Whoa--has anyone been following this Alice Hoffman thing? She was apparently upset by an unfavorable review Boston Globe critic Roberta Silman wrote about her latest book, so she went on a Twitter rampage, calling Silman a "moron" and an "idiot", and concluding by publishing the critic's phone number and e-mail address, and inviting her fans to write to Silman and "tell her off".

Charming, no? And making me very, very thankful that all of the authors we've written about in a less-than-glowing light (and there have been quite a few) have been absolutely gracious. Thanks, guys!

...oh, and it also makes me wonder if Twitter should maybe work on something like those cellphone apps that stop people from drunk-dialing.

Labels: hissyfits, Random authors, Technology

They've cast the three main characters of the upcoming CW adaptation of L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries.

The anime adaptation of Skip Beat is winding down. People always want another season of popular series... and in this case, I have no idea how they're going to resolve even half of their plot lines in the time remaining. Another season seems downright necessary.

If you can read Japanese, manga greats Rumiko Takahashi and Mitsuru Adachi created a one-shot manga short story called "My Sweet Sunday" in celebration of the Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine's 50th anniversary, and you can read it online for free until May 24.

Labels: anime, manga, Random authors, TV

News sources (well, The Rachel Maddow Show and the AP Wire) are all abuzz about the unexpected success of a fictionalized manga edition of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. The book hit Japanese bookstores this month and sold about 6,000 copies in its first few days—not quite Harry Potter numbers, true, but pretty good for an unfinished nonfiction book that came out in 1867, don't you think?

Labels: manga, Nonfiction, Random authors

Huh. I guess that just goes to show you how much attention I pay to Anne Rice's career.

I had a friend in high school who was a fan of the Interview With The Vampire series, so I slogged through the first three books, but that was all I could take. Last I heard, Rice had written several more Lestat books and seemed all set to keep on writing vampire stories forever, but apparently I'm way behind the times—Rice swore off vampire novels in 2004 in favor of writing books about the life of Jesus Christ. In an interview with Christianity Today, she is quoted as saying: "I would never go back, not even if they say you will be financially ruined. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that."

Unfortunately for Rice, her no-vamp rule doesn't seem to be sticking. According to Time, Rice now says that she'll be writing one more Lestat novel—but she doesn't consider it to be a violation of her earlier statement, because this novel will have a definite "Christian framework and a focus on the theme of redemption".
[Source]

Labels: Random authors