News and Friday Linkages

I love my RSS feed function in Outlook - it is the best thing, like evah! Here are some linkages which I thought were worthy of a Friday post as I'm working my way towards the end of The Fire, the newest offering by the vastly talented Katherine Neville, author of The Eight.

Following on from that little outburst, I was checking through SciFiWire's feed and found this article about the amazing and talented Zoe Bell whom I first came to know through Tarantino's Death Proof movie (which is one of his best, no matter what others say - he is a master at writing dialogue). Plus, if you're a fan of Lucy Lawless, there's some good eye-candy photos on there. Bell and Lawless are pictures on set whilst working on: Angel of Death.

Jon Evans over at Tor has put his neck out and discusses how Magic Realism is Not Fantasy.

The always thoughtful, mouthy and hilarious Stacia Kane urges everyone in any situation to consider one thing (if ever in need of advice) what would Michael Corleone do...it makes for interesting reading.

The boys and girls at Orbit are working as hard as ever and they have bought a new series by Marjorie M. Liu for the UK. A snippet of the outline to entice you...The Iron Hunt …
During the day, Maxine’s tattoos are her armour and she is invincible. At night they peel from her skin to take on forms of their own, leaving her human and vulnerable and revealing themselves to be demons sleeping beneath her skin. But these demons are the best friends and bodyguards a woman could have. And Maxine needs bodyguards. She is the last in a line of woman with power in their blood, trained to keep the world safe from malignant beings who would do us harm. But ten thousand years after its creation, the prison dimension that kept the worst of these from us is failing, and all the Wardens save Maxine are dead. She must bear the burden of her bloodline and join the last wild hunt against the enemy. And because I believe in serendipity and teh InterWeb proved it last night here's a review by Caitlin Kittredge of, amongst others, The Iron Hunt, as released in the States.

Our very own blogger-chum, Graeme Flory of graemesfantasybookreview.com got to chat to the awesome bookish people at The Book Depository.


The British Library has acquired an important archive of one of the most influential literary figures of post war Britain, the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes (1930-1998). The collection comprises over 220 files and boxes of manuscripts, letters, journals, personal diaries and ephemera, and offers an invaluable resource for researchers in all areas of Hughes’s prolific and wide-ranging career over more than forty years. The archive has been saved for the nation with generous support from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Friends of the British Library, and a £200,000 grant from the Shaw Fund towards the purchase price of £500,000.

Steph, one of the reviewers over at Reviever X blog, gets to interview the legendary Rachel Caine. Find the interview here.

The AV Club has a pretty cool interview with one of my favourite people of all time: Simon Pegg.

As I was obsessively checking Neil Gaiman's site yesterday to make sure Kaz, Mark and I still get to meet him in a few days time, I spotted a note which he added to someone's query as to why David McKean will be signing The Graveyard Book the same night as NG was doing his thing for Blackwells...but at Forbidden Planet: Well, my event will have a 6:30pmish start time, not 6.00pm. but I take your point. Dave is planning to come down to the Blackwells event after his signing, and may well sign your books if you see him and ask nicely, but he isn't planning to do a whole second signing when I do mine that evening. He likes chocolate, and may well be bribable. I will be the girl carrying the biggest bucketload of chocolate EVER.

Queen of Wizards, JK Rowling, is to have a tea party to launch The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Find the Guardian article here. Can I just say that I'm shelling out a lot of money for one of the deluxe copies of this. My first ever JKR book I've ever bought, having read the HP series by borrowing the books from employers' kids and the library - I kid you not. Although I enjoyed the books, I prefer the movies...eh?

Scott Mariani, good friend to this blog and all round nice guy, has had his website revamped and it is slick. He also makes mention that a Hollywood film producer happened on a copy of THE ALCHEMIST’S SECRET on a supermarket shelf in London and immediately saw its movie potential. Discussions are now underway that could see Ben Hope hit the big screen in the future! The big question is: what actor has the right qualities to play the part? Scott welcomes ideas and suggestions from readers! Who do YOU see as Ben? Gerard Butler - all the way. Not only is he attractive, he looks rugged and handsome.

David Almond's novels to be turned into an opera! Further link to another Guardian news article.

Ramsey Campbell will be doing a reading at Neston library. Find the link and further information here.

That's all for now folks!