November 26, 2007

Monday Miscellanea

Boy, have I collected some links. I've been so busy lately--what with travel and Thanksgiving and getting caught up--that all I've had time to do was shove them into a (virtual) folder for later posting. Well, later is now, guys. Firstly, I wanted to make sure everyone knows about the fabulous customizable Cybils widget that the excellent folks at JacketFlap have created--you can set the colors and even the categories, and what you get is a different Cybils-nominated title each time your web page reloads. It really is cool. I just need to get around to updating our template!

In other Cybils-related news, Colleen has posted an excellent interview with Nick Abadzis, creator of the Cybils Graphic Novel nominee Laika, on Chasing Ray. And, peripherally related (to graphic novels, anyway) comes the announcement (via Publishers Weekly) that Francoise Mouly--wife of Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus--is launching a new publishing venture called TOON Books, focusing on color hardcover comics specifically for young readers 4 and up. Sounds like a great endeavor to me!


Another fun interview: Minh of Bottom Shelf Books brings us some entertainment straight from the mouths of Max and Pinky, characters from the picture book The Adventures of Max and Pinky: Superheroes, as they apply for full-fledged Justice League membership.


After all of the fascinating discussion over the past week about the Brown Bookshelf and issues of ethnicity in publishing and literature, I thought that this movie might give everyone some food for thought about our identity as...well, as a country and as a planet, and remind us of the various literacy initiatives and other worthwhile endeavors, as well as the little ways we all help, that we can all give thanks for.


Got a teeny tiny story? The Writers Digest Short Short Story Competition ends December 3rd. First prize is $3000--not bad for $1500 words or less!


More fun from Publishers Weekly--evidently Libba Bray said that finishing the final book of her trilogy that began with A Great and Terrible Beauty was harder than being in labor: "That was awful, but it was over in seven hours," she said. Click the link above to read more about Bray, her series, and her writing process, and don't forget to cruise by her blog while you're at it.


Phew - I think that's it! Finally caught up with the linkage. This Thursday I'll be back with another toon (another winning contest entry--yay!) and I hope to be more active again in the coming weeks, even though I'm still sulking about having no opportunity to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Oh well...I guess going to Italy was worth it!! :)

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