A Birthday Present from Charles Bukowski
Today would have been Charles Bukowski's 90th birthday, so I featured some songs inspired by his life and work over on Classics Rock!--tunes by Modest Mouse, U2, Tom Russell and the Boo Radleys. Which...
View ArticleBooks That Sell
From The Huffington Post: Twitter was all atwitter about a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which Rod Adner and William Vincent argue that the increasingly difficult economics of the...
View ArticleTest Your Knowledge of Literature's Greatest Bed Bug Infestations
[From The Huffington Post] Identify the work of literature in which each bed bug infestation occurs: A. In this short tale of mystery and imagination, a man is bitten by a strange gold bug, which leads...
View ArticleThe Doggies of War
[From The Huffington Post] This publishing season is thick with new and forthcoming memoirs by Bush administration insiders, from Donald Rumsfeld to Condoleezza Rice to Dick Cheney to President Bush...
View ArticleSomething Book Publicists Love to Hear: "Pretend I'm a Producer--Pitch Me My...
[From The Huffington Post] This has happened to me more than once: A publisher invites an author in for a let's-get-acquainted meeting to have an initial discussion about marketing and publicity. At a...
View ArticleSteve Martin Starring in Rashomon
By now you've heard that Steve Martin's appearance at the 92nd Street Y in New York on Monday night didn't go so well. Martin was interviewed on stage by Deborah Solomon, who interviews famous folks...
View ArticleSanta's Privacy Policy
[From McSweeneys.net] At Santa's Workshop, your privacy is important to us. What follows is an explanation of how we collect and safeguard your personal information; the kind of information we collect;...
View ArticleSanitizing Twain--To the Nth Degree
[From The Huffington Post] When I saw the recent headline that Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben was removing all the n-words from Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, my first thought was: Good! Those...
View ArticleBelated Birthday Greetings for Edgar Allan Poe
[Today is the day after Edgar Allan Poe's 202nd birthday--time to revisit "Five Belated Birthday Greetings for Edgar Allan Poe," from The Huffington Post.] "It is what Edgar Allan Poe might have called...
View ArticleEnter the Free Press: One Door Closes and Two Years Later, Another One Opens
Here's the lede: I got a job! Starting February 7th I will be bookflacking full time for the Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Here's the background: I started this blog about 21 months...
View ArticleSecond Anniversary
Two years ago today, HarperCollins and I parted ways. One year ago today, I took stock of my situation on the first anniversary of my layoff. This second anniversary seems an appropriate occasion to do...
View ArticleAhab at Starbucks
From The Huffington Post: Whenever it was a damp, drizzly November in my soul, I would drop by Mr. Starbuck's for a steaming double-cupped grande vanilla latte with extra foam. Our industrious First...
View ArticleIn Honor of the 60th Anniversary of The Catcher in the Rye: Still Trying to...
Today is the 60th anniversary of the publication of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd revisit my brilliant idea for an unauthorized sequel. It's what the...
View ArticleResearching The Rogue: Selected Entries From the Secret Journal of Joe McGinniss
From The Huffington Post: To research his book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, author Joe McGinniss spent the summer of 2010 in a house immediately next door to the Palin home in...
View ArticleThe God Particle of Literature
You see this? * You probably see an asterisk. I see the most potent and powerful typographical symbol of all time. And that includes the interrobang. The asterisk is no mere glyph. As I explain in a...
View ArticleThe Division of Child & Family Services Investigates Reports of Child...
CFS: Bethlehem, from The Huffington Post: DIVISION OF CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES FIELD REPORT DATE: The reign of Cæsar Augustus, when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, in the days of Herod the king;...
View ArticleTonight, a Very Special "Hannibal Lecter". . . .
News of a forthcoming Hannibal Lecter TV series got me thinking about what an amazing coincidence it is that Lecter was christened Hannibal at birth so that when he grew up and became a serial killer...
View ArticleSpring Ahead
Daylight Savings Time begins today--remember to set your clocks ahead one hour. This means you lose an hour, so your 5 hour energy drink will only last 4 hours 24 hour diners are only open 23 hours...
View ArticleUndead Letter Office
Which experience is scarier: Reading "Dracula" or going to the post office? No need to choose--these two exquisite horrors are now combined in a new piece on The Huffington Post called "Undead Letter...
View ArticleA Classics Rock! Exposé
Over on my other blog, Classics Rock!, we have our very first foray into investigative journalism with a piece called Highway 61 Revisited Revisited, which uncovers a disturbing trend in the music...
View ArticleStamp of Approval
I'm flattered that Undead Letter Office is featured on the Bram Stoker Estate's web site.
View ArticleThe Hungry Hungry Hippos Games
The Hungry Hungry Hippos Games is up on The Huffington Post--it's a satirical take on The Hunger Games. I know, spoofs of The Hunger Games abound, and a couple of them mash up the movie with the...
View ArticleFifty Ways to Hide the Cover: A Song for Readers of Fifty Shades of Grey
You may be among the many, many people who are reading E.L. James's bestselling work of erotica Fifty Shades of Grey.If you are, I'm guessing that you may not necessarily want people to know you're...
View ArticleSmoke Signals: Secret Notes From Inside Conclave
From The Huffington Post: According to Italian media reports, a diary has surfaced written by an anonymous cardinal who participated in the recent Vatican conclave. Here are some excerpts from this...
View ArticleHenry V to I
In honor of #Shakespeare400, here's our homage to the famous St. Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V, originally posted 11/4/09. "King Henry V [led] a sodden and exhausted English Army against a French...
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