A tribute to the late Patrick Swayze. And to a lesser extent, the greatest bad movie ever made…
• “This autumn, eight years after Douglas Adams died, Arthur Dent and friends will be hitching across the galaxy once again, Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be stalking the pages of a book for the first time in more than a century, and Winnie the Pooh will be returning to the Hundred Acre Wood in the first official sequel to AA Milne’s much-loved children’s books.” Alison Flood (of the Guardian) investigates how scores of contemporary authors are usurping the characters and settings of deceased writers.
• Do not ask John Scalzi for a favour.
• Elle McPherson. Reading Tennessee Williams. In her underwear.
• Jonathan Lethem (of the New York Times) eulogizes J.G Ballard.
• Brian Joseph Davis (of the Globe and Mail) has a crack at editing Dan Brown’s writing. Hilarity ensues.
• Simpson’s writer Matt Selman gets his ‘Pynch on’ – much to the chagrin of a certain ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’. Hilarity also ensures.
• Robert McCrum slices through all that publisher argot. You better believe that hilarity ensues.
• “Didact thyself!”
• Author advances have dropped as much as 50% over the past twelve months. But the deals publishers cut to secure to the latest works of big name writers have never been greater…
• How old are you in ‘writer years’? According to this quiz, I’m -2 years of age.
• Classic book titles – if they were written today! Featuring: Bilbo Baggins and the Mountain Dragon: Part 1 of 4 of the Middle Earth Cycle, Frankenstein: Wrath of the Supercorpse! and Pride and Prejudice: Now Without Zombies!
