Book News Vol. 8 No. 23

BOOK NEWS

SPECIAL EVENT

Neil Gaiman

There are still a few tickets for our August 8 event with Neil Gaiman! Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman

Neil Gaiman dives into the deep end of childhood memories lost and nightmares found in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a fairy tale for adults. Gaiman is a master of creating worlds just a step to the left of our own. You'll be glad you took a dip in his immersive Ocean, says Brian Truitt.
http://books.usatoday.com/book/dive-into-neil-gaimans-%27ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane/r851790

FESTIVAL

2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.

AWARDS & LISTS

The CBC's Canada Writes has announced 10 finalists for its annual creative non-fiction writing prize, selected from more than 2,700 submitted stories. The shortlisted stories can be read here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/

YOUNG READERS

Daniel Wallace creates a magical world in The King and Queens of Roam, both scary and full of wonder. Set in a lush and rainy landscape reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, populated with such fantastical figures as ghosts, lumberjacks, a haunted forest, and magical life-giving water. The King and Queens of Roam is like a darker The Princess Bride, says Laura Eggertson. Funny and ironic, both are morality tales.http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/12/the_kings_and_queens_of_roam_by_daniel_wallace_review.html

Pete Barrett's Tich Vampire Hunter is all about vampires and friendship. "It's adventurous and scary and the characters are really good. Two gangs fight against each other but when they see the real baddie they team up with a whole lot of garlic! The book is about vampires and friendship and I couldn't take my eyes off the page," writes Pen Devil. For ages 8 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jul/11/review-tich-the-vampire-hunter-by-pete-barrett

In Aaron Becker's Journey, a lonely little girl picks up a red marker, draws a door on her bedroom wall and walks through it. Floating and flying through a dramatic escapade, she returns home with a friend. Although that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon, Becker's book has a beauty distinctly its own. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/books/review/journey-by-aaron-becker-and-more.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130712

NEWS & FEATURES

The Vancouver Sun includes reviews of four whodunits "with tween appeal": James Leck's The Further Adventures of Jack Lime; Kristen Kittscher's The Wig in the Window; Caroline Lawrence's P.K. Pinkerton and The Petrified Man; and Ari Goelman's The Path of Names perfect timing to replace already-read summer reading.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Whodunits+with+tween+appeal/8656214/story.html

Sotheby's says the manuscript of Irish writer Samuel Beckett's first novel has sold at auction for almost 1 million pounds ($1.5 million). Britain's University of Reading bought Murphy, written in 1935-36, for 962,500 pounds ($1.4 million). The six exercise books contain the heavily reworked text of the novel as well as notes, doodles and sketches of figures including James Joyce and Charlie Chaplin. Its many revisions give insights into Beckett's creative process.
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2021362581_apeubritainsamuelbeckett.html

"There's no limit to the creativity of crime fiction's practitioner," says Val McDermid. "I love crime fiction. I was a fan long before I was a published author." There are many other strands: thrillers rooted in technology, the inexorable rise of the history mystery, the transformation of the spy novel. There's no limit to the creativity of its practitioners."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/11/val-mcdermid-addicted-crime-fiction

Amazon is turning to comics and graphic novels publishing–both physical and digital–with the launch of the imprint Jet City Comics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jul/10/amazon-jet-city-digital-comics

A federal judge ruled that Apple conspired with publishers to set the prices of e-books, finding that Apple "played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy and will pay damages to be set at a future trial". Five publishers that had been defendants in the case have all previously settled with the Department of Justice, which brought the suit.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-judge-finds-apple-conspired-over-ebook-prices-20130710,0,6920311.story

In her late 80s and in failing health, Harper Lee was "duped" into assigning the copyright of her Pulitzer Prie-winning novel to her literary agent, signing away the rights to the only novel she ever wrote.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-harper-lee-tragic-lawsuit-to-kill-a-mockingbird-vanity-fair-20130709,0,6313195.story

"It's official," Alfred A. Knopf Sr. tweeted last week. "We're now #PenguinRandomHouse." The merger completed on July 1, after regulatory approval, shrinks the Big Six, which publish about two-thirds of books in the United States, down to the Big Five.
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=creation+of+Penguin+Random+House

Goodreads reveals the "most abandoned" books: books by E.L. James and J.K. Rowling top the ranking of readers' most-shelved novels.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/09/goodreads_reveals_the_most_abandoned_books/

Abandonment issue: when do you give up on a book? Too heavy going, too lightweight, just too long–what are the reasons to put a volume down?, asks Peter Wild. If you're like me, and 38.1% of you are, you'll read on no matter what, since abandoning a book is tantamount to heresy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/11/give-up-on-book-why-when

Michael Chwe, an associate professor of political science, discovered that Jane Austen's novels are full of strategic thinking, decision analysis, and other tools that would later come to be prized by game theorists like those as the RAND Corporation just after World War II. And so, Chwe wrote a book called Jane Austen, Game Theorist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/12/austen-game-theory-chwe-review?INTCMP=SRCH

Stored away in the rare-book library at Yale University is a late-medieval manuscript written in a cramped but punctilious script and illustrated with lively line drawings. These illustrations range from the fanciful to the bizarre. The manuscript's botanical drawings are no less strange. But perhaps the oddest thing about this book is that no one has ever read it.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/the-unread-the-mystery-of-the-voynich-manuscript.html

BOOKS & WRITERS

Iain Banks used to claim that the only word he wrote on the "interests" section of his university application form was "explosives". There could hardly be a more perfectly Banksian setting for The Quarry, his 27th and final novel. The book's element of compassion may account for the many readers now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of Banks, writes Jake Kerridge.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Final+book+darkly+funny+exploration+assessing+regrets/8656208/story.html

Canada is celebrated for its abundance of fresh water, yet it is estimated that 90,000 cases of illness, and 90 deaths, are caused by contaminated drinking water every year. Ralph Pentland and Chris Wood's Down the Drain: How we are failing to protect our water resources critiques Canada's management of its water supply and proposes a number of solutions to improve.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+plentiful+supply+fresh+water+decline/8656213/story.html

Before Joseph Heller satirized the madness of war in Catch-22, he told a serious tale about the tragedy of racism. Almost Like Christmas, appearing next week in Strand Magazine, is a grim short story about the stabbing of a Southern white man, the town's thirst for revenge and the black man who has resigned himself to blame. The story has rarely been seen and offers a peek at the early fiction of one of the 20th century's most famous writers, writes Hillel Italie.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rare+early+heller+story+found/8656243/story.html#ixzz2Z3xbw0oJ

Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey reflects Hiaasen's award-winning tendency towards extremities of property development and political corruption in a state where both crime and climate were prone to violence. En route, Hiaasen invented a genre of crime fiction with a series of books, beginning in the mid-80s with Tourist Season and Double Whammy, set in his native Florida.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/10/bad-monkey-carl-hiaasen-review

COMMUNITY EVENTS

SKIN & BONE - SALTY SAILOR TALES
Evening of tall tales and history features Vancouver Maritime Museum curator Patricia Owen, tattoo artist Chris Hold, photographer and social biographer Kathryn Mussallem, and Charles H. Scott Gallery curator Cate Rimmer. Thursday, July 18 at 6:30pm. Tickets: $20 at eventbrite.ca. Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden, Vanier Park.

POETRY GABRIOLA SERIES
Daniela Elza will feature with open mic. Readings in the first half of the evening. Writing in the second half. Thursday, July 18 at 7:00pm. Old Crow Cafe, Gabriola Island. More information at altogetherlisa@yahoo.ca or 250-247-0117.

FAR EAST, MIDDLE EAST
Julia Lin, author of Miah (Tsar, 2012) joins Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion about immigration, displacement, and the complexities of lives divided between Taiwan and Canada, between Iran and Canada. Thursday, July 18 at 7:30pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.

WOMEN, KURDS, AND BAHA'IS IN SEARCH OF EQUALITY IN IRAN
Join Farshid Samandari and Ava Homa for an afternoon of music and readings. Sunday, July 21 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.

SHAKESPEARE'S REBEL
In partnership with Academie Duello, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents an evening of words and swordplay in celebration of the Canadian release of C.C. Humphrey's latest novel Shakespeare's Rebel. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Bard on the Beach, Vanier Park, 1000 Chestnut.

SOUTHBANK WRITERS' PROGRAM READINGS
Students and alumni from SFU Southbank Writers' Program in Surrey join writer-in-residence Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion. Hosted by Writers' Studio director Wayde Compton. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Miranda Pearson and Robert Martens with open mic. Thursday, July 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

OUTDOOR BBQ/OPEN MIC/POETRY READING
Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Please also bring something for the barbecue grill. Sunday, July 28 at 6:00pm. Admission by donation. Please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.

F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.