Making headway

Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.

First, the ongoing drain on my time and energy may be coming to an end. Let's hope so. At the least I'm making headway. If anyone ever asks you to be executor for an estate, think twice before you say yes. I had no idea how much time, effort and willpower it took.

*** The new issue of iloveamysterynewsletter is posted. I have a couple of reviews in it, and now a link back to this blog. also, I'm changing the descriptive header at the top to something a bit less accurate and a bit spiffier. Given the choice between content and spiffiness, I'll pick spiffiness every time.

*** The Nebula Awards were given out last weekend. For those who don't know, the Nebulas are awarded to Science Fiction writers based on the votes of fans, kind of like the People's Choice Awards, as opposed to the Hugos, which are more like the Oscars. M.Scott Edelman is a longtime SF writer/editor and here's a link to his blog from that weekend: Edelman does the Nebulas. Some great photos there, as well.

*** Sadly, it should be noted that Thomas Deitz has died. Dietz was young, 57, a well known SFF writer and by all accounts a good guy. I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet him.

Thomas Deitz

*** I find this next item fascinating. Why do people are publications spend so much time, effort and space on negative book reviews? If the book is wretched, why waste your breathe going on about it? It's a really good question.

For example, the second worst book I've ever read is The Da Vinci Code. Complete and utter rubbish, not only because of its idiotic 'research', I can stretch willing suspension of disbelief pretty far, after all, but moreso because of the hideously poor writing involved. Dan Brown has never met a cliche he can't use at least a dozen times, and the book buying public seems to crave more of this. So why do people like me feel the need to go on and on about it? I think the article makes some good points about that very thing.

Why bother bashing books?

*** Here's a book I want to read about an event I didn't know happened. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo. It seems that after he left office, Truman and wife Bess, and nobody else, went on a 2500 mile road trip across America. Imagine such a thing! You're hanging out eating breakfast at a diner, dead tired after getting off work in the bicycle factory, and in walks the former POTUS and his wife to grab supper. Incredible. And yet, apparently, quite true. This may be one of those 'I've got to look this book up' books.

Harry and Bess go for a drive