Archive for October, 2007

McCanns to Be Cleared Soon?

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Police in the Algarve are preparing to do a re-enactment of the events that might have occurred on May 3, the night that Madeleine McCann went missing, according to The Telegraph:
They will spent several hours in the ground-floor apartment from which Madeleine vanished and at one point an officer will push a bundle out through [...]

New Interview with Kate and Gerry McCann

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

In a new interview on Spanish television, Kate and Gerry McCann reiterate that, while the speculation in the press about their guilt is disheartening, the most important issue remains the search for their daughter, Madeleine McCann, whom they believe is still alive. View the interview here.

you’re spending a lot of money in the Middle East
Yep, I’m talking to you

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

The estimated cost of the fires in San Diego so far is one billion dollars. Seems like a staggering number, until you consider that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the U.S. has spent 415 billion dollars in Iraq, and that the cost may escalate to 2.1 trillion dollars by 2,017. That works out to [...]

a fiery future for the western fronteir

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

Tim Egan has written a wonderful article for the BBC, “Why Forest Fires Are Spreading,” on why the fires that are turning much of Southern California to tinder are to be expected, and why they’re going to get worse in coming decades.
If you look at a map, you find that the fastest growing areas [...]

Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Fire

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

The Cal governor proves he’s got a finger on the public pulse, unlike the political players in the nation’s last major natural disaster: New Orleans’s Mayor Nagin, George W. Bush, and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. Despite the guv’s party affiliation, his response has been swift, sensitive, and decisive. In this AP photo, he is seen [...]

5 Things I Learned from Elizabeth: The Golden Age
(the movie)

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

1. With a little batting, white doilies make excellent stand-up collars
2. White horses can swim in frigid, choppy waters
3. Wind machines make diaphanous capes flutter
4. King Philip of Spain was a religious fanatic who kicked the bucket 10 years after driving Spain to bankruptcy in an attempt to fund his foolish and ill-advised military advances. [...]

McCanns as Public Spectacle Number One

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

New toxicology tests commissioned by the McCann family show that the McCann twins, Sean and Amelie, were not sedated on May 3, the night Madeleine McCann went missing. If the tests prove to be truly objective, this puts a hole in the Portuguese police theory that Kate McCann sedated Madeleine to make her go to [...]

It’s Official

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

I’ve finally settled on a title for my new novel. It’s called No One You Know, and it will be published by Delacorte in 2008. As I’m still hammering out portions of the book, I’ll just mention that it opens in Nicaragua and is set primarily in San Francisco, and my research has been quite [...]

tonight in Mill Valley

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

I’ll be reading from and discussing THE YEAR OF FOG tonight at The Depot in Mill Valley, 7:00.

Telegraph Knows How to Put a Downer on a Prize

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Here’s the headline and opening paragraph from The Telegraph, on the winner of the Booker Prize:
‘Depressing Irish saga’ wins the Booker Prize
A desperately bleak Irish family saga featuring a suicide and sexual abuse that has sold barely 3000 copies in the UK in five months emerged as the surprise winner of the £50,000 Man Booker [...]

Booknotes, Litlife, & Writing Prompts from bestselling author Michelle Richmond