MORE 'BOOK-JACKET-NATTERING' POSTS
Daylight Saving (not “Savings” I just learned) has arrived and you know what that means? It means babies have a terrible sense of telling time. Just awful. And that, in turn, means I’d better crank out a lickety-split Fusenews before I hear the telltale sound of little eyelids opening. First up, The New York Times […]
Since I don’t do much with YA on a regular basis I don’t read the blog of The Book Smugglers as often as I would like, even though they’re some of the best in the biz. Love their reviews. Really top notch stuff. Anyway, they recently reviewed a book called The Girl of Fire and […]
Full credit to my co-writer Jules at Seven Impossible Things for bringing my attention to this rather awesome new site. Uncovered Cover Art calls itself a sketchbook of “reimagined children’s books”. What that means is that artists are encouraged to submit their own interpretations of children’s book jackets. The hope is that industry insiders would […]
There was a kerfuffle this weekend. Did you notice? It was a YA kerfuffle, which I generally tend to avoid, but sometimes inanity makes for good blogging. And nothing was quite as inane as the recent Wall Street Journal article Darkness Too Visible. The gist: My goodness, my gracious, have you seen what kids are […]
So I’m reading through my weekly edition of AL Direct and I notice that no matter what worldwide occurrence takes place, librarians are always there. Whether it’s damage to two libraries in Egypt, stories from the librarians in Christchurch, New Zealand, or how the Wisconsin Library Association delayed Library Legislative Day due to the protests, […]
In my travels I’ve been perusing the historical fiction that’s been coming out lately and I think I have detected an interesting trend. An interesting book jacket trend, no less. Consider the following: What do all of these have in common? Well, first off, they’re all historical fiction. Historical fiction that, in some cases, is […]
I’m not telling you anything new by bringing this up now, but for those of you who may yet be unaware, the great Brian Jacques of the Redwall books passed away last weekend. I only had the pleasure of meeting Brian once at an event at the Campbell Apartment, and he was charming. I determined […]
Marketing yourself. Yeah, forget the hokey-pokey. We know what it’s really all about in this game. You poor authors and illustrators. Isn’t it enough that you sweat and strain to create the highest quality literature for the generation that will inherit the earth after we are dead and gone . . . and now you’ve […]
Oh sure, it may seem like everyone’s all smiles and happiness after the recent announcements of the ALA Media awards, but don’t be fooled. There’s definitely a deep discord of discontent out there. Funny thing is, it has nothing to do with the books and everything to do with the day after the awards. For […]
When you work with the real Winnie-the-Pooh you have a tendency to get complacent. “Oh sure,” you think. ” I know everything about that bear. Absolutely everything.” So it’s nice when the universe gives you a swift kick in the pants to remind you that you are not always up on your Pooh knowledge. Or […]