The Politics of Presentation

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We stumbled across an interesting discussion about our friend Daniel Olivas, whose first book came out at the same time as Jill’s (they shared war stories during her month here). Actually, the discussion is about Olivas’s book — we’re feeling too lazy to rewrite the sentence. Okay, really, the discussion is about the way presentation affects the perception of language. In the midst of a glowing review of Devil Talk, we found a serious contemplation of the implications of italicizing Spanish (specifically) in text. Let us, for a moment, forget style guides and their strictures (this is hard for us, […]

Books/Mags/Blogs

The Shock, The Horror

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We have just learned something awful…almost too awful to share. We cannot bring ourself to type the horrible words, so will let John Rickards do the dirty work for us: Crime is very formulaic, it’s true. Like any genre, it has its conventions, which more or less have to be obeyed to satisfy the reader. Firstly, for instance, there has to be a crime of some sort. At the end, you also need to have explained something of what happened, how and why, otherwise it feels horribly unresolved. And generally you have three different perspectives to tell your crime story

Tools and Craft

Case (Almost) Closed

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The long-running lawsuit by various authors against The New York Times and others regarding compensation for republication (or, we suppose in some cases, publication) of works in databases and online has been resolved. The issue, essentially, involved generating revenues from different distribution streams but not compensating authors for the use of their work. Yes, bad. Very bad. Interestingly, some of the terms of this settlement hew closely to something we covered last week: The writers’ representatives said that publishers including The New York Times Company; the Time Inc. unit of Time Warner; and Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The

Tools and Craft

More Secret Lives of Editors Revealed

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Dan Wickett, who assures us he does sleep, leading us to believe he forgoes food, has posted the next in his series of interviews with editors of literary journals. We are particularly impressed with this series because the editors take their time to answer questions thoughtfully and in detail. Sure, when you get down to it, it’s all about submitting a good story that touches the editorial staff, but once you’ve read each editor’s responses, you really feel like you know what works for them. To wit, Oh, hey, sure, gosh! It’s no biggie. I just finished watching “The O.C.”,

Books/Mags/Blogs

West Coast Agents Do It Just Fine

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How many times have you heard that the only good agent is a New York agent? Probably as often as you’ve heard you must have 25 lines per page, Courier, 12 point. Also, one inch margins. No exceptions to the rule. Agent Sandra Dijkstra scoffs at the notion that one must be Back East to be effective. Oh sure, she rubs it in. . .extolling the bliss that is California. But being the focused sorts, she immediately returns to business and the benefits of living in the Pacific Standard (soon to be Daylight) Time zone: Our days are blissfully lunch-free,

Agents

On Proposal Writing

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. . .it’s not enough to decide to write the history of package tourism, say, have your agent send a quick note to publishers and then watch the offers roll in. You have to produce an extensive proposal that not only conveys your enthusiasm for the project, but second guesses a whole range of complex questions a publisher may have about your idea. Pre-text: Original, funny, thrilling. And that’s just the proposal

Quote of the Week

One of Those Couldn’t Let It Pass Without Acknowledgement Things

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Rap artists are accustomed to name-checking prestige car, clothing and jewellery brands in their lyrics. But if McDonald’s has its way Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and 50 Cent may soon be giving it up for the humble beefburger. The fast-food giant is reported to be launching a campaign that will offer financial incentives to rap artists who mention its Big Mac burger in their lyrics. McDonald’s will not pay an upfront fee, but intends to pay the artist between $1 and $5 (53p-£2.68) each time a track is played on the radio. It hopes to have several such songs on the

Square Pegs

Been There, Did That, Played The Game

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Maybe it’s just that we’re a bit old fashioned, but we think the natural of order of things should be: book, movie, schlocky hit single, director’s cut DVD, unfunny TV series, video game. That is progression at its zenith. Everyone gets a piece of the pie. We are shaking our head over this one: I believe that this industry [gaming] could, eventually, become as powerful as Hollywood, which has long ordered original stories for movies. Just imagine playing a character and then reading all about his or her adventures! Uh right. Video Games to Sell… Books?

Square Pegs

Blockbuster. . .Just Another Word For Lawsuit

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As we enter Summer (the season directly after Awards in Southern California), our focus turns from “who are you wearing?” to “why, with so many movies, is there nothing worth watching?” That,, of course, is our problem. Because with the summer release schedule comes the summer lawsuit schedule. Like clockwork, copyright infringement suits tack enormous legal fees on the costs of releasing a motion picture. Again, though we believe heart and soul in the importance of copyright, we continue to find it amazing that every single screenplay for major motion pictures was stolen. We will not comment upon the merits

Square Pegs

Someone’s Been Locked Away From Society For Too Long

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It happens to everyone, eventually. We thought The Reluctant would make it a bit longer. Alas, it wasn’t to be so. He is lost in his own adventure, or would that be fantasy? We wish him the best of luck and hope he gets the care he needs. After all, when one encounters this challenge in his own adventure, he deserves get well wishes: 9. Sam Tanenhaus bemoans the lack of confrontational writing within your 25-word blurb. Where’s the Wieseltier or the Clive James feel? You have no answer. You meet with Tanenhaus at an upscale restaurant on the west

Square Pegs
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