I'm sad to hear the news that seventy-six year old American review journal Kirkus is closing. On a personal level I feel very grateful to Kirkus for putting I Know It's Over on people's radar. On a general level I think this is bad for every single author out there.

The announcement was in Publishers Lunch today:

The publishing world's concerns about declining review space will only become more severe with this morning's news that Nielsen Business Media has "made the decision to cease operations" at Kirkus Reviews (as well as Editor & Publisher.) The news came as the company announced the sale of the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and six other media brands to Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital Management. Nielsen is retaining ownership of The Bookseller in the UK.

The memo from Nielsen Business Media president Greg Farrar does not indicate what will become of the Kirkus archives, and whether there will be any effort to sell the operation. As Ron Charles at the Washington Post Book World tweeted: "Worst news in a long time: Kirkus shutting down. For me, they were the last reliable source of negative reviews."

That same edition of Publishers Lunch notes that, “Amazon has quietly pushed the [ebook] discounting envelope even further, at least on a small set of delayed big releases. The new books from Sarah Palin and Steven King, both of which release in Kindle format right around Christmas, can now be pre-ordered for the lower-still price of $7.99. That's also the pre-order price for Ted Kennedy's True Compass, which Twelve has apparently decided to release in ebook form after all, also on Christmas.”

I think if life were like a blockbuster movie these things would be some of those (not so) early signs that an enormous meteor (or other cataclysmic life-destroying event) is about to hit the publishing world. And, like in the movie 2012, we sort of knew it was coming but thought we had more time. I'm looking around for John Cusack as I type this, to see if he has any ideas for surviving the upcoming calamity or whether I should just, like, go back to school and become an accountant or something because, you know, once the ebook format takes over (hello bargain basement prices and mass piracy!) it's looking as though authors won't be able to make a living (not that most of us ever really could but there goes the lunch money even!).

This was in the Toronto Star yesterday:

It's only been one day, but Canada has already garnered its first "fossil" award. The award, which is given to countries who are blocking progress at the United Nations climate summit, is awarded daily by a coalition of 400 international NGOs.

According to organizers, Canada was awarded a Fossil of the Day for its commitment to stand on its targets and not to negotiate them throughout the conference.

At a speech in Montreal on Friday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said that he “wont be swayed by the Copenhagen hype.”

I'm sure Emperor Harper is still beaming with pride today, as all the rest of the Tories punch the air and rave about how they're not going to get suckered into helping save the environment because damnit that costs $ and we should be able to trash our own backyard if we want to, leave shamelessly heavy carbon footprints, exhaust natural resources etc. And who cares about polar bears, seals and other species anyway, they don't even pay taxes!

Yes, indeed we should be so very proud that our country, unlike more rational nations which would like the planet to continue housing us for a few more years, just doesn't give a sweet damn about anyone or anything except money (which will be used to construct Emperor Harper's future Death Star).

Emperor Harper and one of his minions supervise the destuction of the environment and the creation of dirty fossil fuel at the Alberta Tar Sands.

I've been saying for some time now that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is actually an evil Sith Lord:

* Say Yes to Carbon

* What Canadian Voters (Inexplicably) Want

* Stephen Harper: Ordinary People Don't Care about Arts Funding

* Tories Slipping From Majority

* Stephen Harper says, “These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For”

* Easter Greetings From Our PM

Funny how that fact seems to be more widely recognized abroad than it does in Canada. I'm not sure whether that means we're not too bright in this part of the world (brain freeze?) or whether we're just too apathetic. Either way, there's no denying that we royally suck.

As one close observer of of international climate change talks said leading up to Copenhagen, “Canada has become the Darth Vader of the G8 in particular. The marks they now get regularly from the environmental groups are last place.”

Yep, not only is Stephen Harper really Darth Harper underneath the suit, tie and wind-resistant hairstyle, if we keep letting Harper get away with steering Canada in the direction of doing as little as humanly possible to fight climate change we're all acting in support of the destructive Empire.

Do we need the Ewoks to come over here and kick our asses in order for us to realize what we're allowing to happen here?

Twenty years ago today 14 young women were slaughtered at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal by a gunman on a rampage ranting about "feminists."

Top Row L to R: Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Annie St Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Maria Klucznik, Genevieve Bergeron
Bottom Row L to R: Helene Colgan, Maryse LeClaire, Maryse Leganiere, Maud Haviernier, Michele Richard, Nathalie Croteau, Sonia Pelletier

Sadly, we're nowhere near a place where we can say this couldn't happen again.

“Many of the safeguards put in place after the Montreal massacre are now being dismantled. Last month, Parliament voted to scrap the federal long-gun registry, despite the pleas of parents of the students slain at l'École Polytechnique, and of police and women's groups...This month, the government of Stephen Harper refused (again) to call an independent investigation into the disappearance of hundreds of aboriginal women. In 2006, the Conservatives chopped the budget of Status of Women Canada, which provides funding to community groups working to combat violence against women.”

Read the rest here: *  Twenty years on, little has changed

On this side of the pond it'd be hard not to notice that lots of people are big into the musical show Glee, but I wonder how many folks may have missed out on the quality BBC singing series, All the Small Things (which is being shown as Heart and Soul in Canada and Australia).

A couple of months ago I stumbled across the below scene from the show on BBC Canada:

That fabulous rendition of Swing, Swing (my favourite All American Rejects song) was more than enough to make me curious and I've subsequently become hooked on this lovable and eminently listenable show about the cast off local choir members of a small northern English town banding together to form their own kick ass choir which tackles music by Blink 182 and All American Rejects amongst others.

But the show isn't just about music. Main character Esther's choir conductor husband (Michael) drops a bomb on her in the first episode—he wants out of their marriage. Meanwhile there's a younger new guy with a mysterious past in town (Jake) who seems interested but Esther's not exactly overflowing with trust. One of Esther's teen sons, Kyle, is also at the heart of the show. Although All the Small Things never names Kyle's condition he appears to suffer from Asperger's and has trouble with social interactions but is musically gifted.

One of the many things I love about the series is that it doesn't feature the standard cast of beautiful people we're used to seeing in North American television. Instead the majority of the characters are diverse, down to earth and three-dimensional with their own unique (yet universal) issues. All the Small Things is the warmest, least cynical show I've seen on TV this year. If you stumble across it in TV land trust me and give it a shot.

* Read the BBC press release for All the Small Things

* Sarah Lancashire (who plays Esther) talks about All the Small Things in an interview for The Manchest Evening news

And, BBC, we need a second season of All the Small Things so get cracking!

The odds must be against this (so you better believe I'm feeling lucky!) but yesterday afternoon both Susan Beth Pfeffer and Catherine Ryan Hyde emailed me to let me know I'd won copies of their YA books.

Actually, it's *two* copies of Catherine Ryan Hyde's book, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance—one for me and one for my mom—and an ARC of Susan Beth Pfeffer's latest meteor novel, This World We Live In. I'm a huge fan of Susan's other meteor books (Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone) and I loved The Day I Killed James and Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde so I'm super excited.

Thank you, book gods!

I was also extremely happy to hear, just the other day, that Mare's War (by Tanita S. Davis) has been included on the Kirkus Reviews "Best Young Adult Books of 2009." And I'm keeping everything I can crossed for 2010 White Pine nominee Cracked Up to Be (by Courtney Summers) in the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading awards. It's great to see such terrific books get the recognition they deserve!