What would Conan Doyle think?
I just read an article about literary spinoffs.
Maybe most of these won’t be to my taste. I’ve already read a few ‘modern’ continuations of classic novels and didn’t like them very much, unfortunately. Also, I’ve read reviews and articles about others and found that I probably wouldn’t care much for them either. But that’s just me. Some people might actually love these new versions of their old idols.
What interested me, as a fan fiction writer, was the following:
“Would Conan Doyle have objected to any of this? I like to think not. When the American actor William Gillette was seeking to insert a romantic interest into his stage play featuring Sherlock Holmes, he cabled Conan Doyle with the question May I marry him? – to which the author is reputed to have replied You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him.
Writers ever since have been taking him at his word.”
The quote is from the article I mention above. Sounds like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wouldn’t object to anything we might make up about Sherlock Holmes or for that matter, anything authorised writers and tv producers might make of him. That’s good to know.
Blistering barnacles! Tintin is back – with added swearwords
Hergé’s adventurer is born again for the iPad age, with a new show and a digital project that puts all his expletives back in. The world’s top Tintinologist talks quiffs, colonialism – and beating Armstrong to the moon.
Read more here.
Why Writers Make The Best Friends [Infographic]
Writers make great friends (just not for the reasons you may think).
Check it out here.
What genre is your book?
What is genre? Genre was originally how a bookstore shelved fiction so the readers could find the stories they preferred. Over time, each genre has grown to have its own defining characteristics, based on what its readers want and expect.
Read more here.
Warehouse 13
At the moment I’m watching Warehouse 13, which reminds me a bit of The Librarians (but with a less catchy name). The things that bothered me about the former series, still bothers me about this one, and a few more things.
However, I’ll start with the good points.
It is a rather entertaining series at best. The artefacts that are being ‘snagged, bagged and tagged’ by the agents are often fascinating. There’s some humor in it too, and sometimes (it’s not easy to please me…) it’s actually funny to me.
What I don’t like is the fact that the writers seem not to be too serious about the plot. Everything is a bit silly.
I also don’t like the fact most characters are women and the few men aren’t good looking. The ‘new’ guy (in season 3) is ok looking, but it took him long enough to show up. To be fair, there’s sometimes a good looking guy in one of the episodes (not a recurring character or if it is – he only shows up very rarely) as if the creators want the female part of the audience to have something to look at.
I don’t want to give the impression that I only care about male good looks (no, really, that’s NOT all I care about LOL). However it does say something about the series or movie or whatever you’re watching, that is, how much they value the entire audience, not just the teenage boys.
Some actors known from other science fiction series (or at least other ‘speculative’ series) show up once in a while (Rene Auberjonois is a typical example). That’s always fun.
I suppose I might add which of the characters I like best.
That’s Mrs Frederick, who is a very tough, cool old lady (apparently much older than she looks), Artie – who can be really funny and Claudia, who’s very young, quite funny in her own way and very brilliant. Like I may have mentioned earlier (LOL), I also like the relatively good looking new guy, Steve, who is quite nice too and not nearly as silly as the other two agents.
Bookish Q & A
Apparently Nya Reads started this on Booklikes. I thought I’d do it too, here.
1. What is your favorite childhood book?
Oddly enough, I think it was The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater, because only a little later I would never read that book, because it was too sad. By then it was probably one of my picture books – one of Elsa Beskow’s classics or one of the international ones. I also liked Astrid Lindgren’s books and Maria Gripe’s.
2. E-books or printed books?
If I have to choose, printed books, but I do enjoy reading e-books too. The problem is, I won’t pay for them, so it’s either going to have to be a library book or one of the ‘internet freebies’. And the problem with the latter is that there are so few that are really good (though over the years I have found several that I really like).
3. What is your favorite place to read?
At home, mainly in bed.
4. Is there any genre you would never read?
Horror, vampire, werewolf and zombie stories (but I do like a good ghost story). I also don’t read anything that’s just romance, but I will read historic romances etc.
5. What’s your review rating system?
I’m not sure I have an actual system – or at least not one I’ve really thought much about. I do tend to give more 5 and 4 stars than 3 and practically never 2 and 1, simply because I don’t like giving a bad review and I also don’t specifically note when I don’t finish a book. I prefer to focus on the books I at least like and forget about the bad ones.
6. What is your favorite fictional character?
That’s a difficult question – picking just one. I have many different characters I like in different genres. I also find it hard to really say if one is a favorite or not, which may sound weird. There are definitely characters I like more than others, but rarely one that I really, really love. I suppose if I have to I can mention Faramir (from the LOTR books, not the movie) and Ged from Ursula K Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. And many others, but it’s too hard to choose so I’ll stop here.
7. What was the best film adaption of a book?
I think I’ll have to say LOTR, because what else have I seen? I don’t think the Narnia movies were as good, they differed too much from the books. Also, I have yet to see film adaptations of many of very favorite books. Outlander maybe? Though the first season of the series is a bit more gruesome than I remember from the first book. Also, the sex scenes tended to get a bit too much and I didn’t think that when I read the book. Cirkeln too, based on the Swedish book by the same name.
8. How do you chose the next book to read?
I read about them online usually. Both the ‘blurbs’ and reviews.
9. Top 3 authors?
Hm. Also a tough question. Just three?
J R R Tolkien
Agatha Christie
Janet Evanovich
Diana Wynne Jones
Ursula K LeGuin
Charles De Lint
Garth Nix
Gregory Frost
Frances Hardinge
Anthea Sharp
and many more that I found among my ‘internet freebies’
10. Is there any book release you are particularly looking forward to?
I don’t really follow new book releases like that. I have so many books on my TBR read list/online wish list, that I just try to pick my favorites first, never really managing to get round to all of them, unfortunately.
Writing the future: A timeline of science fiction literature
From Gulliver’s Travels, through Brave New World and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, this timeline explores the evolution of the science fiction novel.
Read more here.
Ursula Le Guin’s writing guide Steering the Craft, reviewed
Ursula Le Guin’s guide to the impossible craft of storytelling.
Read more here.
Why do books still exist, asks a teenager
When you think about it’s kind of weird that we still have books in our technologically advanced society. But they’re here to stay, argues teen site member Orli.
Read more here.
Murder, mystery, Swedish forests: have you been watching Jordskott?
The fairytale-noir monster mash-up is an eco-friendly journey into a heart of darkness where parental anguish is a constant.
Read more here. You can also read a little more about the series here and here.
