News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Book News
- The 2017 National Book Awards winners were announced on Wednesday. NPR has the story, and a complete list of finalists and winners.
- Barnes & Noble Dismisses Takeover Proposal (Publishers Weekly)
- Booksellers Prep for Small Business Saturday and “Cider Monday.” Small Business Saturday takes place next week on Nov. 25, 2017. (Publishers Weekly)
Worth Reading/Viewing/Listening To
- Murder on the Orient Express and Cozy Murder Mysteries (NPR; audio)
- Amazon’s Kindle turns 10: have ebooks clicked with you yet? (The Guardian)
Free Fiction Online
- “The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown” by Jane Yolen. A gaslight fantasy featuring Queen Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli, from Yolen’s new anthology, The Emerald Circus. (courtesy of Tor.com)
For Writers and Bloggers
Dedicated this week to those of us who are afraid we’re too old to start writing or get published (no matter how old or young we are.)
- “Time Doesn’t Run Out, It Runs Better”: 30 Writers Who Found Success After 30 (Book Riot)
- Hey, Prospective Authors: You Have Plenty of Time. Just Keep Writing (Tor.com)
Book & Movie Announcements
- Title and Cast of Fantastic Beasts 2 Revealed! And just a smidgen of the plot, too. (Tor.com; more snippets of information can be found on Pottermore.)
- The “LOTR” series TV rights went to Amazon – and it will be a prequel, set before The Lord of the Rings and possibly before The Hobbit. (Polygon.com) Sorry to disappoint all of you who were hoping for a LOTR remake! At this point, Amazon hasn’t announced a story idea for the projected series, so it’s hard to know what the writers and producers will do with it. But depending on which characters are included or excluded from the rights (that information hasn’t been released yet), they could potentially focus on Aragorn’s life before we see him in LOTR, or on his father or some other of the Duedain. Or they could look at the rise of the Necromancer, pre-Hobbit. Or possibly explore some of the material from The Silmarillion — like the tale of Beren and Luthien. (More at Deadline)
- Jeff LaSala at Tor.com offers 16 ideas for the series, in case whoever gets tapped to produce it is looking for ideas. (My money’s on the life of the young Aragorn.)
- Also, Christopher Tolkien has resigned as head of the Tolkien Estate. At the age of 93, with a lifetime of curating, editing, and issuing his father’s unfinished works behind him, he has earned his retirement. (TheOneRing.net)
Just For Fun / Really Cool
The Millenium Falcon. Screenshot from Google Maps.
- The Millennial Falcon is on Google Maps. Yes, really. The full-size mockup used for filming is sitting on a golf course near Longcross Studios in England, surrounded by shipping containers–presumably to keep it hidden. Seems ironic that Disney apparently forgot about surveillance from space… (Independent) (Click the image to go to the location on Google Maps.)
- How good are you at pronouncing British names? Take the quiz at Word Wenches to find out! (I got 100%, thanks to a lifetime of reading British books and watching British shows.)
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
RO
Lots of really good news that I didn’t know about. I’m a serious fan of LOTR, and have the books, toys, calendars, cards and other memorabilia to go along with it. I’ve watched the movies over and over, so this is a really fascinating news. Yay to Fantastic Beasts 2, because I liked the first movie a lot. I can’t wait to see the Agatha Christie remake with Johnny Depp. Seems like it’s going to be really good. Happy Sunday! Hugs…RO
RO recently posted…TUESDAY TRIVIA , TASTY TREATS & A REVIEW
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m glad you enjoy this feature.
I’ve heard/seen mixed reactions to the Murder on the Orient Express remake, but I hope you enjoy it. I’ll probably wait until it comes out on DVD. There are too many other movies I want to see, and I don’t have a lot of time between now and Christmas.