Welcome to this week’s news post – In this edition we have news on the sad passing of author, Iain M. Banks, a very cute story of a pig in a wheelchair and his book deal plus more!

This week started off with the sad announcement of Sci Fi novelist, Iain M. Banks who died of cancer. He announced he had the disease earlier this year and stated he wouldn’t live out the rest of the year. His last book – The Quarry is slated for release in a few weeks time and which also has a character having cancer. Friends and fans can leave a message of condolences at his website. 

Apple has announced ibooks for the Mac. I am surprised this wasn’t available before or for apps for other platforms like Android or Windows which Amazon and Kobo have  on offer for their customers. This is part of the new IOS which Apple launched this week with a new interface and look.
However, on the flipside  of this and a strange development – Barnes and Noble will be pulling their apps for Android/Windows and Apple which is part of a new strategy. Frankly in this day and age where people have different devices and like to access or buy their content from a variety of places, I find this decision silly.

This news item made my heart melt although I am so side-eyeing the name of the pig. But internet sensation pig in a wheelchair has oinked a three book deal. (I could not resist the pun!) – The books will follow  the cute pig, Chris P. Bacon journey when he was rescued and given a wheelchair due to his congenital condition of shortened back legs. I think this is a great idea and fun story and I can see a new Babe in the works!

Rachel Caine along with the producer of Continuum, Blake Calhoun have teamed up for a Kickstarter project to produce a web series based on Caine’s Morganville Vampire YA series. They need to aim for $75,000 to raise enough capital to fund for actors, props and studio to produce the series. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Amber Benson is on board to play the mysterious Amelie. So far Caine and Calhoun have raised over $14,000 but if you are interested in wanting to see this to fruition click here to be part of the campaign!

News in Brief:

According to the Hollywood Reporter- Fox is very close to acquiring ‘Choose Your Own Adventures’ book by Davis Entertainment. These books gave the reader multiple choices to the ending of the book. Its going to be interesting to see how this will pan out.

I think this lawsuit is crazy – but Scarlett Johannson is suing a French publisher due to the fact that one of their books has a character who assumes that the woman he encounters is the actress but she just looks like her.

And now books to watch out for!

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill has an interesting premise and I love the cover for it.

 

“You have to kill him.” Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

 

 

This has pinged my book radar hard – The Falconer by Elizabeth May looks fantastic!

 

Heiress. Debutant. Murderer. A new generation of heroines has arrived.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1844

18-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined to a life carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a faery kills her mother.

Now it’s the 1844 winter season. Between a seeming endless number of parties, Aileana slaughters faeries in secret. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, every night she sheds her aristocratic facade and goes hunting. She’s determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city’s many dark alleyways.

But she never even considered that she might become attracted to one. To the magnetic Kiaran MacKay, the faery who trained her to kill his own kind. Nor is she at all prepared for the revelation he’s going to bring. Because Midwinter is approaching, and with it an eclipse that has the ability to unlock a Fae prison and begin the Wild Hunt.

A battle looms, and Aileana is going to have to decide how much she’s willing to lose – and just how far she’ll go to avenge her mother’s murder.

 

And finally this caught my eye! The Thinking Woman’s Guide To Real Magic sounds insanely cute and fun!

 

An imaginative story of a woman caught in an alternate world—where she will need to learn the skills of magic to survive

Nora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman.  During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty.  Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It’s almost too good to be true.

Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora’s new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally—and a reluctant one at that—is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel’s student—and learning magic herself—to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her “real life” against the dangerous power of love and magic.

So what do you think about any of the news items I highlighted this week? And what kind of Kickstarter book project would you like to be a part of? 

About Has

Has is a bookaholic and feeds her addiction whenever she can. She usually can be found lost in a Romance or an Urban Fantasy novel. Her favourite sub genres are Paranormal, Fantasy and some Scifi. Her most treasured authors are, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Ann Aguirre, Lisa Kleypas and Tamora Pierce. She loves that discovery of finding a brand new author and falling in love with their books. Has also blogs a The Book Pushers - Book chatter and reviews

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