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Dayne Sherman, author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise, is a Louisiana native who evacuated just before Hurricane Katrina hit. Knowing how close this man is to the land and the soil, I’m sure it was a difficult choice to leave but he loaded up the car with family and dogs and headed to the [...]

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My cohorts over at Crimescene recently launched a new case if you want to get in on the action. Celebrating 10 years on the internet, long before there was ever CSI, there was Crimescene. Since 1995, we’ve killed nearly 30 characters and the cases keep getting better and better. You can review evidence, chat on [...]

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If book deals are any indication, then we should all snatch away Grandma’s knitting needles and take up the hobby ourselves. Publishers Marketplace reported not one, not two, but three book deals for knitting projects. All in the same day. Who knew? –Debbie Bliss sold Cosy Knits, a collection of simple-to-knit and easy-to-wear handknits, featuring [...]

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This is a little self-serving, but hey, I gotta get the sales. Gots to get paid. So be sure to pick up the October 2005 issue of Sync. Patron Techie Saint John and I were part of an exercise in torture for the mag. We both appear as part of 12 Tests. 12 Hours. 12 [...]

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Earlier this week, I mentioned Matt Bondurant’s great reading at the Baltimore Book Festival. Later that day, the fine folks at the CityLit Project (a new website should be up soon) put together Litapalooza featuring musically inclined authors. Niki Lee, J. Robert Lennon and Madison Smartt Bell all put on fantastic performances.

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Revenge. No, not the Kiss album and not the Jim Harrison-written screenplay staring Kevin Costner, but Mary Morris’ 2004 novel now out in paperback from Picador. Revenge details the complicated relationship between a young painter named Andrea and a famous novelist named Loretta. Andrea is stuck in grief and obsession over an tragic accident involving [...]

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Ace Atkins writes stories like he played football: with sweat, determination, and grit. A big believer in hard work and never settling for “good enough,” Ace is always quick to offer realistic advice and suggestions while remaining optimistic and supportive.  It should be noted that this interview was conducted before the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina [...]

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The hardest working man in the lit blog business, Dan Wickett over at The Emerging Writers Network has a new interview posted. This time he’s corralled literary journal editors including the folks who run Carve, Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, Controlled Burn, Barrelhouse Review, and Southern Review. Check out the great interview here.

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You might remember John’s call for submissions from geek authors. Now, from the great Maud Newton, I have proof that writing a geek book doesn’t doom your literary career forever. It seems that in 1982, Martin Amis published a book called Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict’s Guide to Battle Tactics, Big Scores and [...]

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Maybe my hero William Faulkner just ain’t what America wants. Seems like Oprah’s touch is back. Publishers Weekly is reporting that Vintage announced 85,000 copies of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces since Oprah’s endorsement was announced 4 days ago. Maybe if Faulkner had been cutting up lines “on a bevel” instead of coffins, he [...]

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I’m moving at this week, so please bear with me if there are fewer posts than usual. The moving company sends out this guy to look at the apartment and all the stuff and he provides an estimate of total weight. There aren’t any real calculations except for the fact this guy’s been doing this [...]

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From Bookninja, I learned about this great article that details the sometimes bitter and contentious relationship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Seems they fought frequently, sometimes violently. At one point, the pair argued about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which prompted Lewis to write that there’s “no harm in him, only needs [...]

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