- Congratulations to Charles Cumming who won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his thriller A FOREIGN COUNTRY! The judges said that A FOREIGN COUNTRY has "a gripping premise, expertly sustained, lots of believable spycraft and memorable supporting characters." Beautifully done, Charles! Read more here.
- Author Jami Attenberg made a posted her list of the most dysfunctional families in literature. Topping the list is The Lambert family from Jonathan Franzen's THE CORRECTIONS. See the rest of Jami's list on PublishersWeekly.com.
- Kevin Barry, author of CITY OF BOHANE, wrote a short story for The New Yorker called, "Ox Mountain Death Song." Read it here!
"So we began emailing the story back and forth, adding around 1000 words each time, building on each other's work (and, I think, trying to provoke each other by periodically adding preposterous elements—'here, write your way out of this!'). And at the end of the day we wound up with a novella, which Ellen Datlow bought for SciFi.com. And there matters rested in 2003 or 2004 or thereabouts, until..."
"I’ll be blunt about it: humor is one of the great taboos of science fiction. It’s not just an issue of being able to write it well. When I first started writing, I was told, 'You can’t sell a humorous science fiction novel.'"
Happy Tuesday, librarian cats! I hope your long weekend involved many adventures and much napping in the sun!
We have some winners to congratulate this week, so let's get on with the applause:
The big news from the weekend is that AMONG OTHERS by Jo Walton (a title that I just won't shut up about) won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel! Huzzah! Earlier this year it won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
Brianna Glenn Library Director De Soto Public Library
Congratulations, Betty and Brianna! Your prizes are in the mail.
And finally, the winner for Best App Ever according to us: CatWang!! Major thanks to Peter from Academic for the recommendation. Here's CatTalia holding a balloon in her office and CatAli holding AMONG OTHERS while wearing wings:
Happy Monday, librarians! Here are a couple fun things to get your week started:
- Grammar Girl is here to help you help your patrons get work! She wrote up a few very handy hints for résumé building here on the blog. Oh, and there's a signed books giveaway, too!
- Our giveaway is still open for those of you interested in taking a look at Uncharted Pages, our new Science Fiction and Fantasy site hosted by EarlyWord!
"Karen Nieto is a remarkable character, and Mexican playwright/poet Sabina Berman's rendering of her unusual voice and personality in ME, WHO DOVE INTO THE HEART OF THE WORLD is equally remarkable. [...]
"A beautifully written, emotionally affecting debut featuring a protagonist whose 'different abilities' include surprising and charming the reader."
- And finally, A LADY CYCLIST'S GUIDE TO KASHGAR may have come out back in May, but it's still bicycle season, so we're still thinking about it!
Happy Monday, librarians! Welcome to the party (read: work week).
Today we're bringing you the good news about a few very special debuts.
- First of all, congratulations to Darynda Jones! The Romance Writers of America selected her debut, FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT, as the 2012 RITA Winner for Best First Book! The first three books in this series starring part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper Charley Davidson are available now from St. Martin's Press with a fourth coming soon! See all of this year's RITA winners here.
- If your patrons are looking for high-adventure of the steampunk variety with a Japanese twist, we're giving away galleys of STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff. It's a swashbuckling debut that Publishers Weekly named their Pick of the Week!
Talia and the cats are still unpacking and adjusting to the new place.
To her great delight, whilst out adventuring in her new neighborhood Talia popped into the local Barnes & Noble and spotted a shelf almost entirely dedicated to St. Martin's Griffin titles!
Today we're reveling in all of the good news coming from the pages of Library Journal!
- We're delighted to see that the Debut of the Month is SHADOW OF THE ROCK by Thomas Mogford!
"Guns, grit, and torture: this breathtaking debut runs through the shifting sands with aplomb. Mogford’s exotic locales, gorgeous prose, and closing twist make this debut a showstopper." –Library Journal (starred review)
- They offered their affection to an excellent financial guide for women, THE SEVEN PEARLS OF FINANCIAL WIDOM by Carol Pepper and Camilla Webster.
"Written by women for women, this gem of a book presents up-to-date information in a way that’s easy to read and understand. [...] Women are encouraged to start their own business, invest wisely, practice leadership, react with grace, and live well. Women in every phase of life, regardless of their financial status, will find something of interest in this guide to economic success. Men may learn something as well." –Library Journal (starred review)
"Kent-based Maloney, author of the best-selling THE MUM'S BOOK, offers a detailed look at the servant’s life in early 20th-century England, reporting first-hand anecdotes and drumming up numerous black-and-white illustrations as well."
"This continuation [of BELOW STAIRS] focuses on Rose, the underparlour maid to the Wardham family at Redlands, who elopes with the family’s only son. Scandal!"
"First in a trilogy, Weldon’s new work opens in 1899—not the Downton Abbey era but directly before; it’s being marketed as an enticing prequel. Weldon in fact wrote the pilot for Upstairs, Downstairs, for which she won a Writers’ Guild Award."
- Finally, as promised: a picture of Shmackies navigating the journey to North Carolina:
- Sign up now for the Booklist webinar version of Book Battle II: This Time It’s Personal!
If you missed those legendary book brawlers, Cutie and Tiger (a.k.a. Chris Vaccari from Sterling Publishing and Talia Sherer from Macmillan), mixing it up at recent ALA conferences, now’s your chance to get a ringside seat—right in front of your own computer! The book battle is going virtual. Some critics charge that Cutie and Tiger have been a bit too nice to one another in their earlier exchanges. No matter. This time they assure us the gloves are coming off. When they climb out of the ring at the end of the hour, they will have left nothing behind—except, of course, for dozens of terrific new-book recommendations. Don’t miss this hour-long, free Booklist webinar moderator by Adult Books editor Brad Hooper. Register here.
- As promised, here's a link to the full read-alike list for The Great Nonfiction Read-Alike Panel from ALA Annual hosted on EarlyWord.com.
As always, Shelf Awareness brought us the good word on some exciting topics this morning:
- HBO will be adapting Tom Perrotta's post-maybe-rapture novel, THE LEFTOVERS! Perrotta and Damon Lindelof (Lost) will co-write the adaptation. More details here.
- They also linked to a very important BuzzFeed list: 12 Cuddly Bookstore Kitties. We highly recommend you take a minute to get to know these literary felines living the dream.
And finally here are two highlights from the Macmillan evening trip to Disneyland during ALA Annual...
Here we are enjoying a little In-N-Out burger before the rides:
It's a Monday morning Macmillan party and you're invited, my friend!
- Can you believe it? ALA Annual is almost here! Add our events to your schedule now: The Great Non-Fiction Read-Alike! Book Battle II: The Sequel! Author signings! Glitter stars! Tea!
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