A judge has ordered JoAn Karkos of Lewiston, Maine to return two copies of It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health, which she checked out the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries last year. In September, Karkos sent letters to the libraries, including checks to pay for the cost of the books. The letters said, in part, “I have been sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and sexually graphic, amoral, abnormal contents. I will not be returning the books.” The judge has ordered Karkos, who is being held in contempt of court, to return the books and pay a $100 fine by Friday at 4pm. If she doesn't comply, she'll be arrested. In 2007, NPR reported on the incident, providing several links, including a link to a letter Karkos wrote to the Sun Journal. Lewiston Woman Facing Jail Over Book...

Top: The Riviera lobby in 1957, Bottom: The same view in 2007 Peter Moruzzi sent me a copy of his gorgeous new book, called Havana Before Castro. It's loaded with photos of the beautiful mid-century architecture of Havana's resorts, casinos, and restaurants. On his website for the book, Moruzzi has added some “then and now” images to his Havana site. Chris Nichols says: "It’s really the most freakish time machine place I’ve ever seen. I mean...the art! the chairs! The silverware! It’s all still there. So weird and wonderful." Havana before Castro...

The fan-translations of my short-short story Printcrime keep on rolling in: today there's one in Hiligaynon (an Austronesian language spoken in Western Visayas in the Philippines) and another in Romanian, contributed, respectively, by Lorna Belviz-Pajo and Alex Brie. It's just so wicked-cool to see your work take on a life of its own -- I didn't even know that Hiligaynon existed until a few minutes ago! Krimen nga pang-imprenta (Hiligaynon), Crima Printării (Romanian)...

Friday's post announcing that a fan named Eduardo Mercer had translated my story Printcrime into Brazilian Portuguese sparked two more translations; Luis Filipe Silva translated the story into European Portuguese and Paul Pajo translated it into Filipino. I'm particularly excited about the Filipino translation; I think it might be the first story of mine to be translated into Filipino! Filipino fan-translation European Portuguese fan-translation See also: Printcrime in Portuguese...

Eduardo Mercer's just produced a Brazilian Portuguese fan-translation of my story Printcrime -- making five translations in total (as well as two audio adaptations, a mini-comic and some wicked 3D fan-art). For a 700 word story, it's sure attracted a lot of attention and fan activity! Os tiras destruiram a impressora do meu pai quando eu tinha oito anos. Eu me lembro do cheiro quente de rolopack no microondas, do olhar de concentração furiosa do papi enquanto ele a enchia de geleca fresca e da sensação de recém tirado do forno dos objetos que saíam dela. Os tiras entraram brandindo os cacetetes, um deles lendo o mandato através de um megafone. Um dos clientes do papi tinha vendido ele. A polícia pagou em drogas de alto nível - anabolizantes, suplementos de memória, aceleradores metabólicos. O tipo de coisa que custa uma fortuna na farmácia; o tipo de coisa que você pode imprimir em casa, se não se importar com o risco da sua cozinha se encher de corpos grandes e musculosos com cacetetes balançando no ar acertando tudo e todos em seu caminho. Printcrime - Copie esta história...

Oh, I really like the look of Secrets of the Mouse, an insider guide to Disneyland: Secrets of the Mouse is a unique look at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA. It presents a view of the park from a behind-the-scenes perspective, with information about the hidden secrets and inside jokes scattered throughout Disneyland. It is intended to be a look at the magic behind the magic of Disneyland, and will give the reader a greater appreciation for the incredible efforts and innovations that create the Disneyland experience. If seeing how a magic trick works spoils the fun for you, then you might want to try another guide. However, if you find yourself asking “How do they do that?” when you see an oncoming boulder in Indiana Jones or translucent ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, this guide is here to satisfy your curiosity. Secrets of the Mouse, Buy it on Amazon (Thanks, Akma!)...

A good week for young adult science fiction! John Scalzi's long-awaited debut YA novel, Zoe's Tale, has just hit shelves. This is a young-adult story in the popular and thrilling Old Man's War universe, and it's got all the heart and smarts I've come to expect from Scalzi. Run, don't walk, and get another copy for your kids while you're at it! In the touching fourth novel set in the Old Man's War universe, Scalzi revisits the events of 2007's The Last Colony from the perspective of Zoë, adopted daughter of previous protagonists Jane Sagan and John Perry. Jane and John are drafted to help found the new human colony of Roanoke, struggling against a manipulative and deceitful homeworld government, native werewolf-like creatures and a league of aliens intent on preventing all space expansion and willing to eradicate the colony if needed. Meanwhile, teenage Zoë focuses more on her poetic boyfriend, Enzo; her sarcastic best friend, Gretchen; and her bodyguards, a pair of aliens from a race called the Obin who worship and protect Zoë because of a scientific breakthrough made by her late biological father. Zoe's Tale See also: * Forever War with better sex, Starship Troopers without the lectures: Old Man's War * Sequel to Scalzi's Old Man's War: The Ghost Brigades...

Sudarshan sez, "The Tamil language, widely spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India, has a large body of pulp fiction. But it hasn't been available to non-Tamil speakers, until now. A new publishing house, Blaft translated a bunch of these stories and published an representative anthology of the stuff. I loved the book myself when I read it (I raved about it on my blog). The book has gone on to be one of the big successes of the year in India, and they're thinking of bringing out a sequel, and similar anthologies for pulp in other languages. " The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction (Thanks, Sudarshan!)...

Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle) has a new novel coming out in just a couple weeks -- Anathem. Some of us here at Boing Boing have been following this one with much obsession. Here's a sneak copy of an abridged glossary of neologisms and language-bending goodies from the book. My favorite Stephensonism here is "bulshytt," which doesn't mean exactly what you think it might. PDF Link to preview glossary for Neal Stephenson's Anathem....

I dropped in at the Tor Books offices today and spotted this fantastic new edition of Harry Harrison's novel Make Room! Make Room! (better known for the film based on it, Soylent Green). Now that's a hell of a good-lookin' book. Make Room! Make Room!...