SlushPile.net

This is so strange that I have absolutely no idea of its veracity. But it’s a fun story anyway that Bookninja picked up. Evidently, a novel is being published called The Karasik Conspiracy. The plot is pretty straight-forward. A group of terrorists attacks the United States by poisoning low-cost prescription Canadian drugs purchased on the [...]

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Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa, son of Frank and brother to Moon Unit and Dweezil, may very well be hosting the upcoming competition show But Can They Sing?, but he may not need the work for long. According to the VH1 website, the show “pits actors Morgan Fairchild, Joe Pantaliano, Bai Ling, Antonio Sabato, Jr, Michael [...]

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Via the excellent Syntax of Things, I learned about this story. It seems that Georgia State University grad student decided to make sure the sound and the fury did signify something, if only on his skin. Shyam Sriram got William Faulkner’s portrait tattooed on his left pec. “I like Faulkner so much because it’s so [...]

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And it has nothing to do with Margaritaville… Reports were flying from numerous outlets yesterday that Bantam Dell has won the rights to a biography of not Jimmy, but Warren Buffet. The famous investor has previously been reticent in regards to biography efforts but now former Morgan Stanley insurance analyst Alice Schroeder has been given [...]

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As you know, I recently reviewed The Game by Neil Strauss for PopMatters. Now, there is news that one of the book’s main subjects has signed a deal of his own. Publishers Marketplace reported that master pickup artist Mystery sold a book entitled The Mystery Method: How to Get Any Woman into Bed in 7 [...]

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Administrator of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi, David Galef is a jack of all literary trades. Creative and hard-working, Galef is a pragmatist who understands the inner workings of literature. He takes a mechanical approach with his students, teaching fiction the way music is taught, by learning the small [...]

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The Frankfurt Book Fair opens today. Courtney Love is reportedly one of the big fish at the event, circulating a memoir entitled The Love Diaries that is close to being signed by FSG. Other early news out of the book fair is that organizers want to steer the discussion away from entertainment and more towards [...]

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Whenever I read certain how-to articles, I always think that the idiots described are fictitious. For example, when I read an article on interviewing for a job like this one, I wonder, “does anyone really need to be told to remove their nosering and not refer to the interviewer as a dude?” I always assume [...]

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The last thing we need is yet another top-anything list. But anyway, Time selected the 100 Best Novels from 1923 to Present. Check out their selections here. I will say that one interesting aspect of this list is that Time provides a copy of their original review when applicable. For instance, you can read what [...]

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I’ve often referred to news items posted on mediabistro, a website dedicated to providing industry news to journalists, writers, editors, freelancers, photographers, and basically everyone who works with the written word. Elizabeth Spiers, the editor-in-chief of the great site, recently resigned her position in order to complete a novel and do some freelance work. In [...]

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John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is scheduled to appear today at Powell’s in Portland. Supporting his new book, The City of Falling Angels, Berendt reads this tale of the “magic, mystery, and decadence” of Venice and its inhabitants. The folks at the bookstore are expecting a big crowd [...]

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Juggernaut porn company Vivid Entertainment and Thunder’s Mouth Press teamed up to release a series of erotic novels featuring some of their contract girls. The novels were supposedly written by the performers and also feature the ladies as characters in the plot. One book in the series, Vamp, lists Savanna Samson as the author and [...]

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A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that an auction was being held for the rights to publish Eric Clapton’s biography. I also offered my ghostwriting services to Slowhand, but so far, I’m afraid I haven’t heard anything. I’m sure their pleas for my help have just been delayed in the mail. Anyway, Publishers Lunch [...]

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To cap off our coverage this week of the Phineas Poe omnibus release, Zack Wentz steps up to pinch hit for me by conducting a great interview with Will Christopher Baer. Wentz is the author of the forthcoming The Garbageman & The Prostitute (published by Chiasmus Press) and a drummer and vocalist for Kill Me [...]

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