s week Litopia After Dark is delighted to welcome back Martyn Daniels, fresh from the Frankfurt Book Fair. We take full advantage of his ringside view and ask the question everyone is asking… how were the parties?
A new book by Roy Blount Jr has just been published – Alphabet Juice (with nearly the longest subtitle in publishing history). Blount contends that "through centuries of intimate contact with the human body, some words have absorbed the uncanny power to carry the ring of truth." We try to put our finger on the hidden language of words, particularly as it applies to peoples' names - both your own, and those of your characters.
A fascinating article in this week’s New Yorker by Elizabeth Kolbert recounts the life of etiquette-guru Emily Post: it all began with a major scandal. We ask how important etiquette is in today's brash new world.
The looming US presidential election has spawned a rash of picture books for children – too young to vote, of course, but obviously their parents want them politicized at an early age. Propaganda or political awareness-building?
All this, and the regular madness of Pitch the Nasty Agent (this week’s titles are all taken from “Books with odd or misleading titles” - a Listmania! list by E. A. Lovitt ("starmoth") from Gladwin, MI USA on Amazon.com), the nail biting frustration of Toad Suck, Arkansas, Reverse Shuffle Six Card Strip Pokerette and the sob story of Cry for Help.
Our special guests are Martyn Daniels, publishing expert and author of the seminal report for the Booksellers Association of Great Britain about their digital future. You can find Martyn on his blog Brave New World. And we're delighted to welcome back Dr Susan O’Doherty, writer, clinical psychologist and the author of Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman’s Guide to Unblocking Creativity. Her popular advice column for writers, “The Doctor Is In”, appears every Friday on MJ Rose’s publishing blog, Buzz, Balls, & Hype. Joining them are our regular stalwarts, Dave Bartram and Donna Ballman.
