- Have I mentioned yet how nervous I am about getting a new advisor? Just turned in the form. Keep your fingers crossed. Early workshop this morning, in which my brain barely functioned properly. And I really have to get around to talking about Jo Knowles‘ wonderful debut novel Lessons From a Dead Girl, my airplane reading. It’s no small thing to keep someone riveted who got up at 4 a.m. for a 6:45 flight. I read the entire book on the first flight. (And no, I haven’t answered e-mail yet; the internet is kind of spotty here, so I just haven’t had the motivation to keep hitting the send button a million times for anything but absolutely necessary e-mails.)
- And so Michiko sticks it to Scholastic with a day-early review of Harry and gives the final installment the nod. And, more interestingly, Maureen McHugh talks about them as post-9/11 comfort reading, and actually convinces me that I may have to read these at some point, now that they’re all out. Maybe not right away, but at some point. Meanwhile, Scholastic attemps to conquer modern technology; good luck with that, guys. (Via Literaticat.)
- Tess Gerritsen considers how many copies equals a bestseller. The answer might surprise you.
- A fictional dissertation? (Or a real dissertation on a fictional village?) (Via Maud.)
- Eek has links to The Flight of the Conchords latest episode up on Youtube (and now I feel no regret whatsoever for ditching our premium channels recently).
- Sci-Fi Wire interviews Ellen Datlow about The Coyote Road anthology.
- Austin Kleon on awesome female cartoonists.