Gwenda

Your Klutziness (aka me) managed to fall like the proverbial ton of bricks in an alley last night, right after a random encounter with a guy who was peeing in someone’s yard and whose date was toothless and giggling into her plastic cup (ah, spring in the city). Let this be a lesson about laughing at those who didn’t notice peeing guy or drunk lady. You will not see big hole in street. You will go boom. I emerged with road rash on my palms, a gashed knee (my favorite jeans survived intact, though, which I’m counting in the Wins column), and an extremely achy left shoulder, arm and knee. AND I have a packet due Wednesday night. All by way of saying, expect sporadic sketchiness here for the next day or so at best.

On Wednesday, Jon Armstrong of the lovely debut novel Grey (complete with a blurb by Michael Chabon) will be here to class up the joint and entertain you. In the meantime:

• The dazzling Craig Gidney reviews Liz Hand’s Illyria over at The Mumpsimus.
• Justine on mean Amazon reviews and a phenomenon I have much-puzzled over, which is apparently called "online disinhibition effect": So next time you’re starting to add something cranky to a comment thread or on amazon or wherever perhaps you should ask yourself if you would say what you’re about to share with the greater online universe to the person’s face. If you wouldn’t then don’t post it. This has been my online code for years, and I’m thoroughly annoyed by people who are bullies on the Web and kittens in real life. The "say it to your face" principle never hurt anybody. The "say it to her back" principle, on the other hand, is a cold-blooded killer.
• J.L. Bell on the Encyclopedia Brown books. I adored these as a kid, and am now a tiny bit less afraid to go back and give them another try. They sound (as if they’d still be) interesting.
• Ysabeau is working on revising the sequel to Flora Segunda, which she divulges has: Well…dragon-horse cars; earthquakes; ruined bath-houses; extremely loud rock bands; Hotspur-Sober-Now-A-Stickler-For-Rules; deserter sisters; more rangers; a horrible secret hidden deep beneath the City’s crust; a riot; bear-headed girls; phosphorescent bullets;  revolutionaries; oubliettes; Udo’s new hat; and, of course, snacks.
• The Millions has a reply to n+1 being catty about book blogs.
• The WashPost remembers a Baghdad bookseller killed by a car bomb.

• Piz is joining the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off. Hmmm… Could this be trouble for VM? I’ve become resigned to the idea that this is the last season, which is unfortunate on many levels. I hope I’m wrong.
• Teens are buying lots of books. (Via everybody.)
• Niall riffs about standalone eps versus serial eps on television.
• I think all publishing houses should start leaving manuscripts on benches at bus and train stations.
• The Millions has the NBCC winners, including the fabulous Julie Phillips’ Tiptree biography, with excerpts.
• Colleen interviews Scarlett Thomas.
• The ALA’s top 10 most challenged books of 2006. (Via Fuse.)
• Scalzi interviews Jon Armstrong, whose debut novel Grey is just out, and who will be guest blogging here next Wednesday.
• Good weekend, all.

• Maureen McHugh has an excellent post on writing and accessibility at the Eat Our Brains group blog (which has been full of excellent posts all week): In the end, I guess I think writing is hard enough that the only way to write well is to be selfishly personal. I write like an oyster makes pearls. Some piece of grit bothers me and I keep coating it in nacre and coating it in nacre until it’s smooth and it doesn’t anymore.
• Ysabeau on the origin of the word geas.
• Maud on the release of When I Was a Loser, which I snagged a copy of at AWP and can’t wait to dig into. People’s teen school pictures are the Rosetta stone of funny.
• Alan thinking about arty stuff as only Alan can do.
• J.L. Bell on the issues involved in translating Harry Potter.
• Terri Windling on shapeshifters.
• This is why I love teenagers. You go, girls. (Via Jeff.)