Literary

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.Here I would like to quote some of George Eliot’s best quotations:“Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. “ “Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.” “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” “Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand. “ “There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.” “The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.” Her epitaph reads:"Of those immortal dead who live again,In minds made better by their p

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here. Our guest blogger for today is Jean Hackensmith, author of Checkmate. As a [...]

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

I woke up this morning feeling crazed. Does anyone else feel like they are psychotic during their period? I feel like I am totally unravelling, like if this video were run in reverse:So lucikly, my antipodean chum Ms Robinson had a calm soothing task for me. The equivalent of eating an egg with soldiers. She had tagged me to do a meme entitled: WHAT ARE YOU READING?These are the rules:1. Pick up the nearest book.2. Open to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five peopleSo here I go:1. 365 Manners Kids Should Know by Sheryl Eberly.2. Under a heading called How to eat shish kabob the fifth sentence says:When your child is served meat and vegetables on a large skewer, he should hold the skewer in his left hand with the end of the skewer resting on the p

So I was reading this article/photo essay about Edith Wharton's house -- and you know how much I like Edith Wharton -- and I was struck by this quote:In an early short story, "The Fullness of Life," she wrote: I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting room, where members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handle of whose doors perhaps are never turned, no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.

William Dalrymple on the Indian Literary Dream that Wasn't: 'The truth is, however, that since 1997 there has been no new galaxy of stars emerging to match the stature of those of the 1980s and 90s.... This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

First blooms in my backyard; April 19, 2008 — Photo by Me. . An old friend of my mom’s, who was kind of an influence on my writing, won a literary award a few days ago. Gary Geddes “was just announced as the recipient of the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in British Columbia” [...]

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

The Times Literary Supplement 2008.04.04泰晤士报文学增刊Format:PDFLanguage:english Size:64 MB《泰晤士报文学增刊》(The Times Literary Supplement, The TLS) ,周刊,是英国最有影响的文学周刊之一。 The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times, but became a separate publication in 1914. The TLS cooperates closely with The Times; its online version is hosted on The Times website and its editorial offices are based in the Times House, Pennington Street, London. Many distinguished writers have been contributors, including T.S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, but reviews were normally anonymous until June 7,

The 10th Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival takes place April 30 - May 4, 2008. This year's theme: on the road (and I take this coincidence as some auspicious planetary conjunction):They may walk or run, cycle, row, sail, fly, blast off — or use any one of hundreds of other possible vehicles. Or they may sit quietly, day after day, in a room. Because they write about the places they have been — whether in memory or in their imagination, they allow the rest of us a way of traveling too, guiding us through regions, galaxies, eras, cultures and states of mind, strange or familiar or some combination of the two. The 2008 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix is being awarded to French writer Daniel Pennac, who writes both for children and for adults.The fe

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

So I haven’t blogged about this, but I thought it was about time to get down to it since I’m leaving on Wednesday. Dr. Morgan submitted my research paper for American Literature I to the National Undergraduate Literary Conference at Weber University, and it was accepted. This is not something I expected to be doing, [...]

When I started blogging people have been seeking out my opinions. I have written poems, plays, novels, and reviews a lot of people admired. I even got paid higher than the minimum wage for my writings though I do it as hobby. But I can not seem to get satisfaction. Maybe satisfaction is an over rated [...]

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

Literary research paper is a kind of a document that is directed to the presentation of your findings obtained during research. In most cases, literary research papers consists of 1000-1200 words. Sometimes, students are free to choose any works they like to consider in their literary research papers; sometimes, they have to choose one of [...]

Most classrooms eventually entertain the topic of why literary classics are awarded that status thereby becoming part of the canon of Great Books. In school it's, "Why do we have to read this?"It's necessary to note that the term "canon" as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary refers to sacred texts. It always did until the nineteenth century when writers began to offer a secular list of classics, or canon, of their own. Louise Cowan claims that this was natural in a post-Christian world. The term is a kind of misnomer, really, but is widely used in the field nonetheless.A satisfying list of criteria is offered by Cowan in an early chapter of the text that she edited with Os Guinness, Invitation to the Classics, a book which I heartily recommend. The two authors int

The following are a few of the passages quoted from John Milton’s masterpiece, I would say, ‘Paradise Lost’. They are a poet’s delight, something to be savoured by a lover of literature, a thing to be cherished by a person with an aesthetic sense and the one who feels elated by the sheer magic of poetry."Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;Do thou but thine, and be not diffidentOf wisdom, she deserts thee not, if thouDismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,By attributing overmuch to thingsLess excellent, as thou thyself perceivest.""Here at lastWe shall be free;the Almighty hath not builtHere for his envy, will not drive us hence:Here we may reign secure, and in my choiceTo reign is worth ambition though in Hell:Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.""When th

This is one of those war stories that could probably never happen again now that modern warfare is all about sophisticated weapons fired from long distances and unmanned drones sometimes controlled from half a world away from the action. But in World War II this kind of thing could still happen. It seems that one WWII German pilot is still filled with remorse about shooting down one of his own

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

The Times Literary Supplement 2008.02.22泰晤士报文学增刊Format:PDFLanguage:english Size:70 MB《泰晤士报文学增刊》(The Times Literary Supplement, The TLS) ,周刊,是英国最有影响的文学周刊之一。 The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times, but became a separate publication in 1914. The TLS cooperates closely with The Times; its online version is hosted on The Times website and its editorial offices are based in the Times House, Pennington Street, London. Many distinguished writers have been contributors, including T.S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, but reviews were normally anonymous until June 7,

The Times Literary Supplement 2008.02.15泰晤士报文学增刊Format:PDFLanguage:english Size:60.7 MB《泰晤士报文学增刊》(The Times Literary Supplement, The TLS) ,周刊,是英国最有影响的文学周刊之一。 The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times, but became a separate publication in 1914. The TLS cooperates closely with The Times; its online version is hosted on The Times website and its editorial offices are based in the Times House, Pennington Street, London. Many distinguished writers have been contributors, including T.S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, but reviews were normally anonymous until June 7

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

The Times Literary Supplement 2008.02.08泰晤士报文学增刊Format:PDFLanguage:english Size:60.7 MB《泰晤士报文学增刊》(The Times Literary Supplement, The TLS) ,周刊,是英国最有影响的文学周刊之一。 The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times, but became a separate publication in 1914. The TLS cooperates closely with The Times; its online version is hosted on The Times website and its editorial offices are based in the Times House, Pennington Street, London. Many distinguished writers have been contributors, including T.S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, but reviews were normally anonymous until June 7

The Times Literary Supplement 2008.02.01泰晤士报文学增刊Format:PDFLanguage:english Size:60.7 MB《泰晤士报文学增刊》(The Times Literary Supplement, The TLS) ,周刊,是英国最有影响的文学周刊之一。 The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times, but became a separate publication in 1914. The TLS cooperates closely with The Times; its online version is hosted on The Times website and its editorial offices are based in the Times House, Pennington Street, London. Many distinguished writers have been contributors, including T.S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, but reviews were normally anonymous until June 7

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

You know that home exchange has come of age when even the latest Philip Roth novel includes it in the plot! I read a review of 'Exit Ghost' on the blog, A Year of Reading. Here's a short quote: 'When...

Stress Management - Literary Techniques All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the [...]

Napoleon Christ is the recently discovered talent of Goldmind's Unwind. We've searched almost every mental institution in the country looking for literary talent unequaled in the field of published prose. What we found is that there is no deeper, more artistic, or drool filled writer on the planet than one Napoleon Christ. We offer one of his submissions here for your approval.DiarrhetoricI scream! I cry!I put horseradish on hair pie!I melt! I fry!I've tried the cream of sumyung gaiThe birds, they scream,the worms, they danceNow who the helljust shit my pants?The orderly is bald and fat,and when I play with poop,well, he hates that!The voices scream inside my head,My penis may as well be dead,for all the good it's doing me,just dangling there,even when I pee.I know that they're all watchin

Okay, so I know Valentine's Day was last week and this post is all late... while Cupid's bow didn't exactly miss me nor leave me crippled, I was thinking about this just now - have you ever read a book and felt not only impressed by the weight of the work but so impressed by the dynamic of the person who thought it up that you felt (let's say 'intrigued') to find out more about the author?It's happened to me personally twice.The first time - it was Hemingway. Don't laugh, I know he's, well, old and dead! But I've always been attracted to older men and his writing - it's simply unparralled.Simple, strong, full of imagery and fills me with a wanderlust that I just can't describe.To me, he is Cuba, cats, cigars, manliness, the Florida Keys, Caribbean crystal waters and fishing, guns and the h

Two not-quite-a-posts that have been knocking about in my head this week: Lies, Secrets, and Silence I'm teaching Dracula this week, talking about the ways in which information is shared among the vampire-hunters. Several characters contribute personal diaries to the collaborative narrative, and they do so with evident anxiety: their private, personal selves are being subsumed by the group.

Silent Voices is anthology of contemporary writing by five British Somali writers who powerfully express their views of being Somali in Britain, covering some of the controversial issues that have impacted each of their lives. The book was born as part of Monsoon Press’s Hidden Voices Programme funded by the Arts Council and has enabled previously unknown writers to product this fascinating and touching collection of extraordinary literary pieces. After more than a century of Somali presence in the UK, there is still a lack of knowledge about who they are. Many are misrepresented and the assumption is made that all are asylum seekers, are involved in crime gangs or are uneducated and unskilled. Silent Voices attempts to dispel some of these bigoted perceptions by presenting to the wo

We are pleased to announce that Frank Weimann from The Literary Group International is now Edward Winterhalder's literary, television and film agent, effective October 31, 2007; Frank can be contacted at 212-274-1616.Steve Lassiter from APA-Nashville remains Winterhalder's agent for personal appearances; Steve can be contacted at 615-297-0100.Edward is the author of "Out In Bad Standings: Inside The Bandidos Motorcycle Club - The Making Of A Worldwide Dynasty" (Nov 2005); a contributing author to "The Mammoth Book Of Bikers" (Oct 2007); the co-author with Wil DeClercq of "The Assimilation: Rock Machine To Bandidos - Bikers United Against The Hells Angels" (Jun 2008); the co-author with Dr. Arthur Veno and Dr. Julie van den Eynde of "Women Bikers and Biker's Women"; and the co-author with J

Three new travel books offer interesting perspectives on destinations and their connections to theater and literature.Theater buffs coming to New York to take in a show following the resolution of the stagehands' strike may also want to check out a guidebook that takes you beyond Times Square and behind the legends of Broadway. New York Theater Walks: Seven Historical Tours from Times Square to Greenwich Village and Beyond (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, $16.95) by Howard Kissel includes a culinary tour of Times Square restaurants; a tour themed on the life of Irving Berlin; and a tour that follows the path Adolph Green used to take on his daily walk to the home of his songwriting partner Betty Comden.

I remember when I first started this blog, I was lusting after the new Melissa de la Cruz book 'Crazy Hot', the 4th in 'The Au Pairs' series. Unfortunately, after 6 months, I still am. But, just like the Ralph Cool, this will be the year. 'Crazy Hot' isn't alone on my wishlist this year, however. Authors Sara Shepard and Zoey Dean have also caught my eye, of late...Crazy Hot -- Melissa de la CruzIt's been a year since the hottest au pairs ever saw the Hamptons, and they're certainly older -- though not necessarily wiser. Or drama-free.Eliza, Jacqui, and Mara thought they'd be spending the summer apart, but when Eliza's new stepmother finds herself in need of some nannying help around the megamansion with the step-monsters, Eliza makes a call...and Jacqui and Mara wind up with two first-class tickets to the Hamptons.The A-List -- Zoey DeanMoving from Manhattan's elite world to "Hollyweird" presents Anna with quite a culture shock, but one that she's ready for. White gloves

....so the least I can do is link you to this interview in The HinduI like this part, in especial--Do you get tired of people calling you a poetic novelist? Only because I think it’s being misinterpreted. People’s complaints about poetic novels are that the writing is lush, ornamental. But you know poetry is laconic, it’s tight. In poetry, the language is focusing on tightness, not saying everything like in a novel. It’s exactly the opposite of what they think. I don’t mind though. Whenever they want to criticise it they’ll say, “Oh he’s a poet,” with a wink in their eye.

Jiang Rong is the author of Wolf Totem. That's not his real name. Until today, he has refused to allow pictures of himself to be published. Only a few people knew his real identity until 2006. Now he has won the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize."I spent 30 years thinking, and six years writing 'Wolf Totem,' and my only hope was to produce an appealing story," Rong said in a letter read by his Chinese publisher, Li Bo.Intriqued? Read the blow-by-blow.

Literature offers us plenty of interesting pieces of art and that is why the students find literary essay writing very interesting and a captivating activity. The student should be aware of the work and get ready to express his/her ideas on the paper.   One thing that seems to be the most difficult for such task is the necessity to read a piece of literature. It is not too scary if it is a poem or little story, but if it is a great novel or work of fiction the task is rather undertaking and difficult.   While writing your literary essays pay attention to “3S” elements such as: (more…)

...or Why the Literary Academia Hates SF...from my viewpoint.Well, I thought I'd do a little extension on this post. What exactly makes those who seem to control the literary world and decide the fate of individual works of art hate science fiction so much? Given the discussion in my Literary Interpretation class, I think I have a couple ideas. Feel free to add your thoughts and ideas!Science: Most people who read are not scientists. Trends in science fiction have gone from fantastical truly unbelievable settings to ones rooted in reality. Some novels go as far as to bring up concepts that are rather complicated and hard to grasp for a lot of people--namely the current trend to use Quantum Physics. This can all be intimidating.Simplicity and Lack of Thought: I think I mentioned it in the previous article, but there is an unfortunate belief that science fiction is all pulp-fiction. They think it as simplistic, possibly formulaic writing. The likely reason for this is the over

...or Why the Literary Academia Hates SF...from my viewpoint.Well, I thought I'd do a little extension on this post. What exactly makes those who seem to control the literary world and decide the fate of individual works of art hate science fiction so much? Given the discussion in my Literary Interpretation class, I think I have a couple ideas. Feel free to add your thoughts and ideas!Science: Most people who read are not scientists. Trends in science fiction have gone from fantastical truly unbelievable settings to ones rooted in reality. Some novels go as far as to bring up concepts that are rather complicated and hard to grasp for a lot of people--namely the current trend to use Quantum Physics. This can all be intimidating.Simplicity and Lack of Thought: I think I mentioned it in the previous article, but there is an unfortunate belief that science fiction is all pulp-fiction. They think it as simplistic, possibly formulaic writing. The likely reason for this is the over

I wrote the following as a journal entry for one of my literature classes this year. It came up during class really, the idea that the literary world considers science fiction, and fantasy, to be either not really literature at all, or lesser literature. This has become a sort of campaign for me now--attempting to change the minds of people about science fiction. Someone also brought up the idea that the novel is dying. I decided to address the issues in a journal entry. Keep in mind, I may not be right, and this was somewhat of an emotional response. Here it is:Something I am finding rather difficult to deal with and accept lately is this somewhat negative concept in the literary world that books like The Immoralist and similar ‘classics’ are significantly better literature than books that hold somewhat more higher prestige with the majority, such as Harry Potter. It was brought up in class today whether it is true that the importance of the novel is dying. I think the probl

I wrote the following as a journal entry for one of my literature classes this year. It came up during class really, the idea that the literary world considers science fiction, and fantasy, to be either not really literature at all, or lesser literature. This has become a sort of campaign for me now--attempting to change the minds of people about science fiction. Someone also brought up the idea that the novel is dying. I decided to address the issues in a journal entry. Keep in mind, I may not be right, and this was somewhat of an emotional response. Here it is:Something I am finding rather difficult to deal with and accept lately is this somewhat negative concept in the literary world that books like The Immoralist and similar ‘classics’ are significantly better literature than books that hold somewhat more higher prestige with the majority, such as Harry Potter. It was brought up in class today whether it is true that the importance of the novel is dying. I think the probl

Oh yes, today is a day of joy and rapture. Today marks a day of greatness and a shifting change in the world of literature. I'm going to assume this is the first time this has happened, so here goes:Doris Lessing has just won the Nobel Prize for Literature!Why does it matter so much? Because Doris Lessing writes science fiction! It's a nice rub in the face of all those literary snobs who think SF as lesser fiction. Eat it!If you want to read more go here or here. Oh, and a little bit about her and her writing is here.Thanks so much to Doris Lessing for paving the way for other great SF authors out there! We have hope yet!(Don't click the read more, there is no more after this)

Oh yes, today is a day of joy and rapture. Today marks a day of greatness and a shifting change in the world of literature. I'm going to assume this is the first time this has happened, so here goes:Doris Lessing has just won the Nobel Prize for Literature!Why does it matter so much? Because Doris Lessing writes science fiction! It's a nice rub in the face of all those literary snobs who think SF as lesser fiction. Eat it!If you want to read more go here or here. Oh, and a little bit about her and her writing is here.Thanks so much to Doris Lessing for paving the way for other great SF authors out there! We have hope yet!(Don't click the read more, there is no more after this)

You know what my favorite thing about our local library is? The discard bin. Whenever they have books no longer fit for circulation or if someone brings in books to donate and the library can't use them they set them out for people to pick through.The first thing I do when I walk through the door is to check and see if any new books have been set out and if they have it's "kids go look for your own books, Mom's busy rummaging in the bins like a bag lady." (a literary bag lady that is).I have a thing for used books. Make that used hardback books, they often have inscriptions in the covers and notes in the margins that connect me to someone I've never seen before. I especially love the old 1930s historical fiction or romance and if I see any book that looks like it might fit the genre I snatch it up. It becomes a mini treasure hunt, looking through to see if there's anything good tossed out by accident among the Jackie Collins and Thomas Wolfe (how many copies of Bonfire of t

I was going to save this meme for later in the week, but I got so wrapped up in the writing of it that I couldn’t bear to leave it in the can. Veronica at Toddled Dredge wrote a post about posts she has not written, and one of those topics was seized upon by her commenters as a post that should be written. Thus, the meme that wasn’t, but is: my top ten ’snoggable’ literary characters. This was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I mean, a “kissable” character is not the same as a “favourite” literary character. Arthur Dent from the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy, for example, and Garp, while among my favourite and most memorable literary characters, are not exactly the ones I’d most like to lock lips with. Plus, I’ve lamented before about my absolutely horrible memory for the details of a book once I’ve closed the cover for the last time. But once I got rolling, I realized that (a) there are lots of kissab

What exactly is it about the literary academia that makes literature, in its most basic form, even more inaccessible by the general populace? I'll tell you. Critics are morons. Now, what I mean by this is not that they are just stupid in how they choose good books, but rather that they have no understanding whatsoever what the rest of the country, and most of the world, find to be valuable literature.Most of us, as in humans, are not literature majors. Taking that into account we have to assume that most of us also are not necessarily prone to having enormous vocabularies or be adept in reading complex, convoluted sentences, the likes of which seem to be prevalent in literary criticism. This is my problem with the literary academia. There is considerable concern over the future of literature and concern in that people, in general and in the majority, are not reading, are not interested, and seemingly don't care. The problem is the literary academia.I recently was reading one o

I've realized that despite being a professed lover of literature, my intellectual horizons are in severe need of stretching. For so long I've confined my reading to old favourites and what I like to call Fluff Fiction. My mind is feeling cramped and small, eager to push beyond my self-imposed boundaries.I dared the library with both girls Tuesday afternoon. Becca was blissfully contented with chewing on the head of a plastic cow, while Emma reveled in the loot she'd found in the children's section. Her finds were promptly dubbed, "My Dragon Book" and "My Fishy Book." Sometimes I grow wistful as I watch her, remembering in some small part a time when possession implied ownership.As my girls enjoyed their various pursuits, I perused the shelves of our pitifully small library, seeking out those authors I'd heard of but rarely if ever attempted. My final stack contained some Hemmingway, Dostoevsky, Kafka, and even a battered old copy of The Illiad.It's been so many years since Univer

I have added a new page that gives details of how to advertise on Declan Stanley’s Literary Erotica. Since I joined the Blog Mastermind Program and started to implement strategies to build traffic, I have experienced a huge increase in traffic to this site, going from an average of 27.5 site visits per day to 482.5 visits per day in under 3 months, and I fully expect the same type of increase in the next few months. So book your advertising now before the prices go up.

In the last century Paris drew writers like moths to a flame. Ernest Hemingway fictionalised just about everybody he knew in 1920s Paris in the pages of A Moveable Feast. George Orwell published an entire book’s worth of anecdotes in Down and Out in Paris and London. And you can read about Paul Auster’s “starving writer in Paris” years in Hand to Mouth, which is also an excellent exploration of the compulsion to write. Shakespeare & Co., Paris There’s still a hangover from those earlier times: Paris still pulls in aspiring authors, often to the bookshop Shakespeare & Company, perched between cafes on the Left Bank of the Seine. George Whitman opened Shakespeare & Company in the 1950s and it became a regular hangout for beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. (George still lives above the shop in an apartment crammed with books, photographs and memorabilia.) Back then writers could stay at George’s apartment on condition that t

I'm clearly a proper writer now. Having so far totted up two whole rejection letters in as many months (with another six no doubt on the way after tomorrow's trip to the post office) I am now receiving what appears to be personally targeted spam. Twice in fact. Aside from the tiny oversight that I don't actually live in the US (though I did once enjoy a very pleasant breakfast there), my Wotalotov Detector started sounding when I looked up the sender's domain and found only a parking page. In Spanish. I then looked up the link that was subtly suggested throughout the email (actually it was about as subtle as a BNP Party Political Broadcast) and was naturally astounded to discover there was no contact address, phone number or even email offered. Anywhere. Just a lot of very encouraging suggestions to part with $125 for their excellent service. A quick Google revealed this from an apparently similarly minded cynic. But scroll down and you receive a post singing its praises. More c

It’s tagging season chez the English Courtesan and she was delighted to be tagged by the sleek and sensual Sulpicia in this post here. Today's post is a tag on the most interesting thing the English Courtesan has ever done with a book...read on MacDuffs!For those of you who haven't met Sulpicia, she's a fabulous Canadian confessional writer, with a love of Roland Barthes, 20th century art, clouds and sex, so the English Courtesan very much hopes you'll pop over to meet her.The illustration shows another literary clue, as the previous one here got lost in the shock dénouement of the Wife’s Tale. The English Courtesan once again invites the bibliophile readers to guess the name and publication date of the volume from which the illustration came and the story behind it, which is peculiarly relevant to both the Wife's Tale and of course this tag.This is a tag about ‘something interesting you did with books’ which reminded the English Courtesan of her first romantic interlude

It makes me mad. I contacted a UK-based film production company recently in the hope of getting a chance to pitch some film and TV projects. This, after spending time and money being stimulated and encouraged at the recent Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival. “We only accept submissions via literary agents’, I was told. That’s fairly normal. [...]

A great blog on some of the masterpieces in Literature. Recent Posts Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ ‘The Outsider’ by Albert Camus Samuel Johnson Prize 2007 Man Booker International Prize 2007 Visit Literary Jewels Share This

The word “romance” is both powerful and personal, and inspires unique memories, reactions and emotions in every individual who hears it. It defines a quality of life, a type of story, a class of languages, a kind of art and music, and exciting and mysterious qualities that are difficult to define. Since Romance Tracker’s mission is to deliver fresh romantic ideas to our readers, we’ve dedicated a series of posts to the all-important question: what exactly is romance, and what does the word “romantic” mean? Last week we talked about the Romantic Languages. Today we’re going to discover the genre of literary romance, also known as chivalric romance, which was a type of writing common in the middle ages and Renaissance periods.  Romance literature (not the popular romance novels of today) generally describes writing that was widely read during these periods by the masses in the common languages of Spanish, Portuguese, Spanish, English and German, as opposed to more highbro

Well the first part “Literary” is simple to explain. I write stories, specifically novels. (I have tried to write short stories, but most of the ideas I have fit into the novel, or novella length. Maybe someday I’ll learn to fit a whole story into a short space.) Many people write stories, so why do I [...]

Manga is showing up all over the place. Kids are hanging out at bookstores at the manga sections.  What a better way than to bring the classics into manga form. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island just got manga-fied and he has great company as YoungJin Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Y.Kids) is printing a wealth of classics down the line. Young stowaway Jim Hawkins throws in his lot with pirates Black Dog, Blind Pew, and the unforgettable Long John Silver in this manga-style retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure story. Jim, overly romantic about life on the high seas, is unprepared for the frightening events ahead, including mutiny and an armed battle that poses a grim dilemma: should his loyalty lie with Captain Smollett or Long John Silver? Combining the exciting graphics of manga style with classic stories, these beloved works by literary icons are accessible and entertaining to

Now, George Bush was the Governor of Texas. Didn’t the Texans realize what the rest of the country did once he became President, and opened his mouth? No, they didn’t. We obviously “misoverestimated” the whole of Texas. We are the dumb ones, because we like chicken fried steak more than leadership. Mmmmm… fried…

The NY Times Sunday Book Review has an interesting article called "Literary Misblurbing" this week. Here's one example of what has always been common in movie advertising and seems to be happening more and more in book ads:Such an admission might earn a jaundiced laugh from Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post, whose 1982 pan of Shirley Conran’s “Lace” — what Yardley called a “schlock novel” written with “transparent and exquisite cynicism” — contained the following sentences: “Conran knows all the names, brand and otherwise, and she certainly knows where and when to drop them. ‘Lace’ doesn’t sink under the weight of them, it soars — right up into the same stratosphere where you’ll find ‘Valley of the Dolls’ and ‘Scruples.’ ” Sleepily pawing through the newspapers after the review ran, he was startled to come across an advertisement for the novel emblazoned with the following testimonial: “ ‘It soars!’ — Jonathan Yardley, Washington

As of this past week, my right brain seems to have atrophied from the excessive use of my left brain to review for the college entrance exams, as well as to prepare myself academically for the incoming school year. However, I would like to look back at what I had planned to accomplish this summer and this is what I've done so far:Me:Cooking. Breakfast basics, macaroni and cheese and leche flan counts [o.5]Spend less time thinking too much.Read more.An increase in vocabulary usage - in English [o.5]Family:[nil]Friends:Nurture present relationships.Repair broken ones.Move on.Inkwell:Plan the guidebook intended to be passed on to future batches, er generations of Inkspots and Inkblots. This book is not going to be a rule book, but simply something to use for consultation in case certain scenarios, like writers block come up. :PBlog:Write more posts for public consumption. lol.MPPAReview. Entrance exams for college are coming up and I want to give my best in my last year of high school. I

At a 1976 movie premiere in Mexico City, Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa - with no apparent provocation –landed a punch to the left eye and nose of his once inseparable Colombian friend, Gabriel Garcia …Comment Original post by BostonHerald.com

Types of things to watch out for with agents: * Charging the author a fee up front, to be accepted as a client. Can be called a reading fee, or a monthly “office expenses” charge. The bes…Read full story

A couple of years ago, in a long list of (mostly) unfulfilled New Years' Resolutions, I listed "Become more literary". I think I even followed that resolution with the phrase "whatever that means". Fast forward to last week. I'm walking through a local bookstore (I do that a lot) and I come across this book called Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See. I picked it up just because the title was so ironic after my New Years' Resolution. I didn't really think I'd read it. I started skimming a couple of interesting passages. Then I read a little bit more. Now I've just about finished it, albeit in a completely random fashion. It is at times hilarious and at other times heartbreaking. But there is never a dull moment. And there is some great advice contained within its pages. See recommends writing 1000 words a day, five days a week. While this is specifically aimed at writers, any creator could take this idea to heart. The idea here is to immerse yourself in what See ca

Here is how you partake in a round of Literary Lucky-Dipping:1) Skillfully grab the book closest to you2) Quickly open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence3) Post the text of the following three sentences4) Name the author and book title5) Tag an indefinite number of people to do the same (so, it could be '0')After following the meandering links through a number of these posts, I decided that I too would partake in this tomfoolery a round of literary lucky-dipping. So, I wheeled to my bookshelf, grabbed the first book that caught my eye, and:She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. "There was a secret panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver was hidde

I have had a number of literary agents and when trying the backbreaking job of trying to interest them in my work was more than amused to find that literary agents appear to have developed an insider notoriety with websites devoted to discussions about honesty, dealmaking, performance tables. A good agent is worth their weight [...]

1. Sharpmail: Maybe your boss has bad breath, or a close friend is in serious need of an ego boost. You can slip them a word in secret using Sharpmail's anonymous e-mailer. You can send your message in plain text or HTML. Click here: www.sharpmail.co.uk2. Lulu: Have you written a novel but can;t find a publisher? Do it yourself on lulu.com. Unlike most self-publishing sites, Lulu charges no up-front fees and requires no minimum orders. Just upload a word processing document and follow a wizard to choose the book's size, format, cover, art, and price or commission. You can sell your book via Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your own website. Click here: www.lulu.com3. Puzzles: Puzzle fanatics should check out Ray Hamel's Crossword Puzzles page. hamel's site lists 250 puzzle sites, foreign language crosswords, solver sites, articles, software, and anagram generators. Click here: www.primate.wisc.edu/people/hamel/cp.html

From the blog, Critical Mass:"Tom Soppard's dying literary critic, Vissarion Belinsky, has this to say about his--and our--chosen calling, in "Shipwreck," Part II of "The Coast of Utopia" trilogy:"I fell in love with literature and stayed lovesick all my life. No woman had a more fervent or steadfast adorer. I picked up every handkerchief she let fall, lace, linen, snot rag, it made no difference. Every writer dead or alive was writing for me personally, to transport me, insult me, make me shout for joy or tear my hair out, and I wasn't fooled often."That's a loftier view of the profession than that of his philosopher Nicholas Stankevich, who in Part I, "Voyage," calls literary criticism "a job for people whose second book didn't come up to expectations."-Heller McAlpin, NBCC member and current board candidate"An Actor Repairs comments on their experience getting free tickets to Shipwreck, and the difference between American actors and Russian actors.

Ohrid Literary School Naum The Ohrid Literary School was one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centres, along with the Preslav Literary School (Pliska Literary School).The school was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid simultaneously or shortly after the establishment of the Preslav Literary School. After Clement was ordained bishop of Drembica (Velika) in 893, the position of head of the school was assumed by Naum of Preslav.The Ohrid Literary School used the Glagolytic alphabet from its establishment until the 12th century and the Cyrillic alphabet from the end of the 9th century onwards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrid_Literary_School

Xlibris CEO and founder John Feldcamp attends the first ever Rockaway Music and Arts Council Literary Festival. The RMAC in association with Borders presented the first Literary Arts Festival on the scenic Rockaway peninsula on Sunday, April 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The festival featured authors and screenwriters from the greater metropolitan area and [...]

by Fern Reiss, CEO, PublishingGame.com You’ve decided to publish a book. You’ve done the hard part—you’ve finally got the manuscript written. Now all that’s left is to publish it—and that’s the easy part, right? Welcome to today’s new world of publishing, and the options that await you. In the old days (we’re talking 15 years ago) there [...]

Shhhhhhhhh....the baby is still sleeping and I do not want to wake him up. It is 7:25 a.m. New York time and usually by now he's awake and my morning routine is all about him. But alas he sleeps and the delightful aroma of coffee beckons. Hold on just a second while I go and pour mysel (more)