We have been in a pre-SXSW frenzy for the past few days and consumed with the process of finding just the right outfit for 85 degree weather. Also looking up the meaning of humidity on the off chance it’s changed since we last encountered it. It hasn’t. Now we’re catching up on cool stuff to write about. Or maybe we’ll head out for a margarita. It’s so hard to make these decisions.
We cannot be bothered to put much energy into the Da Vinci case. It is too silly for words, though we do appreciate the fact that the British taxpayers are covering the costs for the most intriguing marketing campaign of the season. Yes, we are counting the James Frey scandal in our reckoning. So in addition to increasing sales for Holy Blood, Holy Grail, at least one of the authors has suggested that the case he filed was a bit…broader than strictly necessary. There’s a phrase, something like casting a wide net, fishing expedition, hoping nobody’s paying attention. Only someone
We are worrying about our caffeine. Normally, we’d be fully invigorated by now. We are so sluggish that we’re worried — it’s almost as if (and this is so terrifying, even typing the words makes us shudder) someone gave us, oh dear, decaf. It’s almost enough to make a girl cry. If you need further evidence, look no further than the first item to raise our pulse today: an introduction to “Spoetry”, the irritating, yet oddly compelling nonsensical spam. Admit it, sometimes you read it for the sheer (unintentional) poetry of the message. Or not. You’re probably deleting with wild
Before we get into MediaBistro’s interview with Hyperion editor Zareen Jaffrey (whom some of you may remember from Red Dress Ink), we have to puzzle over one of the more odd book titles we’ve encountered this week: Desperate Housewives Cookbook. Now if this were, oh, the fifties, we’d be thinking, ah, a cookbook for a new cook. You know, “Hi honey, I’m bringing the boss home to taste some that good food.” And then the desperate housewife realizes that the pre-made frozen meals from her mother worked, but she’s out! She’ll have to cook from scratch… Anyway, that needed to
In Dickens’s spirit, I believe we need to take action against Google. Its quest to monetise for its own benefit the literature of the world must be stopped. So I call upon internet users worldwide to boycott the Google search engine until it ceases to scan books in America without prior permission, and desists from its mission to place ambient advertising on the great literary works. Switch your search engine from Google to MSN or Yahoo today, until you hear Google has withdrawn from the type of activities that have been described in another context as acts of “kleptomania”. Google’s
At some point in our history, such notions as good punctuation and proper grammar emerged. One suspects, if one has spent some time learning the English language, that there were equal rations of randomness and sadism in the development of sentence structure and rules. Apparently clarity of communication could only be achieved via the most circuitous route. It is noted that some writers, well-known ones at that, didn’t follow rules that lead to neatly organized dots and dashes and curlicues. Or maybe they did, but in the end, it didn’t matter much because even in the days of Shakespeare, the
Was it just last year that the insane drive to add erotica to a publisher’s list lead to the creation of new and wilder imprints all over New York? Like pink phones, everyone had to have their own line. These weren’t your father’s dirty books, oh no. By definition, erotica is aimed toward women; by implication, erotica is selling like proverbial hotcakes. Which leads us to wonder about the genesis of that expression. Later. Later. Literary erotica is now (apparently) sweeping the planet. Or, if you will, As a publishing trend it might best be summed up thus – from
This is from the March 3, 2006 “Shelf Awareness.” In an effort to restock its shelves after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public Library is asking for donations of hardcovers and paperbacks for people of all ages. Library staff will decide which books should go into its collection; the rest will go to destitute families or be sold to raise funds for the library. Please send books to: Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations, New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Ave., New Orleans, La. 70112. Apparently if donors mention to the Postal Service that the books are for the library in
Though we can’t be certain*, we think the British press is on schedule: one article touting the future of self-publishing per quarter. It’s almost enough to make us wonder if there’s some sort of publishing revolution happening across the Atlantic. If only we had a correspondent who spoke English. Though the article intermingles self-publishing and print-on-demand, we simply do not have the time to explain differences. Place to go and all that. Likewise, we cannot focus on a cost/benefit analysis of self-publishing. What we’re enthusiastic about is potential. We do enjoy potential, especially on rainy days. Print-on-demand technology is rapidly
To nobody’s surprise, readers largely prefer books with happy endings. Psychologists will surely do studies and focus groups, but we believe that deep down inside, most humans are hopeful. It’s a tough world and turning to a book that makes you think it will be just fine is human nature. It is that most of us crave overwhelmingly a happy ending to a novel; and that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – in which Elizabeth and Mr Darcy ride off to Pemberley in the sunset and live happily ever after – is our runaway favourite of a perfect ending. Part
