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Earlier this week, it was announced that the Washington Post is doing away with it’s standalone Book World publication. This followed some period of conjecture and speculation by critics and online observers. Ed has a great roundup that contains a number of different perspectives on the issue. Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that more than [...]

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Breaking news… CNN is reporting that John Updike, bestselling author of the Rabbit books and many more, has passed away. More information as it becomes available.

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Galleycat has an interesting postabout how Paul Malmont, author of Jack London in Paradise, led his own promotion activities through Twitter, Facebook, and other means.

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There’s a good profile of Richard Yates in USA Today, based on the success of the film version of Revolutionary Road. I had no idea he lived in the same house that John Cheever later occupied.

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On the flight home from Los Angeles, I finished Josh Brazell’s Beat the Reaper. It’s a fun book and a quick read. I’ll have more on it shortly…

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I’m just catching up from spending some time in Southern California last week to attend NAMM 2009. This massive convention attracts about 85,000 music industry professionals from around the world. The musical instrument industry comes together to reveal their latest models and do business with retailers. It’s basically like one of those car and electronics [...]

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I finished Steven Rinella’s American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon over the weekend. It’s an engaging history of the animal, it’s place within our country’s history, and the tale of a nature lover and avid hunter. Rinella, who has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Men’s Journal, and Field and [...]

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Bestselling author and legal juggernaut John Grisham now has official presences on Facebook and MySpace. Visit either site to join in the Grisham community and get exclusive updates and news. To celebrate the launch of these sites, Doubleday is giving away free copies of Grisham’s new book, The Associate, scheduled for release on January 27. [...]

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I had seen this article before the holidays, but hadn’t commented on it. Howevever, a “it’s a small world” experience over the holidays made me revisit the piece. Over Christmas, a relative from the Philadelphia area visited me at the Slushpile.net Mansion. She said there was an interesting article in the paper at these authors [...]

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J.A. Konrath, always a source of useful and helpful writing tips, has an interesting post about setting goals for 2009. While most of us focus on landing an agent, getting published, accumulating a certain number of bylines, Konrath points out that you have little control over these accomplishments. Instead, focus on the things that you [...]

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So if one of your new year’s resolutions is to learn the proper way to rock in 2009, check out The Rock Bible: Unholy Scripture for Fans & Bands presented by Chunklet Magazine. Whether you’re a fan, in a band, in the crew, or a music critic, this book is loaded with humorous “advice” for [...]

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Happy New Year, Slushpile readers. I hope everyone has had a safe and fun holiday season. In addition to the usual holiday carousing, I’ve been working on demonstrating my writeability while working on my nonfiction book, A Year of Committing Homicide. Meanwhile, let’s all wish J.D. Salinger a happy birthday. Yesterday, while we were taking [...]

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