Outsiderish Newsesque 2/14/09
Books get some street cred when book dealer gets jail time for theft; his rap album drops this summer, beotches | Amazon again with its Breakthrough Novel Contest – the bad news: if you are reading this, it’s too late to enter | The Kindle is only the latest in bibliophiliac inventions – Don’t forget about the desk clock (not what you think) | someone should tell book thieves that there is more money to be had in stealing money | Come on Scholastic…I mean…come on. | Finally, the acknowledgement that Jane Austen has been dead (or should have been) this whole time. | What’s so wrong with autobiographical fiction? says me, and Melvyn Bragg.
Autobiographical fiction, whether the truth passed off as fiction or fiction passed off as truth, will be dissed by nearly any author not writing in the genre. After all, it’s dog eat dog and these naysayers wish you to buy and read their work. I’d like to see the work judged on a book by book basis.
It may be too late for the Amazon awards, but publishers can still nominate breakthrough work for B&N’s Discover Awards. Click here for details.