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RIASS stuff:
Book Review: Ever by Gail Carson Levine'Rating: 
A YA heros journey set in a quasi Ancient Mesopotamia.
Interview: Nikki Logan on using the wilderness as setting in romance novels
Giveaway: The Robbers by Paul Anderson'(Aus only. Last day!);'Giveaway: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley'(world);'Giveaway: Dracula by Bram Stoker'(world)
Other bookish stuff:
Allen & Unwin has acquired Murdoch Books
An interview with Kate Morton about her latest book'The Secret Keeper'Im intrigued about Mortons thoughts about how technology is encroaching on a writers ability to write characters with secrets, or who are isolated or solitary. We touched on something in yesterdays bookish posts, so theres definitely something to it. I agree that human behavior is changing. For a novelist, technology takes away some of the more romantic options for mystery, but it also offers new opportunitiesAs to whether its important to keep certain private moments private, I think thats one of the central questions of our age.
Benedict Cumberbatch reads The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
An interview with Katherine Marsh, author of'Jepp, Who Defied the Stars'Marshs new novel is based on historical character Tycho Brahe, an astrologer and astronomer, and looks at the ongoing battle between faith and science. There are still thesethese questions of science and faith that we wrestle with. Getting back to astrology, theres the question of how to live in an uncertain world. For Jepp. If you accept some of the science and get away from some of the faith, you realise theres wholeness in the universe. How do you look at the world with a clear eye and still find comfort in it?
The curious incident of synchronicity in publishing, or when two very similar books are published close together. In a case of article synchronicity (or perhaps just having read the aforementioned article), author Natalie Whipple reflects on this phenomenon over here. Her book Transparent sold not long after Invisible, a book with a similar theme by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan. Ultimately this whole experience has taught me that publishing isnt really a competition. Its a big web of connected creativity that all of us can benefit from. Like James Dashner, I could likely benefit from the success of Andrea and David.
Janet Reid on why things take so long in publishing.'All those good intentions, it seems, are shattered by unexpectedly urgent things that crop up. Yep, pretty much. (Having been on both sides of the fence, its all pretty excruciating, really.)
Want to injure, maim, or determine a cause of death for a character?'Sue Bursztynski at The Great Raven has pointed readers in the direction of this great blog written by an emergency room nurse whos also a writer.
A thoughtful post from Tim Parks on film adaptations of foreign texts'In this case, however, its Parkss text being adapted by Austrian filmmakers. I watch the film unfold with a mixture of admiration, bewilderment, and, for purely selfish and private reasons, disappointment. My potentially global work has been made local. It is now locked into Germanic culture. It portrays the German media world, a distinctly German sensuality, a concrete Tyrolese. Well, haven't I written frequently in admiration of the artist happy to engage with his local community and ignore the global? Indeed I have. But this local is not my local.
Joe Konrath on ebooks in libraries'A (US) librarian chimes in on the huge costs of purchasing ebooks for libraries, and about the rules imposed by some publishers about how many times an ebook can be downloaded/borrowed before it has to be purchased again. The librarian wonders whether publishers see libraries as a source of lost revenue, but then notes that with bookshop closures, perhaps its only a matter of time before libraries become readers main source of books.
These Shakesperience apps from Sourcebooks are designed to change the way you view Shakespeare
Free read: The Kill Sign by Marvin Shackelford
A great gift for writerly types (although why its categorised under for him is beyond me. Is it that gendered Bic pen thing all over again?)
