Posts Tagged ‘Indie’

Kim Stanley Robinson‘s novel 2312 has won the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2012. The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States in the previous year.  The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers.

Read an excerpt from the novel.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

Stephen King will not publish his new novel, Joyland, as an e-book.  He has decided to throw his support to brick-and-mortar stores.

“I have no plans for a digital version,” King told the  Wall Street Journal. “In the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.”

“Joyland,” which is set in an amusement park circa 1973, will be released on June 4. Published by the independent press Hard Case Crime, it features a classic pulpy cover, picturing a frightened woman (red hair, green dress) posed in front of a Ferris wheel.

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The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius – Kristine Barnett – I loved this book!

Kristine Barnett’s son Jacob has an IQ higher than Einstein’s, a photographic memory, and he taught himself calculus in two weeks. At nine he started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize. Last summer, at age twelve, he became a paid researcher in quantum physics.

But the story of Kristine’s journey with Jake is all the more remarkable because his extraordinary mind was almost lost to autism. At age two, when Jake was diagnosed, Kristine was told he might never be able to tie his own shoes.  Kristine decided that she was going to home-school Jacob and set up the curriculum with what piqued his curiosity.

For many years, she wondered if she was doing the right thing.  By the time Jacob had mastered all the high school math books she brought him, and wanted to take college courses, she knew he was doing what he loved. The local university let him sit in on an introductory class as long as he promised not to disrupt the other students. Soon, he was asking questions that the professor could not answer, and was allowed to continue into the more advanced classes.

This is a story about a gifted child.  But it is also a story about a mother who recognized that though her child was very different from other children, he was still a child and needed love and guidance.

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Trudi Canavan (born 23 October 1969) is an Australian writer of fantasy novels, best known for her best-selling fantasy trilogies The Black Magician, Age of the Five, and her current series, Traitor Spy. The Traitor Queen, the third and final book in the trilogy will be released in August, 2012.

The Black Magician trilogy consists of The Magicians’ Guild (2001), The Novice (2002), and The High Lord (2003). These are available at Page & Palette in Fairhope, AL, and many other SIBA-member bookstores.

The Traitor Spy trilogy consists of The Ambassador’s Mission (2010), The Rogue (2011), and The Traitor Queen (2012). These are available at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, NC, and many other SIBA-member bookstores.

The Age of Five trilogy consists of Priestess of the White (2005), Last of the Wilds (2006), and Voice of the Gods (2006). These are available at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC, and many other SIBA-member bookstores.

Canavan is already at work on her next trilogy, Millennium’s Rule, which consists of Book 1: Maker’s Magic (or Thieves’ Magic) to be published in 2014, Book 2: Angel of Storms, to be published in 2015, and Book 3: Successor’s Son, to be published in 2016.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

According to an article on GalleyCat, Saddam Hussein‘s eldest daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, hopes to publish her late father’s memoir.

According to her attorney, the former Iraqi dictator wrote the book by hand. As an author, Hussein published several poems and four novels including Zabibah and the King, The Fortified Castle, Men and the City and Begone, Demons.

The Dictator, a film loosely based on Zabibah and the King starring Sacha Baron Cohen, was released in theaters earlier this month. It has since grossed $41.4 million at the box office.

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NOTE: I am a proponent of SIBA-member bookstores and do not advocate buying books on Amazon. That said, I thought this was an interesting list.

Amazon has unveiled its Most Well-Read Cities in America list, an annual list of the leading cities with 100,000 or more residents that have the most Amazon sales of “all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format.”  Is your city on the list?

1. Alexandria, Va.

2. Cambridge, Mass.

3. Berkeley, Calif.

4. Ann Arbor, Mich.

5. Boulder, Colo.

6. Miami

7. Arlington, Va.

8. Gainesville, Fla.

9. Washington, D.C.

10. Salt Lake City

11. Pittsburgh

12. Knoxville, Tenn.

13. Seattle

14. Orlando, Fla.

15. Columbia, S.C. (This is my city!!!)

16. Bellevue, Wash.

17. Cincinnati

18. St. Louis

19. Atlanta

20. Richmond, Va.

Thank you to GalleyCat for the article.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

April is National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). April 26 is Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Celebrate national Poem In Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 26, 2012!

The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends. You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poems from pockets will be unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores. Create your own Poem In Your Pocket Day event using ideas below or let us know how your plans, projects, and suggestions for Poem In Your Pocket Day by emailing npm@poets.org.

In this age of mechanical and digital reproduction, it’s easy to carry a poem, share a poem, or start your own PIYP day event. Here are some ideas of how you might get involved:

• Start a “poems for pockets” give-a-way in your school or workplace
• Urge local businesses to offer discounts for those carrying poems
• Post pocket-sized verses in public places
• Handwrite some lines on the back of your business cards
• Start a street team to pass out poems in your community
• Distribute bookmarks with your favorite immortal lines
• Add a poem to your email footer
• Post a poem on your blog or social networking page
• Project a poem on a wall, inside or out
• Text a poem to friends

Help us expand the list: send your ideas to npm@poets.org.

Thank you to Poets.org for this information. For more on poetry, please visit their website.

Read global poetry but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is March 7, 2012. WRAD is sponsored by LitWorld, an international non-profit advocating for and working towards global literacy. LitWorld’s mission is to use the power of story to cultivate literacy skills in the world’s most vulnerable children through Education, Advocacy and Innovation. LitWorld creates resilience building reading and writing experiences which connect and fortify communities.

Write about the event on your Facebook, Twitter, or Blog, and change your social media avatars to the WRAD Badge to rally your friends and colleagues to act for Global Literacy! Send our WRAD 2012 Kit to interested friends, family, and colleagues.

Check out the full schedule for our signature New York City WRAD event at Books of Wonder, which will feature read-aloud sessions by special guest authors (Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, and Peter Lerangis, to name a few!) and include exciting workshops on pop-up book making, spoken word poetry, creative writing, and more. Each child will receive one free ticket to win an awesome prize from our ongoing WRAffle, and Clifford the Big Red Dog will be present. So should you! Those who cannot make the event will be able to watch the day’s events streamed live online!

Sign up to participate as an individual, school, or organization.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

The Submission by Amy Waldman is a powerful novel that poses the question: What if a Muslim was chosen to design the 9/11 memorial (though the date and the event is never named)? That the architect is a native born American Muslim and the choice made anonymously does not deter the conflicted response from the memorial panel. And, when the choice is leaked to the public, the ensuing divide threatens not only the architect and the panel members, but the country itself.

This is Waldman’s first novel. Her background is in journalism as a reporter for The New York Times and a national correspondent for the Atlantic.  The novel has garnered a huge amount of press and praise, including being chosen as Entertainment Weekly’s Novel of the Year and short-listed for the 2011 Guardian’s First Book Award.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.

Next week, art collectors and bibliophiles will have the chance to bid on what’s often called the world’s most expensive book—the last copy to go up for sale, in London two years ago, went for $11.5 million.

The Birds of America is four volumes and contains 435 massive hand-colored prints. Opening one is a two-person job. Christie’s auction house in New York, where the work goes on sale on Jan. 20, expects this complete first edition to fetch between $7 million and $10 million.

John James Audubon was a self-taught American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter.

Read globally but buy from your local indie SIBA-member bookstore and keep more revenue in your community.