- Temple complex in Turkey pre-dates pyramids, yielding amazing finds for archeologists. (Via Charlie.)
- Hardcore girl gamers clock more hours than similarly inclined guys. (Via Janni.)
- An interview with Jonathan Lethem, in which he has some interesting things to say about the term "magical realism": "Actually, not at all. I've always resisted the phrase, finding both terms – "magic" and "realist" – shaky at best, with unwelcome or unexamined assumptions camped out all around them. Some of this reaction is deeply rooted: as a child I hated the whole disingenuous kabuki of stage magicians. I identified with "Hot town, summer in the city" but not "Do You Believe In Magic?"."
- Lisa Shroeder provides an author's checklist/timeline for MG and YA book releases.
- I somehow missed Sarah Rees Brennan's post on book length (and other things). Contrary to the popular school of thought that holds teens have incredibly short attention spans, it does seem that many teen readers are more than happy–in fact, prefer–big, rich fantasies (or at the very least packaging that makes the books look big).
- Maud pointed to an old favorite of hers (and mine) the other day, Sean Carman's "Recently Channeled Dorothy Parker Poems." Maud also has a good post about the bias against southern writers and writing. I have much I could say on this topic, but no time to say it. But, yes, this seems to go hand in glove with larger perceptions about the south, some fair, many not. (An old, related post here: "Complicated Disappointments" and for kicks, another post that came up in the search about one of my favorite nonfiction books, Real Places by Grady Clay, on The Kudzu entry — it doesn't get more southern than kudzu.)
- The Independent looks at the current wave of steampunk.
- Jackie's new cover is BEYOOTIFUL.
- And the Guardian has some fun rounding up writers rules for fiction. I think I find Anne Enright's the most useful as a whole, and especially like: "Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity." Will have to look up some of her work.
- Interesting long post about the wonder and curse of social media: "You Are Not a Bad Person And You're Not Doing It Wrong." (Via Molly O'Neill.)
6 thoughts on “Tuesday Hangovers”
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I read the Newton piece… Nothing new there, but it was interesting. When my father was a young man training in the Army Air Corps, Northerners actually asked him if he owned slaves. As in, did he own any right now? So I’m never surprised by anything people say about Southerners. And I remember being advised in my 20’s not to ever bother to apply for certain grants–“Southerners never get them.”
Wow, although I can’t say I haven’t witnessed similar stuff. The literary bias side of things is especially interesting, I think, considering how large the south looms over American letters to this day. And how successful so many unabashedly southern authors are–only they’re considered Regional Authors.
Thanks for the link to You are not a bad person… There is always fascinating stuff in your blog and I look for it every day.
Re the link on book length – after seeing so many of the guys I went to school with inhale the LOTR series, I’ve often wondered where that teens=short book length caveat came from. If anything, I would say that if anything, teens have always liked longer books (more willing to sink into story/obsess about characters) than adults.
One nice thing about living in Kentucky — it gets cold enough long enough to kill off the kudzu.
I liked Anne Enright’s best, too!