Wish we could be there — if we were less tired and busy and the timing were different and wishes were horses and it was free. But y’all have fun. And good luck to those of you up for awards; ask not who my fingers are crossed for (for you, of course).
Bumper sticker spotted this evening:
Life Is Fragile;
Handle With Prayer
I came home immediately and made my own "Do not besmirch the semicolon!" bumper sticker. (Well, I would have if I still had access to a bumper sticker machine–those were the days!)
Do Not Abuse the Semicolon Read More »
Venomous fish have been tricking us for years with their cute spines and big fangs.
Fuzzy dwarf lionfish would be a great band name. Don’t you think? (That’s a firefish over there, not an FDL.)
Simon Owens just put up a little interview with me about this here blog and related topics over at Bloggasm. I go a bit crazy on the topics of books I’m looking forward to and blogs I recommend. F’instance:
Oh dear. I never know what’s coming out when. A few books I was really looking forward to have just come out and I’m in the process of reading them — Jeff VanderMeer’s Shriek, Andrea Seigel’s To Feel Stuff, Geoff Ryman’s The King’s Last Song, Julie Phillips’ Tiptree biography. I’m very much looking forward to Cecil Castellucci’s next novel Beige, Holly Black’s Ironside and Justine Larbalestier’s Magic’s Child (oddly, all YA); there aren’t even ARCs I can covet of those yet. Of things getting ready to come out, I would recommend any of the above, plus M.T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing: Volume 1 and John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines (more YAs). Oh, and David Levithan’s new one. I also can’t WAIT for all the original anthologies Ellen Datlow has in the works. Or for Karen Joy Fowler’s next novel (!), or John Kessel’s or Kelley Eskridge’s, for that matter — but, sadly, these don’t exactly exist yet, though I understand all are in the works. On the upside, Nicola Griffith’s next Aud novel has, according to Wiscon news, been turned in, so that one should be forthcoming (if not soon enough). I’m going to kick myself for leaving something out, I just know it.
Oh, books that aren’t written yet, how I long for you!
I’ll Be Your Mirror Read More »
So, Liz Scheier won the Hotties of Publishing Contest Women’s Division at GalleyCat. The terrorists have been defeated and Baby Jesus is eating an ice cream cone.
I also forgot to point to the front page-featured review by Dave Itzkoff of the Tiptree biography from this week’s NYTBR. Ron at GalleyCat offers some reasons he believes the Review would deign to cover such a title prominently. I think it’s simpler than that — a mix of early buzz and smart work by St. Martin’s. (They have done a GREAT job of getting this book covered seriously all over the place.) But this is a happy-making development no matter what the reason.
SF is Mighty (2 other things) Read More »
My slush bomb submission (finished pell mell at the last minute) has been sent. Let it be rejected forthwith! (And here’s Charles Coleman Finlay’s running tally of submissions.) And now for photographic evidence (the cat was watching the return of the mailing voyage):
Ruth Leitman’s fabulous documentary Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar from a couple of years ago is being shown on a couple of premium-type channels (TMC, SCINE) this month. It’s about female wrestlers from the ’40s and ’50s. Even Kenneth Turan liked it.
I have it on good authority that a vote for NAL/Roc editor Liz Scheier in the Women’s Division Hottie of Publishing competition over at Galleycat will both keep the terrorists from winning and stop baby Jesus from crying. (Thanks, Colleen!)
p.s. In the Men’s Division, I went for Michael Stearns.
p.p.s. I know some people are offended by the whole idea of this competition, but I think it’s all in good fun.
I’ve been reading Bill Buford’s Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, a hilarious and insightful chronicle of his taking a position as Mario Batali’s kitchen slave.
Buford, of course, was fiction editor at The New Yorker for eight years and the founding editor of Granta. I just can’t tell you how much I’m loving this book. Batali is such a larger-than-life character and the humorous acidity Buford employs is a perfect (and affectionate) counterpoint. I find myself wanting to read every paragraph out loud to Christopher (which I’m sure is annoying, when he’s trying to read himself).
You can read a review and excerpt here (and hear audio of Buford reading it). And a tip of the hat to The Wednesday Chef for being the first place I heard about this one.