Buzz Worthy News: 25th March 2013

26 March, 2013 Buzz Worthy News 12 comments

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BWNBuzz 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


 Chinua AchebeKat 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


CBW-Poster-400Children’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!


 Halo JonesGibson says row over topless print of Halo is “Storm in a D-Cup” we say he is a fuckwad

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.

Emma Frost

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.

halo-jones-2

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


 PiratesBook 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


AmazonriverAmazon 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


NeverwhereNeverwhere 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 onlineJames McAvoy, Natalie DormerChristopher Lee, Benedict Cumberbatch and many other actors star in the adaptation.”

SOURCE


 Daughter of Smoke and BoneERMAGHERD!  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:

Stephen Amell

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


Brace YourselfHBO 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.

Rootless

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:

Ruthieknight1Ruthieknight2 Ruthieknight3

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.

Beneath - Cambria Hebert

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.

SOURCE

Kat Kennedy

Kat Kennedy

Co-blogger at Cuddlebuggery
Kat Kennedy is a book reviewer and aspiring author in the Young Adult genre. She reviews critically but humorously and get super excited about great books. Find her on GoodReads.
Kat Kennedy

12 Responses to “Buzz Worthy News: 25th March 2013”

  1. Fangs4Fantasy

    Whoever made that picture has annoyed Alan Moore…


    They’re far far FAR braver than I. Now I need to go
    sacrifice people to appease him (preferred sacrifices are anyone who has ever
    praised a movie adaptation of his word, even slightly), lest he visit his wrath
    upon this world.
    And to not only have the constantly objectified heroines –
    but to pick one who has been expressly designed NOT to be? That has to be
    deliberately chosen. And “it fits because we’re going to make this character a
    feminist, topless, pregnant slave with big boobs”… well… oh… right… what do you
    even SAY to that?!
    At least with these new pirate stats authors who are
    bored enough to go googling for negative reviews will have something else to
    track down and be angry about. But, other than that, I don’t see what it
    achieves? Why seek out bad news you can do nothing about?
    Don’t even get me started on massive companies in the UK
    that make huge profit but somehow post losses and pay no taxes – Amazon,
    Starbucks, I will rant for hours and re-affirm my boycotts. And I do blame the
    government – it’s not like these loopholes aren’t known about and they can’t
    possibly close them. They can – if they really want to.
    Much as I would rather cut off vital body parts rather
    than watch an adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey, this may convince me to watch. For
    2 seconds. Then I remember that this is the internet and if I want to watch hot
    guys in porn, I’m just one google search and numerous sites with the word “tube”
    in their name away from a plethora and none of them are afflicted by E. L.
    James’s writing.
    And don’t mock his words. He’s concentrating on his new
    role and channelling James’s dialogue
    HBO using more of George R R Martin’s stuff is going to
    bite them on the arse when they realise how slow a writer he actually is.
    Step 3, that whole “don’t be a douche” thing? Advanced
    master class! Clearly. It’s almost impossible to master. Really it’s cover
    snark. ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE blames an author for their covers – all complaining
    does is mean you OWN UP to being the one behind it.
    Also, if you’ve named your main character “Heven” then that’s bad enough – but to
    use it as an excuse for an awful cover? Really, why would you even draw
    ATTENTION to that gods awful name?! And putting your own kid out there –
    KNOWING cover snark exists!? Why why why would you do this?

  2. Danny_Bookworm

    Gosh .. this cover drama.. Seriously! I was thinking about talking about bad covers myself but honestly? I was just too scared about a drama like this. 
    These are our Blogs – our Opinions and if we don#t like the cover we have all rights in the world to say so!! 
    Also, it might even help those authors to rethink their cover? 
    Thanks for sharing Kat!

  3. demibeans

    LOL I had this problem with an author taking offense at my words and privately messaging me about it on GR. I wanted to slam my face against the desk when he told me I was being immature and childish for judging his book by it’s cover and blurb. I mean, really?

    • demibeans

      Also, him, and the authors like him, are the reasons why I am sometimes afraid of putting my opinion out there. What I said wasn’t even about anything in his book, but instead about his blurb. It was an observation at most. Still, he chose to take it offensively and attack my intelligence instead.
      Anyhoo, Kat, I wanted to say I really like your blog. I’ve never actually stopped by to say so~ Thank you for always sharing!

    • MeghanMorrow

      demibeans When an author doesn’t take the time to design an aesthetically appealing cover, it says to me that they don’t care. My response to this is not to purchase their book, because why should I spend my time and money on something they clearly didn’t care enough about to spend time on?

  4. Ashleigh Paige

    You know what? Fuck that Gibson guy. Yeah dude, totally not offensive to further a woman’s storyline by getting her pregnant or turning her into a slave. Nope. Nothing else.
    Imma borrow that Tina Fey gif but remove the censors.
    I’m eighty percent sure Sherlock fans will get involved with Neverwhere fandom once the radio drama goes live just because of Benedict Cumberbatch. They’re one of the scariest fandoms I’ve ever seen.
    And that whole deal with Ruthi and her friends taking issue with Cover Snark pissed me off so, so badly. With such poor understanding of what it means to UNDERSTAND STUFF WHEN THEY READ IT, I’m surprised they’re authors. This started with Ruthi not being able to tell the title of the post didn’t apply to her book/not being able to deal with one innocent snarky comment and showing her ass repeatedly. Even after she apologized, she kept showing it by taking it to the site we all hate. Cambria isn’t much better.
    This makes me want to give Christina more hugs. She needs them.

  5. Neyra

    you know the stupidest thing the author did was link Christina’s post to people like us who didn’t have a clue about said cover snark and now want to make sure we stay updated on her posts because this is just too hilarious to miss. smh. you know, if you can’t accept that there will be people out there who will genuinely disagree with the work you’ve done, or the choices you make regarding said work, what in hevens name are you doing working with the public ? o.O

  6. Neyra

    you know the stupidest thing the author did was link Christina’s post to people like us who didn’t have a clue about said cover snark and now want to make sure we stay updated on her posts because this is just too hilarious to miss. smh. you know, if you can’t accept that there will be people out there who will genuinely disagree with the work you’ve done, or the choices you make regarding said work, what in hevens name are you doing working with the public ? o.O

  7. MeghanMorrow

    it isn’t possible for them to track and regulate all counts of piracy. Why even bother though? I feel like this is counterproductive and will only serve to breed resentment from the author.

  8. Annie J
    Twitter:

    I do not love all Neil Gaiman books.  But James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch and Christopher Lee?  Throw in Christopher Heyerdahl and it would be irresistible.  
    Also, just slight clarification, Stuart Beattie didn’t actually write any of the PotC movies as they ended up.  He wrote an early draft and they kept some of his characters so the WGA insists he gets a writer credit and the money that goes with it.  But the actual text of the movies was all Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio.  Not that any of the movies Beattie did write are particularly good….  Joe Roth is a good producer though.

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