Fusenews: What’s Green and Purple and Prefers That You Use Your Cell Phone in Designated Areas?

• Psst.  Wanna hear something scary?  Come in close now . . . ready?  Christmas is in 2 weeks.  EEEEK!  Better than a monster mask, that one.

• Speaking of ye olde holiday cheer, how do you feel about ecards?  Do you like ’em?  Loathe ’em?  You might want to consider changing your attitude when you hear about this magnificent Make-a-Wish Foundation ecard idea.  They contacted illustrators Debra Frasier, Janell Cannon, Eric Carle, Ian Falconer, David Kirk, Ida Pearle, and Lauren Stringer.  Now with every click on the site a donation is made by E! Network to Make-a-Wish.  Groovy.  Thanks to ShelfTalker for the information.

• The Sunday Times article proposing a bail-out for writers is worth reading if only for the snarky joke at the start.  I think Gwenda had a particularly good point about the piece herself: "Unfortunately this potentially interesting philosophical exercise quickly devolves into the standard bemoaning that there are too many writers, too many MFAs, etc. etc., and the answer is to reduce them. Riiiiiight."  You tell ’em, girl.

• Firebrand Literary wants to provide YOU with an agent.  As such they’ve created a little somethin’ somethin’ called the Firebrand Query Holiday.  "Our usual, query-based submission system will be closed for a short period (don’t worry, any query that was already in our system will be answered even while the system is "down"). And then–beginning on Dec. 15 and ending on Jan. 15—-we will be accepting sample chapters via a unique email address: queryholiday@gmail.com."  Hop along over to Cynsations to hear everyone’s favorite Michael Stearns give some supplementary details on the matter.

• The site WebUrbanist recently came up with a posting called 15 Dazzling Modern Library Designs.  I am not entirely certain that the word "dazzling" was the one they should’ve gone with on this one.  15 Baffling Modern Library Designs would have been okay.  15 Head-Scratching Modern Library Designs would also have fit.  I mean, I had seen the library that resembles a creature from outer space bent on devouring the planet (or at the very least, Prague) as we know it:

But I was unprepared for the undulating, wiggly, jiggly, biblio equivalent of Jell-o.

And this one just made me burst out laughing when I read the text.

Tee hee.  I know it’s satirical, but I still liked it.  Thanks to Kate and Duane for the link!

• Has anyone else noticed that no two Mock Caldecotts this year seem to be sharing any titles?  I may be wrong, but there have been some huge differences between some of the lists I’ve seen lately.  For example, I just took a gander at the Queens Public Library’s list over at Pinot and Prose and then looked at the list over at the Bergan County Cooperative Library System.  See what I mean?  It’s like comparing apples to oranges.  This is not a consensus year.

• Bad, blogger!  I should have known that Recorded Books had their own blog but did I?  Noooo.  Bad naughty, blogger.  I will do better in the future.

• Hello, authors.  Current economic crises got you down?  Need a pick-me-up to get those little gray cells hepped up and working again?  Perhaps you should consider taking a tip from Breaking News: Publishers, Agents Report Sharp Increase in “Unpublishable” Submissions where we get an amusing take on the state of publishing today.  And since I adore any link that discusses dodos in some manner (it’s a thing) I was particularly pleased with the sentence, "Someone would’ve had to write the Divine Comedy of dodo poems for us to dedicate ten issues to it."

• For those of you in the Massachusetts area, the 19th Annual Children’s Illustration Show at the R. Michelson Gallery is having a Chris Raschka raffle (say that ten times fast) for an original watercolor alongside some Reader to Reader fundraiser art.  Be sure to see it and to enter the raffle while you still can.

• Ack! Downsizing at Chronicle Books! Ack ack!  Leave the children’s people be, Chronicle.  As you already know, their sales went up this year.  Do not injure yourself by laying so much as a finger upon their jobs.

• Daily Image – Holiday Gift Edition:

Scandinavia.  It makes everything taste better.  Know someone who loves all things Moomin?  Know someone who loves all things Scand (what is the singular for that anyway?)?  Howzabout some charming Moomin mugs then?

My favorite’s the one with the relatives on it.  Thanks to Lori Ess for the link. 

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