I’m a little late to jump the Hunger Games bandwagon. I only just finished The Hunger Games this past weekend. I’m two books away from starting Catching Fire. No clue when I will get around to reading Mockingjay. I’ll probably have to ignore most book blogs for a week or two, until the excitement dies down.

Are you excited? I’m excited. I rather like the Tales of the City series. I tried to read the entire series last summer but failed to get around to reading the last two books. I guess I need to do that before Mary Ann in Autumn comes out in November.

I got an e-mail earlier today from Tin House explaining their new policy regarding submittions. I felt compelled to share it with you because, well, it’s kind of awesome/funny.

Tin House Implements New Policy for Fall Reading Period. Unsolicited Submissions must be Accompanied by a Receipt for a Hardcover or Paperback from a Real-Life Bookstore

PORTLAND, OREGON (JUNE 30, 2010) In the spirit of discovering new talent as well as supporting established authors and the bookstores who support them, Tin House Books will accept unsolicited manuscripts dated between August 1 and November 30, 2010, as long as each submission is accompanied by a receipt for a book from a bookstore. Tin House magazine will require the same for unsolicited submissions sent between September 1 and December 30, 2010.

Writers who cannot afford to buy a book or cannot get to an actual bookstore are encouraged to explain why in haiku or one sentence (100 words or fewer). Tin House Books and Tin House magazine will consider the purchase of e-books as a substitute only if the writer explains: why he or she cannot go to his or her neighborhood bookstore, why he or she prefers digital reads, what device, and why.

Writers are invited to videotape, film, paint, photograph, animate, twitter, or memorialize in any way (that is logical and/or decipherable) the process of stepping into a bookstore and buying a book to send along for our possible amusement and/or use on our Web site.

I for one would enjoy seeing these videos. Tin House, will you be posting these on YouTube by chance?But of course, you can go buy a book regardless of your desire to submit to Tin House.

… I have a blog. I almost forgot. Been so wrapped up in school this term that reading for leisure is a rarity.

There are a few things I felt worth mentioning in this eclectic blog post.

First,

Christopher Moore has posted the first two chapters of his newest book Bite Me (due out April 1st, 2010). Bite Me is a follow up to Moore’s 1995 Bloodsucking Fiends and 2007′s You Suck. While I am getting tired of all the attentions vampires are getting, You Suck may stand as my favorite Christopher Moore book. Moreover, the protagonist of Bite Me is Abby Normal who was first introduced in A Dirty Job. Aren’t book crossovers fun? Anyway, the first two chapters of Bite Me are basically a summary of events from Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck. Really though, you should just go read both of those books.

Read the chapters at Moore’s blog here.

I still haven’t read Fool even though I purchased it the week it came out. I feel I may enjoy it more after I complete the Shakespeare class I am taking this term.

Secondly,

I had to read The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction for the Contemporary American Short Story class. It was already. As with all anthologies, some stories I liked while others were not as enjoyable. Now that we are done with this book, we’ve moved on to…

The Best American Short Stories 2009. I recognize ZERO of the authors featured in this anthology. Most of the stories are taken from the New Yorker it seems. I’ve noticed spelling errors in a couple stories which is distracting. Who do I blame for that? Alice Sebold?

Thirdly,

I don’t really have a thirdly, but I believe things are best done in groups of threes. Oh, Augustin Burroughs will have a reading at the Bagdad Theater next week hosted by Powells to promote his latest book You Better Not Cry. That will be fun. I saw him when he was touring for Possible Side Effects. More details here.

And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer is released today. I think I may have to swing by Powells and pick up a copy. In the meantime, the BBC has (what I am assuming) the first part of the book available for you to listen to. Sadly I don’t have time to listen to all of it right now but from what I’ve had time to listen to, it’s worth giving it a chance.

Books at Bedtime – And Another Thing…

While googling to see how long I have to wait to dive in to Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (Sep 15th BTW), I came across the following books. Immediately I started banging my head in to the wall and crying out “Why? Why?”.

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (Aug 11th) by Amanda Grange

Vampire Darcy’s Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation (Dec 1st) by Regina Jeffers

The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies (April 30th) by H.G. Wells and Eric S. Brown

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim: Mark Twain’s Classic with Crazy Zombie Goodness (July 10th) by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz

Most likely these are quickly produced books to cash in on the fad. Coincidentally, I am asking myself why did I not cash in on it when I had the chance. But, whatever.

The Time Traveler’s Wife film, based off one of my favorite books, earned $18.6 million its opening weekend which was apparently enough for ABC to order a pilot. The TV series will be created by Marta Kauffman who you may know created a little known show called Friends.

I haven’t seen the movie yet. The book didn’t feel like it would translate well in to a movie. Maybe a TV show though?

We’ll just have to wait and see if ABC picks up the series.

(source)

A retraction from yesterday’s post.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is written by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen).
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is written by Ben H. Winters (and Jane Austen).

I mistakenly credited Seth for being the one to bring sea monsters to Jane Austen’s classic novel of life and love.

My bad.

This is was the first thing I read about when I woke up today. Seth Grahame-Smith is at it again. Depending on how you feel about Jane Austen, he is either improve her works or destroy classic literature. His new book, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, will feature 40% of Seth’s work and 60% of Jane’s which is more than he contributed to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

While I am still not a fan of this genre, this follow book trailer does make me want to read the book.

What are your thoughts?

A few weeks ago Tin House sent me a copy of Jim Krusoe’s latest book Erased. I have not read Jim Krusoe’s other book, Girl Factory, but I have heard good things about it. Currently, Erased is sitting in my pile waiting to be read and it will probably be a week or two till I get around to picking it up. In the mean time, PDX Writer Daily interviewed the author. So if you are interested, check it out. If that doesn’t tide you over (until, you know, whatever you’re waiting for), Tin House has an excerpt on their web site.