Apologies once again for the lack of posts. I’ve accepted a job and have either been busy at work, busy sleeping, or busy looking for apartments near my grad school I’ll attend in August. Big things are heading my way, so other obligations fell through a bit.

And now, for the news!

1. The Shrinking of HMH – Want to hear more about the bankruptcy? Publisher’s Weekly provided a brief overview of why Houghton Mifflin Harcourt filed.  “In its filing, HMH blamed the recession and subsequent decline in school funding for what it acknowledged has been a “substantial decline” in revenue. The filing noted that despite the financial restructuring in March 2010 “due to the continuing contraction of funds for state education spending and higher deferrals of awarded business than expected,” HMH “continued to experience “financial difficulties,” which led to another round of discussions with lenders about a new restructuring.” Lots of internal struggle, financial issues, and education issues all play in this messy game.
2. Gay Superheroes Soar into Comic Books – I think this is a very positive thing, a good step forward! The Guardian’s article talks about Marvel’s plan for a same-sex marriage between Northstar and his boyfriend, and DC plans to reveal a gay character sometime this summer.
3. Hachette Launches Facebook Excerpt App – “The app, ChapterShare, lets Hachette publishing divisions, authors and retail partners post free chapters of books on their Facebook pages. Readers can preorder the books directly from the page and share links to sample chapters with their Facebook friends.” 
4. Profanity in YA Books – TIME reveals a study on 40 teen novels and the use of profane language in the novels. Apparently, the characters who have the most foul language are also the most attractive characters. You can look at this study several ways: young adults are reading  things parents would prefer they didn’t, young adults are being exposed to “dangerous” things, young adults are being exposed to things they already have exposure to outside the home, young adults are finding healthier ways to escape the real world. I’m of the escapism party, and I think it is good to have teens read this sort of fiction. Not all good characters are good, not all attractive people are attractive, and issues with sex (the recent The Fault in Our Stars ban) and violence (The Hunger Games controversy) will become more difficult to parents if children aren’t exposed to these things in a much healthier form. Even still – this study’s findings is incredibly interesting. Take a look!

For something entertaining…”celebrate” the 10 million copies of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by watching this Funny or Die video starring Selena Gomez!