Falling into Infinity

Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa 2012 para Rubem Fonseca

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Rubem Fonseca vence a edição de 2012 do Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa com o livro Bufo & Spallazani, sucedendo assim a Pedro Tamen. O comunicado do júri:

"No dia 22 de Fevereiro de 2012, reunidos na sala Estela do Hotel Axis Vermar, na cidade da Póvoa de Vazim, o júri decidiu que o Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa atribuído no âmbito da 13.ª edição do Encontro literário Correntes d'Escritas e entregue a Rubem Fonseca com o livro Bufo & Spallazani.

Este júri atribui o Prémio a Rubem Fonseca pelo seu livro Bufo & Spallazani, edição da Sextante, por ser uma obra reveladora da diversidade do humano, mostrando uma compreensão alargada das situações e problemas sociais.

Ao mesmo tempo, descobre-se na leitura deste livro um meta-discurso elaborado sobre a arte do romance.

Sublinhe-se também o rigor da escrita, bem como a qualidade da arquitectura romanesca.

Este livro desenvolve-se num ritmo narrativo muito sedutor na abordagem dos tipos humanos e no uso de uma linguagem coloquial."

Via Jornal de Letras.

Finalistas do Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:24:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes are judged by working writers, so in a very real sense they express the admiration of a community of peers. But even more, they tell us that reading is important, an essential way of connecting with, and understanding, the world in which we live. In a culture of flash and fashion, this can only bear repeating, which is what the Book Prizes do. Every year, they remind us of the power of books to move and enlighten us, to connect us to the best that we as human beings have to offer, to illuminate us through the written word.

Biography

————–

Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned, John A. Farrell(Doubleday)

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable (Viking)

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie(Random House)

Reading My Father: A Memoir, Alexandra Styron (Scribner)

My Long Trip Home, Mark Whitaker (Simon & Schuster)

————–

Current Interest

————–

Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything, David Bellos (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency, Ioan Grillo(Bloomsbury Press)

Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Pakistan: A Hard Country, Anatol Lieven (PublicAffairs)

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science and Fear, Seth Mnookin (Simon & Schuster)

————–

Fiction

————–

Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor (A Frances Coady Book/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje (Knopf)

The Buddha in the Attic, Julie Otsuka (Knopf)

Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories, Edith Pearlman(Lookout Books/University of North Carolina Wilmington)

Luminarium, Alex Shakar (SoHo Press)

————–

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

————–

The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach (Little, Brown & Company)

Ten Thousand Saints, Eleanor Henderson (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Leaving the Atocha Station, Ben Lerner (Coffee House Press)

Shards, Ismet Prcic (Black Cat/Grove/Atlantic)

The Arriviste, James Wallenstein (Milkweed Editions)

————–

Graphic Novel

————–

I Will Bite You! And Other Stories, Joseph Lambert (Secret Acres)

Celluloid, Dave McKean (Fantagraphics)

Finder: Voice, Carla Speed McNeil (Dark Horse)

Congress of the Animals, Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics)

Garden, Yuichi Yokoyama (PictureBox)

————–

History

————–

The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-Five Minutes in History and Imagination, Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury USA)

1861: The Civil War Awakening, Adam Goodheart (Knopf)

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, Adam Hochschild (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Molotov’s Magic Lantern: A Journey in Russian History,Rachel Polonsky (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America, Richard White (W.W. Norton & Company)

————–

Mystery / Thriller

————–

Started Early, Took My Dog, Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books/Hachette Book Group)

Plugged, Eoin Colfer (The Overlook Press)

11/22/1963, Stephen King (Scribner)

Snowdrops: A Novel, A.D. Miller (Doubleday)

The End of Wasp Season, Denise Mina (Reagan Arthur Books/Hachette Book Group)

————–

Poetry

————–

Songs of Unreason, Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press)

Discipline, Dawn Lundy Martin (Nightboat Books)

The Public Gardens, Linda Norton (Pressed Wafer)

Double Shadow: Poems, Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Devotions, Bruce Smith (University of Chicago Press)

————–

Science & Technology

————–

A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher, Joel Achenbach (Simon & Schuster)

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood, James Gleick (Pantheon)

Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, Mara Hvistendahl(PublicAffairs)

Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius, Sylvia Nasar(Simon & Schuster)

Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, Holly Tucker (W.W. Norton & Company)

————–

Young Adult Literature

————–

Beauty Queens, Libba Bray (Scholastic Press)

The Big Crunch, Pete Hautman (Scholastic Press)

A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd,Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press)

Life: An Exploded Diagram, Mal Peet (Candlewick Press)

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)

Os vencedores serão anunciados a 20 de Abril de 2012. A informação relativa às edições anteriores do prémio pode ser consultada aqui.

Troca-te! Da Primeira À Última Página

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Troca-te! Da Primeira À Última Página

Data: 25 de Fevereiro de 2012, pelas 15h.

Local: Sou - Associação Cultural.

Entrada: Livre.

Troca-te! Da Primeira À Última Página é a proposta que nos é feita: renovar a biblioteca pessoal de cada um sem adquirir um único livro, uma vez que basta trocarem os vossos livros por outros!

O evento tem início às 15 horas, e a cada participante será distribuída uma senha com o número de livros que poderão trocar, até um máximo de sete (um livro por cada exemplar que trouxerem). Contudo, podem levar mais livros como donativo (sobretudo material didáctico), uma vez que os livros que não forem trocados serão enviados para a cidade da Praia em Cabo Verde.

Pelas 15h30, dar-se-á início à leitura de um conto e poemas. Os participantes serão convidados a partilhar algumas leituras com os presentes. Podem levar obras específicas para esta partilha, ou aproveitar os livros que trazem para a troca e ler algumas passagens dos mesmos.

O evento terminará pelas 19 horas e não necessita de inscrição prévia.

Finalistas dos Bram Stoker Awards 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The final ballot for the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Awards™ for works published in 2011 has been compiled.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

A Matrix Of Angels by Christopher Conlon (Creative Guy Publishing)

Cosmic Forces by Greg Lamberson (Medallion Press)

Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi (Medallion Press / Thunderstorm Books)

Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)

Not Fade Away by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

The German by Lee Thomas (Lethe Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs (Night Shade Books)

The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee (Samhain Publishing)

The Panama Laugh by Thomas S. Roche (Night Shade Books)

That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley (JournalStone)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery by J.G. Faherty (JournalStone)

The Screaming Season (Possessions) by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)

Rotters by Daniel Kraus (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick / Walker)

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster / David Fickling Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

“Her Husband’s Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)

“Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May

2011)

“Hypergraphia” by Ken Lillie-Paetz (The Uninvited, Issue #1)

“Graffiti Sonata” by Gene O’Neill (Dark Discoveries #18)

“Home” by George Saunders (The New Yorker Magazine, June 13, 2011)

“All You Can Do Is Breathe” by Kaaron Warren (Blood and Other Cravings)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Voices: Tales of Horror by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)

Red Gloves Volume I & II [signed 2 volume slipcase] by Chrstopher Fowler (PS Publishing)

Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan (Volume One) by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Subterranean)

Monsters of L.A. by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)

The Corn Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)

Multiplex Fandango by Weston Ochse (Dark Regions Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology (Editing)

Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers edited by Tracy L. Carboned (NEHW)

Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense edited by Jack Dann & Nick Gevers (Harper Voyager)

Blood and Other Cravings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)

Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse)

Tattered Souls 2 edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press)

Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog & Leventhal)

Superior Achievement in Non-fiction

Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne (Pelican Publishing)

Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu edited by Gary William Crawford, Jim Rockhill and Brian J. Showers (Hippocampus Press)

Starve Better by Nick Mamatas (Apex Publications)

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies by Matt Mogk (Gallery Books)

The Gothic Imagination: Conversations on Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction in the Media by John C. Tibbetts (Palgrave Macmillan)

Stephen King: A Literary Companion (McFarland Literary Companions) by Rocky Wood (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend: Necon Contemporary Horror by Linda Addison (CreateSpace)

At Louche Ends: Poetry for the Decadent, the Damned & the Absinthe-Minded by Maria Alexander (Burning Effigy Press)

Surrealities by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)

Shroud of Night by G. O. Clark (Dark Regions Press)

The Mad Hattery by Marge Simon (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Unearthly Delights by Marge Simon (Sam’s Dot)

Os vencedores serão conhecidos no próximo dia 31 de Março, na World Horror Convention 2012.

Finalistas dos Nebula Awards 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is proud to announce the nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards (presented 2012), the nominees for the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book.

Novel

Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella

“Kiss Me Twice,” Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2011)
“Silently and Very Fast,” Catherynne M. Valente (WFSA Press; Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2011)
“The Ice Owl,” Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011)
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)
“The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary,” Ken Liu (Panverse Three, Panverse Publishing)
“With Unclean Hands,” Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011)

Novelette

“Fields of Gold,” Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4, Night Shade Books)
“Ray of Light,” Brad R. Torgersen (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2011)
“Sauerkraut Station,” Ferrett Steinmetz (Giganotosaurus, November 2011)
“Six Months, Three Days,” Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com, June 2011)
“The Migratory Pattern of Dancers,” Katherine Sparrow (Giganotosaurus, July 2011)
“The Old Equations,” Jake Kerr (Lightspeed Magazine, July 2011)
“What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

Short Story

“Her Husband’s Hands,” Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)
“Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son,” Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011)
“Movement,” Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2011)
“Shipbirth,” Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2011)
“The Axiom of Choice,” David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011)
“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees,” E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2011)
“The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

Os vencedores serão anunciados no Nebula Awards Weekend, a realizar entre 17 e 20 de Maio de 2012 em Airlington.

Leituras Digitais (12 a 18 de Fevereiro)

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Rubrica semanal de notícias e artigos relacionados com a edição de livros digitais.

How high can the e-book market go?

Whatever the absolute numbers, what this means is that consumer e-book sales are growing at a fairly consistent rate in the UK, and that rate appears to be much steeper than the rate seen in the US over an equivalent period. Since the Kindle launched in the US, in late 2007, trade e-book sales, as measured by the Association of American Publishers, have tended to at least double each year—2007 ($32m), 2008 ($53.5m), 2009 ($166.9m) and 2010 ($441.3m)—but they have never grown by as much as 500% in one 12-month window.

How Publishers Misunderstand Kindle

What’s interesting to me, beyond the privacy concerns I’ve addressed elsewhere, is how, with Kindle, book publishers now seem to be confusing means with ends. It’s understandable, really. As literary people they’re disposed to think about books as ends in themselves — as items people acquire for purposes of reading. Indeed, this has long been the “being” of books, especially physical ones. With Kindle, however, books are in the process of getting an existential makeover. Today they’re becoming prompts for all sorts of personal and ambient information, much of which then goes on to become proprietary to Amazon.com.

Cronologia da edição digital (1912-2012)

O site Dosdoce começa o ano de 2012 com a disponibilização de um novo estudo, desta vez uma «Cronologia da edição digital (1912-2012)», um guia para entender melhor a rápida evolução que está a acontecer na recente, mas intensa, história da edição digital.
O estudo (27 páginas, pdf) está disponível gratuitamente, mediante uma licença Creative Commons, para os utilizadores registados no Dosdoce.

What makes a good-looking eBook: Tips on eBook design for standard titles

So, what are the challenges of standard reflowable ebook design? Besides the difficulty of imposing a font on the reader, who will always have the option of changing it, the main problem is that reflowability precludes the existence of set proportions. Designing a printed book is all about arranging the text and illustrations on the page in the most visually pleasing way, but when you factor in reflowable text and a variety of screen and font sizes, it is virtually impossible to control the end result.

How Publishers Repeated The Same Mistake As Record Labels

What's truly amazing about this was just how obvious it was years ago when we (and many others) pointed this out. I mean, with the music execs you could kind of understand the mistake, because if you really don't think through a few steps out, you could be forgiven for thinking that DRM makes sense as a protectionist measure. But if you're a Big Six publisher, you didn't even have to think ahead a few moves. You just had to look at the monster the labels created by demanding DRM in iTunes (something they'd already started to move away from just as the Kindle was ramping up) and realize that demanding DRM would create the same situation with Amazon. But what's even more amazing is the fact that the big publishers still haven't figured this out so many years later.

Are books and the internet about to merge?

The distinction between the ebook/webpage, webpage/ebook is not a material one. In technological terms they are exactly the same thing. But when McGuire first mooted his argument on Twitter in April last year my response likely mirrors the response of many book readers, "Books are researched, written, edited, published, marketed … and hence paid for. The internet is ego noise, hence free." The distinction many of us draw between a book and a webpage is one of quality and hence of value. The real question raised by McGuire's argument is whether we continue to value ebooks as books, or as webpages. Books are something we pay for. Webpages are things we read for free. Which model will win out?

Metadata and the irrelevance of "cultural gatekeepers"

But here's the last thing: it's all about metadata. This is where we came in: Amazon recommendations. While Gus was principally complaining about Amazon's UX, I think his scepticism reflects something else: a sense that recommendations are better taken from people we trust than from algorithms. This remains a widespread notion, particularly among those of us of a certain age (and is of course the war cry of the kinds of gatekeepers who are losing their influence). But I insist: I'll go with the algorithms, thank you. Despite loving their power, I don't even really trust the niche communities referenced a moment ago; they tend to grow their own "leadership" and pretty soon we're back in the realm of gatekeepers, albeit on a minor scale.

Smashwords Has Published 100,000 eBooks

The self-publishing distributor Smashwords hit a new milestone earlier this week, just in time for its fourth anniversary. The world’s largest indie ebook distributor is now handling 100,000 eBooks from over 36,000 authors and publishers.
This four-year-old company is far and above the competition, and it handles more self-published titles than anyone short of Amazon (and possibly B&N PubIt!). Smashwords distributes to the Kindle Store, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, and it sells DRM-free eBooks in multiple formats direct from its website to anyone, anywhere in the world.

New York Times E-Book Best Sellers

A version of this list appears in the February 26, 2012 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending February 11, 2012.

E-Book Fiction

1. KILL SHOT, by Vince Flynn

2. CATCH ME, by Lisa Gardner

3. THE SWEETEST THING, by Barbara Freethy

4. DEFENDING JACOB, by William Landay

5. PRIVATE: #1 SUSPECT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Complete List »

E-Book Nonfiction

1. ONCE UPON A SECRET, by Mimi Alford

2. BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS, by Katherine Boo

3. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

4. STEVE JOBS, by Walter Isaacson

5. HILARITY ENSUES, by Tucker Max

Complete List »

Wall Street Journal E-Book Best Sellers (Week Ended Feb. 12)

Nonfiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
Once Upon a Secret	1	New
Mimi Alford/Random House
Heaven Is For Real	2	1
Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent/Thomas Nelson Publishers
Behind the Beautiful Forevers	3	New
Katherine Boo/Random House
Steve Jobs	4	3
Walter Isaacson/Simon & Schuster
Hilarity Ensues	5	New
Tucker Max/Blue Heeler Books
American Sniper	6	4
Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice/William Morrow & Co.
Ali in Wonderland	7	New
Ali Wentworth/HarperCollins
Unbroken	8	5
Laura Hillenbrand/Random House
The Vow	9	New
Kim Carpenter, Krickitt Carpenter with Dana Wilkerson/B&H Publishing Group
Hiding From Reality	10	New
Taylor Armstrong/Gallery Books

Fiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
Kill Shot	1	New
Vince Flynn/Atria Books
The Hunger Games	2	1
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Catching Fire	3	2
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Mockingjay	4	3
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Catch Me	5	New
Lisa Gardner/Penguin Group
The Sweetest Thing	6	—
Barbara Freethy/Barbara Freethy
Defending Jacob	7	9
William Landay/Random House
Daddy's Home	8	—
A.K. Alexander/A.K. Alexander
Private: #1 Suspect	9	8
James Patterson, Maxine Paetro/Little, Brown
The Help	10	10
Kathryn Stockett/Penguin Group

José Gil distinguido com Prémio Vergílio Ferreira

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

O júri do Prémio Vergílio Ferreira 2012, presidido pelo Prof. José Alberto Machado, da Universidade de Évora, atribuiu o galardão ao filósofo, ensaísta e professor universitário José Gil. O prémio, que inclui uma componente pecuniária de cinco mil euros, será entregue ao autor numa cerimónia pública a 1 de Março, data da morte de Vergílio Ferreira.

Cartas de Fernando Pessoa

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Vinte e cinco cartas do poeta, escritas entre 1907 e 1935, agora disponíveis no site da Casa Fernando Pessoa.

Revista Bang! n.º 11 disponível online

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Como de costume, a Saída de Emergência acaba de disponibilizar o mais recente número da revista Bang! em pdf.

Ficção

O Chapéu do Especialista - Kelly Link

Todas as Mortes - Luís Corte Real

A Aposta - Pedro Vicente Pedroso

O Jogo da Ratazana e do Dragão - Cordwainer Smith

Não ficção

Ilustrador da Capa – Joana Dias

Fantasia e Realidade: Os Pais da Ficção Científica - David Soares

Metais Pesados - Fernando Ribeiro

Enciclopédia da História Universal: (O) Artefacto voador de Tristan de Sapincourt - Afonso Cruz

Os Ratos Guerreiros - João Lameiras

Os livros das minhas vidas - Filipe Homem Fonseca

Entrevista - Luís Filipe Silva

Artefactos da Era Espacial - Pedro Piedade Marques

Entrevista - Justin Cronin

Entrevista - Robin Hobb

As restantes edições podem ser consultadas neste link.

A Lisboa de Saramago

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:39:00 +0000

A Lisboa de Saramago

Data: 22 de Fevereiro de 2012.

Local: Largo de São Domingos.

Inscrição: Através do e-mail dpcc@cm-lisboa.pt ou do telefone 218 170 628.

A Câmara Municipal de Lisboa e o seu Departamento Cultural estão a organizar durante este ano um conjunto de passeios culturais abertos ao público, mediante inscrição prévia.

Dois destes percursos são organizados em torno da obra e da vida de José Saramago. No próximo dia 22 de Fevereiro terá lugar o passeio A Lisboa de Saramago, que junta o universo do livro Memorial do Convento à vida do Escritor e à história da cidade.

Com partida no Largo de São Domingos e chegada à Casa dos Bicos, os participantes terão oportunidade de percorrer um conjunto de espaços relacionados com, por exemplo, o massacre dos judeus e o período negro da Inquisição.

Colóquio "Dracula and the Gothic"

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Encontra-se aberto - até 15 de Abril -, o período de submissão de apresentações para o colóquio Dracula and the Gothic in Literature, Pop Culture and the Arts, que se irá realizar a 29 e 30 de Junho deste ano, na Universidade do Minho, em Braga. A informação detalhada relativa ao evento pode ser consultada aqui.

Few literary works have had such a lasting influence on popular culture as Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). One hundred years after the Irish author’s death, the abundance of adaptations of the Romanian Count’s tale spans over all the arts and modes of expression. More than 200 film versions of Dracula exist, from Murnau’s inaugural 1922 Nosferatu to Coppola’s 1992 box office hit, but it is perhaps Bela Lugosi’s iconic interpretation in the 1931 horror film classic that first comes to mind. Theatre plays and musicals, as well as dance performances, also abound, making Dracula a trendy stage motif. TV adaptations are countless and even a remarkable radio version of Stoker’s story by Orson Welles (1938) is on record. Stoker’s character also features in such diverse media as video games, cartoons, comics, anime and manga.

In literature, the Gothic – a combination of horror, romance and melodrama in supernatural plots – can be traced back to Walpole’s 1764 The Castle of Otranto, A Gothic story, and the vampire theme also bears a Romantic matrix: Lord Byron’s epic poem “The Giaour” (1813), Coleridge’s “Christabel” (1816) and John W. Polidori’s short story The Vampyre (1819), not to mention Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), all present undead creatures as their uncanny protagonists. After Elizabeth C. Grey’s influential story The Skeleton Count (1828), two Victorian milestones are Varney the Vampire (1847), attributed to James M. Rymer, and Sheridan le Fanu’s novella Carmilla (1872). In the 20th century, Gothic and vampire fiction proliferated, with such authors as Algemon Blackwood, William Hodgson, M. R. James and, of course, H.P. Lovecraft, the most reputed writer of ‘cosmic horror’. To this day a steady production flow, which ranges from Richard Matheson to best-selling Stephen King, bears witness to Stoker’s 'undying' impact.

This interdisciplinary colloquium seeks to reappraise the multimodal and multimedia adaptations of Stoker’s Dracula, in their literary, cinematic, theatrical, televised and computerized facets, as well as the origins, evolution, imagery, mythology, theory and criticism of Gothic fiction and of the Gothic (sub)culture.

Via I Dream in Infrared.

Leituras Digitais (5 a 11 de Fevereiro)

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:24:00 +0000

Rubrica semanal de notícias e artigos relacionados com a edição de livros digitais.

Ebook sales are being driven by downmarket genre fiction

The ebook world is driven by so-called genre fiction, categories such as horror or romance. It's not future classics that push digital sales, but more downmarket fare. No cliche is left unturned, no adjective underplayed. At the time of writing, the bestselling Amazon Kindle book was Asylum Harbor, by Traci Hohenstein. Crime sells. Try a sample, I dare you. In digital, dross rises. But does this have implications for publishers' decision-making, as we increasingly migrate?

The Defence of the Book: a story by Julian Barnes

To mark National Libraries Day, the novelist adds an extra scene to his 1998 satire England, England in which he imagines what happens when the 'National Coalition' closes every library down.

Internet start of new chapter for old classics

That said, the availability of online texts offers huge and as yet unrealised possibilities. Joyce and Woolf are examples of how eager digital publishers might proceed, and even profit. Woolf was a writer of copious letters and diaries, and it would be interesting to align her fictional work with her parallel biographical work. Do parts of her life become transformed into parts of her work, or do phrases from the novels seep into her depiction of her self? Joyce, as almost everyone knows, is difficult. In the case of Finnegans Wake, every reader can probably find a joke or a pun or a reference in the book that has eluded a century of scholars. Wouldn’t Finnegans Wiki be the ideal way to pool resources and bring about the “encouragement of learning” for which early copyright yearned?

Librarians: a Dying Breed?

According to a new study of the textbook market by Bowker, library information science textbooks generated about 30% less revenue in academic year 2011 (ending in Spring 2011) than in the previous academic year. It topped the chart of “declining” disciplines at this morning’s Book Industry Study Group higher education publishing event in New York.
“It has to be taken into context; it’s a single year,” said Bowker vice president of publishing services Kelly Gallagher, who presented the report. “Is this a long-term trend?”

Amazon Publishing bookshop boycott grows

Now the US's independent booksellers have joined the boycott, with the American Booksellers Association's e-commerce platform for independent stores, IndieCommerce, beginning the process of removing all Amazon titles from its database, according to Publishers Weekly.
"While Amazon is seeking to distribute its print catalogue through conventional means, it seems that they are simultaneously pursuing a strategy of locking in ebook exclusives which other retailers are not allowed to sell. IndieCommerce believes that this is wrong," wrote director Matt Supko, in an email to independent booksellers. He also stated that "only publishers' titles that are made available to retailers for sale in all available formats will be included in the IndieCommerce inventory database".

Amazon corre para aumentar oferta de títulos em português

O objetivo da Amazon é ampliar o catálogo o mais rápido possível e, para isso, ela não apenas está buscando as editoras que já vendem e-books como também vai correr atrás daquelas que ainda não oferecem conteúdo digital. Isso porque a Amazon oferece o serviço de conversão para criar livros eletrônicos – mas apenas em formato .mobi, que só é lido pelo Kindle, o dispositivo de leitura da empresa.
O catálogo de 11 mil títulos em português disponível no Brasil é considerado pequeno. Em dezembro, as lojas de e-books (Kindle Store) que a Amazon abriu na Itália e na Espanha, por exemplo, foram inauguradas com mais títulos: 16 mil e 22 mil, respectivamente. E, para comparação com o mundo físico, uma livraria grande dentro de um shopping brasileiro é considerada bem servida quando tem 20 mil títulos nas prateleiras.

New York Times E-Book Best Sellers

A version of this list appears in the February 19, 2012 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending February 4, 2012.

E-Book Fiction

1. HOME FRONT, by Kristin Hannah

2. THE CAPTURE OF THE EARL OF GLENCRAE, by Stephanie Laurens

3. EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, by Jonathan Safran Foer

4. THE SUMMER GARDEN, by Sherryl Woods

5. PRIVATE: #1 SUSPECT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Complete List »

E-Book Nonfiction

1. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

2. STEVE JOBS, by Walter Isaacson

3. AMERICAN SNIPER, by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice

4. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand

5. QUIET, by Susan Cain

Complete List »

Wall Street Journal E-Book Best Sellers (Week Ended Feb. 5)

Nonfiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
Heaven Is For Real	1	3
Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent/Thomas Nelson Publishers
The Siege of Washington	2	—
John Lockwood, Charles Lockwood/Oxford University Press USA
Steve Jobs	3	4
Walter Isaacson/Simon & Schuster
American Sniper	4	7
Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice/William Morrow & Co.
Unbroken	5	8
Laura Hillenbrand/Random House
The End of Illness	6	—
David B. Agus/Free Press
Black Like Me	7	—
John Howard Griffin/Wings Press
Quiet	8	6
Susan Cain/Crown Publishing Group
My Seinfeld Year	9	9
Fred Stoller/Fred Stoller
Killing Lincoln	10	—
Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard/Henry Holt & Co.

Fiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
The Hunger Games	1	1
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Catching Fire	2	3
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Mockingjay	3	2
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Home Front	4	New
Kristin Hannah/St. Martin's Press
The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae	5	New
Stephanie Laurens/HarperCollins
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	6	4
Jonathan Safran Foer/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Summer Garden	7	New
Sherryl Woods/Mira
Private: #1 Suspect	8	7
James Patterson, Maxine Paetro/Little, Brown
Defending Jacob	9	New
William Landay/Random House
The Help	10	9
Kathryn Stockett/Penguin Group

Infográficos

Vídeos

eBooks da Biblioteca Nacional

Quintas de Leitura com Valter Hugo Mãe

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Via filboxaudiovisuais.

Manuscrito de Alice no País das Maravilhas

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:30:00 +0000

O manuscrito da versão original das aventuras de Alice – Alice’s Adventures Under Ground -, com ilustrações do próprio Lewis Carroll, encontra-se agora disponível integralmente na British Library.

This manuscript - one of the British Library's best - loved treasures - is the original version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, the pen-name of Charles Dodgson, an Oxford mathematician.

Dodgson was fond of children and became friends with Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell, the young daughters of the Dean of his college, Christ Church. One summer's day in 1862 he entertained them on a boat trip with a story of Alice's adventures in a magical world entered through a rabbit-hole. The ten-year-old Alice was so entranced that she begged him to write it down for her. It took him some time to write out the tale - in a tiny, neat hand - and complete the 37 illustrations. Alice finally received the 90-page book, dedicated to 'a dear child, in memory of a summer day', in November 1864.

Urged by friends to publish the story, Dodgson re-wrote and enlarged it, removing some of the private family references and adding two new chapters. The published version was illustrated by the artist John Tenniel.

Many years later, Alice was forced to sell her precious manuscript at auction. It was bought by an American collector, but returned to England in 1948 when a group of American benefactors presented it to the British Library in appreciation of the British people's role in the Second World War.

Via io9.

Do "acordo" ortográfico

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:30:00 +0000

A ordem dada por Vasco Graça Moura, novo presidente do Centro Cultural de Belém, no sentido da não aplicação do novo acordo ortográfico na instituição, veio reavivar um debate que se tinha vindo a acalmar nos últimos tempos. Por sua vez, António Feijó, director da Faculdade de Letras, afirma que a faculdade não tomou ainda qualquer posição relativamente ao acordo mas manifesta “toda a simpatia por aquilo que fez Vasco Graça Moura”.

Outras personalidades se pronunciaram nos últimos dias, na sua maioria congratulando a atitude de Graça Moura, e o tema tem sido amplamente discutido nas redes sociais. No entanto, de entre todas essas contribuições, destaca-se o esclarecimento simples e directo do escritor António de Macedo, que aqui reproduzo:

1 - A nova ortografia, acordada pelo Acordo Ortográfico de 1990 (AO90), foi promulgada pela Resolução da Assembleia da República (AR) n.º 26/91, de 23 de Agosto (com pequenas actualizações posteriores), e pormenorizada pela Resolução do Conselho de Ministros (CM) n.º 8/2011.

2 - A ortografia ainda em vigor, acordada pelo Acordo Ortográfico de 1945 (AO45), foi promulgada pelo Decreto n.º 35.228 de 8 de Dezembro de 1945, e ratificada em 1973, com pequenas alterações, pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 32/73 de 6 de Fevereiro.

3 - O Código do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos foi promulgado pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 63/85, de 14 de Março (com pequenas actualizações posteriores).

4 - Na hierarquia legislativa um Decreto-Lei está acima duma Resolução da AR ou do CM. Um Decreto-Lei é vinculativo, ao passo que uma Resolução é uma mera recomendação.

5 - Por conseguinte, uma Resolução não tem força legal para revogar um Decreto-Lei, e por isso o AO45 continua em vigor.

6 - Em caso de conflito entre a nova ortografia e o Direito do Autor, o que prevalece é o Decreto-Lei do Direito de Autor.

7 - Em consequência, nenhum editor é obrigado a editar os seus livros ou as suas publicações segundo a nova ortografia, nem nenhum Autor é obrigado a escrever os seus textos segundo o AO90. Mais ainda: tentar impor a nova ortografia do AO90 é um acto ilegal, porque o que continua legalmente em vigor é o AO45.

8 - Ao abrigo do Código do Direito de Autor, os Autores têm o direito de preservar a sua própria opção ortográfica, conforme consta do n.º 1 do Art. 56.º do Código do Direito de Autor e dos Direitos Conexos, onde se diz que o autor goza durante toda a vida do direito de assegurar a genuinidade e integridade da sua obra, opondo-se à sua destruição, a toda e qualquer mutilação, deformação ou outra modificação da mesma, e, de um modo geral, a todo e qualquer acto que a desvirtue.

9 - Embora no Artigo 93.º do mesmo Código do Direito de Autor se preveja a possibilidade de actualizações ortográficas, que não são consideradas "modificações", há sempre a opção legítima, por parte do Autor, de escrever como entender, por uma "opção ortográfica de carácter estético", mesmo que em 2015 o novo AO90 venha a ser eventualmente consagrado por Decreto-Lei, e não apenas, como agora, por uma simples Resolução da AR.

Para terminar, e entre parênteses, o novo AO90 é tão abstruso que é antidemocrático porque as várias sondagens que têm sido feitas desde há vários anos sempre apontaram para uma média de rejeição, do AO90, por cerca de 67 por cento da generalidade dos Portugueses - além de ter recebido, ao longo deste últimos anos, nove pareceres negativos emitidos por várias instituições, como por exemplo o Departamento de Linguística da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, a Comissão Nacional da Língua Portuguesa, a Direcção-Geral do Ensino Básico e Secundário, a Associação Portuguesa de Linguística e a Associação Portuguesa de Editores e Livreiros.

Via Cadernos de Daath.

Literatura Gótica: The Vampyre

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

John William Polidori

Este artigo revela uma parte considerável do enredo da obra.

John William Polidori nasceu em Londres a 7 de Setembro de 1795, filho do escritor e tradutor Gaetano Polidori (responsável pela tradução de Paradise Lost e The Castle of Otranto para italiano) e de Anna Maria Pierce. Em 1804 inicia a sua educação no Ampleforth College em Yorkshire, e em 1811 ingressa na Universidade de Edinburgo, conseguindo o seu doutoramento em medicina com apenas 19 anos.

Em 1816, através de uma recomendação de Sir William Knighton, Lord Byron contrata Polidori para o acompanhar nas suas viagens pela Europa como seu médico pessoal. Durante o Verão do mesmo ano instalam-se na Suiça, onde Byron é frequentemente visitado por Jane Clairmont, Percy Bysshe Shelley e Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, todos eles presentes na famosa competição realizada numa noite de Junho em que, após uma sessão de leitura de histórias de fantasmas, Byron desafiou cada um a escrever uma história dentro do género. A competição inspirou Mary Godwin, que começou a escrever uma das mais influentes obras da literatura gótica: Frankenstein; Byron cedo perdeu o interesse, limitando-se a escrever parcialmente um conto intitulado Augustus Darvell; Polidori dedicou-se a Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus - o único romance que viria a publicar - e, posteriormente, desenvolveu o conceito presente no fragmento de Byron, dando origem a The Vampyre.

Em 1819, Henry Colburn, procurando tirar partido da fama do poeta Inglês, publica The Vampyre na New Monthly Magazine com o subtítulo "A Tale by Lord Byron". Pouco tempo após a publicação, Polidori reclama a autoria da obra, muito embora reconheça a importância que Byron teve na sua constituição. A forma como o manuscrito chegou aos escritórios da New Monthly permanece um mistério, mas é facto que The Vampyre se tornou rapidamente num grande sucesso.

It happened that in the midst of the dissipations attendant upon London winter, there appeared at the various parties of the leaders of the ton a nobleman more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently, the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned. Those who felt this sensation of awe, could not explain whence it arose: some attributed it to the dead grey eye, which, fixing upon the object's face, did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings of the heart; but fell upon the cheek with a leaden ray that weighed upon the skin it could not pass.

The Vampyre destaca-se, essencialmente, por transportar o vampiro para o ambiente urbano. Até à data, tanto no folclore como na literatura, o vampiro era uma figura repugnante, subsistindo à base do instinto de modo a satisfazer a sua necessidade por sangue. Em contraste, a criação de Polidori – Lord Ruthven –, é uma personagem sofisticada e atraente, que se desloca pela alta sociedade inglesa sem levantar quaisquer suspeitas enquanto escolhe as suas vítimas. É esta ameaça latente, esta diluição da fronteira entre o natural e o sobrenatural, que torna Ruthven numa figura aterrorizadora de uma forma que os seus antecessores nunca conseguiram atingir.

O conto inicia-se apresentando o jovem e inexperiente Aubrey, que acredita que "os sonhos dos poetas são as realidades da vida," mas que cedo percebe, apesar da sua ingenuidade, que a vida social se distancia bastante do que se pode ler nos romances. Quebrada a ilusão, Aubrey fica intrigado com o misterioso mas fascinante Ruthven, e decide aproximar-se deste com a intenção de estudar a sua estranha personalidade. Eventualmente organizam uma viagem em conjunto, e é durante essa viagem que Aubrey detecta alguns sinais alarmantes no que toca à conduta do seu companheiro.

His companion was profuse in his liberality; -- the idle, the vagabond, and the beggar, received from his hand more than enough to relieve their immediate wants. But Aubrey could not avoid remarking, that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence by the misfortunes attendant even upon virtue, that he bestowed his alms; -- these were sent from the door with hardly suppressed sneers; but when the profligate came to ask something, not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to wallow in his lust, to sink him still deeper in his iniquity, he was sent away with rich charity. This was, however, attributed by him to the greater importunity of the vicious, which generally prevails over the retiring bashfulness of the virtuous indigent. There was one circumstance about the charity of his Lordship, which was still more impressed upon his mind: all those upon whom it was bestowed, inevitably found that there was a curse upon it, for they were all either led to the scaffold, or sunk to the lowest and the most abject misery.

Estas situações inquietam Aubrey, mas só quando recebe uma carta dos seus pais a alertar para a comportamento imoral e para a capacidade de sedução de Ruthven, é que decide abrir mão da sua amizade, decidido a não viajar com alguém “cujo carácter não tinha mostrado um único ponto brilhante.”

Após esta quebra de relações, prossegue sozinho para a Grécia, onde durante algum tempo explora as ruínas de Atenas e se apega à bela Ianthe, filha dos donos da casa onde tomou residência. Ironicamente, Ianthe tenta convencer o céptico Aubrey da existência de vampiros, acabando por perecer nas mãos de um. Perturbado pelo sucedido, Aubrey adoece e, para sua surpresa, ao acordar do seu sono febril encontra Ruthven a cuidar de si.

His lordship seemed quite changed; he no longer appeared that apathetic being who had so astonished Aubrey; but as soon as his convalescence began to be rapid, he again gradually retired into the same state of mind, and Aubrey perceived no difference from the former man, except that at times he was surprised to meet his gaze fixed intently upon him, with a smile of malicious exultation playing upon his lips: he knew not why, but this smile haunted him.

O inesperado acto leva a uma reconciliação, e os dois companheiros retomam a sua viagem durante a qual se tornam vítimas de uma emboscada. Durante o ataque Ruthven é ferido e acaba, aparentemente, por morrer, embora não sem antes obrigar Aubrey a jurar que ocultaria qualquer pormenor acerca dos seus crimes durante um ano e um dia. Decidido a não permanecer num país que só lhe trouxe infortúnios, e após descobrir que o amigo fora o responsável pela morte da encantadora Ianthe, Aubrey regressa a Inglaterra.

Gradualmente consegue abtrair-se do seu passado recente até uma noite em que, para seu choque, reencontra Ruthven. Tal acontecimento coloca-o num estado de histeria tal que a família se vê obrigada a confiná-lo ao seu quarto, com supervisão de um médico. O seu estado acaba por piorar ao se aperceber que a sua irmã está noiva de Ruthven, estando o casamento previsto exactamente para último dia do seu juramento. Incapaz de evitar que a sua irmã se torne em mais uma das vítimas do dissimulado vampiro, o seu desespero resulta no rompimento de um vaso sanguíneo, dando-lhe apenas tempo para relatar a sua história, revelando, finalmente, a verdadeira natureza de Lord Ruthven.

He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a vision arising from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the same form, when he unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was no colour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life that once dwelt there: -- upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein: -- to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "A Vampyre! a Vampyre!"

The Vampyre é importante não só por trazer o vampiro para a esfera aristocrática, mas também por ilustrar um período de transição na literatura gótica, em que os medos, que antes ganhavam forma nos oprimentes castelos ou mosteiros, passaram a ser incorporados por monstros. De facto, o persuasivo Ruthven encarna o receio que a nobreza tinha por homens elegantes e sem escrúpulos, capazes de atrair e desonrar as suas filhas, arruinando-as a nível moral e social. É também aterrorizador no sentido em que consegue subverter as normas sexuais, usando isso a seu favor para exercer um forte domínio tanto sobre as mulheres como sobre os homens.

Por outro lado, Polidori não adopta a típica estrutura utilizada na grande maioria dos romances góticos produzidos até à data, algo especialmente evidente no casamento que se realiza no final do conto, casamento esse que, ao invés de representar uma fase de libertação do mal que assombrou a história, representa, isso sim, a libertação e o triunfo desse próprio mal.

Independentemente da influência de Byron, que levou muitos a acusar Polidori de plágio, a verdade é que este último transformou um fragmento inacabado numa história coesa, estabelecendo um modelo que viria desenvolvido por James Rymer em Varney the Vampire, por Sheridan Le Fanu em Carmilla e, acima de tudo, por Bram Stoker em Dracula. É, pois, imerecidamente que este autor permanece na sombra, quando a sua contribuição, embora curta, se ramificou até aos nossos dias.

Edições:

The Vampyre encontra-se disponível no Project Gutenberg ou no Google Books, assim como em diversas antologias entra as quais recomendo The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre (Oxford University Press) ou, para quem preferir uma versão traduzida, Histórias de Vampiros (Relógio D’Água).

Referências:

Birkhead, Edith. The Tale of Terror . Project Gutenberg, 2004. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14154

Bomarito, Jessica. Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2006.

Botting, Fred. Gothic. Londres: Routledge, 1996.

Heiland, Donna. Gothic and Gender: An Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Polidori, John William. The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre. Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Nigel Leask, Polidori, John William (1795–1821), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22466

Punter, David; Byron, Glennis. The Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Originalmente publicado no Portal Gótico.

Colóquio Mensageiros das Estrelas – Convite à participação

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Estão abertas as inscrições para participação na segunda edição do Mensageiros das Estrelas - Colóquio Internacional de Ficção Científica e Fantasia. O comunicado oficial é apresentado abaixo.

Para mais informações podem consultar o website do evento.

O Centro de Estudos Anglísticos da Universidade de Lisboa convida à participação nesta iniciativa, a realizar nos dias 28, 29 e 30 de Novembro de 2012 na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, com apresentações de 20 minutos (máximo) ou propostas de painéis com o máximo de 3 participantes. Os tópicos incluem, mas não se limitam a:

- Banda Desenhada

- Ciência e Ficção

- Fantasia e Ficção Científica no ecrã (cinema, televisão, web,videojogos, etc…)

- Fantasia e narrativa infantil

- Fantasia e o Gótico

- Imaginação e Fantasia

- Inteligência Artificial

- Lugar e não-lugar

- Utopias/Distopias

- Viagens

Resumos:

Os resumos (com o máximo de 250 palavras) devem ser enviados para mensageirosdasestrelas@gmail.com acompanhados de um breve CV (máximo 50palavras) até dia 29 de Fevereiro de 2012.

A resposta de aceitação será enviada até dia 2 de Maio de 2012.

Línguas de trabalho: Português e Inglês

Inscrições:

Primeira Fase: 21 de Maio – 30 de Junho

100 euros (75 estudantes)

Segunda Fase: 1 de Julho – 7 de Setembro

150 euros

Importante:

1) A inscrição só é considerada efectiva após a confirmação do pagamento.

2) Os participantes deverão tratar da respectiva viagem e reservas de hotel.

3) Os alunos deverão apresentar prova em como são estudantes

Sessão “José e Pilar, Versão Longa” na Cinemateca Portuguesa

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Sessão “José e Pilar, Versão Longa”

Data: 11 de Fevereiro, pelas 15h30.

Local: Sala Félix Ribeiro, Cinemateca Portuguesa.

Entrada: Livre.

"José e Pilar" será exibido no próximo dia 11 de Fevereiro, a partir das 15h30, numa versão longa de montagem que perfaz um total de 291 minutos de projecção e será apresentada ao longo de dia, na sala Félix Ribeiro, em cinco partes com intervalos de cerca de quinze minutos entre cada uma delas.

As partes em que o filme é apresentado nesta versão correspondem a "cinco actos" respectivamente filmados em Lanzarote; Azinha, México, Madrid, Ferrol, Finlândia e Portugal; Castril, Madrid e Lanzarote; Portugal; Lanzarote e Brasil.

Leituras Digitais (29 de Janeiro a 4 de Fevereiro)

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:57:00 +0000

Rubrica semanal de notícias e artigos relacionados com a edição de livros digitais.

Threats to Digital Lending

We need to walk a mile or two in the publishers’ shoes to appreciate rights holders’ concerns. The ebook phenomenon endangers the way publishers do business. Gone are the big sales realized in the known business cycle, where publishers could depend on the success of hardcover bestsellers and later make the same titles available in paperback, bringing in another chunk of change. Gone are the bookstores that promoted sales, encouraged browsing, and provided sidewalk marketing appeal. Gone is the ability to have greater control over pricing, as online sellers undercut prices to gain market share. If we work with publishers, could we find common ground leading to workable solutions?

Is There Hope for Barnes & Noble?

B&N needs to focus its efforts on the Nook and ebooks; it does not need to be distracted by b&m stores. Yet it cannot abandon the b&m market altogether because it is that market, which if carefully supported and nurtured by B&N from the outside, can lead to B&N’s ultimate survival and its ability to compete against Amazon.

B&N needs to focus its efforts on its brand and making people think of B&N first when it comes to book buying. I think B&N can pull this off, but only with much more creative thinking by its management than has been shown to date. B&N has unwilling allies in the indie bookstores because Amazon is a threat to all booksellers and because Amazon is very nimble in addressing marketplace needs. B&N has to convert these unwilling allies into willing allies because all their futures are intertwined.

The self-epublishing bubble

But all of this gives me an alarming sense of deja vu. There's another name for what happens when people start to make money out of speculation and hype: it's called a bubble. Like the dotcom bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, the subprime mortgage bubble, the credit bubble and the derivative trading bubble before it, the DIY epublishing bubble is inflating around us. Each of those other bubbles also saw, in their earliest stages, a great deal of fuss made over a "new" phenomenon, which was then over-hyped and over-leveraged. But speculation, as we've learned at our peril, is a very dangerous foundation for any business. And when the epub bubble bursts, as all previous bubbles have done, the fall-out for publishing and writing may be even harder to repair than it is proving to be in the fields of mortgages, derivatives and personal debt. Because this bubble is based on cultural, not purely economic, grounds.

Franzen on e-books, the end of books and more

I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change. Will there still be readers 50 years from now who feel that way? Who have that hunger for something permanent and unalterable? I don’t have a crystal ball. But I do fear that it’s going to be very hard to make the world work if there’s no permanence like that.

Study: As E-Readers Increase, So Does Resistance

A study presented by book marketing firm Verso Advertising at Digital Book World last week finds that 15.8 percent of book buyers already own an e-reader—that figure has doubled since 2010. But 51.8 percent of book buyers say they are “not at all likely” to purchase one in the next 12 months. That is up from 40 percent in 2009.

Seven Advantages Barnes & Noble Has in the Bookseller Wars

In Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble faces a tough competitor. If business is war, Jeff Bezos is a battle-tested and decorated general. As popular as the Nook eReader is, the Kindle is much more so. As cheap as Barnes & Noble might price its books, Amazon often undercuts them. If Barnes & Noble stakes out a new market, Amazon follows the charge, guns blazing. Barnes & Noble declined to comment for this article (see second editor’s note below).

Given the state of the company and of its competition, what are the advantages it has in the bookseller wars?

The power of paper in a digital era

I've often written on this blog about the resilience of old media, and the tenacity of ink and paper. There's a precedent for this from the era of Caxton and Gutenberg. The moveable type of the 1460s and 70s certainly made a communications revolution, but manuscript scribes and vellum documents survived long into the 16th century, and beyond.

The same's happening today. Ink and paper lives on in countless surprising ways. I see that the University of East Anglia has just announced the acquisition of a manuscript archive: more than 50 boxes of typed manuscripts, short stories, pencil drafts, notes and re-workings by the Yorkshire-based novelist Robert Edric. A self-proclaimed "hoarder" of his own work, the archive shows in fantastic detail the creative writing process.

Are Sony's Days in eBooks Numbered?

Sony once aimed its sights at being a big player in digital publishing. It created its own ebook format, was one of the major drivers behind Adobe updating the neglected ACS3 with the ACS4 DRM service, were the early backers of the ePub format and of course introduced several eink ereaders. It even entered into one of those ‘exclusive trade deals’ with UK retailer Waterstones. However it failed to deliver the list, didn't not develop a plausible platform and lost the eink world to Kindle. Some five years on and how times have changed. Sony were around at the begining of the digital reading chapter, but this may be one ebook that will remain unfinished and is in danger of slipping from the front list and going out of digital print.

The Big Reasons Indie Authors Aren't Taken Seriously

Several predictions have stated that 2012 will be “The Year of the Indie Author”. After all, 2011 saw some awfully big moments.

John Locke became the first indie to break the Kindle million-seller mark. Amanda Hocking, Queen of the indie vampire books, signed a ginormous contract with St. Martins Press. And The New York Times deigned to include indies on their best seller list, where every week at least one title - often more - are contained. By all indications, you’d expect that readers and traditional media alike would be wrapping their arms collectively around indie authors and their books into something akin to a big ‘ole hug.

And yet… not so much.

New York Times E-Book Best Sellers

A version of this list appears in the February 12, 2012 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending January 28, 2012.

E-Book Fiction

1. EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, by Jonathan Safran Foer

2. TAKEN, by Robert Crais

3. ONE FOR THE MONEY, by Janet Evanovich

4. DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT, by Lara Adrian

5. PRIVATE: #1 SUSPECT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Complete List »

E-Book Nonfiction

1. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

2. FAIRY TALE INTERRUPTED, by RoseMarie Terenzio

3. STEVE JOBS, by Walter Isaacson

4. QUIET, by Susan Cain

5. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand

Complete List »

Wall Street Journal E-Book Best Sellers (Week Ended Jan. 29)

Nonfiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People	1	—
Stephen R. Covey/Rosetta Books
The Fall of the Roman Empire	2	—
Peter Heather/Oxford University Press
Heaven Is For Real	3	2
Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent/Thomas Nelson Publishers
Steve Jobs	4	3
Walter Isaacson/Simon & Schuster
Fairy Tale Interrupted	5	New
RoseMarie Terenzio/Gallery Books
Quiet	6	New
Susan Cain/Crown Publishing Group
American Sniper	7	5
Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice/William Morrow & Co.
Unbroken	8	6
Laura Hillenbrand/Random House
My Seinfeld Year	9	—
Fred Stoller/Fred Stoller
Inside Apple	10	New
Adam Lashinsky/Grand Central Publishing

Fiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
The Hunger Games	1	1
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Mockingjay	2	3
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Catching Fire	3	2
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	4	4
Jonathan Safran Foer/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Taken	5	New
Robert Crais/Penguin Group
One for the Money	6	—
Janet Evanovich/Scribner
Private: #1 Suspect	7	8
James Patterson, Maxine Paetro/Little, Brown
Darker After Midnight	8	New
Lara Adrian/Random House
The Help	9	5
Kathryn Stockett/Penguin Group
The Wedding Gift	10	—
Marlen Suyapa Bodden/Marlen Suyapa Bodden

Pó dos Livros Vintage

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

A livraria Pó dos Livros inaugurou recentemente uma nova página, denominada Pó dos Livros Vintage, onde serão listados, a preços convidativos, diversos livros raros, esgotados e usados. A nova página dispõe também de um serviço de encomendas para títulos difíceis de encontrar no mercado livreiro português.

Se há muito procura aquele livro que não encontra em lado nenhum, nós podemos fazê-lo por si. Para além da secção de usados na livraria, percorremos sistematicamente alfarrabistas, feiras de usados, armazéns, etc., em busca do livro tão desejado. Por vezes, dizem-nos que fazemos milagres, pode ser que consigamos fazer outro.

Clube de Leitura do Fantástico

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:14:00 +0000

Clube de Leitura do Fantástico

Moderação: Rogério Ribeiro.

Data: Sexta-feira, uma vez por mês, a partir das 19h.

Local: Bertrand do Chiado.

Entrada: Inscrição prévia.

Para os amantes do Fantástico este é o Clube certo para si. Mês a mês serão analisadas obras diferentes que marcaram o género ao longo da história da literatura, desde os clássicos aos contemporâneos. Para se tornar membro é só preencher o formulário aqui e enviar.

Com convidados especiais todos os meses, cada encontro será como uma autêntica tertúlia em que tanto iniciados como veteranos no tema do Fantástico encontrarão neste clube uma forma diferente de viver a literatura e a leitura.

Correntes d'Escritas 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Correntes d´Escritas 2012

Data: 23 a 25 de Fevereiro.

Programa

Dia 23, quinta-feira, 17h00 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 1: «A Escrita é um risco total» – Eduardo Lourenço

Almeida Faria, Ana Paula Tavares, Eduardo Lourenço, Hélia Correia e Rubem Fonseca

Moderador: José Carlos de Vasconcelos

Dia 24, sexta-feira, 10h30 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 2: «O fim da arte superior é libertar» – Fernando Pessoa

Alberto S. Santos, Fernando Pinto do Amaral, José Jorge Letria, Luís Quintais, Sofia Marrecas Ferreira e Care Santos

Moderador: João Gobern

Dia 24, sexta-feira, 15h00 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 3: A Poesia é o resultado de uma perfeita economia das palavras

Jaime Rocha, João Luís Barreto Guimarães, Manuel António Pina, Manuel Rui e Margarida Vale de Gato

Moderador: Ivo Machado

Dia 24, sexta-feira, 17h30 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 4: Toda a literatura é pura especulação

Eduardo Sacheri, Inês Pedrosa, João Bouza da Costa, Manuel Jorge Marmelo, Pedro Rosa Mendes e Rosa Montero

Moderador: Bia Corrêa do Lago

Dia 24, sexta-feira, 22h00 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 5: A escrita é um investimento inesgotável no prazer

Afonso Cruz, Ana Luísa Amaral, Júlio Magalhães, Manuel Moya, Rui Zink e Valter Hugo Mãe

Moderador: Henrique Cayatte

Dia 25, sábado, 10h30 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 6: Da crise da escrita não se pode fugir

Carmo Neto, João Pedro Marques, Miguel Real, Sandro William Junqueira, Valeria Luiselli e Salgado Maranhão

Moderador: Onésimo Teotónio Almeida

Dia 25, sábado, 16h00 – Auditório Municipal

Mesa 7: «As ideias são fundos que nunca darão juros nas mãos do talento» – Antoine Rivarol

Eugénio Lisboa, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Helena Vasconcelos, João de Melo, Luís Sepúlveda e Onésimo Teotónio Almeida

Moderador: Maria Flor Pedroso

Via Diário Digital.

Exposição "Fernando Pessoa, Plural como o Universo"

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Exposição "Fernando Pessoa, Plural como o Universo"

Data: 9 de Fevereiro a 30 de Abril de 2012.

Local: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

Estarão disponíveis objetos nunca antes expostos em Portugal e também exemplares de toda a obra de Fernando Pessoa em português e traduzida para outras línguas, instalados numa mesa com oito metros de comprimento por quatro de largura, para proporcionar aos visitantes uma oportunidade de leitura ou releitura da obra.

A mostra, com curadoria de Carlos Filipe Moisés e Richard Zenith, terá ainda uma forte componente multimédia, composta por filmes e poemas ditos.

Além do catálogo da exposição, será lançado um livro intitulado "Fernando Pessoa: o editor, o escritor e os seus leitores", com um conjunto de 50 depoimentos pedidos a igual número de personalidades portuguesas e estrangeiras que dão conta da sua relação com a obra do poeta.

Via Diário de Notícias.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

Conferência sobre "Peregrinação", de Fernão Mendes Pinto

noreply@blogger.com (Ricardo Lourenço) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Ciclo "Livros Difíceis": Conferência sobre "Peregrinação" de Fernão Mendes Pinto

Convidado: Rui Zink.

Data: 7 de Fevereiro, pelas 18h30.

Local: Casa Fernando Pessoa.

Entrada: Livre.