RIASS stuff:
Interview: Maggie Dana on authors baring it all on social media'(part 2 in our interview series with Maggie, in which she talks about authors and self-promotion, and typesetting in a brave new digital world)
Book Review: A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper'(Rating: 
) (a book about a crumbling royal family set in a crumbly old castle. Reminds me that I need to read I Capture the Castle)
Book Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green'(Rating: )'(am I the only one who didn't quite connect with the characters in this? Reader responses suggest that yes, yes I am)
Giveaway: The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer'(open to all)
Other bookish stuff:
Vintage photos from inside beautiful libraries
On the importance of Jane in the Tarzan mythos'Robin Maxwell looks at the evolution of Jane from wide-eyed swooning girl to a strong courageous woman, and how she approached Janes story in her own work. I wanted more than anything a story that bespoke of equality between the sexes. It was vital to me that if Tarzan saved Jane, then Jane would in a different but equally important way, save Tarzan. They would serve as each other's teachers.
On the importance of first sentences:'When my book club decided to read a book I'd already ripped through, I felt desperate for a good novel to sink into and I looked through the books on my shelf and came across'The Black Tower'again. I flipped it open to the'first chapter, and with one sentence I got hooked. It reads, 'I'm a man of a certain age'old enough to have been every kind of fool'and I find to my surprise that the only counsel I have to pass on is this: Never let your name be found in a dead man's trousers.'
Imelda Evans on how movies can make you a better novelist'Evans points out that the difference between a movie and a book is that movie crews are a whole lot bigger than the crew behind a book. A writer has to do a whole bunch of jobs that in the movie world would be spread across multiple people. It can be easy, however, for a writer to get caught up in jobs that arent the primary focus of an authorthe characters and the plotand to make poor decisions, as when theyre drafting theyre often the'only one making the decisions. Looking towards movies and the craft decisions made in a good movie can be a good learning experience, says Evans.
Of course, movies arent all good.'Dear Hollywood: trust authors'Hollywood, this is simple. Stop letting executives make story decisions and help screenwriters adapt faithfully. The power in books is there for you to harness. Trust authors and the stories they tell, and your adaptations will be loved by movie goers.
An interview with Susan Sontag'When its suggested that her work is influenced by war, Sontag responds: I could answer that a writer is someone who pays attention to the world.
When A Popular List Of 100 Best-Ever Teen Books Is The Whitest Ever'In all the discussion about the prevalence of women writers in YA, it looks like something important went amiss: the lack of minority main characters. Only two protagonists from the list of the top 100 books were of colour, as it turns out. Interestingly, two search terms I see coming up on my site time and time again are those looking for books with Asian main characters (NB: presumably people are searching for other cultures as well, but I havent put together reading lists for these yet), and people asking why all YA characters are white.
How to write a killer space adventure without breaking the speed of light'One of the challenges here is that space opera is characterised by a sweeping vastness, and generally feels epic. Charles Stross points out that even relatively small distances can be made to seem like epic voyages if the author is doing their job: think Master and Commander, in which our tiny little planet seems very, very large. Another option is to alter the physiology of your characters, as Sean Williams has done. After all, vast distances dont seem so long when you live a really long time.
The longform guide to writing great nonfiction'I love Capotes comment about actually'listening to what it is your interviewees are saying rather than simply recording them: Even note-taking artificialises the atmosphere of an interview, or a scene-in- progressNot long ago, a French literary critic turned up with a tape-recorderit broke downHe didnt know what to do. I said, ;Well, lets just go on as if nothing had happened.' He said, 'Its not the same. Im not accustomed to listen to what youre saying.'
Librarians and their bookish tattoos. Do you have a bookish tatt? I am wimpy, so no.
In the US? Rick Riordan has announced his upcoming tour dates
I enjoyed the Susan Sontag interview. Shes simply fascinating. I liked when she was talking about her experiences of war and she first heard of the phrase for the duration as in theres no butter for the duration. Sontag recalls savoring the oddity and the optimism of that phrase. Seriously, even in an interview shes sounds delightful.
I thought she made an interesting comment on an influential teacher who taught her how to read. Obviously, not in the early learning reading sense but reading image by image. I think we all need someone to teach us how to read like that.
Im always envious of people who manage to find an amazing mentor to guide them in their learning. I think having someone like that can make a huge different to a student in any area.