Tupac and Biggie aren't the only people coming out with new material long after death. Beatrix Potter is now pulling the same stunt.
Over 70-years after the Peter Rabbit author's death and over 100-years after she wrote it, the recently discovered The Tale of Kitty-In-Bootswill be released this September. Long thought lost, a search was undertaken by book publisher Jo Hanks two years ago after she discovered a letter Potter wrote to her publisher in 1914. In the letter, Potter states she has a new story written centering around "a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life."
Hanks searched the Victoria & Albert archive in London for the book, and found three 'lost' manuscripts, along with a sketch of Kitty drawn by Potter herself.
I think he just took out Peter Rabbit with a rifle.
The rest of the book's drawings will come from famed illustrator Quentin Blake, best known for his work alongside Roald Dahl.
The rest of Beatrix Potter's work will be released when she comes out of hiding and admits she's still alive.
Did you grow up eating at the kids' table during Thanksgiving? You
know, when your family chose to banish you into a corner with an
assortment of cousins that you rarely saw and hardly liked? The cousin
who's a few oats short of a Cheerio? The other cousin who lacks personal
grooming habits and doesn't know the tender touch of a facecloth?
Yeah--that happened to a lot of us.
We were all kids at some point though. Some of us were debonair, and some of us were a hot mess. And so were famous writers.
Here
are seventeen famous writers when they were children or teenagers--and whether
they should luck out and eat with the adults or be at the kids' table for
Thanksgiving:
1.) Robert Frost
Even as a baby, Frost couldn't manage a smile. And it all went downhill from here.
Kids' table!
2.) Vladimir Nabokov
The snappy tie, the tube socks channeling his wannabe inner Flashdance waiting to break free, all while rocking penny loafers.
Adults' table!
3.) Virginia Woolf
She even judges while playing cricket. You don't need her judging your homemade stuffing, too.
Kids' table!
4.) Langston Hughes
Somewhere under that giant mound of baby clothes is Hughes. Is he a wizard? He might be a wizard.
Adults' table!
5.) Roald Dahl
There's a 50% chance he just walked off the set of Downton Abbey.
Adults' table!
6.) Jorge Luis Borges
It's as if baby Spock just came back from a cruise ship adventure.
Adults' table!
7.) F. Scott Fitzgerald
A whip for the toy horse?
And we all know he's going to drink all the booze anyway...
Kids' table!
8.) Franz Kafka
Is that a goat? Ram? Sheep?
Whatever it is, it has a hat. No one can deny a hat-wearing sheep is a winning look.
Adults' table!
9.) Carl Jung
That's the face of judgment. No one needs that while eating the sweet potatoes.
Kids' table!
10.) J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien and his younger brother are channeling the pilgrim look. But they're missing the stylish hats with the belt buckles.
Kids' table!
11.) Aldous Huxley
The shoes say, "I came here on the Mayflower."
The sour face says, "I need a nap."
Kids' table!
12. Arthur Rimbaud
You just kind of get the vibe that after he passes you the bowl of peas, he'll politely read you a poem.
Adults' table!
13.)Alice Munro
You try wearing a bonnet and look so cute. You can't, can you?
Adults' table!
14.) Flannery O'Connor
She might be good with small talk, but the entire time she'll be plotting a short story where she makes you a creep.
Kids' table!
15.) Noam Chomsky
Don't let the coy smile fool you. That starched white collar channels a Miles Standish quality.
Kids' table!
16.) Victor Hugo
Little Lord Fauntleroy, is that you?
Adults' table!
17.) Stephen King
You usually only see 85-year old men wearing pants that high.
Musical acts get their names from a variety of sources, and for many that comes in the way of books.
Sometimes it's as simple as the title of a book. Sometimes it's a character's name. Other times it's an object or location mentioned in the story. More often than not, though, it's an obscure reference that not even your hardcore English major is going to recognize.
So here are 17 random musical acts that named themselves after something literary-related. Consider this a chance to brush up on some obscure facts so you can kick ass at trivia night at your favorite bar.
In no order of significance:
1.) Steppenwolf
The name comes from Herman Hesse's book of the same name. The band's producer recommended a name change from what they were calling themselves: The Sparrows.
Because it's a little difficult to take a man growling "Born to Be Wild" seriously when you're called The Sparrows.
2.) Steely Dan
William S. Burrough's novel Naked Lunch is to blame for the name. And what, exactly, is a "Steely Dan" in the book?
((ahem)) It's a name for a strap-on dildo.
And references to sex toys was about as edgy as Steely Dan ever got.
3.) Modest Mouse
Virginia Woolf has her groupies, and Modest Mouse is one such collection of groupies. The name comes from Woolf's novel The Mark on the Wall, from the line, "...…and very frequent even in the minds of modest, mouse-coloured people."
That line makes about as much sense as the rest of Woolf's work.
4.) The Doors
A shout-out to a sale on storm doors at Home Depot?
No, it apparently comes from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which is really just quoting William Blake, "When the doors of perception are cleansed, things will appear to man as they truly are…infinite."
5.) My Chemical Romance
Everyone knows if you want inspiration in life, you have to work retail.
The bassist of the band, Mikey Way, used to work at a Barnes and Noble and was inspired to name the band he was in after a book titled Five Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh, which he saw on a shelf.
6.) Genesis
You get three guesses, and the first two don't count.
Yeah, the band's named after that Genesis.
7.) Silverchair
The Aussie band was apparently a big fan of young adult fiction. They named themselves after C.S.Lewis's fourth installment in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Silver Chair. Clearly they're not a fan of The Magician's Nephew.
8.) Belle & Sebastian
A French-oriented name for a Scottish band? Sure, why not? That's what we have here, as the indie pop group went for the French children's book Belle et Sébastien, by Cécile Aubry, as their name.
9.) Veruca Salt
Can't fight the seether? Well, you can't fight the appeal of Roald Dalh's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory either, as Veruca Salt was the name of one of the bratty kids that appeared in the book.
10.) Sixpence None the Richer
Let's welcome C.S. Lewis back to the stage!
This time it's Lewis's book Mere Christianity that was the inspiration. Detailing the band's name on The Late Show with David Letterman, lead singer Leigh Nash explained, "When the father received the present, he was none the richer because he originally gave the sixpence to his son."
That's a bit roundabout of a way to get to a name, but it serves its purpose.
11.) Moby
The man's given name is Richard Melville Hall. Bonus points if you already know where this is going.
Supposedly Herman Melville was his great-great-great granduncle. If you don't know--and God help you if you don't--Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick. Hence, the name.
12.) The Airborne Toxic Event
Any time your band's name has more than three words, you're probably dipping deep to come up with it. In this case, The Airborne Toxic Event comes from the Don DeLillo novel White Noise, specifically section two of the book with the same name that lends its title as inspiration to the band.
13.) Oryx and Crake
Someday she'll win a Nobel Prize in Literature, but for now Margaret Atwood just inspires bands from Atlanta to name themselves after one of her books, as is the case here.
14.) The Velvet Underground
Michael Leigh's book of the same name examined the sexual subculture of the early 1960s.
This makes perfect sense when you consider Andy Warhol managed the band.
15.) Mott the Hoople
Famous for their hit 1972 song "All of You Dudes," the band's record producer came up with the name after cooling his heals in prison for a drug offense. There he came across a book of the same title, written by Willard Manus.
I'm as shocked as you to realize drugs were behind that name.
16.) Supertramp
Their 1979 album Breakfast in America put them on the map, but they went back over 70 years earlier to a 1908 book called The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by Welsh writer W.H. Davies to find something to name themselves after.
I'm still not certain what a Super-Tramp is though.
17.) Okkervil River
The band actually has two sources for its name. Directly, it comes from a short story by Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya. But Tolstaya got the name for her short story from a river near St. Petersburg.
That is the most popular obscure river in all the world.
