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From The Guardian, a noteworthy tale of self-publishing (“Widow self-publishes ‘recreation’ of Philip K Dick’s final novel,” by Alison Flood). Tessa Dick, the “fifth and final wife” of Philip K. Dick, “has reworked the novel the legendary science fiction author was working on when he died in 1982.” It’s not at all clear how much [...]

And what a week it was. All right, fine: weeks. A few miscellaneous links I can’t delete without sharing . . . . The editorial board of the New York Times makes a good point (“Banning Books in Miami“): The Miami-Dade School Board’s decision is not only unconstitutional, it is counterproductive. If the board wants [...]

A new, old idea. The old part: books by subscription. The new part: limited editions based on the number of subscribers. Tiny (but scrappy) Chicago publisher featherproof now has its first imprint, paper egg. (Bring back uppercase letters, say I . . . wait a minute . . . bring back copyeditors who enforce consistent [...]

It’s Lincoln’s 200th Birthday and in his honor, two Lincoln Prize winners were named by the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute yesterday. Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy and the Civil War won Craig L. Symonds a bronze cast of Lincoln and $25,000. This is the second Lincoln Prize win for James M. McPherson, [...]

I’m not the first to make the observation that the annual ALA Youth Media Awards feel like the Oscars. (If only there were a red carpet and all the authors were there to clench their jaws and clap robotically when they didn’t win.) And you know that part in the Oscars when that accounting dude [...]

Oh, great. More thoughtful.

Just asking: when did tome become synonymous with book? I ask because, in a Chicago Tribune article about the Kindle yesterday, the writer stated how many “tomes” the device could carry. Talk about a tin ear for the English language. My trusty Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (though a print artifact, only marginally a tome) [...]

Conveniently in time for Valentine’s Day, the Romantic Novel of the year was announced by the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association. The shortlist included: Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern Before the Storm by Judith Lennox Sophia’s Secret by Susanna Kearsley The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer But the honor went to Julia Gregson for East of [...]

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For the four of you that watched the Grammys last night, I’m sure that you were watching to: A) see if there was indeed going to be a live-broadcast birth, as M.I.A. looked about ready to pop, and; B) find out who won the Spoken Word Grammys . . . why else? If you didn’t [...]