October 1, 2013
Yesterday on the CBC’s evening program “Q,” Margaret Atwood, award-winning Canadian author, spoke with program host Jian Ghomeshi about her new book MaddAddam, third in a post-apocalyptic trilogy. The first and second titles in the trilogy are Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009). Their conversation focused on the fact that […]
September 26, 2013
Given that science fiction and fantasy books exist to challenge our preconceived notions of reality, it’s no wonder that they are frequently the targets of book-banning efforts. Many books in these genres revolve around different views of politics, religion, sex, or sexuality (or all of the above!). While fans of science fiction and fantasy are […]
September 24, 2013
According to Amazon their vinyl record sales are up over 700% in the last 5 years. The company has combined the ability to order albums with the AutoRip feature, which entitles the user to an MP3 version of certain recordings and CD’s. Part of the revival of interest in this older technology is a crowd […]
September 21, 2013
Martha Wells reminds me of why I fell in love with the sci-fi/fantasy genre in the first place. Wells is a master at world-building. She has a rare talent for painting pictures in a reader’s mind that are so vivid, it is hard to remember that they are pictures of things the reader has never […]
September 18, 2013
Filmmaker Spike Lee is the 2013 recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, established by Lillian Gish’s will. Now in its 20th year, it is given annually to “a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.” Chairman of […]
September 18, 2013
Ernest Hemingway’s satiric short story “My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart”, rejected by Vanity Fair in 1924, was discovered among Donald Ogden Stewart’s letters and will be published in the October issue of Harper’s. Although based on a real incident when Ogden Stewart was in a bull fight in Spain, the […]
September 17, 2013
Welcome to one of the few places you can see Margaret Atwood, Linda Ronstadt, and Richard Peck at the same event! This massive book fair packs in dozens of authors, special events, and contests this weekend on the National Mall. One theme discussed this year is “What book influenced you?” Another is the joy of […]
September 16, 2013
Reports have been circulating that the Man Booker Prize, which “aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland,” may be open to U.S. authors next year for the first time. As expected, this news has come as […]
September 14, 2013
Starting today, the BiblioTech will serve all residents of Bexar County, Texas. What makes this $2.4 million library system unique is that it is the nation’s first digital public library, offering an estimated 10,000 titles (provided by 3M Cloud Library) through e-readers. Patrons will also be able to utilize hundreds of e-readers and pre-loaded enhanced e-readers for children, as well […]
September 13, 2013
A new opera based on Annie Proulx’s story Brokeback Mountain, originally commissioned for New York City Opera, will have its world premiere at the Teatro Real in Madrid on January 28. Ms. Proulx, whose cowboy romance was made into an award-winning film in 2005, has written the libretto, saying that “one of her goals in […]
