- So the question on everybody’s minds is whether the newly appointed George Jones will be good for Borders. There is no need to worry. I have every faith that the man brought back Scooby Doo for two abysmal movies will almost certainly continue to push Borders into the soulless box-store abyss.
- It looks like the residents of Brick Lane are upset. They claim that Monica Ali’s novel is “racist and insulting” and have threatened to disrupt filming of the movie adaptation. They have, as is the wont of flailing lunatics, called the book “a violation of the human rights of the community.” I had no idea that a book was capable of torturing or abusing people, but an inside source informs me that there are as yet undistributed photos of Abu Ghraib in which Lynndie England offers a thumbs up sign to a human-sized edition of Brick Lane. The book reportedly committed further atrocities, which I cannot name here. Let this be a warning to all of you book lovers: Within every book is a potential Severian and O’Brien. Watch yourself when you visit a library. (via Booksquare)
- Laila Lalami keeps track of the casualties in the Middle East.
- What Meggan said. David Bowie, mofos!
- Geeks may be descending on Comic-Con. But here’s a dirty little secret: Did you know that none of the guests get paid to appear? Warren Ellis, for one, wants people to stop asking him why he’s not going.
- Tao Lin lost a book deal with Future Tense Books and explains why in an 11,000 word post. Many have responded in the comments. Train wreck ensues. (via The Publishing Spot, a quirky blog that you should be reading too)
- Lorrie Moore at Tin House.
- Tomorrow is World Jump Day. Play the Kriss Kross song for inspiration.
- A collection of fictional road maps. (via Vidiot)
- The things they discover in libraries these days.
- Studs Turkel has been awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
- William Trevor’s “Folie À Deux.”
- David Gerrold predicts the future. (via Locus)
- “In Defense of Flash Fiction”
Train Wreck is almost not strong enough for describing Tao’s 11000 word post. Nice to see there can be logical and not emotional debate in the comments section though – oh wait, only about two of the nearly 40 comments as of Sunday appeared to actually try to understand both sides.
I can’t find it right now, but Eric Spitznagel posted something at his own site yesterday that was a parody of Tao’s post – and he remembered to, up front, let everybody know that Kevin published his own book.
dan, do you mean that the post itself wasn’t logical but emotional?
No, Tao, I was actually referring to the majority of the comments section.
I think one has to say the post itself showed both sides – seeing as how you posted both sides of the email trail.
I just don’t think most of those commenting (at least those as of Sunday, when I read the full post and comments section) were willing to take a look at what both you and Kevin were saying.
Personally, I could see both your side at times and Kevin’s at other times. Most of those commenting however, either ripped you for posting the emails in general, or ripped Kevin for the edits he suggested, etc. Not many seemed to have read the exchange without possibly having a pre-conceived notion of who they were siding with.
The post itself, while I think probably has to be considered at least having a little bit to do with emotion, was also laid out in a logical manner – four sections, each explained, etc.
okay, good. thank you.