Why Does Spell Check Refuse To Believe in the Word “Dystopian”?

I’ve fallen behind my updates.  Take this then while I try to sort out the veritable plethora of goodies I found in the past day or so.

• From Cynopsis Kids:  "Production has begun on Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning , a 3-hour TV movie slated to premiere on CTV in 2008. A prequel to the original Anne of Green Gables TV mini-series (1985), A New Beginning takes place prior to Anne arriving at Avonlea. Produced by Sullivan Entertainment in association with CTV, the movie co-stars Rachel Blanchard and Barbara Hershey, who portrays Anne as a woman in her 50s reflecting on her past. Twelve-year-old Hannah Endicott-Douglass plays the role of young Anne Shirley. The new and past movies are based on the Anne of Green Gables books by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. The movie will shoot on location in Ontario now through November 7, 2007."

• Shaken & Stirred summarizes a review and counter-review surrounding the Pat Murphy middle grade novel The Wild Girls. Gwenda Bond hadn’t heard of this one before, and neither had I.  Oh, Viking publicity department . . . . . .  Until they answer my call is anyone willing to jump to the book’s defense?

• From Mark Newgarden (author of Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug) came one of the more eclectic invites I’ve seen: "Truth Seekers: I’m an artist-in residence at Dixon Place this month, doing my show ‘The Musical Underbelly’ every Thursday at 8:00. The show is a guided tour through music from cults, secret societies, mediums, sorcerers, abductees, charlatans, scarlet women, and pedagogues. It includes music that supposedly came from caves, outer space, and long-dead composers; music by Lewis Carroll, the African-American Rosicrucian and sex magician Paschal Beverly Randolph, Athanasius Kircher, Rameau’s Nephew, and the Count 0f Saint-Germain. There are playing card tunes, agricultural plainchant, a demonstration of Solresol, and many other strange and lovely things. I’m on voice, piano, and Venezuelan cuatro; David Gold is on viola.Dixon Place is at 258 Bowery, Manhattan; shows are $12. For more info consult (212) 219-0736 or http://www.dixonplace.org/.