News & Notes – 3/03/2018

March 3, 2018 Lark_Bookwyrm News & Notes 3

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 2018 Nebula Awards nominees have been named, and Book Riot has links to where to read the shorter works online.
Author Sherman Alexie apologizes amid anonymous allegations of harassment. (The Guardian; Publishers Weekly also covers the story here and in a followup article here.)
Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’ Gives Away Its 100 Millionth Book. Parton visited the Library of Congress to celebrate. Her program mails a free book once a month to over a million children from birth to age 5. (NPR Books)
The Ripped Bodice Releases 2nd Report on Diversity in Romance Publishing. You can read the actual report, which is presented as an infographic, here. (Shelf Awareness; The Ripped Bodice)
After Another Disappointing Quarter, B&N Unveils Turnaround Plan (Publishers Weekly)

Worth Reading/Viewing

They Were Trained for This Moment: How the student activists of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High demonstrate the power of a comprehensive education. (Slate) I
Don’t knock kids for rereading books. Encourage them to read, full stop (Andrew McCallum, for The Guardian)
‘I really want to find it before I die’: why are we so fascinated by lost books? (The Guardian) The “lost books” referred to are not your missing library book, but manuscripts that have been destroyed or stolen, or have disappeared.
The Mediopassive Voice: Does It Read Strangely to You? (Merriam Webster) For my fellow grammar nerds.

Upcoming Books, Movies, and TV

Deborah Harkness’s new vampire novel, Time’s Convert, will be released on Sept. 25, 2018. It’s Marcus’s story, and takes place (or at least begins) during the American Revolution. Since it also includes some present-day scenes, I’m really hoping we’ll see Matthew, Diana, and Phoebe, along with other characters from the All Souls Trilogy. And if it spans Marcus’s life as a vampire, it will probably include Marcus’s years in New Orleans as well. (Book Riot) While we’re on the subject of Deborah Harkness… (see below)
Read a preview excerpt from Somaiya Daud’s debut novel, Mirage. (Entertainment Weekly) It sounds really good! I’ve put it on my TBR list already. The book comes out in August.
Gwendolyn Clare (Ink, Iron, and Glass) talks about “breaking history” and her love for mad scientists on Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog. This one’s already on my TBR list, and I’ve put in a hold request at the library, which has the book on order.
Discworld: Terry Pratchett’s City Watch is headed for a TV adaptation by the BBC.
The first season of A Discovery of Witches has wrapped up filming, according to Instagram posts and tweets from Deborah Harkness. It’s being produced by Bad Wolf and will be shown in the UK on SkyOne later this year. The 8 episodes of the first season cover A Discovery of Witches (i.e., the first book in the trilogy.) (Book Bub) There are a lot of familiar faces in the show, at least to fans of British TV; you can see the full cast list at IMDB. No word yet on when/where the show will air in the US, but given the popularity of the books, look for Netflix or Amazon to snap up the streaming rights. And check out the trailer, below.

Awesome Lists

100 Must-Read Young Adult Science Fiction Books. (Book Riot) This list has some good titles and authors on it, but is heavy on recent (post-2000) and dystopian books.

Really Cool

Book-spine dress by Sylvie Facon. (Image via Bored Panda)

How gorgeous is this dress fashioned from book spines and pages (around the hem)? It’s by Sylvie Facon, a French designer/creator who makes dresses that are truly art. Check out the article at Bored Panda, and see some of her other creations, including a dress like a medieval illustration.