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Ad Hom to Ad Hom
Dale Peck isn’t just a bitch, but he’s an hubric mofo who compares his Moody blues to both Edmund Wilson and Virginia Woolf. (And, of course, the standard Coleridge line.) Judy Blume is on the...
View ArticleLet’s See Teachout Pull a Pirouette
I’d be damn remiss if I didn’t point out that Terry has a Balanchine excerpt up. (Thanks, Laila, for reminding me.)
View ArticleA DAY IN THE GODDAM LIFE OF …Horace Krum
A Day in the Goddam Life (with apologies to Lenin and all other despicable leftists who object to modifiers like “goddam”), a new feature that will run periodically on Return of the Reluctant, follows...
View ArticleHans, Boobie, I’m Your White Knight
Denmark is gearing up for the bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen. Two exhibitions are underway. One will wander through Europe, Asia and North America. The other will involve a tent shaped in the...
View ArticleCoffee-Deprived Roundup
Good Reports has unveiled its second end-of-the-year panel, with Robert “Not a Jejune Fan” Birnbaum, Jessa Crispin, Alex “Johnny B.” Good, Maud “Will Most Certainly Finish Her Novel” Newton and...
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The Dirty Art of Author Publicity Photos, Part 1: Jennifer Haigh
PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Ms. Haigh doesn’t smile. She wears an austere “we mean business” look on the safe side of the nihilism fence, provenance enough for the Barnes & Noble crowd. She wears a black...
View ArticleDavid Francis Bay Area Readings
Word on the street is that Australian writer David Francis, once part of Mark’s Three Minute Interview series, will be in the Bay Area reading from his novel, The Great Inland Sea. He’ll be at the Book...
View ArticleAuthor Websites: A Case Study
Jonathan Lethem’s site appears to have undergone a major overhaul. In addition to a snazzy redesign (with truly bizarre Toho-inspired artwork for Gun with Occasional Music), Lethem’s uncollected work...
View ArticleToilet-Based Promotion
Jeff digs up this mysterious Craig’s List job listing, which involves a $100,000 all-expenses paid duty to drive across the country with a toilet seat on his head to promote Toilet: the Novel (a book...
View ArticleWhere She Stops, Nobody Knows!
Video game developer Vivendi Universal, in search of a Tom Clancy-style name, has signed a deal to develop games based on Ludlum’s thrillers. Ludlum’s death in 2001 will no doubt ensure creative...
View ArticleSteamy Publicity
Booker Prize winning authoress Kate Atkinson will be performing a strip…er…appearing at the main LBC brothel…er…main LBC site, taking submissive…er…submissions from many eager beavers….eager readers...
View ArticleSF Katrina Benefit
From Stephen Elliott: The Progressive Reading Series Presents: A Special Benefit For The Victims Of Hurricane Katrina When: Monday, September 19, 7pm Where: The Makeout Room – 3225 22nd Street, San...
View ArticleUp Next from Ms. Skurnick: Check-Out, No Vacancy and Thank the Gods That This...
You’ve no doubt heard of Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (and rest assured, we here at Return of the Reluctant haven’t even begun to start our coverage of that puppy; stay tuned;...
View ArticleEvery MP3 Who’s Any MP3
Let it not be said that Gerard Jones ever rested on his laurels. Mr. Jones has now finished recorded every chapter of Ginny Good and made them publicly available.
View ArticleLost & The Third Policeman
The Book Standard asks if a reference to Flann O’Brien’s great classic The Third Policeman on the television show Lost has had any sales impact. Aside from confusing O’Brien’s book with an O’Brien...
View ArticleNoah Cicero
Hot on the heels of Grumpy Old Bookman reviewing Noah Cicero’s novel Burning Babies (and giving it a pass), Tao Lin has posted a lengthy interview with Cicero. Cicero was one of the members of the...
View ArticleWell, It Sure Beats Our “Warriors” Spoof At Any Rate.
Gerard Jones writes in with the news that he’s recorded the greatest single chapter in all literature.
View ArticleAuthor Publicity & Online Outlets
M.J. Rose conveys several stories about how some authors can be dismissive of both publicists and journalists. While 95% of the authors and publicists I have dealt with have been nothing less than...
View ArticleFusion City
I really wish I could make this, but other pressing obligations keep me chained to the computer (and likely will result in scattershot updates for the first half of this week). But if you’re in San...
View ArticleHow to Get My Attention
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I didn’t get blasted by this SoulKool agent. But for any publicists who want to tickle my fancy, it’s actually quite easy to do: (a) read my blog and figure out...
View ArticleAmazon Author Blogs
I suppose the move was inevitable, but Amazon has started hosting author blogs. The highest profile name on the list is Meg Wolitzer, whose posts can be found here. But I can’t buy into the ethics of a...
View ArticleYours Is Not to Question Why
An employee who worked at a bookstore and wrote about a Rachael Ray appearance has been fired for venturing his opinion. We don’t have cable ourselves and watch television perhaps once a solstice, but...
View ArticleMark Ames at Modern Times Tonight
For those in the San Francisco area, Mark Ames, the subject of today’s Bat Segundo Show, will be making an appearance at Modern Times Bookstore tonight at 7:30 PM.
View ArticleJews Who Fight
Jill Soloway sends word that she’ll be hosting Jews Who Fight on Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 PM, at Joe’s Pub, located at 425 Lafayette Street in New York. Performers may include Jill and Faith Soloway,...
View ArticleAttention Washington DCers
Tayari Jones is having a party on March 20 at Busboys and Poets. And aside from the fact that I can personally vouch that Tayari is both a good novelist and an exceptionally amicable person, the...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to Demanding Publicists I Don’t Know
Dear [insert name of anonymous publicist who I don’t know and who hasn’t bothered to use my first name]: Thank you for your email. While I am certainly thankful for many of your colleagues’ packages in...
View ArticleBringing New Meaning to “Working the Room”
Eric Splitznagel: “When I went on a nationwide bookstore tour last May (to promote my memoir, Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter), it seemed that everybody with even a casual interest in...
View ArticlePissing Off Indies: The New “Business” Decision
Author Barry Eisler posts several emails (and several responses) from an exchange with an independent bookseller who was a bit dismayed that neighboring chain bookstores not only jumped a retail...
View ArticleHow Not To Get Publicity
98% of the publicists I’ve had the pleasure to work with have been extremely friendly and considerate. I appreciate their efforts to get books to me in time to review them and for interviews. I am...
View ArticleThis is Also Good Advice for Authors
Always be nice to everybody you meet. As soon as you leave town, word will begin spreading on the lecture circuit as to how difficult or cooperative you were. There’s no better gossip than “What an...
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