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
- Earliest Known Draft of King James Bible Is Found, Scholar Says. The draft is of parts of the Apocrypha, and was prepared by Samuel Ward, one of the known translators. (New York Times)
- Bestselling Authors Unveil New Lit Fest: Nola StoryCon, The convention is the brainchild of Ilona Andrews, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Kelley Armstrong, Jeaniene Frost, and Melissa Marr. (Publishers Weekly)
- The NYT chooses the best children’s picture books of 2015 (New York Times)
Worth Reading
- The Telegraph reprinted a 1968 interview with J.R.R. Tolkien. (The Telegraph)
- We’re losing all our Strong Female Character to Trinity Syndrome – in film, at least. (The Dissolve)
- Some Like It Hot: The Literary Function of Sex Scenes In Romance (Jessica Trippler, BookRiot)
- Wreck These Rules: “Laws” of Reading You Can Totally Break (BookRiot)
- Gossip Girls: Tea Parties and the Sexist Slang They Inspired (NPR’s The Salt)
- Julie Czerneda: I Think I’ll Call It Bob. In this guest post, SF author Czerneda talks (with humor) about making up words and names for SF/F.
- Don’t Necessarily Judge Your Next E-Book By Its Online Review (NPR’s All Things Considered)
For Writers & Bloggers
- The Blogger Shame Challenge is for all those review books you never got around to. It runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016. Sign up at The Herd Presents, run by Herding Cats & Burning Soup and Addicted to Happily Ever After.
- Pocket Books is (re)launching a Star Trek fan fiction contest last held in 2007. The submission deadline is Jan. 15, 2016. (press release)
Literary Losses
- Harriet Klausner, the most prolific Amazon reviewer ever, died Oct. 15, 2015, at the age of 63. Ms. Klausner was a speed reader who plowed through four to six books a day; she wrote a total of 31,014 reviews on Amazon. (Obituaries: i09; Teleread)
Awesome Lists (mostly Halloween!)
John Jude Palencar’s Brisingr (from fantasypumpkins.com, 2008)
- Halloween Book Lists on Goodreads (a whole list of lists)
- Halloween Mystery Book List – a list of Halloween-themed cozy mysteries (Cozy Mystery)
- Top 25 Halloween Movies (List Challenges)
- Literary Pumpkins (Clark County Public Library’s Pinterest page)
- 14 Awesome Literary Pumpkin Carving And Decorating Ideas To Try Out This Halloween (Bustle)
- 18 Literary Pumpkins for a Bookish Halloween (BuzzFeed)
- 19 of the Best Literary Costumes for Book Lovers (Brit + Co)
- 23 Emotions We All Feel, Now Given Names (tickld)
- Sarah MacLean picks the (3) best romance novels for November (Washington Post)
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review
Love the idea of the blogger shame challenge, that’s one I could definitely use to give me a jump start. Happy Halloween!
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Witch Week 2015: A Guide to Blackstock College
Lark_Bookwyrm
Same here! I’m cutting back on challenges this year, but that is one I think I’ll do for sure.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
I had forgotten all about Harriet Klausner! I remember wondering if she was a real person because she reviewed every book I looked at on Amazon. The blogger shame challenge is hilarious. I was just looking through my review books and cringing at the ones that have a pub date of 2 years ago. Whoops!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…This Week’s Menu plus Menu Planning
Lark_Bookwyrm
I know; it’s embarrassing to realize that I have some that are a year or two old. This will be a good challenge for me! As for Harriet Klausner, when I read about her, my jaw dropped. I thought I read fast (faster when I was younger; aging eyes are making it a little harder these days) but I can’t hold a candle to her!
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
I was wondering if you were going to post about the Star Trek writing contest. I can’t wait to read the results.
Like Katherine, I have review books that are 2 years old and some that are older. Oooops. I’ll probably sign up for that in conjunction with the NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge; between the two, that should whittle down my review TBR pile.
Klausner wrote 31,000 reviews? WOW. I knew she was productive but that’s amazing.
Happy Halloween!
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Steph Reviews The Vampire Combat Field Guide by Roger Ma
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes, I think I’m going to sign up for the Blogger Shame challenge even though I’m trying to cut back on challenges. I’ve got more “old” ARCs than I want to admit!
Literary Feline
I had heard about Harriet Klausner’s death. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long while. The Blogger Shame Challenge sounds like one I need, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go completely public with that shame. LOL
Literary Feline recently posted…October 2015 In Review
Lark_Bookwyrm
Oh, I know what you mean! But it sounds like a fair number of us are in that boat.
anna (herding cats & burning soup)
Thanks for sharing about the event, Lark!
I hadn’t heard about Harriet. Sad she passed so young. I thought she was a paid for reviewer though not an actual one.
anna (herding cats & burning soup) recently posted…3 stars–Friction by Sawyer Bennett
Lark_Bookwyrm
No, she did it for the sheer love of it!