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The Dark Tower: A must read

The Guardian recently charged its readers to “stop sneering at fantasy readers,” arguing that fantasy and science fiction should no longer be considered the realm of the geek, the dork, and the socially awkward. “The genre has produced some of the most forward-thinking, influential, and linguistically advanced literature of the past century,” the Guardian argues,…

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The actual book!

A carton of books arrived at my home today. My book! Something Missing. The honest-to-goodness version of the book. The  same that will be found in bookstores in two weeks. As required by my contract with Broadway, the publisher sent twenty-four copies of my novel to do with as I please. What that may be…

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RJ Julia

My wife and I (and Clara, our five-month-old daughter) took a trip to Madison, CT, the hometown of RJ Julia, an independent bookstore that has remarkably supported me and my book. It’s more than an hour away from my home, so up until now, we had never made the trip, but it was well worth…

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Odd business combinations. Again.

In the spirit of odd but perhaps brilliant business combinations, The Spin Cycle Cafe in Newington is a laundromat/bar/restaurant. They advertise dry cleaning beside the lunch specials. Happy hour alongside wash-dry-fold. I almost wish I didn’t own a washing machine and dryer. First, a movie theatre/hotel. Now laundry, chicken wings, and beer. Since I began…

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Product placement

In reading some of my Amazon reviews (I know I shouldn’t, but they’re still very good), I noticed that two people commented on the specificity to which I wrote about specific brand names in Something Missing, wondering if I received money from the companies mentioned as a form of product placement. Indeed a fascinating idea,…

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Writer’s Digest feature

An article about me and my book, Something Missing, appears in the July/August issue of Writer’s Digest. It’s great. A full-page article that includes a photograph of me (27 pounds heavier than I am today) and the book cover art, which always seems to excite my agent. The author, Jordan Rosenfeld, writes about the process…

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Odd business combinations

I spent the evening at the Latchis Hotel in Brattleboro, Vermont, for a writing and booksellers’ conference. My publicist arranged the accommodations, so I was unfamiliar with the hotel when I arrived. According to its website, the Latchis, an art deco hotel, is actually a combination hotel and movie theater, and this unique redesign afforded…

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

I don’t often recommend books sight unseen, but I saw this book on the NY Times bestseller list (trade paperback) and couldn’t resist immediately purchasing it. It’s published by Quirk Books, which also sounds right up my alley, and is described as “the classic story, retold with ‘ultraviolent zombie mayhem.” Awesome. The fact that the…

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Drippy and syrupy and just plain inexplicable

Being a novelist and an English major, I truly believe that I love books just about as much as a person can, and while I hate to criticize the legitimacy of any written text, could someone please explain to me who buys books like these:

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Collection of ideas

I have a very important Word document saved on my desktop which contains ideas for blog posts, a long list of children’s book ideas, notes for a future memoir, a list of quotes that I might one day use in a book or blog post, a few inspirational emails sent to me through the years,…

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