Origami Unicorn

The Quills

In one of the great non-surprises of the year, The Road has won in its category of the Quills. Voting for the best book of the year is now in progress. The work, a journey story undertaken after some unspecified apocalyptic disaster, is unusual in its popularity, since it is both downbeat and genre.

The Quills, sponsored by Reed Business Information and NBC, supposedly represent a consumer's choice award, with nineteen categories allowing for plenty of prizes. Anyone can vote by going to the site. Some of the books that are honored have a bit of an edge—The Road was chosen for Oprah's book club—and it's not clear that the awards will succeed at their stated goal: to increase reading awareness.

But we can hope.

The Bayeux Tapestry/Carmina Burana

Since it is an example of graphics format, it's interesting to see The Bayeux Tapestry animated, with an added soundtrack. This is slightly more than half of the gigiantic roll: the exciting second half. 1066 and all that. They did not resist using Carmina Burana again. Filmmakers are lucky that one's out of copyright but don't fail to click through for the passionate full orchestral performance. The title is taken from the collection of medieval poems used as inspiration by Carl Orff. The bit you've heard again and again is, or is a portion of, the "O Fortuna" section.

L'Engle's Website

Here is Madeleine L'Engle's website. It seems likely this will continue to be maintained, since her books are still in print—indeed, there are new edtions just out—and it's an obvious place to provide information. Square Fish, publishers of the new editions—nice covers—also has an animated trailer on their website for the books.

Madeleine L’Engle

Madeleine L’Engle, 89, has died at her home in Connecticut after a period of illness and some years of ill-health. Best known for A Wrinkle in Time, she was the author of more than sixty books, working steadily throughout her life. More detail in an article in The Washington Post, which gives her age as 88, probably because the notice was on file.

AuthorHouse buys iUniverse

AuthorHouse has bought iUniverse. There are no immediate plans to reorganize either operation, since they feel their operations are complementary, rather than competitive. Both appeal to those interested in the growing trend toward self-publishing.

Man Booker Short List

The Man Booker short list for 2007 has been announced:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker (4th Estate)

The Gathering by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape); U.S.: Grove/Black Cat (September 2007)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton); U.S.: Harcourt

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (John Murray); U.S.: Dial

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape); U.S.: Talese/Doubleday

Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Simon & Schuster); U.S.: S&S

At this stage the books on the list are virtually guaranteed to be distinctive and impossible to rank. The winner will be announced October 16th.

Doctor Who To Take a Vacation

Continuing a long tradition of trying the patience of fans of the long-running series, the BBC has announced there will be a "gap year" in 2009, during which there will be three specials to whet fans' appetites. It's not clear whether the leap in time will also mean another rebirth for the Doctor. David Tennant has been very successful with the role, but 2010 seems a long way away at the moment, and he has not committed to the project and quite possibily not even been asked.

The End of Lucky Star

There's an interlocking empire of stories about pre-teen and teenage girls—mostly girls—who are the guardians of the universe, possessed of special powers. So here, without further explanation, is the edited-together epilogue to one of the most popular series, Lucky Star. At the suggestion of an American exchange student the girls are doing a cheerleading routine to the theme song of Sailor Fuku.

SFWA on LiveJournal

Having linked to an archived post, it occured to me to add a link to the ongoing discussion on SFWA's outreach LiveJournal community.

SFWA and the DMCA

Boing Boing, which is much in favor of material being free on the web, comments on a recent action by SFWA, the Science Fiction and fantasy Writers of America.

(updated)

This lead to a retrenching by SFWA, and a statement from president Michael Cappobianco, on September tenth.