Millions contributor Edan won second prize in StoryQuarterly’s Fall 2007 fiction contest for “Animals.” Congrats Edan! The story is now up on the site. You have to register (for free) to read the whole thing.
Appearing Elsewhere
More Litblog Co-op Pub
The LBC gets another writeup, this time from the AP. Check it out, they lead with the "Oprah angle." Oh, and since my dad didn't understand my previous post about the LBC, I should clarify: yes, I am a member.
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Forthcoming Foer
I found an interesting interview with Jonathan Safran Foer today. I'll be including this in an upcoming post about books to look forward to this year, but I wanted to post it separately first because I think it's pretty interesting, and I can't recall seeing it posted anywhere else. In the interview he talks about his forthcoming novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which will include photography along with the text, and which seems to be a continuation of the rule-breaking, avant-garde style he has been cultivating. The rest of the interview provides an interesting picture of this young author. The only annoying thing is that the interview is kind of hard to get to. First go to this link, click on Foer and then click on "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
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Pronunciation challenges
I happened upon The American Heritage Book of English Usage Pronunciation Challenges page the other day. On the Pronunciation Challenges page, one can find a list of 191 commonly mispronounced words (or word types.) The page starts with a sentence that - though it doesn't make any sense - is made up of words that can be pronounced in "at least two distinctly different ways": The affluent and choleric comptroller heinously inveigled herbs from the impious valet who often harasses the dour governor with aplomb.
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Exclusive First Look: Edan Lepucki’s ‘Woman No. 17’
The Millions numbers many excellent novelists among its staff. Today we reveal the cover of longtime staffer and contributing editor Edan Lepucki's upcoming book, Woman No. 17.
Following her New York Times-bestselling dystopian novel California (and subsequent Colbert Report appearance), Woman No. 17 is a "sinister, sexy noir" about art and motherhood set in the Los Angeles hills (as evidenced by the cover's David Hockney blues and iconic L.A. view). Look for this May 2017.
Quick Notes
A new book about a largely forgotten civil rights battle is getting good reviews. One Man's Castle by Phyllis Vine tells the true story of an African American doctor in Detroit in 1925 named Ossian Sweet. The day he moved his family into a white neighborhood, his house was surrounded by an angry mob throwing rocks. Attempting to defend his family, Sweet fired on the crowd killing one of them. This AP review continues: "in a remarkable civil rights victory for the time, two all-white juries refused to convict them -- recognizing the principle that a man's house is his castle, regardless of race." It sounds quite interesting.Everyone will be rushing out to see Troy this weekend, but you may want to flip through The Iliad if you want to get the real story.
The Secret Life of Dan Brown
We think we know people so well, but then real honest to God information comes out about them in a court proceding (or a Smoking Gun investigation) and we find out how wierd they really are. This is doubly true for celebrities, though, it turns out, not always literary ones. Case in point, Dan Brown, who I never thought of as much of a public figure and who always seemed to me to be nothing more than the bland face behind the Da Vinci Code juggernaut, has his quirks, but not very exciting ones it seems. We're discovering this as a result of the plagiarism trial currently under way in England where he's been accused of lifting the premise for his book from Holy Blood, Holy Grail. On to the quirkiness: according to a story in the Guardian, "his witness statement reveals his working method, beginning at 4am, seven days a week, with an antique hour glass on his desk to remind him to take hourly exercise breaks." "push-ups, sit-ups and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood - and ideas - flowing," adds a story in the Independent. Well, if that's all it takes... Also noted at the trial: Blythe, his wife, does the lion's share of his research; he moved on to writing after a failed career as a singer-songwriter in Los Angeles; his parents hid his Christmas gifts and he had to decifer a treasure map to find them.(via the Publishers Lunch newsletter. The free one. It's all I can afford.)One more thing. I haven't been following this trial very closely, but I do know one thing: Holy Blood, Holy Grail has been an incredibly huge seller ever since Da Vinci Code came out. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
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Appearing Elsewhere
Millions contributor Kevin has an incisive review of Jon Meacham's popular new biography American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House in the New York Observer:It's during the White House years that Mr. Meacham's story takes hold. We see Andrew Jackson making the hard trip east from Tennessee to Washington where the political permanent class waits in judgment, wary of Jackson's frontier background and fearful of the source of his power. Jackson's landslide victory in 1828 marked the first time that a president was elevated entirely on the strength of popular support, and the Founders' low regard for the common intelligence still percolated through Washington.