Posts
Burger King is giving away toys based on The Dangerous Book for Boys -- as if eating fast food wasn't risky enough!
This is precisely the sort of news item I live to share: A massive methamphetamine network in CO was using collectible comics to front for drug profits. I wonder, could this have saved my local comics shop?
GalleySmith is planning a book bloggers convention for May 2010. As with every other book industry related event, potential participants have one question they need answered before committing: Will there be swag? Via.
Dan Brown has been named the Goodwill Ambassador to Goodwill stores. Okay, so that's bullsh*t, but a recent survey did reveal that the The Da Vinci Code author is Oxfam's most donated author, with John Grisham and Ian Ranking closing out the Top 3. Via.The LATimes has a list of Obama's intended beach reads. Now you'll know what to carry around Martha's Vineyard while stalking him so that when you finally make it past the hordes of Secret Service and press, you can casually say, "Oh, what a coincidence -- I'm reading that book, too."
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Book News, In Brief
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Writers on Writing
"Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it."
Truman Capote
Tuesday's Tips for Flailing Writers
CopyBlogger has the 12 Things You Shouldn't Do When Writing A Headline.
Quips & Tips for Successful Writers has 5 Tips for Writing Great Conclusions.
Not ready to end it all just yet? Q & T also has 7 Ways to Write Introductions that Hook Readers.
The Buddha of brevity, Frank O'Connor, illustrates The 3 Necessary Elements of a Story -- in just two sentences!
On the opposite end of the economical writing spectrum, Richard Rhodes lists 5 Things An Agent Should (and shouldn't) Do...in eight sentences (and two parentheticals).
Whether you're setting a mood, delivering important information or developing your characters, the Heart & Craft blog finds Dialogue is the Writer's Swiss Army Knife.
My favorite tip this week comes from the How Not to Write blog. It's a simple, sensible bit of advice that all successful writers have had to figure out for themselves at one time or another, and now you, you lucky sons and daughters of b**ches, are gonna have it handed to you on a pixelated platter: Commit to Finish. Commit to Begin Again.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Julia Child's Recipe for Making it to the Top of the New York Times Bestseller List
1. Write a book.
2. Start a TV show based on said book.
3. Write more books.
4. Garner awards and accolades across the globe.
5. Become the un-official 'face' of your chosen profession.
6. Have a fan write a bestselling book about their experiences reading your book.
7. Die.
8. Have a hit movie made about said fan's book.
9. Allow hype to simmer for 3-4 weeks, or until its reach its boiling point...
10. ...and voilà !
Book News, In Brief
Would you stand in line for four hours just to have your great-grandmother's mildew covered copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin appraised at $1.99? The creators of a proposed "Antiques Roadshow for books, just books" hope so.
Award-winning author Margaret Atwood has joined the blogosphere. While Atwood currently shies away from talking about her cat's eccentricities, the new shoes she just bought, and/or her favorite sex scenes from this week's True Blood, give her time. She'll learn.
A new line of audiobooks "dedicated to famous 20th century books" will feature celebrity readers and academic audio commentary. The first release is Bette Friedan's The Feminine Mystique read by actress Parker "Party Girl" Posey, with additional audio analysis by Naomi "The Beauty Myth" Wolf. (TMI fun fact: I've had threesome fantasies involving this same duo!)
The English book dealer accused of stealing a Shakespeare portfolio valued at $2.5 million made his first appearance in court this past Friday. According to the Washington Times, "The defendant, Raymond Scott, arrived at the courthouse in a horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by a bagpipe player and wearing a tartan kilt." Please let CourtTV cover this case.
One small setback for Anna Nichole Smith's manager, Howard K. Stern, is one giant step for gay rights. This past Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ruled that Stern could sue an Anna Nichole Smith biographer Rita Cosby for defamation -- but not over gay sex claims. The reason? Because homosexuality is no longer viewed as "contemptible." Allow me to repeat that for all the Far Right Republicans and holier than thou evangelicals in the audience: No. Longer. Contemptible. By law!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Recommended Viewing:
Grant Morrison & Clive Barker @ Meltdown
This is part one. Parts two through six can be found here.
Sci-Fi Lit Links
IO9 presents a Steampunk primer
The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction by Jonathan Lethem
Fresh Fiction tries to explain Why A Reader Attends a Science Fiction Fantasy Literary Convention
WSFS has announced the finalists for their annual small press award. Celebrate their genius now, because by this time next year, half of them will be writing Star Wars novels.
Tor.com proposes a "discussion of making decisions about reading priorities that draws on the facts of human maturation in ways shaped by scholarship as well as personal impression." Then they start one.
Book News, In Brief
Barnes & Noble's 2nd quarter earnings fell 27% -- and they're spinning this as good news!
According to The Chicago Sun-Times, owning a bookstore is The New Urban Dream. Lest the nightmarish realities of retail shake anyone from their slumber, the Sun-Times has kindly cobbled together an overly optimistic lullaby made up of shopworn 'Shop Locally' cliches.
The web site of the American Library Association proclaims, "Policies should not unjustly exclude materials and resources even if they are offensive to the librarian or the user." So why are more and more libraries restricting access to certain books?
Mayme Clayton spent her life scouring yard sales and used bookstores, collecting and cataloging hundreds of thousands of rare and important bits of Black history. Now her son is working to open a library that will house it all -- The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum of African American History & Culture. What have you done for your mom lately?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Go, Look: Why Hunter S. Thompson Passed on Covering the O.J. Trial
Was it the lack of available satellite dishes, a dying paper's inability to provide "an unlimited expense account," or a lack of spare suites at the Chateau Marmont? All of the above, actually -- and more. Click here for the full story.
Adaptation News
(They're gonna cut your favorite scenes & completely change the ending. Get over it.)
Take one part Twilight, another part Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, and a dab of Iron Man's debonair playboy, Tony Stark, and you just might have the makings of a Robert Downey Jr. re-boot of the Interview With The Vampire film franchise.
Michael Douglas' Further Films is developing Shirley Jackson's 1962 novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, about a reclusive and reputedly murderous family. Over the years, such creepy creatives as Stephen King and Vincent Price have hailed Jackson as their inspiration.
Jean-Jacques Annaud, the French director of the snoozefest Seven Years in Tibet, will helm an adaptation of the Chinese novel, Wolf Totem. Totem tells the tale of the relationship between Mongolian nomads and wolves, and is often credited as a critter-filled critique of Communism.
Rob Weiss, an executive producer of HBO's Entourage, has acquired the rights to Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck's 1969 autobiography, Pimp: The Story of My Life. Don't hold your breath waiting for this film, though. In the past ten years, this project has been in and out of development more times than Beck has been in and out of prison.
Neil LaBute is writing an adaptation of Charles Willeford's 1971 neo-noir novel, Burnt Orange Heresy. The story, about a "fast-talking, backstabbing, womanizing art critic Jacques Figueras [who] will do anything - blackmail, burglary, fencing, assassination - to further his career," seems perfect for the grim, grinning auteur behind In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
You know Twilight fever has hit its peak (and/or nadir), when you pull up behind this:
Image swiped from CHUD.com's ever expanding List of Dumb.
30 Second Book Review:
Filthy Rich by Azzarello & Santos
This is the perfectly brilliant hard-boiled story of a former football player and failed used car salesman who gets caught up in a world of privilege, sex and danger when he is hired to be the bodyguard of a spoiled rich girl with a penchant for getting herself into the tabloids. It is a fast and fluid read. The art is fantastic and only contributes to the feel and pace of the story. I have a feeling that anyone who has enjoyed Brubaker's Criminal whould enjoy this book. It has sex, double cross, interesting characters and a glimpse at the dark side of privilege and fame. It's really good stuff.
Note: This review comes courtesy of Inkwell Irregular and Talkin' 'Bout Comics creator, Rob H. Thanks a million, Rob!
The Most Inconsequential 'Book News' You're Likely To Read Today
A survey of fantasy cover art* revealed swords to be the genre's most popular and enduring motif. This news comes as an unwelcome shock to those folks still reeling over the recent revelation that the most iconic image in Sci-Fi cover art was spaceships and that 9 out of 10 LOLCat books feature (gasp!) kittens.
*Christ, how much did they have to pay the aesthetic masochist hired to do that job?
The Johnson County Library in Kansas was given the advertising campaign of a lifetime when the mad men (and women!) of the Barkley Advertising Agency redesigned four of the library's courier trucks to resemble the delivery trucks of some of literature's most famous characters. To behold the beauty of Captain Ahab's Seafood, Kafka's Pest Control, Benjamin Button's Diaper Service, and a two-sided Dr. Jeckyll/Hr. Hyde's Pharmacy truck, click here. Via: Super Punch.
Allow me to direct all "ballers" and "shot callers" towards AbeBooks' list of The Top 10 Most Expensive Trilogies Sold by AbeBooks. While it might seem strange for a bookstore to steer its clientele to the site of a competitor, I feel that in this case, we're at no risk of losing any potential sales. After all, we just sold out of our $5,000 copies of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy this morning.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Recommended Viewing:
Steven Brust on Writing & Other Animals
The author of the Vlad Taltos series shares his thoughts on first novels, short stories, writers' groups, and the lies that authors must tell themselves to survive.
Tuesday's Tips for Flailing Writers
You're a failure. But wait -- that's a good thing!
Camera shy? You'd better hope not. Cuz The Book Deal swears a video will help you sell your book.
I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on a freelance editor, but if'n you're loaded, The Book Deal has a few tips for choosing one.
Another 'tip' I disagree with but still feel is worth reading: Booker nominated author A.S. Byatt warns against what she calls "faction," or writing which blends "biography and fiction, journalism and invention."
Maybe it's the heat, or maybe I'm just one ornery sonuvabitch, but here's a third 'tip' I'm spotlighting solely for the sake of disagreeing with it: Storytellersunplugged's Titles and their Unimportance. As to why I disagree, allow me to quote the piece's second paragraph. "The fact is the title is the only aspect of a book or story’s first impression that an author can control. The other items such as the cover art, the back cover or end flap plot summation, the story placement in the anthology, and the accompanying illustration in the magazine, are left to the editor and publisher. The title is (generally) the author’s choice."
Monday, August 17, 2009
Go, Look: Chapter 1 of Dave Eggers' Where The Wild Thing Are
The New Yorker has the first chapter of Dave Eggers' full length adaptation of his own feature film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book, Where The Wild Things Are. To read it, click here. While you're there, make sure to read the accompanying interview with Eggers.
