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RIASS stuff:
Book Review: Mr Chen's Emporium by Deborah O'Brien'Rating: 
A then-and-now tale of love, loss, grief, and prejudice.
Interview: Deborah O'Brien on overturning first impressions and confronting prejudice in fiction
Giveaway: The Robbers by Paul Anderson'(open to my Aussie readers)
Other bookish stuff:
Kate Messner on writers and acknowledgements'Messner notes that while its lovely to be acknowledged in the pages of a book, authors need to remember that its not a private actits not the same as a note in a letterbox, for example. She describes the discomfort that may occur if a book is put up for an award, and one of the people on the judging panel has been acknowledged in the book. For this reason it may be a good idea to let people know first that you plan to thank them in the acknowledgements so that they can raise any issues up front.
The biggest mistakes authors make when querying agents'These include querying with unpolished work, vague queries, impersonal queries, pompous or arrogant queries, queries that dont meet submission guidelines or that show the author is uninformed about what an agent does, and queries where a whole bunch of agents are CCed. (These all apply to people pitching book bloggers as well, just saying.)
Kate Forsyths tips for writing for young readers. These include writing (sounds obvious, but its very easy for a writer to do everything but write), ensuring that youre up and ready to work a 9-5 day, doing what you do well, and never underestimating your audience.
Sandy Fussell on the end of a series'Why am I sad? Because I know I'll miss the [Samurai] Kids and I hate to think I'll never hear their voices in my head again. They argue and fight all the time, but they are the best of friends and they like to gang up on me. They do as they please and have no respect for my role as the author.
Rachelle Gardner: should we rethink pseudonyms?'Gardner points out that in a world where authors are online and accessible, pseudonyms are increasingly difficult to juggle. They undermine authenticity for one, and require all sorts of jugglingmultiple social media accounts, for exampleand just how do you attend author events and signings if youre using another image?
David B Coe on editors and revisions'I proof the galleys for all my books.' This is all in addition to the work of the professional editors and proofers.' Redundancy is built into the system.'Because none of us is capable of editing with complete confidence our own work.' It can't be done.
Anthony Horowitz talks about his new book'Oblivion'Horowitz says that hes all but done with young adult fiction, and notes that as hes now in his 50s, hes moving further and further away from his target age group. He also discusses how pitching'The Devils Doorbell series was next to impossible in a pre-Harry Potter world where Disney stories and Roald Dahl glutted the market.
Britishisms and the Britishisation of American English'I enjoy seeing them, says Ben Yagoda, professor of English at the University of Delaware.'Its like a birdwatcher. If I find an American saying one, it makes my day!
Now that youve landed an internship in publishing, how do you turn it into a full-time job? Random House employees discuss.'Themes that regularly crop up are working hard, networking and making connections, attending industry events, and volunteering for things.
And on a similar word-nerdy note, Superlinguo discusses the origins of the phrase Girl Friday
How Is a Kindle Like a Cuttlefish? Parallels Between E-Paper Technology and Biological Organisms That Change Colour'The highest performance human-made approaches have been only recently developed, well after numerous other approaches were tried. Perhaps in the past, if we had more closely trusted natures ability to find the best solution, we would be further along today in creating better display technology.
