Magic Under Glass blends elements of fantasy, steampunk, and the gothic novel: orphan girl swept into a high social milieu, mysterious and romantic sorcerer, hidden wife, enchanted clockwork automaton, missing fairy prince. Dolamore melds all of these into a cohesive, intriguing, but oddly spare whole. I have very mixed feelings… Read more »
Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch, by Nancy Atherton (Review)
I’ve been a fan of Aunt Dimity almost as long as the books have been around. Aunt Dimity’s Death is one of my comfort novels, the books I turn to when I’m tired, overwhelmed, or feeling blue: the reading equivalent of a nice cup of tea; and several of the… Read more »
Thoughts on Preaching in Fiction: A Response to Patricia Wrede’s “To preach or not to preach”
Fantasy author Patricia Wrede recently posted a piece on her blog in which she recalls hearing Judith Merrill, the noted SF author, challenging another panelist’s assertion that a fiction author shouldn’t try to send a message – shouldn’t preach. “Why not?” responded Ms. Merrill. “What better place is there?” A… Read more »
This Week’s Articles (5/20 – 5/27/2012)
Sorry for the late posting! Here are some of the articles that caught my attention in the past week: On audiobooks: “Let’s Go Reading in the Car” (Judith Shulevitz, New York Times) Shulevitz links audiobooks to storytelling, and recommends some good choices for families. On libraries:“Connecticut Library to Use Overdue… Read more »
Happy Birthday: Margaret Wise Brown
If you’re not familiar with the work of Margaret Wise Brown, your childhood was the poorer for it. Brown wrote the now-classic titles Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, as well as The Little Fur Family, A Home for a Bunny and nearly one hundred other titles. Margaret Brown was born… Read more »
The Adventures of TinTin (Movie Review)
A few nights ago, we watched The Adventures of TinTin for the first time. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but had been told it was good, so we rented it from Netflix. I loved it! Our daughter described TinTin as being “like Pirates of the Caribbean meets Indiana Jones…… Read more »
This Week’s Articles (5/13 – 5/19/2012)
I came across a number of interesting articles in the early part of the past week. I’ve been a bit preoccupied during the latter part of the week, trying to plan a family vacation for next month, which kept me from keeping up with the blogs I normally follow, so… Read more »
How A Book Is Born (infographic)
Here’s a fun, tongue-in-cheek infographic about the publishing process, from idea to success (or failure), from Weldon Owen Publishing. Twitter Facebook 0 Pinterest 0 StumbleUpon 0
Happy Birthday, Margret Rey!
Margret Rey, the co-author and co-illustrator (with her husband Hans A. Rey) of the Curious George books, was born on this day in 1906. The Reys, who were Jews, lived and worked in Paris before World War II. When the Nazis were about to take the city, the Reys fled… Read more »
Blogs by and for writers
Lots of authors write blogs these days; it’s the “in” thing to do, a way for authors to market their books and their brand as well as communicate with their readers. Author blogs come in all types and styles, from blogs exclusively focused on the books to “here’s what I… Read more »