Buzz Worthy News: Of John Green and Kisses 13th June 2014

13 June, 2014 Buzz Worthy News 27 comments

BWN-bee_600wBuzz Worthy News

Welcome back to Buzz Worthy News where the stories are awesome and not at all well-written. Need your YA industry news? Never fear, Kat and Kate are here to give it all to you. Just, ya know, not in any kinda sophisticated sense or nothing.

In this week’s Buzz, John Green knows nothing, new casting for the Insurgent movie, Cory Doctorow book is making waves and Kathleen Hale is a BAMC (Badass Mamacita).

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: Hot New Titles.

You Know Nothing, John Green

Embarrassment reigned supreme for John Green this week when he committed the ultimate faux pas. Not only was he not up to date on his teen romance kissing facts, but he tried to co-opt the girls kissing the boy first thing as something The Fault in Our Stars movie did first.

Not even close, brah.

John Green later admitted that he’d gotten success-drunk on all the praise, accolades and financial payoffs that he receives every day and apologised:

“It was an incorrect thing to say, and I apologize. In my exuberance for the film, I said something that was both flatly wrong and offensive, and I appreciate being called out on it, and I’m sorry.”

So, drama over and done with. Alas. You can put your pitchforks away. For now. Though a bunch of us be like:

 

Cory Doctorow Book Crashes an Entire Reading Program

On principle a principal has made an abnormally principally decision to crash and burn an entire reading program to avoid students reading one book. That one book by Cory Doctorow. Knowing something of young master Doctorow, I’m not sure this principal knows what they just got themselves into. Did I mention this is happening in Florida? No. Okay then.

In an email conversation with Ms Griffith, the principal cited reviews that emphasized the book’s positive view of questioning authority, lauding “hacker culture”, and discussing sex and sexuality in passing. He mentioned that a parent had complained about profanity (there’s no profanity in the book, though there’s a reference to a swear word). In short, he made it clear that the book was being challenged because of its politics and its content.”

In retaliation, Doctorow and his publisher, Tor (woot!) are donating the books directly to the students who will now miss out on the reading program.

New Giver Trailer is Out

New Trailer is out and it looks like it sucks much less than the first one. Check it out for yourself and see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSQcvz7YAlM

Kathleen Hale is a BAMC (Badass Mamacita)

You know what I love about the YA reader/writer community?  Our commitment to inclusion.  We want everyone to enjoy their YA reading experience, no matter the age, education, race, or sexual preference.

Not everyone understands that concept.  They think that YA is just a silly, silly game.  Specifically, Ruth Graham, I guess.

Well, in the spirit of inclusion, Kathleen Hale has written a response to Graham’s opinion piece that exemplifies not only our community’s principles, but every YA book ever written.  Let’s see if you all can get the joke:

Last week, I read Ruth Graham’s article “Against YA.” In it, Graham contends that adults should be embarrassed to read YA novels. Instead, grownups should focus their attention on serious, “literary fiction” that grapples with “big ideas about time and space and science and love.”

As a YA writer myself, I was understandably offended. I’m not some schlocky trash-peddler. I’m a serious author, capable of far more than maudlin plot twists and clichéd dialogue. That’s why I decided to confront Graham in person.

I picked her up outside the graveyard before nightfall.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, as we stepped into my father’s beat up Chevy. We were going 70 miles an hour, two girls with different colored hair.

“Why did you say that about YA?” I asked, as tears streamed down my face like rain.

The best part of this response is not just that Hale couches her views on the importance and relevance of YA in the confines of YA prose, but that she also manages to make fun of every YA cliche in the industry while doing it.  Here are a few passages to amuse you.

“YA is formulaic, worthless dreck,” she said, transforming into a vampire.

She bared her fangs.

And this one:

“The novel was invented in the 19th century,” I whispered, inhaling the sweet perfume of her glossy robot hair. “It was written for mass consumption and primarily consumed by women and poor people. Jane Austen and the Brontes? Rich white men would have been ashamed to read that stuff. They pored over what was then called serious literature—Latin and Greek texts that were hundreds or thousands of years old. Like you, they probably argued that the drudgery of simply getting through a text was a vehicle for meaning making. But does that make it right, Ruth? Does it?”

There was a cliffhanger.

And my personal fave:

“You’re special,” I said.

“I’m not special,” she said.

“You are.”

We locked eyes. We stared at each other so hard that we went blind.

Kathleen Hale, telling it like it is and making us laugh while doing it.

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How Much Would You Pay to Die At GRRM’s Hand?

Have you ever read a George R.R. Martin book and thought to yourself, “I’d like to be eviscerated like that in a book one day!” Well, get ready to celebrate, because George is willing to do it for you!

He’s crowdfunding for two Santa Fe organizations, the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and The Food Depot, via Prizeo. If you donate enough, Martin will actually put you in one of his books—and then kill you off in a totally heinous way.

For $20,000, Martin will name a character after you in an upcoming “Song of Ice and Fire” novel. You can choose what your character does, and, perhaps best of all, your character will “certainly meet a grisly death.” For $7,500, you “will be sent one of George’s old greek sailor caps (well worn!).”

Well, this is all fine and good, but only if you get to choose HOW you die.  For instance, I’d like to die whilst having my way with Jon Snow, right after I’ve finished the good part.

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“Pods of Excellence” Sounds Like A Lame Disneyland Ride

I’m not one to make fun of cool, corporate speak entities created to market and publicize books.  Oh wait… No sorry, I got that wrong.  Anyways, Bloomsbury announced their new carnival ride, “Pods of Excellence” where you apparently get in and get pelted with advertisements sorted by various subjects.  I’m not entirely certain how it all works, since I didn’t get the jargony handbook.  Maybe you can sort it out.

It is planned that the new adult division will have what Bloomsbury calls “pods of excellence”, focusing on different areas such as fiction, non-fiction, cookery, sports and nautical. The children’s division will be split by age range and education list.

Shipp and Lamb will report to Kathleen Farrar, Bloomsbury’s group sales and marketing director. She said: “In the new world of publishing editors are publicists, publicists are marketers and all departments use social media. Marketing has many strands, from retail support to direct-to-consumer campaigns across print and digital.”

She added: “Our new structure allows us to work effectively with our united teams to deliver global campaigns. Our new and revitalised teams will provide an excellent backbone for our ongoing promotional efforts and ensure that we work cross-functionally to achieve our targets.”

It sounds like they’re just putting marketing and publicity in the same pot and stirring it around a lot.  I hope they’re making curry, because I’m really in the mood for something spicy.

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Comixology & Viz Manga Deal in the Works

Hey manga readers, comixology really, really wants your money.  And in return, they’re gonna give you all the manga you can handle.  Go ahead, I’ll wait for your fangirl squeeing to finish.

In a major digital distribution move for the manga category, U.S. manga publisher Viz Media and digital comics marketplace Comixology announced an agreement that will bring Viz’s manga line to the Comixology platform in North America. For the launch Viz will make more than 500 volumes of its most popular series available for purchase and download from Comixology.

It kind of seems like Comixology CEO David Steinberger is a fangirl, too, because this was what he had to say on the deal:

“The addition of Viz Media today marks a huge increase in our manga offerings and I, for one, cannot wait to dive into today’s releases and the many thousands yet to come.”

Hmmm… seriously considering adding the Comixology app to my iPad now.

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Insurgent Adds Keiynan Lonsdale

In what is probably the hottest casting decision since they added Theo James as Four, the casting directors of Insurgent have cast Keiynan Lonsdale as Uriah.

The actor, who recently starred on Australian dance drama Dance Academy, will play Uriah, a fellow initiate who befriends Tris (Shailene Woodley) as the stakes climb higher in the second and third installments. The character is introduced in Veronica Roth’s original YA novel Divergent, but didn’t make an appearance in Lionsgate/Summit’s $267M March blockbuster adaptation.

He’s looks so young, though.  I feel kind of pervy for thinking he’s hot.daniel-dae-kim

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Daniel Dae Kim, a walking advertisement for the benefits of anti ageing cream and resident hottie will also be joining the Insurgent cast. The Lost actor will be playing Jack Kang in the film and himself in my dreams later tonight.

 

The Duff Adds More Cast Members

I’ve been pretty excited to see the casting decisions in the upcoming The DUFF movie, simply because I’ve noticed a lot of actors I like.  This weeks casting news is no different, as Alison Janney and Romany Malco jump on board.

Deadline recently shared that actors Allison Janney and Romany Malco have officially joined the cast of The DUFF. Janney will be playing Mae Whitman’s mother and Malco will be playing the school’s principal.

I am kind of disappointed that Janney won’t be playing principal again, ala 10 Things I Hate About You, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.  If she just happens to be an erotica writer, as well as a mother, that is.

 

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More Reader Responsibilities, Why?

Kim Ukura over at Book Riot posted this week about the expectations the publishing industry is placing on readers to not only read books but share them liberally with online reviews, social media and eventually becoming a book’s evangelical street team.

Real readers have to become evangelicals for books because evangelism is, apparently, the only way to drive sales. Like the prophet John Green, readers have been tasked with saving The Publishing Industry… And I call shenanigans on that.

She put into words what I’ve been feeling for so long. That over time, expectations of what bloggers and readers need to provide for each book is not just to enjoy it and pass on the recommendation to a friend – but to actively support it through posts and tweeting, uploading reviews to various sites etc.

Enthusiasm shouldn’t be required or even expected of readers. Readers should not be pressured or cajoled or guilted or tricked or passively forced into being enthused or publicly sharing that enthusiasm on behalf of The Publishing Industry.

I’m not usually an enthusiastic person. The most enthusiastic I get is about books, but even then, I feel the pressure to raise my enthusiasm to another level. Also, this post just gave me the perfect excuse to become really lazy about reviewing and posting about books unless I really want to. Yey!  Thanks Kim!

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27 Responses to “Buzz Worthy News: Of John Green and Kisses 13th June 2014”

  2. Natalie Monroe

    Oh, John Green. It’s like everywhere I look, there he is. I’m actually not planning to watch TFiOS in the cinema, I’d rather wait for the DVD because it’s overhyped in my opinion. Not a single tear was shed during the reading or after 😛

    And I love what Ukura said. We don’t get money for reviewing books and sometimes it’s a lot of pressure. But you know, just keep saying, I love my job, I love my job, I love my job…

    • Kate Copeseeley

      It’s the book bloggers especially that I feel bad for. It’s like, just for a free copy (or sometimes not even THAT) you’re expected to be the personal mouthpiece of the book and if sales suck, then somehow it’s the bloggers fault? 🙁 It certainly isn’t very encouraging, IMO.

  3. de Pizan

    Did John Green not watch 80s teen movies? Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, probably others I’m forgetting–girl kisses first.

    • Kate Copeseeley

      It really does seem unbelievable that such a icon of pop-culture could be so lax in his education as to have missed out on these sterling examples of girl kiss initiation.

      • de Pizan

        If he was a millennial, I might possibly excuse him; but he’s my age (36), that’s definitely old enough to have caught them while growing up.

  4. Fangs 4 the Fantasy (@Fangs4Fantasy)

    On that last one so much. Used to be I’d post a review and it’d go to the automatic places – now I’ve got publishers asking if I’ll put the review on Amazon (nope), goodreads, how often will I tweet it, will it be on facebook, what’s the reach…

    I’m here to review. And, sure, I get wanting the review to be seen by as many people as possible (or not), but Reviewer is not synonymous with Marketing

    • Kate Copeseeley

      It seems that publishers have finally caught on to how important bloggers/readers are. But instead of treating them nicely some (obviously not everyone is this stupid) try to lord over them like some weird kind of reading slave driver.

      Bloggers have my sympathy and I hope this particular group realizes the error of their ways very quickly.

  5. Fangs 4 the Fantasy (@Fangs4Fantasy)

    To adD: And that’s aside from the increasing pressure to do more than review. We don’t always have time to interview – and many authors we, frankly, don’t really want to talk to (because “hey, you’re books are full of white straight people, explain this shit” NEVER EVER goes down well) or do guest posts, or “character interviews”. And I’m getting review requests in my inbox where the book is overwhelmed with promotional material.

    • Kate Copeseeley

      There really is such a thing as too much promotion. I wouldn’t have said that before TFioS, but holy crap, can we just ignore that book for a while? If I hadn’t read it so long ago, I certainly wouldn’t be tempted to now. I am so burnt out by the media related to it.

      There is a balance to everything…

  6. Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

    Great update Kate, Woah you are right Uriah is hot! Those are some pretty hot casting decisions for Insurgent, definitely Four will be competing for some eye candy.

  7. Lyn Kaye

    ‘John Green later admitted that he’d gotten success-drunk on all the praise’

    Yeah, that sounds like Green’s whole damn career.

    So, I am going to now buy and read Little Brother, because to hell with the system. I’m not going to get on my soapbox, but I have to say that adults can be dicks at time. The school just super-promoted (is that a thing?) a book, so they just shot themselves in the foot. Way to go.

    THE GIVER!! YES!!

    • Kate Copeseeley

      The giver is probably the most excited I’ve been about a book series turned movie since I first heard about the Hunger Games movie deal. It had better be awesome! (it certainly has enough star power)

    • Kate Copeseeley

      I admit, I’m really worried! I loved the story, but I’ll be so depressed if the movie doesn’t have that same impact.

  10. Nicole Hewitt

    I adore Kathleen Hale’s response to Ruth Graham. Graham’s article is so ridiculous – I’m kind of sad that it’s getting so much attention, even if it is negative. So sad.

  12. Kim Ukura

    Thanks a lot for sharing my Book Riot post. It’s been really interesting, and gratifying, to see that other readers are feeling some of the same pressures. I don’t like it, but at least now that we’re talking and thinking about it we can try to push back a little bit.