At Strange Horizons, Kari Sperring writes about Katherine Kurtz.
Matrilines: The Woman Who Made Fantasy
“Kurtz’s debut novel, Deryni Rising, came out from Ballantine Books in 1970,” Sperring writes, “…and it changed the face of modern fantasy.” She uses Kurtz for a springboard into the continuing and vexing problem of women writers being mostly ignored in the cannon.
I myself have ALL the Deryni books. ALL of them. Dear GOD I ate them up. These were the kind of books I craved – complex, convoluted, character-driven, immensely detailed, utterly believable, beautifully contextualised – and these were thus the kinds of books I went on to write.
I haven’t heard much about Kurtz in a long time now, to be sure. Erased and sidelined. Some day I should go back to the beginning and re-read the Deryni books, all of them.
Such things bear rediscovery.
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11 Unforgettable First Lines in Literature
If the eyes are the windows to the soul, Off the Shelf says, then the first line is the window to the book.
“A first line can drag you in, shock you, confuse you, or touch you. A first line is what makes you read on. Here are some of our favorite first lines that set the tone for some incredible books.”
For example, what book begins?
“I was not sorry when my brother died.”
Check your answer (or guess) HERE
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Stunning street art tribute to author Terry Pratchett appears in east London
Mural showing Terry Pratchett off Brick Lane (Picture: Ella Finch)
Characters such as the skeletal, dry-humoured Death and inept wizard Rincewind dance across the walls of the Pillow Cinema, The London Evening Standard reports .
Pratchett wrote 40 Discworld and sold more than 85 million books during his lifetime. Now his legacy is set to live on in Brick Lane with reproductions of the original book art by Josh Kirby.
Read the whole story HERE
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“But You Didn’t”
I posted this poem, story and link long long ago in a galaxy…well, I posted it months ago anyway, but it still keeps getting discovered, opened and shared. It is incredibly moving.
The poem was written by an unknown American woman but has now been brought to life through the art of a Chinese cartoonist and shared here on VIRALNOVA. All that’s really known about the poem is the title.
Poem Translated & Illustrated by Chinese Netizen on Sina Weibo
See the whole illustrated poem HERE
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The Book Cover That Judges Readers
On Galley Cat, Dianna Dilworth tells us that Thijs Biersteker has given the idiom, “don’t judge a book by its cover” a new meaning.
The Dutch artist has invented The Cover That Judges You. The book cover is designed to detect how a reader is judging it based on a scan of the reader’s face.
If you approach the book, the face recognition system picks up your face and starts scanning it for signs of ‘judgement’. If your face shows a skeptical expression, the book will stay locked. But if your expression is neutral, the book will unlock itself.
Read the whole story HERE
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THIS ‘n THAT
Charlotte’s Web by EB White has been voted the most popular children’s book ever, according to a new survey from BBC.com.
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Top 10 books about reading
Books about books, where literature is integral to life, are a genre in themselves, as terrific titles by authors from Nicholson Baker to Geoff Dyer very readably show. One example:
The Magician’s Book by Laura Miller: Miller is a book critic for Salon magazine; someone who’s had the good fortune to turn her love of reading into a career. In The Magician’s Book she tells where that love began, in the world of Narnia, and shows how literature can work its spell on a young reader.
Read the whole story HERE
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Quotes of the Day
‘I don’t understand why when we destroy something created by man we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something created by nature we call it progress.’ Ed Begley, Jr.
‘Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.’ Jacques-Yves Cousteau
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Alma Alexander My books Email me
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