Monday is my catch-up day, so today you once again get all the things I noticed and wanted to share/talk about, but haven't had a chance to do so yet.

Dark Horse Interview
I don’t know what it is about the beginning of the year, but there seems to be a lot of interviews going on with publishers. ICv2 has an interview with Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson. "In Part 1, we talk about the state of the comics and graphic novel market, Dark Horse's history with licensed comics, and the new trend toward omnibus editions. In Part 2, we talk about Dark Horse's role in bringing manga titles to the States and its long-standing relationships with top creators. In Part 3 we talk about Webcomics, comic ratings, and plans for 2008."

Author Cory Doctorow talks about artist rights (found via SFSignal).

Publishing trends
Publisher's Weekly did an article on publishing trends to watch for in 2008. Some of the trends are obvious, like the rise of the ebook, while others are a little less so.

Science Fiction defined
One of my favorite features on Sfsignal’s is the Mindmeld, where they ask many publishing professionals the same question. This time they asked to define today's science fiction as oppossed to the old definition. We hear from newcomers like Matthew Jarpe and established writers and editors like Jeff Vandermer and John Scalzi.

Character versus plot driven narratives
I’ve frequently asked authors in interviews whether the plot or the characters came first. I’ve gotten a variety of answers, but I think I’ll skip asking LE Modesitt that question. He recently wrote on his blog about how plot, character, setting and style should all work together and how there shouldn’t be one element significantly dominant. Otherwise you have a story that isn’t living up to its potential.

What is that anyway?
If you've been wondering what the hoopla about graphic novels is all about, but don't want to test with your checkbook, here's a way to take a look. Dailybits has compiled a list of 17 graphic novels that are free online for download, all perfectly legal. There's a wide array in the genres and styles, and it gives a good representation of the variety out there. I'm excited to go home and read some of these.