A cache of newly rediscovered papers from Austrian-born British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein sheds new light on his thought. According to this report by the BBC: Professor Arthur Gibson, from the University of Cambridge, has been examining books and papers which disappeared from public view in…
Self-described nerd lottery winner and author of Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days With the Phoenix Mars Mission Andrew Kessler is not only a space nerd but, as the New York Times’ City Room blog points out, he is also a bit…
(Via Wired) Al Gore wanted the iPhone app version of his book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis to be a cutting edge multimedia environment. When he approached developers and Apple-employees Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris about the project they “realized that in order…
I got a job offer from Barnes & Noble mere hours after I had accepted my current position at The Strand. Even now — some three years after the fateful day — I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if that B&N manager…
25% of Californians read 1 book a week Hachette launching faith imprint Composing a Royal Wedding Poem Three books to take to a fistfight Lambda Literary Award nominees Free debut novel downloaded 400,000 times Literary one-hit wonders Revolutionaries in fiction Lauren Beukes wins Arthur C…
Here’s a story you can file under “not in a million years in the USA.” Rory Carroll wrote in the Guardian yesterday that the lower house of Argentina’s parliament will consider a proposal to grant pensions of up to $940/month to writers. The idea behind…
There has been a huge, wholesale devaluing of culture lately. I’m thinking particularly of the books-should-be-free-or-at-best-99¢ school of thought. And, if they’re not free or virtually free, they deserve to pirated. As we know, individual cultures create their own sense of value and what is…
REPORTER: Do you find your second novel coming slow? MISS LEE: Well, I hope to live to see it published. (From the transcript of press conference published in Rogue magazine December 1963) What everyone knows about Harper Lee, born on this day, April 28th in…
With the one-and-only book trailer award competition, the MobyAwards once again open for submission, it seemed as good a time as any to feature again the winners of last year’s awards. So dim the lights, maximize the screen, and let’s relive the highs and lows, the glories…
Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray published after 120 years MacMillian launches crime fiction community site No room for books SEC investigating Amazon sales tax dodge Argentina considers paying writers a stipend Orwell prize shortlist How people are reading on their gadgets
Well this is depressing. From United Press International (via Library Journal) on the budget situation in Detroit vis a vis its libraries: The city has experienced an $11 million shortfall in revenue. One month after pink-slipping 80 library employees, administrators say they have to cut deeper…
Way back when Melville House was just getting underway, there was no reason for anyone to say yes when we asked them to contribute to our first book, Poetry After 9-11. Still, many did, a flood of the city’s best, in fact, and one of…
You can, if you’ve got the scratch, and the desire, buy deceased author Norman Mailer‘s Brooklyn apartment. It’s on the market now for a cool $2.5 million. Mailer, who had nine children with his five wives. designed the space himself. The unusual, nautical-themed archeticture was…
You can usually tell a lot about a blog by its categories. MobyLives is a book publishing blog so our categories include banned books, ethics of publishing, and notes on design. But some things defy easy categorization. What would you think of a blog with…
Who reads books? Scary statistics Women dominate Hugo Awards Hope you didn’t have a Borders Rewards Card A whole new e-chapter Amazon Q1 net sales up 38% McClelland & Stewart launches non-fiction imprint Nobody knows how big ebook business is Making stories with social media…
Columbia Journalism Review last week paid tribute to photographer Chris Hondros by way of posting one of his contributions to Reporting Iraq. In the excerpt, Hondros explains how he got one of his most haunting photos from Iraq. As CJR writes, As the world knows…
As publishers of books and a blog, we’re well aware of the necessity of adapting to the social media landscape. While we don’t ask all of our authors to start blogs or Facebook pages, for those whose material might migrate naturally to the medium we’ll suggest…
In The Observer Martin Amis has written a delightfully rambling article about his dying friend Christopher Hitchens. Part personal essay, part book review, part literary theory, part theological debate, the article discusses Hitchens youthful sexual habits (“conspicuously pan-affectionate”), his “baffling weakness for pun,” the psychology…
Rage-porn bunny and media darling, Ann Coulter, has a new book coming in June entitled Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America. According to this report in the LA Times book blog, “Coulter seems to be courting controversy with the book.” Indeed, it seems…
Public libraries defend constitutional right to watch porn The Buenos Aires international book fair Life advice from your favorite author Levi Johnston to publish book for the good of the country Convergence of film and publishing B&N updates the Nook new Nook ad Hugo Award…
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn approved a modified version of the plan for executive bonuses sought by, er, executives at the Borders Group on Friday, after the plan was adjusted in response to objections from the creditors panel and the U.S. Trustee’s office of the…
Amazon isn’t always the bargain they’re cracked up to be. Take, for instance, the $23,698,655.93 textbook Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist at UC Berkeley, discovered for sale on the website. According to Eisen’s blog post: A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged…
The Pulitzer, the Booker, the NBCC, and NBA—there’s a glut of literary book prizes to be had. But only ONE PRIZE is awarded each year to the best book trailer. That’s right, the Moby Awards are back and open for submission. What was the best…
So, 2015 is not that far away. And if predictions are to be believed, half of all books sold by then will be of the “e” variety. Everyone’s trying to bulk up their eBook offerings, ensuring that all new titles (and contracts with authors) include…
Books have trailers? PEN World Voices Festival Top ten quest narratives 54 writers, one American poem Beating ebook pirates The origin of the word robot 28 out of top 100 Kindle books are self published Bloomsbury’s digital future looks bright Alexander Mamut close to buying…
Although the Borders Group has yet to present a plan for staying in business to its bankruptcy judge — it’s already been given a delay — the plan the company presented to GE Capital that got them half a billion dollars to finance their bankruptcy…
A friend pointed us to a recent interview with the author Ian McEwan (author of Saturday, Solar, and Amsterdam, among many others) on the Books On the Nightstand podcast. Near the end of the program McEwan is asked to recommend a book, and we’re delighted…
Jennifer Egan‘s year keeps getting better and better. First, there was the news back in March that she had won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Wednesday the Pulitzers decided to follow the NBCC’s lead and gave her their yearly award for fiction.…
For those of you concerned that Tao Lin had abandoned fiction-writing to direct feature films shot entirely on his MacBook, have no fear. In a New York Observer “Culture” article, Lin (Bed, Eeeee eee eeee, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Shoplifting from American Apparel, and Richard Yates) writes with notable passion…
In a slide show at Flavorwire, Jason Baily lists what he considers the ten worst adaptations of classic literature into film. Complete with trailers, it’s a dead-on, hilarious, and highly personalized list — take, for example, his explanation of why the 1992 film version of…
