Down the Rabbit Hole

Choose your own adventure in the Fiction Unbound news of the week:

• A most incredible story from the world of publishing: writer John Scalzi struck a deal with Tor publishing for 13 book over the next decade. THIRTEEN! io9 covered this story, and on his Whatever blog, John Scalzi has an enlightening post about how this deal fits into his writerly career plan, as well as a funny self interview. 
   
• Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird, interviewed Kelly Link for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Oyeyemi gets the goods on Link’s writing process for her latest short story collection, Get in Trouble.  It turns out Italo Calvino was partially right; while it didn’t quite take 10 years or 12 servants, it did take the rental of a country house. For the long route, Kelly Link recommends Angela Carter’s short story The Lady of the House of Love. Interested in staying down the rabbit hole forever? You can subscribe to Electric Lit’s Recommended Reading and get their picks delivered to your inbox.
   
• Also on Electric Lit, an interview with Mat Johnson for the release of his latest novel, Loving Day. Mat Johnson talks about finding the right form for a story, the insufficiency of language to discuss race, publishing and marketing odd category books, Twitter, and fatherhood. This is how the rabbit hole works, click on one thing, fall down another. 
   
• Over on Science Daily’s Weird World section, there is the story of a roadmap to bring us closer to brain computer interfaces, BCI. For the short course read the SD article. If you’re in for the long haul, check out the full Roadmap by the Graz University of Technology. This Roadmap features news relevant for gamers, lovers of cyborgs, and most importantly, for people with communication and mobility disabilities.
   
• One of the darkest rabbit holes on the internet is the directory of US Patents. It appears that you can patent just about anything. Check out this patented device for curing hiccups, all you have to do is raise the metal cup to your lips and electrify your face. The perfect  gift for the guy or gal who has everything who gets a nasty case of the hiccups. Even weirder, this is a fairly newfangled device, the patent was issued in 2006! Maybe this one isn't so literary related, but you never know what might inspire the next big thing.

That's it for today's Down the Rabbit Hole. May your journey be long and enlightened.

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