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Let your fingers do the walking

16. April 2012

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This isn’t comics but I suspect anyone involved in book design and publishing will find it interesting, not to mention the many artists who these days work with a tablet and digital pen to draw directly onto their computer – it’s a video AT&T Tech has posted up about a digital system developed by Bell [...]

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A Future For Books…?

14. April 2012

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Wim posted this a couple of weeks back – from the New York Times, Grant Snyder (Incidental Comics) proposes a back to the future solution that I can really get behind: Oh, I hope so, I really do. I’m getting better with reading online, and can cheerfully pick up a digital comic here and there to [...]

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Where have all the illustrators gone? A challenge

13. April 2012

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Recently there has been a lot of controversy over the supposed paucity of illustration talent in British publishing for adult books; Melanie McDonagh’s article in the Independent back in January discussed how illustration in books used to be the norm, using the example of Dickens, and that illustration in books aimed at adults was still [...]

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Bookseller dispute at the Strand goes into comics form

13. April 2012

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Greg Farrell drops us a line with some disquieting news – New York’s world-famous The Strand bookstore, a much loved mecca for readers well known for events, friendly, knowledgeable expert staff recommending good books – is in the midst of a dispute with its staff. The union representing the booksellers there is protesting increasing use [...]

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Matisse and Joyce

13. April 2012

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This isn’t comics or SF but I imagine a lot of you will still enjoy it, bringing together, as it does, two of the major artistic talents of the 20th century – writer James Joyce and artist Henri Matisse. Matisse was approached by a publisher to create illustrations for Joyce’s acclaimed work Ulysses in the [...]

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The Silver Specter

12. April 2012

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When I was picking out some of my fave reading from 2011 for my annual Best of the Year selection I also included a few books and comics to watch for in 2012. One of those was a quite splendid science fiction novel from Adam Christopher, Empire State, which came out early this year – [...]

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Alan Moore on Hard Talk

11. April 2012

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Our revered great bearded magus of Albion, Alan Moore, is the guest on the BBC’s Hard Talk, being interviewed about his comics work from V for Vendetta through to porn and erotica with the Lost Girls, also taking in his prose writing, his feelings about the comics industry (dying he thinks, from lack of original [...]

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Hugo nominations & BSFA Winners

10. April 2012

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The shortlist nominees for the prestigious science fiction and fantasy Hugo Awards have been announced, taking in novels, short stories, film, television and comics tales from the SF&F genre. Let’s have a look at the main longform prose contenders, which includes China Miéville’s fascinating Embassytown and Mira Grant’s excellent Deadline: Best Novel Among Others by [...]

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Lucky Jim

10. April 2012

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As seems to be increasingly common publishers of prose books are looking to illustrators with a comics background for some interesting visuals for their covers. In this case it is venerable publishers Penguin Books and a new edtion of the 20th century classic by Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, which now sports a most splendid piece [...]

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Where have all the book illustrators gone? Open your bloody eyes…

9. April 2012

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The original piece in the Independent by Melanie Macdonagh was published back in January, and I meant to write something on it then, but it rather got away from me. Basically Macdonagh’s contention is that there just aren’t many good illustrators anymore. Which, is patently, as anyone who knows anything about comics and children’s books [...]

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Lemony Snicket and Seth….

7. April 2012

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Lemony Snicket’s new 4-book series is called “All The Wrong Questions“, and deals with a version of Snicket’s childhood in a ”fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted“, and talks of his experiences as “an apprentice in an organization nobody knows about.” It’s also being described as having “illustrations by Seth”, although no idea [...]

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Jeffrey Brown’s Darth Vader and Son….

7. April 2012

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“What if Darth Vader took an active role in raising his son?” That’s the concept behind Jeffrey Brown’s Darth Vader And Son book, out as an officially licensed Lucasfilm product from Chronicle Books, complete with a You Tube trailer featuring James Earl Jones. The world is a strange and wonderful place that something like this [...]

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Soulless – The Manga

5. April 2012

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At San Diego Comic Con in 2010, it was announced that the Gail Carriger novel Soulless would be turned into a manga, with Rem, who previously has worked on Tokyopop’s Vampire Kisses, looking after the artistic duties. The book was published in chapters on the online manga magazine Yen+plus and now it’s being collected by [...]

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Director’s Commentary: the art of writing fantasy

3. April 2012

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Today we have a nice treat for science fiction and fantasy fans with only our second guest Director’s Commentary post on a prose work, I’m delighted to welcome a highly regarded fantasy writer I’ve known and whose work I’ve enjoyed for years, Juliet E McKenna: I do words, not pictures. I cannot draw anything but [...]

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The Arthur C Clarke Award

29. March 2012

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Yes, it is spring and that means more award shortlist appearing alongside the blossoming plants. In UK science fiction circles the most prestigious has to be the annual Arthur C Clarke Awards, which have recently posted up their final six shortlist nominees who will contend for this year’s gong: Greg Bear, Hull Zero Three (Gollancz) [...]

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