The Twelve, Justin Cronin’s follow-up to The Passage, now has a cover and release date.
A Definite Orange Theme, It Seems
Wherefore art thou Luke Skywalker?
Good versus evil, a hero coming of age, wars, and sibling love — Star Wars is the play William Shakespeare never wrote. Fortunately, Ian Doescher rewrote the tale of the Jedi in iambic pentameter in William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. The best part is the book trailer, which features Shakespearean actors wielding lightsabers.
●
●
A Legitimate Scandal
Every writer’s nightmare: plagiarism. If you tuned in to Melania Trump’s RNC speech, you may have noticed something familiar… Some of her lines were plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech.
Save Me the Waltz
“It is the persistent, damning mischaracterisation of Zelda as ‘insane’ that most needs undoing. The trouble lies in the diagnosis she was given in 1930: ‘schizophrenia’. While today we know it to mean severe mental illness requiring delicate and often lifelong treatment with medications, therapies, and sometimes institutionalisation, in Zelda’s time it was a catch-all label for a range of emotional difficulties.” Reexamining the life and reputation of Zelda Fitzgerald.
●
●
The Turnip Princess
We’re all familiar with the Grimm-style fairy tales, with their evil stepmothers and imperiled princesses. But a new collection of 19th century Bavarian folk tales has been discovered, edited, and now released in English for the first time, and they’re darker, dirtier, and involve more gender-bending than the Grimm tales. Salon talks with the tales’ translator, Maria Tatar, about their history, importance, and “the surprising ways they upend our long-standing notions of the roles of heroes and heroines in some of Europe’s oldest and most popular stories.”
Good Omen
It’s been 23 years since Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman wrote Good Omens together, but a new collaboration is in the works. Director Dirk Maggs revealed to RadioTimes.com that he’s working with Gaiman on a Pratchett project for BBC Radio. Previously, Maggs teamed up with Gaiman on the excellent Neverwhere radio adaptation. More good news for Pratchett fans: he just signed a 10-book deal with Doubleday and Anchor Books.
●
●
Tuesday New Release Day
The long-awaited follow-up to Yann Martel’s Booker-winner Life of Pi is out: Beatrice and Virgil. Also new, Elegy for April, a thriller by John Banville alter ego Benjamin Black; David Lipsky’s already much discussed interview with David Foster Wallace, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself; and, apparently hitting shelves ahead of its official release date, a book of philosophy by Marilynne Robinson, Absence of Mind.
●
●
The Root of Fantasy
Recommended Reading: Bret Anthony Johnston on (not) writing what you know. His essay is an excerpt of Writer’s Notebook II, published by the folks at Tin House. (Related: we published Harper’s editor Christopher Beha’s essay in the book last year.)
●
●