Cool Writing Links for Friday, May 4
This morning's rain isn't helping me wake up and continue my planned work on a short story or on my website. So, with a cup of coffee, I've been reading on line. . .
As a contemporary fantasy author, I was happy to get a review copy of Vandana Saxena's The Subversive Harry Potter. Stemming from a doctoral dissertation, the book looks at J. K. Rowling's popular series asking, among other things, whether the formulaic "hero - schoolboy - savior" theme and the huge marketing campaign co-opt the work. I take a brief look at it here.In her blog "The Labyrinth," author Midori Snyder writes about the feelings of mothers whose sons have been sent off to war. The title, "Two Powerful Warriors," comes from the Tolstoy quotation: "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."The Google book-scan case continues to drag on while those of us who had our work illegally copied continue to sit out here with no resolution to the theft. Bloomberg reports in "Google Argues for Dismissal of Authors’ Book-Scan Lawsuit" that the company is arguing that the Authors Guild can't serve as a representative for the authors involved. Author Smoky Zeidel has begun a series of posts on her "Smoky Talks" blog about the things that inspire writers and authors with "Some Thoughts on Inspiration." I'll be among the authors and artists to contribute a guest post to this series in the upcoming weeks.Over on NPR, David Edelstein takes a look at "The Avengers," calling it a "A Marvel-Ous Whedonesque Ride." Jonathan Gottschall looks at "Why fiction is good for you" in the Boston Globe - "Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive."Meanwhile, GalleyCat has posted a story with an impossible-to-resist headline: "Self-Published Author Lands Book Deal After 125 Years."Best wishes for a great weekend filled with good reading and great writing.
Malcolm
As a contemporary fantasy author, I was happy to get a review copy of Vandana Saxena's The Subversive Harry Potter. Stemming from a doctoral dissertation, the book looks at J. K. Rowling's popular series asking, among other things, whether the formulaic "hero - schoolboy - savior" theme and the huge marketing campaign co-opt the work. I take a brief look at it here.In her blog "The Labyrinth," author Midori Snyder writes about the feelings of mothers whose sons have been sent off to war. The title, "Two Powerful Warriors," comes from the Tolstoy quotation: "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."The Google book-scan case continues to drag on while those of us who had our work illegally copied continue to sit out here with no resolution to the theft. Bloomberg reports in "Google Argues for Dismissal of Authors’ Book-Scan Lawsuit" that the company is arguing that the Authors Guild can't serve as a representative for the authors involved. Author Smoky Zeidel has begun a series of posts on her "Smoky Talks" blog about the things that inspire writers and authors with "Some Thoughts on Inspiration." I'll be among the authors and artists to contribute a guest post to this series in the upcoming weeks.Over on NPR, David Edelstein takes a look at "The Avengers," calling it a "A Marvel-Ous Whedonesque Ride." Jonathan Gottschall looks at "Why fiction is good for you" in the Boston Globe - "Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive."Meanwhile, GalleyCat has posted a story with an impossible-to-resist headline: "Self-Published Author Lands Book Deal After 125 Years."Best wishes for a great weekend filled with good reading and great writing.Malcolm
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