Kindle First, a new program that offers customers access to books a month before their official launch — and serves as another tactic to encourage Prime memberships.”

A library of classics, edited for the teething set | Julie Bosman (The New York Times) | Manila Bulletin
“…[T]oday’s babies and toddlers are treated to board books that are miniature works of literary art: classics like “Romeo and Juliet,” “Sense and Sensibility” and “Les Misérables;” luxuriously produced counting primers with complex graphic elements; and even an “Art for Baby” book featuring images by the contemporary artists Damien Hirst and Paul Morrison.”

Facebook Drives the Most Traffic to Publishers, Beating Twitter and Reddit | Mashable. See the original report from Sharaholic.

Source: Statista (http://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/chart/1549/social-traffic-sources/)

Jane Austen game is a proper MMORPG [Kickstarter Project] | CNET

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Forget swords and sorcery. Ever, Jane invites MMO players into the treacherous waters of England’s Regency Period.

Read: Jane Austen game is a proper MMORPG | Crave – CNET.

Now this is a Kickstarter project I can get behind!

Jane Austen MMORPG

 

Creature Feature: The Original Frankenstein Text Is Now Readable Online | Gizmodo

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In the pantheon of classic horror, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ranks as one of the first, and most memorable, monster tales ever told. And while it’s easy enough to pick up a new copy of the spine-tingling 1818 narrative from pretty much any bookstore, it’s now possible to pore over the original, hand-penned manuscript online.

New York Public Library teamed up with the University of Maryland’s Institute for Technology in the Humanities to digitize Shelley’s two surviving notebooks containing most of the work—complete with edits by Percy Bysshe Shelley, her poet husband. Making this almost 200-year-old text click-accessible for a modern audience is only the first step for the Shelley-Godwin Archive, which hopes to digitize the entire oeuvre of the ultra-writerly family of Percy, Mary, and her parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.

There’s a pretty extensive how-to on the best ways to navigate the site, which fittingly launched this All Hallows Eve and is currently in beta mode. Have a look around at what genius looked like in the most truly terrifying time of them all: pre-word processing. [New York Times ArtsBeat]

Frankenstein
Image: Shelley, M. (1817). “Frankenstein—Draft Notebook B,”
in The Shelley-Godwin Archive, c. 57, fol. 29v.

via Creature Feature: The Original Frankenstein Text Is Now Readable Online | Gizmodo.

Where to Find Speculative Fiction Online | Kirkus

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Science fiction, fantasy and horror fans in particular have a wealth of online fiction venues that they can visit. But not every destination is worth the time it takes to type in the web address. Let’s take a look at some of better online speculative fiction venues.

Read: Where to Find Speculative Fiction Online | Kirkus.

Reviews various online and print magazine resources for speculative fiction.

Penguin Canada to release YA novel based on life of Lucy Maud Montgomery | Quill & Quire

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A newly announced YA novel, based on the life of Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery, has the support of the beloved author’s family.

In a press release, Penguin Canada’s Lynne Missen, publishing director of the young readers’ group, says, “The idea for this book came up at a lunch with representatives of the heirs of L.M. Montgomery and we were all immediately smitten.”

Scheduled for release in 2015 under the Razorbill Canada imprint, the novel will be written by debut author Melanie J. Fishbane, who holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The story will focus on Montgomery’s life from age 14 to 18, including her time as a student in Cavendish, PEI, to her year living with her her father and “difficult stepmother” in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

“My family is excited to be involved with another innovative literary project with Penguin Canada on the subject of my grandmother, L.M. Montgomery,” says Kate MacDonald-Butler. “Only a young adult novel could envision the dizzying romantic highs and the agonizing lows of finding one’s place in the world. We are looking forward to the creative talents of Melanie Fishbane in bringing the teenaged Maud to life for a new generation of readers.”

via Penguin Canada to release YA novel based on life of Lucy Maud Montgomery | Quill & Quire.

Love Horror Films and Fiction? These Links Are For You

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Fun and/or informative links for the horror lovers. I don’t mind a good thriller or gothic fiction (horror light?) but horror is a genre at another level of scary, which is too much for me. Guaranteed I will have nightmares.

FILM

Five great zombie short films you can watch online | CNET

The Greatest Horror Movies You Haven’t Seen | Flavorwire. 15 films are discussed.

Top 100 Horror Movie Recommendations | IMDb

Browse free Sci-Fi / Horror Films available at the Internet Archive | Archive.org

A history of horror movies since their origins in the 19th century. | Karina Wilson | Horror Film History

Libraries and Librarians in Horror Movies | Ellyssa Kroski | OEDb

21 Free Hitchcock Movies Online | open culture

Time Out London Presents The 100 Best Horror Films: Start by Watching Four Horror Classics Free Online | open culture

FICTION

HWA Bram Stoker Award™ 2013 Reading List and What is Horror Fiction? | Horror Writers Association | Horror.org

9 Books Scarier Than Any Horror Movie | Mashable

Horror comics to get you in the Halloween mood | USA Today

Scary & Horror Book Recommendations (some even have romance!) | Maryse’s Book Blog

Links to Horror web resources and book recommendations. | The Monster Librarian

CARRIE (2013) TRAILER (In Canadian theatres this Friday, October 18)

35 Great Travel Books That Will Take You Around the World Without a Plane Ticket | Flavorwire

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Travel writing is a glamorous but difficult genre. To a reader it’s an easy sell: you get to go to fantastic places and see unusual things without spending the money.

In this list, I’ve observed the following parameters: no recent blockbusters, like Eat, Pray, Love or Wild, as many of the world’s regions as one could possibly fit, and steering away from the older, 19th-century popular travel books unless there was something particularly remarkable about them.

See the list: 35 Great Travel Books That Will Take You Around the World Without a Plane Ticket | Flavorwire.