- Scientific American piece on albinism.
- The latest Mind Meld asks a bunch of writers about their literary influences in the ongoing conversation of SF.
- "Why can't a woman write the great American novel?" at Salon. (Via Medialoper.)
- It's not every day a fashion piece references Gaddis — but, then, it is by Cintra Wilson.
- Ilona Andrews has been continuing to pick apart paragraphs. They're like fascinating little autopsies, where at the end the paragraph gets entirely reanimated.
- Eliza Dushku interview in USA Today. Mom was a women's studies prof. Hmmm…
- Kate Messner on virtual author visits, with some must-read analysis about what worked and what didn't at her school's first one. These will only get more popular, and that's a fabulous thing.
- Another thoughtful piece about the "death of independent bookstores." See also the death of the novel and the death of blogging, etc. Updated: Meghan with a great rant on how the indie bookstore business model is not inferior.
- Nathan Bransford offers some thoughts on sympathetic vs. unsympathetic characters. Also, see: Holly's crazy writing theory that the truly forbidden is characters going gross. (John Green, you need to write the lovable nosepicker, just to be the exception that proves the rule.)
- Slate on the Kindle and why it may be bad for publishing. (Perhaps, though, playing devil's advocate, it will force a more sensible and speedy progression for e-books. I just hope it doesn't seal the deal as the only game in e-book town.) And Gavin has the news on Amazon backing down on the text-to-speech feature, making it title-by-title.
- Do belt-tightening times make us better artists?
- Psychedelic fish.
- The Boston Globe takes a look at a number of Mormons writing YA, including two excellent writers I was lucky enough to have in my workshops at Vermont College — Carol Lynch Williams and Julie Berry. (And, bonus, brilliant genius Martine Leavitt — my last semester advisor, and also a graduate of the program — is interviewed as well.) I find the article's implication that YA is a virginal playground odd, especially considering what happens in the last Twilight book. (Isn't straight-up romance the only genre that actually requires sex? And there's probably
some occasional wiggle room there.) But I do agree with Martine that story is paramount in YA and children's literature, and it's nice to see such a generally thoughtful article about a less-well-known trend in the field. - AND, relatedly, Julie's first novel The Amaranth Enchantment is out this week. After spending the weekend with it, I can assure you it'll hit the spot if you're in the mood for a traditional, smart, light-hearted fantasy with charming thieves and diabolical plotters and mistaken identities and witches who carry their souls around with them (sort of). It's a frothy romp with a goat named Dog. And it was selected for the IndieBound spring kids list. Take note of Julie's name, because you'll be hearing way more from her. Trust me.
- Joy Williams reviews the new Flannery O'Connor biography by Brad Gooch, which I just started reading the other night.
- Stephany needs a baby name! Stop her before she goes with Angina.
- Philip Pullman's speech to the Modern Liberty Convention.
- Happy pre-birthday to Mr. McLaren, winner of most of the stuff from the Shirley Jackson auction. Maybe the year treat you well.
2 thoughts on “Monday Hangovers”
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Cheers G!
So far it’s the usual combination of awesome and cruddy, but considering some of the things that’s going on in the world “same as usual” is pretty good, I guess.
Someone ought to do the same for Ilona Andrews’ own paragraphs. I had a quick look at her short stories: ‘a deafening silence’, ‘looked like a war zone’ etc. If I encounter such clichés within the first paragraph or two of a piece of fiction, I stop reading, unless I see evidence that there’s a damned good reason for them.