There are few things finer in this life than books and booze. My personal heaven is when I get a moment to myself, make a drink (beer, more often than not) and read a good story. Enter, Molly Tanzer and Nickmamatas' Mixed Up, a collection of flash fiction and cocktail recipes. Oh, this book is … Continue reading This is THE Perfect Gift for That Book-and-Booze Lover in Your Life.
These days I'm re-reading Raymond Chandler's masterpiece, The Long Good-bye. I do this as I'm nearing the completion of my own book; I don't avoid fiction as some writer's do to avoid being overly influenced but knowingly read books I want to be influenced by. In this case it's mostly four books I read and … Continue reading Now That’s a Simile
Raymond Chandler is the author I'm obsessing most over these days, and here's just a few of the reasons why: 1 - His prose Here are examples just from the start of The Little Sister, which I am now reading. The pebbled glass door panel is lettered in flaked black paint: 'Philip Marlowe... Investigations'. It … Continue reading Raymond Chandler – A Growing Obsession
So, this just happened on Twitter. Writer Jeff Kinney, the author of the wildly popular Wimpy Kid books, tweeted that he was in New York, drawing pictures for people that passed him by. I'm out here at the intersection of 34th and 5th in NY drawing pictures for whoever comes by! pic.twitter.com/uyAllNqjP1— Jeff Kinney (@wimpykid) … Continue reading Just One of the Reasons I Love Twitter – Generous Writers
Scott Hawkins, the author of the excellent The Library at Mount Char answered a question over at Goodreads about his writing schedule. Since I've been spending my weekdays getting up at 5:00 to write recently (thanks, #5amWritersclub!) I found this very interesting and motivating. It reflects well my own thoughts about writing a book as a … Continue reading Scott Hawkins’ Unbelievable Writing Schedule for The Library at Mount Char
Nick Mamatas wrote a post on Facebook today about how writers can go about finding an agent. As someone who will hopefully start shopping a book around soon, this was a godsend. Straightforward, no nonsense. With Mr. Mamatas's permission, here is the post as he wrote it. This is *one* method of finding a literary … Continue reading Nick Mamatas’s Simple Guide to Finding a Literary Agent
I saw the following on Toni Morrison's Facebook page. She's explaining where she finds time to write. "Very, very early in the morning, before they got up. I'm not very good at night. I don't generate much. But I'm a very early riser, so I did that, and I did it on weekends. In the … Continue reading Toni Morrison on Finding Time to Write
I don't remember what the first story I read by Michael Swanwick is. But I do remember the feeling I got as I read it. It's the same feeling I got when I first read stories by Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link and Lucius Shepard. That amazing, wow-this-is-talent feeling. Michael Swanwick is one of many authors … Continue reading The Wonderful World of Michael Swanwick
Cartoonist Chris Riddell illustrated some things Neil Gaiman said in a lecture about libraries, and they are just awesome. Neil Gaiman's love of libraries is well known and it is great to see Chris Riddell make them a source of inspiration. I saw these when Mr. Gaiman was sharing them on Facebook and thought they … Continue reading Illustrated Neil Gaiman Quotes About Librarians (and Einstein)
There is an author you may not have heard of who is about to go really big. (Ok, if you are reading this blog you are actually somewhat likely to have heard of her). I speak, of course, of Victoria Schwab, author of A Darker Shade of Magic This is one of my favorite books … Continue reading This Author is About to Become Famous. Read Her Books Now and Impress Your Friends
