Jared Shurin's Blog, page 21

The Absolute and Definitive Ranking of DC Comics Film Adaptations

1. Batman Returns

2. Batman

3. The Batman Legos movie, probably 

4. Christopher Reeves' Superman films (all of them, squodged into one big glutinous mass)

5. The Dark Knight

6. The Wonder Woman trailer? I guess? 

7. Watching a blank wall for two hours (e.g. MENDOZA LINE) 

8. The Adam West Batman (this is like kicking a puppy, but seriously, this film is not actually entertaining bad, it is just bad bad)

9. Suicide Squad

10. Green Lantern

11. Suicide Squad Extended Cut (more is not better)

12...

The Operative: Joss Whedon���s most political villain?

Warning: This month���s post spoils the shit out of 2005���s Serenity, the feature film culmination of Joss Whedon���s gone-too-soon TV space western, Firefly. So if you haven���t seen it, (a) what is the matter with you and (b) stop reading immediately.

It was Dolores Umbridge that got me thinking about the Operative. I know ��� because they have so much in common, right? One is a cowardly shrew of a witch with no discernible fighting ability, while the other is a mild-mannered, stone-cold...

I Read 14 Books - And You Won't Believe What Happened Next!

...I eventually got around to reviewing them. Briefly. And in no particular order.

Rosemary Kirstein's The Steerswoman (1989) is a thoughtful fantasy - a lovely example of an epic story driven by brains over brawn, and wit over magical destiny. Rowan is a Steerswoman - a sort of knowledge-seeker that pursues the truth at all costs (including a sacred vow to never tell a lie). She's passionate and curious and a deeply endearing protagonist. (Plus, it would be an amazing D&D class. Work on that...

The art of publishing - who has form?

In Robert Calasso's The Art of the Publisher, the author distills to art of publishing to form - the "capacity to give form to a plurality of books as though they were the chapters of a single book".

This is a fascinating concept, particularly applicable in a world where branding is both understood as an art... and almost entirely ignored in the publishing industry. The most overt demonstration of form is, of course, the art and design of covers - and Calasso dedicates many thoughtful pages...

Funko Pops That Don't Exist But We Wish Did

Your turn! We've been nattering on about Funko Pop toys all week, but now we want to hear from you. Although there are approximately 80,000 Funko toys, they haven't made Pops for everything (yet). What Funko Pops would you love to see?

Here are few from us to get you started...

Jon:

John Steed Mrs Peel Cousin Itt Jenny Sparks Miss America   Anne:   Veronica Mars Gambit Mr Darcy (Colin Firth edition) Ian Malcolm Queen Elizabeth I (I dunno; she seems like she'd be awesome.)   Jared:   Patsy W...

Confessions of a lifelong collector

As a child, I was an avid collector of My Little Pony and Care Bears, despite the fact that my only regular source of income was the occasional envelope on birthdays and Christmas. Even then I couldn't just have one. I needed them all. It fell to my parents to bankroll this craze. I remember my father driving from one toy store to another to find the elusive Birthday Bear (a mustardy-coloured Care Bear with a cupcake on its chest). It was the only one I didn't have. If the Internet had been...

Small Press Shakedown: Cherry Potts of Arachne Press

The UK has a fantastic small press scene. To celebrate the people behind the imprints, and help out the writers that are looking to them for publication, we've asked a number of editors to share what they're working on - and what they're looking for. This week our featured publisher is Arachne Press.

Could you tell us a bit about who you are and what you're doing?

Arachne Press was born out of frustration as a writer with my existing publisher, and an opportune redundancy, which meant the mo...

Small Press Shakedown: Dave de Burgh of Tickety Boo Press

The UK has a fantastic small press scene. To celebrate the people behind the imprints, and help out the writers that are looking to them for publication, we've asked a number of editors to share what they're working on - and what they're looking for. This week our featured publisher is Tickety Boo Press.

Could you tell us a bit about who you are and what you're doing?

Tickety Boo Press was started at the end of January, 2014 by Gary Compton, who remains our driving force and managing direct...

Finding Balance in Opposites in Asterios Polyp

We live in a world today which seems, or is made to seem, more divided than ever. Asterios Polyp is a book about division, but it turns that which divides us into positives, finding balance in opposition and progress in compromise. David Mazzucchelli, best known as the artist for the seminal Batman: Year One, is sole creator on this book and, while he doesn���t deal in geopolitical division or the problems of race or wealth that plague the world currently, the lessons that can be learnt from...

Jinn, Incorporated, T��kumel, Family, and Other Things

Us, other places:

Becky Chambers talking about her (alien) family at Tor.com

Erin Lindsey talks Incorporated for WIRED's Geek's Guide to the Galaxy

Molly Tanzers's short story "Demure" at Great Jones Street... isn't.

Caspian Whistler's A Profound Waste of Time is available for pre-order.

Lessons learned writing (and editing), over on Terrible Minds, with Mahvesh Murad and Jared (...and Claire North and James Smythe and Saad Hossain and Sami Shah)

Mahvesh and Jared pick djinn-adjacent recomme...