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Boxing the Octopus: all content copyright 2008 Colleen Thompson and Joni Rodgers all rights reserved.
The thermostat and the frying pan
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If you want to cool your house to 68 degrees fahrenheit quickly, setting
the thermostat to 62 degrees isn't going to get it temperate any faster
than if yo...
Shame Shame Shame Shame
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Last week, I listened to a debate about public shaming. It's been a hot
topic, particularly in the wake of the story about the woman who posted
pictures o...
Narrative Drive
-
Above all else, writers want to be read. Editors and publishers, and
especially readers, require just one quality in a writer’s work to make
this dream com...
Bibliotherapy for Healthy Survivors
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Reading guide books can help Healthy Survivors get good care and/or live as fully as possible. But what about memoirs and biographies? Memoirs by and biograp...
Setpiece scenes: the unlimited production budget
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I’m headed off to teach a Screenwriting Tricks workshop in Texas next week,
and I'm going to be posting some prep work for my class, so you guys get
the b...
Literary courses online: The Fiction of Relationship
-
*Literary courses online:* Last year, the online eduction platform Coursera
launched. In partnership with many universities, Coursera offers free
online c...
Bless you all
-
by Pari
*Oh, so many thoughts, so many ideas. I wanted this to be a profound last
post. Instead, let me tell you a little story:*
Last week I had an ear...
"What Are You Afraid Of?"
-
A story from American Stories NOW is now available at your magazine stand!
Check out the May 2013 issue of Reader's Digest!
(and yes that's me wa...
Sample holiday reading treasures for free
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Books make terrific holiday gifts, but finding perfect books for friends
and family is always a challenge. If only we could flip through a few
sample pages...
Choose Your Own Movie Ending
-
That staple of ’80′s and ’90′s childrens book publishing, the Choose Your
Own Adventure series, is heading for the big-screen, according to the
Hollywood R...
Max Barry in Conversation with Lev Grossman
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Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Magician King, interviews Max Barry about his new sci-fi thriller, Lexicon, out June 18. My first question is a...
QR Codes: Regular or Dynamic
-
By now, you've all heard of *QR Codes*, that is *Quick Response Codes*,
those black abstract-looking cubes you see popping up on all kinds of print
matter...
Publishing Shift
-
For the first time in four years, I'm not at the Book Expo America in NYC
which is going on right now. Do I regret not going? Yes and no. No, because
I'm h...
Literary Tattoo Guessing Game at BuzzFeed
-
Ever thought about getting a literary tattoo?
BuzzFeed has created a video called, “Can You Guess These Amazing Literary
Tattoos?”
The idea is simple: s...
People Roundup, Mid-June 2013
-
PEOPLE Beth Lamb has been appointed to the newly created position of Vice
President, Associate Publisher, Vintage Anchor, reporting to Anne Messitte.
She ...
The Little Whisper. . ."Should I Just Self-Publish?"
-
In the vast land of author dilemmas there lives a persistent, harmful
reflex thought that short circuits an author's patience for, and belief in,
the trad...
Hand Yelling Constance by Patrick McGrath
-
I devoured Constance by Patrick McGrath yesterday. I unabashedly think he is one of the masters of gothic writing now. (I bought at R.J. Julia in Madison CT ...
Movin’ On Down the Road
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It’s been a damn good run, readers, and it’s time for the next thing. After
four years of actively blogging here (The Book Lady was born on July 1,
2008), ...
One Publisher’s Journey
-
Guest Post by Benjamin LeRoy I’ve been a steady lurker on the Absolute
Write forums since 2005. Every now and again I jump into a thread if I feel
like the...
Star Wars At Large: Clone Wars Red Carpet Premiee
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This just in: Attendees of Star Wars Celebration VI will be the first in
the world to see the premiere of Season Five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
at a bi...
Hiatus
-
As you may have noticed, lords and ladies, I haven't quite been bringing my
"A" game the past couple of months. Between increased responsibilities at
work ...
Editing An Anthology
-
by Sarah Cortez Thanks for asking me to write about the process of editing
an anthology of crime fiction. So far, I’ve edited three, one for Akashic
Books ...
A Few Thoughts on Vulgar Auteurism
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[image: universal-soldier-580.jpeg]
There has been lots of talk online in recent weeks about a critical
phenomenon called “vulgar auteurism” (V.A.), a te...
The Company They Kept
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[image: mary-mccarthy-290.jpg]
*The following essay is drawn from the introduction to a new edition of
Mary McCarthy’s novel, “The Oasis,” which will be ...
Songs of the South: Alex Bledsoe’s Wisp of a Thing
-
[image: Wisp of a Thing] Something about living in the small-town South
fuels eccentricity, secrecy, superstition, and creativity. Maybe it’s the
heat. M...
Will Hinton Joins Orbit
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[image: will-hinton]We would love to introduce the readers of Orbit Books
to *Will Hinton,* our new Editor! Will comes to us from afar — a few blocks
dow...
The Diamond Street App
-
Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, archivist and writer. She is the author of Rodinsky’s Whitechapel and co-author, with Iain Sinclair, of Rodinsky’s Room. Di...
My First App
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*I have a dilemma regarding ebook publishing. I am a seasoned graphic
designer/illustrator trying to break into the kidlit industry with an
author/illust...
We Don't Doubt, We Don't Take Direction
-
If a person is going to wear the same thing every day, she might as well
have a palette to work from, is my philosophy. In celebration of the
pending rel...
#244
-
Dear QueryShark
Winston Smith has been a foolish man, and on Christmas Day of 2012, it's
going to cost him his life.
This is a great opening line. D...
Pub Rants Has Moved!!
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STATUS: You'll have to check out the new location to see how I'm feeling.
*grin*
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? At the time I wrote that blog...
Books We Love: In Love and War
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Is it coincidence that February, the month of romance, is closely followed
by March, which is named after Mars, the Roman god of war? I don't think
so. Ea...
And So We Say Good-Bye
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In 2006 I had the idea to start a blog. Not a lot of thought went into this
idea other than the fact that blogs were the hot new medium for marketing
and i...
Joyland
-
For many, Stephen King’s “The Body” (part of his collection DIFFERENT
SEASONS, so memorably adapted to film as 1986′s STAND BY ME) is like a
hypodermic ful...
Four Fictions
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The feature well of this week’s issue of Washington City Paper is dedicated
to fiction for the first time in a long time. I sifted through the 50-odd
submi...
Texas Pages to be reincarnated
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In the very near future, the books blog you are reading will cease to exist. But books blogging is not going away -- you'll find it on a new fine arts-relate...
1 comment:
Make it *stop*!
So I'm a Grinch. Can't help myself.
But Merry Christmas anyhow. :)
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