http://www.slushpile.net Writing about writing Thu, 08 May 2008 10:31:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Wall Street Journal published an article on the economics of publishing new James Bond books. Literary author Sebastian Faulks, who said he rarely read thrillers previously, has written a new Bond tale set for release in a couple of weeks. Also of note in this article is the mention that ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/05/08/1324/ Numerous sources recently reported that Prince will release a book in the fall. 21 Nights will be published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The book is a photographic essay that is the result of an unprecedented look into the musician's life. I waver on Prince's music. I adore some of ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/05/06/prince-to-release-book/ Cormac McCarthy is overrated. Or, should I decide to target a more commercial gargantuan like J.K. Rowling? Either way, I'm looking for a literary giant so I can talk trash about them. Maybe if I make some asinine comments about them, it will attract attention for to me. Prior to the start of ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/05/05/literary-trash-talking/ The great Bookninja collects a trio of articles about signing books. Getting books signed is a strange phenomenon. As an aspiring author, I think writers should be willing to sign damn near anything. Selling books is a tough gig and if someone wants me to sign a copy of Cat Fancy from ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/28/the-three-sides-of-signing-books/ Here's a cool article about some letters from Ian Flemming to his secretary (described as his Miss Moneypenny) Jean Frampton. The letters brought more than 14 thousand pounds and since it's Friday and I'm exhausted, I'm not going to check the currency converter to see what that figure is in American dollars. This ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/11/ian-flemming-letters-auctioned/ The life of Ace Atkins would make for an interesting book in-and-of-itself. He played football for Auburn and then worked the crime beat for The Tampa Tribune. During his time at the paper, he was nominated for a Pulitzer prize for the work he did on a series of articles about ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/10/1314/ Publishers Marketplace had the news that bestselling author A.J. Jacobs has signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster for two new works. First up is The Healthiest Human Being in the World, where Jacobs visit doctors, nutritionists, DNA folks, and every kind of other health professional whil also "dissecting the meaning of ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/09/jacobs-to-get-healthy/ During my days of sorting through cardboard and wrapping paper, I did manage to come across a couple of interesting articles. First, Jeff Coplon writes a massive, sprawling eulogy for the New York Knicks in New York Magazine. Entitled Absolutely, Positively the Worst Team in the History of Professional Sports, Coplon ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/09/a-couple-of-good-reads/ Sorry for the slowdown of posting recently. Over the last week, I uprooted the Slushpile library and moved. So now I'm digging out from all the boxes, desperately trying to figure out which shelf should house my old issues of Gordon Lish's The Quarterly while also scrounging around for a ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/09/boxes-boxes-and-more-boxes/ J.A. Konrath wrote an interesting post on the role luck plays in terms of the money you get for writing. He also provided some helpful instructions for how you can swing things in your favor financially. "There is no arbitrary power controlling fairness in the universe, making sure everyone gets their ... http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2008/04/03/the-role-of-luck/