Black Ink

If you can get your hands on a hard copy of the recent issue of Maisonneuve magazine you should read the article about writers who date and marry other writers.  The Guardian explores this topic in greater depth as well, but what’s scary is that couples like Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, and Jonathan Safron Foer and Nicole Krauss are being compared to the likes of defunct married couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.  I don’t think many of us can stomach the idea of the publishing industry becoming a Hollywoodesque world:

"It is wiser for biographers, shall we say, to marry novelists, dramatists to marry historians, poets to marry prose writers and so on. Unless both writers can actually work in collaboration on a book you have to do the writing yourself. You cannot go to your husband or wife for help because it doesn't work.

(via The Guardian)

wisdom teeth extracted friday...  still lazy and in pain...  see you in a few days...  read pfw and bookninja for literary fix...

Well folks, while I've been busy starting research for a new book I'm penning there's been plenty of "change and switch" going on these days.  The freaky vibes of Friday the 13^th continue to linger on.  First Newsweek backtracks on its story about the "royal flush" and now a Conservative MP has softened up a bit.  What is going on in this world?  *shaking head*

Bookninja has posted a link to an article about Lolita's 50^th birthday.  (via The Courier Journal) 

On another note, Pussy Lit has now become quite the attraction in Seattle, Washington.

There's also word that Paul Rusesabagina will be getting a fat cheque for his autobiography.  For those who are not familiar with him, he is the inspiration behind the movie Hotel Rwanda:

The Rwandan hotel manager who saved hundreds of people from genocide and was portrayed in the film "Hotel Rwanda" will publish an autobiography next year, his literary agent said on Thursday.
After a 28-hour bidding process, which drew offers from eight publishers, Viking Penguin bought the North American rights to Paul Rusesabagina's personal story for an undisclosed sum on Friday, agent Jill Kneerim said.

Yes you read clearly, 28 hours!  You don't have to be a fake Jamaican psychic from New Jersey to see that the undisclosed amount for this book deal is at the seven figures mark.

(via Yahoo)

Once again the CBC and the QWF are holding their annual Quebec Short Story Competition.  I was shortlisted in this competition a few years back and as a result my story was published in an anthology.  It also happened to be the first time I ever entered a short fiction contest.  Try it!  You never know what will happen.

(read guidelines here via CBC)

While sales of children's fiction has been shooting through the roof in the UK thanks to older readers, teen fiction is finding a strong adult fanbase here in North America:

Really, though, it's not that strange. Adult life is a slog: rent, deadlines, taxes, yoga classes and, on a fun night, paying $12 for a mediocre glass of wine. When I was in high school, my days were a merry-go-round of elation and anguish, being grounded and feeling free, falling in love and staring forlornly at the telephone, slamming my bedroom door in my parents' faces over and over, night after night. What I would give to feel that same inspiration today. Banging a cabinet door would do!

(via CBC Arts)

Sabinne Dardenne's explicit account of being kidnapped and tortured is definitely not young adult fiction.  The 21-year-old Belgian girl has written a memoir about her terrifying ordeal.  I'm still shocked that this girl has refused therapy:

Although I Choose to Live is a compelling memoir, I was heartily relieved to turn the final page. It is Sabine Dardenne's account - vivid, matter of fact - of what it was like to be kidnapped by one of Europe's most notorious paedophiles, Belgian Marc Dutroux.

On 28 May 1996, Sabine was just like any other 12-year-old cycling to school. One month later, her picture - toothy grin, unruly hair, still too much of a little girl to care what she looked like - would be on 'missing' posters throughout Belgium.

(via The Guardian)

In this article Maud Newton gives her account of how MaudNewton.com was created and the heavy-duty pressures that go along with being one of the most wide-read blogs:

I started the blog on a lark, while procrastinating on a novel I was (and am) supposedly writing. In March 2000, I'd abandoned the practice of law and accepted a nine-to-five position as an editor with a business publishing company. Both my husband and I were still paying off student loans, so money was tight, but I promised myself I'd use the new free time to work on a novel...

Meanwhile, I continue to spend my days and nights in a frenzy of link-gathering and email-answering. On an average weekday, the site has between 3,000 and 4,500 page views from more than 1,250 hosts, and I feel the constant pressure of those thousand sets of eyes. I'm paralyzed with guilt if I take a day off. If it weren't for my friend and standing Friday guest blogger, Nova Scotia resident Stephany Aulenback, and occasional guest bloggers like CAAF of Tingle Alley, I probably would have closed up shop by now.

(via Maisonneuve)

The short list for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award was announced today.  One of five lucky writers will be competing for a $10, 000 prize:

(via CBC Arts)

For the last few years I’ve been telling people that in order to read Lolita you must remove yourself from all negative preconceived notions and expectations in order to enjoy the book.  It has nothing to do with perversion.  When you read this book you experience first hand why Vladimir Nabokov is such a great writer.  How can such an evil character be charming, even likeable?  It’s good writing.  Lolita happens to also be one of the recommended reads on a list of “Books that disturb.”  Literary critic Christine Newgard explains how and why you should become a well-rounded reader.

(via The Daily Texan)

I've been terribly busy and haven't been able to update the site daily as originally intended.  Recently I've been working on a number of writing and publicity projects.  They have stressed me out so much that my face has been plagued by a large family of pimples that have unabashedly made their home in various zones of my face.  I'm now thinking of resorting to wearing a paper bag over my head until they move out.  At any rate, let us get back to the subject of literature, shall we?

Spring is quite a busy season for booksellers and the month of May is definitely no exception.  Naomi Wolf, Eric Jerome Dickey and Steven Johnson are just a few of the plethora of authors whose books will appear on bookshelves this month.

(via Macleans)

Vampires are usually her passion, but Anne Rice is getting biblical in her next book, due out in November from publisher Random House. "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" will tell the story of Jesus' early years in his own words.

(via Yahoo News)