Buzz Worthy News

The Movie Adaptation Generation

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. Basically, More Quidditch news. John Green movie news, Cassandra Clare and Holly Black book news. All this and more is happening in this week’s Buzz Worthy News.

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.

Just Kidding Rowling Has More Quidditch Nerdery For You

The second part of Rowling’s much awaited Quidditch exposé unveiling details of matches between 1990-2014 has been released this week. Embrace the magic, embrace the sportsmanship, embrace the nerd sweat – which is a lot like normal sweat except 20% cooler.

The Quidditch history is supposed to resemble, in some part, the Football World cup history and provide a reminiscent nod of the hat to football fans. Visit Pottermore to find out more.

John Green is Obviously a Dark Wizard King of the World

Or at least, if you frequent the New York Times Best Seller list, it would seem that way. John is now determined to do the same with the box office since it was announced this week that his book, Paper Towns, is being adapted for the big screen. Green will have direct influence on the film as the Executive Producer, as per his world-wide twitterganda machine shortly before he sacrificed two teenagers to the YA Gods for good luck and used their entrails to discern his future. You know, standard social media stuff.

Fox 2000 is the studio who’ll be bringing us Papertowns. Nat Wolff from The Fault in Our Stars will have the lead role.

Jessica Brody’s Unremembered to Be A Movie

It was announced this week that the book, set to be produced by Deepak Nayar, Tabrez Noorani and Soumya Sundaresh.  The rights were acquired by Reliance Entertainment and Kintop Pictures from Macmillan’s Farrar Straus and Giroux imprint.

The book is about Seraphina, a girl who can’t remember who she is and where she came from after she is found floating in the ocean. Zen, a boy who claims to be her friend, seems to be the only clue she has to her previous identity and the strand top-secret Diotech lab that is somehow connected to her.

More Divergent Clips Released

As more and more Divergent clips are released, I find myself increasingly ready to see this movie. The latest ones include behind the scenes features of Four’s character and Tobias’ experience and perspective playing him. I provide this for your viewing pleasure now.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_uZY1iRK8]

Government Bans Books to Prisons Because…Reasons?

Mary Sweeney, Phillip Pullman and Mark Haddon are fighting back against a ruling that makes it harder for prisoners to get books in the UK. It’s almost like every day life here in Australia. Haha. No, this is actually serious.  I tried to email one of the inmates for an interview, but apparently they’re not allowed to have that bit either!

“Any government worth having would countermand this loathsome and revolting decision at once, sack the man responsible, and withdraw the whip from him,” said Pullman while turning over tables and whipping the bankers and nonbelievers.

Seriously though, don’t ban books, government.

Holly Black and Cassandra Clare Want Your Attention

Attention please. If you questioned whether Clare would ever be writing something other than Shadow Hunter trilogies for the rest of her life, you were wrong. I just lost $50,000 on that bet. Their new series being cowritten together between them and the YA Generating Fairy is, Magisterium, first book to be called: The Iron Trial!

“Callum doesn’t want to go to magic school and is a reluctant student,” Said the duo in their video. “Callum learns what it means to be a villain and a hero.” That’s all you’re getting about the book right now, guys. But I sure am glad to see that Clare has left her Harry Potter recycling days behind and branched out to do something new.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4iJIHbiW88]

Yay?

Small Children Should Read The Road

Or so we might suppose, if we go visit Jerry Puryear’s Tumblr Misguided Paeans and see the multiple book covers, illustrations, and book blurbs that re-imagine popular adult titles as children’s books.  Puryear, a father and self described “fan of good fiction”, has created his own homage to famous children’s authors such as H. A. Rey and Richard Scary with his interesting foray into the joys of photoshop.  Man this guy is hardcore.  I’m honestly too scared to read The Road for myself, much less pretend it’s something children might read for my own personal amusement.  But those covers are kinda cool, not gonna lie.

Source (and Puryear’s Tumblr, of course)

Big Words Make People Feel Dumb?

Are you insufferable?  Do you make people cringe on a daily basis with your use of many syllable words like “fortunate”, “happenstance”, and “literature”?  Well, you’re not alone, apparently.  What do you do when the world is saying “NO” to big words?  According to a new article in the Wall Street Journal, you should consider your audience.

You can’t be absolutely certain which words will be familiar to the person you are speaking with. But you can get close, Ms. Jovin says. As you are speaking, make adjustments based on who is listening. Your goal is to communicate well. You can’t do that if the other person has no idea what you are saying.

Wait a minute, guys.  Is this for reals?  Am I really supposed to be monitoring editing cutting my speech so that none of my words is longer than two syllables ?  That seems like an impossible task to me.  And utterly really ridiculous  dumb.  How about we educate  teach our youngsters better English skills so that all of us can use big words?

You can read the whole ludicrous  silly article HERE.

Author Seeks World Record for Book Signings

When I first read this story I felt an epic eyeroll ala Liz Lemon coming on, but it turns out that Ryan Avery is pretty darn cool.  By gaining the world record for book signings (or trying to, anyway), he want to earn money for his college, Colorado State University.  During the all day event at the CSU Bookstore on campus, his goal is to sign 5,000 books and thereby beat out the previous record holder, Sammy Lee.

Source (To donate cash go HERE.)

Amy Poehler is the Official Chairperson of Awesome

No really.  You thought being Leslie Knope was cool?  Or maybe even co-hosting the Emmy Awards?  Naw.  Poehler’s moved up to the big leagues now.

She is set to chair World Book night, which is a cool event that Buzz has talked about before.  In case you forgot let me refresh your memory.  (See you don’t even have to click on the link I made, though you should.)

World Book Night is this great night once a year when readers in your community that want to own books, but can’t necessarily afford them, are given books by authors and publishers.  Authors waive their royalties, and publishers cover all the costs for the special editions.  Then the 30-35 books (20 copies each per location) are passed out by volunteers at local libraries and bookstores.  It’s an awesome event that happens on April 23rd.

Poehler will next be set to preside over magnificent, but in the meantime released this statement:

I grew up loving books. In today’s digital world, it’s more important than ever to know how it feels to have a good book in your hands. I’m thrilled to be part of World Book Night.

Source

Kristen Bell Narrates New Veronica Mars Novel

OMG, YES. YES. YES!!!  Sorry, for that orgasmic intro, but a universe where all future Vernonica Mars books are narrated by Veronica herself has spiked my endorphin levels for the day.  (And hopefully yours as well.  Was it as good for you as it was for me?)

The book is called The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and takes place in the Veronica Mars World chronologically after the events of the movie.  So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you better watch it now, marshmallows!

Here’s a juicy little clip, if you need a lift for your day.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ynLSsxhzyo]

Source

Diesel eBooks to Close Up Shop

Indie authors everywhere are crying into their alcoholic beverages of choice tonight, as one vendor for eBooks closes up shop this week.  In a statement released on their website, the longtime bookseller states simply:

Source

Amazon Puts Money IN Your Pocket! (yes, you read that right)

In probably one of the most surprising moves in world history, Amazon doles out cash to its customers in the form of a credit for certain purchases from publishers who settled in the recent antitrust lawsuit filed against them by states attorneys.

How do you know if you’re one of the lucky ones? You’ll get an email from Amazon outlining the amount of credit.  According to Amazon, it gets added right to your account.  The amount of credit you receive depends on how many books you purchased, etc.

PG from thePassiveVoice.com outlines some of the details here:

To avoid any confusion, Amazon is not paying any money to its customers because it was not charged with any antitrust violation. The money being distributed to Amazon customers is coming from:

• Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, known as Macmillan (“Macmillan”);

• Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (“Penguin).

• Hachette Book Group, Inc. (“Hachette”);

• HarperCollins Publishers LLC (“HarperCollins”); and

• Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Simon & Schuster Digital Sales, Inc. (“Simon & Schuster”).

Source (and a special shout-out to Passive Guy HERE)

UM… EW. (No, really, that’s the only title I could come up with)

In what is probably the most disgusting and staggering discovery ever in the history of books (and remember, they found herpes on a library book), Harvard recently found out that three of the books in their library are covered with actual human skin.  Who was the person who figured this out, I wonder.  “Oh, what a lovely edition of French Philosophy.  Wait, is that arm hair???”  I mean, seriously people, you can see the pores, THE PORES. *shudder*

I can’t talk about this anymore.  I am seriously skeeved out over here.  You can check out the article for yourself, though.  If you’re into LIBRARY BOOKS BOUND IN HUMAN SKIN.

Source

Book Deserts?

It made a cute movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, but the plot was based in truth.  Big Chain bookstores pushed out many of the smaller indie bookstores in New York City.  The problem now, as many New Yorkers see it, is that the Big Chains are shutting down themselves.

It’s a problem that is making itself known across the US (and the world) as the internet takes over book retail.  But the problem is, bookstores, like libraries, are mini hubs for culture, literacy and a love of knowledge.  With so many of these disappearing, libraries (and their shrinking budgets) are left to pick up the slack.

And New York has become the prime example of this phenomenon.  From a New York Times article:

Rising rents in Manhattan have forced out many retailers, from pizza joints to flower shops. But the rapidly escalating cost of doing business there is also driving out bookstores, threatening the city’s sense of self as the center of the literary universe, the home of the publishing industry and a place that lures and nurtures authors and avid readers.

“Sometimes I feel as if I’m working in a field that’s disappearing right under my feet,” said the biographer and historian Robert Caro, who is a lifelong New Yorker.

Some might say it’s alarmist, but when we become a culture that doesn’t value bookstores, we could be facing a culture that doesn’t value what bookstores give us, either.

The closings have alarmed preservationists, publishers and authors, who said the fading away of bookstores amounted to a crisis that called for intervention from the newly minted mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, who has vowed to offer greater support to small businesses.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much of a solution.  Books are many times cheaper and easier to find online.  We can only hope that there will still be some place where book lovers can congregate, be introduced to new loves, and socialize (without being shushed) with other bibliophiles.

Source

Young Adult Deals

This list is compiled mostly thanks to the help of Publisher’s Weekly.

The Body Institute by Carol Riggs
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Rights: World English Rights
Synopsis:

a 17-year-old is recruited as a trainer by a weight-loss clinic: her brain waves are downloaded into clients’ bodies so she can exercise for them.

The Ascent of Tosh by Carrie Gordon Watson
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rights: North American
Publication: Spring 2016
Synopsis:

The Matrix meets Donnie Darko with cockroaches – a surreal story depicting the way trauma and grief force a teen into the bizarre recesses of his mind.

Lifer Series Books 1 & 2 by Beck Nicholas
Publisher: Month9Books
Rights: United States rights
Publication: 2014 & 2015
Synopsis:

A teenage slave aboard a spaceship finds herself in the middle of an uprising, while another teen back on Earth searches for his forgotten past in the midst of a brewing rebellion.

Times Best Sellers

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
2. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
5. Paper Towns by John Green