Gerrie Ferris Finger's Blog, page 17

RADIO GIG

I'll be talking about my two series, DRU and LAKE, and THE LAURA KATE PLANTATION SERIES on Red River Writers Blog Talk Radio on September 16 at 8:00 p.m. The show is the premier of "15 Minutes with Robins & Goodnow"

Tune in and listen while I "run my mouth", as we say in the South, for fifteen minutes. You take your fame where you can get it, and I'm looking forward to April Robins' fine show.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

PRINT DICTIONARIES GOING THE WAY OF THE DODO?

Papers Fight Over Whether Third Oxford English Dictionary Will Ever Be Printed
from Publishers Lunch

The original story in the Sunday Times this weekend was interesting, and reasonable enough. Oxford University Press ceo Nigel Portwood noted "the print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of per cent a year."

Asked if the company would issue a print version of the third edition of the OED--said to be 28 percent complete, and estimated to be at least 10 years away...

THE EVOLVING NOVELIST

If life's a journey, the writing life is a filled with detours.

When I retired from news writing and embarked on a career as a novelist, I took so many back roads, I can't count them. I was technique-challenged. I knew the basics and the differences between writing novels and newspaper copy. The longer form, whether genre or literary, involves conflict, plot structure, character building, setting, plot and theme. News editors reject all that to crowd as much information into as small a space a...

WAGON DOGS

WAGON DOGS, my October release now has a face. Jenifer Ranieri of Desert Breeze Publishing designed the jacket, which expertly captures the atmosphere of the romantic suspense story. WAGON DOGS is Book 3 in the Laura Kate Plantation Series. WHEN SERPENTS DIE and HONORED DAUGHTERS are books 1 and 2. See more about these ebooks at http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

CENTER FOR FICTION RENAMES PRIZE

From Publishers Lunch:

"The Center for Fiction (previously the Mercantile Library) has changed the name of their first novel prize--originally the John Sargent Sr. prize when launched in 2006--to the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize, due to support from board member and writer Nancy Dunnan and honoring her late father Ray Flaherty, also a writer.

The seven nominated debut novels are:
Beneath the Lion's Gaze, by Maaza Mengiste
The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer
Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes
Mr. Peanut...

KNOWING NOIR

My novel, THE END GAME, has been called a traditional novel, a hard-boiled mystery and noir. Am I strawberry shortcake or what?

Otto Penzler writes in the Huffington Post:

"Noir fiction has attracted some of the best writers in the United States (mostly) and many of its aficionados are among the most sophisticated readers in the crime genre. Having said that, I am constantly baffled by the fact that a huge number of those readers don't seem to know what noir fiction is. When they begin to speak...

Booker Prize Longlist

From Publishers Lunch
The Booker Prize longlist was announced yesterday. The list will be whittled to six on September 7, and the winner will be named on October 12. As helpfully sorted below, four of the titles are scheduled for US publication over the next three months, and three have no announced US publication date. In a Booker first, Damon Galgut's novel does not have a US print release date yet, but is available now from Amazon Kindle.

Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
Andrea Levy...

CROWDFUNDED PUBLISHING - HUH?

France pioneers 'crowdfunded' publishing
Éditions du Public seeks 'co-editors' who 'invest in what they want to read'



From the guardian.co.uk



July 2010

"From science fiction writers to poets and playwrights, would-be French authors are lining up to take part in France's first venture into crowdfunded literature.


Launched this spring by publisher Éditions du Public , the initiative – slogan: "I invest in what I want to read" – has already received 80 manuscripts. Sixteen have been merited good...

CHEERS FOR BOOK CLUBS

In our small community on the coast of Georgia, there are four book clubs. There used to be three. The members rotate holding the monthly meetings, and the size of the three clubs grew to the point where there wasn't enough room for members to sit, to say nothing of the food and wine bills for the gathering.
I had my first book club appearance last week. I've never belonged to a book club, although I've always had a bookmark in at least one fiction or nonfiction book since I was old enough ...

ICE CREAM - YOU SCREAM

There aren't many ice creams that I don't like. Not fond of mint, licorice or peanut butter. PB doesn't taste right unless it sticks to the roof of my mouth.
But here are some great cone fillers for the long, hot summer.
http://tinyurl.com/2dv2boh Gerrie