Wed, April 30th, 2008 The Story behind the Short Story Posted by: Keir
So, for the first time ever, there’s a short story in Booklist. Called “Reading Is My Business,” it’s in the May 1 issue, our Mystery Showcase, and it’s a hard-boiled tale about a boozy book reviewer named . . . Keir Graff. And it’s written by . . . yep, you guessed it, me.
What’s going on here? Was this some kind of an inside job, a no-bid contract? Well, yes. But I was as surprised as anyone at the way it came about.
What happened was this: on a gray morning in early February, as I was coming up out of the subway, I had an idea that almost made me laugh out loud. I had been reading a lot of crime fiction–well, I always read a lot of crime fiction–but I thought, “What if I took the conventions of a hard-boiled novel and applied them to something really unlikely like . . . oh, say, book reviewing?”
I banged out a draft almost in one sitting, using fictionalized versions of myself and my colleagues as characters, not even thinking about what I would do with the story when it was finished. I was just writing for fun, which, when you usually write with a more specific end in mind, is . . . well, fun.
I made myself laugh several times. Sometimes that’s a danger sign, but I showed the story to a few people and they thought it was funny, too. I showed it to Bill Ott and he liked it. I started thinking that maybe I should try to publish it. But where? It seemed a little offbeat and “inside” for the mystery magazines, and maybe a little too jokey for the literary magazines.
Bill suggested that I send it to Otto Penzler for an opinion. I’ve never met the man, but he was kind enough to reply within a couple of days. You’re a pretty funny guy, he wrote back. Will it be published? Maybe in BOOKLIST?
I told him that a 5,000-word short story would wreak havoc with our page budget. And, I was thinking to myself, Booklist doesn’t publish fiction–we only review it. But it was a nice thought. After all, who would get the jokes as well as Booklist’s readers?
I forwarded Otto’s e-mail to Bill. A few minutes later, Bill was in my office with an encouraging look on his face.
“How long is your story?” he asked.
I told him.
He winced. Clearly we weren’t going to sacrifice 28 book reviews for my story, no matter how funny we all thought it was. But then he had another idea: what if we started it in the magazine and finished it online?
What if, indeed.
I hope you’ll read it, and I hope you’ll like it. I’m honored to have written the first fiction in Booklist’s storied history, and I’m indebted to both Bill and Otto–and my coworkers, many of them named in the story–for their enthusiasm.
And as you read, bear in mind that this peek at the Booklist offices is entirely fictional.
Tue, April 29th, 2008 ALA Annual Conference and You Posted by: Keir
With the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Anaheim fast approaching, whiz kid Dan Kraus has put together a handy primer on taking part. (Stars director of membership development John Chrastka, who, rumor has it, was born wearing a tweed blazer with a pipe in the pocket.)
Gee willikers! Check out this swell 1950s-style educational film that gives you the A-B-Cs of having a jim-dandy time at Annual Conference. It’s packed with so many super tips that every Billy and Sue out there will exclaim, “Golly! Can we watch it again?” Yes indeedy, you can! (Stick around afterwards for a few bloopers, too.)
Tue, April 29th, 2008 Bad Sourcing, Bad Citing, and Bright Shiny Book Events Posted by: Keir
Ashes to ashes, pulp to pulp. A forthcoming biography of Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV’s mistress, written by Veronica Buckley (Christina, Queen of Sweden, 2004) is being recalled due to its reliance on a faulty source (”Hoax diary snares Bloomsbury,” by Claire Armitstead, the Guardian’s theblogbooks):
The problem, it turns out, is with the attribution of a little-known document Le Journal Secret de Louis XIV. Little known because it was in fact “reconstructed from historical sources” by a mischievous French scholar in 1998.
Twitchell initially denied a pattern of plagiarism, but the 64-year-old professor was contrite and ashamed when recently confronted with a larger body of evidence.
“It’s my responsibility to make sure that the words and ideas are my own and, if not, that they are properly credited. In many cases, I have not done this,” Twitchell wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. “I have used the words of others and not properly attributed them. I am always in a hurry to get past descriptions to make my points, a hurry that has now rightly resulted in much shame and embarrassment. I have cheated by using pieces of descriptions written by others.”
And I don’t know why, but this last item seems to fit on this page, too. The hype for James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning is growing (”He’s Back: James Frey Mixes Fact and Fiction, This Time with Art,” by Kate Taylor, The New York Sun), and there’s going to be an expensive art-book companion to the novel, called Wives, Wheels, Weapons. Which makes sense, because he’s not just a writer, he’s an artist.
“Despite the fact that he writes books, he’s much more a part of the art world than the literary world,” Mr. Frey’s friend John McWhinnie said of him.
And:
The sections about L.A. history and culture in “Bright Shiny Morning” are “sprinkled with facts that may or may not be accurate,” Mr. McWhinnie said. “The book opens with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that nothing in it can be considered true,” he continued. Mr. Frey intentionally mixed true and made-up “facts” — mixing real names of gang members with fake ones, for instance — in order to highlight both the factitiousness of L.A. culture and the ironies in his own authorial past.
Interestingly but perhaps not surprisingly, the book tour will avoid bookstores and focus on rock clubs, with heavy metal, light shows, and projected images supporting the author. I guess that way, if there are hecklers, it will be much harder to hear them.
If I were a gambling man, I would have picked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to win Fiction and A Long Way Gone to win Current Interest. But then again, they often do things differently on the Left Coast. Last year, for instance, they chose A Woman in Jerusalem over The Road. But I am positively delighted to see Be Near Me getting more recognition.
Fri, April 25th, 2008 Another Untapped Picture-Book Market Posted by: Keir
At Booklist Coffee™ this morning, we were discussing My Beautiful Mommy and one of the youth books editors suggested another potentially untapped market: the very young children of very old celebrities. As some luminaries move on to their third, fourth, and fifth marriages, there does seem to be a growing opportunity here. Should any entrepreneurial types out there wish to get started, I have a few titles to suggest:
Thu, April 24th, 2008 Kicking Off with a Disclaimer Posted by: Keir
I just finished reading Alan Black’s Kick the Balls last night–it’s very funny. And while many people have suggested that memoirs, especially humorous memoirs, should be assumed to have disclaimers, Black provides one anyway. I admire its economy:
Some names and identities have been changed to protect the guilty. A little timing manipulation helped the flow of the story, and some conversations were sharpened. That said, it’s time for kick off.
Thu, April 24th, 2008 Ich mag diese Idee Posted by: Keir
According to the CBC, the German publisher Bertelsmann AG is planning a print version of Wikipedia (”German publisher plans printed version of Wikipedia“). Well, the German part, and only the most-searched articles. Still, I hope shopkeepers are prepared for the people who show up with pens, scissors, glue, and alternate pages.
Thu, April 24th, 2008 April: More Than Just the Cruellest Month Posted by: Keir
Celebrate National Poetry Month by reading Ray Olson’s review of Fakhraddin Gorgani’s Vis & Ramin (Mage), or even the book itself, or some other book of poetry, or a single poem, or even by writing a poem. I’ll admit it, I’m a little behind in my celebrating, too, but, counting today, there are seven fulls days left in which to make our lives a tiny bit more poetic.
May I recommend one of my favorite poets? Richard Hugo, who lived down the street from me when I was too young to appreciate it.
Der Fall hielt die Literaturfreunde in Atem. Vladimir Nabokov wollte, dass sein letzter Roman verbrannt wird. Die Witwe brachte es nicht übers Herz, Sohn Dimitri Nabokov (73) hatte die Tat bislang immer mal wieder angekündigt. Jetzt aber hat er angekündigt, der Nachwelt das Nachgelassene zu übergeben.
How did Dmitri resolve his terrible dilemma? With a little help from his father:
From his winter home in Palm Beach, Dmitri justified his decision by saying, “I’m a loyal son and thought long and seriously about it, then my father appeared before me and said, with an ironic grin, ‘You’re stuck in a right old mess - just go ahead and publish!’”
He told the magazine that he had made up his mind to do so.
It was, Der Spiegel states, this “conversation” with his father that “persuaded him against assuming the role of literary arsonist”.
I think this is a terrible act of cowardice. And it’s not really arson if the home’s owner asks you to light the match, is it? But now that the decision has been made, Dmitri had better hope that the manuscript–bear in mind that it consists of 50 index cards–is as good as he claims (”the most concentrated distillation of [my father’s] creativity”). After all this hype, people will be expecting Lolita to the power of Pale Fire.
The 2007 
I just finished reading Alan Black’s 
May I recommend one of my favorite poets? Richard Hugo, who lived down the street from me when I was too young to appreciate it.
