Links all around us

I missed this in yesterday’s roundup but the Paper of Record had a whole long article about this whole mommy blog trend, interviewing writers (and mothers) like Jennifer Weiner and Ayelet Waldman for the piece. (link from the Altehaggen)

Jennie Erdal’s “fictional memoir” (funny, that wasn’t what she was calling it in interviews a few months ago) GHOSTING told the story of her work for flamboyant publisher Naim Attalah. But it turns out he’s rather pissed off about the whole thing, as he tells the Independent’s John Walsh, and wants to clear his name. Uh, sure.

Look! A publishing bestseller list exposed as a scam? That’s simply not possible! Mock protestations aside, of course it is, and it happened in Scotland when a book made the bestseller list there without selling a single copy. You know, that’s kinda cool…

When the Evening Standard broke an embargo and ran an interview of Ian McEwan 2 weeks early, it screwed things up for his publisher, Jonathan Cape, so badly they released the book earlier than intended. Now they want the paper to pay out to recoup losses. A trend in the making? We’ll just have to see…

Patrick Anderson looks at Michael Robotham’s debut thriller, which uses all the elements well to deliver a pretty good thriller (but last I checked, Robotham was Australian…)

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize is one of the oldest in Britain, but also one of the least known. But with the drafted help of the likes of Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith, the prize organizers feel they have a shot at a wider audience.

As February is Black History Month, the West Virginia News Tribune will be highlighting notable black writers, including playwright Diane DeRamus.

The Book Place has desginated February as their crime fiction month, and in doing so bring out new interviews with Linda Fairstein (queen of “prosecutor lit”) and Alafair Burke (her most obvious heir apparent.)

James Hawes, a noted English satirist, picks his top ten great satires that have been written.

When Luke Mitchell, Scotland’s newest notorious killer, was seen leaving court with a copy of TRAINSPOTTING in his hand, it got the Herald’s Rosemary Goring to ponder those books that are most popular amongst prison populations and why.

And finally, RIP to Israel’s greatest satirist, Ephraim Kishon. I used to love his stuf as a kid though I haven’t caught up with his recent work. Damn. Maybe now I should….(link from TEV, who’s guest-ranting over at Beatrix this morning.)