It took fifteen years, but the terrorists finally won. Never underestimate the power of fear: The Orange Grease Spot strummed it like a guitar. He ramped up the nationalism - not unlike a certain German version some 70 years ago - until the fever pitch was like cats...
From an interview with a literary agent in the fascinating online magazine Guernica, about the agent's beliefs about talent. He says he means to provoke with the following statement: “I frankly think that initiatives like National Novel Writing Month are insulting to...
I'm a bit late getting to this piece of news, but I just read a story about Virginia Woolf's suicide. I've never read any of her work. I need to catch up. (Pics from Getty, via the BBC article link.) Woolf and her husband criticized Victorian rules. I saw the...
Survey results are in! Thanks to so many for participating! I thought you might want to know the outcome! Yep, it's goats and AKs from Peshawar. Thanks to all who participated! Percentages of the top six qualifiers are below: One does not normally...
Hello word fans! Can you help me with a sentence? Just one little subject, predicate, object, some punctuation, and bingo! These are from my forthcoming novel, Spy Act. I'm keen to hook a particular agent. Here are a few of my faves: please vote for one you like....
Does that sound salacious? Well they are some enormous honking carrots: How about a foodie tour of Bogota to celebrate my new author website? This is from February, when Ali and Shane came for a great visit. Though I knew these tours existed, and I'm not immune to the...
I promised to write about the peace talks this week, and I will. But not yet. There's some seriously unfinished business on my mind. Can someone tell me how we're still fighting these battles? Didn't the country just (more or less) finally admit it's alright to be...
I'm back in Bogota and working feverishly on new queries, new agents, new chances. At the advice of a particular editor, I queried one last week and was almost instantaneously rejected. But she was nice about it, I suppose. It just reminded me how unpleasant it is to...
What does it mean when something has been self-published that on its face has no literary merit? Does it mean: a) the publishing world is f&%$d? b) readers have no interest in something deep and pensive, but will buy whatever is simple and clich'd? c)...
Hmmm...