Square Pegs

In our lifetime, we have seen many changes to copyright law (as Mickey Mouse ages, the laws continue to evolve to protect him). We are of two minds on this. Not the same as being wishy washy, though we’ve been accused of that as well. First, of course, is that an artist has the right to the fruits of his or her labor, and it is the responsibility of government to protect the artist’s copyright. On the other hand, we are concerned with the incessant extensions of copyright. The concept of public domain resonates with us (basically, in exchange for […]

We suppose a text message novel has some antecedents in sonnets or haiku or something. And we hear that writing to a very tight formula really frees the mind (yes, we’re not entirely comfortable with this level of rigidity, but we usually a take a while to get rolling). So we applaud the author’s creativity and marketing savvy. But we also advise some readers of his steamy tale of illicit romance to take care that these tiny chapters don’t fall into the hands of conclusion jumpers. Chinese author moves into texts

Our world is place where artists are afraid to offend because it affects the bottom line. Of course, there are exceptions to this statement (though we do love a sweeping generalization — it gets the blood going!). Yet (and this is a favorite rant of ours) more often than not interviews and commentary is safe. You will never hear an actor say, “He was torture to work with. I’d rather have a root canal without drugs than spend another hour in his company.” This, despite months of lurid “they hate each other” stories. We can only presume the speakers needs

We like to view novel writing much in the way we view mountain ranges — things change in such a way that you don’t necessarily realize it happens. Then there’s the occasional strip mining — where the landscape changes dramatically and sometimes forever. There is something in the artist’s mind that latches onto ideas and refuses to let go. Sometimes these are the worst possible ideas (we believe Jackson Pollack was a victim of this). Authors, too, fall prey to gimmicky writing; we must only look the Suttree, voted “Our Worst Read Ever” by our bookclub. It was so unreadable

By now, news about the decline in literary reading in the United States has trickled through the media (though, we’ve noticed, it hasn’t received the sort of prominence we feel this should). Reading at Risk, the report prepared by the National Endowment for the Arts, contained a lot of disturbing data, not the least of which was a correlation between the decline in reading and a decline in commitment to social service. The news and report had us thinking a lot about reading (even during those moments when we were, theoretically, engaged in that particular activity). We took a trip

We cannot imagine a scenario where law enforcement would express interest in our book purchases (we can’t even get the husband to look up when we bring home a particularly fetching novel). Then again, in the name of reearch (some would also call it good old fashioned curiosity) we’ve been known to pick up soem pretty strange things. We’ve also visited a lot of very bizarre websites (the husband suggested, perhaps, we might want to cover our tracks a bit more after we spent an afternoon learning how to blow up cars; he’ll probably suggest we explain this foray into

As it turns out, it’s not too early to get political. Must be the extra-strong coffee we made. We start with the eternal question: what is pornography? Take a moment, fix an image in your mind. Okay, now that we all have the same image, the same idea, let’s move to filter it. What? You think the statue of David is pornographic? Are you nuts? That’s art. Sure, he’s nekkid, but, dammit, he’s artistic. And you over there, what are you thinking? Those Bettie Page shots (we really are in a Jazz Butcher mood) are not classics. Bondage is not

There’s a reason we don’t write songs. Or poetry. Each summer, Vroman’s, our local bookstore, holds a series of Writer’s Workshops on Saturday mornings. The sessions generally run about an hour, are free, and open to the public (which is our way of saying arrive early for a good spot — seating is limited). Speakers include Betsy Amster on query letters, Penelope Green on voice, and others. The sessions begin July 10 and conclude on August 21. Did we mention free? Yeah, we know, but it’s so rare that we can prove to the husband that we do to know

Naturally, we are suspicious of a contest that doesn’t want money from us. Yet, we’ve heard nothing but good things about the Brava Novella Contest. Author Lori Foster sponsor the contest (though she’s getting a little help from her friends this year) and sends finalists to Kensington editor Kate Duffy. Previous finalist have been offered contracts. Not bad for three pages work. Yeah, you have to think sexy — but you can do that, right? Deadline for entry is August 15, 2004. See the website for rules and other information. Brava Novella Contest

First we start with a story about a hapless tourist lost in the wilds of Bavaria (having never been to Bavaria, we can only imagine, though we now know there is mud). His mistake: using a guide book that was slightly out of date. This makes us a feel a little guilty as we just pressed our favorite, but out-of-date, guide book on a friend. Here’s hoping for the best. Do we blame the tourist? Of course not, we blame Americans who apparently don’t read. Truly, we can’t think of anything sadder. We blame the educational system — it’s all