"There are books of which the backs and the covers are by far the best parts . . ."My Dear E.A. Poe--
--Charles Dickens
I hear that Hollywood is once again digging up another of your corpses and has created a celluloid monstrosity from its well-picked bones. Up here in Author's Heaven we get a lot of our news second hand, but I believe Mr. Twain mentioned that the title of the movie is The Raven. Sorry, old boy, not terribly original I'm afraid. I do find it exceedingly tiring trying to keep up with all this new technology. I guess it could be worse, the movie moguls could be working on their umpteenth production of Oliver Twist.
It is a shame there is no fiction winner for the Pulitzer Prize this year. I see David Foster Wallace's The Pale King (9780316074223) 16.99, Karen Russell's Swamplandia (9780307276681) 14.95, and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams (9780374281144) 18.00 were all nominated. But apparently, none of them were 'well written enough' to make the cut.
I asked DFW about it and he said, " . . . . "
The other winners were The Swerve (9780393064476) 26.95 by Stephen Greenblatt for General Non-Fiction. John Lewis Gaddis' George F. Keenan (9781594203121) 39.95 won for Biography. Manning Marable's Malcolm X (9780143120322) 18.00 was posthumously awarded the History prize. And they announced a Drama and a Poetry winner, too.
Speaking of technology, Charles Babbage had once told me that some day there would be a difference engine that would allow us to communicate worldwide. He told me to not only copyright my titles, but my name as well. He also suggested that I should purchase possible domain names like 'Dickensmore' and 'Pippinmore'. He said there's an author named J.K. Rowling who has a place called 'Pottermore' which will allow you to send a book to your portable difference engine. He mentioned that this J.K. has made millions of pounds selling books this way.
As to the future, I am confounded by the success of E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey (9780345803481) 15.95, and its sequels Fifty Shades Darker (9780345803498) 15.95 and Fifty Shades Freed (9780345803504) 15.95. These are so poorly written that they would never have made it past my editor, but I suppose you must give the people what they want, eh? In regards to 35 Shades of Grey, Mr. Babbage sent me what he called a link to show me what some scoundrels are up to: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/16/amazon-knock-off-bestsellers/?iid=HP_LN
Affectionately Yours Ever,
Charlie Dickens
Odds & Sods
Not since the cover of the 2012 Partners Great Lakes & Midwest Catalog have I seen a lighthouse as big as the one on the cover of the Michigan History Directory 13th Edition (9781880311103) 19.95. Of course, the history locations inside this book are even bigger. Vacation season is right around the corner, and this title will help you plan your adventure . . .
Blaine Harden tells North Korean Shin Dong-hyuk's remarkable and harrowing story in Escape From Camp 14 (9780670023325) 26.95. Shin is the only escapee born into a North Korean work camp who has survived to tell his story. It makes you realize how lucky you really are . . .
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