Ed Champion confirms that Kris Lindgren is the other member of the Los Angeles Times Book Review team being laid off: “Her last day is Friday. This is a terrible loss for the books section. I worked with Kris on a few reviews, and she was a fantastic editor, often forcing me to come up with some taut sentences in a very small window of time.”Blog post
WSJ on ThrillerFest
The WSJ covers the recent ThrillerFest in New York: “Six hundred thriller writers, fans and industry professionals, some from as far away as Britain, Australia and New Zealand, were on hand…, a 30% increase from last year, according to Kathleen Antrim, author of ‘Capital Offense,’ [and vp of the organization] the saga of a first lady plotting to overthrow the president. ThrillerFest 2007 netted multibook deals for two attendees, and while it would be premature to speculate about the contracts that may come out of this gathering, ‘at least 25 people came up to me to say that agents had […]
More Free: Pinter, Friedman, and Tor
Through August 5, author Jason Pinter is offering visitors to his web site free online access to the first book in his Henry Parker series, THE MARK. (The third in the series publishes at the end of July.) In an additional twist, Pinter offers to thank in the acknowledgements of next year’s book any fan who links to the free offer, posts the widget or e-mails five friends and notifies Pinter. I guess we just qualified.Pinter blog Separately, starting a few days ago, Thomas Friedman has been offering a free audiobook giveaway of THE WORLD IS FLAT from his web […]
Downtown Bakersfield Store to Close
Russo’s Books will close their downtown Bakersfield bookstore after 12 years, continuing to operate their two other larger mall-based locations. Owner Michael Russo tells the local paper, “The economy is slow and there just wasn’t enough business to continue operating all three, especially when two of them were just three and a half miles apart.”Bakersfield Californian
Former Editors of Los Angeles Times Book Review Protest Paper's Decision to End Weekly Section
Steve Wasserman e-mailed this letter, also signed by Sonja Bolle, Digby Diehl, and Jack Miles: As former editors of the Los Angeles Times Book Review (1975 through 2005), we are dismayed and troubled at the decision by Sam Zell and his managers to cease publishing the paper’s Sunday Book Review. This step signals the end of an era begun 33 years ago when Otis Chandler, then the paper’s publisher and owner, announced the debut of the weekly section. Since then, the growth of the Los Angeles metropolitan region and the avidity of its numerous readers and writers has been palpable. […]
Shorts: No Clifford for Your Party; Ulin on Review Errors
* So it has come to this. The owners of branded children’s characters are delighted to sell plates, napkins, decorations, favors and more for birthday parties, but don’t think you can have someone dressed up as that character attend the party. The WSJ reports: “In recent years, corporations that own the rights to some of the more popular characters, companies that include Marvel, Scholastic and HIT Entertainment, have sent cease-and-desist letters, threatened lawsuits and in some cases received settlements from companies that market unauthorized character impersonators. The threats rattle the costume industry.” At least Scholastic does provide costume rentals for […]