Back to the usual morning roundup

And hell, I just hope this week is better than last week…but I suspect it likely will.

Anyway, Bill Clinton gets a hearty smackdown from Michiko. “Hopelessly dull”? Hey, I just want to know if she actually read the whole thing, and if so, I guess she won’t have much memory of doing much else this past weekend….

Patrick Anderson is majorly impressed with Dylan Schaffer’s MISDEMEANOR MAN, which has the whole Barry Manilow thing as a hook but is much more than that. Add that to a few raves by choice friends of mine and I’m starting to become a believer….well, in at least securing a copy of Schaffer’s debut.

Jim Born’s WALKING MONEY keeps attracting the raves (like this one from Oline Cogdill) and her main paper, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, interviews Born about the genesis from lawman to novelist–though he’s not about to give up the day job anytime soon.

Speaking of Ms. Cogdill, she reviewed two other mystery releases over the weekend: Janet Evanovich’s soon-to-be-ubiquitous TEN BIG ONES and Lynn York’s THE PIANO TEACHER.

Emily Maguire, at only 27, is attracting the kind of praise for her debut novel TAMING THE BEAST that wily veterans crave. And it all started when she sent in an essay to an Australian Magazine that so startled them they published it practically as is, with nary an edit. The Age meets Maguire, and from the sound of this interview and the book, I’m wondering why it will only be available in her native Australia.

Where will deposed Orion chief Anthony Cheetham end up? The year-long moratorium on hitching his star elsewhere (or starting up his own project) is ending fast and the buzz has begun on his next move.

Contest! Contest! The Guardian is running a “short short story” competition to see who can write the best story under 400 words. Deadline is July 23. (link from the lovely Emma, who is co-guest blogging with CAAF as Maud enjoys the Nova Scotia weather.)

And finally, Broadway Books has launched a new series of non-fiction books about those lovable con artists, scammers, and grifters of old, with handsome covers to match.