Book News (and other fun stuff): December 14th, 2012

Here’s my roundup of book news (and other fun stuff) around the web for the week! Sometimes I add stuff throughout the day on Friday, so be sure you check back over the weekend too!

Also, don’t miss my list of gift ideas for book lovers at the bottom of the post. I’ll try to offer up new ideas every week until the end of December.

Interviews, articles, and more:

• On his blog, Robert Jackson Bennett, author of THE TROUPE, talks about perceived influences in his work.
• Marissa Meyer, author of The Lunar Chronicles, writes about the importance of settings in her novels.
• John Hornor Jacobs, author of THIS DARK EARTH, is the Next Big Thing
• I posted my list of 2012′s Top 5 Crime Novels at Crime Fiction Lover!
• The Qwillery interviewed Gareth Powell, author of Ack-Ack Macaque
• Ramez Naam posts on the science of Nexus at SF Signal
• Tis the season to be jolly…in Spaaaaaaaace! John DeNardo of SF Signal blogs at Kirkus about scifi holidays!
• I reviewed A KILLER’S ESSENCE by Dave Zeltserman at Crime Fiction Lover
• There’s a great post on genre fiction over at The Missouri Review
• Chris Ewan, author of SAFE HOUSE, gives us his 2012 Top 5 over at Luca Veste’s site!
• Library Journal gives us their Best Books of 2012
• The Tor.com reviewers give us their 2012 picks!
• Paul Cornell, author of London Falling, is interviewed at Tor UK
• Patrick Rothfuss is doing some pretty awesome auctions to benefit Heifer International, so go check it out, and BID!!
• Myke Cole, author of the Shadow Ops series, has a very cool contest going on now, and you can win an ARC of FORTRESS FRONTIER!
• Tis the season of giving, and you can totally give away Laura K. Curtis’ money away and it’s all for a good cause! Oh, this is to celebrate her new contract with Penguin’s first e-print imprint, InterMix, so head here for the scoop and tell her congrats!
• Andrew Nette (Pulp Curry) is at Crime Fiction Lover with his Top 5 2012 Crime Novels!

Excerpts and such:

• Read AM I FREE TO GO? by Kathryn Cramer at Tor.com
• You can read an excerpt of TRAPPED by Kevin Hearne at Suvudu

Fun stuff (some book-related, some not):

• Oh look! A really groovy, curvy bookshelf for all your awesome books!
• The Top 10 Trends in Children’s Books for 2013 (via Flavorwire)
• How ’bout some breakup letters from famous authors? (via Flavorwire)

Gift Ideas for Book Lovers (and beyond!)!!

• Flavorwire has 100 Gifts for 100 Cultural Icons
• It really doesn’t get much cuter than Carrots of the Caribbean stuffies from Heather at Etsy
• There’s an octopus on this linen pillow, and it’s pretty darn cool (by xinghuajiang at Etsy)
• It’s Oscar Wilde! On a T-shirt! You know you want it-by TheMightySquirm at Etsy