Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Add another entry to the long list of amazing things Netflix is doing with their original programming. They’ve just picked up the rights to Altered Carbon, a 10-episode-series based on the brilliant award-winning 2002 novel of the same name by Richard Morgan. http://io9.gizmodo.com/5542862/cyberp… Altered Carbon is set in the 25th century, where humans live all…
In this episode of a A Phone Call From Paul, Paul Holdengraber talks to William Gibson about the end of the world, writing fiction, and how crazy it is that people can make little marks on a page to represent and share their thoughts with other people. William Gibson on writing through the world… It isn’t…
Author Philip Pullman has resigned as patron of the Oxford Literary Festival in protest at its refusal to pay authors. He announced his resignation on Twitter, saying: “Because of the Oxford Literary Festival’s attitude to paying speakers (they don’t) I can’t remain as a Patron any longer. I’ve resigned.” He added: “They never have [paid],…
I know a lot of people were bummed out when author George R.R. Martin finally confessed that the much-anticipated fifth in his A Song of Ice and Fire series wouldn’t be out before the sixth season of Game of Thrones. But it turns out the long-delayed book may actually be right on time. The Washington…
/end .figure It is a time of tranquillity for the New Republic. The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant. Yesterday’s Rebels have become today’s administrators and diplomats, and the factions that fought against Imperial…
Moustafa Bayoumi is a professor of English at Brooklyn College, where I teach political science. His book, “This Muslim American Life,” came out in September. It’s a fascinating collection of pieces—sometimes hilarious, often unsettling, always probing and provocative—about, well, Muslim life in America, past and present. There’s a mini-memoir about the time Moustafa worked as…
Whether intentional, by coincidence, or because the plot points are obvious continuations of the established characters, there are a number of things in The Force Awakens that tread over ground the old Expanded Universe also walked. Major spoilers ahead. The New Republic and the Remainder of the Empire As in the original-now-Legends Expanded Universe, the…
Is Hermione Granger black? This is the question prompted by the casting of a black actor, Noma Dumezweni, as Hogwarts’ cleverest pupil in an upcoming theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The answer is twofold. First, why the hell not? Second, what a stupid question! A better one to ask is whether…
It is a fact universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of an opinion must be in want of a correction. Well, actually, no it isn’t, but who doesn’t love riffing on Jane Austen? The answer is: lots of people, because we’re all different and some of us haven’t even read Pride and Prejudice dozens…
Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever is a a classic of children’s literature, having sold millions of copies to parents looking for a fun way to teach their children simple vocabulary. The book was first published in 1963 and then updated in 1991. Interestingly, one of the reasons for the update was to show a…