Origami Unicorn

Pocket Bargains For Zombie Tales

Anthony Ziccardi, v-p and deputy publisher of Pocket Books, has entered into a co-publishing venture with Permuted Press. The first in the seven book deal, Day By Day Armageddon, will be released in October. The second will be released in February.

Kindle To Come With—Ads?

Amazon is reportedly exploring how to bundle ads with its book downloads. It would hardly be the first time books have come with ads—publishers traditionally advertise in their own books and big tobacco advertised in paperbacks when it was driven off TV—but click-through technology suggests some really horrid changes in reading, with every third word unleashing another targeted ad, most of them as inappropriate as the google ads we've all learned to ignore.

Comic-Con Sells Out

At one hundred and twenty-five thousand people, Comic-Con has sold out. Event organizers are uncertain whether the event—huge by almost any standard—can or ought grow any further. San Diego has found the convention so profitable that it is attempting to arrange an expansion of its convention. Already this year some important events, like the Eisner Awards, will be off-site. For further information check the con website.

Google Antitrust investigation

In one of those developments that surprises no one, Google's orphan books settlement has attracted the attention of the federal government. Not that this means the deal won't eventually go through, but they do have a few questions.

Whistle, and I'll Come to You

A rather good version of the classic M. R. James story, notable because the story requires so little in the way of special effects and so much from the principle actor.

Casper Genie

Casper is a sad little ghost who keeps trying to make friends.

Pibgorn

As newspaper comics decline, web comics rise. Here's one that's only available on your computer: Pibgorn. It has a considerable fandom, adding to its charm. There was once a fairy, who crashed on Christmas Eve, and thereby hang quite a number of tales.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

A rather good film from the first, and probably best known, of a series of books by Joan Aiken. The book is, of course, better in its own way.

Woody Woodpecker in Ski for Two

The woodpecker, with his distinctive laugh and knock-about comedy, eventually got Disneyfied, but when he first appeared in the movie houses—this cartoon dates from 1941—he was genuine, no holds barred screwball.

The Curious Effects of Benjamin Button

The challenge: to show a man at widely different ages and make him age backwards. Here's what they did.

Tangent Relaunches

Online reviewzine Tangent has relaunched, covering the print media only for the moment, plus airing old time radio shows.

The Illusionist

Balloon Land

The peaceful people of Balloon Land face an outside menace.

Judge Rules Literary Character Under Copyright

For what may be the first time, a judge has ruled that a character described only with words and only appearing in one book is copyrighted. This has temporarily halted the publication a follow-up to The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Author Frederik Colting's book is 60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye, explores Holden Caulfield in old age as he travels through the same landscape as his younger self. Salinger, who has always refused to develop the story further as literature or in any other medium, said, inone of his last-given interviews, in 1980, in the Boston Sunday Globe: "There's no more Holden Caulfield. Read the book again. It's all there. Holden Caulfield is only a frozen moment in time."