Buzz Worthy News

This week in Buzz Worthy News: Chinua Achebe tragically passed away, yet another comic book character being horrifically objectified, news on the Daughter of Smoke and Bone movies, and a possible Christian Grey is on the horizon. If that’s not enough we had one of the dumbest controversies that ever happened in the book blogging world!  All this and more, waiting for you to check it out!

Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly news post bringing you all the best information about the book and blogging world, particularly for the venn diagram of people who overlap between the two.  For new releases and cover reveals of all the best Young Adult fiction, check out our Sunday post: How New Titles.

 Books

 Kat will never live out her dream of fistbumping Chinua Achebe

Look at that face.  That is the face of someone who needs to be fistbumped often and with all due respect.  At least that’s what I always thought.  Achebe’s death this week was pretty is pretty devastating, not just to me.

I was fifteen when I first read Achebe and Things Fall Apart made me choke, look around at a world I’d never seen and say, “Hot damn!  How could I have been so blind?!”

I kind of think Nelson Mandela said it best:

“[Achebe is] the writer in whose company the prison walls came down”.”

“In a statement, Achebe’s family requested privacy, and paid tribute to “one of the great literary voices of all time. He was also a beloved husband, father, uncle and grandfather, whose wisdom and courage are an inspiration to all who knew him.”

Achebe, hats off to you, dude.  Your writing made the world a bit of a better place and I can’t wait to share it with my children when they’re older.

Source

Children’s Book Awards – Kids Go Vote!

It’s that time of year again where we briefly allow children the illusion of control over what they do and don’t like.  I’m not sure I like the idea because they will inevitably vote Justin Beiber even if he’s not nominated for anything.  There’s a few different categories but we’ve limited it to ones we know you care about:

Teen Book of the Year

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1) by Marissa Meyer (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan)
City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton/Penguin)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins)
Rapture: A Fallen Novel by Lauren Kate (Delacorte/Random House)

Author of the Year

John Green for The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton/Penguin)
Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid 7: The Third Wheel (Amulet Books/Abrams)
R. J. Palacio for Wonder (Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House)
Rick Riordan for The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, Book 3) (Hyperion Books/Disney)
Veronica Roth for Insurgent (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins)

You can check it out for more information here!

There’s this comic book tradition where any heroine, at any time, can expect to be objectified.  It happens eventually to the best and worst of them.  If it’s Emma Frost then it’s more a constant, never-ending stream of objectification.

As a comic book fan, I protest it but I’ve long since stopped being surprised when they pull this shit.

The controversy started after a topless image by Gibson went up for sale.  I’m not sure if this is it, but it came up when I googled so, *shrugs* maybe it’s the one.

The artist Ian Gibson has dismissed protests over a topless illustration of Alan Moore’s groundbreaking feminist heroine Halo Jones – calling the outrage from comic fans and industry professionals the image has unleashed “a storm in a D-cup”.

Hahahahaha!  Get it?  Storm in a D-cup!  It’s funny!  Right?!

First of all, there’s no way a comic book artist knows how to draw D cups.  Hell, you draw bigger mantits on Green lantern than a D cup.

Second of all:

What does Alan Moore, original creator of Halo Jones have to say about this?

According to Moore, Halo Jones – cited as one of one of the top 50 comic characters by Empire magazine in 2008 – was conceived as “an attempt to introduce a realistically observed and realised female character into the alpha-male dominated line up of 2000AD”.

“I fail to see how my original intentions for the character are served by a long-lens shot of her with her 50th-century tits out,” he added. “In fact, rather the opposite.”

Oh but you see, there’s a completely legitimate reason to have her in this pose.

Gibson said he found it “ironic that Halo would be known as a ‘feminist’ character”, after being “attacked in the past for ‘using’ her and thus all women for my own nefarious ends”, and explained how the topless image fits with “the ideas I had for any continuation of the saga”.

“I had plans for her being pregnant – hence the bigger boobs,” he said. “Also as a slave, hence the token chains and nakedness.”

SOURCE

Publishing

 Book Piracy stats share and care

Simon and Schuster has announced that it will share piracy stats with its authors.

So an author is just sitting around one day and they think to themselves, “Hey, I wonder how many people are thieving bastards – also, how many of them are my demographic?!”

Luckily, if you’re an author with Simon and Schuster, you can now find that out.

Simon & Schuster, like many other publishers, works with a company called Attributor “to track and remove infringing copies of digital, audio and print titles published by Simon & Schuster from online sites.” Authors will now have access to Attributor’s data through the Simon & Schuster Author Portal, which also lets them track their book sales. Literary agents will have access to the data as well.

Reidy laid out the piracy info that authors will receive:

“The reports that you will see provide information about the number of infringements identified and takedown notices sent to infringing sites, success rates in removing infringements, the types of sites where infringement is occurring, the specific urls and geographic distribution of sites where unauthorized copies are offered and more.”

SOURCE

First Sale Doctrine.  Ain’t it a bitch!

Just so that there’s no confusion: When you buy a book overseas, you can still resell it.  It’s yours.  Live long and prosper…with you book.  Until you sell it.

So a while ago an enterprising college kid, Supap Kirtsaeng, noticed his America counterparts were paying an exorbitant amount for their textbooks.  This is otherwise known as “yup, another day in college.”

But not for Supap who said, “Wow, text books are hella cheaper back in Thailand.  I’d better do my fellow poor bastards a solid and sell them cheap for a profit.” That isn’t a direct quote but, you know, that’s the gist.

The dispute turns on a legal doctrine that says a copyright holder can profit only from the original sale of a product. In 1998, the Supreme Court unanimously said that so-called first- sale doctrine applies to U.S.-made products that are sold overseas. The ruling meant that purchasers could bring those goods back into the U.S. to sell or distribute even if the copyright holder objected. –SOURCE

The ruling came this week and the court said: “Yep!  You sell those textbooks, kid!  Live the American dream!”

“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-3 opinion that “ first sale doctrine” applies to books purchased overseas.”

SOURCE

Amazon Dodges Taxes Like The Rest of Us

That was a joke, Australian Tax Bureau.  Haha!  Joke!  I pay my taxes, seriously.  But apparently Amazon doesn’t!  At least not in the UK where it earned 2.9 Billion in sales last year according to a petition by booksellers Francis and Keith Smith.  This is rather like the Amazon river (pictured left) which also doesn’t pay taxes in the UK.  Thus both are leaving the rest of us to keep the economy going.

The Smiths, who run independent bookshops in Warwick and Kenilworth, launched their petition on Change.org on learning of the accusations against Amazon in November, and support has now hit a level they never foresaw. Calling on people to support their stance, the Smiths write in their petition that businesses like theirs have already been pushed “to the brink” by the huge discounts offered by online retailers, but that “what’s even worse is that Amazon, despite making sales of £2.9bn in the UK last year, does not pay any UK corporation tax on the profits from those sales”.

“It’s not a level playing field and leaves independent retailers like us struggling to compete just because we do the right thing,” say the Smiths. “As independent booksellers, we are happy with competition in the market but it must be on level terms and by dodging corporation tax in this way, Amazon start with an unfair advantage. As they grow bigger it’s inevitable that shops like ours will be under even more pressure. That’s bad for customers, bad for the high street and bad for the UK.

“Amazon may be obeying the letter of the law – but they’re certainly not being fair. Last year Starbucks announced that they had caved to public pressure and would look at their tax affairs in the UK.”

Amazon defended it’s stance but pointing out that it does pay all applicable taxes in each state.  Those applicable taxes in the UK just happen to be zero.  And whose fault is that, really?

Well, obviously the Liberal Media’s.

SOURCE

 Entertainment

Neverwhere to be Radio Drama

Remember the good ol’ days when the radio was used to narrate stories and it resulted in thousands of people across New York believing they were being invaded by aliens? No, wait, that’s a popular myth.  But remember the days when radio was relevant?  I sure don’t.  I have to listen to Michelle, Tim and Marty on the way home because they’re literally the best there is.  Which is not a compliment.  They SUCK.

But I’m sure that Neverwhere won’t suck!*

*Any more than the book did.

Ohhhhhhh!  I did it!  I disparaged a Neil Gaiman novel!  Now I must await the hordes of fan who will roast me to a crisp for that!  Truthfully, it wasn’t that bad, just wasn’t my thing.  But the radio drama does sound kind of badass so here’s some more info about it!

“Reviving the lost art of the radio drama, BBC4 has released the first episode of an radio adaptation of Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman‘s 1996 novel.

Follow this link to listen online. James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, Christopher Lee, Benedict Cumberbatch and many other actors star in the adaptation.”

SOURCE

 ERMAGHERD!  ERMAGHERD!  DERGHTHER OF SCHMERK ERN BHERN MERVIE!

Okay, okay guys.  Okay.  I know what mentions of a Daughter of Smoke and Bone cast does to your vulnerable insides.  But there are updates.  News. Things I must share with you before we collapse in a fit of hyper-induced euphoria.

The script writer has been chosen and his name is Stuart Beattie.

Which, okay, if I’m being honest, kind of freaks me out since he’s written a lot of movies that I categorically don’t like, and whose script I thought were especially bad.  Some of those being:

30 Days of Night

All of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (I only liked the first.  *Gasp*)

Australia

and

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra (eyeroll)

But Laini Taylor seems really positive…

“It’s been fantastic to delve into the world of the book with a screenwriter of such insight and experience. Between Stuart, Joe Roth and Universal Pictures, we’ve got a team with massive epic flair, and I can’t wait to see what unfolds as we move toward bringing Karou, Akiva, Brimstone and the world of Daughter of Smoke & Bone to the screen.”

Okay, so, dream casting for Karou, Akiva and Brimstone?

This one is going to be hard but can we get Ron Pearlman as Brimstone?!  PLEASE?

Also, and I think people are going to kill me for this but I was kind of thinking Colton Haynes for Akiva because he looks like he could be military, he has that “I’m so broken/heartachey” look down pat and he’s only two years younger than me so I don’t feel like a TOTAL perv.

I’m still looking for someone to play Karou because she has to be extra badass.

SOURCE

Dude from Arrow Might Be Christian Grey.

So you know that guy from Arrow?  Here’s a reminder if you forgot:

Okay, remember now?  Okay, that guy is in talks to be Christian Grey in the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey Movie.  I’ll leave you alone for a moment with your thoughts, but my thoughts are basically a neverending scream of no.  Not because he’ll be Christian Grey but because they’re actually going to make a Fifty Shades of Grey movie and I’m not sure I can handle that much fail.

The Arrow star explained that he has had a meeting about taking on the lead role of Christian Grey in the film, which will be based on the erotic novel by EL James.

Speaking in a video posted on his Facebook page, Amell said: “I get questions about Christian Grey all the time. That project is a long way off. I know this, because I had a meeting about it.”
Amell then went on to tease his fans, saying: “A long way off. I mean, not that long, but not close. I wouldn’t call it long, but I wouldn’t call it close.”

Wow.  Master of words right there.

SOURCE

HBO Planning Game of Thrones Sequel.

So, all you Game of Thrones lovers out there!  Haven’t got enough of watching all your favourite characters die?  Want to fall in love with more characters and watch them die too?

HBO is there for you, then.  Because, as everyone knows, HBO feeds on your tears.  In an interview G.R.R. Martin had this to say about the possibility of more Game of Thrones stuff coming to your television.

“Well, I have been writing for a number of years a series of novellas set in the same world, the world of Westeros, but a hundred years earlier, about two characters called Dunk and Egg. And I published three of those novellas, The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight, and I have in mind about nine or ten more novellas about the adventures of Dunk and Egg.So we have been playing with the idea of doing those as prequels. They would be prequels, in a sense, they’re a hundred years earlier but in the same world. They’re somewhat lighter in tone than the main series, a little more adventurous. But my fans love them and I love the two characters too, and it all ties into Westeros history. So maybe that will be what we’ll do.”

Clearly G.R.R. Martin has not taken my many requests for more Drogo seriously.

Source

 Controversy

What Not to Do With Your New Book Cover

So you wrote a book.  Congrat-ily-ations to you!  What an achieve-a-ment-donkily!  Now to go about getting it out to the public!

Step 1) Get yourself a cover

Step 2-whatever) do all that publishing shit you have to do.

Step 3) Don’t be a douche.

Easy, yes? Wrong!  Why are we always so wrong?

This week, an author noted that Christina from A Reader of Fictions had kindly included her cover in an issue of Cover Snark.

If you read Cover Snark often then you’ll know Christina will include a comment with each cover.  So what horrible, snarky comment did Christina leave that would upset an honest, kind, authorly type?”

Examples that sprung to mind:

“This cover is shit and I bet the author eats babies.”

“I actually like this cover but I’m going to pretend I don’t because I’m jealous that someone else got published!”

“I hate everything about it.  It clearly reflects extremely poor taste on behalf of the author and I bet it’s indicative of a bad novel.”

Jokes. Christina’s actual comment was:

“Thoughts: The first surprise for Roxie will be how many kinds of poop she can get on her heels walking around the farm.”

I know what you’ve all suddenly realized.  Christina speaks the truth.  Those heels will be forever ruined.

But apparently this comment was distressing, so Ruthi took it to Facebook:

Notice the point at which another author, Cambria Hebert realized her own cover was being criticized:

“Well, i looked. I wish i didnt. That person just pissed me off.  Thats my daughter. U dont talk shit anout my kids. And even more so she should get her eyes checked because my book is a YA no a NA. So she’s wrong. And im so sick of people saying they dont like the play on Heven. Its the main characters name idiot, not a mis spelling.  If you dont like it dont look.  Im so sick of nasty, big mouthed people.”

Bloggers, you got that? We’re not allowed to look at a promotional cover if we don’t already instinctively know we are going to like it. I was curious what slurs Christina could possibly have cast upon an innocent child.  Also, WHY WOULD YOU USE YOUR CHILD AS A MODEL FOR YOUR BOOK?!  Why would you do that to yourself? But, right, maybe Christina was horribly mean.  Lord knows I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of her tongue-la… actually, I won’t bother finishing that sentence.  We all know I would.

Thoughts: Holy crap, this is shitty. Look at those wings! And the butterflies! And ‘Heven.’ A world of no.

Okay, nobody talked shit about the kid.  Phew.  Crisis averted.  Still, even if Christina had, it’s not like she walked up to Hebert and daughter on the street and said, “God almighty!  You have one fugly kid!” (And just to clarify, I’m not actually saying this kid is ugly.  It’s an example.  I’m sure she’s lovely.)

But what the fuck are you doing using your kid on something that is supposed to professionally promote your work?  And if people bitch about it, whose fault is that?  Yours!  For putting your kid on your fucking cover!  Don’t use your daughter as a cover model and you know what happens? You don’t have to get mortally offended when people rightly criticize your ugly covers.  Problem solved.  We can all go home happy.

Just to reiterate, the comment is not directed at, what I’m sure, is a delightful child.  Christina did not talk shit about your kid.  No.  She just mentioned your cover is a mess. With reason considering the horribly photoshopped wings, the back of the dress that someone slaughtered and then couldn’t be fucked blending, the butterflies slapped in there all hodge-podge, the horrific title font and the weird-ass decals on the side.

And finally, yes, we get that your main character’s name is Heven.  That was immediately apparent to all.  We just still thought it was lame and dumb.

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