Which is to say after this roundup, nothing until Monday.
Tuesday was Canada Day, the anniversary of the birth of my native country, and the Globe and Mail's James Adams gets some "new canon" lists from distinguished literary types. I am pleased as punch to see Elizabeth Smart's stupendous prose poem BY GRAND CENTRAL STATION I SAT DOWN AND WEPT included on several of these lists. (via)
Cody's may have closed but that didn't stop Matt Richtel from giving a reading in front of the shuttered bookstore.
More job slashing to come at the LA Times.
The Chicago Tribune wants reader feedback on the books section.
Current literary sensation Uwem Akpan is profiled by Charles McGrath.
Richard Yancey talks with the Knoxville Metropulse about his variegated literary career, which includes a number of mystery novels.
The Harvard Crimson's Juli Min learns to appreciate genre with the help of Stephanie Plum.
Nilanjana Roy looks into Tamil pulp fiction, which makes me ask: what about pulp fiction of other non-English speaking countries? I totally want to gobble all that up right now.
J.K. Rowling opposes that idiotic move by UK publishers to age-band their books.
Color me confused: if you're trying to sell off a magazine division, it's because you want to get more money. So coming up with a loan package in order to get someone else to buy means...spending money. How is this advantageous? In other words, Reed is so screwed.
Finally, this is not what you want to happen at an awards ceremony.
Regarding pulp fiction in other countries, you might want to take a look at Spain’s “bolsilibros” (short for pocket books), pulp fiction novels which sold in the hundreds of thousands during the Franco years. Many talented authors who would otherwise not find an outlet for their work due to the prevailing censorship had to resort to writing these fast-paced, plot-packed novels with colorful covers. Writers used “Anglo-sounding” nom-de-plumes such as Lou Carrigan (real name Antonio Vera Ramírez), A Thorkent (Angel Torres Quezada), Lem Ryan (Francisco Javier Miguel Gómez), etc. presumably to attract more readers but also to avoid troubles with the regime’s censors.
Among the few who remain active is Francisco González Ledesma (http://gonzalezledesma.blogspot.com/), probable one of Spain’s best crime fiction writers, who at the time was publishing under the pseudonym “Silver Kane.” His first novel was praised among others by Somerset Maugham but censored by Franco. He started publishing under his own name after the dictatorship’s demise and his novels have garnered both mainstream fiction recognition such as the Planeta award and genre ones like the international Hammet prize. It’s really a pity that his novels as well as some of the best titles from “bolsilibro” era are not available in English
You can check some sample covers here:
http://pulpnivoria.wordpress.com/
Posted by: GB | July 03, 2008 at 01:36 PM
Actually, Reed may not be so screwed. It isn't that they want money: it's that they want to divest themselves of the magazine division. The division is profitable, but advertising is a cyclical business, and no one dependent on print ads is happy at the moment. Magazines find it increasingly difficult to get a slice of the ad pie when the web is seen as offering the ability to more finely target the audience with a cheaper CPI and greater sell-through.
The problem is the credit crunch. There are buyers who might think they can make a go of the magazines, but they don't have the money just lying around loose to fork over a billion or so. They need to get financing to do the deal, and money is tight. So Reed is offering to sweeten the pot and help finance prospective buyers.
It's money out of pocket now, but it's a loan, and they are assuming the borrower will pay it back out of revenues they make from their new acquisition. Any buyer who makes the deal will be making the same assumption, or they wouldn't be making the deal.
If it works, it's a good move for Reed. They unload a business they don't want to be in at a good price, and can concentrate on subscription information services that aren't ad dependent and cyclical.
Reed's alternatives are to hold onto the division, or accept a much lower price. They are making the trade-off: more money all told, but longer to get it.
Posted by: DMcCunney | July 04, 2008 at 02:17 AM
Testing, to see if I can post.
Posted by: Jerry Baker | July 06, 2008 at 01:58 PM
I'm investigating records of the death of Dr. Gordon Grant, age 27, an astronomer whose body was found hanging from a tree, on an early morning in June of 1958. It was Friday, the 13th. It was considered a suicide, although no note was found.
The body was found near the Sohio laboratory, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he'd spent the day, doing satellite tracking computations. He was also working on a paper about the star Zeta Aurigae, which was submitted for publication by a co-author, Helmut A. Abt, after his death.
As you may remember, in Ira Levin's 1953 book "A Kiss Before Dying," which involves a murder classed as a suicide, one of the characters is named "Gordon Grant." A Gordon Grant also appears in the 1956 motion picture version.
I wonder if anyone reading this has any insightful comments to make.
Posted by: Jerry Baker | July 06, 2008 at 03:14 PM