Bookish News and Publishing Tidbits 5 April 2012

RIASS stuff:

An interview with Michael Grant, author of the Gone'series

A review of Dead Heat'by Bronwyn Parry: a high-action romantic suspense novel set in rural NSW

An interview with author Richard Hine, in which Richard expresses his doubts about the print publishing business model.

I'm off on my honeymoon at the end of this week, so if you'd like your name up in lights with a RIASS guest post, just drop me a line.

Other bookish stuff:

Whats with all the dead girls in YA literature? Dead girl covers are bad enough, but what's seriously creeping me out these days is dead girl plots. So many YA plots seem to revolve around a dead girl, it's not surprising that she features on the covers so much.

Why is the Hunger Games so popular?'With shocking story-lines, a female protagonist, accessible prose,'The Hunger Games'was poised for success during a blockbuster lull.

Alexandra Potter, author of Going La La, answers Ten Terrifying'Questions: 'I have always been very influenced by film, especially romantic comedies such as'When Harry Met Sally, Annie Hall, or any of Richard Curtis' films.'When I started writing I wanted to create a novel that would leave the reader with the same feel-good feeling that you are you left with after watching one of these films.

Interview with Lionel Shriver about The New Republic:'I did not want to write a very heavy, moralistic, indignant novel. I didnt think that was the right approach to the subject matter. I was more interested in insinuating, in the lightest fashion possible, that terrorism can be insidiously effective. I think that intellectuals have had a hard time with this topic, because its just so self-evidently wicked. We can pretty much be in accord here that blowing people up to get your way is not a good idea. Its the moral obviousness, it gives you nothing to say when youre hungry for complexity and subtlety'you cant find it in terrorism. Thats the real point of vulnerability with terrorists'they take themselves so seriously, so the key is to make fun of them.

Interview with Anne Tyler about The Beginners Goodbye: Before I start the actual novel, I write as much as a page of back story, as actors call it, for each major character. What the characters childhood was like, how he feels about food and clothes and social occasions, his enthusiasms, his anxieties'any detail that occurs to me, Ill write down. Most of this will never make it onto the printed page, but it helps me know how that character will react within a given situation.

The Real-Life Inspirations for the Game of Thrones:'Aficionados know that [George RR Martin's] novels (collectively called 'A Song of Ice and Fire') are loosely based on the Wars of the Roses, a vicious series of battles of succession that took place in 15th-century England. Martin has also listed Maurice Druon and Thomas B. Costain as models, two mid-20th-century historical novelists who wrote about medieval France, and you can see echoes of that material in his fictional universe, as well.

A series of posts on how to write an historical novel.

The Generosity of Criticism:'What is more'generous'than critique? It demands time and energy, a lending of oneself to the performance of another. Judgment leans back in its chair and, exerting the bare minimum of energy, points a thumb up or down. But critique leans forward in its chair, poised and attentive, heeding and contemplating, digesting and imagining.

Book blogger Maggie from Maggies Bookshelf has suffered a terrible housefire. This post links to details re: donations.

Theres an official release date for the Mortal Instruments movie:'August 23, 2013.

Bookish events:

Friday 13 April 2012 at 4:00pm

A Night of Chilling Tales

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122.'Free, but you must book on 9819 1917

Rhiannon Hart, author of the amazing'Blood Song, that takes vampirism to a dark new level,'Michael Pryor, author of'The Extraordinaires, and the'Laws of Magic'series,'Nansi Kunz, author of'Dangerously Placed, a brilliant dark thriller with'Sue Bursztynski, author of'Wolfborn'and'Ben Chandler, author of'Quillblade: Voyages Of The Flying Dragon.

Pottermore video sneak peak: