Buzz Worthy News
This week in Buzz Worthy News Harper Collins starts its own YA social sites, an author shoots themselves, The Diviners is optioned for a movie, and there’s been a seven figure deal for a controversial book. And, of course, scandalous scandals!
Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly regular Monday post updating you on all the important book world news. For the latest and hottest cover reveals and Young Adult book releases, check out our Friday post, Hot New Titles.
Book World News
Harper Collins started three new social sites for teenagers and Young Adult readers this week. The three sites, Epic Reads, Pitch Dark and Story Crush, offer book discussion, quizzes/polls, forums and giveaways. Epic Reads is the main hub:
“Welcome to the best online community for teen books and authors! Visit our different channels to find communities of teens who like the same genres as you, or join in a forum discussion to share your opinions and insights. Discover a great new book? Don’t forget to “Chuck It” at your friends for them to check out too!”
Pitch Dark features most of the darker, paranormal and dystopian YA novels while Story Crush handles the lighter, more romantic atmosphere of the YA world.
Their blogroll in particular makes for an interesting read.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Diviners by Libba Bray has been optioned for a film according to Comingsoon.net.
The Diviners will be published in September this year according to Goodreads and Bray, it seems, will be adapting the screenplay herself.
Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City–and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult–also known as “The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies.”
When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer–if he doesn’t catch her first.
Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage will be producing the film under their Fake Empire Banner.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image courtesy of The Telegraph.co
West Virginian author, Ray Dolin admitted to shooting himself this week after leading officers on a mad hunt for his supposed attacker.
Ray Dolin was doing research for his book when he was supposedly attacked and shot in the arm while walking along a rural Montana Highway. He claims he was the victim of a drive-by shooting on Saturday.
Officers began a manhunt and eventually arrested and charged an innocent man. The charges were apparently dropped and Dolin finally admitted to having shot himself and lied about it.
Dolin finally gave his confession to police who were not amused by any stretch of the imagination – the investigation having stretched their limited budget.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tracey Garvis Graves, author of On The Island got a 7 figure, two book deal from Plume – an Imprint of Penguin Group.
The book, On The Island, features a romance between a thirty year old teacher and her seventeen year old student while they’re castaway on an island.
It was originally rejected by fourteen different agents before Graves decided to self publish in March and sold over 340,000 copies. Now her agent (she managed to get one finally, surprise!) Jane Dystell negotiated the deal.
When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family’s summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He’s almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn’t bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family – and a stack of overdue assignments – instead of his friends. Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.’s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
Is kinky sex books that sound worse than they are the new thing? I mean, 50 Shades was all naughty BDSM and turned out to just be a very watered-down, cleaned up version of a BDSM relationship. Now we have a teacher and her student stuck on an island. I’m sensing a theme for the inappropriate.
BREAKING NEWS: Kat Kennedy is writing a ground breaking romance about a thirty year old teacher into BDSM who gets castaway on an island with her seventeen year old student without any of her toys so they have to improvise! Coming soon in December 2012.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image courtesy of Cisargos.wordpress
Patrick Ness won the Carnegie medal for the second time with his novel, A Monster Calls.
Ness gave an impassioned acceptance speech criticizing the government and it’s negative-culture towards teenagers.
“The worst thing our current government and, in fact, we as a culture do about teenagers is that we only seem to discuss them in negative terms. What they can’t do, what they aren’t achieving. Why have we allowed that to happen?” said Ness.
He dedicated his award to his young readers: “The ones who are a walking, talking rebuttal to every negative thing that gets said about them, the ones who stick two fingers up to us and thrive anyway.” -The Guardian.
A Monster Calls:
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting — he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments.
The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.
From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd — whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself — Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lionsgate has put the kibosh on the Twilight remake that NOBODY asked for. Well, nobody sane that is.
Rumours were circling the Twittersphere yesterday that a remake was being considered. But, much to our relief, the rumours were just that – rumours.
Bloody-disgusting.com claimed Lionsgate and its subsidiary Summit wanted to make more money from the series, which has made more than $2.5bn (£1.6m) at the global box office. “They’ll deny it, right here, right now. We’ll get plenty of eggs in our face. Still, the fact will remain: it’s true,” promised the site, which has a strong track record of producing genuine exclusives. “In fact, they’re already discussing it internally. It will happen.”
Lionsgate has come forward to deny the rumours – but gives an interesting escape clause:
“We are not remaking Twilight,” a spokesman said. “We will happily support Stephenie Meyer if she decides to proceed in any way. But this will be the last one unless that should change.”
So… basically, what they’re saying is that our sanity now rests in the hands of Stephanie Meyer.
WE’RE ALL SCREWED!
Steph says: Please, no more! Please don’t subject us to anymore scenes with Pedward and the swan girl!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Scandalous Scandals
The YA Sisterhood has experienced some backlash in their recent YA Crush Tournament. They recently posted a list of their top twenty crushes, the list including Sebastian and Jordan from Mortal Instruments. Sebastian is a would-be rapist, having his attempted rape on his sister interrupted, and Jordan is an abuser.
The YA Sisterhood has put up a disclaimer after a flurry of protest:
“DISCLAIMER: These characters are not representative of the YA Sisterhood’s opinions or choices. They are 100% determined by popular vote should you disapprove of a character on the list, then the best way to combat that is to rally the fans of other crushes.”
Lexie gave an appeal to combat the addition of Sebastian as a nomination and calls on people to contact Cassandra Clare regarding the situation.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GoodReader Lady Blythe Harris’ reviews have been getting a lot of attention lately.
Lady Blythe wrote a scathing review for a YA book. She claims the author took exception to this review and, according to Lady Blythe, stalked her, created a fake account under Lady Blythe’s name to like positive reviews of the book, created sock-puppet accounts to harass Lady Blythe and posted personal details about her in a review posted by one of her or her daughter’s sock puppets.
Lady Blythe has included screencaps and chronicled her issues with the author here.
This is the second attack by an author on Lady Blythe in the last few weeks.
If the allegations are correct then the author’s behaviour is an extra slice of Insanity Pie since the book is supposed to have an anti-bullying focus to it.
However, we should note that before judging the author or removing her books from your TBR list, that we have been unable to validate, confirm or locate any evidence that the author is, in fact, involved. The only formal comment we’ve found by the author pertaining to this review is on Maggie Stiefvater’s blog. We are awaiting an investigation from Goodreads into the matter and we feel it would be remiss to make formal judgements until that is completed.
Nicola
I loved On the Island. I’m really happy it’s been picked up. The romance isn’t really inappropriate. I thought it would be but nothing happens between them until like 3 years later.
So happy for Patrick Ness!! Totally deserved. 😀
Rose
@Nicola: I’m happy Patrick Ness won as well. “A Monster Calls” was such a great book. <3 He definitely deserved it.
Fangs for the Fantasy
A Twilight remake? Gods above preserve us!
“If the allegations are correct then the author’s behaviour is an extra slice of Insanity Pie since the book is supposed to have an anti-bullying focus to it.”
Yup, this makes me think that the anti-bullying focus was so very not well done. I don’t get these authors – I mean, has losing their shit at a reviewer ever, in the history of literature (or the internet at least), actually worked out well for an author?
And if there is one trope in YA I loathe above and beyond all others it’s the repeated idea that a man who wouldn’t know consent if you engraved it into his skull is a sexy, wonderful love interest. And I’m depressed that it is actually a trope
Tatiana (The Readventurer)
My issue with this Lady Blythe “thing” is that there is no proof the author has engaged her beyond the one comment on her review about her daughter reviewing her book. This is the second time I see a reviewer going around and sullying an author’s name with no proof to back it up. No side has the higher ground any more the way I see it.
Parajunkee
I’m a little flummoxed about the Dolin thing? I guess I’ll have to read more about that little epic weirdness. And you know there is going to be a ‘Twilight’ remake, but I doubt it will be any time soon. Maybe at the twenty year anniversary or something, just in time to engage another generation of kids — much like the tried to do with Footloose.
And what are you hinting at regarding the HC blogrolls? I didn’t see anything and I’ve been following those new sites. Not getting it, LOL.
Then that Lady Blythe thing, I don’t know…you know scandal makes pageviews and gets attention for your reviews, that girl’s review was written to incite a reaction, it’s like if I stood out on a street corner with a sign that said “I hate —” insert any culture/social/minority/loved object etc. Then was surprised when someone hit me in the head with a beer can (half-drank)…take it even further. What if I expected a beer can and everyone ignored me — well then I punch myself in the face and report that I was in a drive-by beer can attack just so I could be on the evening news —
“Hate Monger is attacked by drive by beer canning”… go to her website for more info blah blah blah.
I would expect more proof and since this is not the first time this is supposedly happened to her in just a few weeks, it is highly suspect, or maybe she is purposely egging these authors on to get a negative reaction. Which is just as bad.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Parajunkee:
On Epic Reads’ blog roll TSS is listed, which is interesting despite one of their representative’s public stance on plagiarism at Book Bloggers Con.
http://www.epicreads.com/blog/
Georgette
Looks like the book world is back to drama(I refer to the Lady Blythe post).
As for a Twilight remake, thank Buddha that isn’t the case. Ugh.
Kara @ Great Imaginations
I’m a little offended by a few of the comments here. I know Lady Blythe, she is a friend of mine, and I know for a fact she wrote that review because she was upset. It was not to incite a reaction (except maybe from other readers). She never asked to be attacked by whoever is doing it (although I believe it is the author too), and even if it is a vitriolic review, she still doesn’t deserve to be getting harassed the way she is. Fake accounts in her name, random drive-by comments, people looking up her location/profession and posting about it–NOBODY deserves that. I’m not trying to start a fight, just think about how you would feel if that was you. There are certain books that make us angry (at least me) and I would hate to get attacked for expressing my opinion on an OPINION website. To accuse the reviewer of the shenanigans herself? I don’t even know what to say to that. The book is supposed to have an anti-bullying message, but someone who read/reviewed it is getting bullied. Interesting, no? Maybe it isn’t the author. But would a regular user go to all the trouble of creating these random accounts to sockpuppet review/attack Lady Blythe? I don’t know. I’m hesitant to blame the author too, but I don’t know what else to think. This is a very strange situation.
Experiment_BL626
@Kara @ Great Imaginations: Ironic that a book speaking out against bullying upset a reader that she spoke out against the book in her review (as it is her right) only to be later bullied by trolls. I gotta say, the Universe has a wicked sense of humor.
Tatiana (The Readventurer)
@Experiment_BL626: No, what is ironic is that the reviewer who has spoken so vehemently against bullying is posting accusatory information about the author and her daughter with no proof whatsoever.
Kara @ Great Imaginations
@Tatiana (The Readventurer):
The reviewer is getting trolled left and right though. I know we can’t jump to conclusions about who is doing it, but it’s a little suspect, no? Also, if it was you that were getting trolled and stalked, wouldn’t you be upset and confused?
Tatiana (The Readventurer)
@Kara @ Great Imaginations: Absolutely I would have been upset. I’ve been trolled before. I don’t think I’d be throwing mud at the author and her family without any backup though.
Kara @ Great Imaginations
@Kara @ Great Imaginations: Well, I can’t argue with you there. I just hope it’s mostly died down now.
Kara @ Great Imaginations
Also interested to see that The Story Siren is on HarperCollins’ Fierce Reads Blogroll, considering they stated at the BBC that they had an anti-plagiarism policy. That’s just…I don’t even know.
Kat (AussieZombie)
Interesting blogroll indeed. But surprising? Nah.
Sure, Lady Blythe’s review was pretty harsh, but also backed up with examples – not just a random ‘this is shit because its shit’ kinda review which are the ones that really irk me. And there’s nothing (although correct me if I’m wrong because I just skimmed it), that actually personally attacks the author. Hating stuff is OK, and so is ranting about it – we’d all go cuckoo if we couldn’t rant occasionally.
Rose
I’m still cringing over the rumor for Twilight being remade. Once is enough, don’t give SMeyer any ideas. No more, please, NO MORE. Arghh.
That said, I’m going to see The Host once its out because of the cast of the movie. >_>
On HC’s blogroll, I’m not really surprised. =/
On Lady Blythe – I thought her review was fine and I didn’t have any qualms about what she said about the book or how it came across to her. I’m not sure what prompted the brouhaha on that. The review itself certainly didn’t warrant people trolling her account – if she felt that strong about the book, she has the right to say what she will. I never faulted the author herself in that matter – because it’s hard to say who’s behind the troll/sock puppet accounts, but I did initially choose not to read the book because of the content. My attitude changed when this past weekend I gave a few other books regarding bullying, cults, and otherwise some rather jarring topics a shot, and I figured I might as well give the ARC a try for myself. I think if people want to give her book a go, they should read it and see the context for themselves – though take warning if they’re triggered easily by the touchy topic.
I’m just sad that there seem to be so many kerfuffles between authors/reviewers lately. I think like many I just want it to end regardless of who is or isn’t at fault and let people get back to reading/writing what they want.
Experiment_BL626
OMG. They want to remake Twilight? *facedesk*
Sofie
No to the remakes. Ever. Please.
Don’t understand why anyone would be upset over Lady Blythe’s review. Rose is right, Lady Blythe did cite reasons for her extreme hate of the book. Based on the context of her review, my reaction would be the same. Except that I would actually have to read the book in its entirety to see if there are any redeeming qualities and then cry over the lost hours.
It’s an opinion. Everyone has one. If people wanted to criticize/disagree it should be argued based on the writing in the book. Although, I never understood why anyone would want to argue about the likes/dislikes of a complete stranger. Just read it and move on. If you disagree then give it the stars/reviews you want and then move on. Why get so upset? I will never understand trolls.
Julie@my5monkeys
why that not surprise me with HC and TSS 🙁
No more remakes please
Lisa (Fic Talk)
My thing isn’t whether Lady Blythe is “making something out of nothing” or not.
I marked that book as “not-going-to-read” based on not just her review but others that I’ve seen on GR. I don’t even really care about “bad author behaviour” unless the author (or her agent) legit calls the reviewer a bad name on a social network for all to see (we all know what I’m talking about), I care about content. Plain and simple.
How in the hell does a book that is supposed to be preaching anti-bullying to kids/teens basically condone it when it’s the bullied kid who’s getting his/her revenge on their bully in such a nasty way?? Does that really make sense? That’s just a neverending cycle of bullying. That doesn’t solve anything.
So after reading the reviews on that book, I said: Nah, so not my thing. And moved along.
As for the HC blogroll…
The Story Siren has basically made herself even more “famous” b/c of her plagiarism. I can’t even… *smh*
Tatiana (The Readventurer)
@Lisa (Fic Talk): Lisa, did you see that those 1-star reviews are based not on the reading of the novel, but are reactions to one review by a person who drew conclusion about the author’s intent without ever finishing reading the book?
Kara @ Great Imaginations
Actually, that’s not true. Paige read the book and had a similar (although less angry) reaction. A lot of us were waiting for Paige to finish reading the book before we added it to our DNR lists. Well, Paige is finished. And my decision is made. More than one person has read that book and had a similar opinion. That’s what made my decision for me.
Lisa (Fic Talk)
@Kara @ Great Imaginations:
Exactly. I read Paige’s review as well. I’m going based on people who HAVE read the book.
Lisa (Fic Talk)
@Tatiana (The Readventurer):
Yikes, I just realised that the tone of my comment came across as harsh. So sorry about that, that wasn’t my intent at all.
I actually haven’t seen any of the other 1-star reviews. Sorry.
I’m just going based on 2 reviews from readers who have actually read the book before expressing their views on it.
I just don’t see myself liking a book like that and I have NOTHING against the author or anything like that either. I just don’t think this book would be my kind of thing.
Jenny
I have to say, I would much rather have to endure the possibility of ads for a Twilight remake WITHOUT Kristen Stewart than face the all too real fact that there more than likely WILL be ads for an upcoming FALLEN series of movies. Doesn’t matter who they cast, unless they hire some seriously talented script doctors to take that storyline from crap to manna from heaven I am never going to see it. They couldn’t even pay me. They might get me to see a Twilight remake. If, as I said, Kristen Stewart wasn’t involved. And not because I enjoyed Twilight (I hated it) but because it’s not even half as terrible as Fallen was.
Valeria Andrea
Hey, about the thing inthe YA Crush thing -okay, I get it about Sebastian being such a twisted crush, but isn’t Jordan the qerewolf? What did he do?
spellotape
@Valeria Andrea: I haven’t read it, but I believe this character has a history of domestic violence against his partner.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Valeria Andrea:
He beat up his girlfriend.
Keru Faye
So THAT’S why HC ended Inkpop. Huh. All power to them (although I kind of hope it bites them in the ass the way they treated everyone on Inkpop. No, I’m not bitter. Although I may join one just for the hell of it. I don’t know).
If these kinky sex books that sounds worse than they are are becoming thing, I don’t want any part of it.
Twilight needs to die its long-overdue death already.
Christina (A Reader of Fictions)
Ray Dolin, what the what?
Kat, your book will be off the chain. I’m ready! Also, I had NO IDEA that was what The Island was about.
I looked at the YA crush tourney and it was really sad. A lot of the guys are totally controlling dickwads. And pretty much half of the nominees are from four books/series. Way to really dig into most of literature. *facepalm* I did roll my eyes for the state of humanity when I saw Sebastian on the list. I only voted to support non-rapist guys. Ugh.
WHARRGARBL. I don’t know why, but that may just be the best thing I’ve ever seen.
I know the author commented on the review in question. She said her daughter was the one trolling, and apologized for that. However, her daughter did keep posting. The supporters of Lady Blythe were wondering if that was actually her daughter and why the author didn’t put a stop to it. *shrugs*
Tatiana (The Readventurer)
@Christina (A Reader of Fictions): The only comment posted on that review by the author reads like this: “I will not comment on these reviews. Everyone has a right to their opinion. But to clear it up, Annalise is my teenage daughter. She was reading the ARC through, though she had read it before, years earlier. She is supporting me. I have no idea who Darren is, but I can assure you it’s not me or anyone I know, so it’s an honest opinion.”
May I ask where she says her daughter trolled anyone?
Christina (A Reader of Fictions)
@Christina (A Reader of Fictions): @Tatiana (The Readventurer):
Tatiana, thanks for taking the time to go find the actual quote. I wasn’t motivated enough to actually go look at it. I was just describing the essence of the comment from memory. She didn’t say outright that her daughter trolled the review. She said, as you’re pointing out, that her daughter was “supporting” her. However, the daughter’s support was labeled trolling by the reviewer and other commenters. I merely used the transitive property and said that the author admitted to her daughter having trolled the review. Not quite the same, I’ll admit, since the author and the daughter may not feel her comments were trolling.
I have nothing against the author, and I do actually plan to read this book in its entirety if I can.
However, what I want to say most now that I have the actual comment in front of me is this:
The most effective way to not comment on a review is NOT to comment on a review. She did so pretty politely, albeit tensely, but it would have been better to just leave it alone.
Sana @ artsy musings of a bibliophile
I just read this on Stephenie Meyer’s website:
“February 22, 2012
Hey all,
Just wanted to clear up a little rumor making the rounds. I have absolutely no issues with anyone at Lionsgate. Far from being a negative thing, it’s actually a very nice feeling to know that both Lionsgate and Summit would like to make another Twilight movie if I were ever to write another Twilight book. So, thanks for the support, Lionsgate and Summit. I look forward to working for the first time with new friends at Lionsgate and working again with my old friends at Summit!
Steph”
All I can say is I was curious about the supposed remake of Twilight. Sigh.