|
Post by Dante on Sept 7, 2010 14:39:55 GMT -5
I'll believe it when I read it, especially given that he's on record saying that the new series is a new story with references to the original that only a close reader would notice. I don't think he's trying to appeal to the audience who first read aSoUE.
|
|
|
Post by blakegriplingph on Sept 7, 2010 17:37:54 GMT -5
A sort of 50s gangster style, you think, with drive-by machine gunnings and even more trenchcoats and fedoras? I think that might be pushing it a little. Not really. What I meant was something as cynical and jaded as that, but minus the Cosa Nostra.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Sept 8, 2010 10:13:14 GMT -5
The problem is that Handler says a lot, and, unlike J.K. Rwoling, not everything he says is religiously recorded, so some remarks will be untraceable. It's rumoured he once said something very important about the sugar bowl, but we can't find it anywhere. I'll believe it when I read it, especially given that he's on record saying that the new series is a new story with references to the original that only a close reader would notice. I don't think he's trying to appeal to the audience who first read aSoUE. He could surely still be aiming at the same audicnece, even if there isn't an obvious connection between the works? But certainly verification would be nice. (I like Tiago's suggestion of vampires - which is what 'dark' often seems to mean nowadays - but somehow I feel it's not quite Snicket's style.)
|
|
|
Post by thedoctororwell on Sept 9, 2010 16:39:20 GMT -5
Yeah. He once said to a little boy, before the twelft book even came out, that just because Lemony keeps bragging about Beatrice doesn't necessarily mean he's talking about the same person. I read that on this very forum, though not many people trusted this alledged conversation. So yeah, he basically spoiled the ending of his own series and its last plotwist. Try catching JKR doing that !
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Sept 9, 2010 17:02:53 GMT -5
Oh, but the double Beatrice was included in official publicity material as well - it's the solution to a puzzle in The Vile Videos. I see it as a deliberate distractor, intended to throw us off the scent of the real Beatrice - for after all, the Beatrice about whom Lemony keeps talking throughout the series is one person.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Sept 10, 2010 2:15:31 GMT -5
That would only have constituted a major spoiler if the identity of Beatrice was actually important to the plot of the books, which, at the end of the day, it isn't really. You could've called the baby in The End and TBL Sunny Jr. and it wouldn't change much. Hermes is right that it threw us off the scent; we started to experiment with theories in which the Beatrice mentioned throughout the series was actually two separate individuals, which would've at least wrapped up a few confusing statements.
|
|
|
Post by s on Sept 14, 2010 18:27:45 GMT -5
Has someone already posted about the trailer for 13 Words somewhere? Was just posted yesterday. It's hilarious, as is to be expected.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Sept 15, 2010 3:46:38 GMT -5
That was excellent. When it's shown like that, it seems even more odd to end on a word like "Mezzo Soprano".
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Sept 15, 2010 6:39:47 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Sept 15, 2010 8:42:52 GMT -5
Hm, well, that was interesting. Yes, it's hard to see how the mezzo-soprano comes into the story, isn't it?
(And is he implying Maira Kalman is a member of VFD?)
|
|
|
Post by s on Sept 15, 2010 13:40:31 GMT -5
Ha! Mushy peas and Kafka as causes of despondence. Can't argue with that, really.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Oct 1, 2010 11:10:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Oct 5, 2010 2:57:30 GMT -5
13 Words, the first of Lemony Snicket's collaborations with illustrator Maira Kalman, is released today. It is a picture book for younger readers (but surely with plenty for older readers, too) that introduces a number of uncommon vocabulary words, along with a few slightly more common ones. Title: 13 WordsRelease Date: October 5, 2010 (HarperCollins) ( hardcover source) ( library binding source) Cover:Illustrated By: Maira Kalman Details: Picture book (see here). Includes "dog," "panache," and "haberdashery" ( source). This refers to the U.S. release. There may or may not be an upcoming U.K. release on October 15th, depending on whether you trust Amazon.co.uk or not. For those of you who live in America, enjoy the book! Edit: The next known work by Daniel Handler is another collaboration with Maira Kalman, this time for young adults: Why We Broke Up. It's expected in 2011.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Oct 5, 2010 15:59:11 GMT -5
This is a rather intriguing interview that contains information about 13 Words, another picture book ( The Dark) and a striking reference to the new series coming in 2012. www.parentdish.com/2010/10/05/lemony-snicket-gets-persnickety-with-pdish/--- ParentDish: The "13" is self-explanatory, but why "Words?"Lemony Snicket: There are 13 words that I feel deserve more publicity than they generally get. You don't see any press about despondency, for example. Maira Kalman and I discussed the possibility of giving these words some much-needed attention. PD: One of your words is "dog."LS: One can't really argue that "dog" is underutilized, but it's certainly not thought about in the way it should be. These words are either underutilized or under-explored. There's a certain sadness and elegance that I and Ms. Kalman see in the words. Once your attention is called to it, you can then begin to feel more elegance. And more sad. PD: What was it like for someone as secretive as yourself to work so closely with an illustrator?LS: Maira Kalman is as charming as can be. She's an excellent cook, a snappy dresser, a great walker. She's a generally excellent flaneur. Or whatever the female form of flaneur is. I don't mean to imply she's a man. Basically, her sensibilities match mine. We would take long walks, looking at the world and eating things in it. PD: Picture books are inherently aimed at younger children than those you usually write for. Why the switch in audiences?
LS: Younger children are more easily befuddled, and therefore less likely to continue reading my work. I'm doing my part to dissuade people from reading anything with which I am associated. PD: You made it clear that you wrote "A Series of Unfortunate Events" to reveal the story of the Baudelaire orphans, with which you had some personal involvement. Now that that's story has been told, why continue writing books at all?LS: Just as my job in writing that series was to bring attention to the history of the Baudelaires, which was hidden and shrouded in mystery, my job here is to illuminate words that are less on the front burner of people's brains than they ought to be. My hope is that, as a result of reading this book, more people will be using the word "despondent," say. I cancel out the emotional damage I do by doing literary good. So, with 13 words ... Let's see. I may need a calculator to work out that last bit. I'm not sure about the exact conversion rate involved. PD: Well, you've got a lot of misery to erase. Where do you go from here? More picture books?LS: I am working on a picture book about the dark. It's called "The Dark." And I'm doing research for a new series for older children that is about more experiences from my own life; it takes place at a time before the Baudelaire children were born. PD: Is there a chance we'll see any more of Dog and Bird, the protagonists of 13 Words? LS: Well, I hope that day in the book wasn't the only day of their lives. PD: Is Maira Kalman involved in any these projects?LS: While I would love to work with her again someday, she is busy right now, as she has unfortunately agreed to work with Daniel Handler on a book for teenagers. PD: Sorry to hear that.LS: It is a sad and confusing world. PD: Can I ask your opinion of the "Unfortunate Events" movie?LS: Are you asking my opinion of the movie? PD: Yes. LS: The film compressed a great deal of misery, contained in three volumes of my work, into a film of average length, which was in theaters for a couple of months. Whether or not you enjoy the film depends on whether you're the kind of person who rips a bandage right off or peels it off slowly. If you prefer slow suffering, you're probably more of a book reader. If you're a rip-it-off-quickly type, you might be a film fan. Although, last night I watched a film by Cecil B. DeMille, so I can definitively say that watching a film can be slow suffering sometimes, too. PD: Okay. Those are all the questions I have for you right now.
LS: Good. Those are all the answers I have for you. ---
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Oct 5, 2010 16:15:29 GMT -5
Sherry Ann, I believe the phrase is "mad props." By that I mean I am extremely pleased with your discovery. And I'm doing research for a new series for older children that is about more experiences from my own life; it takes place at a time before the Baudelaire children were born. I did wonder. In one of the last interviews where he talked about the new series, he was asked about returning characters, and he mentioned there would be some but that any characters who died during aSoUE were dead for good. And I did wonder, then, if that was a trick, because he could always get around it if the new series was a prequel... and there we have it. The dead characters are still dead. They just aren't yet. (Sadly, this means that Fiona is unlikely to make an appearance, but there's still hope for Fernald!) Another advantage for Handler: ASoUE did like its foreshadowing, and now he has the entire original series to foreshadow. I will be expecting liberal usage of dramatic irony. Edit: I will choose to rashly assume that The Dark is scheduled for roughly this time next year, per the pattern of the last few of Snicket's books. As such, Why We Broke Up and the introduction to The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales will probably, but not definitely, precede its publication.
|
|