Literary News – Steven Till – Author of medieval fiction

Blogs of Interest

I’ve compiled a list of blog topics related to medieval history, historical fiction, fantasy, fiction writing, or industry news. Here’s a brief rundown:

Mark Lord dicusses Medieval Myths about Witchcraft and Sorcery
ABC will air an hourlong documentary about the woman behind the boy wizard, “J.K Rowling: A Year in the Life”
Alianore has a post about Edward II’s grandfather King Fernando III of Castile and Leon
Trencin in Slovakia preserves its medieval history
Susan Higginbotham recalls Katherine Vaux and Her Children: From the Lancastrians to the Tudors
C.W. Gortner has an interview with Rory Clements, author of Martyr
Tor.com asks about ambiguity in fantasy
Marie Brennan contemplates Villains vs. Antagonists
Michael Hirst to write screenplay for Bernard Cornwell’s novel Agincourt
Scott Marlowe explains selling e-books on the Kindle Store

Fantasy / Sci-Fi Publisher Launches Online Bookstore

“A year-old science fiction/fantasy bookshop publisher has launched an online book shop selling, not just its own publications, but those of its rivals in the sci-fi/fantasy genre.

Pablo Defendini, who is behind the online book shop, said the experiment came at the request of members of the public and the aim of the project is to create a “one-stop shop” for all sci-fi/fantasy fans.”

Authors Can Autograph Kindles at Book Signings

“At book events, bibliophiles typically wait in line to present books to pen-wielding authors, but as readers increasingly turn to electronic-book devices like the Kindle, it raises the question of whether book-signings may one day go the way of the inkwell.”

Publish Fiction Through Textnovel

“Dorchester Publishing announced that it is partnering with serialized fiction service Textnovel on a writing competition for aspiring novelists. The winner of America’s Next Best Celler will land a $2,000 advance and will be published by Dorchester next year. The partnership is the latest development in Textnovel’s year-long life: founded by a literary agent as a way for unknown writers to find readers, it is also turning out to be a sort of feeder for publishers. Earlier this year, writer Saoirse Redgrave, winner of Textnovel’s 2008 Writing Contest, signed a three-book deal with St. Martin’s.

Literary agent Stan Soper quietly founded Textnovel in June 2008. Close to 2,000 authors and readers have used the site in the past year. Writers create and add to their stories via e-mail or text, and readers receive stories—in chapter-length installments—on their cell phones, with the option to get notifications as new chapters are added. Stories can be private or public, and people can rate and review stories, which the site says increases a highly-rated story’s likelihood of getting published by a traditional publisher. There’s currently no fee to post or read content, and Textnovel also offers cash prizes to winners.”

Read the entire article at Publishers Weekly.

Google v. Amazon, E-Book Market

“In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.”

Read the complete article at NY Times …

Cyanide Studios to Develop Video Game for George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ Fantasy Series

Press release from May 12, 2009:

Cyanide, an independent video game studio, and George R. R. Martin today announced their partnership to create the first-ever video games inspired by the author’s award-winning, international bestselling ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ fantasy series.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cyanide has obtained the exclusive rights to develop ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ video games for next-generation consoles and PC, and in collaboration with George R.R Martin, development has begun …

Read the full release at cyanide-studio.com.

Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea Movie

Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway - Movie I normally stick to posts about medieval history and fantasy novels, but since I’m a fan of Ernest Hemingway, I thought I’d post about this when I saw the article.

Apparently, plans are in the works for creating a movie based on the last years of Ernest Hemingway’s life and his creation of The Old Man and the Sea. Andy Garcia will direct the film, titled “Hemingway & Fuentes,” and play Gregorio Fuentes, a Cuban fishing-boat captain who was a good friend of Hemingway and helped inspire the novel. Anthony Hopkins will play Hemingway, and Annette Benning will play Hemingway’s wife, Mary.

They hope to begin filming this fall, with a release date set for next year (2010).

Read the entire article at news-press.com.

Hemingway is one of my favorite classical authors. I love his simple writing style and use of dialogue. I need to go back and read The Old Man and the Sea. It’s been since high school since I read that one. I really enjoyed A Farewell to Arms too, as well as several of his short stories.

Michael Crichton’s Last Word – Two More Novels to Come

A few months ago, I wrote my farewell post to Michael Crichton in the wake of his passing, but I’ve recently learned that Crichton left behind one finished novel, and another, nearly a third completed. Crichton’s publisher announced these two novels will be published over the next year and a half.

Crichton is the author of such technological thrillers as Timeline and Jurassic Park, and a personal favorite of mine, Eaters of the Dead (historical fiction set in the medieval period).

Read the full story on the NY Times website.

HBO to Film Pilot of “A Song of Ice and Fire”

George R.R. Martin announced on his blog last week that HBO confirmed it will be filming the pilot of the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones being the first season). This is good news, but there are no guarantees the pilot will turn into a full television series. According to Martin, executive producers and script writers David Benioff and Dan Weiss have remained loyal to the novels. Supposedly, HBO was to issue a press release, but I checked their site and couldn’t find anything. If I run across it, I’ll post a link to it. Or if anyone else has seen it, can you send it my way? I’d like to read it.

2008 World Fantasy Award Winners

Fantasy Art - Edward Miller - The Lies of Locke Lamora The 2008 World Fantasy Award winners have been announced. The awards include the following categories in fantasy writing and fantasy art: Novel, Novella, Short Story, Anthology, Artist, and Collection.

Novel
*winner – Ysabel Guy Gavriel Kay [Viking Canada/Penguin Roc]
Territory Emma Bull [Tor]
Fangland John Marks [Penguin Press]
Gospel of the Knife Will Shetterly [Tor]
The Servants Michael Marshall Smith [Earthling Publications]

Novella
*winner – Illyria Elizabeth Hand [PS Publishing]
The Mermaids Robert Edric [PS Publishing]
“The Master Miller’s Tale” Ian R. MacLeod [F&SF May 2007]
“Cold Snap” Kim Newman [The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, MonkeyBrain Books]
“Stars Seen through Stone” Lucius Shepard [F&SF July 2007]

Short Story
*winner – “Singing of Mount Abora” Theodora Goss [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” Daniel Abraham [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
“The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change” Kij Johnson [The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, Viking]
“Damned if you Don’t ” Robert Shearman” [Tiny Deaths, Comma Press]
“The Church on the Island” Simon Kurt Unsworth [At Ease with the Dead,
Ash-Tree Press]

Anthology
*winner – Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural Ellen Datlow, Editor [Tor]
Five Strokes to Midnight Gary A. Braunbeck & Hank Schwaeble, Eds. [Haunted Pelican Press]
Wizards: Magical Tales From The Masters of Modern Fantasy
Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois, Eds. [Berkley]
The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Eds.[Viking]
Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories John Klima, Editor [Bantam Spectra]

Collection
*winner – Tiny Deaths Robert Shearman [Comma Press]
Plots and Misadventures Stephen Gallagher [Subterranean Press]
Portable Childhoods Ellen Klages [Tachyon Publications]
The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club Kim Newman [MonkeyBrain Books]
Hart & Boot & Other Stories Tim Pratt [Night Shade Books]
Dagger Key and Other Stories Lucius Shepard [PS Publishing]

Artist
*winner – Edward Miller
Ruan Jia
Mikko Kinnunen
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio

*the above image is from fantasy artist winner Edward Miller