News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Bookish News
- Writers Orgs Form #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force to demand that Disney honor author contracts and pay authors the royalties they are owed for books and comics in series/franchises Disney now owns, like Star Wars and Buffy. (Publishers Weekly; The Guardian also has an excellent article.)
- Publisher cancels Philip Roth biography after sexual abuse claims against Blake Bailey (The Guardian)
- In-Person Author Tours Won’t Be Back Anytime Soon. To no one’s surprise, I’m sure. (Publishers Weekly)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- ‘My novel now feels unnerving’: authors who predicted the pandemic (Christina Sweeney-Baird, The Guardian)
- Can The King and I Be Decolonized? (Sravya Tadepalli, American Theater) A challenging question, an intriguing answer, and some surprising facts.
- How Sara Gruen Lost Her Life. “The Water for Elephants author’s six-year fight to free an incarcerated man left her absolutely broke and critically ill.” (Abbot Kahler, Vulture)
- Women’s advice to men writing female characters (Buzzfeed, from Twitter) Some men don’t have a clue when it comes to writing women, and these women want to set the record straight. (They might occasionally call out a specific writer.) It’s hilarious — and accurate. (Warning: NSFW)
- Redwall and the Damaging Tropes of Epic Fantasy (Alex Acks, Book Riot)
- Some Thoughts on the 2021 Hugo Finalists (Cora Buhlert) Worth reading if you’re into SF and/or fantasy.
Free Fiction Online
- Dragon Hoarding Immense Pile of Treasure Seeks Unpaid Intern (Maeve Dunigan, McSweeney’s) This is clearly intended as satire rather than fiction… but it’s satire dressed in fictional attire.
Lists
- 40 of Our All-Time Favorite Book-to-Movie Adaptations (BookBub) I have seen fewer than half of these, but every single one I have seen belongs on this list.
- 52 Book Journaling Prompts (Kelly Jensen, Book Riot)
- Dragon Journals and Bookmarks for Bookwyrms to Add to Their Hoards (Book Riot)
Cool, Fun, and Awesome
Behold the Elaborate Writing Desks of 18th Century Aristocrats (Open Culture.) With videos!
A Year at Bag End (art by Bohemian Weasel. Music is ‘Earth Aria’ by Paul Fowler.) This lovely art is one of the Hugo finalists in the Fan Art category. (If you love it, you can buy the art, as seven stacked panels, on Redbubble.)
RO
It’s always good to see publishers taking a stand against domestic violence. Thanks for the updates,a dn hope you’re doing well. Hugs, RO
RO recently posted…THIS AND THAT AND OTHER USELESS STUFF
Lark_Bookwyrm
I agree, although in this case, it’s not domestic violence but allegations of assualt and rape, including one brought by a publishing executive as well as one by a former student (former at the time the assault occurred.) There’s a Vanity Fair article that goes into more detail, including what the NYT may have known and when.
RO
I read the article, and it’s quite shocking and so sad.
RO recently posted…THIS AND THAT AND OTHER USELESS STUFF
Lark_Bookwyrm
It really is.