“So Charlaine Harris’ last Southern Vampires book, Dead Ever After, is out May 7. Except it’s kind of out now, which is why the interwebs are exploding. Some random asshat got their claws on an early copy, which is sneaky enough, but then posted the ending online, which is borderline sociopathic.” Mary Janice Davidson has [...]
“There’s a reason J.K. Rowling’s publishers demanded that she use initials instead of “Joanne”: it’s the same reason Mary Anne Evans used the pen name George Eliot; the same reason Robert Southey, then England’s poet laureate, wrote to Charlotte Brontë: ‘Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be.’” [...]
Gutter friend and Coach House Press publicist Evan Munday is in ongoing Canadian book publishing Twitter rap battle with Found Press/Cormorant Books’ Bryan Jay Ibeas.
The first of Colin Smith’s two-part interview with Kieron Gillen, the writer of comics such as Phonogram, Journey Into Mystery and the new Young Avengers. In this part, Gillen discusses Kid Loki and Journey Into Mystery: “I resisted defining myself as a fantasy writer because fantasy tends to be iffy. I became fine with it [...]
“Writing and reading are not all of me, but it’s an important part of me. I am thinking about slowing down a little, but we’ll see if that happens. I’ve thought about that for years, and sometimes I do slow a bit, but then I start right back.” Joe R. Lansdale talks more about ebooks, [...]
“For a couple of years I’ve been predicting in column after column that B&N was eager to get out of the brick-and-mortar business of selling books, but seeing it finally kick into high gear was no fun.” Melville House’s Dennis Johnson draws out the implications of Barnes and Noble closing stores for the book business, [...]
The Library of Congress has an online exhibit on the history of illustration, cartoons, animation, single panel gag cartoons and comic strips in the United States. (via @fantagraphics)
At Bookslut, Jenny McPhee writes about female readers, the imagined female reader and the anxiety of male authors: “The [contemporary male novelists] fear the female reader is no longer willing to interpret rampant misogyny as searing self-portraits of mangled masculinity, but rather as just more misogyny and who needs it? Their livelihoods threatened, the [contemporary [...]
Fantagraphics’ blog reveals “Modern Cartoonist: The Naked Truth” in all its gorgeous glory! Read Dan Clowes’ tell-all illustrated essay originally published on the hush-hush in 1997.
N.K. Jemisin is offering a previously published story online for free. Find out why, here. “All my pleasure and pride at having been published in [Weird Tales] is gone. Goes without saying that I won’t be submitting there again, ever, but at this point I’m ashamed to have my name associated with the magazine at [...]
“The first book I read was Carter Brown’s The Unorthodox Corpse. The Fryer Library (at University of Queensland) had a battered copy and I loved it.” Pulp Curry talks with Toni Johnson Woods about Australian pulp fiction.
Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief and author of Sex and the Single Girl has died. The New York Times has an obituary. Natalie Wood starred in Hollywood’s adaptation of Sex and the Single Girl. John Stewart talks to Helen Gurley Brown, Dave Chappelle, Christopher Hitchens and Tony Hawks on his BBC talk show, Where’s Elvis [...]
Writer and director Nora Ephron has died. The New York Times has an overview of her life and career and Marsha McCreadie has a memoriam at Movieline. “Ms. Ephron’s collection I Remember Nothing concludes with two lists, one of things she says she won’t miss and one of things she will. Among the ‘won’t miss’ [...]
Galleycat documents 50 Shades of Grey‘s history as the Twilight fanfiction story, “Masters of the Universe,” and its from The Internet Archive’s search (aka, The Wayback Machine) as it transforms from fanfiction to a published sensation. (via The Measure)
Greg Rucka shares the short answer and the long answer to the question he’s asked most frequently, “How Do You Write Such Strong Female Characters?” My favorite line: “This is a matter of respect, for both the story itself and for the audience receiving it. The reader is smarter than you. The reader is always [...]
Anthony Horowitz dares ask whether publishers are necessary to writers anymore. (via @IndoorsType)
Publishing powerhouse Jackie Collins explains her decision to self-publish and the business of books.
Digital Book World explains why e-books rarely cost less than hardcopies. (thanks, Dan!)
Writers Joe Lansdale and Andrew Vachss have a conversation about their books Edge of Dark Water and That’s How I Roll, the power of books, the importance of libraries and librarians, publishing as a fixed fight and a helluva lot more. Part one and part two.
Wired and io9 interview Michael Chabon on his screenplay for John Carter, his love of Edgar Rice Burroughs and writing genre fiction.
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