#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.

#1: An update on J.D. Salinger’s bid to block publication of a book based on The Catcher in the Rye. A temporary restraining issue was issued, but the judge reserved judgment on the fair use issues raised.

#2: J. A. Konrath, author of Whiskey Sour and other novels, weighs in on the price of ebooks: “The rules of supply and demand don’t work in a digital world, because the supply is unlimited. You don’t fight piracy with weapons. You fight piracy with cost and convenience.” Exactly!

#3: One of the advantages of the Kindle is supposed to be that your library of books you’ve bought is always there for you to download so you don’t have to keep copies of every single book on your Kindle. Well, apparently the downloads aren’t unlimited. If you download a book too many times Amazon won’t allow the download and you’ll have to pay for the book again. Be sure to read the next article in the saga (linked at the bottom of the first article). It seems even Amazon doesn’t know what’s going on. More on Kindle DRM issues.

#4: A very good assessment on How the eBook Industry Isn’t Like the Music Industry.