Hey, some links! Really!

If you want to meet someone who’s gone through the ringer over the last decade or so, then Joe McGinniss is your man. But the true-crime guru is back….with a book about horse racing? Yes, indeed.

And another link from the Grey Lady in the form of Dinitia Smith’s review of a new biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett. How could I not link to this, considering she was a) a favorite and b) one of the biggest influences on little girls for many generations.

Er, I don’t doubt that Jake Arnott’s THE LONG FIRM had some influence on UK crime fiction, but to say that it was the sole impetus for great change? I beg to differ–hell, I structured an entire issue of an online magazine around an inadvertent rebuttal….

Oline Cogdill gives a thumbs-up to Jeff Lindsay’s much talked about debut novel DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER. I have to admit, I was all set to give this book a rave…I mean, it was fun, I enjoyed it. But then I reread that excerpt from CALIBRE and alas, I think I like my serial killer protagonists a little less high-concept.

Elmore Leonard talks to the Sunday Telegraph about how he came up with the idea to write a book for teens–isn’t it a departure? Well, not exactly….

I was all set to go and plonk down a chunk of change for this coffee table book, but then I realized I misread the title: it’s not PLAYBOY: 50 Years of Shel Silverstein’s Cartoons. Double damn.

Speaking of Playboy, well sort of, the Boston Herald profiles Pamela Anderson on the joyous occasion of the impending birth of her new novel STAR, which I want to track down because it’ll probably be the trashiest read since I was singed by former tabloid gossip Mike Walker’s train wreck…

Many others have linked to this before me, but my only reaction to Aleksander Hemon’s stunning takedown of Daniel Wagner’s first novel is to wonder why someone really needed to pick up the slack that Dale Peck allegedly left behind. Or better yet, go read Dan Green’s dead-on post about why Peck’s editor at The New Republic bears serious responsibility.

And finally, Return of the Reluctant has been temporarily replaced by Carnival of the Animals…er, Guest Bloggers. We’re not sure who’ll pop out of the woodwork next, though if we had to hazard a guess, we’d vote for any combination of him, him, them, her, and especially her.