One of our most popular backlist books, Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, was the best-selling title in the trade through the week ending Jan. 28. Click on the cover to read more about this title.
We happened to notice a blogger who appreciates this recent release.
I got a new book yesterday, entered it into my Library Thing even though I haven’t come close to finishing it, because it’s a different kind of book. The Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction Maybe you aren’t yet familiar with The Glimmer Train? My favorite lit mag. Gorgeous. Check it out.
The Metro West Daily News in Massachusetts has the following to say about Unfortunate English:
An etymologist is a person who studies the origins of words. And according to my new favorite book, Unfortunate English by Bill Brohaugh, I hope not to be blunt about the words I use any longer.
According to Mr. Brohaugh, blunt in and around the 12th century meant stupid. At the same time, I hope that I’m not shrewd either. While today this word may connote that I am astute, savvy, and perceptive, early on, this word also meant malicious, wicked, evil, ugly, mean, abusive, and depraved among others. Only in the 1500s did the positive meanings stick to our current definition.
Cory Doctorow gives a shout out to Talk the Talk over at BoingBoing:
Talk the Talk is a thoroughly enjoyable toilet-tank-top reference book, the kind of quirky thing that is endlessly fascinating and full of odd insights into worlds you never suspected existed. It’s a collection of glossaries of the slang of 65 American subcultures, from skinheads to hookers, puppeteers to ren faire habituees, con artists to Antarctic researchers, truckers to prisoners. Every page contains a surprise.
Our longtime backlist favorite, Comedy Writing Secrets, was the best-selling title in the trade through the week ending Jan. 21. Click on the cover to read more about this title.
The Burning Void has posted a 5-star review of Beginning Writer’s Answer Book.
I can see why this book has sold more than 70,000 copies in the 30 years it’s been around, and why it merited an all-new edition. So many of these questions are things I’ve heard new writers ask time and time again. While it’s true that most, if not all, of the answers can be found on the web nowadays, having all of this in one easy-to-access fact-checked location is invaluable to many people. Certain questions are handily marked as being particularly important or worth paying attention to so that you don’t miss the career-making advice you should take and career-ending mistakes you should avoid.
A new review of Your First Novel has appeared at Writers Services, a UK site.
Your First Novel is an excellent tutorial and reference source for anyone who wants to become more than a weekend scribbler. Working through the chapters, carrying out the exercises, following up on the references provided, will give the budding author a very thorough understanding of what’s involved in writing a novel and getting it into the bookshops. The advice is clear and unambiguous, the tone supportive, but as both authors make clear, in the end it’s up to you. However, with a book like this on your desk, you stand a much better chance of succeeding.
Check out a sample chapter from our new book, Noble’s Book of Writing Blunders. Author William Noble encourages you to find your own writing style by telling you what NOT to do. To see an excerpt of the book, click here.
The Ingram Reader’s Advisor recently interviewed Mort Castle, a contributor to On Writing Horror. Read the full interview here.
AK: How is this updated edition of On Writing Horror different from the first edition?
MC: Many ways, not the least of which is the superb job of book design–retro and edgy both. Yes, the first book was fine for its times, but the design elements now reflect today and tomorrow.
It is a much bigger book by at least 25,000 words. Some of the older chapters are gone, some have been somewhat too extensively revised, and there are many, many new chapters. As I say in the new introduction, it’s a new era for horror: the first book came out when horror was struggling for legitimacy; this new edition comes post Stephen King being a New Yorker magazine regular and the winner of the National Book Award for Contribution to American Letters.
Our longtime backlist favorite, Comedy Writing Secrets, was the best-selling title in the trade through the week ending Jan. 14. Click on the cover to read more about this title.