By Edward Nawotka
In the UK, the big news was the announcement of the Booker Prize Long List, which has now been dubbed the awkward sounding “Man Booker Dozen.” (There are 13 titles on the list, which of course purposefully makes this the Man Baker’s Dozen). On a list that features stalwarts such as A.S. Byatt and William Trevor, both the Guardian and the Times of London concur that the judges were being playful when they included James Lever’s Me Cheeta, a faux “memoir” by Johnny Weissmuller’s chimp co-star in the Tarzan films. Amazon.com points out that all but one of the titles are available in America.
In the US, HarperCollins has named Margot Schupf to a new “experimental” role of editorial director, digital publishing, for the Morrow/Avon/Eos group. “I thought it would be interesting to come at e-books from a content perspective,” Ms. Schupf told Crain’s New York. “A lot of people are coming at it from a marketing and distribution perspective.”
Comic-Con coverage continues and among the best pieces comes from Time critic Lev Grossman, who says it’s a place where “it’s hard not to go all Hunter Thompson.” The fact that Time has a blog called “Nerd World,” shows just how mainstream geek culture has gone. That said, I just watched the movie adaptation of Watchman yesterday and, despite being a fan of the graphic novel since it was first published (I was tipped to it by a very with-it lit professor in college) I can’t honestly say that I appreciate the unrelentingly bleak worldview and quasi-libertarian morality tale of the movie version. Personally, I think I prefer my costumed superheroes in something more frivolous and fun – an ethic Comic-con seems to sustain, despite all the Hollywood types hanging around.