Suvudu

Last updated
Suvudu
Company typeSubsidiary of Random House, Inc.
IndustryBooks, Publishing, Blogs
Genre Science fiction, Fantasy, Comics, Gaming
FoundedJuly 18, 2008
Headquarters Flag of the United States.svg New York City, USA
Key people
Shawn C. Speakman (blogger)
Matt Staggs (Blogger)
Website www.Suvudu.com

Suvudu was a genre site created by Random House, to provide additional content, such as author interviews, chats, chapter previews, reviews, previews, and news around science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, and video game guides and books published by Random House across all of its imprints.

Contents

Background & history

Suvudu was launched on July 18, 2008, with the intent of featuring science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, and gaming titles and authors across all of Random House, Inc.'s, divisions and imprints. Authors and titles from Del Rey, Spectra, Pantheon Books, and Random House Children's Books are frequently featured.

In its introductory post, Suvudu stated it would be a "website catering to news from all sci-fi and fantasy creative media—books, audiobooks, gaming, manga, comic books and movies! Content will include podcasts, videos, reviews, interviews and original blog posts, all brought to you by some of the best talents in the sci-fi, fantasy, graphic novel and gaming industries." [1]

While the site is a property of Random House, Inc., and features titles published by that company prominently, Suvudu has featured authors and works from other publishing companies. Suvudu's staff is almost entirely in-house, featuring Random House employees across several disciplines, including editorial, art, publicity, and web production. Suvudu also uses content from a handful of freelance bloggers as well as posts by authors.

In February 2009, Suvudu was named one of MediaBistro's Six Stellar Publishing Company Blogs. [2] In naming the site, MediaBistro wrote:

"For science fiction and fantasy fans, Random House's Suvudu has grown into a fan-focused website with a fairly active comments section--a rare sense of community for a publisher blog."

Types of content

Suvudu offers several different types of content regularly, including live author chats, author interviews, and feature articles.

Live author chats

Authors who have appeared are:

Feature articles

Suvudu features a number of recurring feature articles and series. They are:

'365 Days of Manga' by Jason Thompson

Author and blogger Jason Thompson posts daily manga reviews under the feature headline "365 Days of Manga." When launched on September 16, 2009, Thompson wrote that the feature would be "the online continuation of (his book) Manga: The Complete Guide !" [17] [18] The feature is planned to run one year and will encompass many different types of manga. The reviews are generally short, running only one paragraph, and conclude with each featured manga title being assigned a star value with a maximum of four stars possible for work deemed to be of the highest quality.

'New releases'

Posted every Tuesday, to coincide with the publication schedules for Random House, this post gives an overview of the books that will be newly available that week. The post also includes relevant genre release news for other books, movies, DVD releases, and video games of note.

'What I Learned This Week' by Betsy Mitchell

Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Del Rey books, contributes articles in this series relating various items and/or lessons related to her work. These have included details about forthcoming books and projects ("What Diana Gabaldon's Jamie Fraser really looks like!" [19] ), tips on writing and publication ("A good cover letter is hard to find (part 1)", [20] "A good cover letter is hard to find (part 2)", [21] and "The Importance of First Sentences" [22] to name a few), as well as musings and ruminations on the science fiction and fantasy genres ("How hard it is to come up with a great title!", [23] "Why I Say No", [24] and "The Debate Over DRM" [25] ).

Author interviews and readings

Suvudu routinely conducts author interviews, typically involving Random House authors, though occasionally including outside authors as well. Some interviews are quick, five-question pieces focusing on an author's latest project or writing advice, while others are more in-depth. Suvudu also uses personal video recorders to record video interviews with authors, typically at events such as author readings or conventions.

Additionally, Suvudu has recorded and posted readings from several authors including Terry Brooks, Steven Erikson, Brian Sanderson, Naomi Novik, R. A. Salvatore, Jacqueline Carey, and Dan Simmons.

Suvudu Free Story Library

Suvudu began a Free Library program on March 4, 2009. [26] [27] The program offered the first book in a series by Random House, Inc., authors for free in a variety of formats, such as Stanza, Rich Text Files, and PDF files. Partnering with Random House in this effort, prices were also reduced to free on Amazon (for Kindle readers), Sony (for Sony Readers), and Barnes & Noble (Nook).

Over time, the Free Library also began to include original short fiction, including fiction from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction as the result of a partnership between the two entities. [28] On January 8, 2010, Suvudu and the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction announced their new partnership saying:

"An agreement between the two allows Suvudu's visitors access to one story from each issue of the magazine via Suvudu's Free Library, which also offers full-length novels from the Del Rey, Spectra, and other Random House lists."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Brooks</span> American writer of fantasy fiction

Terence Dean Brooks is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career, and has sold over 25 million copies of his books in print. He is one of the most successful living fantasy writers.

Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, placing supernatural elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with a platform for classic fantasy tropes, quixotic plot-elements, and unusual characters—without demanding the creation of an entire imaginary world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tad Williams</span> American fantasy and science fiction writer

Robert Paul "Tad" Williams is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, Otherland series, Shadowmarch series, and The Bobby Dollar series, as well as the standalone novels Tailchaser's Song and The War of the Flowers. Most recently, Williams published three novels in his series The Last King of Osten Ard, with the final novel The Navigator's Children set to be published in 2024. More than 17 million copies of Williams' works have been sold.

Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group.

<i>The Sword of Shannara</i> 1977 novel by Terry Brooks

The Sword of Shannara is a 1977 epic fantasy novel by American writer Terry Brooks. It is the first book in a titular trilogy.

Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror, possessing a dark and gloomy tone or a gothic atmosphere of dread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paranormal romance</span> Subgenre of romantic fiction and speculative fiction

Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, from the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Paranormal romance range from traditional romances with a paranormal setting to stories with a science fiction or fantasy-based plot with a romantic subplot included. Romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other entities of a fantastic or otherworldly nature are common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Del Rey Books</span> Publisher

Del Rey Books is an imprint of the Random House Group, a division of Penguin Random House. The imprint was established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. Today, the imprint specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and fantasy romance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raina Telgemeier</span> American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist. Her works include the autobiographical webcomic Smile, which was published as a full-color middle grade graphic novel in February 2010, and the follow-up Sisters and the fiction graphic novel Drama, all of which have been on The New York Times Best Seller lists. She has also written and illustrated the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts as well as four graphic novels adapted from The Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Novik</span> American author (born 1973)

Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Liu</span> American writer

Marjorie M. Liu is an American New York Times best-selling author and comic book writer. She is acclaimed for her horror fantasy comic Monstress, and her paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels including The Hunter Kiss and Tiger Eye series. Her work for Marvel Comics includes NYX, X-23, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men. In 2015 Image Comics debuted her creator-owned series Monstress, for which she was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series. In 2017 she won a Hugo Award for the first Monstress trade paperback collection. In July 2018 she became the first woman in the 30-year history of the Eisner Awards to win the Eisner Award for Best Writer for her work on Monstress.

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Pleasure Dome is a 2000 yaoi manga by Minami Megumi. It was originally published by Houbunsha, and was licensed in English by Kitty Media on 14 February 2007.

Love Control is a yaoi manga written and illustrated by Ai Hasukawa. It is licensed in English by Digital Manga Publishing, which released the first volume of the manga on 22 April 2008, and the second on 22 July 2009.

<i>Smile</i> (comic book) Graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier

Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier. It was published in February 2010 by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. The novel provides an account of the author's life, characterized by dental procedures and struggles with fitting in, from sixth grade to high school. The book originated as a webcomic, which was serialized on Girlamatic. It is most appropriate for readers between fourth and sixth grade. Smile has had a pedagogical impact, and reviews have been written on this novel.

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<i>Unfettered</i> 2013 fantasy anthology

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References

  1. "Do You Suvudu". Suvudu.com. 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  2. Boog, Jason (2009-02-02). "MediaBistro's "Six Stellar Publishing Company Blogs"". Mediabistro.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  3. 1 2 Live Chat: Paranormal Roundtable (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Paranormal Roundtable". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  4. 1 2 Christopher Paolini & Terry Brooks (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Christopher Paolini and Terry Brooks". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  5. "Suvudu Live Chat: Terry Brooks". Suvudu.com. 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  6. R.A. Salvatore (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: R. A. Salvatore". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  7. Eoin Colfer (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Eoin Colfer". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  8. Live Chat: Naomi Novik and Scott Westerfeld (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Naomi Novik and Scott Westerfeld". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  9. "Suvudu Live Chat: China Mieville". Suvudu.com. 2010-07-25. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  10. Peter Brett; Robert Redick (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Peter Brett and Robert V.S. Redick". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  11. Live Chat RPG. "Suvudu's Live RPG". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  12. Dave Roman; Raina Telgemeier. "Suvudu Live Chat: Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeier". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  13. "Suvudu Live Chat: David Anthony Durham". Suvudu.com. 2009-09-15. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  14. Jason Fry and Dan Wallace Live Chat. "Suvudu Live Chat: Jason Fry and Dan Wallace". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  15. Harry Connolly (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Harry Connolly". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  16. Live Chat: Nina Matsumoto (2010-07-25). "Suvudu Live Chat: Nina Matsumoto". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  17. "365 Days of Manga, Day 1: Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation « Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu.com. 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  18. "Eisner-Nominated Manga: The Complete Guide to Relaunch with 1,825 Graphic Novel Giveaway on Suvudu.com". Anime News Network. 2012-06-24. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  19. "Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  20. "Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  21. "Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  22. american idols says (2009-04-10). "WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK: The importance of first sentences « Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  23. "Wealthy Genius".
  24. "What I Learned This Week: Why I Say No « Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu.com. 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  25. "Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  26. "Visit the Suvudu Free Library! « Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu.com. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  27. "Suvudu Opens Free First (e)Book Library". Tor.com. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  28. Shawn Speakman says (2010-01-08). "Suvudu and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction join forces! « Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games". Suvudu.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.