Archive for November, 2007

unholy war

Friday, November 30th, 2007

From the AP:
Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear “Muhammad…They called for Gibbons’ execution, saying, “No tolerance: Execution,” and “Kill her, kill her by firing [...]

Just Out from MIT Press

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

Catherine Brady’s Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA.
“In this superb biography of superstar molecular biologist, Elizabeth Blackburn, Catherine Brady tells exactly how Blackburn made her great discoveries. She also reveals the traits of mind and educational experiences that make Blackburn such a great scientist: a life-long passion for nature, [...]

Hungary Calling

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Received word from my agent yesterday that THE YEAR OF FOG will be published in Hungarian, by Tericum Kiado. The news brought back fond memories of a honeymoon spent in Budapest and Eger, Hungary in 2001, as well as my first stay in Budapest on a backpacking trip in 1998. It’s a beautiful country, with [...]

Jeff Garlin is Speechless

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Of all the Speechless short videos aired recently on Deadline Hollywood Daily, starring SAG actors in support of the striking Writers Guild of America, this one starring a silent Jeff Garlin is my favorite. The brainchild of director/writer George Hickenlooper and writer Alan Sereboff, Project Speechless portrays A-list actors in Internet-exlusive videos, doing what they’d [...]

If You’re Lucky, You Just Might…

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

call a cab and end up with Vera, a.k.a. the costume cabbie. View her swell get-ups here. Read all about her life as a taxi-gal in San Francisco on her blog, Day Cabbie. I met Vera last night at a book club meeting for The Year of Fog.
This is the beginning of a new [...]

Story Quarterly Fiction Contest

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

Deadline: November 30. Winners announced Dec. 31. Details at Storyquarterly.
First Prize $2,500, Second Prize $1,500, Third Prize $750.
Also, narrative magazine is now accepting audio recordings of short-short stories, up to five minutes in length. Details on their submissions page. (Scroll to the bottom of the page to see audio submission guidelines.)

White House Press Spokesman Outs Bush

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Via Publishers Lunch, here’s an excerpt from Former Bush White House press spokesman Scott McLellan’s forthcoming book, WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and What’s Wrong with Washington.

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find [...]

The Earthrise from Your Balcony on the Moon

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

These images from a Japanese satellite, the Kayaga Probe, are the first high-definition images of Earth rising above the moon’s horizon. That’s Antarctica at the top, Australia in light brown. The lower right is the Middle East. From the moon, it all looks so beautiful. No inkling of this morning’searthquake in Chile, oil spills [...]

Holy Crap! That’s It!
Surfer Proposes Unified Theory of the Universe

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

39-year-old Garrett Lisi, who holds a doctorate from UC San Diego, divides his time between surfing in Hawaii and snowboarding in Tahoe. Oh, and figuring out a unified theory of the universe. From the Telegraph:
The new theory reported today in New Scientist has been laid out in an online paper entitled “An Exceptionally Simple Theory [...]

Writers Strike Music Mix

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

Via Deadline Hollywood Daily, Hollywood blogger Brian offers this music mix to support the WGA strike. Of course, if you do support the strike, you’ll be buying the songs (Brian’s blog has Amazon links to each song), not borrowing them or burning them to CDs, which you then distribute to your like-minded friends.
Speaking of [...]

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