If you’re a watcher of the oh-so-sensual Food Network, you may have noticed commercials for the season premiere of Ace of Cakes, which shows clips of Dan Radcliffe and Rupert Grint being dazzled by one of Duff and his Charm City Cakes crew’s cakes. The cake seems to be a massive replica of Hogwarts castle and the occasion was probably the LA premiere of The Order of the Phoenix.
Look at all the pretty. Subterranean Press is putting out a special edition of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, “a modern day children’s classic.” (I’ve written about the twsited tale here before.) The edition boasts several full color photos and original cover art on a wraparound dust jacket. Plus there’s a limited amount of signed number hardcover copies, as well as some signed and specially bound copies. Especially geektific and lovely is the chance to win a Coraline doll (crafted by Mary Robinette Kowal ) in a drawing, one of only three in existence with the other two dolls being owned by illustrator Dave McKean and, of course, Neil Gaiman.
Quoi…? Kooky but clever Frenchman Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, is writing a script about kids who invent water that makes you hear music once you drink it. Called The Return of the Ice Kings, he briefly chats with MTV about the project.
io9’s editor Annalee Newitz posts on a very specific and snazzy subgenre of SF literature and comics: stories featuring animals with human-like intelligence.
Though straight-up fantasy and not included by Newitz, I’m partial to David Petersen’s Mouse Guard comic series about, well, an intelligent society of mice. Impeccably drawn (think of old timey children’s illustrator Arthur Rackham’s artwork) combined with those good old archetypal characters in a comfy adventure tale, it makes the Mary happy. And who hasn’t had a peculiar obsession with human-like rodents ever since Chip ‘N Dale’s Rescue Rangers aired on Disney afternoon?
Also, sixteen-year-old Noah Farlee is interviewed at Cabinet of Wonders about his steampunk and clockpunk influenced short graphic fiction piece Giskard the Genius. The twelve page work is also available through the site for free.
.
No Responses
...................................................................................................... Star Trek Babes
Rowling may write an eighth Harry Potter book. No, I’m not referring to the encyclopedia she promised to write way back when. I’m referring to her admitting that in “weak” moments she’s indulged in the idea of writing another book set in Potter verse. She emphasizes that if she ever did this, it would be years from now and the story wouldn’t focus on Harry Potter. (via Underwire)
Cinematical has a review posted for The Orphanage calling it a “slow-paced suspense film with supernatural trimmings,” which is, as they point out, quite different from the horror leaning trailer for the movie. A.O. Scott’s review for the Spanish ghost story is in the New York Times, too.
Look at all the pretty. 
The Guardian asked kids to invent their own creatures
