Penguin pays tribute to Tom Clancy | The Bookseller


Penguin has paid tribute to thriller giant Tom Clancy, who has died at the age of 66.

Tom Clancy died yesterday (1st October) at a Baltimore hospital, close to his Maryland home.

Clancy wrote 25 fiction and non-fiction books for Penguin, including several thrillers based around the military and international espionage, dubbed “techno-thrillers”, many of which were adapted into Hollywood films. The author’s 17th novel, Command Authority, is due to be released in December 2013.

Tom Weldon, c.e.o. of Penguin Random House UK said: “Tom Clancy changed readers’ expectations of what a thriller could do. He was a master of his craft and it was our privilege to work with him. He will be greatly missed by millions of fans in the UK and around the world.” 

David Shanks, Penguin USA c.e.o., was involved with every one of Clancy’s books. He said: “I’m deeply saddened by Tom’s passing. He was a consummate author, creating the modern-day thriller, and was one of the most visionary storytellers of our time. I will miss him dearly and he will be missed by tens of millions of readers worldwide.”

via Penguin pays tribute to Tom Clancy | The Bookseller.

25 Independent Presses That Prove This Is the Golden Age of Indie Publishing | Flavorwire


Independent publishing — that is, publishing whatever an individual or small group think is worthy of dumping their time and money into — is nothing new. From Virginia and Leonard Woolf starting up Hogarth Press to the early days of Farrar, Straus and Giroux championing now-iconic authors that other publishers wouldn’t touch, DIY publishing has long been responsible for some of our best literature.

That’s why, no matter what the latest doomsday prognostication about the future of big publishing happens to be, this is an exciting time to be a fan of literature. Among the long list of indie presses that are putting out great stuff, we’re singling out 25 that we love — but we encourage you to do some more digging of your own to discover even more great indies that are publishing great works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and more.

Read: 25 Independent Presses That Prove This Is the Golden Age of Indie Publishing | Flavorwire.

Excavated Site In Denmark May Be The Royal Hall From “Beowulf” | LitReactor


A team of archeologists in Denmark have unearthed a great dining hall in a field in Lejre that they believe not only belonged to the real-life King Hrothgar, but was the setting for the anonymous Old English poem Beowulf, David Keys of the Independent reports.

Beowolf

Read the full story: Excavated Site In Denmark May Be The Royal Hall From “Beowulf” | LitReactor.

Invisible Man Banned: Ralph Ellison’s Landmark Novel Banned From School Libraries | HuffPost


A lack of “literary value” has apparently left Ralph Ellison’s landmark 1952 novel, Invisible Man banned from school libraries in Randolph County, N.C., the Asheboro Courier-Tribune reports.

Read the full story: Invisible Man Banned: Ralph Ellison’s Landmark Novel Banned From School Libraries | HuffPost.

Philly’s Free Library worth the trip for rare-book collection | readingeagle.com


The literary wealth of more than 5,000 years is preserved at this museum-row library that is anything but ordinary.

via Philly’s Free Library worth the trip for rare-book collection | readingeagle.com.

App offers Edinburgh bookshop tour | The Bookseller


A free app providing a tour of Edinburgh’s 53 bookshops has been released onto iTunes.

The Bookshops Trail app has been created to mark Edinburgh’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature and gives users an overview of each bookshop and its individual specialisms, opening times, contact details and the quickest way to get there. The app covers independent bookshops, chain retailers and secondhand sellers.

Bookshops featured include the Owl & Lion Gallery, Free Church Books, Peter Bell Books, Old Children’s Books, Pulp Fiction and Fruitmarket Gallery, as well as branches of Blackwell’s and Waterstones.

A What’s On feature also provides up-to-date information for all literary events taking place across Edinburgh.

A spokesperson said: “Free and a must-have for the travelling booklover, this app will give users a visual and informative guide to Edinburgh’s bookshops. Edinburgh is the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, one of six cities worldwide to receive UNESCO’s City of Literature designation.”

The app is supported by the City of Literature website. 

Edinburgh Bookshops Trail

via App offers Edinburgh bookshop tour | The Bookseller.

Summer Reads: Best Books For Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s And 60s | HuffPost Books


Just like our lives can often be divided into chapters, there are also different books that can define each decade.

via Summer Reads: Best Books For Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s And 60s | HuffPost Books.

Mega Summer Reading List of 23,000 Post-Apocalyptic, Plague, and Pandemic Books | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org


I love post-apocalyptic fiction in the form of novels, films, comics, and video games. I have gathered reviews and recommendations for hundreds of titles for my own summer reading list that I thought others might enjoy as well.  This post will highlight some of my favorite post-apocalyptic novels, but then also provide resources and lists where you can find over 23,000 more!!

via Mega Summer Reading List of 23,000 Post-Apocalyptic, Plague, and Pandemic Books | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org

Crowdsourcing Spiffy New Book Covers For 50 Literary Masterpieces | Co.Design


Recovering the Classics is a joint project by the Creative Action Network, DailyLit, and Harvard Bookstore that hopes to attract designers and illustrators–namely, people like you–to crowdsource public domain covers for what they’ve deemed the 50 greatest literary works in public domain history.

Technically, these covers will then enter the public domain for you to use as you see fit. But for ease of distribution, the Harvard Bookstore will print you any public domain book you’d like with any cover you’d like for $15, with profits split between the organizations and cover’s creator. eBooks will be available for $3.

via Crowdsourcing Spiffy New Book Covers For 50 Literary Masterpieces | Co.Design: business + innovation + design.

1 | Crowdsourcing Spiffy New Book Covers For 50 Literary Masterpieces | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

Books about Bullying | Stephen’s Lighthouse


Books about Bullying | Stephen’s Lighthouse.

A list of 33 resources including suitable grade range for each.