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The Isolate Tower: An Earthsea Compendium
A compendium of information regarding the people, places & things of Earthsea, created by Ursula Le Guin. Maintained by the Espresso Addict
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Science fiction author Brian Aldiss dies aged 92
The prolific writer behind more than 80 books and editor of 40 anthologies died at his Oxford home after celebrating his birthday. Brian Aldiss, the “grand old man” of science fiction whose writing has shaped the genre since he was first published in the 1950s, has died at the age of 92.
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A Number of Reasons I’ve Been Depressed Lately
One. It’s early September of 2015 and I’m on the island of Santorini for a literary festival. After the short reading, which takes place outdoors on a patio, the Greek audience asks questions, the first of which is, “What do you think of Donald Trump?”
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Famous Writers and their Feline Friends
Men are often portrayed in the company of dogs. They hunt together, run happily side by side, and ride shoulder to shoulder in mud-splattered pickups—the p
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Writers Guild Members Vote for Strike Authorization With 96% Support
More than 96% of the voting members of the Writers Guild of America have authorized a strike against production companies. The WGA released the results Monday, a day ahead of the resumption of contract negotiations on a master contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A work stoppage could start as early as May 2, after the current three-year master contract has expired.
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15 things Kurt Vonnegut said better than anyone else ever has or will
1. "I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'" The actual advice here is technically a quote from Kurt Vonnegut's "good uncle" Alex, but Vonnegut was nice enough to pass it on at speeches and in A Man Without A Country. Though he was sometimes derided as too gloomy and cynical, Vonnegut's most resonant messages have always been hopeful in the face of almost-certain doom. And his best advice seems almost ridiculously simple: Give your own happiness a bit of brainspace.
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'Are We Alone?' Churchill Concludes It's Likely Life Circles Other Suns
In an essay written in 1939, Winston Churchill pondered the possibility that there might be life elsewhere in the universe. The document was recently rediscovered in a museum in Fulton, Mo.
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A blunt conversation about life online with Bret Easton Ellis
Movies? Finished. Novels? Dead. The web? A black hole of insanity. Welcome to the world of a literary maverick who’s brutally honest about the digital age.
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Chris Kraus, Female Antihero
She turned her failures as a filmmaker and in her romantic relationships into the boundary-breaking autobiographical novel “I Love Dick.”
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Anne Barnard: a portrait of a very unusual lady
Stephen Taylor has found a goldmine in the risqué memoirs of this charming, adventurous Georgian aristocrat, who bravely defied convention in the pursuit of true love. By Jane Ridley.
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John Berger: ‘If I’m a storyteller it’s because I listen’
On 5 November, John Berger will turn 90. As I travel to Paris to meet him, I carry a bagful of books. There are recently published art historical writings, Portraits, and, to coincide with his 90th birthday, Landscapes (judiciously selected by Tom Overton for Verso), a fascinating series of encounters with the thinkers who have mattered to Berger, from Brecht and Walter Benjamin to Rosa Luxemburg. A marvellous miscellany of more recent work, Confabulations, has just been published by Penguin, and A Jar of Wild Flowers...
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The Writer Who Was Too Strong To Live
Jennifer Frey drank herself to death. By Dave McKenna.
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Six words added to Oxford English Dictionary to celebrate Roald Dahl’s 100th Birthday Anniversary
Roald Dahl, who was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter and fighter pilot, remembered for his witty, beautifully written children’s books, the author having created some of our most beloved fictional characters. He often used incredibly unique words to describe the vivid worlds of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda.
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The Better Call Saul Team on the Challenges of Making a Prequel and Why You’ll Never See White Buttons on the Show
Two seasons in and Better Call Saul is already one of the most respected dramas currently on TV. This year, it’s up for seven Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama and Outstanding Lead Actor. Earlier this summer, New York’s Matt Zoller Seitz sat down with Better Call Saul cast members Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, and Michael McKean, and co-creator Peter Gould, for a wide-ranging conversation on the morality of each of Saul’s characters, how plot development can be confining in a prequel, and why no men's shirts on the show have white buttons.
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The Old Man
A writer remembers his father. By David Means.
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J.R.R. Tolkien Reads from The Lord of the Rings and Sings “Sam’s Rhyme of the Troll” in a Rare Recording
In the summer of 1952, sixty-year-old J.R.R. Tolkien (January 3, 1892–September 2, 1973) encountered a tape recorder for the first time, which resulted in some wonderful archival audio of the beloved author reading from The Hobbit. So enchanted was Tolkien with this novel technology that he proceeded to record himself reading much of his work over the years to come.
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Lawrence of Arabia: New Play Tackles Man Behind Movie Image
When most people think of TE Lawrence they focus on filmmaker David Lean's portrayal but a new play paints a different picture of the psychologically complex man.
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The Last Word On Nothing | Shakespeare Was a Journalist
This past Saturday, the world celebrated the birthday of a guy named William Shakespeare. He was born in Stratford-on-Avon in England on April 23, 1564, and died on or about the same date in 1616. Pretty much every reputable Shakespeare scholar and literary historian argues—based on historical evidence—that this William Shakespeare was the author, alone or in collaboration, of the plays we know today. But since at least the mid-1800s, a few of those who love Shakespeare’s plays have...
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All Right Then, I’ll Go to Hell
FOR AMERICANS, Mark Twain is something akin to gravity, a massive and foundational force whose magnificence has worn off through familiarity.
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Stephen King Used These 8 Writing Strategies to Sell 350 Million Books
The best-selling novelist shares his secrets to selling so many books. Stephen King is one of the most prolific and commercially successful authors of the past half century, with more than 70 books of horror, science fiction, and fantasy to his name. Estimates put the total sales of his books at between 300 and 350 million copies. 16 years ago, King shared everything he knows about writing in a book that instantly became a bestseller: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
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