That Lad Word

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Lad lit, if anything, should be considered something of a minor miracle. It has died and been resurrected so often, surely there are mystical forces behind its scenes. Especially given its relatively short existence. But despite its tenacious grip on life (we imagine it to be a bit like the ants that won’t quit, even when it’s quite obvious that we have superior technology and powerful motivation), lad lit is apparently not really grabbing the male reader by the…well, at all. We understand the need for neat marketing terms. Honest. But from our vantage point (Pasadena), no man calls himself […]

Books/Mags/Blogs

Good Things Done Bad Ways

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Yesterday, we spoke at length about the harm Norma Khouri has (apparently) done to the cause of raising awareness about honor killings. We say apparently because, much as we love gossip and intrigue, we really hate to believe someone could be this stupid. Even when the facts point in that direction. A few days ago, we discussed the sheer, well, stupidity (sometimes there is no other word) of Penguin’s releasing a book called katie.com without securing the rights to the domain first. They fact check and rights check the hell out of the use of brand names, but can’t be

Books/Mags/Blogs, Publishers and Editors

Speaking Out

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Maud Newton has posted her interview with British author A.L. Kennedy. We hate to pick our favorite lines from these things, because we truly want you to savor the whole thing — when a writer speaks without regard for marketing angles, we get all giddy inside — but we thought Kennedy’s final comments were simply perfect: …And hopefully it’s funny. Otherwise it would be a bit bleak. It’s dedicated to my mother – which she found out last week, so she’s quite chuffed at the moment. And read the book in a day, which is depressing, because it took much

Square Pegs

This Is A Test

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This is only a test. Do not become alarmed. We are testing to see if the husband really does read our blog or if we are safe in spilling his secrets to one and all. We will know if he trots out of the Bat Cave to dissect this news we picked up from Maud Newton. He is, after all, convinced that George Saunders is his long lost brother. CivilWarLand coming to a theater near you? Adams by George Saunders (yes, it’s short story you — and you know who you are — haven’t read)

Books/Mags/Blogs

Fiction Isn’t The Same As Lying

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We have long argued the importance of fiction as a vehicle for social change. Just as it is easier for The Simpsons to take straight pins to the balloons of our world, fiction frames issues in a context that makes it easy for large portions of the population to understand. This morning, we commented upon how The DaVinci Code is a work of fiction and the constant debunking is rather strange — now we’re going to take another approach. We wanted to believe Norma Khouri, author of what is now a collector’s item, Forbidden Love. After all, she dared to

Square Pegs

Why We Love History

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Our fascination with The DaVinci Code comes not from the book itself (though we were shocked to discover it weighs in at 600 pages — we had no clue, which is a testament to the pacing), but the reaction to the book. We recently met a man who told us we were wrong about history; he asserted that history is concrete, unmoveable. What you see is what you get. There are no variables. Especially when that history is captured by film or photographs. “But what about,” we wondered, “the person standing just outside the picture? What do they see?” It

Books/Mags/Blogs

Writing: You Don’t Need a Couch

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Whenever we encounter something we don’t understand in life, we write about it. We’ve solved myriad problems on the page. Some people talk; we write. And write. And write. Until something is resolved — or we’ve made peace with the situation. A current National Endowment for the Arts program is bringing this type of catharsis to active duty soldiers, with good results. Writing about war has a long tradition in the human experience, which is why we don’t fully agree with this statement: “These are two parts of society that don’t ordinarily talk to each other,” said Dana Gioia, the

Square Pegs

Weighing Good and Bad

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We believe people know too much about us. Oh, not the things we post here — hard facts such as name, rank, and serial number. We realize they want all of this to target advertisements toward us. As we’ve said before, and as Adam L. Penenberg says in this Wired article: Maybe, but I don’t even see advertising on the Internet. I tune it out, like, say, Yanni in an elevator. I also don’t understand why publishers aren’t more concerned about the integrity of their data — unless, of course, all they care about is the illusion of accuracy. Of

Square Pegs

Getting Braggy With It

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One of our major causes is literacy. Actually, it’s our major cause. We tutor, and we support ProLiteracy financially (stick around…in December, we’ll give our annual spiel on the topic). We discovered ProLiteracy (actually, Laubach Literacy, which merged, etc) via the Romance Writers of America. Every year, during the National Conference, RWA holds a multi-author literacy signing* with all proceeds going to literacy. Not only is this an incredibly cool event, it’s an incredibly cool event. So please allow us to brag for a moment (yeah, like you can stop the wild machine that we are). This year, RWA’s signing

Square Pegs

Texas-Sized Representation

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They say everything is bigger in Texas (we don’t know about that, but we can say signage on the freeways could expand greatly), but the DHS Literary Agency doesn’t follow that axiom. A small agency with a reputation for big deals, DHS is a major player in the Texas literary world. With a focus on non-fiction and crime fiction, mysteries, and thrillers (but not straight genre mystery), agency offers quick response and the coveted email submission process. As always, we recommend visiting MediaBistro for the full scoop. We do have to ask, however, how one can represent women’s fiction, but

Agents
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