Everywhere Else
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Mahvesh and Jared joined Justin Landon for Rocket Talk, the Tor.com podcast - chatting about a few of their 'best of 2014' selections. Plus, two announcements: Mahvesh's Midnight in Karachi podcast and Mahvesh and Jared's upcoming Dragonlance reread, both coming to Tor.com in 2015.
Stuck for gifts? Upcoming signings at Forbidden Planet include a couple of our favourites - INJ Culbard (4 December, London) and Stark Holborn (6 December, Bristol).
Graphic novel publisher (and The Kitschies' Black Tentacle winner) SelfMadeHero are offering a 25% discount on all their titles. Plus, free same day delivery to Londoners. Details here.
"This isn't an industry where sales actually mean anything, other than that the machine is working; they are not representative of the quality of your work. I have to believe that, and so do you" - James Smythe in an open letter to new and would-be writers
Remember that thing, like, a few years ago, when bloggers came under scrutiny for not being clear about was 'paid-for' promotion (or even a free review copy)? Now it is the vloggers' turn.
Further evidence for a 2015 China Miéville short story collection - possibly titled Three Moments of an Explosion - that should be familiar to anyone at a particular event in 2014.
Celebrate Smugglivus with the Book Smugglers! Light the smugglecandles and prepare delicious smugglebreads, for it is the jolliest time of the year! (The Smugglers are also looking for more short fiction - this time around the theme of 'first contact' - details here.)
"It feels like a gimmick, and functions like a gimmick, and that’s because it is a gimmick. I give it perhaps two years — two years that only the most hard-core aficionados will end up able to recall, alongside their recollections of the foil covers era and that one time Doc Ock was Spider-Man." - Juliet Kahn of the Comics Alliance on the 'illusions of progress' in the Marvel Universe.
"The World's 100 Best Children's Books": A very ambitious title, but a good list (at least, the first half). With recommendations by Jacqueline Wilson, Patrick Ness and more.
Another list - "10 Essential SF Books by Colorado Authors". Includes Molly Tanzer's A Pretty Mouth, so it must be right.
"We are now close to breaking even" - in the world of Waterstones' CEO James Daunt, that's a good thing. Read more. (Also, includes further reflections on on the 'tourist trapped in a bookstore overnight' thing. I am pretty sure that was the single most effective piece of marketing for bricks & mortar bookstores of all 2014. Would love to see the reach of that one organic accident (and its responses) as compared to the entire 'Books are My Bag' campaign - which still leaves me [very] cold.)