- Niall Harrison has masterminded all sorts of goodies related to the British Science Fiction Association. There’s Vector, BFSA’s journal, which is full of things worth checking out; see Matt Cheney’s 2005 short fiction round-up and Graham Sleight’s columns, for a start. Then, finally, there’s the new blog, which Niall will apparently be abandoning (mostly) Coalescent for.
- I read Terri Windling’s essay "On Myth and Writing" from the most recent issue of the Journal of Mythic Arts over the weekend; lovely. And the Oliver Hunter paintings paired with it are absolutely striking. There’s SO much great stuff in there. (And Midori pointed me to the excellent Marisa de los Santos’ poem "Wiglaf.")
- A NYT article on one alternative to free public libraries (which I love, love, love). Via Jenny D.
- Crissa Chappell’s 21 Steps for Writing a Novel, which points out excellently how circuitous, particular and torturous the process of writing and publishing a novel really is.
- Carter Scholz gives a rave review in the latest issue of Artforum to the new Tiptree biography, Julie Phillips’ James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon (which I would literally kill someone for an advance copy of; someone I didn’t like so much, but still). The advance buzz is very, very, very good on this one. (Via Melissa M.)
- Dan Wickett talks to a few contributors to the lastest Oxford American about being in it.
- The Index of Forbidden Books. (Via Bookninja.)
- A great cycling blog, to be bookmarked in preparation for the Tour de France.
- Sandcastles. (Via Pooks.)
- Kessel and Kelly interviewed about slipstream and putting their new antho together.
- Jeff VanderMeer’s having a book sale. We snagged a couple already.
- Or buy a page from a haunted book.
5 thoughts on “Monday Hangovers”
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The advance buzz is spot on about the Tiptree bio. It’s unbelievably good and I read it in an early draft. I can’t wait to get my hands on the final version either!
I was uberbummed that they didn’t have any ARCs at BEA. I did manage to read the first chapter or so of KDL’s though, and very nearly snatched it. Beautifully designed too.
The NYT article on private libraries makes them sound just to die for…if you have the money. Which is an awfully big “if”, since what they call “modest fees” sound un-doable to me and to an awful lot of families I know. ($275 for a family membership? How many families can do that? I sure couldn’t justify paying even $50 a year out of our current income.) I finished the article feeling annoyed and, of course, very jealous. 🙁
But the haunted book auction did of course cheer me up. 🙂
I know what you mean, Steph. I’m very suspicious of it personally. I love our public library so much; I often feel like it’s a private membership library because I rarely have to wait for any books I want to check out, it’s usually not very crowded, and I actually think the complete spectrum of people one sees there (like the racetrack, really) is part of its charm. But part of me wonders if the kind of people who belong to private libraries aren’t probably also the kind who give money to public libraries. But maybe they’re not.
Gwenda: Thanks for the sand sculptures. They blow my mind.