Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 47 of 61

Been one of those days, but it’s still Saturday, so posting it still counts 🙂

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• How the Hitchhiker’s Guide can make the world a better place
• One other way to help make the world a better place, at least a little: comes from this tweet reminder — from Harry Connolly
• From ‘alibi’ to ‘mauve’: what famous writers’ most used words say about them — a fun little read
• Interview: the Lucky Nows — Alex Bledsoe talks about getting someone to write a song for the new Tufa novel and then interviews them.
• 10 Characters in the Mercy Thompson Series You Absolutely Must Meet — B&N’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog has a good piece in honor of the new Mercy book this week.
• INFOGRAPHIC: The Salaries of Famous Fictional Characters — an odd selection of characters in this Infographic featured on Electric Literature.

A Couple of Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen:
• Alan Dean Foster was interviewed on Hank Garner’s Author Stories podcast this week — some fascinating stuff from an author I’m sure you’ve read a little of.
• The Writers Panel #319: Christine Lennon/Bob Daily, features some good stuff — I really liked what Daily said about characters/scenes (have used it a little already in looking at books). The story about getting his job on Frasier is pretty good, too, albeit off-topic for this blog.

After a couple of slow weeks on the New Release front, we get hit with this one…leading to: Bledsoe’s right. Get to work, people. This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon are a good place to start:
• Gather Her Round by Alex Bledsoe — the fifth Tufa novel looks to be the darkest so far. Really looking forward to this.
• Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs — I’m almost halfway done with this, and it’s a good one, folks (shock). Mercy’s kidnapped by a vampire, and well, Adam’s trying not to kill everyone in sight.
• Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire — the new InCryptid novel is from Antimony’s point of view, and she’s getting to deal with the fallout from Verity’s live television surprise at the end of Chaos Choreography.
• How the Hell Did This Happen? The 2016 Presidential Election by P. J. O’Rourke — title says it all, don’t it?
• Say Nothing by Brad Parks — Parks’ first stand-alone is fantastic. Read my full take here.
• Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells — SF world, Biker Gang, and some strange sort of magic. Cool book. My full take on this one is right here.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to five experts for following the blog this week.

Skimpy results for odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• How the dusty Merriam-Webster dictionary reinvented itself. Bigly.
• Please Stop Writing in Library Books — who are these monsters? (hyperbole aside, it’s a monstrous thing to do)
• Here Are The Media Hottakes We’d See If The Chronicles Of Narnia Were Released This Year
• Book Storage Ideas for Apartments and Small Living Spaces — many of which I’d like to incorporate into my house

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Accidental Detective by Michael RN Jones — Meet Victor Jones, Mr. Robot with a less creepy, humorous and Farenheit Press-ish twist.
• Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames — a fantasy novel about a mercenary group “getting the band back together” in a world where they’re treated like rock stars.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Books worth $2.5 million stolen in a daring London heist — Obviously, not suggesting this was justified, but c’mon . . . who hasn’t been there when it comes to a book you just “have to have”?
• Neil Gaiman announces Neverwhere sequel, The Seven Sisters — huh. Okay…Neverwhere isn’t my favorite, but sign me up for more.
• How It Happened by Brad Parks — Parks gives a thumbnail view of his career
• Author Kevin Hearne Is Leading A Plague of Giants — ooooh. This is going to be good.
• Just Who Are the Tuatha Dé Danaan, Anyway? — can’t help but run into them in UF lately, but everyone has their own take — this is a good look back on early stories about the Tuatha Dé Danaan.

A Couple of Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen:
• Episode 17 of Two Crime Writers — usual good stuff, plus the interview with Adrian McKinty is hilarious
• Elan Mastai by Beaks & Geeks

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak — okay, it came out last week, but I forgot to mention it. This celebration of the 80s looks great.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Mollie Player for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Book bloggers are real readers — was unaware of this controversy, or whatever you want to call it. Still I’ve enjoyed some of the response to it this week, like this one.
• How Does Reading Level Matter in Fiction? — can’t stand what my kids’ English teachers are doing to them when it comes to “reading levels.” There’s a lot of fodder for my rants (and against them) here.
• Eight Characters From Literature We Love To Hate
• Dusk City Outlaws — a Kickstarter for an interesting looking fantasy game.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman — Gus Murphy returns for another mystery/exploration of grief. Which is a bad description (still, pretty accurate), I think I did better in my original post
• All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai — Mastai’s debut time travel novel that I’m really rabid about, as you can read about here
• The Turn by Kim Harrison — the prequel to Harrison’s Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman — do I have to say anything?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to iosappdevelopmentcompanyinbangaloreblog for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Revealing A Plague of Giants — A cover for Kevin Hearne’s upcoming epic fantasy. Oooooohhhhh….
• Michael Connelly to publish next Bosch book and begin new series in 2017 — if that headline isn’t enough to get you clicking, nothing I say will
• Patrick Rothfuss Announces The Name of the Wind Tenth Anniversary Edition and Shares Updates on The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 3 — if that headline isn’t enough to . . . . etc.
• Editor Anne Sowards On Working With Patricia Briggs — about Briggs, Mercy and the upcoming Mercy . . .
• FIVE HABITS of an Efficient Reader — The best part of the Confessions of a Readaholic blog joining Facebook is that he’s posting links to old posts like this one that I haven’t seen before.
• The Book That Scared Me — Brad Parks talks about his upcoming book — which I’ve been trying to write about for a week (stupid Influenza B, etc.) IT’S (almost) INDESCRIBABLY GOOD. This essay by Parks should get you interested in his book.
• Top 3 Reasons Why Thrillers are the Ultimate Comfort Read — blah
• Breaking Barriers: Against Restoring Monarchy in Epic Fantasy — I didn’t mean to lean on Tor.Com so much this week, but Thoraiya Dyer’s piece was good enough I had to.
• The Two Sides of Every Heart a Doorway/a> — I had very similar thoughts a time or two while reading McGuire’s book — but then got swept up in the story and forgot about it. Really wish I’d written 94% of this post myself. Thankfully Alex Bledsoe did.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch — Peter, Nightingale, Walid, Bev and the rest of the whole gang are back (plus some new faces). In case you missed it, here’s my $.02 about it .
• Wires and Nerve: Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer — a graphic novel about Iko from the Lunar Chronicles.
• Six Wakes by Mur Laferty — a gripping (looking) murder mystery in space. With clones. ’nuff said.
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough — I can’t stop hearing great things about this thriller (especially from the folks at Two Crime Writers and a Microphone who devoted an entire episode to talking about the book).

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to tripleblacktri, SnoopyDoo, discobarbizar for following the blog this week.

Thanks to those who left comments/got a hold of me about that update earlier this week — he’s doing better now, and was discharged.

Here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye — I’m on a hotel wifi, which is spotty (is that a tautology?), so between the distractions this week and the wifi, this might be brief. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The husband of best-selling author Patricia Briggs died unexpectedly early Monday morning — simply tragic.
• ‘New York Times’ Cuts a Range of Bestseller Lists — hmm
• When Books Die, All at Once — which is not really related to the above
• The Physical Book Will Surely Endure: But Will It Endure for the Right Reason? — worth the click if only for the pull quote at the top of the page
• Anaïs Nin on How Reading Awakens Us from the Slumber of Almost-Living
• Hi, I’m a Book Addict — I doubt anyone reading this can identify
• 10+ Cool Bookends We Made For Cool People Who Love Books
• 10 Reasons People Who Read Books Are Just Better

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to bettybookreviews and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BOOK BLOG for following the blog (in one form or another) this week — both look like nifty book blogs. Thanks also to Nothing better than a good book… for the encouraging words.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The Edgar® Awards’ Nominees — there’s some really good reads/watches here.
• 5 Things My Six-Month Long Reading Slump Taught Me
• Kevin Hearne revealed the spiffy cover for Besieged, a collection of Iron Druid short stories, coming this summer.
• Next week, I’ll be hosting a Book Tour stop for Carrie Vaughn’s new book, Martians Abroad, but here’s are couple of reviews for the book to tide you over one from NPR and one from B&N’s SF&F blog.
• Going Big, Going Home, and Missing the Point: The Casual Hatred of Fun — A good post from Harry Connolly
• Awesome Book Events in Every State — a handy list from BookRiot.
• Infographic: How to Read 100 Books in a Year — ummm, really? Sure, there’s some decent ideas here, but . . .

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn — YA-friendly SF about a couple of Martian kids coming to school on Earth. Lots of fun from one of my favorite authors.
• Heartstone by Elle Katharine White — Austen + Dragons in a way that isn’t Novik’s Temeraire books. (if that sounds snide, it wasn’t intended to be — this looks inventive and cool)
• Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth — this looks very non-Divergent, and pretty interesting.
• Escaping Infinity by Richard Paolinelli — if Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote a SF novel instead of a song.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to hubblegal for following the blog this week.

The last couple of weeks have been the snowiest here since the 1890s — which is a pretty long time. The kids have had an extra week of break, I’ve not been able to make it into work 3 days in the last 2 weeks (and I’m doing better than some). Which has played havoc with posting/reading schedules for ye olde blog, too. One of those things that I’m the only one who notices, probably.

Still, it’s Saturday, so time for some links and whatnot. Here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Employee-Free Bookstore offers a place to rest, and leisurely read — A little bit neat idea, a little bit horror.
• Publisher’s Weekly reports that: Print Book Sales Rose Again in 2016 and http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/72452-independent-booksellers-end-year-on-high-note.html — both good signs
• How ‘Sherlock of the library’ cracked the case of Shakespeare’s identity
• Better Late Than Never: On Blooming as a Reader — Sonya Chung pens a nice little essay on The Millions.
• Thank You, Ned Vizzini — Nicole Lewis pens a nice tribute to the late writer (who is absolutely worth reading).
• Future House Publishing: A Young Press Off to a Bright Start — I’ve read a few of Future House’s books — hope to read more.
• In many ways, Fahrenheit Press couldn’t be more different from Future House. But they’re more alike where it counts — putting out good books that otherwise wouldn’t find a home. Here’s a nice piece from Writing Magazine about them: Global Crime Market – Keep the temperature rising.
• Carrie Vaughn on Martians Abroad and Crossing a New Frontier — I’m part of a book tour for this coming up soon, but this should whet your appetite. I’m looking forward to what Vaughn’s up to post-Kitty Norville.
• Hey, Matthew Norman, Why’d You Do That in Your Novel Domestic Violets? — a nice interview with Norman.
• The Night Before “Night School” — Andy Martin (author of Jack Reacher said nothing writes about the creation of Night School — and brings up a point I meant to mention in my post about the book earlier in the week (my point would’ve been speculative, his is authoritative and more clearly written than mine would’ve been), which makes me feel good knowing I was on to something.
• How to Deal When a Book Falls Short

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Big Law by Ron Liebman — where big business and law intersect, you find all sorts of nasty machinations. This looks promising.
• The Silver Skull by Anne Renwick — book two of The Elemental Web Chronicles, the first book of which was a lot of fun.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to littlemissnosleep and charmingkitties for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Ask a Literary Lady: I Need a Better New Year’s Resolution Than “Read More” — New Year and reading resolutions are sort of a theme this week. Some pretty good ideas here.
• BookRiot has 20 Reading Challenges for 2017 to help with that.
• I Failed at the Goodreads Challenge Again, and I Feel Fine — because not everyone succeeds with their resolutions.
• And because BookRiot had a great week of posts, one more from them: How To Be Well-Read
• You have been asking… — some great Faith Hunter news.
• Which Books Are Coming to TV in 2017? — Electric Lit has the answer
• How to Tell If a Guy Likes You (According to Classic Literature) — is good for a chuckle or two

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Old Man by Thomas Perry — a 60 year-old widower and his dogs in a thriller set in Vermont. Sounds fun.
• The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams — I fully intended on getting the first book in this series, and never got around to it — this one makes me want to set aside a week for both.
• The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser — a YA take on Tuesday Next, Libriomancer, etc.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to vihasi shah, ravencrimereads , and JL’s Bibliomania for following the blog (or the BookLikes version) this week.