Northville Lives
This is deserving of its own post — Erin's new literary magazine, The Northville Review, is live live live, baby. She has excellent taste and this is going to be a pub to watch. I can't wait to dig in. Yay!
Saturday Hangovers
- Sara Zarr has a smart post about self doubt and writing over at the Teen Fiction Cafe.
- Why haven't I read Everything Beautiful yet? I loved Simmone Howell's first book.
- Chris uncovers a zombie problem in Austin.
- I'm developing a yen to see the Inkheart movie. I'm afraid today it's C's choice though, and we're off to watch the lycans rise later.
- If only all resumes were 140 characters long. I kind of love reading these, despite the sadness of such talented people being out of work. I hope they all find jobs soon.
- Uncovering Book World's troubled past; this isn't the first time the standalone section's been axed.
- Over at the LA Times, Gavin reviews — and recommends highly — Alison Goodman's Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, a book that's been on my TBR stack for ages now. Sounds like a Tiptree contender to me.
- Justine collects some writers' views on pacing, including some of my most favorite favorites (like the woefully under-celebrated Ursula Dubosarsky) and recent Printz winner Melina Marchetta.
- A discussion of the economic theories at work in Charles Stross books.
- SF Signal's Mind Meld asks various writers about the best advice they ever got.
- A sum up and some commentary about the controversy over the casting in Avatar: The Last Airbender, including comments from Gene Luen Yang.
- Welcome news: Slate actually encouraging long-range journalistic pieces with sabbaticals.
- Katha Pollitt writes in The Nation about how we can do a better job of promoting books and reading. (Thanks to Leda, for the pointer.)
- There goes Leila, cracking me up again. This time it's with an in-depth blog report of her attempt to read Flowers in the Attic.
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Sneaking Suspicions
Why am I beginning to feel like my MFA program wasn't the sole cause of me constantly being behind on everything, but especially e-mail? Surely this state of affairs is temporary, right? Oh, and because I like staying overwhelmed, I'm officially taking on freelance assignments again when they come up, so if you're looking for someone to write an article or do some reviewing…
Of course, this hand-wringing over not having completely caught up on life, the universe and everything, and finished my revisions, could also be the usual case of my never quite cutting myself enough slack*, since I only got home from two weeks of insaneness in Vermont last Friday and we've had something called a catastrophic ice storm this week (we only lost power for one night**, thankfully–so far, anyway). Right now the sun is out, and the trees outside my window are shining like they're made of glass, or possibly covered in soap bubbles. But not melting. Not yet.
Also, um, we aren't going to Wiscon this year, because we're going somewhere else really cool the week after. This makes me sad, but it seems like many of the regulars are taking this year off, too, and I'm sure those of you who aren't will provide the good goss after. Promise? 'kay. This could always change were we to win el lottery. I'm keeping the reservations until the last minute, just in case.
*Slack is for slackers! Except I only believe this when it comes to the lady in the mirrortron.
**It went off during the middle of the gobsmackingly brill Let the Right One In, drat it. Will finish watching tonight.
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Wednesday Snow Day Hangovers
- I know it's probably unwise to give Apple information about my iTunes library, but I'm absolutely loving the Genius Playlists. Alchemy for lazy listeners.
- ALA's lists are out: top ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Quick Picks long list, top ten Best Books for YA, and Best Books for YA long list. These look incredibly diverse and there's tons of good stuff on them (is there usually this much discrepancy between the Printz shortlist and the top 10?). Congratulations to all who made the selection.
- It's official: Washington Post Book World will no longer publish as a standalone section. There are silver linings, as eloquently voiced by Terry and Sarah. Still, I can't help but suspect that the four pages of content to be lost will impact the coverage of genre books and children's literature, two things I've always thought Book World did an excellent job with. I hope I'm wrong.
- Jason Pinter gathers responses to the big question for publishing at the moment: How will all the layoffs, restructuring and cost cutting solve the industry's #1 problem–getting more books into the hands of readers?
- Unaired Bill Hicks video–and Hicks' mom–to appear on David Letterman Friday.
- Ilona Andrews critiques a first paragraph and rewrites it–in my experience, this is exactly the kind of guidance that's helpful to writers on the cusp of a quality breakthrough in their work.
- The culinary Olympics: "The beef platter — of Uruguay!" the female commentator in a white chef’s jacket and high-heeled boots exclaimed in English as drums rolled and trumpets blared. I want to go!
- My dear friend (and fellow Mistress of the Fine Arts) Micol's new series the Bradford Novels launched this week with the release of GoldenGirl, and the Bradford Blog is full of celebratory goodness all month long–interviews, giveaways, scoop, etc. The Bradford books are the first teen novels designed to have a fully immersive online component that I'm aware of, with all the characters and many locales in the book having Web sites, blogs, Tumblrs and twitter feeds–and, yes, updated ones with fresh content, at that. And while I'm superexcited for this series' prospects, I'm even more excited about Micol's novel due out from Flux later this year, So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), described as "the E! Behind the Music story of an epic Jewish band that never was" and featuring interstitial graphic sections drawn by her brother David.
- The news of Realms of Fantasy's demise is particularly sad, especially given what a track record it had as a venue for the debut of promising new writers (like one Christopher Rowe, for instance). It's really too bad that Shawna McCarthy never got the World Fantasy Award she has so long deserved. If it's possible to give her one this year, I say go for it.
- In better news, Jeff VanderMeer announces that the Best American Fantasy series continues, with the latest volume out in the next month. Support it.
- And, finally, Leila cracks me right up.
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And After Good News
Cometh more bad: Sara Nelson laid off at PW, ironically on the same day her column posits that the worst of the cannings have passed, and things will inevitably look up. David Ulin at Jacket Copy has it right – her voice is a big loss to the magazine. (But, of course, best of luck to the new editorial director, SLJ's Brian Kenney.) See also: The New York Observer weighs in.
Okay, so that's too depressing a note to end on… How about the news that Lauren Graham's got a new TV project in development and describes it as "Arrested Development"-like in tone?
And After Good News Read More »
Wowza
That's one heck of a Printz list you've got there. Haven't read the winner, Melina Marchetta's Jellicoe Road, but The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, Octavian Nothing: The Kingdom on the Waves and Tender Morsels are among my most favorite favorites of the year, and brilliant books all. And I've been so wanting to read Pratchett's Nation too! And some Newbery list — yay, Kathi! Yay, Tobin! (Vermont College Mafia, represent!)
Congrats to all the honored and winnered this morning — full list of winners and honors behind the cut.
…
Sunday Hangovers
- The Horn Book has a new owner.
- Just updated the Read Read sidebar with a recommendation for Kelley Armstrong's The Summoning.
- Sara Zarr has an essay up at Powell's about how authors can't escape their themes.
- Ben Dooley offers some thoughts on The Printed Blog, an interesting concept to say the least.
- Jenny D's been catching up on her light reading, including her first Gossip Girl experience. I think her take's right on; these books are filled with ironic distance.
- Kassia offers her typically savvy take on the recent NEA report showing that reading is on the rise.
- Ed Park offers up yet another enthusiastic endorsement for The Serial Garden, which I really do have to get around to one day soon.
- Best news story of the day: Goat Detained for Armed Robbery. (And, no, going to the link won't spoil it. It gets even better.) (Via Sarah.)
- And if you need even more animal story in your day, Jeff VanderMeer offers the cupcake dog. Poor cupcake dog!
- I want to read all the book's on Erin's list too.
- Nicola uncovers our dusty future.
- The fantastical noir trend of 2009? Penguin just sent an actual copy of Jed's book, The Manual of Detection, and it's one of the most beautiful book as objects I've encountered in ages. Bonus: an excellent book between the purty covers. Put it on your list.
Notes from the TV Stockpile
Kendra the Vampire Slayer introduced as possible recurring criminal element type on Bones? Yay!
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The Return
There was this moment on the first leg of our return flight–Burlington to Newark–before we safely made the abruptly announced "precautionary landing" in Albany when I leaned up to my classmate Gene Brenek and said,"You know, if this plane crashes, it'll be great PR for the Vermont College of Fine Arts, what with two recent grads, a faculty member, and at least one other student on board." Happily, it didn't come to that. And we even made it home on our actual second flight, which had been delayed in a most fortuitous fashion.
Anyway, the graduation ceremony was lovely and fun and slightly disconcerting as all events with bagpipes must be (Martine gave such a great speech though, and Leda did such great readings for everyone, and Rita didn't decapitate us with our hoods), and I feel awfully lucky to have graduated in such fine company. Dorky berobed pictures to come. But to all the Revisionistas–Micol, and Gene, and Shawn, and Lynda, and Galen (AND dearie dear Kate, who will always be one of us one of us, no matter when she graduates)–y'all are all rock stars, and I'm so glad to know you. And that goes for all the fabulous other people I've met in my time at VCFA too, especially those of you I hardly got to jabber with this time around (Jess, Margaret, and Insert Name Here, I'm looking at you).
Dogs are crazed. Hemingway is mad. Peoples are exhausted. Laundry piles could be developing sentience. And I'm finding it much easier to develop the energy for little tweets than for posts, but I'm sure that'll pass as soon as I get a really, really good night's sleep. (Plus, with Monday being awards day, there'll be lots to post about!) I was largely kidding myself about having writing time at residency, of course, and find it's actually nice to have the revisions on the book to launch back into right away. AND I believe I've decided what I'm going to work on next, once those are done.
Never too much rest for the wicked, as the ever-nebulous they have been known to say.
Wow
I've been in more or less a news blackout during the residency, because there's very little time for the outside world to penetrate. It's unbelievably nice to tune back in for this Inauguration. There are some days you just feel lucky to be alive in these particular times, and this is one of them. Hope is the only word, isn't it?
(Lecture down, and seemed to go well, and tonight grad reading with Micol and Lynda, which'll be fun. Tomorrow, graduation, and then life returns to normal. Dogs and revision. I can't wait, even though I'm having a blast.)
"All about us is noise"–Elizabeth Alexander was amazing.