Mesmer

Check this out.

"An Air of Mystery and Magic" (UPDATED)

These people--



--are profiled in The Valley Advocate, "Arts and Entertainment for the Pioneer Valley." (Yeah, I'd never heard of it either.)

Apparently, they run some sort of publishing concern.

UPDATE: Ms. Link is also profiled in the new Publishers Weekly. It's a subscription site, but you can sign up for a thirty-day free trial and get all the content you want.

Learning to Love the Slut (UPDATED)

Bookslut points to the new George Saunders story in The New Yorker but seems not to realize that The Watley Review is a satirical publication. Tiebreaker: the second event of the Bookslut Reading Series right here in Chicago (the first was last night, and I missed it) features Maureen McHugh, Jennifer Stevenson, and Charles Blackstone. August 23rd, 7:30 PM at Hopleaf.

UPDATE: Jessa Crispin has updated her post on the Mary Sue article to reflect the fact that she realized it was a joke. The lesson, of course, is: Never assume that your readers will give you the benefit of the doubt.

Pub News

As in, "lication."

Sorry, that makes no sense.

My copies of Talebones #30 arrived today, with a striking cover by Jeff Sturgeon. My story of airport insecurity and identity travel, "A Whole Man," is on page 44, facing a nicely done photo illustration by Eric M. Turnmire. Thanks, Eric!

I'll wait while you all rush to get a copy.

. . .

OK, just in case my story's not enough to sell you, here's the skinny. This is the 10th Anniversary Issue of Talebones, and it includes stories by Anne Harris, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, James Van Pelt, Ray Vukjevich, Brian Scott Hiebert, Jason D. Wittman, and Michael Poore; poetry by Katherine Elwevar, Roger Dutcher, and William John Watkins; an interview with Ben Bova conducted by Ken Rand; and reviews by Edward Bryant. Not to mention the content provided by editors Patrick and Honna Swenson. Congratulations to them both on ten years of Talebones, and thanks!

All Editors Are Darwinists

I've been thinking about the weak verbs. Are they preyed upon by the strong verbs? Do they have trouble getting dates?

I'm guessing they're not endangered.

Legendary Jealousy

Detroit gets a mythical metropolitan nemesis and Chicago doesn't? Screw Capone. I want a gnome-like harbinger of doom--hold the doom--with a side of guardian spirit, please.