Wednesday News: Banned books, “atomic-scale printing press,” The Chemist, and Buffy coloring book

JanetPublishing Newsadult coloring books / Banned-Books / Buffy the Vampire Slayer / data storage / Hong Kong Book Fair / Stephenie-Meyer / thrillers6 Comments

Banned books on sale here: Hong Kong book fair will openly sell politically sensitive tomes – The 2016 Hong Kong Book Fair, which is being held this month, expects more than a million visitors, and this year they will have a lot of politically sensitive books to choose from, as more than 640 bookstores and publishers have books to display and sell. A significant move after the recent disappearance of 5 publishers from Mighty Current/Causeway Bay Books.

Benjamin Chau Kai-leung, deputy executive director of the Trade Development Council – the event’s organiser – said: “Hong Kong is a free and open place…no matter what political issues the books talk about, they can be sold at the book fair.” . . .

On a wider scale, the 27th instalment of the annual book fair will also carry a theme for the first time: Chinese martial arts literature. Books, manuscripts and newspaper cuttings from as far back as the 1960s will be on display. The fair will run till July 26 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. – South China Morning Post

World’s ‘smallest hard drive’ means every book written can now be stored on a stamp – Described by Delft University researcher Sander Otte as an “atomic-scale printing press,” the storage capacity of this new technology may help ease our progressively larger daily creation of data, assuming it can ultimately be made to work outside of “very clear vacuum conditions” as cold as liquid nitrogen (think mega freezing). Still, how cool to think of all of our books condensed to the size of a postage stamp.

This means a storage density of 78 terabits per square centimetre, many hundreds of times greater than the best hard disks available.

IBM estimates that humanity is creating about 2.5 billion gigabytes of data a day – and that was in 2012. So the ability to store data efficiently is as a global challenge. . . .

“In theory, this storage density would allow all books ever created by humans to be written on a single post stamp,” Professor Otte said. – The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Twilight’ Author Stephenie Meyer to Publish Secret-Agent Thriller (Exclusive) – From vampires and aliens to secret agents, Stephenie Meyer is switching genres for her second adult book, which will be published by Little, Brown in November. Okie dokie, then.

“The Chemist” introduces a former secret agent forced to go on the run, hiding from members of the government who fear she knows too much.

“’The Chemist’ is the love child created from the union of my romantic sensibilities and my obsession with Jason Bourne/Aaron Cross,” Meyer wrote in a statement. “I very much enjoyed spending time with a different kind of action hero, one whose primary weapon isn’t a gun or a knife or bulging muscles, but rather her brain.” – Wall Street Journal

Buffy the Vampire Slayer gets adult coloring book treatment – I’m starting to think of these adult coloring books as a visual form of fan fiction. I suspect this is going to sell very well, even though it’s not coming out until early next year.

The pages will feature the “Scooby Gang,” as well as the baddies, including The Master, Glory, Drusilla, and the Trio. The original art was created by Buffy Season 8, 9, and 10 comic book artists Karl Moline, Rebekah Isaacs, Georges Jeanty, Yishan Li, Steve Morris, and Newsha Ghasemi. – Entertainment Weekly

Note: This week I am dealing with a significant family emergency. I will try to keep up with the news but apologize in advance if I cannot.

Janet

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

→ Janet