Link Salad

Happy early birthday to rosamundeb and kalquessa! May you have a fantastic day and new year to come.

Virginia has been quite a sick girl, which is why I have been quiet of late. She's on the mend, but all good thoughts and positive vibes sent her way are most appreciated.


I have lots of links to share:

Re: General Coolness:
* From The Guardian: "How a Hobbit Is Rewriting the History of the Human Race."

* Cheryl Morgan offers insights on the podcast/StarShipSofa issue for the Hugos: "Part of Which Community?"

* I'm so excited: the 2011 Tolkien calendar will feature the art of Cor Blok. (Thanks for the great news, wellinghall!)


Re: Dystopian Fiction:
* From Jo Walton at Tor: "Where Are the Positive Futures?"

* The Last Blog in the Universe interviews Presenting Lenore's Lenore on her "Dystopian February": "Lenore's Dystopia Side."

* Presenting Lenore interviews Maria V. Snyder and offers a giveaway contest for Snyder's young adult dystopian novel Inside Out here.

* Presenting Lenore interviews Rhiannon Hart on young adult dystopias. (Note: Rhiannon Hart's Dystopian Challenge wrap-up post is well worth reading, as well.)


Re: Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy:
* From Travis Prinzi at The Hog's Head: "The Hunger Games: Power and Imagination."

* From John Granger at Hogwarts Professor: "Unlocking ‘The Hunger Games’: The Surface, Moral, Allegorical, and Sublime Meanings."


"Still lie the sheltering snows, undimmed and white;
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year's ill,
And prayer to purify the new year's will."
- Helen Hunt Jackson, A Calendar of Sonnet's: February