Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 54
October 30, 2014
A Milkstool Has Three Legs
A blog posthas been going around lately, in which Hugh Howey (bestselling author and book industry watcher) attempts to debunk some myths about publishing. Specifically, he addresses the standard tropes that the fast growth of the e-book market is (a) materially damaging publishers, and (b) decimating the independent bookstore market. His post (which is a […]
October 28, 2014
Master Class
My first master class was with Chuck Mangione, jazz composer and flugelhorn player par excellence. He came to my school, sat down with a group of student musicians, and attempted to speak to us about music, as a profession, and as a way of life. When it came time for the Q&A portion, one of […]
October 23, 2014
Letters and Lunchtime
I am a sucker for epistolary movies. Throw in ethnic food and cookery, and you’ll have me on toast points. The Lunchbox (2013) stars Irffan Khan and Nimrat Kaur, and is the first full-length feature by director Ritesh Batra (who also wrote the screenplay and produced the film). Western movie-goers might recognize Khan from movies […]
October 22, 2014
Vignette 22Oct2014
Autumn’s first storm has hit Seattle, and my commute is packed with sounds not heard since spring. Sheets of rain hiss through parchmentleaves. Fat dropssplat as they crater sidewalk puddles. Eavesand downspoutsplathertheir runoffinto waiting pools. Tire treadssizzle down dawn’sslick streets. Jacket frontszip. Gore-tex and oilclothrustle andwheeze. Wind gusts flubble against hat brims and upturned collars. […]
October 21, 2014
Going Under
I’ve been thinking about “immersion” lately. A lot. It’s infected my daily thoughts, disturbed my reading, and stymied my writing. If I was searching for someone to blame, I’d have to pickJefferson Smith and the “Immerse or Die” project he runs over at CreativityHacker, but since it’s been an interesting and illuminating intrusion, I’ll thank […]
October 14, 2014
Oh, Snap!
I have a bone to pick with Horace Engdahl. Engdahl is a member of the Swedish Academy (the folks who give out the Nobel Prizes) and this month, in aninterview with French paper La Croix, he lamented that literature in the West is suffering because writers have become too “professionalized.” Formerly, he opines, writers used […]
October 13, 2014
Down-Home Charcuterie
Prosciutto. Capicola. Pancetta. Lonzino. Bresaola. I’ve always enjoyed this kind of charcuterie, when it’s done well. In recent years, though, the quality of products in the shops has really declined. It used to be I could find decent prosciutto at our regulargrocery, but now I have to go to high-end shops or specialty purveyors […]
October 8, 2014
Sutton, Who?
Recently, RogerSutton (editor-in-chief of The Horn Book, a magazine that reviews children’s and YA books), declared in an open letter to self-published authors his reasons for not reviewing self-published books. The next day, Ron Charles (editor of The Washington Post’s Book World) picked up Sutton’s commentary for an article and interview, adding his own two […]
October 7, 2014
Writer, Present Tense
Last Saturday, I battled a demon, and emerged triumphant. Okay, maybe not “triumphant.” But I was ableto walk away under my own power. Last Saturday, the Sumner Arts Commission, in partnership with the Sumner Public Library, hosted a panel of authors on the topic, “Getting it Right,” i.e., the importance of accuracy in historical research. […]
October 2, 2014
Your Brain on Books
Youknow I like books. I mean books,real books, those things made of paper and ink. A well-made book is a treasure, not to mention a marvel of low-level technology and, while Ihave an e-reader, read the occasional novelon my e-reader,and while I was one of the earliest adopters of the technology (I owned a first-generation […]
