We apologize for our inability to control our base urges. There is something inside that makes us want to exult in the humanity of humans. Yes, this means that we derive far too much pleasure from people behaving badly. Today, we bring you a publicist taking exception to a bad review. A corollary of the Cookie Jar Theory is that people will flock to the scene of disaster because it probably makes us feel superior. Ignoring this review would have been the best thing the publicist could do for her book. Causing a scene undoes the scores of good reviews

Atlantic Monthly will no longer publish fiction in its regular issues. But…it’s looking at creating special fiction-only editions. Done right, this could really benefit short story writers. We have faith in done right. Atlantic Monthly’s Fiction to Walk Plank (Second Item)

We lead a fascinating life. Every moment is something to be documented and explored. For example, this morning, we headed straight for the refrigerator and pulled out the juice (not that juice). Normally, we wait until after our first cup of coffee before we hit the hard stuff. This pattern shift surely portends great things for our future, and we will continue to monitor the situation. Yeah, we’re a little bored with the proliferation of confessional writing. Does every single person who does business and/or work for the Federal government need to share their life story? Isn’t that what the

Adam Langer, author of Crossing California and winner of Booksquare bonus points for this definition. . . In the author’s dictionary, spouse is defined as “the partner with a health insurance plan.” . . .discusses some striking differences between American and European publishing. While we really enjoyed the concept of magazines, we naturally latched on to the following idea (three guesses as to why): The Really Cool, Eye-Catching website Amerikanische Literatur [BS note: While we do not speak German, our educated guess leads us to believe this means Fine Products From The U.S.]. With some notable exceptions (for example, check

Sure, we’re lucky, living in a major metropolitan area. Finding decent book coverage is as easy as opening up the Los Angeles Times every Sun–oops, scratch that (for more details on our faux pas, check out The Elegant Variation, link right over there). By necessity, book review sections are limited in scope. Newsprint costs cold, hard cash, you know. Also, they are limited by the editor’s taste. We (barely) got past our amusement at the fact that industry professionals had to sit down at a discussion about reviews to agree that, yes, reviews are subjective. We do not understand why

So, as is our wont, we have been thinking about blogs quite a bit lately. Specifically, our thoughts have rested upon the differences between cheese sandwiches blogs and purpose-driven blogs (sorry, couldn’t resist). We believe the former have an important place, but the latter have potential. For example, history buffs could look to the example we found via LA Observed: Imagine a blog that does nothing but noirishly count off the days in 1947 Los Angeles, felony by bloody felony. Stabbings, gunshots, suicides, interspersed with photographed visits to the scenes of the crime today. 1947 (Yeah, we’re gonna make you