SlushPile.net

Hi everyone. I’m abandoning the Slushpile.net stacks for a little while in an effort to get some sun, some fresh air, and some smells that don’t have anything to do with pages and ink. John’s going to try to check in here every once in a while and post when he can. That is if he [...]

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  Aspiring authors in New York City should make plans to attend what looks to be a fantastic panel discussion on what it takes to make your book take off in an industry that’s in so much upheaval right now. “A Manuscript and a Magic 8-Ball: Secrets to Success in Publishing Today” features Jonathan Karp, [...]

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I constantly hear from writers frustrated with the state of contemporary literature. They point out all the garbage being published and rail against the fact that their stories get rejected. We all do that from time to time. I certainly indulge in howling at the publishing moon now and then. But I wonder if it truly [...]

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In the New York Times, Thomas Geoghegan presents a thoroughly interesting review of Louis Uchitelle’s new book, The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. This piece does what good book reviews should do: interest you in the review as much as it interests you in the book. “The layoff, Mr. Uchitelle argues, has transformed the nation,” [...]

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WASHINGTON (Slushpile.net) — Elite commando units are poised to rescue a tortured author on Tuesday as the world focuses on the tense situation in a small town in northern California. White House spokesman F. Scott McClegald confirmed that members of the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force are in position to storm the University of California [...]

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  Bonnie Fuller, former editor of US Weekly and other magazines, gives new meaning to struggling with a tough deadline. Her book, The Joys of Much Too Much: Go for the Big Life–The Great Career, The Perfect Guy, and Everything Else You’ve Ever Wanted, was covered in a New York Times article on Monday. The article states, “at [...]

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Two hip literature lovers, Logan Rapp and Will Garroutte, conducted a great interview with Stephen Graham Jones for Misnomer. In this podcast, the guys discuss the nature of being a Native American Indian, horror movies and the crucial balance of breasts and blood, comic books, film scripts, and much more. Be sure to give it a [...]

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  Last night’s episode of The Sopranos illustrated what happens when authors get in too deep with bookies. So keep your March Madness shenigans in check or else you’ll end up writing scripts about a Mafia zombie with a meat cleaver for a hand.

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The enjoyable Bookninja featured a link to an interesting article on ghostwriting. British bestseller Andrew Crofts explains that ghostwriters “produces the books that these people would write if they only had the time, the inclination and the experience, and it shouldn’t matter a fig to the reader who actually put the words on the page.” [...]

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 At a time when young authors earn lavish advances for books about drinking or their wealthy parents, Anya Kamenetz stands apart. Her first work, Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to Be Young is a serious book, seriously argued, about a serious subject. One of the youngest columnists for The Village Voice, Kamenetz rejects [...]

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  James Hines’ fabulous The Dreamlife of Rupert Thomson was posted on the Boston Review‘s website yesterday. It’s a great examination of an amazing writer. Early in the piece, there’s a great quote from Thomson on the nature of fiction and dreams: “Whenever I start a new book I have nightmares. Night after night. For a long [...]

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Thanks for all the emails. Today’s free copy of John McManus’ Stop Breakin’ Down was claimed by a reader in Alaska. I was going to cater to the stereotype and make some crack about hoping this book helps the reader stay warm up in the land of bears and salmon. But then I checked the [...]

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