Bookish news and publishing tidbits 12 June 2012

RIASS stuff:

A review of The Light Between Oceans'by ML Stedman, a moving account of a battle over child custody (Rating: )

A'giveaway'of'Big Sky Country'by Linda Lael Miller'and a'giveaway of'Preloved'by Shirley Marr.

Other bookish stuff:

A Q&A with Nicole Trope: As a mother I have always been deeply affected by the stories that you have mentioned. It has always seemed to me that once you have a child the world can become a very scary place. There appears to be no sense or reason as to why some parents find themselves trapped in the horrifying reality of losing a child.

Judith at Lee Swammes on reading a book a day for a week:'Reading a book a day is'not fun. It may seem great to indulge but it's' annoying. Most of the time, I have other things I want or have to do but I had to constantly keep in mind that the book needed to be finished in time. So, throughout the day, I was calculating how much I should read before noon, before 4pm, etc. so that I could finish the book.

An interview with Deanna Raybourn: I read everything I can get my hands on in order to ferret out the facts I need but also to set the proper mood. I will watch movies and documentaries about my setting; I listen to music that feels appropriate for the time and place. I also make big collages with images related to each book to hang opposite my desk when I work. I like to have my resources at my fingertips when I'm writing.

Jay McInerney, man of the 80s, on why F Scott Fitzgerald, man of the Jazz Age, is so great:'At that time,'Gatsby'seemed like the relic of an age most wanted to forget. In the succeeding years, Fitzgeralds slim tale of the jazz age became the most celebrated and beloved novel in the American canon. Its more than an American classic; its become a defining document of the national psyche, a creation myth, the Rosetta Stone of the American dream. And yet all the attempts to adapt it to stage and screen have only served to illustrate its fragility and its flaws. Fitzgeralds prose somehow elevates a lurid and underdeveloped narrative to the level of myth.

On the zombie revival:'Surprisingly, what is interesting about contemporary zombieland (Warm Bodies'aside) isnt usually the zombies. Unlike their suave, sexy and fast-moving fanged cousins the vampires, these mindless, stumbling undead havent the wit or appeal to be the stars (to verify, check out the zombie lexicon on the Urban Dead Wiki). Instead, they act as a mere plot mechanism to bring into sharper focus the dilemmas and characters of the surviving humans around them ' of the horrors and depravities people might perpetrate.

This is an awkward but important question to ask yourself about your story: Have you ever gotten a critique that said, Im not sure I care about this story? It could be the most frightening comment out there. Not the setting needs work not the characters arent coming together no, seemingly everything is working but the readerjust doesnt care.'This question is a complete deal-breaker on a story, but very often, a critiquer who wants to ask the question doesnt dare, because he or she knows how terrible it will sound to the person being critiqued.

An interview with cover artist/designer Chris McGrath: The publisher gave me a scene that they really liked but were not glued to it.' I read the first several chapters which were great.' I'm actually looking forward to reading the book when it's released, but the time period and setting was super intriguing to me and I had always wanted to do a colonial period piece. So getting a spooky, colonial vibe across was important.

Portrait of the author as a young woman'New evidence may have revealed the true face of one of the worlds most beloved authors. Digital photographic analysis has revealed writing on a long-disputed oil painting that its owners claim shows Jane Austen as a teenage girl. No other professional likeness of the writer exists.

Audiobooks thatll make that family trip fly by

Novel poster (this is awesome)

A map of the US dialects

Pac-Man bookshelf!

On coming up with/sourcing names in historical fiction

Belinda Murrell: Tales of villains and Vegemite'My familys motto, Murrell says, is Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Medieval illuminated initial cookies

Three Authors Offer Advice for Writers: Orange Prize Winner Madeline Miller, Anna Campbell and John Elder'Robison

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer, the author of THE TWILIGHT SAGA. Read the excerpt. In theaters 3/29!