Author name: Booksquare

First, we have to say that we believe there was no need to turn a fine book like The Polar Express into a movie. Film could add nothing to the experience. Second, we want to mention that our first encounter with the movie’s trailer left us unsettled and not the least bit intrigued. It wasn’t much of a surprise to discover it, well, tanked with most people. What, you say, can’t you at least give it a chance? No, not in this instance. In order to recoup just the production costs, the movie would have to gross somewhere in the […]

We are finally catching up on our backlog of blog reading, and remembered we hadn’t posted a link to BookAngt 101’s published author survey (we’re not feel especially sharp at the moment, but suspect he’s looking for input from published authors only). Deadline is end of business, Sunday, 11/21/2004. Helpfull, this gives you until midnight. Hmm, we’re unclear which midnight, but suspect it’s East Coast midnight. Those people always assume they’re the only ones with time zones. Mad Max Perkins promises to keep all input as confidential as his true identity. A Call to (Published) Writers

Often, when we find an interview of interest, we like to point out something that particularly excited us. Usually, it’s a line or two that makes us say, yes, that is what we want people to get out of this article. Then there are those moments when, in order to accomplish our lofty goal, we feel it would be easier to copy and paste the entire interview. Saves us the effort of declaring a favorite and leaving the rest behind. Such is the case in Dan Wickett’s interview with author Dayne Sherman (Welcome to the Fallen Paradise. Read the interview.

A month or so ago, we posted about an author who claimed she’d been investigated because certain research triggered Patriot Act alarms. This story came from a trusted source and a trusted publication. This week, we’ve received several pieces of information indicating the author profiled in the article may have been, well, lying. She is certainly being investigated, but for other reasons. Though we hesitate to say this, but other trusted sources have indicated the author under indictment and the author who made the Patriot Act claims are the same. Booksquare’s trusty investigative journalist, who worked day and night on

We must say, with all the controversy and discussion surrounding the National Book Awards, we expected something along the way of fireworks. A denunciation of the process. A Native American accepting the award on behalf of someone. Random violence because someone said something someone else found offensive, though nobody could explain why. We may have to stop watching television for a little while. Lily Tuck won the fiction award, beating out a host of competitors whose lack of commercial success generated more column inches than analysis of their work. The 9/11 Commission did not win the non-fiction. Other authors won

We are very excited to have introduced two new phrases to the modern lexicon (if we are not clever and unique, do not tell us): Consultant Stockholm Syndrome and Homonym Dyslexia. We like to think both are self-explanatory. But we must say we never dwelled on ghostwriters and hwo they identify with captors. In a way, it sounds almost too exciting. But then we realize it’s one thing to inhabit a fake person’s life — it’s entirely different to do so with a live person. Not to mention the fact that fantasy people rarely demand you edit entire portions of

“This is very important and credible research. We should not be afraid to destroy the myths, ” Francesco Pirella of Genoa’s Museum of Print told Discovery News. No, no, we should be afraid to destroy myths. Please allow us to cling to our belief that Gutenberg was, well, Gutenberg’s real last name (please, our heart can’t take any more shocks today) and he invented moveable type. Because it opens up so many questions, like, oh, if he didn’t, who did? It’s not like we know of a long line of pretenders to the throne. Did the printing process suddenly appear

Since it’s about halfway through the month (or, rather, just beyond halfway, but close enough for government work), we thought we’d check in with our progress. Despite some days of loafing and some days of high-level production, we remain in the 25,000 word range. We’re not sure if this speaks more to dedication or luck. We find we’re afraid to look too closely. According to the helpful literature we’ve received, Week Three should be a breath of fresh air. We met Week Two head on and wrestled it into submission (though there remains some resistance in Friday, Saturday, and Sunday