Liane Spicer's Blog, page 10

Chimamanda Adicie: The danger of a single story

Chimamanda Adicie is the author of Purple Hibiscus (2003) which was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005). Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is set before and during the Biafran War. Her collection of short stories, The Thing around Your Neck, was published in 2009.

In the clip below she discusses the danger of viewing a culture through the lens of a single story.

Novel Spaces: Those darned publishing myths

Novel Spaces: Those darned publishing myths: "We've all read them, and we start out with loads of misconceptions on account of them. How do we separate the industry wisdom from the urban..."

You've invited to join me on Novel Spaces today as we go about shooting down those urban myths of publishing!

Paper good, Kindle bad?

Yes, I've absconded to the dark side: I've begun buying e-books on Kindle on the sly. You're invited to join me as I discuss my defection on Novel Spaces today.

The Dark Side

Bachac attack

Anyone who's been reading this blog for awhile knows that I live in a forested valley teeming with wildlife that often gets much too close for comfort. Vipers, hairy spiders the size of dessert plates, centipedes, bats, foul-mouthed frogs, quarrelsome manicou families - we live intimately will them all. I've never mentioned bachacs, though, because they've never posed a problem. When I lived higher up in the valley they started attacking my rose bushes but a sprinkling of bait provided by ...

The DON'Ts

Two weeks ago I discussed the things readers can do to help their favourite starving authors. Today I'm across on Novel Spaces again looking at the stuff readers should not do:

How To Help A Starving Author Part 2: The DON'Ts

Novel Spaces: How to help a starving author

Novel Spaces: How to help a starving author: "Writers don't make a lot of money. Debbie MacComber, Sue Grafton and John Grisham are the exceptions; the truth is that it's difficult for midlist authors to make a living from writing - and it's getting harder all the time...."

Come join me on Novel Spaces today to find out what you can do to help your favourite authors - apart from buying their books, that is!

Novel Spaces: Guest author Maya Reynolds: Translating Your Inspi...

Novel Spaces: Guest author Maya Reynolds: Translating Your Inspi...: "Maya Reynolds is a management analyst living and working in Dallas, Texas. She's published two romances through NAL, a division of Penguin,..."

Getting the sex right

When does romance become erotica, and erotica become pornography? How graphic should the sex in romance novels get? And is it even necessary?

You're invited to join me as I ponder these questions in The Sex Thing on Novel Spaces today.

Where do writers get their ideas?

From the compost heap, of course. Come join me as I blog over at Novel Spaces today on the source of writers' inspiration.

The Raw Material

...and the Versatile Blogger award goes to...

Me! The lovely K.S. Augustin has given me this:

Thank you, Kaz! I'm supposed to pass this fetching blog award (I do love green!) along to fifteen deserving bloggers (eek!) and tell you seven things about myself that you never knew. I'm beginning to feel like Oprah: everything about me is all out there! I exaggerate, I exaggerate. There's a lot you don't know about me, such as:

1. In my youth I was often asked why I didn't model. Flattering, but the mere thought of strutting my stuff on a c...