Bookish News & Publishing Tidbits 12 May 2012

RIASS stuff:

A review of The Bay at Noon'by Shirley Hazzard, a lush, dreamy novel set in Naples Rating:

A review of'The Victory Dance Murder'by M T Jefferson, a WWII-era cozy mystery set in small-town Pennsylvania. Rating:

Other bookish stuff:

In Defence of Literary Stunts:'I am a stuntman'and I say that with pride, even though the word itself derives from the Middle English for foolish. Critics blast stunts as manufactured and contrived, the literary equivalent of'The Bachelorette. Stunt writers are seen as publicity sluts who will do anything for a book contract.

Popular Anxieties in Crime Novels:'Even if I hadnt known that postwar masculine anxiety was one of the staples of American pop culture and psychology, I might have guessed it'from'Lester Dents'Honey in His Mouth(1956) and'Charles Runyons'Color Him Dead'(1963); each has a castrated character.

Confessions of a Serial Exclamation Pointer! (And another one for good measure!)'Without an omnipresent exclamation point, my electronic communication sounded as if it was written by a certain curmudgeonly and crusty green muppet who resides in a trash can. I could feel the shame creeping into my fingertips the first few times I started adding this faux emphasis to pleasantries. Now there is no turning back.

Fantasy author Steph Swainston is quitting writing:'Theres just too much stress on authors, says the 37-year-old Swainston. The business model seems to be that publishers want a book a year. I wanted to spend time on my novels, but that isnt economically viable.

Pottermore update in the Guardian: We are not creating a virtual world. What we are creating is a web experience, where we can show more of the world of Harry Potter. When Jo wrote the books she created a very broad and rich world with very complex logic and characters and history. And actually the books and films are quite a narrow corridor through the world. This is about Jo trying to show more of that world to fans, through back story, says'chief executive Charlie Redmayne. This is a journey through the books which shows a huge wealth of extra content from Jo, but we are also very focused on building a web proposition which is more than that ' were not there yet. Its not just a journey through the books and when youre done, youre done, but actually an interactive community. [And] we want to be adding content all the time.

Fandom matters:'Frankly, trying to become a SF author without an intimate understanding of SF fandom is like trying to become a Catholic priest without talking to the Vatican. For most SF and fantasy writers this understanding is innate; theyve been fans from birth, and the web of conventions, societies, publishers and online communities that make up the architecture of fandom have likely been their safe haven from the annoyingly ungeeky mainstream for much of their life.

On the legacy of Tom Wolfe:'Over time, Wolfe's legacy might center more on his race writing than his contributions to the New Journalism and the other hot buttons he pushed.

The Appeals and Perils of the One-Word Book Title:'At their best, one-word titles distill content to its purest essence, which is what all titles strive to do, and then they stick in the mind.'Sometimes, of course, they fall flat, and much of the time they're just lukewarm and vague or, worse, falsely grand.

Is the future of fiction an annotated online chat?'The process of fiction writing is not often laid bare to the public. But should it be? And what impact will this have on the quality and character of the resulting prose?'Some would argue that you can already see this in the multifarious, prolific output of independent/self-published writers. They've been able to garner vast swathes of online readers, not only through low pricing, but by being able to interact directly with their audience, learning their wants and desires and reacting quickly to them'even if the resulting product won't necessarily stand the test of time or a close reading.

Five books of dissident Chinese literature

Beautiful bookshelves

Original Harry Potter'manuscript to go on show at the British Library

BHP boost for childrens literature:'In a significant new partnership BHP Billiton will invest $600,000 over three years to allow Fremantle- based The Literature Centre, formerly The Fremantle Childrens Literature Centre, to maintain its metropolitan school programs and extend its work into the regions.

Getting historical fiction right:'Historians traditionally prefer to view original written primary sources but with the rise of digital storage, surrogates have come into their own in printed editions, microfilm and electronic editions.' Projects such as Early English Books Online, Old Bailey Online or Historic Hansard Online make them infinitely more accessible.

Campbell Award Finalists announced

Cheap arts for cheap arses, thanks to Arts Victoria

On my list of to-visit places: The Edgar Allen Poe museum'(following hilarious image just cause:)