I’ve collected far too many links this week (so nothing new here). Enjoy:
#1: I’m a Winnie-the-Pooh fan (some of you know this) so I couldn’t pass up the 100 Acre Wood’s solution to swine flu. Poor Piglet.
#2: Learn to be a James Bond girl and kick ass by spending a weekend at the Stiletto Spy School in Las Vegas (where else?).
#3: While discussing the merits of snark and written sex scenes (don’t ask), I was reminded of The Bad Sex Award for literature, “Britain’s most dreaded literary prize.” You can read the shortlisted passages here (theoretically not-safe-for-work and if you only read one then 2003 is the best/worst): 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004. 2003, 2002 (there are nine more years if you are so inclined). You may wish to bleach your eyes afterward and/or write letters of protest to the offending authors.
#4: Speaking of #3, I was also sent this link in which an erotica editor pleads for authors to stop using some rather bizarre euphemisms. I’m not sure which group of writers offends more.
#5: In a bid to cut itself off from the rest of the Internet, AP has decided to charge anyone who quotes more than 4 words of any of their stories at the princely sum of $2.50 USD/word. Who’s going to link to them, thereby sending them traffic, at that price? No one, that’s who. I know news agencies need to make money from their online content, but this is not going to get them there. Speaking of which, News Corp. is taking a different approach (but one that’s been tried before) by charging their readers for online content. Good luck with that. I can see it working for a niche news service, but not for a general news service–too many alternate sources of information.
#6: I posted a link to author Justine Larbalestier’s thoughts on the misleading cover on her book Liar in a previous links edition. This week, the publisher is giving in to pressure from the Internet and changing the US cover.
2 Comments
I read just a few of the entries for the “Bad Sex Award” every year, and I always feel like I need to wide away my memory after! Let’s just say it creates some very strong visuals!
Kay´s last blog ..Sunday Salon : Celebrations and Books!
The imagery is just odd–I think they try too hard to be “literary”. One of the first ARCs I reviewed was nominated for The Bad Sex Award. The rest of the book was so bad I hardly noticed the imagery in the sex scene.