Hangovers

• I've got a feature–The Parent Trap and assorted sidebars–in this week's PW.
• Looking for a book tourney? Well, there are plenty. The Tourney of Books is in full swing, as is the DABWAHA (ballots due March 15 at midnight Central). And never forget the Battle of the Kids' Books, where the action starts today.
• The New Yorker had a new Steven Millhauser story in January, "Getting Closer," which I'm so excited about I'm saving it to read in an utterly relaxed state. (Read: By the pool in Florida.) I discovered this googling idly to see what Millhauser was up to. A perennial fave.
• Obituary for Jean Dinning, songwriter of "Teen Angel": "She got the title from reading a magazine article about juvenile delinquency that said good kids deserved a flattering name, like “teen angel.” She wrote half of the song, then jolted awake one night, as if someone had shaken her and handed her the rest of the words."
• Atlantis found in Southern Spain: What, you don't believe? There's a National Geographic special and everything. Speaking of deep and murky waters, the controversy over this Smithsonian shipwreck exhibit is v. interesting.
• Maggie Stiefvater with some wise process thoughts, on character and what you need to know at the beginning: "I guess what I'm trying to emphasize is that, as a writer, our job is the big picture. The wire coat hanger skeleton. You can always change the color of the clay you stick on the arms later. It's the skeleton you need, so you know how many limbs they have and whether they walk on two feet or all fours (as a werewolf author, maybe this is a bad metaphor to make). So if you're out there frantically checking out play-doh colors after my advice to know your characters, put the lids back on and go get the coat hangers instead. Big! Think big! It's really easy to get enmeshed in the details while both writing and editing. Big swathes first, then refine."
• The fabulous Jo Whittemore posts about token minorities at Diversity in YA.
• The Atlantic on nuclear reactor meltdowns (and how media coverage of them is flawed). I can't wrap my head around what is going on in Japan enough to try to write about it. Give if you can.

• Links posts will happen here regularly again (maybe once or twice a week?), because tumblr works for some kinds of things but not all.
• Laura Miller gives high praise to Mat Johnson's Pym: "Pym departs from its 19th-century inspiration in more than just the way it repurposes motifs of blackness and whiteness: Unlike "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket," it is hilarious. (Much of this is due to Garth, who deserves a bust in the comic sidekick's hall of fame.)" Library hold request = done.
• Justine on why she loves bad reviews, including this priceless one: "Magic or Madness is like a bad Australian episode of Charmed." A review of one of my earliest (thankfully scarce) short stories included the phrase "strangely humorless" to describe some puns (scarce thankfully). I still kind of wish "strangely humorless" was short enough for a personalized license plate.
• Nora Jemisin on why sometimes the writer's job is to break the reader's heart. 
• One of the best things I've read lately is Kristin Livdahl's novella from Aqueduct Press's Conversation Pieces series, A Brood of Foxes. Her husband Alan may be biased, but I agree with everything he has to say in his post about it: "There are a lot of gestures in the fantasy field lately toward having an imaginary world mimic contemporary concerns–but in A Brood of Foxes, the shape of the narrative changes to reflect the very human cost of these concerns. There are no quick fixes or any lame “journey of the hero(ine)” knock-offs while paying lip service to some kind of transgressive ideal. No boss battles!" It is gorgeous and strange and lives up to the series' title.
• The Official Anne of Green Gables, The Movie Drinking Game. (Via someone on twitter, but I can't remember who. Maybe @lizzieskurnick? That seems plausible.)
• The abandoned houses of supervillains, pieces of dark Russian history. (Via @writershouses, I'm almost certain.)
• Ricky Jay's Criterion Collection Top 10, found because Sara Ryan recommended F for Fake, which I've somehow never seen. Will be remedying tout de suite, as it is instant watch. See also: Errol Morris and Ricky Jay in conversation about lying: part one and part two.
• One of my high school nicknames was Apocalypse Barbie.

Some links, since I seem to have collected some things I haven't tumblred. I've also been too busy to keep up with the news At All, which led to Christopher looking at me like I was from another planet when I asked him, "Wait. What's going on in Wisconsin?"

• An interesting WaPo piece about 'Tolkien Professor' Corey Olsen and his podcasts, which talks about the changing nature of the public intellectual.
• The ever fabulous Justine Musk on why fiction matters. We all need reminding of this from time to time.
• Alexander Chee reads The Hunger Games and has some related thoughts about the Reagan era. 
• Mette Harrison had an interesting post (and the comments section is as well) about The Mistake as a plot point in romance. I actually see this a lot less in the modern romances I read; most of the best ones seem to use the reader's expectation that the wires are about to be crossed in this way as something to subvert, by having the characters not react in the expected way. Way more satisfying for the reader. (None of which is to say The Mistake can't sometimes work–Harrison gives some great examples. Just, it can't be a cheap trick. Readers are more sophisticated than that.)
• An Open Letter to Madeleine L'Engle at McSweeney's. (Note: I should have said, I'm pointing to this because it's mostly charming, but there is a decidedly uncharming crazy paragraph devoted to a crazycakes unflattering interpretation of current YA. One I see all too often these days.)
• I'm sure you've already seen the news about the loss of the great Margaret McElderry. Some links well worth checking out: the Horn Book has posted part one and part two of a long-form interview conducted by Leonard Marcus from 1993/94; Betsy Hearne's academic article (which I read in grad school, after I realized while reading older YA fantasy that she'd edited a LOT of the ones I liked best) "Margaret K. McElderry and the Professional Matriarchy of Children's Books" is available in its entirety as a PDF online; and the New York Times has several stories about her well worth reading. R.I.P.

• The NYT covers The Search for Philip K. Dick, Tachyon's new biography/memoir by Anne Dick. I bet we'll be getting this one, as Mr. Rowe has the other biographies and such.
• Without the wonderful Ellen Kushner's spotting, I'd have completely missed Fernanda Eberstadt's fascinating piece about countertenors now and the castrati then: The 18th-century musicologist Charles Burney describes a (possibly apocryphal) lung-power contest between the young Farinelli and a German trumpeter, in which Farinelli, having finally exhausted his rival, “not only swelled and shook the note, but ran the most rapid and difficult divisions, and was at last silenced only by the acclamations of the audience.” I loved her nonfiction book about music and Gypsy culture in the south of France, Little Money Street.
• A great piece in the Guardian about forgotten women of British science, based on revisiting the Royal Society archives. (Via Steph Burgis.)
• A secret chamber discovered in the National Library at Kolkata: "National Library has always been reputed to haunted. Now, here is a really eerie secret. A mysterious room has been discovered in the 250-year-old building a room that no one knew about and no one can enter because it seems to have no opening of kind, not even trapdoors."
• Adam Selzer on why pop culture references in fiction may not be The Ultimate Evil, or even something to worry about dating things too much.
• The DoD tries to discover the secret of a flying snake.
• Seanan McGuire offers some advice on the interactions (or not) between authors, readers and reviewers, particulary to authors on responding to reviews online. This is my favorite part: "Don't be Princess Demandy-Pants." (Although number five is undoubtedly the most important.)
• When I stop reading Poetry Daily, well, daily? But I did. And starting again is my pre-New Year's resolution.
• Special for Vampire Diaries fans: You have all seen Katherine Stalks Stefan Through the Centuries, inspired by that Bon Jovi concert revelation, right? BRILLIANCE.

• I have a couple of pieces in this week's Green issue of Publishers Weekly.
• Elizabeth Bluemle at ShelfTalker talks to Cataloging Specialist Ruth Polan about various things, including writing those pithy book summaries (specifically of children's books) for the Library of Congress. Fascinating.
• Divergent opinions on the taste of a 200-year-old bottle of champagne recovered from the bottom of the ocean.
• One-way trips to Mars. I have some ideas for people to send first.
• Veronica Roth on writing about the midwest.
• The fabulous Cindy Pon and Shveta Thakrar on writing across cultural lines.
• Tansy on the brilliance of Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. Totally agreed. (In fact, if you're going to read only one enormous book this year, I say make it this one/two. You can read The Passage later. It'll keep.)
• In which Karen Healey reveals there's a Leverage RPG.
• V. intrigued by Scorsese's Fran Lebowitz documentary "Public Speaking" for HBO, which the WaPo says is "Less a documentary than an ode…." Hank Stuever makes it sound both fascinating and sadly distant.

• I am still fallen off the face of the earth, trying to get caught up on things. If I owe you an email, a response, a critique, etc., etc., it's coming. I have one more big deadline to meet this weekend, and then, it's coming. And I still have this dratted cold. But in the interest of closing tabs…
• The divine Sara Zarr on what she learned from being a National Book Awards judge in the young reader's category: "Richard Rodriguez says that the reader re-creates the book when he reads it. If that’s true, and I think it probably is, that means 100 readers could have 100 different experiences of the same book. Which can be frustrating, but is also kind of magical and also tells you something about what it is to be a person, an individual."
• A dead interesting post about the possibility of considering women's fiction where the heroine ends up in love with no one but herself as romance (I, personally, would like to see more romances like this, esp. in YA–though I do love more traditional romance, too), which also details Pamela Regis' eight main narrative events of the romance novel.
• Justine Musk on developing a creative practice.
• Betsy Bird gets interviewed at From the Mixed Up Files, one of the best middle grade-focused blogs around.
• Delia Sherman contributes to the absolutely fascinating and wonderful series Katherine Langrish has going, inviting writers to post about fairy tales.
• Must get.
• You MUST READ Connie Willis' Blackout and All Clear. (Yes, it's out!) A tremendous achievement by her. (If any of you grousers about the locations of tube stations or whatever show up in the comments, I will only pity you. This is an amazing work.) I'll stick up a post for anyone who wants to discuss sometime this week. Sir Godfrey 4-ever.
• A NYT piece on Steve Kloves' decade writing Harry Potter movies.
• Maud shares a quote on the inconvenient timing of revision epiphanies; this is so true, it has been part of my process for years. I think it was an interview with Ernest Lehman that I first saw this stated–he said he'd turn in the draft of a script, only to immediately phone up the studio (or Hitchcock or whomever; I've never been able to relocate this interview) and say, "Don't read it. I know what's wrong with it now!" There is no quicker way to get distance from your work than to hand it over to someone else.
• Finally, cover contest! Which will culminate with a week of celebrating amazing alt historical and steampunk novels beginning Dec. 13. Mainly focused on YA, but other things will undoubtedly sneak in. Spread the word.

• Still busily juggling and trying to finish novel draft, but a few links in the meantime.
• Fifty-Two Stories features a lovely new one by Emma Straub, "Marjorie and the Birds," this week. (Permalink.)
• Sam Lipsyte has a new story as well, "The Dungeon Master," up at the New Yorker. And it's the D&D kind of dungeon master, too. (Via the Millions.)
• Lev Grossman interviews Paolo Bacigalupi: "For me I actually knew that I had a great deal of talent. I knew that I was a really great writer in high school. My writing teachers were amazing. When I went to college I could write essays and all that stuff–really tight, clean stuff. And having the raw ability…it was meaningless, ultimately. It was the willingness to write four novels and fuck them all up and keep going that was the definer. It wasn't the ability at all. Yeah, the willingness to accept failure and not let it stop you, and to not let that define you."
• Nicola informs us that the UN has designated our official leader as far as the aliens are concerned. I love this kind of story.
• A few excellent posts to check out if you care about Wiscon and/or the inexcusably lunatic rantings author Elizabeth Moon–who, unfortunately, is one of next year's Guests of Honor–recently posted about Muslims. First are Nora Jemisin's, which is a follow-up to another post by her you can find via this one, and Saladin Ahmed's. The next is by Timmi Duchamp: "But perhaps the lack of an organizational policy giving the co-chairs other options in this situation would not be so limiting if US culture at large had a clearer notion of the stakes involved with legitimizing extremist speech." Truer words. Read the whole posts. Personally, as someone who cares deeply about Wiscon, I think it's time for Moon to be disinvited–or at least for her GoH status to be revoked–since she's apparently not going to take the even moderately higher road by stepping down herself. I don't see how it serves anyone's best interests for her to be there or to be "honored."
• And, hey, get 25 percent of a Paris Review subscription by dropping Maud's name.

• We went away for the weekend (hashtag funfunfun), and I'm now behind on everything. So many links, so little time. Did you know it's Clockwork Angel day? A new Cassie Clare book is always cause for celebration.
• Soon, as in next week when I have more time, I'll be singing the praises of Meljean Brook's AWESOME forthcoming steampunk romance The Iron Duke. I love this book so much. Want. Sequel. Nao.
• If you're interested in reading Mockingjay discussion, check out the post below this one; I've been greatly enjoying the comments. You might also want to take a peek at JJ's post and comments too.
• "The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind" at Time: "In creativity research, we refer to the three Bs—for the bathtub, the bed and the bus—places where ideas have famously and suddenly emerged. When we take time off from working on a problem, we change what we're doing and our context, and that can activate different areas of our brain. If the answer wasn't in the part of the brain we were using, it might be in another. If we're lucky, in the next context we may hear or see something that relates—distantly—to the problem that we had temporarily put aside." So. True. Good stuff in the whole interview, especially at the end.
• The TV writers' revenge is sweet. I love this part: "Some love to tell the story of the time an actor uttered a familiar lament to Mr. Bochco, the producer: "My character would never say that."Says Mr. Bochco: "I told him, 'Maybe your character wouldn't say that, but he's not your character, he's my character, and he's saying it right here." He pointed to the script."
• Alexander Chee's very good post on blogging and the writing life, via Maud.
• "The Future of Books According to Science Fiction" at the Tor blog.
• Amazing color photos from Russia in the early 1900s.
• An interview with Andrea Seigel about her forthcoming YA novel The Kid Table. I've loved Andrea's books since forever and she'll be stopping by here closer to the release.
• Laura Lippman's take on the #franzenfreude thing. See also: Lizzie Skurnick at the Daily Beast.
• "Conversations with Ghosts: Margaret Wise Brown and Kevin Brockmeier."
• Most exciting of all, My Official Sweetie For Life aka Christopher Rowe has the cover for his novel Sandstorm. If you only read one Forgotten Realms novel this century, make it this one. Especially if you like circuses, gladiators, and AWESOME. Preorder! Wish list! Due in March! At your local bookseller of choice or via the dark Amazonian god. (The cover version on Amazon isn't color corrected, btw, but the one at C's is.) (I feel that Christopher's 14-year-old self would also approve greatly of this cover and of this being his first novel, and how often do we get to say that, as adults? It is deeply cool.) Yay.

• I missed it the first time around, but a Studio 360 episode featuring Connie Willis, Janelle Monae and David Goldberg on time travel will rerun this weekend–or you can download it here. I already put it on le iPod. (Via Charlie Jane.)
• Timothy Williamson in the NYT on the nature of imagination and its intersections with science and philosophy.
• A wonderful short essay by Jessica Francis Kane, "Where We Write: The Merits of Making Do," about the author's penchant for writing in libraries. There is much, much too much excellence in this essay to capture with a quote, but a snippet: "I began to suspect I was too susceptible to the idea of the “writer’s desk” and decided it might be better to do without one. Somewhere along the way, I began to work in libraries. More important, I began to get work done in libraries. I acquired a laptop, a padded case for it, and a backpack. I carried pens, a notebook or two, a legal pad, and a few books. Very soon I felt like the academic equivalent of the college student backpacking abroad—I was entirely self-sufficient! I didn’t need a private desk and the talismanic power of special objects surrounding me."
• Marvelous post, including lots of photos, about literary pets. Worth a visit for the Edith Wharton shoulder puppies picture alone. (Via Austin.)
• We're going to NYC next weekend for a wedding (alas, we won't have time to see very many people, as it's a superquick trip), but dang! I'd have loved to catch the Met's exhibit on women's fashion that closed last weekend. The 1930s starlet gowns in the photo are to drool for.
• Smart Bitches has a nice wrap-up of the latest "We Must Protect the Children from … BOOKS!" lunacy, happening down in Texas at the Humble Teen Lit Festival, which decided to disinvite Ellen Hopkins after a librarian raised concerns with the superintendent. All the other authors have dropped out, and there have been some excellent posts you can get to via SB. Make sure you catch Tera Lynn Childs' letter to the superintendent informing him of her own decision. Bravo, guys.
• Finally, the best vintage safety manual ever, entitled "It's Great to Be Alive!" Remember: "Don't play in abandoned ice boxes–they are death traps!" Also, if you do play in the ice box, don't expect any plums. I ate them. (Via Juliet.)