The Game of Triumphs, by Laura Powell
15-year-old Cat Harper, the orphaned protagonist of Laura Powell's debut novel The Game of Triumphs, is not your typical wide-eyed fantasy heroine. After witnessing a murder, streetwise, pragmati...
The Prince Tudor Theory
I don't know about you, but I have my doubts about a movie that employs (SPOILERS*) murder, deception, bribery, and an incestuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and her illegitimate son, all to ...
Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton
We rarely recommend buying something that can be enjoyed for free, but Kate Beaton's book Hark! A Vagrant is well worth your hard-earned $19.95—and not just because we want Ms. Beaton to earn...
Impressive... but morally wrong
I'm never thrilled when people take real books and transform them into fake books, and it's even worse when the books in question are actually nice. That said, these Book Charging Docks are kind ...
You win some
Publishers Weekly is reporting that Viz Media is moving closer to near-simultaneous English and Japanese manga publication, although English-language readers will be limited to the digital format....
Dude must have a lot of time on his hands
Speaking of classic manga adaptations, AnimeNewsNetwork has announced that the 1982 animated film The Last Unicorn is getting a theatrical re-release in 2012 and 2013, and author Peter S. Beagle i...
On the brink
According to ComicBookMovie.com, there's movement on the live-action Akira movie adaptation front. The movie has been in development for what seems like forever (the original Japanese film, based...
Why, movie gods, why?!?
Ugh: Megan told me that a second Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie was in the works, thanks to healthier-than-expected (or justified) international numbers for the first film, but I was hoping...
Charlaine Harris gets graphic
GalleyCat informs me that Charlaine Harris has inked a deal with Ace Books to produce a three-volume graphic novel series called Cemetery Girl. The books will be co-written with Christopher Golde...
The Thin Man redux
According to THR, writer-director Billy Ray has been hired to write a new adaptation of the classic Dashiell Hammett novel The Thin Man. Johnny Depp (seriously, does that man ever take time off?)...
Glutton for punishment
I thought Thor was, bar none, the worst movie I have seen all year, so I'm wondering if my affection for the first Ironman movie will be enough to make The Avengers bearable. We'll see when the r...
Hopefully this isn't a major financial blow to the actual comic book creators
According to the LA Times, Barnes and Noble announced last week that it will no longer offer copies of 100 backlist graphic novels from DC Comics in its bookstores, including well-known titles lik...
With bells on
YES! YEEESSSS! At long, long, long last, there is an official release date and title for the ninth book in Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series: on May 8th, 2012, you will find me at my local ...
The mind boggles
THERE'S GOING TO BE A RANMA ½ LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION?!? How—how—did I not hear about this? And how can it possibly work? For those of you unfamiliar with Ranma ½ (you poor things), it's one of ...
A loss for Georgette Heyer fans
I was saddened to discover that one of the very few Georgette Heyer fansites appears to have shut down. Georgette-Heyer.com was bare-boned but helpful, providing readers with news, a forum, and n...
Alcohol and bedazzled turtles?
The trailer's up for the movie adaptation of The Rum Diary, based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name:Yep. Won't be seeing this one either.
A bookstore employee's lament
Entertainment Weekly recently posted a photo taken at a former Borders store of an employee's list of grievances:Bits of it are funny, and there are elements I agree with (mostly the ones about re...
He's no Raymond Burr, but...
According to Variety, Warner Bros. and Robert Downey Jr. are planning to relaunch the Perry Mason franchise (based on the original series by Erle Stanley Gardner) as a feature film, with Downey Jr...
Bagels, pizza, and sewer steam
Do kids really need a scratch-and-sniff illustrated guide to New York's aromas, both good and bad? My first thought was "Ew!", but then I remember my elementary school peers' passion for those Ga...
Just over $4.50 per page
If money is no object when it comes to books for your coffee table, check out The Impossible Collection of Fashion. This 144-page-long book is priced at a jaw-dropping $650, and features one hund...
Rom-com on the lam
The One for the Money trailer is out, and I'll give it a solid "looks better than I thought it would". (Apart from Heigl's Jersey accent, which is straight-up embarrassing.)Of course, my expectat...
Werewolves on the Titanic!
My e-mail this morning included a promotional note about Claudia Gray's recently-released novel Fateful, which I skimmed with tepid interest. The cover didn't catch my eye, and our "To Be Read" s...
Why does Anna Faris keep doing this to me?
Seriously, I like Anna Faris, and I would totally shell out cold hard cash to watch her in something that wasn't Yogi Bear, part of the Scary Movie franchise, or... this.I just discovered Faris's ...
Just what the comics 'verse needs: more sex kittens
David Willis, author of the web comic Shortpacked! did a beautiful job of summarizing the many, many problems with DC Comics' reboot of the Teen Titans character Starfire in this strip.
Will there be creepy wallpaper?
If you're a Stephen King fan, io9 recently posted this video of him reading a full chapter of his upcoming book Doctor Sleep, his upcoming sequel to The Shining:
Unwatchable
THR informs me that NBC has picked up a script based on Jacqueline Susann's soaptastic 1966 melodrama Valley of the Dolls*. The project will be written, directed, and produced by Oscar-nominated ...
A bigger mistake than Terminator 3?
Whoa: according to the Times, Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced plans to publish a memoir (tentatively titled Total Recall). The book, due out next fall, will cover his adventures as a bodybuil...
The James Fenimore Cooper rest stop
Publishers Weekly has started what appears to be a mini-series of posts devoted to weird stuff named after authors. Some of them make sense (an extinct species of large-toothed whale named after ...
Peter Rabbit continues
According to Publishers Weekly, Frederick Warne has announced that it will publish The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit, written by actress Emma Thompson, in September 2012. The book is the 24th tale ...