Friday News: author websites, net neutrality, book covers, and motherhood in the flesh
Liz Carlyle kills her website – An astute reader noticed that Liz Carlyle shut down her website this week, leaving a short note referencing her retirement and sending readers to Amazon. There is a sense of finality to this move, of course, but also a deprivation of potential resources to readers still working through her books or who may yet discover them. In a marketing environment where having a website seems somewhat rudimentary, I’m kind of surprised by this move. Also, I just checked, and some of her paperbacks, on both Amazon and BN.com, are tagged as reissues and priced at $24 – WTF?!?!?!?! – LizCarlyle.com
Netflix slams FCC’s ‘misguided’ decision to repeal net neutrality and signals legal battle – The FCC’s 3-2 vote (along party lines) to repeal net neutrality rules was not unexpected, but it sure is disappointing. While there are options within Congress, as this Washington Post article details, it appears that Netflix is willing to sue the FCC, along with other companies (and possibly with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is also suing the FCC to block implementation of the repeal). The broad unpopularity of the FCC’s move highlights the apparent fixation the current White House has on the Obama administration and on attempting to erase all vestiges of the former President (note: IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN).
“We’re disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity and civic engagement,” the company said in a tweet shortly after the agency voted on the measure. “This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large and small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.” – The Independent
The 30 Best Book Covers of 2017 – Paste Magazine’s collection of their top book covers of this year is presented in part as an exercise in thinking about how book covers grab reader attention and telegraph a book’s genre and/or content. For those books you haven’t read, the cover will or will not say something appealing to you, while for books you have read, you can think about how well the cover reflects your experience of the book itself.
With this in mind, we selected 30 gorgeous covers* that weave creativity and practicality into memorable designs. These are by no means the only exceptional covers released this year, but they are some of our favorites.
If you want to view even more stunning book covers, we recommend visiting both Spine Magazine’s and The Casual Optimist’s websites. They introduced us to most of our favorites this year, and you can get lost for hours viewing literary eye candy at each site. – Paste Magazine
This Is the Most Realistic Look at the First 2 Years of Motherhood We’ve Ever Seen – The persistent fetishization of motherhood as a blessed state that no one should resent, fear, or feel like a failure at has not done women (or kids) a whole lot of good. Mythologizing motherhood is a stubbornly compelling condition, despite its often isolating and claustrophobic dimensions, and one in which Romance novels can be complicit.
After giving birth to her daughter, photographer Anna Ogier-Bloomer decided to point her camera inward and capture the first two years in her “new role” as a mom, from the tender moments of nursing in bed to the painful aftermath of such experiences – a zoomed-in look at a pained nipple or a shot of her neck, replete with cuts and scrapes from a typical breastfeeding session. . . .
The new series, titled Letdown, demonstrates what she deems the “most difficult yet most meaningful work I’d ever done,” and it shows. In just one image – her sitting up asleep, in just a bra with a nipple pad and hair tie strewn on the couch, with her dozing baby resting on her lap – she shows how demanding a journey motherhood is from the start. – POPSUGAR
One of my favorite “end of year” things is all of the book cover articles. Such creativity!
I wish Liz Carlyle all the best in her retirement but I can’t help being disappointed with her decision… She was a new-to-me author and I was using her site quite heavily to make sure I would read the connected books in order (LC’s books are often interconnected and some even cross over to other series so sites like Goodreads not always helpful). It’s a loss for us readers, for sure, and maybe she had a good reason to shut down the site, but I can’t imagine why not leave it as a resource? Also, it makes me a little nervous about the author… I hope all is well with her…
@Claudia: I hope she’s well, too. With regard to reading order, you might find the Wikipedia page on Carlyle helpful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Carlyle
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate and enjoy the News post. Thanks.