Author Archives: Mark

2009 Hugo Award winners

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Mark

The 2009 Hugo Award winners were just announced:

  • Best Novel – The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
  • Best Novella – “The Erdmann Nexus”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)
  • Best Novelette – “Shoggoths in Bloom”, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)
  • Best Short Story – “Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
  • Best Related Book – Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)
  • Best Graphic Story – Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
  • Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form – WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)
  • Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)
  • Best Editor Short Form – Ellen Datlow
  • Best Editor Long Form – David G. Hartwell
  • Best Professional Artist – Donato Giancola
  • Best Semiprozine – Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
  • Best Fan Writer – Cheryl Morgan
  • Best Fanzine – Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
  • Best Fan Artist – Frank Wu
Posted in Awards, Science fiction/fantasy |

Library book returned 145 years late

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Mark

From The Guardian:

A book looted from a US library during the American civil war has finally been returned, almost 145 years overdue.

The only stipulation of the Illinois handball coach who returned the title – the first in WFP Napier’s four-volume History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France – was that he didn’t have to pay the $52,858 fine.

Full story here.

Posted in Articles, Libraries, Library |

Small publishers using Twitter?

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Mark

UK publishing companies are hoping to boost their businesses by creating an online presence via the social networking site Twitter. The site has seen the number of small, independent publishers surge in the last two weeks, as companies are using the service to interact with their market.

The Daily Telegraph has the full story.

Posted in Articles, Publishers |

Portland's uncertain ecenomy

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Mark

The New York Times has a story today that mentions, among other things, the recently cancelled plans for a $5 million expansion to Powell’s Books.

An architect had already prepared the drawings. His bankers had signaled that financing was available. But the project no longer looked prudent, Mr. Powell concluded — not with sales down nearly 5 percent, stock markets extinguishing savings, home prices plunging and jobs disappearing.

Full article here. It’s only the first few paragraphs that talk about Powell’s, but it’s still worth a read for anyone who’s visited the bookstore or has an interest in it.

Posted in Articles, Booksellers |

Where the Wild Things Are trailer

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Mark

The Guardian books blog notes that the movie trailer for Where the Wild Things Are is out. The film is based on the classic children’s book by the same name (Wikipedia article on it is here) and will be released on October 16th.

Posted in Children's books, Movie Adaptations |

Vatican may call for Angels and Demons boycott

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Mark

From The Guardian:

The Vatican looks likely to call for a boycott of Angels and Demons, the prequel to the blockbuster film adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

Official Vatican newspaper Avvenire reported on Friday that it “cannot approve” of Ron Howard’s film, which is based on the eponymous book by Brown and opens worldwide on 15 May. The report prompted suspicions that the church is gearing up to call for a new boycott, after urging Catholics not to see the first film.

…except they are reputedly worried that a boycott could backfire and drive additional sales to the film. Full story here.

Posted in Banned Books, Film, Movie Adaptations |

Ebooks held back by lack of piracy?

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Mark

The Guardian has a story today suggesting as much:

Everyone’s looking at the pattern they’ve seen in music and video – an old medium changed radically by technology – and waiting for it to hit the book world. But the chances of that happening right now are very small indeed. Why? It’s fairly straightforward.

The real reason that the music industry came around to the idea of downloads wasn’t because they had a startling insight into the future, or even because Apple forced the issue by building a clever ecosystem around the iPod (it didn’t launch the iTunes store until 2003). It was because customers were choosing to pirate instead.

Full article here.

Posted in Articles, E-books, Technology |

Reuters video on Inkheart movie

Posted on December 10, 2008 by Mark

Reuters has a short video up about the movie Inkheart (based on the book by Cornelia Funke) and its world premiere. Nothing too fascinating, but it’s probably worth a look if you’ve read it and/or plan to see the film:

(Link to video on Reuters is here if the embedded video doesn’t play. You’ll have to watch a short commercial first.)

Posted in Authors, Children's books, Movie Adaptations, Young Adult | Tagged

The Guardian summarizes The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Mark

Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK RowlingPublished today in The Guardian:

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot: There was once a kindly old wizard who used his magic generously and wisely for his neighbours. But then he died and he left his lucky cooking pot to his son. His son was a meanie who didn’t like Muggles and refused to help anyone. The pot got very angry about this and grew warts and hopped around the village chasing him, until he changed his mind. The End.

J.K. Rowling’s remaining three stories receive a similar treatment. You can view the full article here.

Posted in Children's books, Reviews, Science fiction/fantasy, Short stories, Young Adult | Tagged ,

Arthur C. Clarke dies

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Mark

From the New York Times article:

Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90.

Rohan de Silva, an aide to Mr. Clarke, said the author died after suffering from breathing problems, The Associated Press reported.

From his detailed forecast of telecommunications satellites in 1945, more than a decade before the first orbital rocket flight, to his co-creation, with the director Stanley Kubrick, of the classic science fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Mr. Clarke was both prophet and promoter of the idea that humanity’s destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth.

Full story here.

Posted in Articles, Authors, Obituaries, Science fiction/fantasy |