Friday’s Links

Posted by admin in Friday Links      No comments

Nov
19

Let’s start this week’s lit links with some nudity–for without nudity, would there even be any literature?

(I don’t know what that question means, but the answer is “Probably.” Or maybe “Maybe”)

– Among this literary agent’s top 10 ways to not blow a sale is “Don’t send nude photos.” The agent, Cricket Freeman, says, ”It’s surprising … how many of us (agents) get nude photos.”

Meanwhile, all across North America teenage boys are putting themselves on a new career path. (Link via @MysticJourneys)

And then here’s some not-so-fun nudity: author Tawni O’Dell and the gender bias she ran into before and after publishing her first book.

– Sticking with agents, five writers, including Alexander Chee, talk about finding and firing theirs.

– James Frey (douchy author of the fake memoir A Million Little Pieces) is running an authorial assembly line. Nothing good can come of this. John Scalzi writes an open letter to MFA programs in response. And here is Roxane Gay’s take on the matter.

– Have I mentioned that Roxane is one of my new favorite people? Here she writes about the crappiness of Barnes & Noble. (Those of you who know me are well aware of my warm and cuddly feelings for B&N)

– This is a mid-20th century office memo from The Atlantic offering twelve rules for running a good magazine. #11 is my favorite.

– A letter from PETA to Amazon urging the removal of books about cock- and dogfighting. Somebody always has a gripe with Amazon. Poor, poor Amazon.

– Steve Almond has self-published three books, all available at the Harvard Book Store. WBN has two of them. Now we need to add Bad Poetry.

– This just in: Baz Lurhmann (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet) is filming a new adaptation of The Great Gatsby, to star DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. Prediction: the film will stray wildly from the novel, but will offer plenty of glitzy and glamorous musical sequences.

Hell, whatever the result, there’s no way it can be worse than the 1974 Redford/Farrow mess of a film, right? Right?

– WBN ToW: Austin’s very own @ShennandoahDiaz and the rest of @GreenleafBookGr. Helping independent authors and small presses since 1997. (Website)

– Shameless Plug of the Week: New short fiction over at Fringe. Jacob Driscoll’s “I Will Miss You When You Are Gone.”