Buzz Worthy News: April Fools’ Edition April 6, 2015

6 April, 2015 Buzz Worthy News 13 comments

BWN-bee_600wWelcome to Buzz Worthy News where the stories are awesome and not at all well-written. Need your YA industry news? Never fear, Kate is here to give it all to you. Just, ya know, not in any kinda sophisticated sense or nothing.

In this week’s Buzz Worthy News: We have your roundup of April Fools’ jokes from the bookish world and more!

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 Tuesday post: Hot New Titles.

April Fools’ Day In The Book World

April Fools’ Day is my favorite day of the year in book news.  First, because it’s hilarious.  Second, because the stories write themselves and that means very little work for Kate.

April Fool’s Tweets

First up we have the April Fools’ Day tweets.  Chuck Wendig is always good for a laugh, but this year he decided to give a spoiler warning first.

https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/583103524554313728

https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/583249311535906816

https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/583282445530853376

Then George R. R. Martin decided to get in on the game.

NOT FUNNY, GEORGE.

Some of the tweets were just goofy.

Others had fangirls all over the world devastated when they realized the news wasn’t true, as when Penguin Teen Australia Announced a prequel to TFiOS.

https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/583045920415227904

Dirty Reader App (Still April Fool’s)

dirtyAnd of COURSE this one is too good to be true.  As it advertises, the Dirty Reader App makes your books more dirty than the original version.

From the website:

Dirty Reader surfaces swear words in books. You decide how dirty your books should appear and Dirty Reader does the rest.

You can make your book Dirty, Dirtier, Add Dirt, and Filthy.  Personally, only the last option would truly appeal to me.  But of course, if you try to download the app, you instead see a message:

“Sorry about that, we thought we would have a bit of fun,” reads the landing page you arrive at when clicking to download the app, followed by some links to critical pieces on the Clean Reader app.

Source

 

Goodreads Has A Dating App (Also April Fool’s)

1427846589-1427846589_goodreads_miscThank GOD this one isn’t true.  Although, I know quite a few people who probably wish it was.  Basically, this is an app for people who only want someone who has the same reading tastes to date them.

With the red-hot new Goodreads dating app, KINDLR, your love matches are based on your book choices. Once you download the app, which is currently available on all Android and iOS devices, you will be matched with other book lovers in your area with the help of our proprietary algorithm that has already helped connect millions of Goodreads members with their next great book.

You will be shown a potential match and, based on their bookshelves, you can swipe right on the heart icon to indicate your interest, or swipe left on the ‘x’ icon to move on to the next person. If you are both interested, you will be connected within the KINDLR app and shown a photo of your potential library-mate. You also have the ability to message one another.

Oh Lord. Still, highly amusing.

Source 

 

Kindle Author Eliminates Need For Authors (Definitely April Fool’s)

kindleauthorlogoIt actually wouldn’t surprise me if this April Fools’ joke from the Smashword’s folks turned out to be true one day.  According to the website, Amazon has a new service for readers.

The publishing industry is reeling today after news broke this morning about Kindle Author, Amazon’s new service that generates high-quality fiction using complex software algorithms.

It’s like Build-A-Bear for ebooks. The reader tells Kindle Author what they want in a story, and then Kindle Author automatically generates the book .

What follows is a series of charts and explanations of this new service that are really worth reading on your own.  There’s just too much to quote here.  But there are a couple of gems worth pointing out.  The example using Fifty Shades of Grey:

At left I show how Amazon modified the book listing page for Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James.“Don’t want this book?” asks Amazon front and center on the page.  “Build your own for free with Kindle Author!”

(Ah, if only we could all take a mention of FSoG and turn it into our own version. haha)

And then there’s the bit that pokes fun at George:

A reader can tell Kindle Author, for example, they want to read a medieval epic fantasy of two million words that involves kings, queens, princesses, swordplay, intrigue, castles, a sexy young mother of dragons, and a stainless steel throne made out of spoons and forks.

Look out, George R.R. Martin.  Game of Thrones has met its match.

Check out the full post HERE

Beyoncé’s Book of Poems (Should Not Be April Fool’s But Is)

beyonce-v1p2-02This is the story that really broke my heart though, because I would totally read a book of poems by Beyoncé!

Remember when Beyoncé wrote that poem ‘Bey the Light’ and we got British poet, editor and publisher, Tom Chivers to take a look and give us his professional opinion? (If not, check it out here).

Well, that kind of led to something great.

Tom’s publishing house, Penned in the Margins, is set to publish Beyonce’s first book of poetry, simply titled ‘Poems’, in December 2015.

Asked if he was nervous editing the superstar singer’s poems, Tom replied: ‘Working with Beyoncé has been a dream. She knows her sonnets from her spondeees. She is, in many ways, the Emily Dickinson of her generation.’

Sorry, Beyonce fans.  This one isn’t happening. (or maybe we could start a petition??)

Source

Entertainment News

Mulan Made Into Live Action Movie

52325I can totally mention this awesome news here, because as you can see from the book pictured with this story, Mulan is TOTALLY a book and not at all some random picture I dug up from the internets so I could squee about this story.

Disney has decided to keep up on their money-making trend of filming live-action versions of their beloved fairy tales by making Mulan.

Disney bought a script by writing team Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the main character in Disney’s 1998 animated film.

Chris Bender and J.C. Spink (We’re the Millers) are producing the new project vie their banner Benderspink with Jake Weiner.

I’m very excited about this, but there must be two things for me to be ecstatic.  First of all, they need to put Ming Na Wen in there somewhere.  And secondly, will there be singing?  There needs to be singing.

Mulan

Source

City of Bones TV Show Is A Go

City_of_BonesOh my stars and garters, it looks like Cassie Clare is getting a TV show.  According to The Hollywood Reporter a drama called Shadowhunters has been ordered for ABC Family.  It will be based off the books in the Mortal Instruments series.

Constantin Film will produce, and Ed Decter (Helix, Unforgettable, The Client List) is on board to serve as showrunner and executive producer. The drama is being eyed as a 13 episode drama with a premiere date not yet determined; casting is expected to be announced at a later date.

“Shadowhunters is a big, epic saga that will resonate with viewers who come to ABC Family for the Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Twilight franchises,” ABC Family president Tom Ascheim said. “A New York Times best-seller for 122-consecutive weeks, with over 35 million copies in print worldwide, Shadowhunters is the perfect story to share with our audience.”

While my younger sister is weeping with joy over this news, I never really got into the Mortal Instruments books, though I managed to finish the first 3 in the series.  It will be interesting to see what they make of this show.

Source

 

Interesting Links

Novel Summaries For Classics You’ve Never Read (The comments are a MUST READ)

An Excerpt from Winds Of Winter (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

13 Responses to “Buzz Worthy News: April Fools’ Edition April 6, 2015”

  1. Georgette

    Don’t get me started on Cassandra Clare books!..lol

    I love the GOT tweet’s. Very funny, and yes, as you said, not very funny. 🙂

    Of COURSE Goodreads has to have a dating app. Good lord, nothing is sacred on a book site anymore. (I should preface this by saying I’m old fashioned!)

    The Penguin Teen April Fool’s Jokes were hilarious. Good sense of humor, Penguin Random House. 🙂

    • Kate Copeseeley

      Oh no! The goodreads dating app was in the April Fool’s section. Did I not make that clear? Oops!
      Penguin Teen has a great sense of humor! George does NOT. lol

  2. Natalie Monroe

    Kindle Author resembles The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl. Enter a genre, level of passion, fancy words and hep presto, you got a bestselling book! …I wish I had a machine like that.

    • Kate Copeseeley

      I wish so many time for some kind of machine I can hook up to my brain so that when I’m dreaming up plots to my books, I can just think it written instead of having to type it. Can you believe those authors (Kristin Cashore, for one) that write all their books LONG HAND???

      • Natalie M.

        I wrote my first manuscript longhand. 😛 It was hell typing it up. But it’s easier to brainstorm and spot patterns on paper.

  3. Mawa Mahima

    Oh my days cast, CAST! We need the cast for Shadowhunters. I wonder who Magnus will be played by? (I love the book-cover Magnus on The Bane Chronicles!).
    Wow…so many April Fool’s jokes. Gah…the world is so devious these days!

  4. Angelina

    The Mulan Live Action Movie isn’t an April Fools joke is it? Because I think that’d be awesome!

    • Kate Copeseeley

      It’s NOT! It’s become clear to me that I did not delineate the April Fool’s section and the regular section enough. Mulan is happening!!!

  5. Beth W

    Oh PLEASE let them do Shadowhunters justice. And not just, you know, a comic-book-tv-series-spinoff treatment. :/

    As for Mulan…I TOTALLY CALLED IT. Of course Disney is gonna keep on the live action trend, but my money was on Mulan or Aladdin (after Beauty and the Beast). Yay! I mean, secretly I hope for both (and Pocahontas, and Hunchback, because they deserve love, too). But now I worry about the casting (and white washing what should be an all-Asian cast, at the least).

  6. Katherine

    For the Mulan movie, I need a great Chinese/Asian cast and singing of course! Really excited about all of these childhood movies coming back to the screen. The Shadowhunters TV show might be good. I wasn’t a fan of the movies or the books, but I like the concept of the world overall. And the GoT tweet from GRRM was great!

    • Kate Copeseeley

      There MUST be singing, else I don’t know how I’m gonna watch a live action version of Mulan. I honestly hope they go the Coffee Prince route with the movie. (if you’ve never seen it, the main heroine is disguised as a boy and the hetero hero decides he loves him/her anyway)