Book Bits #197 – No Pulitzer for fiction, Supreme Court takes grey market books case, 25 ASME nominations go to 25 men

For the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer Prize Board has decided not to decide on a winner in the fiction category. According to National Public Radio, the three jurors who read some 300 books before presenting three recommendations to the board are “shocked … angry … and very disappointed” that the 18-member board couldn’t decide between Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia by Karen Russell or The Pale King by David Foster Wallace.

Might I suggest that the board use a rock – paper – scissors approach next time it finds itself deadlocked over three worthy contenders?

Here are your links for April 17, 2012:

1. News: Pulitzer Prize winners announced: Patriot-News honored for reporting on Penn State scandal, by Dylan Stableford – “The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners and nominated finalists were announced on Monday. The New York Times won a pair of Pulitzers–for explanatory writing (David Kocieniewski’s series on tax loopholes for the wealthy) and international reporting (Jeffrey Gettleman’s “vivid reports, often at personal peril, on famine and conflict in East Africa”)–while the Associated Press was recognized for an investigative series–by Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley and Eileen Sullivan–outlining the New York Police Department’s surveillance of minority and Muslim neighborhoods since the 9/11 terror attacks.” – The Cutline See also: No Fiction Pulitzer Prize for 2012: Judges “Couldn’t Agree” in January Magazine
2. News: Dora Saint dies at 98, by Matt Schudel – “Dora Saint, who wrote dozens of popular novels under the pen name of Miss Read depicting the joys and charms of life in quaint English villages, died April 7 in Shefford Woodlands, a village in the English county of Berkshire. She was 98.” – The Washington Post
3. News: Dave Eggers snubs Guenter Grass: Won’t travel to Germany to accept literary prize, by Alexander Nazaryan – “The furor over German novelist Guenter Grass’s poem “What Must Be Said,” which is highly critical of Israel, continues. Days after Grass was told that he would not be welcomed in Israel, novelist Dave Eggers announced that he would not travel to Germany today to receive an award from the Gunter Grass Foundation.  The award, called the Albatross, is supposed to honor non-German authors.” – The New York Daily News
4. Festival: Free Library Festival, Parkway Central Library, Philadelphia, April 16-21- “A celebration of reading and literacy, the sixth annual Philadelphia Book Festival takes place April 16-21, 2012, with evening Author Events at Parkway Central featuring world-renowned writers, including United States Poet Laureate Philip Levine; National Book Award winner Nikky Finney; Philadelphia Poet Laureate Sonia Sanchez; and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Robert Polito. Also on tap for this exciting six-day festival is Friday’s First Person StorySlam, where competing storytellers will expose their best mistaken-identity stories.”
5. Interview: 1/2 Dozen for Claire Bidwell Smith (“The Rules of Inheritance”) with Julianna Baggott – “I’m married to a writer. This at once simplifies and complicates my life endlessly. It’s simple because we have a very deep and inherent understanding of each other. It’s complicated in that we’re perpetually broke. We fell in love through words and letters, and even if those things fail to cover our daughter’s preschool tuition, they sustain us nonetheless, and for that, I’m grateful.” – Baggott – Asher – Bode
6. Humor (Sort of): SlushPile Hell – Examples of queries editors find in the slush pile. No wonder it’s a jungle out there.
7. Writer’s How To: 4 Rules for Setting Designations off with Commas, by Mark Nichol – “Where do commas go in the vicinity of references to city and state names, or when identifying a date? Is a comma necessary before Jr. or II after a person’s name, or between a corporate name and a tag like Inc.? The rules for use of such functional punctuation follow.” – Daily Writing Tips
8. Review: “The Taker” by Alma Katzu, reviewed by Billy Burgess – “The Taker is a stunningly haunted tale that will stay in your thoughts long after you have read the last word. From the first paragraph, I was swept into this creative world of Lanore “Lanny” Melvare. This is not a sweet love story; this is a very dark and twisted love story. Despite what you might think, Lanny is not a vampire, she is just an immortal, which was forced upon her.” – Ramblings of a coffee addicted writer
9. News: Supreme Court to rule on “grey market” goods in books case, by Jeff John Roberts – “Is it legal to buy books or watches overseas and then ship them back to America to sell at a profit? For a long time, the law has been unclear. Now, the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on a case that will have big implications for publishers, retailers, and consumers.” – PaidContent
10. Commentary: How 25 National Magazine Award Nominations Went To 25 Male Writers, by Lucy Madison – “Last week, the American Society of Magazine Editors released its list of nominees for the 2012 National Magazine Award. In the so-called “brass ring” long-form categories—reporting, feature writing, profile writing, essays and criticism and columns and commentary—all 25 of the writers nominated were men.” - The Awl
11. Writer’s How To: Include Surprises in Your Stories, by Beth Hill – “You’ve been toiling along, writing according to your outline, or you’ve been pantsing without an outline and the words have just come tripping off your fingertips. You’re following the plan and it’s been good. Solid. Dependable. No, not boring. Not predictable. Just . . .” – The Editor’s Blog
12. New Titles: New Lit on the Block :: Gambling the Aisle – “Gambling the Aisle is a biannual (summer and winter) of fiction, poetry and artwork mad available on the web and in PDF.” – NewPages
13. Review: “The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King” by Rich Cohen – “In this gripping biography—it’s as page-turningly exciting as any thriller—Samuel Zemurray, once the most powerful banana importer in America, comes off as a sort of real-world Charles Foster Kane (if Kane had been in the fruit trade and not a newspaperman). Zemurray was not above fomenting rebellion in foreign countries to ensure that he had a ready supply of bananas, and he was such a ruthless and clever businessman that he went head-to-head with the mighty United Fruit—itself an extremely powerful entity—and emerged victorious.” – Booklist
14. Writing Ideas: The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 8: The Second Half of the Second Act, by K. M. Weiland – “The second half of the second act is where your plot really starts popping. Your main character caps the dramatic event at the midpoint with his decision to stop reacting and start acting.” – Wordplay
15. Feature: Blurred Boundaries: UK Pros on the State of the Book Biz, by Roger Tagholm – “E-books, erotica boost sales, but European economy uncertain as London Book Fair opens today.” – Publishing Perspectives
16. Review: Calico Joe by John Grisham, reviews by Ron Kaplan and by Stuart Shiffman – Kaplan likes the fact that “the author has certainly done his homework, seamlessly incorporating real events and players” and Shiffman calls the novel “more than a baseball story.” - Book Reporter
17. Interview: Sanjay Gupta (“Monday Mornings”): Doctors learn when they admit mistakes – “Sanjay Gupta tells Salon why his new novel is set in once-secret “morbidity and mortality” meetings.” – Salon
18. News: Obituary Note: Lewis Nordan – “Lewis Nordan, “a Mississippi-born writer whose fiction conjures a dreamlike world that straddles the whisker-thin margin between a legend and a lie, but whose best-known novel [Wolf Whistle] was based on a historical murder of national import,” died last weekend. He was 72.” - Shelf Awareness

“Book Bits” is compiled six days a week by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy, including the 2011 “Sarabande” about a woman in peril against a ghost and a dangerous avatar.

Book Bits #196 – Amazon’s Fall list, Pottermore open to Muggles, LA Times Festival of Books, ‘Cathead Crazy’

Here are your links for Monday, April 16, 2012, the anniversary of the 1962 publication of  Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook.

1. News: Amazon Publishing Releases Fall List – “Amazon Publishing New York has announced its first list of books under the New Harvest imprint in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt catalog. In January, Amazon Publishing reached a licensing agreement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for HMH to publish and distribute all adult titles from Amazon Publishing’s New York office under a new HMH imprint New Harvest.” – Publishers Weekly
2. News: Pottermore, The Harry Potter Official Website, Is Finally Open To Muggles – “The official Harry Potter website Pottermore finally opened up to the public this morning. It happened without warning, announced with a brief announcement on its blog. However, new users might be in for a wait.” – The Huffington Post
3. Commentary: How Small E-Booksellers Could Help Break the Amazon-Apple Duopoly, by Keith Wagstaff – “Ironically, the antitrust lawsuit could end up creating a monopoly where Amazon dictates all the rules of the game. The question is: Why don’t publishers look elsewhere?” – Time
4. Festival: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 21-22, (Sat 10 AM – 6 PM, Sun 10 AM – 5 PM), USC Campus, General attendance is free!
5. News: Obituary Note: Joe Houlihan – Joe Houlihan, a past president of the American Booksellers Association and longtime owner of the first Morris Book Shop in Lexington, Ky., died last Wednesday, April 11. – Shelf Awareness
6. Review: “Cathead Crazy” by Rhett DeVane – “Hannah Olsen wears multiple hats, and their combined weight is well-known to any woman who has done a portion of her life as a member of the sandwich generation stuck like thin cheese between an aging parent and demanding children.” – Malcolm’s Round Table
7. Commentary: Arab Spring Tensions at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, by Maya Jaggi – “Is the Arab world’s biggest literary festival shutting out Egyptian publishers? ” – The Daily Beast
8. Viewpoint: What Will the Book World Look Like After the DOJ Lawsuit? by Nathan Bransford – “As the iPad was just about to come out, publishers were fearing that Amazon would build a de facto monopoly in the e-book market. They were hearing from other companies that they couldn’t get into the e-book game because they couldn’t compete with Amazon on price, and Amazon was busy locking consumers into their proprietary e-book format. Publishers were likely worried Amazon would use their position to tighten the screws on terms and use the low e-book prices to hasten the demise of brick and mortar bookstores, which are hugely important to publishers. ” – Nathan Bransford Author
9. Review: ‘The Social Conquest of Earth,’ by Edward O. Wilson, reviewed by Colin Woodard – “Provocative, eloquent and unflinchingly forthright, Wilson remains true to form, producing a book that’s anything but dull and bound to receive plenty of attention from supporters and critics alike.” – The Washington Post 
10. Writer’s How To: 7 Setting Basics That Can Bring a Story to Life – “I love judging contests. I always appreciate the way reading entries forces me to evaluate the basics of good fiction writing. I come away from the experience working all the harder to apply the basics to my own stories. ” – Jody Hedlund
11. Feature: Introducing Authors, by Diane Plumley – “One of the amazing incidents I encountered when a bookseller for a major mystery store in Manhattan, was introducing one author to another and watching their interaction. ” – The Bookshop Blog
12. Review: “A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons” by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, reviewed by Carl Rollyson – “A new biography focuses on an overlooked part of the president’s life: His perplexing relationship with slavery” – Salon
13. Essay: The Posthumous Star, by Jessa Crispin – “Finding fame in life is tough enough. Finding it after death is a different beast altogether.” – The Smart Set
14. Interview: Will Ferguson (“419″) with John Barber – “Will Ferguson, the most amiable author in Canada, bristles ever so slightly at the word “departure” – a silent reaction easily detectable over the long-distance line from his home in the amiable Garrison Woods neighbourhood of Calgary. It was his own publishers who first mooted the idea that Ferguson’s new novel, 419, was a departure for an author better known as a travel writer (and three-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour).” – The Globe and Mail
15. Review: “Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery, and a Very Strange Adventure “ by Lissa Evans (ages 9-14) – “Wacky, funny and ever so mysterious, this clever tale hits the ground running and never lets up.” – Kirkus Reviews
16. Resource: ThinkExist – Over 300,000 quotations from 20,000 authors, updated daily. Search by author, topics or keywords.
17. Viewpoint: Will Apple’s game plan beat the trustbusters? by Josh Lowensohn – “Most companies finding themselves staring at the business end of a government cannon might consider it time to talk compromise. Apple is not most companies. ” – CNET
18. Quote: “There is a belief in Random House, not necessarily documented and perhaps impossible to document, that half of sales come from word of mouth. They are also convinced that their field force is a primary tool to generate the dialogues that sell books…. They encourage blogging and speaking engagements without corporate control of the messaging. In fact, they’re quite comfortable if the books their reps talk about aren’t all Random House books. – Mike Shatzkin via Shelf Awareness

“Book Bits” is compiled six days a week by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy, including the 2011 “Sarabande” about a woman in peril against a ghost and a dangerous avatar.

Book Bits #195 – Audie Awards finalists, Rushdie memoir, ‘The Gods of Gotham,’ Hugh Brewster, and reviews from BlueInk

Welcome to “Book Bits” for Saturday, April 14, 2012. My rule for Saturdays is that coffee and reading come before lawn mowing, garage cleaning and other chores. With that in mind, here are a few tempting links:

1. News: APA Announces 2012 Finalists for Top Audie Awards, by Adam Boretz – “The Audio Publishers Association selected four finalists for prestigious Audiobook of the Year Award and four finalists for the Distinguished Achievement in Production Award.” – Listen Up on Publishers Weekly
2. Bestsellers: “The Lost Years” by Mary Higgins Clark; “Guilty Wives” by James Patterson; “Sacré Bleu” by Christopher Moore; “The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection” by Alexander McCall Smith; “Betrayal” by Danielle Steet – Publishers Weekly
3. New Titles: Salman Rushdie Memoir – “’The Satanic Verses’ author has written a memoir based on the ten years he spent in hiding under a fatwa because his novel was accused of being anti-Islam. The memoir, due out Sept. 18, will be titled Joseph Anton, the name that Rushdie used as an alias while hiding.” Reported by Lindsay Deutsch in “Book Buzz” – USA Today
4. Review: “The Gods of Gotham,” by Lyndsay Faye, reviewed by Ross King – “Occasionally, Faye’s prose hits jarring notes, especially when she magnifies shocked physical responses into infeasible gestures: lips convulse, veins quiver, throats thrash and clutch, eyes cartwheel and eyelashes shudder. But there’s enough excitement here to cause anyone’s veins to quiver, and the plot hurtles along like those stampeding cattle.” – The Washington Post
5. Resource: The American Academy of Poets – “The Academy of American Poets was founded in 1934 to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry. To fulfill this mission, the Academy administers a wide variety of programs, including National Poetry Month (April), the largest literary celebration in the world.”
6. Writer’s How To: Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #15: How to Earn More by Giving Stuff Away – “My mission with this blog is to encourage writers to find better-paying gigs. But sometimes, when it’s done strategically, doing free work can be a great marketing tool.” – Make a Living Writing
7. Feature: The books we give away, by Danny Heitman – “As spring cleaning sets in, I face every book lover’s challenge: Culling the ones I don’t need cluttering my home.” – Salon
8. Writer’s How To: What Does “Proper English” Mean? by Elizabeth Little – “When we talk about “Proper English,” what exactly do we mean? Do we mean the English that you can take home to your grandmother? Do we mean the English that will impress your boss? Or do we mean the English that everyone will understand?” – Grammar Girl
9. Review: “Irenicon” by Aidan Harte, reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo – “Aidan Harte’s debut is an eclectic mix of influences and therefore makes the story a touch more intriguing than the blurb makes it out to be. I went in not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to find a story that is in parts a love story and in parts a thriller.” “Book Bits” wonders why a Kindle book is selling for $20.19. – Fantasy Book Critic
10. Feature: The Books We Come Back To, by Brian Ted Jones – “The Guardian recently posted a collection of short pieces by different authors on the books they reread, and what they gain from the practice. There even seems to be a sort of tradition among writers and serious readers, related to these perennial rereadings. ” – The Millions
11. Viewpoint: April’s Top Self Publishing Reviews from BlueInk, by Edward Nawotka – “In our effort to help facilitate the discovery of hot new titles that might interest overseas publishers for rights deals, we offer the occasional selection of ‘starred’ reviews from BlueInk reviews, a service which reviews self-published books. These are all books that BlueInk Review feels ‘merit your attention,’ and ‘are of exceptional quality and particularly worthy of representation.’” – Publishing Perspectives
12. Review: “Barack Obama:  The Story” by David Maraniss – “A thoroughly fascinating, multigenerational biography that explores broader social and political changes even as it highlights the elements that shaped one man’s life.” – Booklist
13. Feature: The Big Book, by Chris Johnson – “Robert Caro has spent thirty-eight years writing the biography of one man. The fourth volume of that work, like its three predecessors a giant achievement and certain best seller, is about to be published. But Caro is not done. The world and all that’s in it has changed, and still Caro is not done. Time has eaten everything around him, and still he is not done. But until he is done, one part of the world that we will never see again will not die.” – Esquire
14. Feature: All the world’s a stage: Introducing the biggest Shakespeare festival ever, by Arifa Akbar – “The World Shakespeare Festival 2012 will be unprecedented in scope and ambition. Forming the heart of the London 2012 Festival, which marks the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, the arts programme for the Olympics, its aim is to bring the biggest audiences to the biggest Shakespeare celebration that the world has ever seen, from April until November.” – The Independent
15. Contest: The Abstract Quill Short Story Competition, deadline May 15, 2012, first prize $100 and publication, 500 to 5,000 words.
16. Review: “The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography” by John Matteson, reviewed by Vivian Gornick – “Some 160 years after her death, Fuller remains a haunting figure not so much for the one important book she committed to paper as for the exceptional life she lived, the significance it had in its own moment as well as the one it might have had, if it had not been cut severely short in 1850 when she was 40.” – The Nation
17. Feature: Twilight of an Author, by Michael Dirda – “I suspect all authors occasionally sit down at their keyboards or open their notebooks and find that Nothing Happens. Every idea seems stale, every sentence hackneyed. At such moments, writers—whether of novels, essays, poems, or book reviews—adopt various coping methods.” – The American Scholar
18. Interview: Hugh Brewster (“Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage”) with J. Kingston Pierce – “When I was 6 my family emigrated to Canada from Scotland and crossing the Atlantic aboard the Canadian Pacific liner, Empress of Britain, was a big event in my young life. Then, when I was about 12 I was gripped by the movie A Night to Remember and can recall debating with my two brothers what we would have done to escape from the sinking Titanic. ” – January Magazine
19. Quote: “Funny thing is, I sold more in a bar than I did at a bookstore event that had been announced on radio and in newspapers. No, I don’t blame the bookstore. I credit the atmosphere. In a bar, I’m more approachable in the eyes of many people. In a bookstore, I’m THE AUTHOR.” – C. Hope Clark (“Lowcountry Bribe”)

“Book Bits” is compiled six days a week by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy, including the 2011 “Sarabande” about a woman in peril against a ghost and a dangerous avatar.

Book Bits #194 – Apple, ABA fire back at DOJ, ‘Alligator Lake,’ Nadine Gordimer, Cheryl Strayed

The Internet, along with 24/7 news channels, leads us to expect instant knowledge. We’re constantly seeing Tweets about major events while the events are happening. There’s a danger, though. As the cautionary tale in item 8 suggests, even professional journalists can jump on an unconfirmed report without verifying the facts—and then get burned. What about those of us without the resources of a news organization behind us? Fact checking is more difficult, right?

Unlike a reporter from the New York Times or the Associated Press whose credentials gain him/her easier access to sources, most of us as bloggers can’t call major newsmakers and get verification. At “Book Bits,” I try to rely on major news organizations for anything I label as news simply because it’s more likely to be correct than a blogger who read something somewhere and tweeted about it second or third hand.

Here are your links for Friday the 13th:

1. News: Apple Fires Back at Feds, Amazon – Apple said “The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.” – All Things D
2. News: ABA Calls DoJ Ruling “Baffling” – “Amid a barrage of largely puzzled and angry reactions within the book publishing community to the antitrust lawsuit the Department of Justice filed on Wednesday alleging five of the largest publishers colluded with Apple to fix e-book prices, the American Booksellers Association told PW it found the government’s action “baffling.” Oren Teicher, CEO for the ABA, touted the effectiveness of the agency model and added that the ruling, if anything, will quash competition among retailers in the e-book market. ” – Publishers Weekly
3. Feature: Drama, Skullduggery and Disaster at Sea – A selection of novels featuring the Titanic—for your reading consideration 100 years after the disaster at sea. – January Magazine
4. News: IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2012 Shortlist Announced – Ten novels have been shortlisted, including two in translation and two first novels. The winner will be announced in June -IMPAC Dublin
5. Commentary: DOJ is likely to lose e-book antitrust suit targeting Apple – “News analysis: The U.S. Justice Department’s legal pursuit of Apple for alleged e-book price fixing stretches the boundaries of antitrust law and is likely to end in defeat. ” – CNet
6. Contest: Deadline approaching for The Writer 2012 Short Story Contest, deadline April 30, 2012, entry fee $10, First prize: $1,000; a free 10-week creative writing workshop offered online by Gotham Writers’ Workshop ($420 value); publication in The Writer and on WriterMag.com; and a one-year subscription to The Writer. The magazine seeks original, unpublished stories up to 2,000 words with no explicit sex, graphic language or graphic violence.
7. Interview: Lynn Bryant (“Alligator Lake”) with Rhett DeVane – “For every racist or bigoted person I’ve ever encountered, I’ve met an open-minded, loving individual. For every sweltering humid day when a cockroach ran across my foot, I’ve had a day deep in the shade of the woods with my feet in a cool creek and tadpoles swimming around my toes. I believe that good writing is about showing both. As far as making a statement about the South…if anything, my novels observe a South saturated in tradition where at some point someone in a family doesn’t fit the mold. That’s what makes a good story.” – Southern Literary Review
8. Viewpoint: A Cautionary Tale: The important lesson to be learned from the media’s “Nikki Haley is going to be indicted” debacle, by Rem Rieder – “The “Nikki Haley is going to be indicted” saga is an important cautionary tale for our overheated media environment. It’s a vivid reminder, as if we needed one, that there’s big danger in running with anything that anybody happens to post or publish without checking it out.” – American Journalism Review
9. Lists: Friday The 13th: 13 Unlucky Characters In Literature – “Superstition scholars squabble over the origins of Friday the 13th. Not historically an unlucky day, it was first deemed so in a late 1800s biography of Gioachino Rossini. Still, we’d look out for puddles and banana peels today. To honor the holiday, we’ve compiled a list of 13 very unlucky characters in literature — some comically foolish, others tragically downtrodden.” – The Huffington Post
10. New Titles: Verse-atility: Celebrating the power of poetry,  by Julie Hale – Hale looks at “Left-Handed” by Jonathan Galassi, “Almost Invisible” by Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand “Across the Land and the ­Water: Selected Poems, 1964-2001″ by German writer W.G. Sebald available in English for the first time. – BookPage
11. Feature: Why You Can’t Find Indies In Bookstores – “Just a few years ago, readers paid little attention to books published by independent (indie) authors. Self-published books were considered second rate, not worth the investment of hard-earned cash.” (This article continues to recent trend of those blurring the meaning of “Indie” which has traditionally referred to author published by small, independent presses. It also refers to independent [non-chain] bookstores. The term is not a synonym for “self-published.”) – The Huffington Post
12. Humor: Writing Prompts for the Bold, Insane and Desperate – “On the day Isaac Asimov died, the muses of the world formed a union because they no longer wanted to be at the beck and call of prolific writers who expected free ideas 24/7. Some authors were exempt, including Nora Roberts who–according to informed sources–has a stable full of muses that supply “enough ideas for ten normal writers” just to keep those bestsellers flowing.” – Malcolm’s Round Table
13. Viewpoint: Saving Bookstores: Desperate Indie Measures – “Everyone is seeking whatever eclectic formula might hit that sweet-spot combo to succeed in keeping their bookstore in the black. Personally, I’ve long thought someone should be on the bookstore-laundromat and the bookshop-spa combinations.” – Beyond the Margins
14. Feature: Self-Expression in Creative Writing, by Melissa Donovan – “A lot of young people first come to creative writing because they have a burning desire to express themselves. Emotions are running high, ideas are flying, and opinions are in full supply. What better way to get it all off your chest than writing it down?” – Writing Forward
15. Review: “No Time Like the Present” by Nadine Gordimer – “A biracial couple faces both personal and political issues in South Africa after the Struggle… Gordimer writes movingly and piercingly about the struggles after the Struggle.” – Kirkus Reviews
16. Interview: Collecting with Care, Buffy Jameson with Laine Farley, on bookmarks – “Most of the handmade bookmarks that I have are graphic prints and quotes that the artists designed and printed on their computers or pictures and designs that the artists painted by hand. I really enjoy both art mediums because it allows room for so much creativity. Most of the hand-painted bookmarks that I own are of nature such as flowers, fish, and birds. A lot of the graphic prints that I own are of whimsical designs, cartoons, and clever sayings.” – BiblioBuffet
17. Quote: Is your story too long for the submission guidelines? “This is how to compress: Focus on story points, which means information a reader needs. Ignore the writing. Pretty phrases, detailed descriptions, and soaring metaphors do not matter to the story or reader, nor should they to storytellers.” – Gene Stewart in “The Writer Magazine
18. Viewpoint: Why are English and American novels today so gutless? by Aditya Chakrabortty – “The great Bengali thinker Rabindranath Tagore, born 150 years ago, was a passionate political author. Sadly, literary writers today seem to have no time for politics” – The Guardian
19. Interview: Cheryl Strayed (“Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail”) with Ron Hogan (podcast) – “We talked about the personal circumstances that led her, in the mid-1990s, to make a solo hike from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington state line, and what she learned about herself when she decided a decade later to write about that experience.” – Beatrice
20. Feature: Who says clichés are bad? by Heidi Stevens – “Despite their plague-like status among writers, certain clichés occupy a soft spot in my heart for their ability to be simultaneously profound and simple.” – The Chicago Tribune

“Book Bits” is compiled six days a week by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy, including the 2011 “Sarabande” about a woman in peril against a ghost and a dangerous avatar.

Book Bits #193 – DOJ launches antitrust suit, Rowling’s ‘The Casual Vacancy,’ writing tips and reviews

The Department of Justice has filed its antitrust lawsuit against Apple and six publishers. For opposing views about the merits of the suit, you can find Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks here and Richard Epstein’s views that the suit will be difficult for the DOJ to win here. Once the likelihood of a suit was known, Scott Turow and the Authors Guild spoke out against it here. I agree with the Authors Guild on this matter. See items 1 and 2 below for the news reports.

Here are your links for April 12, 2012.

1. News: DOJ Files Antitrust Suit – “The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, HarperCollins and Macmillan, charging them with colluding to raise e-book prices when they moved from the wholesale model to the agency model. Reports have S&S, Hachette and HC agreeing to settle with the DOJ, while Penguin is opting to fight the charges. Apple and Macmillan are not settling.” – Publishers Weekly
2. News: Publishers Respond To DOJ Lawsuit, by Dianna Dilworth – “HarperCollins and Hachette have settled with the Department of Justice rather than face a lawsuit over the agency model for eBook pricing. Simon & Schuster is expected to settle, as well. Macmillian, on the other hand, has decided to fight the DOJ in court.” – eBookNewser
3. Event: 2nd Annual Rockland Book Fair, The Historical Society of Rockland County | 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY 10956. On Sunday, April 15, 2012, from noon to 4 pm, the Historical Society of Rockland County’s History Center will once again be full of some of Rockland’s most talented authors and illustrators for the 2nd Annual Rockland Authors & Illustrators Book Fair! Participating authors: Jean Barlow, Chelle Cordero, Betsy Franco Feeney, Charmaine Gordon, Arden Greenspan-Goldberg, Gail Gompper, Cindy Mauro Reisenauer, Elizabeth Sayles, Judy Stadt, Janet Lane Walters, Howard Whitehouse.
4. News: Obituary Note: Reed Whittemore – “Reed Whittemore, a former poet laureate of the U.S. “whose work’s calm, unruffled surface belied deep subversion below,” died last Friday, the New York Times reported. He was 92.” – Shelf Awareness
5. News: J.K. Rowling’s next book: ‘The Casual Vacancy’ - J. J. Rowling’s upcoming new book, “The Casual Vacancy,” is said to be “darkly comic.” It will be released September 27. – The Huffington Post
6. Review: Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz – “Trail of the Spellmans is for the mystery reader who likes a little romance, a lot of humor, and a scattering of puzzling activity and is a very worthy addition to the series I hope will continue for years to come.” – Buried Under Books
7. Lists: 6 Reasons Authors Self-Publish – “On the heels of our lively debate the other day on my post “6 Reasons Authors Still Want Publishers,” today let’s look at the other side of the coin. Many of you are still trying to decide which path is right for you — or if maybe some combination of both might work.” – Rachelle Gardner
8. Essay: Edith Wharton: A Writer’s Reflections, by Roxanna Robinson – “Wharton’s deepest concern was morality. She wrote about the struggle between the body and the mind, that battlefield from which morality emerges. Central to her work are stifled and illicit passions, manifested in divorce, adultery, incest, and illegitimacy. Her writing was stylistically decorous but socially transgressive: her prose is so elegant that her message comes as a shock, like a sword wrapped in satin.” – The Millions
9. Feature: Nine Writers And Publicists Tell All About Readings And Book Tours, By Matthew Gallaway – “Here with advice, lessons learned as well as horror stories of readings and book tours past are authors Shane Jones, Laurie Weeks, Charles Yu, Tao Lin, Sheila McClear, Jon Michaud and myself; publicists Lauren Cerand and Brian Ulicky; and event organizer Jennie Portnof. ” – The Awl
10. Quote: “The irony of this bites hard: our government may be on the verge of killing real competition in order to save the appearance of competition. This would be tragic for all of us who value books and the culture they support.” – Macmillan CEO John Sargent
11. Review: “HHhH,” by Laurent Binet – “The story of how two Czech agents—recruited by the British secret service—assassinated Hitler’s ruthless lieutenant Reinhard Heydrich in broad daylight on a Prague street in 1942 has been told by the historian. Now it is the novelist’s turn. And what a turn Binet delivers! ” Booklist
12. Writer’s How To: 5 Words Caught in Semantic Drift, by Mark Nichol – “Is it possible to simultaneously admire the vibrancy and flexibility of the English language and grumble about shifts in meaning that deprive the language of some of its richness? ” – Daily Writing Tips
13. Lists: 10 Books That Would Make Great Theme Parties, by Emily Temple – “since a party isn’t a party without Jay Gatsby’s jazzy blessing and a little bit of Shakespearean place-swapping, we had to round out the experiment with a list of books that we think would inspire the best costumes, decor, and conversation when mixed with a cocktail or two. Click through to check out the theme parties we’d throw around our favorite books, and let us know which novel you’re longing to celebrate in soiree form in the comments.” – Flavorwire
14. Review: “Truth Like the Sun” by Jim Lynch, reviewed by Ron Charles – “Seattle, that metronatural paradise of fine coffee and clear WiFi, gets a bittersweet love note in this new novel by Jim Lynch. ‘Truth Like the Sun’ illuminates the city’s commingled beauty and vanity with a story of civic pride, political intrigue and journalistic tenacity.” – The Washington Post
15. Writer’s How To: Dual Duties of Chapter Endings, by Beth Hill – “Chapter endings in fiction have something in common with the Roman god Janus—they, like Janus, look both backward and forward. They are transitions between what has already happened and what is about to break loose. They are links and doorways and connection points.” – The Editor’s Blog
16. News: William Boyd to pen next 007 novel – “Acclaimed British novelist William Boyd said Thursday he hopes to bring James Bond back to his roots when he pens the next installment of the suave superspy saga.” – USA Today
17. Review: “To Forgive Design” by Henry Petroski, reviewed by Matt Ridley – “For those who enjoy reading about girders and trusses, “To Forgive Design” is, yes, riveting. There are times when the author takes for granted that his audience will share his interest in even the most arcane engineering details, and on such occasions his prose loses its sparkle. But he amply shows the wisdom of the proverb that failure is a good teacher. Even a collapsed bridge leads somewhere.” – The Wall Street Journal
18. Feature: Lauren Myracle on Why Her Books Top List That America Wants Banned, by Abigail Pesta – “The books are about three dear friends, good girls who make bad decisions. The series is a testimony to the power of friendship—finding your tribe, having your friends’ backs. I think part of what makes people nervous is that the books are written in instant messaging.” – The Daily Beast

“Book Bits” is compiled six days a week by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy, including the 2011 “Sarabande” about a woman in peril against a ghost and a dangerous avatar.

Book Bits #192 – Jules Feiffer novel, Titanic books, Matt Groening’s real Springfield, David Foster Wallace’s talent

Welcome to “Book Bits” for April 11, 2012, the 81st anniversary of the end of the so-called reign of terror of Dorothy Parker’s six years as the “New Yorker’s” drama critic. Parker was known for such saying that Katharine Hepburn’s performance ran the gamut of emotions from A to B, and other pithy comments.

1. News: A new page: Harlem Book Fair to make Newark debut, by Eunice Lee – “The Harlem Book Fair is coming to Newark for the first time and celebrating two days of literary-filled events later this month, Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Monday.” – Newark Star-Ledger
2. News: Norton’s Liveright to Publish Jules Feiffer Graphic Novel, by Calvin Reid – “Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist best known for his long running Village Voice comics strip, screenwriter, playwright, acclaimed adult and children’s author, and a pioneering witness to the birth of the American comic book industry, will publish ‘Kill My Mother,’ his first original graphic novel, in Fall 2013 with the Liveright publishing division of W. W. Norton.” – Publishers Weekly
3. News: Obituary – Christine Brooke-Rose: the great British experimentalist you’ve never heard of, by Natalie Ferris – “A formidable voice is no longer with us. Christine Brooke-Rose, one of Britain’s foremost experimental writers, has also been one of the most deplorably neglected.” – The Guardian
4. Interview: Three Questions for… Marilyn Celeste Morris – “Outlines should be outlawed. I generally take an idea and run with it. Words fill up my screen in no certain order to rearrange later. Anyone who sees this mess would shake his head and wonder, “what the heck is this?” Sometimes I write the ending first.” – Collin Kelley: Modern Confessional
5. Satire: Parents Fed Up with Play About Cannibalism – “The riot began at the end of act three, scene two, when the public address system played a ‘scream track’ made from a pirated recording of a wailing Hippogriff from ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ while Kat, played by Lucy Trenton, yelled, ‘Mates, their dugout is our smorgasbord!’” – Morning Satirical News
6. News: Aria’s Mystery Bus Tour Begins April 11 – “In an era when the book industry seems constantly brimming with gloomy news and various variations on news of a falling sky, word about Atria’s Mystery Bus Tour is strangely uplifting.” – January Magazine
7. Feature: Sinking In: The ‘Titanic’ Tragedy Turns 100, by J. Kingston Pierce – “An abundance of new nonfiction books about the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic have been published over the last year, with a particular flood of them reaching bookstores just in time for this month’s 100th anniversary. Several of those works are excellent, but they ought not overshadow a few older volumes that belong in the library of any Titanic enthusiast.” – Kirkus Reviews
8. Interview: Matt Groening Reveals the Location of the Real Springfield, by Claudia De La Roca – “Twenty-five years after The Simpsons made their TV debut, the show’s creator talks about Homer’s odyssey—and his own.” – Smithsonian
9. News: Apple, Macmillan Said to Prepare for U.S. E-Books Lawsuit, by Sara Forden and Andy Fixmer – “Apple Inc. (AAPL) (AAPL) and the publisher Macmillan are preparing to be sued as soon as today by the U.S. Justice Department over alleged collusion in the pricing of e- books, according to two people familiar with the matter. ” – Bloomberg
10. New Titles: “Ison of the Isles” by Carolyn Ives Gilman – “If, however, you’re ready to be fully carried away, Ison of the Isles is a good choice. Ives Gilman builds her world with a muscular poise that is so graceful and authoritative, it seems easy in its confidence.” – January Magazine
11. Feature: List, Net, Agency and Wholesale: How Authors Get Paid – “Royalties for trade books are typically based on list or catalog price, although some publishers pay on net receipts and net receipts are offered by traditional publishers for e-books. List price is better for the author.” – Legal Corner for Authors
12. Lists: 10 Examples of Literary Nonfiction That Make Facts Compelling, by Anna Clark – “Mike Daisey argued that he had to stretch the facts in order to get at a “greater truth.” These 10 works prove you can tell great stories without giving up on accuracy.” – AlterNet
13. Quote: “Why, it got so bad that they began to laugh before I opened my mouth.” – Dorothy Parker
14. Interview: Michael Phelps, author of “The Execution Of Justice,” with Pat Bertram – “‘The Execution of Justice’ is based on the brutal murder of a close friend and one-time mentor of mine, Detective Sergeant Jack R. Ohrberg of the Robbery & Homicide Division of the Indianapolis Police Department. I knew Jack to be a devoted husband and father, and knew the sacrifices he made to be the dedicated and tireless Police Officer he was.” - Pat Bertram Introduces…
15. Commentary: Newspaper Publishers lost $27 in print for every digital $1 – “The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism generated gasps when it reported that newspapers are losing $7 in print advertising for every $1 of digital revenue that they gain. But the situation is even worse.” – Reflections of a Newsosaur
16. Essay: The Infinite Jester, by Victoria Beale – “Notes on a Voice: Victoria Beale pins down David Foster Wallace’s sprawling talent… ” – Intelligent Life
17. Review: “Damn Yankees” by Rob Fleder, reviewed by John C. Williams – “For 99 years now, Americans have celebrated, tolerated, blessed and cursed a baseball team called the New York Yankees. ‘Damn Yankees’ brings together 24 essayists to explore the club’s history, its players and the reasons why—as the book’s subtitle tells us—the Yankees are the world’s most loved and hated team.” – BookPage
18. Essay: The More Things Change . . .by Katherine Hauswirth – Considering a newly released annotated edition of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma,’ Hauswirth writes “It’s difficult for me, a voracious reader and devoted writer, to admit that I have a long list of classics I haven’t yet read. Of those I have read, there are several I haven’t fully absorbed. I think this has to do with attention span and time. It takes dedication and focus to get into the rhythm of novels that are peppered with words like thither and references to obscure customs about which I know next to nothing.” – BiblioBuffet
19. Writer’s How To: Prone vs. Supine, by Mark Nichol – “It’s easy to confuse the meaning of prone and supine — and it’s important to distinguish between them, because they’re antonyms. (I also discuss here some of the synonyms of each word.)” – Daily Writing Tips
20. Interview: Amelia Gray (“Threats”) with Brad Listi (podcast) – “Doug Dorst, author of The Surf Guru, has this to say about Amelia’s work: ‘The first time I encountered Amelia Gray’s fiction, it slugged me in the jaw. The second time too, and the third. Said jaw-slugging has ensued nearly every time I’ve read something of hers, except for when instead it whispered sad and surprising but undeniable truths about the difficulty of intimacy and sense in the wretched blastoscape of modern life.’” – Other People
21. Viewpoint: Should You Hire A Social Media Coach? by Meghan Ward – “But writers are busy. Some are too busy to take my classes. So they ask, “Can I hire you to do my social media for me?” My answer is no.” – Writerland

“Book Bits” is compiled by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy and magical realism

Book Bits #191 – 007 switches to beer (oh my), Carole King memoir, Herman Wouk’s new novel

Commercialism wins out over tradition in the new James Bond “Skyfall” as 007 switches from his trademark martini to Heineken Beer. (Item 6) I like Heineken. I enjoyed touring the company’s brewery in Amsterdam. But this is too much. Ian Fleming must be shaking and stirring in his grave. The film is scheduled for release in the United States November 9.

1. News: New Richard Russo Collaboration is Print Only, by Judith Rosen – “The Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer has done so before, most notably with writer/director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) on the screenplay for his novel Nobody’s Fool. But for Russo’s four-story print-only collection, Interventions (Down East, May), which his publisher is promoting as “a nine-piece ensemble,” he’s working with his two daughters and son-in-law on illustrations, packaging, story selection, and even a book signing at Greenlight Books in Brooklyn.” – Publishers Weekly
2. News: ‘Hunger Games’ again on list of challenged books, by Hillel Italie – “For the second year in a row, Suzanne Collins’ work was among the most “challenged” books, as reported Sunday by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. ” Bloomberg
3. Feature: Sinking feeling for Titanic kin – “The families of two Titanic survivors are furious that a party to promote a new book about the pair will be sponsored by Iceberg Vodka. Descendants of US tennis players Dick Williams and Karl Behr, who met aboard a rescue ship before becoming Davis Cup teammates, are fuming over Lindsay Gibbs’ tome ‘Titanic: The Tennis Story.’” – New York Post
4. News: Hugo finalists announced – “Finalists for best novel are ‘Among Others’ by Jo Walton (Tor), ‘A Dance With Dragons’ by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra), ‘Deadline’ by Mira Grant (Orbit), ‘Embassytown’ by China Miéville (Macmillan/Del Rey) and ‘Leviathan Wakes’ by James S. A. Corey (Orbit).” The winners will be announced September 2. – Shelf Awareness
5. Interview: 1/2 Dozen for Megan Mayhew Bergman, with Julianna Baggott – “BIRDS OF A LESSER PARADISE was published by Scribner this year–to wild acclaim. It’s proof that short story collections can, in fact, capture the American imagination and deserve to be published with great gusto.” – Baggott – Asher – Bode
6. Feature: James Bond ditches vodka martinis for Heineken, by Geoffrey Macnab – “Prepare for all the puns about irritated James Bond enthusiasts being shaken and stirred. Earlier this week, it was confirmed in ‘Advertising Age’ that Britain’s best known secret agent is going to change the habits of a lifetime and drink beer in the new Bond film, ‘Skyfall.’” - The Independent
7. Writer’s How To: Sentence Fragments by Julian Pavia – “I know many of you are fiction writers, aspiring writers, or just shake your heads when you read non-traditional grammar in fiction stories. I thought it might be fun to hear from someone who has to manage the crazy grammar that writers try – and sometimes succeed – to put through the editing process and into book form.” – Grammar Girl
8. Review: “The Witness” by Nora Roberts – “When it comes to flawlessly fusing high-stakes suspense with red-hot romance, Roberts is unrivaled, and her latest addictively readable novel is guaranteed to jangle readers’ nerves and keep them enthralled long past bedtime.” – Booklist
9. Feature: The Beauty And Difficulty Of Poet Nikky Finney, by Noah Adams – “April is National Poetry Month, a time when bookstores proudly display those slim volumes usually hidden in the back. On display this April is the work of Kentucky poet Nikky Finney, who won the National Book Award last November for her latest collection, Head Off & Split.” – NPR
10. Viewpoint: How ‘Game of Thrones’ Masters the Art of Adapting Novels for TV, by Scott Meslow – “Despite the benefits of adaptation, each book-based TV series also offers an additional challenge: How faithful should a TV adaptation be to its original source material? Stay too close, and you run the risk of boring fans that already know the original story; stray too far, and you run the risk of angering fans that already love the original story.” – The Atlantic
11. Review: “Fatal Colors” by George Goodwin, reveiwed by Tom Shippey in The Carnage of the Roses – “The bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil was not Hastings in 1066, when King Harold died, nor Marston Moor in 1644, where the Whitecoats fought to the death against Cromwell’s Ironsides, nor Culloden a hundred years later, where “Butcher” Cumberland broke the Highland clans. It was the now all-but-forgotten Battle of Towton, fought on Palm Sunday 1461, between Lancastrians and Yorkists in one of their many clashes in the Wars of the Roses, to decide who should be king.” – The Wall Street Journal
12. Writer’s How To: How Long Should My Story Be, by Beth Hill – “The short answer to the question about the length of a story is to say every story should be as long as it needs to be. It should satisfy the story setup and problem without overwhelming the reader with more words than are necessary. Right. But what does that mean?” – The Editor’s Blog
13. Review: “The Lifeboat” by Charlotte Rogan, reviewed by Trisha Ping in Adrift from the Civilized World – “Don’t start The Lifeboat right before bedtime. Charlotte Rogan’s gripping debut won’t let you turn out the light until the last page is turned, and will have you mulling over the questions of survival, sacrifice and responsibility it raises long after that.” – BookPage
14. Viewpoint: The Rise of the Lecherous Professor (in Fiction), by Stephanie Bernhard – “He’s crusty, grumpy, aging, and set in his outdated ways. He’s a he. Mortality is on his mind, and his will to bed women a fraction of his age increases in direct proportion to his fear of aging and death. He is, of course, the Humanities Professor archetype, and he is everywhere these days.” – Full Stop
15. Festival: Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival, Thad Cochran Center, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, April 11-13, while online registraion is closed, you can register at the door for this festival that focuses on librians and teachers who work with children
16. Festival: Arkansas Literary Festival, Little Rock, April 12-15. “More than 95 presenters covering “fiction, nonfiction, poetry, performance, and cooking” will be on hand to participate in a book fiesta and other entertainment for children, cooking workshops,  films, a street fair, theatre, panels, performances, presentations, music, book sales and signings, “meet the author” appearances, and more”
17. Viewpoint: What’s Wrong with Children Self-Publishing? Nothing – “Dave Weich argues encouraging kids to write and publish is not just a boon to literacy, but a proactive model smart publishers should embrace.” – Publishing Perspectives
18. Upcoming Title: Cover Art and Synopsis for The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson, previewed by Aidan Moher – “From the bestselling author of the Mistborn Trilogy and co-author of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series comes the tale of a heretic thief who is the only hope for the survival of an empire. Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic.” – A Dribble of Ink
19. Essay: Papyrus Trail, by Elizabeth Creith – “I think both paper and papyrus are the natural results of evolution. No, really! Before you roll your eyes at me and start nattering about paper mills and so on, I just want you to consider margarine, or artificial vanilla, or any of the hundreds of other synthetic things. Just because we make it now doesn’t mean it didn’t grow on its own in the wild first.” – BiblioBuffet
20. Review: “A Natural Woman: A Memoir” by  Carole King – “As an artist, Carole King helped pave the way for generations of creatively autonomous women. As a woman, she long harbored a desperate need for male affection and affirmation, enduring troubled and even abusive relationships. That dichotomy is the crux of A Natural Woman, the candid, endearingly chatty memoir that traces King’s rise from a precocious Brooklyn girl to one of the world’s most beloved singer/songwriters.” – USA Today
21. News: 96-Year-Old Novelist Herman Wouk Lands Book Deal, by Jason Boog – “96-year-old novelist Herman Wouk has sold his latest novel to Simon & Schuster. ‘The Lawgiver’ follows the production of a movie about Moses through ‘letters, memos, emails, journals, news articles, recorded talk, tweets, Skype transcripts, and text messages’ sent between characters” – GaleyCat

“Book Bits” is compiled by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of contemporary fantasy and magical realism