Hangovers

• The ever-brilliant Pinky imagines what would happen if Pynchon’s Against the Day was considered by a typical MFA workshop. Hilarity ensues.
• As you’ve probably seen all over the place, the Cybils nominations are out (children and YA bloggers’ choice awards), and this seems remarkably organized for the first year of such a massive effort. There’s even a podcast at Just One More Book about the process and the nods. (Via Fusenumber8.)
• Theresa Duncan welcomes the new year with one of my favorite Octavio Paz poems.
• Those without HBO can watch The Wire on BET starting next week.
• Darby’s unread books list.
• Terri Windling profiles a gorgeous-looking retelling of Beauty and the Beast written by Max Eilenberg with illustrations by Angela Barrett.
• Man dies while giving a radio broadcast. (Via Andy Duncan.)
• Scott profiles Mike Davis’s new book Planet of Slums over at Beatrice.
• I only promised C I wouldn’t steal the discarded Tevis tombstone photo before he posted it, so in case you missed it:

  
  And I’m curious enough to call the tombstone company it’s sitting behind at some point and ask if the birth date was off by a year. Wikipedia lists it as 1928 rather than the 1927 shown here.

• And, an aside, my Lush package arrived a couple of days ago: I may never go back to regular shampoo, because solid shampoo kicks a-s-s.

• Laurell K. Hamilton to (negative) fan(s): "Shut up!" Fans: "No, you crazy person!"
• Go read "Locked Doors" by Steph Burgis over at Strange Horizons.
• Justine kicks off a thread about the differences between YA and A.
• Colleen on the depressing theme in this year’s Best American Essays.
• Holly Black has posted the entries in her flash fiction contest to win ARCs of Ironside for your voting pleasure (if you have an LJ account).
• I heart the Venture Brothers. (Thanks to Ted for that.)
• Maud’s favorite books of the year in Newsday.
• DeNiro and Barzak will be in the house at Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights on Jan. 4. Be there if you’re in the neighborhood.
• John Green’s top secret webby project with his brother kicks off today. Yay!

• We just bid Ms. and Mr. Tingle Alley bon voyage on a journey to the frozen north; being in a centrally located city on a major interstate route has its advantages. Then I went to the post office to find an ARC of Cecil‘s Beige and jumped up and down with glee. Now I just have to convince myself to save it as a reward for the plane next weekend, and not immediately gobble it up. I have the day off. A nap is imminent. Sometimes life is very, very good.
• These photos of African kings are amazing. (Via Mr. McLaren.)
• Yet another Courtney Love piece, though this one’s better than most. I can’t tell if she’s started playing cutesy dumb or the drugs have finally eaten her brain.
• If this pans out, it’d be a major understatement to say it’s good news.
• The text of a PKD speech, "How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later." (Via Ed.)
• A most entertaining and excellent interview with Carrie Jones about her forthcoming Tips on Having a Gay (ex)Boyfriend.
• M. John Harrison on writing. (Via Mr. McLaren again.)
• A tourist map of Gotham.

• Great review of Eragon: "…basically, all 90-some minutes of Eragon represent a list of things I need never see again in a movie."  (Via Fusenumber8.)
• John Scalzi compiles a handy list of links to all the author interviews at his AOL site this year.
• Paul Collins on "really slow food," giving a little background on his piece for New Scientist (teaser only) on the incredible life spans of food. It makes me feel slightly better about the prospects after the coming apocalypse.
• JJA offers a compleat guide to ripping books to your iPod.
• Gavin posts some possible Small Beer Press logos — and Megan has the Publishers Marketplace summary of the deal for the Best of LCRW anthology.
• I want The Stray Dog Cabaret, a new collection of Russian poetry. (Via Lauren Cerand.)

• There was _another_ gratuitous Shower of the Future scene at the end of the book. Now I read Norton’s Anthology of Children’s Literature for two weeks. (Ironically, I may well make the 75 after all — thank you, picture book section!)
• Graham Sleight has a great piece at Strange Horizons on The West Wing, and how it’s science fiction(al).
• Speaking of things edited by Niall Harrison, he gives a rundown of the latest issue of Vector.
• Snails!
• J.L. Bell on "humanity’s wish list," and fantasy stories.
• Fourth Temeraire out fall 2007, and a return of all the great English dragons. Yay!
• Get your name in Joe Schreiber’s next novel AND finish your holiday shopping at the same time. Limited time offer.
• Moles on novels and various related things.
• The Clan sounds quite wonderful; hope it’s accessible here at some point. (Via whirlwind dervish Gavin.) I heart Sylvain Chomet (despite Alan’s woefully cruel interpretation of the Triplets of Belleville).

• Aetiology on the NYT piece on the continuing hurdles for women in science.
• Justine Musk on avoiding the Mary Sue and other elements of characterization.
• The Boston Globe has an excellent profile of M.T. Anderson.
• The WashPost looks at the New York Review’s Children’s Collection of reissues. I am so seeking out The Magic Pudding now.
• Cecil on being an elf at Macy’s when she was in college.
• Cynthia Leitich Smith excerpts pieces from many of her interviews with writers, editors, agents and other publishing types from 2006. Go see what you may have missed.
• One Rob over at John Green’s blog is vehemently Team Karen-ing it up. Head over there and convince him to join Team Pam or, as I like to think of it, the Forces of All That is Good and Right.

• Some information about the difference between types of paper books are printed on — and why different books are done on different kinds.
• Katamari Damacy cake! Wow! (Thanks, Alan!)
• Lisa Yee is torturing holiday peeps again, so there must be a deadline.
• Turn the Page, a newish library web comic. (Via Fusenumber8.)
• Tamora Pierce on why she writes female heroes. See also: Janni Simner’s comments in response. I wholeheartedly agree that it’s selling boys short to assume they simply won’t read a book with a female protagonist.
• The books that won Jenny Davidson’s heart this year. Now THAT is a list.
• Best NYT headline ever: "Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk." Ambergris, that is. Or is it?

• Joe Schreiber interviews Peter Abrahams.
• Matt Cheney interviews editor of many fabulous books Juliet Ulman.
• Austin Kleon mind maps Edward Tufte’s Beautiful Evidence and the evidence is, well, beautiful.
• The one and only Bennett Madison talks about the mystique of cool older sisters and the forthcoming How Sassy Changed My Life. (Which I must have. If someone sent me an ARC, I would love you forever and ever and ever. Promise.)
• Britney Spears: Science fiction fan? Don’t step on a bug, Brit.
• Cynthia Leitich Smith asked several notable writers for children about their favorite book of 2006.
• Debra Doyle on plot and character at the Eos blog.
• Maud on Tarkovsky.
• Tod Goldberg on two recent train wrecks I failed to notice. Nothing like going back in time to gawk at a slap fight.
• Book Nerd wants a miracle for New York bookstores this holiday season (and year-round).
• Pinky gets the whole MFA lit crit thing exactly right.

• Inspired by Stranger Than Fiction, Janni Simner asks what advice we could give fictional characters to help them stay alive.
• The portraits collection of Balliol College.
• Portrait of another Gwenda, with whom this rendering makes me feel simpatico.
• Nerd catch phrases! Say them all! Amaze your friends! Be loved by strangers! (Via Cecil.)
• Also at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald with the most sensible post I’ve seen yet about the Minx line. (Personally, I don’t have a problem with the name — it’s a cool word like every every word that ends with X, and I think of it as similar to when we took back chick, girl, or broad. Next up: making lady cool. Is it possible?)
• Justine on why your book is never your own.
• Janis Cooke Newman on her Mary writing process and the magic of white cakes. Someday, the day when I finally get a beach vacation and two weeks to do nothing at all, that day I’m going to start this book. Sadly, not in the foreseeable future. (Via Ed.)
• Apparently girls who like science fiction are ugly, or so it’s been offered. (Not that post, but the train wreck it’s linking to.) See also: Aetiology’s excellent response. (I considered linking to some blogs by hot girls that I happen to know read — and write — science fiction, but there are toooooo many to choose from. Not to mention, the entire thing is stupid.)

• Fusenumber8 with some thoughts on marketing comics to girls, and how smart Marvel will be if they market the Tamora Pierce-penned White Tiger to Tamora Pierce’s legion of fans. More here, along with some images of an authorized fan comic done for a school project.
• Amazing little dress-form sculptures by Leigh Pennebaker (via the ever-stylish Lauren Cerand).
• Holly Black has posted an excerpt from her forthcoming novel Ironside, and is running a flash fiction contest for three ARCs. (This and Cecil’s Beige are the two novels I’m most looking forward to this year, so yay!)
• The 12 Sexiest Men Who Were Never Alive. You gotta love a list with Sherlock Holmes, Haldir, and Totoro on it. And bonus lists of the 6 Sexiest Men Who Used to Be Alive and 13 Sexy Men Who Are Real and Alive. (Via somebody, but I forget who.)
• Video for Kama Aina’s song "Glasgow Sky."
• Some things that tip off Nalo Hopkinson that a story’s in trouble.
• 13 Things That Do Not Make Sense.
• The Antikythera Mechanism.
• I want one of these bracelets.
• Krampus the Devil is my holiday hero.