Links and Stuff

Here we are, halfway through October, and temperatures in my part of the world (Eastern North Carolina) have been in the 80s (F) all week. What kind of insanity is this? It’s the kind of insanity that delays the onset of pretty Autumn colors, but it’s also the kind of insanity that means we don’t need to run the heating yet. The weekend’s supposed to cool down (60s–woo hoo!), so perhaps Fall-for-Real is just around the corner…

We visited the new house on Wednesday to show my in-laws almost-our house (we close on Tuesday, Lord willing). While there, we saw men doing work, which is good because it means the seller is making good on their promise to attend to the things we asked them to do. That should all be done by the end of the day today (Friday). All being well, in less than a week, we’ll be homeowners! And then the painting and moving begins…

Let’s get to this week’s links. The first is a Seattle Times article about the newly-created Stephen King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine. Yes, that’s Stephen King the horror/suspense writer. King is an alumnus of the University of Maine, and I guess they felt that, after a 45 year career writing countless books, their “most celebrated graduate” has proved himself worthy of honor. The English Department is currently receiving applications for the Chair. My only question is, where do they plug it in…? 🙂

Next up, Deadline Hollywood reports that David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter film series, is working with Warner Bros on a “reboot” of the classic movie, “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” based on the Roald Dahl story, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. The first movie adaptation of the book was in 1971, starring Gene Wilder. It was remade in 2005 with Johnny Depp in the leading role. Many believe the original 1971 movie was the quintessential adaptation of the story, which leads to the question: why? Why make the movie again? Is Hollywood that strapped for original story ideas, they have to keep regurgitating classic movies, and adapting novels? Just read the book and save yourself the ticket money.

Finally, if you follow publishing you are probably aware that there are five major publishers in the United States, and between them they own just about every traditional publishing house. But how does one keep up with who belongs to whom? Thanks to almossawsi.com, we have this infographic of the Big Five US Trade Book Publishers that shows who is connected to which publishing house. It’s eye-opening to see, first, how many trade publishers there are, and second, how much traditional publishing in the US is controlled by so few companies.

That’s it for this week. I didn’t say anything about the third and final Presidential Debate, largely because there’s nothing to say that hasn’t already been said. Besides, most people by now have decided who they’re voting for. The only thing that remains, my fellow Americans, is to get out there and VOTE on November 8th! 🙂