SlushPile.net

  This afternoon, I’m going to dash out of work like a kid released from sixth period algebra class so I can race over to my local bookstore. I don’t normally read Field & Stream but I’m told that the October issue contains a previously unpublished Larry Brown essay. The folks at Square Books describe the piece as [...]

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  Stephen Graham Jones, author of the ambitious Demon Theory, Bleed into Me, and others posted an entertaining open letter on his website pitching the idea of a Soduko novel. So, my pitch: instead of attempting to clone Da Vinci Code’s formula for success, its unprecedented domination of the marketplace, of the readership, I propose instead to [...]

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Now see, this is why I can’t get shit done. A topic gets my attention and then I’m off down some rabbit hole of esoterica, piling up books to study on topics like whale baleen or the meaning of Celtic knots or something. I blame my parents who, for my entire childhood, refused to answer [...]

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You might recall the interview with editor Jeremie Ruby-Strauss that I posted back in May. Jeremie’s in the news again as Publishers Marketplace reports he recently signed up Tucker Max’s new book for Simon Spotlight Entertainment. The book, titled Assholes Finish First, is scheduled for release in January 2008. The Publishers Marketplace report does not include any financial information, but on [...]

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Mark Z. Danielewski’s Only Revolutions: A Novel debuted at #13 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction bestseller list. It’s great to see such an original and challenging novel dent the list. I had a great conversation with Mark last week so keep an eye out for the Slushpile interview appearing soon.

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Be sure to pick up the Oxford American‘s Eighth Annual Music Issue. As usual, the magazine is accompanied by a CD chock full of great music. The writerly line-up for this issue is stellar as well. Peter Guralnick, Tom Piazza, William Gay, Jack Pendarvis, Ron Rash, Beth Ann Fennelly, and Amanda Petrusich all appear in [...]

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Old friends have a quality to their voice that immediately warms your soul upon hearing it. You can go years without speaking to that person and then one day the phone rings, you say hello, and with one word that voice negates the passage of time and unleases a flood of memories. A rare few writers have [...]

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I’ve mentioned Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them before. And today, the book caught my attention because it’s number twenty on the New York Times Hardover Nonfiction bestseller list. In the last year, I’ve had conversations with about ten agents who all claimed that books about [...]

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A little self-promotion here… I’ve got some new work in the October 2006 issue of Stuff magazine. It’s uncredited work, but hey, you gotta start somewhere I reckon. And the guys are great to work with. So if you’re on the lookout for some new gear, or just like the ladies of Lost be sure [...]

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  I walked into my local bookstore yesterday and the very first thing I see is a stand-alone display of Mark Z. Danielewski’s work. The display contains both his bestselling House of Leaves and his new novel, Only Revolutions. The sight of this display, in and of itself, was exciting. It’s nice to see a literary writer, [...]

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  According to The Guardian, an auction of more than 700 of Agatha Christie’s belongings far exceeded the expectations and raised more than 300,000 pounds. So the lesson is that if you plan on being a famous mystery writer, be sure to have your family hold on to your Charles II tumbler cup and mug, your [...]

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  Dan Wickett, founder of the Emerging Writers Network and the hardest working man in the literary blogosphere, has banded together with two other book lovers to launch Dzanc Books. Their goal with this new 501(c) not-for-profit literary venture is to assist literary journals in reaching the largest reader base possible, to develop educational reading and writing programs in [...]

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