***

Some worlds are larger than their creators.

Middle Earth is probably the classic example; the world Tolkien brought to life in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit carries on though Tolkien himself does not. On the necessarily finite details of the framework he provided has been hung years of thought and study, decades of imagining. Books, films. Millions of readers’ dreams.

Star Wars (despite episodes 1 through 3) is a more recent one of these. So is Harry Potter. At a certain point, worlds like these transcend the person who first conjured them up.

But sometimes it isn’t the place itself that’s epic, but a story—a character. And I’d suggest that Ender Wiggin is one of them. Ender’s Game is about a young boy, a genius in training to defeat an alien race. But it’s also about growing up; about struggling against one’s darker impulses; about empathy and destruction, loneliness and connection; about survival and about sacrifice. And Ender, even more than most protagonists, most heroes, is the vehicle through which these ideas are explored.

In the more than thirty-five years since the short story “Ender’s Game” was first published, Ender has taken on a life of his own. He means more—is more—than his author ever could have anticipated.

As Orson Scott Card notes in one of the Q&As in our newest collection, Ender’s World, “I have written no novel that has resonated with the public to the degree that Ender’s Game has.” And in his introduction: “Did I know [how Ender would resonate] when I wrote the book? Of course not. Not an inkling.”

The fifteen writers in this volume (see the Ender’s World table of contents here) each have their own relationship with Ender and Ender’s Game: their own thoughts, their own imaginings, their own dreams. They liken the story Ender’s Game tells to the military, to fairy tales. They consider it as a teaching manual, a writing guide, and—like all great books—a means of contextualizing and making sense of their own lives.

The result is one of the richest, most multivalent Smart Pop titles we’ve published.

Ender’s World is officially available today. It’s available in trade paperback and e-book—and audio book—everywhere books are sold:

• Amazon (Paperback | Kindle | Audio)
• B&N (Paperback | Nook)
• IndieBound

As a way of marking the collection’s release, we’ve pulled 16 quotes (one per essay, plus the introduction and Q&As), paired them with our cover art (of Battle School, done by Nick Greenwood working directly with Card), and will be sharing them, one a day, for the next two weeks on Tumblr and Facebook.

The first one is from Orson Scott Card’s introduction:

(See/reblog/comment on Tumblr or Facebook.)

We hope you guys enjoy this book as much as we have—that it offers, as the subtitle says, some fresh perspectives on an old favorite, and that it feels, at least a little, like reading Ender’s Game again for the very first time.

To celebrate, we’re giving away 2 paperback copies of our Veronica Mars anthology Neptune Noir, with terrific introduction from Rob Thomas on how Veronica Mars saved his soul (direct quote!). To enter, just leave us a comment on this post—say, with your favorite Veronica Mars quote—by midnight Central time this Sunday.  (Book giveaway ended! But read on.)

But we also wanted to do a little bit more. And so, starting today, until the end of this month, we’ll contribute 25% of the price for every e-book copy of Neptune Noir sold to the Veronica Mars movie cause.

For Amazon for Kindle and B&N for Nook, where the list price is $3.99, that means almost $1 per e-book.

Even better news? Amazon has the e-book discounted right now for only $1.99 (but we’ll still be donating the full almost-dollar).

So, yes, we’re already getting a movie (and I’ll be looking forward to my poster, t-shirt, and DVD come next year)—but who can resist the opportunity to, as Jason Dohring suggests in the Kickstarter, have Logan smolder in space?

UPDATE:

We’ve had a blast revisiting some of our favorite Veronica Mars moments with your quote choices, and now it’s time to announce our two winners. Congratulations to . . . Vanessa and Lindsey! We’ll be in touch via email regarding your prizes. Thank you to everyone who entered!

During the week of Valentine’s Day—February 11–15—our daily essays will be all about sex and love. When you’re a romantic at heart or a jaded curmudgeon or something in between, we’ve got an essay to match your mood. Scroll down to see what’s in store.

Happy reading, and happy Valentine’s! We hope your day is great.

The cover art is gorgeous, of course; it’s the work of Cliff Nielsen, the man responsible for a lot of my favorite YA covers the last few years (including the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices covers). But I also love what Cliff did with the concept, managing to transform our scattered notes about teamwork and handclasps and cities  into an image that packs a lot of meaning.

We picked the title Shadowhunters and Downworlders in part, of course, because it’s distinctively TMI. But I also really like its suggestion  of multiple parties coming together for the greater good. It reminds me of the end of City of Glass, but it also makes me think about all the contributors coming together to make this book. (In addition, I like to pretend “Shadowhunters” is a bit of a play on what the essays in the book do: look for the subtexts, the shadows, of the Mortal Instruments series, and bring them to light.)

As those of you following on Tumblr already know, the mark on the palm of the hand is half of the binding rune Clary creates in City of Glass. (We use it, and its partner, on the interior, too.) The design is the work of Val Freire, who (according to that link) originally designed them for Th3rd World’s Mortal Instruments comics. We’re just pleased to be able to use them (thanks, Val!).

There’s a story behind the hands themselves, too. If we were depicting a binding rune, obviously we wanted one Shadowhunter hand and one Downworlder hand. But which Shadowhunter? What variety of Downworlder? We wanted to keep it fairly non-specific, character-wise—as tempting as it was to request Magnus and Alec—but to help Cliff pick hand models (hand models!), we went with one female and one male, one younger and one older. And mostly just because we could, we pulled the age and appearance of the Downworlder hand from the series’ description of Maia. The slightly longer, sharper, heading-toward-claws nails are supposed to suggest werewolf.

It’s a pretty package, but that doesn’t mean much if the book inside isn’t any good. And we really think it is; it’s just plain fun to read, from Kate Milford’s lyrical ode to the strangeness of cities and the Mortal Instruments’ New York to Sarah Rees Brennan’s never-fails-to-make-me-choke-on-whatever-I’m-drinking mini-parody of Jace as Shadowhunter sex therapist (and the underlying theme of the series’ validation of desire).

You can check out the table of contents on our book page for yourself (short excerpts of each essay coming soon!), but we wanted to do something . . . more . . . to help show how great the content is. So we’ve pulled two dozen quotes that we thought were especially interesting, thought-provoking, or funny (that we could also fit reasonably into a readable graphic). We’ll be sharing those on Tumblr over the next two weeks, but here are the first two, from Cassandra Clare’s introduction and the first essay, Kate Milford’s “Unhomely Places”:

We’re excited about the official pub date (just a week from today!), but even more than that, we can’t wait to hear what you guys think. So let us know! Here, on Amazon, at B&N, through Goodreads—I promise, we keep an eye out. Your responses—what you loved, what didn’t move you as much—help us make every new Smart Pop book just a little bit better.

Thanks for reading!

Look no further!

Internship Job Description

Intern will work directly with the Editor-in-Chief and Marketing Coordinator for Smart Pop Books, the pop culture imprint of BenBella Books. Forthcoming 2013 titles include an anthology on Ender’s Game edited by Orson Scott Card and a book on the history and future of fanfiction. Past titles include The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook and Finding Serenity (on Joss Whedon’s Firefly).

Intern will provide support for www.smartpopbooks.com and current and upcoming Smart Pop titles, and gain experience in traditional editorial tasks as well as the fast-growing field of online marketing.

Responsibilities may include:

• Discussing editorial feedback on manuscripts
• Researching future titles
• Researching and pitching marketing leads
• Drafting back cover copy and marketing materials
• Copyediting
• Assisting in maintaining aspects of online marketing, including our websites and social media accounts
• Other miscellaneous editorial and marketing support

Due to office space constraints, intern will meet with the Editor-in-Chief and Marketing Coordinator in person in Harvard Square once a week, and otherwise work independently on his or her schedule.

Internship will begin in February and last through end of the semester, with potential for extension.

The internship is unpaid.

Qualifications

We’re looking for a well-organized, detail-oriented, self-directed college junior/senior or graduate student who is passionate about books and interested in learning about the publishing industry. An interest in YA literature, television, science fiction and fantasy, and/or film is a plus. Experience as a teacher or classes in education also a plus.

Applicants must have an outstanding command of the English language and excellent research skills. Competency in Microsoft Word and strong familiarity with social media and the web are required. Proficiency with WordPress and basic HTML is a plus, as are more advanced web design and development skills.

Given the nature of the internship, applicants must be able to work effectively without direct supervision.

Interested?

Send your resume, cover letter, and two writing samples by February 8 to Smart Pop Editor-in-Chief Leah Wilson at leah@benbellabooks.com.

For The Panem Companion, our latest companion book, on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy (from Mellark Bakery to Mockingjays), we’ve asked the book’s author, V. Arrow, to write the intro post. Read her thoughts on writing The Panem Companion below! And don’t forget, you can sign up on the book page to get a free excerpt.

***

If I had known that staying up until 3 a.m. with a carton of ice cream to talk to my best friend about The Hunger Games could lead to a book deal, a speaking gig at GeekGirlCon 2012, and an appearance in Entertainment Weekly, I would have . . . well, lived my life exactly as I always have. But it was an unexpected, and amazing, confirmation that fandom has gravitas and importance in the way that its fans interact with media, and the world, around them. Around us, since I am one!

Part of what I wanted to focus on most with The Panem Companion, then, was making sure that it applies to Hunger Games fandom, and not just casual readers of the series. Hunger Games fans already know the series’ most basic symbols and allegories, and already spend their time discussing where the districts might be or who might live there. The fandom concerns itself not just with where Katniss and Peeta’s shared life goes after Mockingjay, but where they came from before the series, in the time before Katniss’ narration begins and outside of the scope of her narrow first-person account of life in District 12. I didn’t want to interact with such deep and engaged thinkers, be a part of their dialogue, and then turn around and give them a broad book of information they’ve already discussed to District 4 and back again.

The topics in The Panem Companion are nitty gritty. They delve into single lines of text—or possible meanings behind them, different readings of those lines, different meanings behind those meanings. I looked at characters that not only the movies cut out, but so do most reviews and analyses. (Rooba, anyone? Martin from District 11?) And most importantly, The Panem Companion seeks to look at just why the fandom for the Hunger Games is as affected and engaged as it is: how is the Hunger Games, such a bleak and post-apocalyptic story of violence, connected to the contemporary real world of its fans?

Of course, this depth doesn’t apply only to Hunger Games fans who really want to talk about why, exactly, “crying is not an option” on camera for Katniss Everdeen.  The connection between the Hunger Games series and our own world is written into the fabric of its very inception, when Suzanne Collins was struck with inspiration while flipping back and forth between Iraq War coverage and a reality television competition. We live in a world where the realism of reality is degraded more and more by the mixing of fiction and nonfiction media, and, like the Capitol viewers captivated by Katniss and Peeta’s thrilling love story, we may not know where truth ends and fantasy begins. When that dissonance is coupled with adrenaline heightening violence, exploitative sexual content, and reliance on stereotyping, it’s easy to see how harmless Ryan Seacrest could morph into Caesar Flickerman or Peter Dickson could be replaced by Claudius Templesmith!

I can’t speak to Suzanne Collins’ motivations in writing the Hunger Games, but I can speak to how it affected me as a fan—and that is what The Panem Companion stems from.  If the Hunger Games had not inspired my friend Meg and myself to wonder exactly what happened to North America to create the districts themselves, I would have been less likely to wonder what happened in all those districts Katniss doesn’t visit in the canon text. And if I hadn’t been driven to learn more about Katniss’ world, I would know far less about my own.

Join V. Arrow as she travels the 13 districts for The Panem Companion Victory Tour!

We didn’t have to fight to the death to publish The Panem Companion, but we still think its impending December 4 release is something to celebrate.

Over the course of the next 13 days—from November 26 to December 12—author V. Arrow will be traveling to 13 “districts” (which some of you may know better as top-notch Hunger Games fansites and book blogs) to share the excitement. Each district will be giving away a copy of The Panem Companion, and will feature an exclusive excerpt from the book! Some of them will also be interviewing V., and hosting other fun activities.

Luckily, following us on the tour doesn’t require train tickets! Just click the district numbers on the map below to visit; we’ll add them to the map daily along with badge downloads for the corresponding districts. (Places we’ve visited are also listed below, for easy skimming.)

Don’t forget to come back every day for a new district, new excerpts, and a new chance to win a copy of The Panem Companion!

District 1: HG Fireside Chat
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 1 badge here.

District 2: The Hob
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 2 badge here.

District 3: Movies.com
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 3 badge here.

District 4: My Hunger Games
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 4 badge here.

District 5: HG Girl on Fire
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 5 badge here.

District 6: Victor’s Village
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 6 badge here.

District 7: Welcome to District 12
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 7 badge here.

District 8: TheHungerGamesMovies.net
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 8 badge here.

District 9: The Hunger Games Examiner
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 9 badge here.

District 10: Catching Fire Movie
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 10 badge here.

District 11: Fanboy Comics
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 11 badge here.

District 12: Mockingjay.net
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 12 badge here.

District 13: Down with the Capitol
Show off your district affiliation! Download a District 13 badge here.

Excerpts leave you wanting more? Get a bigger sample of The Panem Companion in your inbox by entering your email below! Or just order the book itself:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Indiebound

As geeks with discerning taste ourselves, we know they can be hard to shop for.

Whether you’re buying gifts for a Potterhead, Whedonite, Twi-hard, or Trekkie–or something that’s too geeky to name–we’ve got the perfect pick.

Harry Potter

1. The Psychology of Harry Potter. Get inside Harry’s head, with professional help. [From Smart Pop]
2. Accio Keys Keychain. Know someone who’s always losing their keys? They won’t be able to put down this eye-catching keychain.
3. Golden Snitch Bracelet. 150 points to whoever wears this bracelet.
4. Deathly Hallows Necklace. The Deathly Hallows may have originated as a children’s tale, but this necklace will delight Harry fans of all ages.
5. Harry Potter Lightning Glasses Ring. Give the gift of a (removable) lightning scar.

Battlestar Galactica

1. So Say We All. The holidays are all about togetherness, and what says togetherness like the last remnants of civilization banding together? [From Smart Pop]
2. Cufflinks. For the Viper fighter pilot in your life.

Mad Men

1. The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook. Give the gift of liquid calories, sixties style! [From Smart Pop]
2. Falling Ad Man. Drape Don around a Mad Men lover’s neck.
3. Draper’s Bar iPhone Case. Goes great with an Old Fashioned.

The Walking Dead

1. Triumph of The Walking Dead. If you know someone who equates the holiday season with a zombie apocalypse, this gift will keep them good company as they hide out in their bunker. [From Smart Pop]
2. Zombie Crossing Sign. It’s a known fact that zombies cause more traffic accidents that reindeer and moose combined. Protect your loved ones.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

1. 42 Utility Towel. Towel suitable for intergalactic travel (probably also the beach).
2. The Anthology at the End of the Universe. For the hitchhiker in your life. [From Smart Pop]

The Big Bang Theory

1. Unraveling the Mysteries of The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon-approved reading material. [From Smart Pop]
2. Bazinga Pet Tag.This pug is not adorable. Bazinga!

Assorted Pop Culture

1. Chocolate Gaming Dice Set. You’ll roll a 20 at gift giving if you pass these on to a gamer friend.
2. Arrested Development Chicken Dance Print. With the new movie in the works, your Arrested Development loving giftees will surely want to brush up on the various chicken dances.
3. Hobbiton Tea Cozy. Why a Hobbit house tea cozy? Because there’s nothing cozier than a Hobbit house.
4. Steampug T-shirt.Steampunk + pug = gift perfection.

Star Trek

1. Trekkie Traditional Greeting Hoodie. There’s nothing traditional about this Trekkie traditional greeting hoodie.
2. Boarding the Enterprise. Visit the past and the future simultaneously with this anthology on Star Trek: The Original Series. [From Smart Pop]

BBC Shows

1. Doctor Who iPhone Case. The flash is the light on top of the Tardis! We’re so impressed!
2. Moriarty Blend Tea.This Sherlock inspired tea would be great in stockings, or as a gift on its own!
3. Doctor Who Tree Skirt.From the Etsy shop owner: “Not responsible for malfunctioning spinning trees or Father Chrismas bands with hidden trombone weaponry.”

 
***

Still haven’t found the perfect gift? Check out our other 2012 guides!

 A Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire gift guide

Love Fifty Shades of Grey gift guide

Hate Fifty Shades of Grey gift guide

The Mortal Instruments gift guide

Hunger Games gift guide

We don’t know if they have a winter gift-giving occasion in Panem.

But just in case, we’ve put together a (less deadly) cornucopia of gifts for the Hunger Games fans in your life—all of which can be obtained from the safety of your own home. Because let’s face it—the closer we get to Christmas, the more the mall starts looking like a Hunger Games arena.

1. The Panem Companion. Shameless self-promotion: our brand new Hunger Games companion, written by V. Arrow (the creator of this super-cool map of Panem), comes out December 4! The grad-school class of Hunger Games books, it answers the hardcore fan’s most burning questions about Panem.
2. Rue’s Song Print. For the musical Hunger Games fan, this print features the actual notes of Rue’s song from the movie!
3. I Support the Girl on Fire Poster. Whether they’re inside the arena or not, we think just about anyone would be happy to receive this silver parachute.
4. The Girl Who Was on Fire – Movie Edition. We promise, this is our last bit of self-promotion for the day. In The Girl Who Was on Fire – Movie Edition, sixteen YA authors take readers back to Panem with moving, dark, and funny pieces on Katniss, the Games, Gale and Peeta, reality TV, survival, and more.
5. Hunger Games iPhone Case. If they had phones in Panem, we think Katniss would be a fan of this case. You know they’d go crazy for it in the Capitol.
6. District 12 Necklace. Effie might not wear this trinket, but a District 12-er won’t be able to resist.
7. I Sponsored Finnick Necklace. Show your Finnick pride with this necklace featuring District 4 baubles.
8. Hunger Games Shot Glass. Haymitch would approve of this customizable shot glass (although if you’re buying for a Haymitch, staying away from the booze-related gifts might be a good idea).
9. Seneca Crane’s Beard Mug. Because we all wish we could grow Seneca Crane’s beard, amIright?
10. Hunger Games Inspired Bow and Arrow. Pair this gift with archery lessons, and you’ll have a real-life Katniss on your side in no time!
11. May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor Bracelet. The odds will always be in the favor of whoever wears this bracelet. (This Etsy store also includes Team Finnick, Peeta, Rue, and Cato bracelets in the same style.)
12. Real or Not Real? Bracelets. Your significant other will love these matching bracelets: real.
13. Keep Calm and Catch Fire T-shirt. Like Cinna says, the fire only looks like it burns. We recommend wearing this to the Catching Fire opening ceremonies (otherwise known as a movie premiere).

***

Still haven’t found the perfect gift? We’ll have one last gift guide coming tomorrow! And in case you missed it, you can also see the guides we’ve already posted:

 A Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire gift guide

Love Fifty Shades of Grey gift guide

Hate Fifty Shades of Grey gift guide

The Mortal Instruments gift guide

“Dexter, or the Hunger Games, or James Bond—sure, okay,” I imagined you guys saying, seeing the tweet or Facebook post or monthly newsletter. “Plenty to talk about there. Lots of deep and interesting thoughts. But really, Smart Pop, seriously—Fifty Shades of Grey?”

But here’s the thing about Fifty Shades of Grey: It’s more than just a book, at this point. Fifty Shades became a lightning rod for issues like feminism, sexuality (BDSM/alternative and otherwise), domestic violence—even, given the book’s fanfiction roots, issues of authorship and ownership.

Plus, you could practically taste the confusion and conflicted feelings of the publishing community, made up as it is largely of us former literature majors: It’s making so much money! But it’s so badly written! (At least per Literature standards.)

The book, but even more the book’s sheer popularity, has been greeted with passionate expressions of both outrage and devotion—and the way we’ve responded to it as a culture reveals a lot, I think, about us.

And all of that is what Lori Perkins’ Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey is really about. There are essays on the book itself—the writing, bad and good (yes, good!); the literary function of the inner goddess; Christian Grey as the latest in a long line of dangerous Byronic heroes—but there are also essays on the rest of the thoughts and feelings that bubbled up around Fifty Shades’ success.

Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey is separated into seven sections:

Fifty Shades of Romance
Including psychologist and romance author Hope Tarr’s survey of the ways in which Christian Grey is the post-modern Prince Charming and a serious criticism of the series’ abuse tropes from bestselling fantasy and romance writer Jennifer Armintrout

Fifty Shades of Sex
Including Dr. Hilda Hutcherson on the fabulous pros and troubling cons of Fifty Shades depiction of sex and romance great Heather Graham on the way Fifty Shades seems to be encouraging women to embrace their own fifty shades of fantasies

Fifty Shades of BDSM
Including Master R of BDSM training chateau La Domaine Esemar, who critiques Christian Grey’s approach as Dominant; many mixed feelings about the increased attention Fifty Shades is bringing to the lifestyle and the misconceptions those readers are bringing with them; and a real-life BDSM couple on how their sex life compares to Ana and Christian’s

Fifty Shades of Writing
Including author (and PhD in English) Catherine Hiller’s claim that, per most measures, Fifty Shades is in fact well-written, at least where it counts– in the effective sex scenes– and erotic romance author Joy Daniels’ about the subtlety with which the those sex scenes show the evolution in Ana’s feelings

Fifty Shades of Fanfiction
Including a piece from the editor who worked with E.L. James to turn the original fanfic into the book we know as Fifty Shades of Grey; and a piece from Anne Jamison, the author of our just-acquired book about fanfiction, Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World

Fifty Shades of Pop Culture
Including thoughts from a book editor who lost Christian Grey at auction and a film professional who consulted on the film bidding, and Fifty Shames of Earl Grey author Andrew Shaffer on E.L. James’ sister in literary scandal Grace Metallious, author of Peyton Place

I don’t think it matters whether you love or hate Fifty Shades—if you have Feelings about the book, and about the conversations that have been going on around it, there’s something here to change the way you look at and think about it, for the better or for worse.*

If you haven’t yet, you can download a free excerpt of the book by entering your email below, or on our Fifty Writers book page (also where you’ll find our buy links). You can take a look at quotes from all fifty essays on the Smart Pop Tumblr, or on the Fifty Writers Facebook.

Finally, you can also check out our just-posted Fifty Shades gift guides, for fans and for haters, which we had a blast putting together. We hope you’ll enjoy it—and Fifty Writers—as much as we did.

—
*Reviewers, so far, have tended to agree. Publisher’s Weekly (which gave the book a starred review!) said “Love Fifty Shades or hate it, this engaging and eclectic read has a little bit of something for everyone.”

Want to read a free excerpt from the book? Sign up for our mailing list here and we’ll send you the introduction and two full essays!