WWWednesday: January 7, 2015

On this day in 1835, the HMS Beagle dropped anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.

Le Dejeuner en fourrure

Writing, Editing, and Publishing:

At the end of this year, WHEEL OF TIME fans can expect a new book: The Wheel of Time Companion, edited by Robert Jordan‘s wife, Harriet McDougal, and his two editorial assistants, Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons.

Kameron Hurley writes here about what being a writer is like: how much money you make, what kind of help you have, the self-marketing you’re expected to do, and (sometimes) how tempting it is to just quit. Thankfully, of course, she hasn’t, and her name is mentioned in the next linked article . . .

In which the Guardian looks back at 2014 as “the year science fiction and fantasy woke up to diversity.”

The Guardian also put out a list of the top 10 magical worlds in children’s fiction. Most of the greats are on here, but I was sad that Neverending Story didn’t make it.

Katherine Addison writes for Tor.com about the traditional “bildungsroman,” the coming-of-age story, and how her own book, The Goblin Emperor, mirrors that structure.

Sidetable with bird-legs

We don’t often post other people’s book reviews here on FanLit (we’re too focused on writing our own) but I couldn’t resist linking to this blogger’s review of Patrick Rothfuss‘s recent book, The Slow Regard of Silent Things. Rothfuss himself linked it on social media and, when I read it, I loved what a careful literary analysis of both SRoST and THE KINGKILLER CHRONICLES it was. Enjoy!

Finally, if you have time and you enjoy the content here at FanLit, would you mind voting for us in the Preditors and Editors poll for best book review site? We’d appreciate it!

Film and Television

Blogger Where the Dog Star Ranges defends the character of Tauriel from the recent Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy of films by writing here about the awesome women of Middle Earth.

Word and Film put out their list of the most anticipated book-to-film adaptations in 2015. Some of our favorites are on here, such as The Martian, which will star Matt Damon. And I can’t wait to see Daniel Radcliffe as Igor in Frankenstein. 

Meret Oppenheim Gloves

Internet Stuff

My snobbery reveals itself here: when I saw that Huffington Post had written a listicle entitled “5 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Lord of the Rings’,” I sort of expected to know it all. But I didn’t, and you may not either, so check it out.

Here’s a funny comic by Faith Erin Hicks explaining the plot of A Wrinkle in Time. Makeouts abound.

Finally, I couldn’t help myself. This Clickhole article “Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule” is too funny not to share. Let’s make it relevant to our interests: file under “alternate history”?

Featured Artist

Meret Oppenheim was a German Surrealist artist. Her work often took shape as objets d’art. I chose these because they remind me so much of the fairy tales I’ve been studying lately. The chicken feet are like those on Baba Yaga’s cottage, while the fur-covered teacup seems like something you’d see in Grandmother’s house . . . well, once the Wolf has stolen her identity. And the gloves. I don’t know what they remind me of, but I like them.