What is a mini saga?

A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words (plus a title of up to 15 words), which appeals readers through the use of irony, word puns and unexpected turns. They are alternately known as microstories and ultra-shorts.

The idea was originally made up by writer Brian Aldiss (Norfolk, UK 1925)

Below you have the finalists in the 1st MINI SAGA CONTEST in 2009. Enjoy!

Utter Loneliness by Marta Rodríguez

It was the 31^st of December and there were no colleagues to eat out with. No friends to go clubbing with. No family to celebrate the New Year with. In her mobile phone only one contact. Soledad dialled but the network was engaged: she was even too busy for herself.

Noise at Midnight by Ana Sende

He arrived home from work. His wife was already in bed. He fell asleep but woke up after a while: “I’ve told you many times I don’t want the dog to sleep with us” he said. “The dog is outside” she replied sleepily. “Then who is snoring under the bed?”.

The Danger of Humans by Ana Bautís

The little dinasour put herself into bed. She was aching all over. Against her parents’ advice she had gone to the nearest human city. Many times had she been told how dangerous humans were, and how true it was! Humans were a danger to her belly, they were so indigestive!

The Day Had Come by Senda Reguera

He had been waiting for so long for summer to come! After cold months at the boarding school, there he was, facing the sea in all its magnificent splendor. He was about to plunge into the water when he heard a voice: “David, wake up! It’s your first day of school!

To Live or Not To Live by Cristina Fraga

Simon used to have a healthy lifestyle. There were only two habits he was worried about: Smoking and drinking on Saturday.Yesterday, he read a sentence which radically changed his mind: One cigarette makes life two minutes shorter. One whisky… four minutes. One working day makes life eight hours shorter.

Coffee Break by Victor Álvarez

Mr. Smith was furious: His first computer had broken the very first time he used it! He stormed into the shop and complained about it. “Where is exactly the problem?” the assistant politely replied. I tried to place my coffee on the cup holder but it spilled it all over!

Deadly Mushrooms by Cristina Fraga

Uncle John was an expert naturalist. On his way home, after a long day picking mushrooms he met Peter the Brave: "Can I try them?" Peter asked him. "Sure you can, but ONLY ONCE!". Peter tried one indeed but its poison killed it before he could try the second one.

Breathless by Yago González

When his hand surrounded her neck she was trembling. He was so calm
moments ago that she didn’t see where it came from. She just felt how
the air that was in her lungs was leaving her, she couldn’t do anything
about it. He was indeed such a good kisser.

Participate in the EOI Santiago 2nd mini saga contest:
http://novelteaclub.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/2nd-mini-saga-contest.html

2nd MINI SAGA CONTEST

Participate in the second

MINI-SAGA CONTEST

BASES:

- All EOI students of intermediate and advanced levels can participate.

- The RULES are simple: your mini-saga must be 50 words exactly plus a title of up to 15 words and it must tell a story.

- Hand in your mini-saga in Conserxería (SECCIÓNS DE SAR and RIBEIRA) Include a closed envelope with your personal information (alias, full name, group and telephone number). You may also send it via e-mail to this address: alosada@eoisantiago.org

- Deadline: Friday, April 13^th.

- There will be a maximum of 10 finalists. You will be able to vote for the winners online here: http://novelteaclub.blogspot.com/

- Winners will be announced on Wednesday, 25^th April

ITALIAN WRITER ANTONIO TABUCCHI DIES

What a sad piece of news, right?


Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi dead at 68 por euronews-en

WHAT DO YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTERS LOOK LIKE? THE COMPOSITES SHOWS YOU...

Can you guess who this is? Check it out here. It's a website that creates sketch portraits of literary characters.

"Images created using law enforcement composite sketch software and descriptions of literary characters. All interesting suggestions considered. Include descriptive passages if you can. Read more on the project at The Atlantic.

Created by Brian Joseph Davis. A co-founder of the website Joyland , his work has been collected recently in Against Expression: An anthology of conceptual writing (Northwestern University Press). His music and art productions have been acclaimed by Wired, Pitchfork, Salon, and LA Weekly, which wrote, “Davis has an amazing head for aural experiments that are smart on paper and fascinating in execution.” He’s written for Utne, The Globe and Mail and The Believer."

Personally, I think I'll stick to my own mental portrait of characters... what about you?

Reading inspires children

Check this out:
An Indigo commercial to promote child literacy


These are the (poetic) lines:
How tired I am of this unbearable distance between us. How I long for the toll of the recess bell. Have you forgotten me? Grown mindless of me? Tell me I am not writing into an abyss. Or that is what will become of my heart.

BLUEEYEDBOY (2010)

If you are reading Joanne Harris's Blueeyedboy, you must visit this website:

http://joanne-harris.co.uk/v3site/books/blueeyedboy/index.html



You will find an interview to the author about the book as well as links to the audio book and to audio interviews.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys

You may know him as the writer of The Scarlet Letter, but he wrote other interesting books, among them, this one for children... and lovers of children's books.


Six legends of Greek mythology, retold for children by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Included are The Gorgon’s Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher, and The Chimaera.

In 1838, Hawthorne suggested to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that they collaborate on a story for children based on the legend of the Pandora’s Box, but this never materialized.

He wrote A Wonder Book between April and July 1851, adapting six legends most freely from Charles Anton’s A Classical Dictionary (1842).

He set out deliberately to “modernize” the stories, freeing them from what he called “cold moonshine” and using a romantic, readable style that was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children.

Don't you just love children's books? As for me, I must get my hands on this one.

VALENTINE'S DAY BOOKS

At this point in time, lots of bookshops, libraries and dealers are writing their lists suggesting books to buy for VALENTINE'S DAY.

Here are several websites for you to check, in case you're interested in surprising your loved one with something other than/together with chocolates or red roses:

- 5 Best Relationship Books for Valentine's Day (here).

- 10 Perfect Books for Valentine's Day gifts (here).

- Top 10 hottest Valentine's day books for kids (here). (Come on! I can't believe they're involving kids in this too...).

CHARLES DICKENS'S DOODLE

Google is using its Google Doodle Tuesday to commemorate the 200th birthday of novelist Charles Dickens. While the Doodles in the past have traditionally linked to search results based on the illustration’s subject, this one does it a bit differently: top billing is given to free e-book results from the Google Books service.

Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 and over his 58 years penned some of the most well known literary works of the 19th Century. Google’s doodle is a collage of some notable characters within his books, including Great Expectations and Oliver Twist.

“Our Google Books editorial team curated a collection of free and featured Dickens classics available in the Google eBookstore in Dickens’ native land (United Kingdom) and some Commonwealth countries (Canada, Australia) as well as the US”, Google eBooks Associate Ariel Levine writes in a blog post describing the doodle, and its move to promote Google Books.

It’s probably not too far fetched to assume that most Google users — save for tech enthusiasts — are likely unaware that the Mountain View, Calif. company even has a e-book service. That said, you cannot blame Google for wanting to use the Google doodle as an engine to heighten the service’s profile and generate traffic.

Google Doodle stories do extremely well for bloggers and tech news sites alike. This has a lot to do with Google user’s curiosity and clicking on the illustrations to see what it’s about. Oftentimes the news stories covering the doodles themselves make it to the first results page people see, and users do click.

That won’t be happening today: the first page is entirely results from Google Books.

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/249466/googles_dickens_doodle_gives_google_books_top_billing.html

Don't you just love it?