Movie news
We're rarely happy about Wordcandy movie adaptations, but we've found that if we play it safe and keep our expectations very, very low, we can usually get through them without too much trauma. Un...
Valentine's Day options
Valentine's Day is nearly upon us, and, as always, the Wordcandy staff is on the lookout for appropriate holiday reading. We understand that this is a holiday that evokes a wide array of emotion...
Manga review
Brigid at MangaBlog has an interesting, largely positive review up of two interconnected manga volumes from the UK's Sweatdrop Studios: Blue is for Boys and Pink is for Girls. Both books feature ...
How To Abduct a Highland Lord, by Karen Hawkins
Karen Hawkins had a good thing going when she began How To Abduct a Highland Lord. The story had solid dramatic potential, the characters were appealing, and she’s a decent writer. Unfortunately...
Further Pullman movie action
Masterpiece Theater has made a film adaptation of Phillip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke. It debuted last night, but chances are good you can catch it on repeats. The Ruby in the Smoke is not m...
Odds and ends.
A few reactions, some Harry Potter bits, and another anime/manga rec:1. I have now seen the first episode of the the Wallflower anime, and yes, the artwork is awful. (Plus, they chose a disturbi...
If you haven't already heard...
J.K. Rowling made the big announcement today: the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be published on July 21. Make reservations at your local book stor...
The Wallflower anime
Thanks to Wordcandy reader Kayleigh, I am now aware of the existence of the anime version of Tomoko Hayakawa's Wallflower series (Japanese title: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge). This is one of my ...
Heir Apparent, by Vivian Vande Velde
While many fantasy fans will enjoy Vivian Vande Velde’s YA novel Heir Apparent, it will resonate most with readers that are familiar with fantasy-based computer games. If you’ve ever happily played a Sierra game into the wee hours of the night...
Fantasy geeks take note.
On January 27, NPR's "All Things Considered" ran an article on the changing image of dragons. If interested, click here to listen to Rick Kleffel talk about modern dragon PR, using evidence from ...
Only to be expected
The film adaptation of Annette Curtis Klause's wonderful YA novel Blood and Chocolate is out today, and the reviews are uniformly unenthusiastic. There's a lot of comments along the lines of "it'...
Austen sequel goodness
Margaret C. Sullivan, editor of AustenBlog, has written a sequel to Northanger Abbey entitled There Must Be Murder. Sullivan's story will be published as a serialized novella, with one chapter app...
The Oxford Murders, by Guillermo Martinez
It’s a good thing that Guillermo Martinez’s mystery The Oxford Murders was only 200 pages long, seeing as I had to read half of it twice (and I suspect I’m not the only one). Mr. Martinez is all too willing to embrace big words, obscure metaphors, and complicated mathematical references. Happily, his elegantly wrought whodunit is entertaining enough to hook readers, despite...
Manhwa for the masses
I'm currently enjoying two very similar manhwa titles: Sun Hee Lee's Neck and Neck (released through TokyoPop), and YunHee Lee's Angel Diary, from Ice Kunion. I think Ice Kunion is doing a slig...
Finally, covers I like!
I know that a lot of my posts tend to be about cover art that I hate. It's not that I don't find covers that I like, it's that when I see covers that are unbelievably bad or embarrassing I feel l...
The Rhythm of the Road, by Albyn Leah Hall
Albyn Leah Hall is an author to watch, but nobody would describe her as being remotely Wordcandy-friendly. Her book The Rhythm of the Road is full of familiar images from country music: miss...
The Magic Pudding
The hardworking people at Dover Thrift have just released a handsome illustrated edition of Norman Lindsay's 1918 novel The Magic Pudding: Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bi...
Classier and classier...
Zenescope Entertainment is offering another twist on the popular revamped fairytale genre: an R-rated comic book version! Doesn't their "Grimm Fairy Tales" series look delightful?Dude, that's ful...
Shojo exhibit hits DC
The international touring exhibit "Girl Power! Girls' Comics from Japan" is coming to Washington D.C. on January 30th. Curated by Dr. Masami Toku, Associate Professor of Art and Art History at C...
Must-see PBS TV.
PBS's upcoming TV adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is scheduled to air on January 21st and 28th. I have yet to enjoy a televised version of a Bronte novel, but this one looks pretty impr...
Holy cow--is she smiling?
Unable to get Sarah Michelle Gellar to stop looking like a wet week, Joss Whedon has turned to comic books to continue his story. Behold: Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season eight, coming soon to a...
Greywalker, by Kat Richardson
Kat Richardson’s debut novel Greywalker is a rare beast: a female-oriented fantasy/horror story without a single kinky sex scene. There’s a minor romantic subplot (and the heroine encounters a few alternate romantic possibilities), but Richardson seems much more interested in her cloudy Seattle setting, her levelheaded P.I. heroine, and her tense, action-packed plot...
Another step backward.
First we have the new and, ah, "improved" Meg Cabot website, now we have a revised cover for the first book in Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars series. I am not sure what our authors are thinking thi...