Jason Boog is reporting live from the National Book Awards this week and he created a video introducing and getting predictions from some of the Lit Bloggers also there to cover the event.

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Too many people expect the job of "writer" to mean one thing--sitting around quietly working on your novel. Those people will get very hungry.

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Can a book deal save your life?

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ThePublishingSpot discusses recent ponderings about the death of the printed book... Every litblog from here to Antarctica has published a mini-essay about a gloomy survey of 1,300 publishing professionals that predicts the looming death of the printed book.

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In the book, Greenspan wrote that Bush essentially left an unbridled GOP Congress to spend money however it saw fit, and by not vetoing a single bill in six years, the president deprived the nation of checks and balances.

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Where in the world is your book?

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What happens when Harry Potter faces the existential void? The final book of the series has prompted a few prominent reviewers to plug another book series with a darker, but sublime, vision of the child's imagination.

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...Here are my five favorite endings--narrative tricks and riffs that every writer should study. Don't worry, no spoilers...

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Some people believe books should be read with rubber gloves and surgical tongs. I don't--my books have scribbled notes, busted spines and creased corners.

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The future isn't coming. It's here, and not enough people in the business are paying attention. Check out the Times piece, and then keep reading The Publishing Spot.

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Writing in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne, Mr.

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Author Robert Parker Does Good Experimenting In Blue Screen

Author Robert Parker is breaking convention and I, for one, like it. This is particularly evident in his book, Blue Screen.

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Book Review: The Closers By Michael Connelly

As with many reporters, I will always have a soft spot for Michael Connelly.

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Interview with Larry Gonick, Author/Artist of The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1

This is the first part of a two-part interview. The second part will be published in one week.

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Advice To Writers On Getting Started

I dedicate this piece to Firsty, whose pieces on this topic sparked me to consider writing down advice I've given to many new and experienced writers.

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Book Review: The Hook by Donald Westlake

Donald Westlake remains one of the masters of mysteries. I never miss his books. And while this book, The Hook, isn't one of his best, his inferior works are still superior to most by his colleagues.

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When does fan fiction stop being fan fiction? When you put Harry Potter on a dinosaur and start making money.

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The University of Paris literature professor Pierre Bayard's best seller How to Talk About Books That You Haven't Read is flying off the shelves in France.

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Not Your Mama's Book Club: Book Suggestions

I'm really hoping to drum up some serious interest in this book club thing. Our first book will be Jose Saramago's Blindness (go HERE for more information).

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All memoirs are, to an extent, fake. They're memory. And if anyone objects, I'd like them to write and tell me exactly what they ate for lunch fifteen years ago today. And what they were wearing. And who they were with.

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THE very thought of nuns stirs up images of dark-panelled Victorian rooms, smells of polish and cooking cabbage, the swish of long black robes and the peculiar, creepy softness of holy voices.

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Edith Wharton once compared a woman's life to "a great house full of rooms".

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Freedom Writers and the "Great White Hope" Cliche

This issue has been raised several times since the movie came out, but I have wrestled with it for some time now. I thought I'd offer my two cents about the idea of Freedom Writers (FW) being another tale of the "Great White Hope" cliche.

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Besides being one of the first interview victims on this site, Jeff VanderMeer is a web-savvy speculative fiction writer offering book and music recommendations, exercise tips and plenty of writing advice over at Vanderworld.

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"I half-expected spirits to swirl out of the box, a' la Pandora. Angry ghosts, maybe the ectoplasm Noodle was so scared of. Instead, a vaguely floral smell drifted up, a surprisingly clean smell.

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