Books/Mags/Blogs

Sure, a few weeks ago we were excited as heck about Trainman. We do love absurd publishing stories, and the fact that a man could meet the woman of his dreams on a Tokyo train and woo her with help from the denizens of a chatroom captured our short attention. But that was then, this is now, and we cannot believe a cute story has lead to ugly results: It has also sent Japanese book publishers frantically surfing chat rooms looking for the next gold mine of electronic correspondence. “Trainman” proved that the narrative threads of a chat line can […]

We are cheap and easy and filled with links today, though many of them don’t seem to be landing here. We will work to improve our aim. More press about the Litblog Co-Op. Literary Bloggers Stoke Interest in Books

We do so enjoy the backstories at Backstory. If you’ve ever listened to an author describe their work and how they came up with the twists and turns of the plot, it sounds a little. . .well, there’s no good way to say this, it sounds crazy. Yet it always sounds so good on paper. The backstories lack the polish of cover copy and inherit just the right amount of dinner party conversation. Though we worry about the person sitting next to Joseph Finder when he starts down this path: A lot of my books begin as dreams, sometimes just

You would think that a story about Judith Regan and Jenna Jameson suing each other would be enough to occupy our interest for a good two or three minutes. Heck, normally, we’d think that. But that was before we were diverted by the idea that the The New York Daily News is claiming they have an exclusive on the story. Is it even possible to have exclusive rights to court documents? Did we misunderstand the concept of public records somewhere along the way. If so, be gentle. Oh yeah, the Jenna Jameson reality show is coming to a network near

We always read The Reading Experience last. Not because Dan Green writes long posts (some of which, gasp, exceed a single screen in length!) but because his posts often make us think. Given our tight schedule these days, we prefer to save our thinking time for those moments when the phone isn’t likely to ring. And while we don’t always agree with Green on every topic, we do so enjoy his perspective. Yes, oh wise readers, this is our way of saying we’re making you stop by The Reading Experience on your way to reading Green’s interview about The Litblog

You know what they say: once a genre author, always a genre author. And that might be the best argument against labeling any book genre we’ve ever heard. So many books are defined by their slots, regardless of how they are written or what the subject matter really is. In many cases, the line between genre and literary is a matter of marketing choices. We’re thinking about this because of a post at Beatrice regarding Poppy Z. Brite’s new book (Prime). Brite started her career in the horror realm, but has evolved, as many writers do. We have yet to

We were dragged kicking and screaming to Don Quixote. Such is the power of cliche to affect perception. If we recall correctly, we were the only one in our Freshman English Literature (not real title) class to finish the book. Within a week. Though we never publicly admit to being wrong, we may have been, well, less than well informed coming into the whole experience. We cannot, however, write eloquently on the subject no matter how deep our love. Don’s 400 years old, and it takes one more masterful than we to capture the importance of the work: Now I’m

We recently read a theory on the placement of romance novels in bookstores. Briefly, because romance readers are voracious readers, bookstores place romances near the back so that plenty of shopping gets done before the final destination is reached. You’d think Barnes & Noble would have learned something from that. Somehow, we think not: Word that Barnes & Noble is planning to move its Discover New Writers display off the front racks of many stores at the end of May is setting off alarms across the industry. If the plan goes forward, many publishers believe it could be a blow

If you’ve noticed some excitement in the blogosphere this morning, you’re not alone. There’s a new blog in town and it’s setting off a wave of buzz. Looking at The Elegant Variation’s headline below, we suspect we know the reason. Note, all you prurient minded souls, he said without the sex. The new venture is called The LitBlog Co-op and many of our favorite people are involved. They are all scary smart and most of them seem to know a lot of big words. We’re not sure how we were lucky enough to fall in with such exalted company —