News & Notes – 6/28/14

June 28, 2014 self-publishing, Sherlock Holmes, SYNC, tips for writers 17

News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, giveaways on this and other blogs, and other cool stuff.

I had to skip News & Notes last week because I was out of town with very limited Internet, so this is a compilation of two weeks’ worth of (hopefully) interesting stuff.

Books & Ebooks in the News:

    Worth Reading/Listening to: 

      Literary Losses:

      • Daniel Keyes, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of Flowers For Algernon and other works, died June 15, 2014. I remember reading Flowers for Algernon for a middle-school English class, and being devastated by it. I badly wanted a happy ending for Charlie, but the book would have had far less impact if it had ended well. Tor.com probably says it best: “Flowers for Algernon was an key example of science fiction that tackled problems of depth and emotional consequence; Keyes made a giant contribution to the discussion of science fiction as a serious art form. He will be greatly missed.”  (Obituary: Tor.com)


      For Writers & Bloggers:

      Free & Bargain books:

      http://www.audiobooksync.com/forgive-me-leonard-peacock/http://www.audiobooksync.com/october-mourning-a-song-for-matthew-shepard/
      http://www.audiobooksync.com/torn-from-troy/http://www.audiobooksync.com/peter-and-the-starcatchers/

       

        Awesome lists: 

        • 13 Things an Adult Should Actually Be Embarrassed to Read (BookRiot)
        • Book Your Trip: Because Reading Is About The Journey. NPR Books has compiled lists of books involving travel, broken into the following 12 categories: “train, plane, car, bike, boat, foot, city transit, horse, balloon, rocket ship, time, and a miscellaneous category that includes drugs, dragons, and giant peaches.” The lists are fun and eclectic — ‘trains’ includes both Anna Karenina and The Little Engine That Could — and the comments on each list are full of readers’ suggestions.

        Bookish Quotes:

        (by Kaleido Books, www.facebook.com/KaleidoBooks )

        That’s it for this week!

        I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles, lists, and links for News & Notes, so please let me know if you see (or write!) anything that might be good for this feature.  You can leave me a comment or send me an email — my address is on the About/Review Policy/Contact page.

        17 Responses to “News & Notes – 6/28/14”

        1. Katherine P

          I’m especially interested in the Simon&Schuster news. I wonder how that will affect what my library has to offer in ebook form. The 13 things you should be embarrassed to read made me laugh and is so true! Great links this week!

          • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

            It may take a little while for some of the S&S books to show up at your library, depending on their budget and which download service(s) they subscribe to, but hopefully some will start to show up. I think it’s backlist titles only, though.

        2. Rita_h

          I just love your Saturday News feature and missed it last week! I read the article about the Wimpy Kid author opening a book store. It’s a great idea to make it a community destination, not just books but a cafe, gifts and a yoga studio. Everyone deserves good access to books.

          I also love that chalkboard quote photo: great idea to reach out to people to understand how enjoyable books are. I know what that quote means because of my grandson 🙂

          Enjoy your week and thanks as always for a great post.

          • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

            I’m so glad you enjoy these! They’re fun to put together, but sometimes a time sink, because I can wander down the internet rabbit hole for hours looking for great links.

            The bookstore that did the Tardis blackboard does a new blackboard almost every day (or week?) — I see a lot of them on Facebook and on Pinterest. They’re always good, and often funny.

          • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

            It will be interesting to see whether Nook survives or disappears, and whether the division continues to sell ebooks or just focuses on devices. I’d rather it didn’t disappear altogether, but maybe without being tied to B&N, it will be a more open platform in terms of ePUB – more like Kobo?

        3. Jan @ Notes from a Readerholic

          I love the quote, Lark! And my husband was just telling me about the TED talk. I missed it so I appreciate the link. Flowers for Algernon…such a good book and such a sad ending, but you’re right–not as powerful without that. Great links, Lark.