The Richest Gift – Travelers' Tales
Great tale. More great tales on the Travelers’ Tales site.
[via a James O’Reilly tweet]
December 27, 2008
November 26, 2008
Stephen King’s God trip | Salon Books
[you have an ad clickthrough before salon.com feeds you the content]
Stephen King’s God trip
On the 30th anniversary of “The Stand,” the novelist confesses what haunts him about religion and today’s politics.
By John Marks
Oct. 23, 2008 | In 1927, a little-known writer of horror stories named H.P. Lovecraft tried to put into words the secret of his diabolical craft. “The one test of the really weird is simply this,” Lovecraft wrote in the introduction to “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” “whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes or entities on the known universe’s utmost rim.”
That’s a mouthful, and yet I swear, two decades or so ago, I had the very experience that Lovecraft describes while on an overnight bus trip from Dallas to a Christian youth camp in northern Minnesota. Most of the other teen campers flirted or gossiped or joked around. Some endured the long hours by reading Scripture, and in their own way, may have been grappling with “the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entities.” I was mesmerized by a less prescriptive but equally god-smitten work: Stephen King’s epic of apocalypse, “The Stand.”
This year, the novel “The Stand” turns 30, and far from fading into the dustbin of bygone bestsellers, King’s great tale of plague seems more prescient than ever.
[more]
November 23, 2008
Esquire’s 70 Greatest Sentences
Esquire's 70 Greatest Sentences
Well, these sorts of things are always, “Why did they choose that?” “Why didn’t they choose that?”
Sample sentences from the list:
Also, I shouldn’t have to say this, but do not, under any circumstances, put Pop Rocks in your ass. –Stacey Grenrock Woods, Sex column, 2003
It showed a crowd of freaks bending over a dying fat man on a dark and lonely road, looking at a tattoo on his back which illustrated a crowd of freaks bending over a dying fat man on a . . . –Ray Bradbury, “The Illustrated Man,” 1950
Many of the great sentences deal with sex, erections, and/or war.
Hm.
[via Grapes2.0]
November 13, 2008
/ CONTEST / 26th Annual Delacorte Press Contest, for a First Young Adult Novel [Deadline: 31Dec2008]
26th Annual Delacorte Press Contest, for a First Young Adult Novel
Deadline: 31Dec2008
The prize of a book contract (on the publisher’s standard form) covering world rights for a hardcover and a paperback edition, including an advance and royalties, will be awarded annually to encourage the writing of contemporary young adult fiction. The award consists of $1,500 in cash and a $7,500 advance against royalties.
All federal, state, and local taxes, if any, are the winner’s sole responsibility. Prizes are not transferrable and cannot be assigned. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.
ELIGIBILITY
1. The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian writers who have not previously published a young adult novel. Employees of Random House, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates, and members of their families and households are not eligible.
2. Foreign-language manuscripts and translations are not eligible.
3. Manuscripts submitted to a previous Delacorte Press contest are not eligible.
Suitable for readers ages 12 to 18.
100-224 typewritten pages. Double-spaced.
November 6, 2008
‘Jurassic Park’ author, ‘ER’ creator Crichton dies – CNN.com
'Jurassic Park' author, 'ER' creator Crichton dies – CNN.com
RIP, Michael Crichton.
Crichton drove me nuts some times. His skepticism of global climate change and global warning encourage the nutcases.
STATE OF FEAR (2005) was lecturing and personal lobbying at its worse. The science wasn’t true and Crichton based his story on “information” that wasn’t.
Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist and co-founder of wunderground.com* reviewed the book and the science. Read it and see why my teeth grind when I think of that book.
That said, Crichton entertained me over the years. His tales were gripping. He was a smart guy who knew a lot and knew how to weave what he had into intriguing, page-turning books. He helped pay his way through college writing novels, medical thrillers. In 1969, Crichton won an Edgar for A CASE OF NEED, written under the pseudonym Jeffrey Hudson, probably because of its subject matter: abortion. (We’re talking 1968 here.)
ANDROMEDA STRAIN, JURASSIC PARK and ER are fitting legacies.
RIP.
*(Weather Underground, a weather service of which our uphill neighbor, not William Ayers, is president of the BoD.)
November 1, 2008
Love Story–Gold Winner: Los Muertos
Best Travel Writing – Love Story–Gold Winner: Los Muertos
Lovely story and timely with its Día de los Muertos theme.
[via a link from James O’Reilly’s twitterfeed]
October 29, 2008
Etsy :: Oven Mitts
The perfect gift for your literary friends … with a warped sense of humor.
Chris Buckley on Rush Limbaugh at The Daily Beast
Chris Buckley on Rush Limbaugh at the Daily Beast.
Hoo boy.
[...]
As these words were going out over the Excellence in Broadcasting network, my father’s corpse was still warm. It was a day of passions, I know, and things get said in the heat of passion. But reading these words, in the cooler air of October—not that this October has been devoid of passion—well, as me old mater might say, I found them a bit…de trop.
That’s French for “a bit much,” and I’m putting it that way by way of stipulating that I am a card-carrying member of the Eastern seaboard, proletarian-despising media elite. My idea of roughage is arugula. I have not to date tasted moose meat and hope never to, unless it is served to me at La Grenouille, by Charles Masson, personally and under glass. As for politics, we elites have always inclined toward the black candidate who grew up with a single mother on food stamps, as opposed to the third-generation Annapolis cadet.
I am having these pensées (more French, learned at an elite New England boarding school) about el Rushbo because a few days ago, following my J’accuse! (okay, okay, I’ll cut it out)—following my “I’m voting for Barack” teachable moment in this space, I received, amidst other howls of outrage and a pink slip from NR, formal notification that I had arrived, career-wise. It took the form of a headline:
LIMBAUGH MOCKS BUCKLEY OVER OBAMA.
[...]
Well, you can mock Christopher Buckley, but reap your whirlwind, sir.
October 23, 2008
Ten Tips on a Good Blog Entry
NCTE Inbox Blog: Tips on a Good Blog Entry
# Choose an attention-getting and accurate title.
Like a newspaper headline, a good blog title draws readers in. It’s your chance to convince a reader to take a look at what you’ve written. But no bait-and-switch! Make sure that your title reflects the content of the entry.
# State your opinion clearly.
Take a stand and make it clear. Your blog isn’t the place for meandering. If your opinion isn’t appropriate for the general public, choose a different subject. If you wouldn’t stand up in front of your colleagues and share your opinion, don’t post it on your blog.
# Back things up with specific stories and examples.
Once you state your opinion, explain it. Share stories or examples that show why you hold your opinion. The advice we give students applies: Show. Don’t Tell!
and seven more.
NCTE: National Council of Teachers of English
via a Lester Smith tweet.
October 8, 2008
Off I go again.
This time to Baltimore and Bouchercon.
Have to be at the airport by 5A, which means up by 4A in order to get some espresso in my system.
Walked down the hill tonight for a gathering to talk about our neighborhood community center, Tel-Hi. Our friend Donna is the development director. She spends her days raising money for the center. Another friend, Gail, is on the board and spoke tonight and sent e-mails to people she knew on the invite list, saying you must come, will I see you there.
Met some nice people. Bumped into some old friends. The hosts had a Dali on their wall, a portrait of the wife at age maybe eight twelve with her mother. A definite Dali, but no melting watches or weirdnesses. Wonderful place filled with interesting stuff.
Wonderful place. Genuine people. Good cause.
We — well, I — missed the debate. We walked down the hill and over to the gathering and I could hear Obama’s voice coming out of open windows as neighbors watched the debate we’d jettisoned in order to support a good cause. I’m sure I’ll be able to pick up on what happened at the debate some time between now and when the next debate happens.
See you ’round some time after I get back. I get back late Monday. Give me at least Tuesday to veg out on the couch and restore my social equilibrium.
His nibs will be home for Fleet Week and the Blue Angels, but I’ll miss all that. C’est la vie.
Baltimore here I come.