Friday Links: Authors try to cash in 50 Shades success; Books to movies adaptations
Publishing Newsmovie adaptation / plagiarism / Regency England12 Comments
A bit of silliness and a snippet from Guardian Demon – “About two weeks ago I sent in my cover notes for Guardian Demon, so we’ll probably see the cover within a month or two. I’m not really sure what it will look like. I really love the heroine-covers from the last few books in the series, but this is the final book in the series, and I know a lot of readers have been asking for Michael’s book, so he might also be featured on the cover, or it will be a Michael/Taylor cover. Or, it will just follow the new trend in romance covers, and focus on Michael’s magic sword.” Meljean Brook
Clearly everyone is cashing in on the 50 Shades success. Oh Berkley and Meljean Brook. Sooo disappointed in you. [Just to be clear, this is a joke.]
Lehrer’s publisher runs ads telling bookstores to send back “Imagine” for a refund — paidContent – “Jonah Lehrer’s publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is running digital ads telling booksellers to send back copies of “Imagine.” After it was discovered that Lehrer had fabricated Bob Dylan quotes, HMH stopped shipping physical copies of the book and the ebook is no longer for sale.” Paid Content
Shelly bought a different Lehrer book when it was a Kindle Daily Deal. I think at this point, every retailer would honor a return. Or should.
JCP Books – Turbulence 1: Into the Bermuda Triangle – “*This is a promotional Pay-What-You-Wish book. The retail price for a JCP short novelette is $1.99, and if you can pay that, fabulous! If you can’t (or simply prefer not to) pay, I wholeheartedly invite you to enjoy the story for free.*” Jordan Castillo Price
This is an interesting concept. I’m not sure if JCP intends to extend this beyond just this novelette and into all her works, but it’s a neat idea.
Amazing Regency Businesswomen – A Guest Post by Michelle Styles – “My latest Regency His Unsuitable Viscountess is published in August. [The heroine] is a Regency businesswoman who has to make a marriage of convenience in order to keep control of the family business under the terms of her stepfather’s will. When I was doing my research, I was shocked to discover the two highest paid bankers in the 1820s — the Peeresses (Lady Jersey, Patroness of Almacks [was] the head of Childs and the Duchess of St Albans, the head of Coutts aka where the Queen still banks) have no modern biography.” Smart Bitches Trashy Books
What’s Next: Over 60 Upcoming Young Adult Book-to-Movie Adaptations – ” 60+ young-adult (YA)/ middle-grade (MG) books who have an adaptation in the works. Just a little bit of a side note; movie-making is a crazy business, and to over-simplify a process more complicated than any Kardashian relationship, I’ll just say this- there’s no telling if half of these will actually make it to theaters (for movies that will for sure be coming your way between 2012-2014- check out this list here).” Big Books Tiny Voices
I wouldn’t say the first book on the list “A Discovery of Witches” is a YA/Middle Grade book but it’s an interesting list nonetheless.
This statement in the article made me roll my eyes:
I totally enjoy and respect Heyer’s books and research BUT Heyer kept herself to a very small part of the Regency social history. I don’t bother with Regencies now because so many of them are regurgitated Heyer (and have been for years). There’s lots of other, interesting, plot ideas out there. Why can’t we have them? Oh, because Heyer didn’t do them.
I’m going to go away and mutter to myself in a corner now.
Bankers to the aristocracy needed an entree to that milieu. Did these women serve as bankers as we know the business. They might have been mere figureheads. They might have provided introductions allowing the Coutts and Childs to get the business. Their knowledge of the circle might have allowed them to essentially provide credit ratings.
Coutts preyed on the Duchess of Devonshire. She owed him the equivalent today of millions, if not tens of millions.
Very excited about “The Graveyard Book” and “The Giver” (Jeff Bridges!) on that YA list. And while not explicitly YA, I’ve also read that Stephen King’s “Eye of the Dragon” is going to be made into a mini-series.
That editor must have missed out on reading Paula Marshall’s Dear Lady Disdain, published by Mills & Boon in 1995. Its heroine, Stacy Blanchard, runs a bank, which she inherited from her father. Interestingly, in her letter to the reader Marshall mentions Heyer and also says that when she did her research into the Regency period
There have been powerful, independent and influential women in all time periods and we need to hear their stories (both in scholarly work and in fiction). I really do not understand why Heyer is the defining standard for what is historically “accurate” about the Regency period. She told of a particular version of that world, but it was by no means all of it. Can you imagine someone a hundred years from now writing about our time and only basing it on the antics of the Kardasians et al.
What Lynnd and Laura V. and DS said. (And Michelle.) When you get back into primary sources from historical periods, women’s roles–and women’s and men’s relationships–are NOTHING like what is represented through filter of Victorian and twentieth-century conceptions of them.
Also, I’m rolling my eyes at the idea that their readers demand accuracy. Hmm.
I love Heyer’s books, but the mores in them are not really those of the Regency period. To me, they smack strongly of the late-Victorian and Edwardian period (which is not surprising as those would have been the mores Heyer was raised with). And as for readers demanding accuracy … that’s almost hysterically funny. Some of the most inaccurate books out there are also the best selling and are nominated for award after award.
@DS:
Why? WHY? WHYYYY?! *wails* Why Heyer instead of history textbooks? I knew about female Coutts bankers from a school textbook. Honestly, moments like this? I sometimes just want to wave my fist at the sky and throw self off a cliff. Melodramatic, true, but sitting in a dark corner and rock just isn’t enough sometimes. :D
“What’s Next: Over 60 Upcoming Young Adult Book-to-Movie Adaptations – ” ”
I read this and thought “boy I hope there are a few adult roles in there” – by which I mean adults that aren’t villains and are well rounded characters. While I don’t begrudge anyone their YA if it’s what they like – I really haven’t found many YA books that I’ve read much of without thinking that I am still so glad not to be that age anymore (for too many reasons for a short answer!). I think that one of the many reasons I enjoyed the Harry Potter series was for the large range of likable adults in it. But then I spent all my own YA years reading more books about adults than my own age group, and this didn’t bother me.
Missed opportunity there, Meljean. That sword should totally be rising instead of falling.
@Jane: Thanks for your suggestion – I followed your tip and looked into returning How We Decide. Turns out I bought it back in February, and per Amazon’s FAQs, they allow you to return Kindle books within 7 days of purchase. I could have requested special consideration, but I only paid $0.99 for it, so didn’t want to bother. I’m just disappointed with the fact that he committed the fraud. I didn’t know who he was, but one of the reasons I bought the book was his credentials. I assumed those made him trustworthy. It seems so utterly pointless – he was well respected and was doing well. Why on earth make up quotes? He ought to review his own book, How We Decide, and see if he can figure out why he did what he did.