Book reviews, new books, publishing news, book giveaways, and author interviews

Bookish News and Publishing Tidbits 30 May 2012

 

book news Bookish News and Publishing Tidbits 30 May 2012

RIASS stuff:

Are you'following us on Facebook? And have you'subscribed to our updates? Well? Hmm?

Calling all bookish Melburnians! RIASS and some bookish buddies are planning a night out at the Astor Theatre on the 9th of June. All welcome, so if you're a local (or wish to commute), feel free to drop by. Details'here.

A giveaway of'Revived'by Cat Patrick'(ends 2 June)

A review of Diane Chamberlain'sThe Good Father, which explores the lengths parents will go to for their children.

I have a backlog of reviews thanks to spending my weekend mired in edits and spending last night cringing over Robert Pattinsons acting and stubbly angst in Bel Ami. Ill be playing catch up later today!

Other bookish stuff:

Momentum books to drop DRM (see also our two-part interview with Joel Naoum, publisher at Momentum)

The NZ Book Awards have been judged

What really happened to the NY Times CEO Janet Robinson?

Beautiful English words. Yay or nay? Whats your favourite?

A Q&A with Jilian Medoff, author of I Couldnt Love You More: Moving around so often also made me fearless and empathetic. As a child, I learned to be independent and assertive; otherwise, I would have gotten lost in the shuffle. So I'm not afraid to tackle risky material. And because I was constantly thrust into unchartered and uncomfortable situations, I became overly attuned to other people's feelings. Nine times out of ten, I care about other people, I do for other people, more than I care about and do for myself, and while this is exhausting in real life, it actually enhances my fiction. I take a 360-degree view, which is vital when your novels are character-driven.

Listen to your editors, people! I have known really good writers who have had wonderfully encouraging letters from publishers but instead of buckling down to the revisions suggested, were affronted, outraged by the suggestion that they change a word. Their mss are returned, untouched, to the drawer and never become that magic thing, a book. It's their decision, their right, but while a mss is the sole effort of its author, a book is a collaborative effort. The ability to accept that your book isn't perfect, that it is capable of stepping up another gear, is one of the essential elements that make a published author.

An obituary for Jean Craighead George

Lars Kepler, author of The Nightmare and the Hyptonist, answers Ten Terrifying'Questions

A profile of Melbourne small press outfit Sleepers Publishing: On the day our first book was published we'were ridiculously'excited. A few friends and people involved in the book came over for'champagne. It was very hard to open that book, for fear we'd left in some hideous typo, like in the name of our publishing company'('Slippers' haha!) 'But it was fine. We fell in love with every part'of the process along the way, but having a result we were so proud of was probably the nail in the coffin; it meant we'd end up destitute publishers forever, we'd gulped down the Kool-Aid and ordered a second flagon.

Whats involved in being a successful online bookseller? Just great bookselling, apparently. At Bilbary we have this relentless pursuit of content. We want to replicate the sort of quality and range you find in Foyles or a huge Barnes & Noble ' and the text of all our books will be searchable too. I'd say that at the moment, only 30% of a large, stockholding bookshop is available in digital format. There are vast riches out there. How many Penguins are there as e-books? There are only about 9,000. But how many Penguin titles have there ever been? So we're speaking to them about Pelican, about the classic green crime'You can go to the big six publishers and it's the same story.

Shanghai Noir: Chinas long history of crime writing: Allusions to noir books and films have featured prominently in commentaries on the recently purged'Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai. They were from Chongqing, where Bo was party secretary, but no other Chinese city is as tightly linked to the noir as Shanghai.

Exploring Paris through childrens books

A salt shaker reading JD Salinger

Florida teen starts giving library for homeless kids

The queens new litter of pooches named after Harry Potter

The Ray Bradbury Primer for Writers

This bookcase has you surrounded

A My Little Pony/Gatsby mashup

99 summer book recommendations (yes, heading into winter, Im a wee bit jealous about this whole hot weather bizzo)

MWF tickets & the festival program will be available at'mwf.com.au'on July 20.

Spiffy excerpts:

An extract from This Is How It Ends by Kathleen McMahon'(you can support RIASS by buying a copy here)

A three-chapter excerpt of'Shout Her Lovely Name'by Natalie Serber'(you can support RIASS by buying a copy here)

Jobs and opps:

Mystery writer? Have you entered the Hillerman Mystery Contest from Minotaur Books?'

Video:

Interview with Samantha Jones, author of the much-hyped Bone Season

Trailer for Mirage by Kristi Cook:

4 comments

  1. That is too cute about the queens dog. I didnt know that. I really do think another one should be Sirius. That would be a great puppy name, for obvious reasons and I just like the name. :)

    As for that bookcaseI need that in my life. Im losing my room to all my books. Not that im complaining, but I must sleep there, and that means no books on the bed. LOL

    -lauren

    • Stephanie /

      I had no idea that the Queen would be an HP fan, but I love the idea of her sitting in a huge plush bed with a glass of sherry and an HP book!

      Sigh, Ive had to start just giving my books to everyone because my shelves are exploding. Our whole flat is overrun with books!

  2. That Great Gatsby mash up with My Little Ponies is quite fantastic! Also, I have to laugh when I read that people cant handle edits of their writing. All I can say is, if you cant handle edits dont go to the law school!

    • Stephanie /

      Haha, I know what you mean, Jami. With my career background, edits are like water off a ducks back. Oh, you want to delete my whole manuscript? Sure, why not?

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