Fusenews: If It’s Newsable, It’s Fuseable

• MotherReader’s 4th Annual 48-hour Book Challenge is nigh.  That means that this has been going on for four years.  Which makes me feel really old, because I’m fairly certain I remember the first one like it was yesterday.  On the plus side, I’m that much closer to getting to call new children’s literary bloggers "you whippersnappers".  Yessss! 

• Authors, market thyself.  Can’t hurt, right?  But where do you begin?  Stellar advice on the subject recently appeared on Market My Words.  It includes such notable quotables as "what are the top 3 things every author should and must do to promote their book?"  Thanks to Shaken & Stirred for the link.

• It is rare that I desire an upcoming adult novel.  I don’t tend to walk that path very often.  Haven’t the time (though I am enjoying Trollope’s Cousin Henry at the moment).  But when I heard about the A.S. Byatt title The Children’s Book which is due on shelves in October, I knew I had to have it.  I’m a big Byatt fan (her comments on Harry Potter aside). Crooked House has been reading the title, the lucky ducky, and says that it is loosely based on the life of E. Nesbit.  Can’t wait.

• ShelfTalker had a fun post up discussing mangled book titles on the part of patrons.  Better still are mangled book descriptions.  I already mentioned my most recent favorite during my Strega Nona post.  Feel free to add your own.

• Maybe it’s just me, but when I saw that Jeff Kinney made it onto the 2009 Time 100, my first thought was, "Whoever made this list has a child."  Probably a pretty safe bet, though if I were Jeff I’d have some strong words with illustrator Jeffrey Smith about that portrait.  Doesn’t do our boy justice, it doesn’t.

• A whopping big congrats to author James Kennedy on the birth of his new baby girl.  FYI, if you want to hear a fabulous Scrabble n’ Twilight n’ blood spattered account of a baby coming into the world, this post is one to read.

• I’ve found that the Goodreads option of allowing a person to see another person’s blog posts has become mighty useful.  Case in point: I was able through Goodreads to see author Lisa Mantchev create the world’s most awesome daughter/fairy pics in the known world.  What I like about these?  The punk aspects are keen, but I really like that the small child has clearly grabbed the small delicate cake in front of her with both fists, no hesitation.  Rock it, baby!

• Daily Image:

According to Drawn, "For the Muppet Rawk group show, Marc Palm redrew R. Crumb’s famous Cheap Thrills cover as a Muppets album."

The best part is that if you go to this Flickr page, not only can you see it in full-size but you can also click on each portion and be taken to the appropriate YouTube clip of that particular scene.  Be sure you watch the one in the lower left-hand corner.  Big thanks to Drawn for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews