It’s like fruit of the month club, but with books.
A wonderful column discussing the role of Christianity in the work of Madeline L’Engle, written by a non-Christian.
Author Malindo Lo responds to the controversy over how to portray gay characters in (particularly YA) fantasy in a brilliant two part column, part one and part two.
The BBC is going to be doing a radio adaptation of my favorite Neil Gaiman novel, Neverwhere, and it’s going to be starring one of my imaginary boyfriends, James McAvoy, and also include everyone’s most favorite weirdly named Sherlock actor, Benedict Cumberbatch. Seriously, I have to stop and think every time I try to remember his name because I always want to call him Cumbersnatch or Bumblesnoozle or something.
The BBC is also planning a miniseries adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell to air on BBC One next year.
And it turns out that Neil Gaiman is also writing a pilot of American Gods for HBO to which I say:
This is what I want!!
Seriously. American Gods is probably my least favorite Neil Gaiman work.
Andrea K. Höst wrote a lovely guide to the work of Diana Wynne Jones, which I encourage everyone to check out. There’s a reason I have more than one book by Jones on my bedside table.
In another guest post at The Book Smugglers’ Smugglivus celebrations, the writers from the blog Fangs for the Fantasy take on the fearsome Urban Fantasy Fanpoodle.
The closing credits song for The Hobbit, Song of the Lonely Mountain, by Neil Finn of Crowded House. I encourage you all to learn it and sing along in the theater as a warmup for the giant sing along that will be the premiere of Les Miserables on Christmas. There totally better be singalong screenings of Les Mis.
Why you think there aren’t any girl nerds, and why girl nerds hate you.
A behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming third season of HBO’s adaptation of Game of Thrones.
Free Stuff:
Flash fiction, delivered straight to your email inbox. Or you can read it on their website. There’s some really interesting stuff here.
Publishing imprint Strange Chemistry is doing a buy one, get one free on their e-books for Christmas. I reviewed The Assassin’s Curse earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here’s a chance for you to pick it up for free.
Phoenix Pickings sent along this lovely little email for me to share with you:
Hello Readers,
We have a very special Christmas special (along with our free ebook of the month (see below). Hopefully this will allow you all to get some nice goodies in time for the festivities at reasonable prices. Anyway, this week I’ll keep it very brief and to the point. Here’s the special and then the free ebook of the month (L. Neil Smith’s The Venus Belt)CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 45% OFF ANY PURCHASE FROM OUR PUBLISHER’S DIRECT CHANNEL. USE CODE DECHAPPY AT CHECKOUT TO GET DISCOUNT.
Select books at http://www.PPickings.com (Publisher’s Direct Channel ONLY)
Our free ebook for December is L. Neil Smith’s The Venus Belt. December’s code is 9991305 and will be good from December 2 through December 31. Links for the download, as usual, from our online catalogue page, www.PPickings.com .
“More than 150,000 women have been kidnapped without a trace or any ransom demand in the ‘normal’ world run by the Federalists and the bureaucracy. But that is not the only problem, because the freedom loving population in the ‘alternate’ reality of the North American Confederacy are facing their own crises.
People are disappearing across the Probability Broach, including Win Bear’s closest friend, Featherstone-Haugh (who heads the Confederacy), and even Win’s wife and assistant.
Ill (and deadly) winds are blowing and threatening to destroy the Probability Broach as we know it. Win Bear, keeping one step ahead of lethal assassins and fighting incredible odds, must solve multiple apparently disparate cases that all seem to lead to the end of freedom.”
What have you seen this week?
Ruth, the L’Engle essay is quite thought-provoking.
The link for the Venus Belt gives me a 404 error.
Okay, for some reason the link they gave me isn’t working. I’ve set it to the main page, and just click on catalogue.
I’ve read all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books and was very sad when she died (fairly) recently. So thank you very much for the link to the piece about her. I’m saving it for a quiet moment!
I very much agree that I would prefer to see a Good Omens adaptation rather than American Gods.
Good Omens was a delight! How would they update the Ansaphone, though? Instant messaging? That might be fun!