TOKYOPOP has their new website up, and it's totally overwhelming. I hate to say it, because I'm sure their web developers worked really, really hard, but any website that has to feature a huge "How to Use This Site" button is too confusing and (sorry!) needs to be revamped.
The release of The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, Jennifer Crusie's newest collaboration (with authors Eileen Dreyer & Anne Stuart) totally snuck up on me this week. I think between anticipating the iPhone release--yes, I am that nerdy--and speculating about the final Harry Potter book, this one didn't make it onto my radar screen.
I am a big fan of Jenny Crusie. But while I enjoy her collaborations, they tend to make me miss her solo novels even more. And (sadly) it looks like we will have a long wait before we see another one of those.
In the meantime, check out the excerpt for The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes on the book's website, and be on the look-out in August for Ms. Crusie's second collaboration with Bob Mayer, Agnes and the Hitman.
Many thanks to Lori for introducing me to the "Longmire Does Romance Novels" website, a collection of totally awesome re-imagined romance novel covers. My favorite is Chili Supper for Satan (originally Kelley Armstrong's Industrial Magic), but they're all very, very funny.
I recently happened upon the website for Jennifer Crusie's upcoming collaboration with Anne Stuart and Eileen Dreyer*, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes. The website isn't much to look at**, but it does offer a snippet from each of the three primary storylines and the background story (which also seems to have been written by Crusie).
And part-time Crusie fans (as opposed to the hardcore fanatics, who obviously already own it) should take note: the paperback edition of Don't Look Down, her collaboration with Bob Mayer, is now out in stores. This book doesn't hold a candle to Crusie's solo efforts (when's another one of those gonna come out?), but it's cute enough.
*Much, much better choices than the authors she was paired up with for Santa, Baby.
**Although it does feature different--and prettier--cover art than the above image, if you need another reason to visit.
New Line's website for their Golden Compass movie adaptation is up and running, and allows fans to play a twenty questions-style game that determines what their deamon would be. (It's kinda fun--mine was an ocelot named Gabriel.)
Achewood.com, home to Chris Onstad's awesomely surreal webcomic of the same name about the group of anthropomorphic toys, robots, and animals that live at 62 Achewood Court, now offers The Achewood Cookbook, a book designed "for people who are fed up with glossy, high-quality efforts by professional chefs who aren't forced to shop at lousy chain grocery stores and cook everything in a ruined teflon pan." (Ooh, and it's only $14! I think I've found my little brother's birthday gift!)
I tend to wonder if this kind of thing is a very late April Fools' Joke, but apparently it isn't: you can buy the cookbook or the Cook's Gift Set--which the shop assures us is "just about the finest thing a person can give to another person"--at Onstad's online shop.
We always encourage people to buy manga through their local comic book stores (who could almost certainly use the money), but if you're doing all your manga shopping at Borders or Barnes and Noble, then you might be better served by checking out DeepDiscount.com. I can't personally vouch for them yet, but they're offering a decent selection of titles at some great prices, including Beauty Pop and Ouran High School Host Club for $6.29 per volume, and The Wallflower, Goong, and Angel Diary for $7.66--not to mention the free shipping and additional coupons available online.
Lisa Kleypas has finally overhauled her website, and I'm surprised to say that I'm kinda sad about it (and not just because I'm now going to have to re-edit her author profile). Sure, we thought that the old website was insane, but at least it was interesting and insane. This one is 1000% more tasteful, but it's also duller than dirt.
So, it looks like Meg Cabot has launched a new website layout...
I am pretty sure I liked the site much better before this latest redesign. It had this fun, bubblegum pink look and feel to it. The new site, on the other hand, gives off a very "marketing focus group" vibe that really doesn't work for me.
Still, this site is still a million times better then Lisa Kleypas's site. Wow, is it bad:
There's an article in the Guardian about the creepy-yet-absorbing digital novel Inanimate Alice. If you've got access to a computer with decent speed, Inanimate Alice is well worth a visit--it's like a disturbing, interactive Nick Bantock book.
The page for the Lifetime TV movie adaptations of four of Nora Roberts's novels is up. While it's encouraging that Ms. Roberts is excited about these productions, my hopes are not high, seeing as:
A) two of the four books featured are damn near unreadable--Blue Smoke and Carolina Moon. Why does Roberts get such a thrill out of lingering in the mind of a serial killer? If I wanted to read a Thomas Harris novel, I'd read a Thomas Harris novel. (Okay, I totally wouldn't: I'd get my head checked, as I would have clearly lost my mind. But you understand what I'm saying.)
B) even the descriptions featured on the page are totally cheesy-looking ("...the gals know this forced family reunion isn't going to be smooth sailing, but they don't expect to go head to head with someone out to sabotage them..."). Gals? Smooth sailing? Gals?!
C) the one of the books that I really liked (Angel's Fall) features Heather Locklear as the main character, a lonely, traumatized woman in her mid-twenties. Don't get me wrong: Locklear is a total babe and a fine actress, but she's not who I would have cast as a broken young woman terrified that she's losing her grip on reality.
Regardless of my feelings, the first of these movies is due to air on January 29, 2007.
It's the book world's answer to Netflix: for a nominal fee, Booksfree.com (misnomer: it's cheap, not free) will send you any of their 88,000+ paperbacks and audiobooks, along with a self-addressed, prepaid return envelope. Booksfree.com customers never need to worry about another human being seeing them buying a book that looks like this one--->
On the other hand, while the Booksfree.com website says that the company has been satisfying thousands of customers since 2000, I'm a little dubious about a site that has a header marked "Paperbacks Books".
Just a reminder, Clarke fans: you can read one of the short stories found in The Ladies of Grace Adieuhere. It's called The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse, and it originally appeared on Neil Gaiman's website.
We try to keep the blog as on-topic as possible... or, at least, we figure as long as it has something to do with books then we can write about it. However, today I am going to get on my political soap box to talk about something that has nothing to do with books, but does have something to do with the internet.
So the deal is this: Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the main principle the internet was based on: a concept called "Network Neutrality". Network Neutrality is what prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites should be put in front of you, determined by which sites pay them the most. The best explanation I have found for how this all works was on Wordcandy's favorite place to get up-to-date news: The Daily Show:
Little sites like ours would be puttering along on that second level, and might never reach your computer. In support of Net Neutrality, Wordcandy is in the process of joining the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. We encourage everyone to check out the site, read up on the issue, and, if you are interested, become involved. This is an issue that could visibly affect the average user on the internet.
That's it: I am now going to jump off my soap box, and pack it away (along with the rest of my apartment). Just two more weeks 'til I leave Ohio and move to DC!
Seriously, I might really want to start thinking about packing soon.
Tatsuya Ishida's awesome (but not always family-friendly--consider yourself warned, impressionable young readers!) webcomic now has a brand-new home. Ishida's update record in 2006 has been more than a little spotty, but the archives are chock-full of past strips, providing hours of Sinfest entertainment.
...but not as much as Jen Wolfe does. Please take the time to check out Ms. Wolfe's awesome online tribute to librarians, which includes a Miscellaneous Librariana page, featuring snippets of books that mention librarians (everything from Gary F. Wood's NSFW novel The Hottest Librarian--librarian sexploitation!--to the cheerful-looking children's title Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian), as well as a page devoted to vintage "career romances" featuring librarians. After all, what bibliophile could resist a book called Kitsy Babcock: Library Assistant?
We here at Wordcandy were extremely stoked to discover the Sci-fi Channel's Seeing Ear Theatre, an online archive of radio-play versions of stories by authors like Neil Gaiman, Lewis Carroll, and H.G. Wells. Sure, some of them are abridged (we spit upon abridged!), some of them are read by people like John Ritter, and some of them are versions that were "inspired" by the original... but it's still an awesome idea. Streaming the stories is free, so be sure to check out the site!
It looks like we finally have a date for the third book in the Faerie Wars Chronicles. Ruler of the Realm will be released October 3rd! For those of you who can't wait until then, you can tide yourself over with the activities on the author's website. You can download Holly Blue's spy kit, learn to fold origami butterflies or even help Pyrgus cross the courtyard in the cobblestone game.
So it seems that while we were off in New York, author Dan Brown won his legal battle with a copyright suit in London's High Courts. Having only read Mr. Brown's book, I can't really comment on the plagiarism charges--but I can offer a fun puzzle site for those of you who have read The DaVinci Code. The website for the book has its very own "Web Quest" that you can explore. Happy hunting!
TOKYOPOP has their new website up, and it's totally overwhelming. I hate to say it, because I'm sure their web developers worked really, really hard, but any website that has to feature a huge "How to Use This Site" button is too confusing and (sorry!) needs to be revamped.
