March 10, 2010

SSF Awesomeness


Et nous? Et Tu! By now you've heard the JOYOUS news that Tu Publishing, about whom we spread the love in December, during their fundraiser kickstart, is now TU BOOKS - an imprint of the one and only Lee & Low. There's been a lot of interviews and publicity in the kidlitosphere, including at The Enchanted Inkpot, where we hear from Tu's editorial director, Stacey Whitman.

Tu is a fairytale in and of itself -- a group of upstarts decide to publish multicultural science fiction and fantasy for kids, raise a startling amount of money, catch the attention of a larger house, well-established house, and voila - dream comes true.

Tu Books: we can't wait to see what you've got!


I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet -- it's for LIBRARIANS ONLY, and THERE'S STILL TIME TO ENTER:

Librarians, you have small budgets and there's a world of SFF out there your kids haven't read. So, to honor the amazing Joni Sensel, please join her birthday giveaway, and enter to win these fine books:

1. INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher (hardback)
2. SACRED SCARS by Kathleen Duey (hardback)
3. THE BOOK OF NONSENSE by David Michael Slater (hardback)
4. THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE by David Michael Slater (hardback)
5. THE SECRETS OF THE CHEESE SYNDICATE by Donna St. Cyr (paperback)
6. HOUSE OF THE SCORPION by Nancy Farmer (paperback)
7. THE EMERALD TABLET By PJ Hoover (hardback)
8. NAVEL OF THE WORLD by PJ Hoover (hardback)
9. THE SEER #1: DON”T DIE DRAGONFLY by Linda Joy Singleton (revised large issue with short story bonus)
10. THE FARWALKER’S QUEST by Joni Sensel (hardback)
11. THE TIMEKEEPER’S MOON by Joni Sensel (hardback)


HOW TO ENTER? Simply send The Spectacle your library’s name and your professional e-mail address. You can leave that info in the comments here or e-mail it directly to joni AT jonisensel.com. Librarians earn an additional chance at the prize if they repost the contest and/or tweet the contest and let Joni know with the link.

Happy birthday month, Joni! Librarians, YOU HAVE UNTIL MARCH 25! Don't delay!


Shannon Hale speaks on women and girls and the stereotypes which are being reinforced in movies. WORD, Ms. Hale. First, they came for the parents - mostly mothers - in Disney. Cause mothers are annoying. And then, in comedies, for the girls... 'cause girls aren't funny. Right?


No Book Was Mangled In the Making of This Film, So It's All Good (although I don't doubt there will be book tie-ins in about four minutes): I *WOULD* say, "Do you remember TRON?" but the fact is... I can't even tell you when the original movie came out. Twenty-eight years ago in 1982? Sheesh, no wonder I only saw it about three years ago...*cough* During one of our Bad SciFi Movie nights. *cough* However, SOMEONE in this household a.) was NOT watching it for the first time, b.) didn't consider it bad SciFi and c.) is excited enough about it that I must needs share the TRON LEGACY 3D trailer with them.

Click. Here. Be happy.


Fire up Those Mad Essay Skillz: Pyr is a SFF imprint of Prometheus Books, and they've been up and going for five whole years now! To share the love with their readers, they're sponsoring an essay contest -- "Pyr invites readers and fans to submit a short essay on the theme: Five reasons why science fiction and fantasy is important to you."

The prizes are amazing -- from plaques to books to a fully-paid trip to Dragon*Con in Atlanta. SFF-ites, polish up ye olde essay-writing skills! (Via SF Signal.)


Because We Are, In Fact, Geektastic: Do you not love this SETI scarf from Make Magazine? Just in case you see any extra-terrestrials while you're out in about in the nippy Spring weather, you know, you can convince them this planet has intelligent life. Or something.

Enormous Timewaster du Jour: The Historic Construction Kit: Make Your Own Bayeux Tapestry... with considerably funnier storylines!

9 comments:

Sami said...

Would you mind if I re-posted these announcements on my blog?

tanita✿davis said...

Hey, Sami - repost away! SFF geekery must be shared. ;)

Megan Frances Abrahams said...

Great info.
BTW - I've given you a One Lovely Blog Award - today on my blog.

tanita✿davis said...

Wow, thanks, Megan!

Beverley BevenFlorez said...

Great post! I added a link to this on my Writers' Well today. :)

Saints and Spinners said...

Hurrah for good news! I'm excited about Tu Publishing. The SETI scarf is intriguing, too. My husband used to run SETI on his computer. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to admit that, but behold the age of oversharing. Ha.

BookMoot said...

TRON!!!! Looks amazing!

Chris Barton said...

Can I just say that I now want to try my hand at multicultural sci-fi/fantasy just so I can have my name on a book next to that awesome Tu logo? Because I do.

And as for Shannon Hale's post, one of my proudest parenting moments came when my then 10-year-old dismissed as ridiculous the notion that female authors might choose to publish under initials (e.g., "J.K.") so that boy readers will be more likely to give their books a shot. "It shouldn't matter," he said.

And one of my most fun parenting moments recently? Taking my younger son to see "The Princess and the Frog" for his sixth birthday.

tanita✿davis said...

Saints & Spinners: Um, we're not supposed to admit to the SETI thing? Right. Got it.

Bookmoot: I KNOW. I may have to rewatch the old one, just for the squeal factor of how much better the new one will be.

Chris: You have such awesome children. Even though your youngest is SO over you. (That still cracks me up.)