This week! Books! First up, if you need a great read for the holiday season, might I point you to The Darling Killers by Sarah McCarry, which was recently released in print and e-book? It’s a juicy and funny neo-noir centered around a group of authors in Los Angeles, perfect for book lovers. Get it! […]
book recommendations
The art of revision (This week in books)
This week! Books! First up, there are two great ways you can contribute to some worthy causes this week. I’m donating a query critique that you can bid on to support We Need Diverse Books! And please consider donating to my 13th annual Heifer International fundraiser! Now then, I have lots and lots and lots […]
The Mega 1 + Big 3 era arrives (This week in books)
This week! Books! Huge news dropped before Thanksgiving that ViacomCBS has agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House’s Berteslmann. Assuming the deal survives antitrust scrutiny, it would essentially turn the Big 5 into one mega-publisher (whatever Penguin Random House + S&S ends up being called) and three major publishers (HarperCollins, Macmillan, and […]
A heartbreaking week in America (This week in books)
I’m not going to lie, it’s tough to post today and what’s happening is bigger than books. My heart is utterly breaking about what’s happening in this country. The police and vigilante mobs are murdering Black people in broad daylight and arresting journalists. 100,000+ COVID deaths and counting, by far the most in the world, […]
The greatness of characters with bad ideas (This week in books)
This week! Books! It’s been a week of very bad ideas, but Gizmodo has a great post on how bad character choices in fiction can lead to some great work. To wit: Jurassic Park! In Amazon news, in the UK supply shortages resulted in book buy buttons being removed. And the New York Times profiled […]
Tips if you’re struggling to write right now (This week in books)
This week! Books! It’s really difficult to concentrate these days and few people I know are as productive as usual. Anne R. Allen has a great post on why it’s so tough to write right now as we deal with our collective grief, and she has some tips on how to keep moving forward. In […]