News & Notes – 10/19/2019

Nobel Prizes In Literature Go To Olga Tokarczuk And Peter Handke (NPR). The Guardian’s Alison Flood goes into more detail, particularly regarding the controversial choice of Peter Handke.
Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo share Booker prize 2019. (The Guardian) The decision to break the rules and choose two winners has been controversial. (See article under “Worth Reading” below.)
Introducing the new Smart Bitches Book Finder. If you’re not familiar with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, it’s a long-running blog, website, and podcast featuring romance reviews and related content. They now have a database where you can search for books by genre, theme (up to two), and archetype. At this point, the database contains books that SBTB has reviewed in the last 14 years (!), but authors are invited to submit their books for inclusion. (Note: I’m not overly fond of SBTB’s title, particularly the “trashy” appellation, but the website and blog are worth following.)
Stephen King’s home will become a museum and writers’ retreat (Literary Hub)

The Booker prize judges have exposed the doublethink behind our arts awards (Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian)
Caught Between Fabio and Fifty Shades of Gray laments the “more regressive romance think pieces ” that still abound, even as romance gains wider acceptance and respect. (Jennifer Prokop, Kirkus)
History and SFF Storytelling: A New Monthly Column. If you, like me, are into both history and SF/F, Erika Harlitz-Kern’s upcoming series on the ways in which authors and books deal with history and historical documents (both real and imagined-within-their-worlds) sounds fascinating. (Tor.com)

October 21st, 2019

Great Gaiman quote!

Also, thank you for the link to the steampunk list. I’m always on the lookout for a good new (to me) steampunk book.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Mini Book Reviews (Princess & the Fangirl, Red-Rose Chain, Haunting of Tram Car 015)