Author joins fans online for fantasy movie casting
By Karen Petzold at Heartland Connection
Have you ever wished after reading a book that not only would it be made into a movie, but that you’d have a say in the casting? Some real life fans of one series have been playing “fantasy casting” with the author of the Anita Blake series, Laurell K Hamilton.
Hamilton, who just released “Flirt” the 18th book in this series, has begun conversing with fans and responding to their questions on her Facebook page. While fans have enjoyed learning more about their beloved characters, the author herself and potential upcoming book destinations, the conversation on Monday turned to casting [I]t’s not only the fans that are enjoying this online interaction. Hamilton wrote “I go to bed & you guys just keep on doing fantasy casting for the movie. *laughs* hey you made me smile.”
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Do yourself a favour: Don’t read this book
by Cathal Kelly at the Star
When Martin gets on the phone, I can’t help but tease him a little. “You must be the only science-fiction writer on Earth with an assistant.”…
A day after I talk to Martin, I finish A Feast for Crows. I’m still passing through the disappointment phase of grief.
Later, I recommend my brother buy himself a copy of A Game of Thrones. He calls me back a few days later to tell me he’s in the middle of the third book. “You realize there are only four, and the fifth is, like, a long ways off, I tell him.”
My brother is crestfallen.
I explain the whole hasn’t-published-anything-in-five years thing to him.
“I should just stop reading them right now,” he moans.
He’s moving quickly through the five stages of George R.R. Martin fandom: introduction, enthrallment, disappointment, disbelief and bitterness.
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Dystopian Science Fiction Is Aiming For The Twilight Generation
By Alasdair Wilkins at io9
What comes after vampire teen lit? Dystopia. A pair of authors have just made deals with mainstream publishers for young adult novels about dark, romantic futures. Apparently, after the apocalypse, there will be no chocolate, nor women over 20.
Gabrielle Zevin, whose previous YA efforts include Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, sold a trilogy called “The Birthright Series” to Farrar, Straus and Giroux’s Books for Young Readers. This is her first science fiction effort, although her earlier works had their share of fantasy elements. The series is:
“set in a dystopian future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband while water and paper are carefully rationed. The series relates the ascension and ultimate downfall of a 16-year-old girl, the heir apparent to an important and dangerous New York City crime family.”
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Youth and Aging in Fairyland: The Giant Horse of Oz
by Mari Ness at Tor
Everybody, of course, knows Glinda, the mighty sorceress and the Good Witch of the South, thanks to a certain little movie and a moderately successful Broadway show. But what about her counterpart, the Good Witch of the North—the very first magical creature to meet Dorothy in Oz? Alas, nearly all the popular adaptations had forgotten about the cheerful little old lady—not surprisingly, since L. Frank Baum himself tended to forget his own character, leaving the door wide open for Glinda to snatch up the fame, the glory, and her very own line of jewelry.
But Ruth Plumly Thompson, at least, was intrigued enough by the character to give us a bit of the backstory of the Good Witch in The Giant Horse of Oz, as well as clearing up one of Oz’s minor mysteries—who, exactly, is ruling the four kingdoms of Oz?
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I’ll admit, the Song of Ice and Fire books are really addictive. But at 1000 pages a pop, if you can pace yourself you can make them last longer. Since I read more than one book at a time, I guess that’s a little easier for me. But they’re amazing and I highly recommend them. And I think it’s so cool that when authors interact with their fans the way that Laurell K Hamilton does!
Will you read the new book set in Oz? What do you think of dystopian novels?
