MetaFilter posts tagged with authors

(not-so) Real Housewives of Lancaster County

Miko — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:21:49 -0800

A new subgenre is rising to meet the significant demand for romance novels that won't corrupt the flesh: Amish Romances. The relatively chaste romances, mostly written by non-Amish authors, the books are selling well, with Cindy Woodsnall's Sisters of the Quilt trilogy leading the pack on the New York Times bestseller list, and many new authors jumping into the game.

An eyewitness to post-WWII Paris artists, and the women

goofyfoot — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:13:51 -0800

Author James Lord, who knew everyone, has died. He wrote about sitting for Alberto Giacometti, before he wrote Giacommeti’s biography. He spent some time with Dora Maar, a photographer and muse who died in 1997, and wrote a book about her entitled “Dora and Picasso” (ISBN 0880641622). [Dora Maar previously on metafilter.] Lord helped set up the Cezanne atelier in Aix en Provence. He knew many people - Arletty, Balthus, Cocteau, Maugham, Marie-Laure de Noailles, Ned Rorem, Leger, Misia Sert - and wrote about all of them in his books, including "Six exceptional women" [ISBN 0374265534] and "Some remarkable men." [ISBN-10: 0374266557].

King of the one (maybe two) liners

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:31:24 -0800

Joshua Green Allen, who has been posting great internet for more than 15 years, if not longer, merges seamlessly with a new technology. If any twitter account is worth being renowned far and wide for hilarity: His Is. Also starring in: Diary of a Copywriter One stop shopping. Previously: 1, 2, 3

"children should be wary of all adults – unless they're government-approved?"

orthogonality — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:44:34 -0800

A group of respected British children's authors and illustrators will stop visiting schools from the start of the next academic year, in protest at a new government scheme that requires them to register on a database in case they pose a danger to children.

"In essence, I'm being asked to pay £64 to prove that I am not a paedophile."

Let's Go To Pommeroy's And Have Toast To Rumpole

Xurando — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:50:50 -0800

John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey died today.

In Search of Salinger

Knappster — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:17:13 -0800

"I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work." Reclusive author J. D. Salinger today celebrates his 90th birthday. He hasn't published an original work since 1965, but he continues to attract followers, and to avoid them. He told one uninvited visitor in 1978, "There's no gracious way to tell you to leave. I'm becoming embittered." But interviews with the author do exist.

"Interview with J. D. Salinger" (1953)
"J. D. Salinger Speaks About His Silence" (1974)
"What I Did Last Summer" (1981)

Daily Routines of Notable Persons

Korou — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:41:47 -0800

Daily Routines features how writers, artists, statesmen, and others go about their day. Kafka was a night owl, Kant woke early, Issac Asimov was not a folyack. Marx's smoking got to him; George Bush eats fast, but exercises often; Napoleon Bonaparte enjoyed chess. Haruki Murakami enters a deep state of mind, Vladimir Nabokov creams his mail, Roald Dahl kept up his farm. Emily Post stayed in bed, Alice Munro had little time, Marie Geoffrin dined with the king. Paul Erdös drugged himself up. Routines are collected from books, newspapers, magazines, and websites. [via Slate]

Yukio Mishima 14 January 1925 - 25 November 1970

eccnineten — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:59:33 -0800

"There's something very shabby about a noble grave... Political power and the power of wealth result in splendid graves. Really impressive graves, you know. Such creatures never had any imagination while they lived, and quite naturally their graves don't leave any room for imagination either. But noble people live only on the imaginations of themselves and others, and so they leave graves like this one which inevitably stir one's imagination. And this I find even more wretched. Such people, you see, are obliged even after they are dead to continue begging people to use their power of imagination." - Yukio Mishima via Kashiwagi in The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. On this, the anniversary of Mishima's transformation into a headless god, a collection of video links. The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima. A speech with English subtitles. Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyoutou on 13 May 1969. BBC production titled The Case of Yukio Mishima. Mishima on bodybuilding. ... and a single essay: "I Cut Off the Head of Yukio Mishima" by John-Ivan Palmer.

In case you were wondering

kliuless — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:38:37 -0800

Joyce explained. (via)

Interviews with Venturous Writers

Iridic — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:46:37 -0800

Dalkey Archive conversations with William Burroughs, Angela Carter, Robert Creeley, William Gaddis, William H. Gass, Danilo Kis, Harry Mathews, Richard Powers, Raymond Queneau, Hubert Selby, William T. Vollman, David Foster Wallace, and many other writers.

Moby Dick? Middlemarch? Jane Eyre?

fiercecupcake — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:28:19 -0800

Humiliation: Which book are you most embarrassed to admit that you have never read? Several "respectable" authors answer the question at the Ways With Words festival. (single-link Telegraph post)

An hour with "the happiest man alive"

madamjujujive — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:24:11 -0800

Henry Miller Bathroom Monologues, part 2, part 3, and follow on - Miller takes us on a tour of the art in his bathroom. And a few years later, we have Dinner with Henry, 1979 . "I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive. " Henry Miller Personal Collection Here's to Henry Miller Links to Henry Miller

No more posts until Matt starts paying up

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:47:10 -0800

Home ~~taping~~ downloading is killing ~~music~~ authorship. The Society of Authors warns that authors will simply stop writing if they aren't compensated for piracy of their work (as unlikely as that seems). Perhaps they should follow the example of Jim Griffin, newly hired at Warner Music to persuade broadband providers to attach a $5 per month surcharge for the benefit of the major labels, in exchange for halting the lawsuits that have thus far been their mainstay weapon against piracy.

Nicholson Baker on Wikipedia

ed — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:52:16 -0800

Nicholson Baker, who in his book, Double Fold, argued for saving newspaper collections, explores "The Charms of Wikipedia" with insightful and hilarious results. He also has a new book, Human Smoke, coming out (excerpt)

Ideas in the Air

Miko — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:13:46 -0800

To The Best Of Our Knowledge is one of the most wide-ranging and literate public radio shows in the US, a two-hour "radio salon" featuring leisurely exploration of weekly themes like No Smoking, Identity Crisis, Weekend, and The Mind, Music, and Math. Host Jim Fleming approaches these big ideas through the works of authors - journalists of all stripes, memoirists, poets, fiction writers, essayists. Five years' worth of shows are available on audio archives; you can also search the impressive list of authors by name, or subscribe to the podcast. To the best of my knowledge, episodes from the show have been linked in relevant post topics, and the show has been mentioned in comments, but has not yet been the subject of its own post. Of course I could be wrong; I often am.

Photographs of Authors

Kattullus — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:17:44 -0800

Pictures of writers in a thread on I Love Music. Lots and lots of pictures of lots of writers. Another thread from the same board with more pictures (some duplicates). Author photos are most often seen on dust jackets or in the back of books, a practice Frances Wilson wishes to see abolished. One famous connoisseur of pictures of writers is Javier Marías who wrote a whole book on the subject, Written Lives. Here are a few excerpts from the book: William Faulkner, Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen) and an edited extract covering a whole lot of authors. Bonus: Julia Lipman riffs on a pair of photos of Jonathan Franzen in Flak Magazine.

"turn to page 69 of any book and read it. If you like that page, buy the book."

amberglow — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:17:56 -0800

The Page 69 Test --inspired by Marshall McLuhan's suggestion to readers for choosing a novel, a new blog, inviting authors to describe what's on page 69. One says: Not the best, but not the worst. If my pages were presidents, I’d put page 69 somewhere in the James K. Polk range.

Tax in the Age of Amazon

mattbucher — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:28:41 -0800

New York State goes after Amazon "affiliates." So if you, as a New Yorker, link to your book on Amazon, you are now an independent contractor and shall be taxed accordingly (PDF). John Smith is the author of a guide book to kayaking on New York lakes and rivers. The book is listed for sale on an e-commerce retail Web site. Mr. Smith maintains a Web site that contains a variety of information on kayaking and also contains a link to the e-commerce retail Web site through which visitors to his site may purchase his book. For each visitor that follows this link and purchases his book from the e-commerce retail Web site, Mr. Smith is entitled to receive compensation from the e-commerce retailer. Mr. Smith regularly speaks on the subject of kayaking at forums within the State. In the interest of earning commissions from the ecommerce retailer, he actively markets his book at these events by referring attendees to his Web site, where potential purchasers can click on the link to the e-commerce retailer’s Web site and purchase his book. Based on this arrangement, the e-commerce retailer is considered to be soliciting business through Mr. Smith, who is acting as an independent contractor, agent or other representative of the e-commerce retailer, and making sales of taxable tangible personal property to persons within New York State. Therefore, the e-commerce retailer must register as a New York sales tax vendor, collect the New York State and local sales taxes, and file the required sales tax returns.

If you do not wish to be lied to, do not ask questions

Abiezer — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:58:21 -0800

B. Traven, A Mystery Solved [Flash video, 1hr] Excellent documentary on the astounding life and mysterious identity of the author of Treasure of the Sierra Madre [Flash video, 50mins] and The Death Ship.

Frankenhand is alive ... meet LongPen

phoque — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:31:27 -0800

LongPen from inventor (pdf) Margaret Atwood

Readersvoice.com aims to give people a few good reading tips

milkwood — Tue, 15 May 2007 02:46:39 -0800

Readersvoice.com is a lovely, low key site that interviews authors in a down to earth fashion that you normally don't see. The whole approach is wonderfully refreshing and endlessly fascinating.

The Short Timers

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:15:48 -0800

It doesn't seem like it was twenty years since Stanley Kubrick produced Full Metal Jacket based on the out-of-print novel "The Short Timers" by Gustav Hasford. While out of print, the full text of "The Short Timers" is available on his (memorial) website as is the followup, "The Phantom Blooper". Hasford's bid for an Oscar was colored by the discovery of nearly ten thousand stolen library books in the same year. Some say the experience of being caught red-handed broke him, leading to his death from non-treatment of diabetes at the age of 45.

Gotta Catch Em All!

RokkitNite — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 16:59:04 -0800

Booktribes is a new site from the creators of writing site Abctales where bibliophiles can compile lists of every book they've ever read. Replete with a simple, intuitive interface, compiling your life's reading list becomes strangely addictive, and for the whole of March, the best comment of the day on this as-yet underpopulated site wins a copy of David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, with the best comment of the month winning the entire 21 volume Sceptre Collection. And if you're worried your reading list isn't up to scratch, don't panic - you can always cheat.

pitch 'n putt - it's bitch 'n slut

madamjujujive — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:59:54 -0800

Pitch 'n' Putt with Joyce 'n' Beckett - (alerts: YouTube & nsfw language. via Exploding Aardvark)

Scotsmen giving things away? Whatever next..

ascullion — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 15:38:40 -0800

Heard of Alasdair Gray? He's a legendary Scottish author/artist. He's 72. He wrote the astonishing Lanark. And now he's got his own blog. Where he's giving away a new play. So you can "re-write it in a dialect or language" you prefer, and "give it a different title and announce that the version is based upon my play."