Posts Tagged ‘authors’

Over at Omnivoracious, Amazon's book blog, morbid children's author Lemony Snicket has deigned to respond to questions about proper gift etiquette, the giving of coal, and whether or not you actually have to eat mincemeat.

Dear Mr. Snicket: Why does it always have to be
coal? Why shouldn't a concerned parent give their ill-behaved
youngsters something more accessible for modern times, say, a stick of
firewood or a dried lump of mud?
–Woody

Dear Woody: Under enough pressure, a lump of coal
may eventually become a diamond, but a stick of firewood, in the hands
of an ill-behaved youngster under pressure from a concerned parent,
invariably becomes a prop in a nice rousing game of Joan of Arc.  Does
anyone smell something burning?

I am certain that the existence of two different holiday-themed books currently in print by the inestimable Mr. Snicket, which could benefit from some public awareness (The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story and The Lump of Coal), had nothing whatsoever to do with this timely feature, which will show up every Tuesday this month.

Michael Crichton, author of the "Jurassic Park" books as well as many others such as "Congo," "Timeline," and "The Andromeda Strain," died of cancer at age 66, according to a press release from his family.

No real details yet, but this was another one of those "What? Who? Really? How old was he?" kind of deaths that catches you completely unaware. Our thoughts are with his family.

John Hodgman, knowledge-haver, PC, and occasional "Daily Show" correspondent, participated in a live chat at the Washington Post yesterday and expounded on being mean to Jon Stewart, the myth of Chicago, which type of computer he actually uses, and his new book, "MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE."

New Orleans:
What is the force of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick?

John Hodgman: The force of a single roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris=one American Chuck.

In England, however, they use the old Imperial Chuck, which is the equivalents to 1.34 American Chucks. 

That is all.

Acclaimed storyteller Neil Gaiman is known, among other things, for posting regular and generous blog entries that allow his readers into his life and his ongoing projects. In a new Premiere interview, he explained why he does it:

But I like it! I mean, it's fun. It's weird, I had this conversation with somebody this morning, an interviewer… who was asking me the similar question but upside down 'cause he was asking why I hadn't gone for sort of literary respectability and why I, like you were saying the acclaim and all of that kind of stuff and the awards, if I just stopped messing around in movies and doing comics I could be … I could be taken really seriously like Salman Rushdie or whatever, and I'm thinking, "Why?"…. And the truth is I'm saying "Look, Salman Rushdie is a friend of mine, and I got an email from him [saying] how much he and his son liked the Stardust movie." I like high culture and low culture, I like keeping in touch with the world.

Also: more on the "Coraline" movie, on the "Dr. Strange" movie, and the 20th anniversary of Sandman.

Tony Hillerman, author of 18 novels about Navajo Tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, set in the Four Corners area of New Mexico and Arizona, died Sunday of pulmonary failure.

The 83-year-old Hillerman had already lived through two heart attacks and surgeries for prostrate and bladder cancer, and was still writing. From the AP obituary:

"I'm getting old," he declared in 2002, "but I still like to write."

Anne Hillerman said Sunday that her father was a born storyteller.

"He had such a wonderful, wonderful curiosity about the world," she said. "He could take little details and bring them to life, not just in his books, but in conversation, too."

At mythadventures.net:

Robert Asprin (1946-2008)

On May 22, 2008, Bob passed away quietly in his home in New Orleans, LA. He had been in good spirits and working on several new projects, and was set to be the Guest of Honor at a major science fiction convention that very weekend.
He is survived by his mother, his sister, his daughter and his son, and his cat, Princess, not to mention countless friends and fans and numerous legendary fictional characters.

He will be greatly missed.

I'm losing a lot of heroes these last few months…

Illuminatus! remains one of the books I tackle again every year or so, to see what I missed all those other times, and his other writings are refreshing streams of sanity in an increasingly bizarre world. Not serious, mind you, just sane. His final blog post:

"Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

"Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd."

Announcement.

How many times have you said to yourself, "Boy, I wish I could pick up Dr. Laura Schlessinger and throw her into an open flame"?

Well now you can, with this 11" Dr. Laura action doll! Dressed in a smart yellow pantsuit and equipped with 23 different phrases such as "proud mother of an American soldier," "Now, go do the right thing," "Argue with me, it makes me testy," and more. Not all the phrases are listed, but I assume "Do what I say, not what I did," "If you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error," and "What do you mean my TV show was cancelled?" are in there as well.

Display her proudly on your child's nightstand to ward off premarital sex and gay vibes! Send her to that deadbeat brother of yours to express your shame by proxy! Dress her up in tacky lingerie and hook her up with the Bratz boys! Dr. Laura does it all!

I anticipate massive sales of this figure, both from Dr. Laura fans who want to support her and Dr. Laura detractors who will find it far superior to the handmade voodoo dolls they've been using up till now.

Careful how you answer. The author of "Fight Club," "Diary, "Survivor," "Invisible Monsters," and other twisted tomes can be described as many things, but boring is not one of them. You might want to stress test your mailbox first, but he's announced that he's taking fall and winter off to answer fan mail and if you get a letter to him in the month of October you'll get a response.

I leave it to you to decide if that's a good thing.

Just heard that a favorite science fiction writer died over the weekend. John M. Ford didn't like repeating himself (or others) so he wrote science fiction, urban fantasy, thrillers, short stories, a space opera, and more. Plus, his two Star Trek books had a group of Klingons saving the Federation ("The Final Reflection") and a Star Trek musical comedy ("How Much for Just the Planet?"). How can you not love that?

My first introduction to his odd style was from the award-winning supplement he wrote for the Paranoia role-playing game "The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues." Strange, funny, brilliant guy. There are some touching tributes from Neil Gaiman and at Making Light.