Ryan Field's Blog, page 460

Famous Authors Condemn Fake Reviews

There is an interesting article where some very famous bestselling authors are condemning fake book reviews, including Lee Child and Susan Hill.

In this article it states:

The practice, known as "sock puppeting", has been given added salience by the recent disclosure that best-selling crime author, R J Ellory, whose novels have sold more than a million copies, has been using fake identities to write positive reviews of his own books, his "magnificent genius" and critical attacks on his rivals....

Links To Authentic Best Gay Writing Blogs

The following links came from here.

I've mentioned that I used to write reviews and do interviews for the original Best Gay Blogs web site that was owned and operated by a gay couple in New York. I think that goes back to 2003. For them it was a sideline, at the time. They both had corporate jobs and started it for fun and wound up selling the blog about fives years later to larger corporation. I stopped freelancing for them after it was sold because I didn't want to work with new owners. I'm...

A New "Homa-Sexshul" TV Show: The New Normal

When I tuned into the newest TV show revolving around gay characters last night I wasn't expecting much. To be completely honest, I've come to expect the typical, like the gay couple on Modern Family or a character who is some middle aged divorced woman's best gay friend. Nothing wrong with either of these examples if done well, but it does seem to me that the mainstream public loves to watch limp-wristed gay men lisp and flit nowadays as much as they used to enjoy watching that hideous old s...

Mark Zuckerberg Speaks at Tech Crunch Disrupt...

For the first time in a long time I was watching the six o'clock local news and heard about this during what had to be a two minute tech report. They also mentioned the DOJ settlement and e-books, which is something I've never seen before on local TV news. Up until recently it's as if the Internet never existed. But I think that's changing, and it's going to move fast now.

But I digress. This post is about Mark Zuckerberg and facebook, which I always find fascinating. This article says he jum...

the twin towers attack

One of the more articulate videos I've seen on this topic.

September 11, 2001 - As It Happened - The South Tower Attack

Barry Eisler Posts About Sockpuppet Site and Why I'm Not Removing My Name From the List

ETA: Instead of writing a new post on this topic...which I'm frankly growing extremely bored with all the way around...I'm linking to a blog post that talks about Joe Konrath's latest blog post and his feelings about buying reviews and sockpuppetry. No comment from me. Everyone has a right to an opinion. But it's an interesting, if not entertaining, read. You can get there from here .

I once wrote a scathing review for a local pharmacy based on my personal experiences with the pharmacist and th...

Remembering 911

  One of the things I remember about September 11, 2001 was how bright and blue the sky was that day. Maybe I'm romanticizing this, but I haven't seen a day that bright and blue in September since then. Yesterday came close, but it still didn't match up.

I've written about where I was that day. Here's the link. I also posted a photo with that post that shows some of the fear we experienced in this part of the country in the months that followed the terrorist attacks.

We also have...

Quilts, by Joyce Carol Oates

In a recent issue of The Saturday Evening Post (I still read that one in print, too), there's a wonderful article by author, Joyce Carol Oates. Here's a short description:

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. “Quilts” is from the anthology What My Mother Gave Me: 31 Women Remember a Favorite Gift, edited by Elizabeth Benedict, to be published by Algonquin Books, Spring 2013. She...

Update: More Info For "Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey"

The marketing person for Bella Books sent me more info for the upcoming non-fiction book, Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, that revolves around essays about the novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. I also received a final cover image.


The publication date is November 20, 2012.

The book will be released in print and digital format at the same time.

For more info, check out my previous post here, and here. And I'll be posting more in the coming weeks as things come up.

This might be an inter...