Let’s get some personal news out of the way first…
Tomorrow, Thursday the 11th, I’ll be participating in a Pod cast radio show —At 3PM Eastern. Jeaniene Frost, Rachel Vincent, Jenna Black, Patrice Michelle and I will be discussing first books in a series with Eos Executive Editor, Diana Gill. Here’s the
link:
And you can call in with a question on: 347.826.9684
AND, I found out Friday that I’ve been nominated for a Romantic Times Readers Choice Award—well, actually, Anna has been nominated. Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist! Here’s my competition:
Mercy Thompson - IRON KISSED - Patricia Briggs - Ace (Jan.)
Joanne Baldwin - GALE FORCE - Rachel Caine - Roc (Aug.)
Cat Crawfield - ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE - Jeaniene Frost - Avon (May)
Sookie Stackhouse - FROM DEAD TO WORSE - Charlaine Harris - Ace (May)
Daunuan - HOTTER THAN HELL - Jackie Kessler - Zebra (Aug.)
Anna Strong - LEGACY - Jeanne C. Stein - Ace (Sep.)
Could it be any stiffer??? The good thing is that just being a nominee among those stars makes me feel like a winner.
Now, onto the regularly scheduled program.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard went on sale last week. The
Guardian reported that "Harry Potter fans (flew) into London from as far afield as New Zealand in order to get their hands on J.K. Rowling's new book . . . as early as possible."
The Guardian dubbed Rowling's slender volume "the most eagerly anticipated title of the year, with a worldwide print run of almost eight million copies."
Beedle the Bard was not originally intended for mass-market release, with Rowling handwriting and illustrating six copies last year as personal gifts for those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books over the last 17 years. A seventh copy was given to the CHLG, and auctioned at Sotheby's in London, where Amazon acquired it for £1.95m.In other Rowling news, from Shelf Awareness: Harry Potter and the Revised Lexicon. Steven Vander Ark, whose Harry Potter Lexicon was barred from publication by a federal judge in September, said RDR Books will publish the unauthorized guide to J.K. Rowling's seven novels on January 12. The Associated Press
(via USA Today) reported that Vander Ark claims "the revised version meets specifications for such a book laid out in the judge's ruling."
From the Whedonverse:
True Blood
DVD is not scheduled until May of next year. YIKES!!! And the price, $59.99!! Double YIKES!!!
In a TV Guide Toughest Action Hero Poll, Buffy came in #2 to MacGyver… Huh????
Anyway, here’s the list:
1. MacGyver
2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
3. Jack Bauer (24)
4. Sydney Bristow (Alias)
5. Magnum PI
Christian Kane, Angel alum Lindsey McDonald, is starring in the new action program,
Leverage—looks different with all that hair!! Watched the first episode—liked it. Anyone else?
James Marsters is the voice of
Captain Argus in the animated Clone Wars TV series starting on December 5th on the Cartoon network. Love the voice, but love those cheekbones more.
Dr. Horrible made #4 on
Time Magazine’s Best of Everything for 2008—
In their own words:
The writers’ strike, which began in November 2007, was the worst thing to happen to TV in 2008. But the best thing to come of it was this eccentric, tragicomic musical, which — like the strike itself — helped redefine what could be called "TV." Conceived as a strike-time diversion by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), it starred Neil Patrick Harris as the title character, a would-be supervillain applying for membership in the exclusive Evil League of Evil. Whedon released it online, where it became an iTunes smash and inspired a deluge of homemade Evil League of Evil application-videos by fans. Cramming hilarity, heartbreak and high notes into a half-hour, it reminded us that no labor dispute can keep a genius from using his powers for Evil, and for good.
And remember, you can preorder a copy on
Amazon now!
An amusing look (if you aren't one of the writers that took a class in how to write the perfect query) at said new improved query letter from an agent’s prospective:
Recently, funny things have been happening in my slush pile. I find myself receiving well-written, correctly formatted, professional-looking query letters from bad writers. Imagine my chagrin: one minute I'm intrigued by a smoothly crafted query letter, the next I'm staring down at a crackpot writing sample. For a literary agent who receives some 5,000 queries a year, this is a disastrous turn of affairs. I feel like those European naturalists who first set eyes on the platypus. Suddenly, nothing is easily classified.
Read the rest of Stephen Barbara’s post
here…and writer’s beware! The story has to be as well written as the query!
From the You Know Things Are Bad in Publishing When: editors are encouraged to open a can of tuna for lunch. The
Observer undertook a survey of cutbacks on lunchtime expenses in publishing. HarperCollins and Random House are eating less expensively. (At RH, "some supervisors were recently given guidelines indicating how much employees should tip and which restaurants near the company's midtown headquarters are thrifty enough to do business in. While the guidelines were advisory, the message was clear.")
How cool is this? Follow the
link to a video of my editor’s dad on the Colbert Report! Nicholas Wade is attempting to clone a mastodon. He also has a
book out, Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost
History of Our Ancestors. The focus is on studying DNA to understand our prehistory.
Since he publishes with Penguin, I asked Jessica if she was his editor. She just laughed.
Here’s what I promised last week:
Mario’s painting.
I love it. Leia, thanks for your efforts to reproduce it last week. Mario happened to have a jpg so that made it a lot easier!!
And Vamprowler’s paperweight. This is one of my favorite desk toys. I talk to it, fondle it, curse at it...you understand. It's a face.
I think that may be it for this week. We’ve got snow on the ground. I guess winter is close. Are you ready for the holidays?