“And I just sit there under the floor lamp early in the morning and work and see what happens. Nine days out of 10, nothing good comes of it at all. Maybe on the tenth day, if I’m lucky, some little thing will start a poem.” At Home with Poet Laureate Ted Kooser (worth listening to the whole interview, in our never humble opinion)
The Association of American Publishers has also filed suit against Google over the Google library project. The suit notes, among other things, that there is “continuing, irreparable and imminent harm publishers are suffering … due to Google’s willful (copyright) infringement to further its own commercial purposes.” If we were the type to read carefully (rather than being the type rushing this post because we should have been showered and shampooed by now), we would note that, technically, there hasn’t been continuing and irreparable harm to the publishers as of yet (the jury is still out on the imminent — such
Susan Gable, who, between us, spends a lot of time seeking out the weird of the world, tells us about yet another case where fear overrides common sense. Again, we will note that lots of people write about things they never plan to do. And sometimes it’s healthy to express uncomfortable thoughts — much better than letting them fester until they seem like good ideas. We will avoid noting that kids also, sometimes, deliberately do things to shock and provoke adults. Arresting kids for merely writing about violent actions is, how shall we say it, a bit of an overreaction.
As this week continues to careen out of control, we look to others to provide wit and wisdom. Or at least interesting reads. Over at the Co-Op, Elizabeth Poliner stops by to discuss her book Mutual Life & Casualty. In addition to expanding on her themes, she also addresses how she sees the novel-in-stories: As far as the novel-in-stories being successful as a novel, I’d like to throw out the possibility that they’re different creatures. Often more a fiction of community than anything else, novel-in-stories often jump, as my book does, from character to character, with an aim of gathering
We have often wondered how certain books would fare if presented to contest judges in manuscript format (sans author names). If a book is stripped of all identifying markers and judged simply by the words inside and how they are presented, would genre fiction have a fighting chance? It is a fair question — how much of how we perceive literature is determined by the label given a particular work? We also feel like we’ve written that exact paragraph once before. Either it was a dream or we’re getting repetitive in our old age. If the latter, oops. As he
We have been making merry at a few other blogs. With almost no effort, we found two books that couldn’t be more different to write about. At Paperback Reader, we’ve shared our (lengthy) thoughts about The Last Heiress by Bertrice Small. You know the old saying: we read, you decide. At the Litblog Co-Op, we kick off the discussion of Mutual Life & Casualty by Elizabeth Poliner. While this title didn’t resonate with many of our fellow bloggers, we were particularly drawn to Poliner’s portrait of women in a changing world. In a time where women’s was reduced to a
Hmm, that’s not exactly true. It much more stormy than dark — it’s amazing how bright lightning can be, especially when you’re trying to sleep. We spent far too long this morning trying to compose sentences that made sense. We abandoned the project in favor of staring off into space. Luckily, we have found someone who can write with eloquence. After a week of discussions about his book, Kirby Gann weighs in over the LitBlog Co-Op. He talks about how he envisioned his stor, his goals, and the sense of place he evoked. A Few Words From Kirby Gann
The Smart Bitches are picking up the idea of ebook royalty rates at traditional publishing houses — and they’re examining the issue with all the fervor of, well, smart bitches. We firmly believe that the more this issue is discussed, the better for the publishing industry. It is near-impossible for publishing houses to make the case that electronically published titles should be treated in the sam manner as other ancillary publishing income, yet so few authors and agents (or even publishers) understand the economics behind this revenue stream. As you leap into the discussion, remember one thing: ebook sales are
We see the result — and the future — in this student exercise. Canadian publishing will fall easily into step with the rest of the multinational corporate publishers who see books as a peripherally profitable sub-genre of entertainment. Books will capitalize on trends — not create them. Clever ideas and excellent packages will dominate, but only occasionally will real depth and substance — what books give us that no other medium offers — emerge. As the giants of CanLit retire, they’ll be replaced by their non-fiction facsimiles. The Future’s Books from Nowhere: When students were assigned to play at being
In its continuing quest for publicity, lulu.com has announced a new contest. We report, you decide: The website Lulu.com, which enables amateur authors to publish and sell their own books, is sponsoring the first literary prize for “blooks” — or books based on blogs or websites. In, uh, related news, Susan Gable informs us that lulu.com has also added to its product line. They have moved into useful items. Meanwhile in the U.S., the Blooker Prize is born Rejection Toilet Paper
