News & Notes -- 10/05/13

News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, giveaways on this and other blogs, and other cool stuff.

Books & Ebooks in the News:

Library of Congress main reading room.

• The Library of Congress is closed during the government shutdown, including its website, but you can access an archived version of the site on the Wayback Machine.  Other government sites are also available there. (Thanks to GalleyCat for pointing me to these sites.)
• "Scribd Launches E-book Subscription Service" (Calvin Reid, PW).  Think Netflix for books.
• The 2013 Narrative Prize goes to Kristin Valdes Quade (GalleyCat), while...
• Dan Zevin has won the 2013 Thurber Prize for American Humor.
• And Philip Roth was given the French Legion of Honor award. (Dianna Dilworth, GalleyCat)
• "Apple Appeals Price Fixing Verdict, Final Injunction" (Andrew Albanese, PW)

Literary Losses:

Tom Clancy, mega-bestselling author of the Jack Ryan military/CIA thriller series and other military novels, died Tuesday, Oct. 1 at the age of 66.  I was in college and working for Waldenbooks the year his first novel, The Hunt for Red October, rocketed out of obscurity and onto the best-seller lists -- to the evident surprise of the Naval Institute Press, which had to rush to print additional copies.  Once the reprint was available, we received enough cartons to build an impressive floor stack of the books near the front door.  We sold out within a week. 

Clancy's attention to accuracy and detail was legendary, and it earned him the respect of the military community.  His books, including 17 bestsellers, thrilled millions of readers around the globe.  Rest in peace, Mr. Clancy. (Obituaries: New York Times; New York Daily News; Publishers Weekly)

British mystery writer Robert Barnard died on Sept. 19, but his death was apparently not announced until this week.  Barnard's mysteries demonstrate " a comic wit admired as sharp and quietly malicious" (The Telegraph); his characters are usually unpleasant and his mysteries, which fall loosely in the "cozy" subgenre, are deftly plotted, wickedly funny social commentary.

Barnard spend much of his working life abroad, first in Australia where he met his wife, then in Norway.  He returned to England in 1983.   His works were nominated for the Edgar award numerous times, including one nomination for his nonfiction analysis of Agatha Christie. In 2003, the Crime Writer's Association awarded him the Cartier Diamond Dagger award.  His last novel, A Charitable Body, was published last year.  Robert Barnard was 76.  (Obituaries: The New York Times; The Telegraph)

Worth Reading (or viewing): 

• "What Terrifies Teens in Today's Young Adult Novels? The Economy" (Marcela Valdes, NPR Books)
• "Hey, Guys Who Only Read Other Guys: Stop That"  The author argues against only reading male (straight, white, etc.) writers.  (Alanna Okun, BuzzFeed Books)
• "Choosing Chekhov over chick lit improves your people skills" (Hayley Dixon, The Telegraph)
• "Book Covers: Before and After"  Several cover designers explain the design process using examples of rejected covers and the final cover.
• Fans of Rick Riodan may want to read Publishers Weekly's long interview/article on Riordan, his books, the films, and his recent move to Boston.  There are also hints of what's to come in the Lost Heroes series, and Riordan's next series will deal with Norse myths.
• "Things Not to Do in a Bookstore" (Josie Leavitt, PW's Shelftalker blog)

For Writers & Bloggers:

• Shannon at River City Reading and a few of her friends have created a Book Blogger Survey to find out what kind of posts bloggers do, what stresses they feel, what helps them keep going/avoid burnout, and how blogging has impacted their reading habits. 
• "20 Great American Cities for Writers -- That Aren't New York" (Jason Diamond, Flavorwire)
• 'Pacemaker' helps you set a writing schedule with daily word count goals. The online software is free.
• The Big List Collects 1,500+ Literary Magazines, in case you're looking for places to submit your work. (Jason Boog, GalleyCat)
• And GalleyCat is building a directory of freelance editors for self-publishing writers to use.

Book Announcements: 

• Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles, has signed a 2-book deal with her publisher.  The first book will be an Alice-in-Wonderland prequel entitled Heartless, currently scheduled for fall 2016. (PW)

Awesome lists: 

• "100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know" (Ken Denmead, GeekDad, via Wired)  The list is a bit male-centric, and it's clearly based on the author's own geek-culture preferences, but there are some good picks -- and if you read the comments, you'll no doubt find a lot more of your favorites.
• "10 Family-Friendly Scary Movies" -- Plus a giveaway!  Enter to win aDVD of each movie  plus copies of 2 children's zombie books by J. Scott Savage. (HarperCollins Children's)
• "30 Excellent Bookstore Windows from Around the World" (Emily Temple, Flavorwire)
• "17 Reasons Why Fall Was Made for Reading" (Buzzfeed) 
• "14 Books that Traumatized You as a Kid"  (Adam Ellis, Buzzfeed Books)

Really cool:

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Linguist and professor John McWhorter gives a 5-minute TED-Ed talk on fantasy languages, focusing on Tolkien's Elvish, Avatar's Na'vi, Star Trek's Klingon, and George R. R. Martin's Dothraki.  You can also explore more here.

Just for fun:  

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The Hobbit Trailer is out!  Squeeeee!

Bookish Quotes:

by Airiz, via Cinderella in Combat Boots blog

That's it for this week!

I'm always on the lookout for interesting articles, lists, and links for News & Notes, so please let me know if you see (or write!) anything that might be good for this feature.  You can leave me a comment or send me an email -- my address is on the About/Review Policy/Contact page.