George Saunders:

I’d make the case that the whole fictional thrill has to do with this idea of the reader and the writer closely tracking, if you will. Like one of those motorcycle sidecars: when the writer leans left, the reader does too. You don’t want your reader three blocks away, unaware that you are leaning. You want her right there with you, ( Read more... )

ALSO:  Really want to be well enough to go down to Soho Digital Gallery tonight to help celebrate the great writer Carol Emshwiller's 90th Birthday TODAY!

Matt Cheney's put together a website about/for her, The Carol Emshwiller Project, and all day today many writers & friends - including China Mieville - are posting Birthday Greetings.  Come and ( Read more... )

So on my birthday last week Delia & I flew to Denver with Terri Windling, who was to be one of the 3 Guests of Honor at the Sirens Conference in Vail.  They loaded us all onto a bus to Vail, and I watched the land turn to mountains covered with pine trees, dotted with bright yellow-leaved aspens.  It just got more and more magic.  And my cell phone ( Read more... )

Suzy McKee Charnas' THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY is my favorite vampire fiction, period: a complex, elegant work for grownups. I was really happy to see oracne invited her to Guest Post about a new vampire story forthcoming in TEETH (!!! - it's a YA vamp anthology that includes stories I really like by Delia & me & a host of rather intimidating others).

This ( Read more... )

"The worst thing about becoming a published author was that, inexplicably, it did not make all my problems go away. Walking into Barnes & Noble and seeing my name on a book jacket was exciting, of course, but when I left the store the thought filling my head was not Gee, now my life is perfect but Why didn't the cute cashier fall in love with me as ( Read more... )

The generosity of fantasy author Laurie J. Marks' friends & extended community is staggering.

Terri Windling just donated an original painting to debsliverlovers ,  the auction to raise funds for Laurie's wife's liver transplant.  elisem is offering both a custom jewelry piece and a basic wireworking class. (Go here to see the nice things Elise has to say about Laurie ( Read more... )

Bel Kaufman is the granddaughter of the great Yiddish writer, Sholem Aleichem*.  She was speaking at a lovely little reading down at the Cornelia Cafe in the Village this evening.

But she's also the author of Up the Down Staircase, one of the few books I owned as a teenager, so I read it over and over again, and loved it. And I got to tell her so - ( Read more... )

No, really, I insist. If you're near NYC, see Liz Duffy Adams' play "Or," if you possibly can. It's about a woman who wants to be a famous writer, and theatre people, and kings with deliciously long hair, and language and gender. See?

Tix are $20 if you turn up 1 hr before the show (and there are still seats.) The NYTimes loved it, and was ( Read more... )

My love for the Israeli writer David Grossman is great. Ever since I discovered his novel See Under: Love, I have considered him a personal pet of mine - even though I have not read enough of his other work. (Kelly Link did give me a copy of his YA novel The ZigZag Kid, which is terrific.) My love is renewed as I read his essay about Bruno ( Read more... )

How much would you pay to hear
Peter S. Beagle read you
The Last Unicorn or A Fine & Private Place
aloud?

Yeah. I know.

There are also sample free downloads. And lots more stuff.

ADDED: Some folks have commented that they've had trouble with this site. See connorfc's comments, below, on what's going on & how to contact him directly for ( Read more... )