Books

Glad Day Bookshop, Canada’s oldest gay bookstore, now makes just eight sales a day. Owner John Scythes wants to make one more: he recently announced that the store is for sale.

“There’s no simple gender indicator for the weird fusion of insecurity and ambition, of the feigned nonchalance and quiet competitiveness that’s common in writers of all sorts. But these traits are complicated by the cultural caricatures of ambitious women and the uneven historical patterns that have dictated whose talent is rewarded and whose isn’t. Whether…Read More

“It has been a fascinating phenomenon in the discussion around publishing how adversarial people get around other people’s choices. So if someone says “I like an ebook,” a person will respond “Ohhh, I can’t believe — how can you do that?” It’s like that obnoxious person who you don’t want to go out to dinner…Read More

Scott Westerfeld has released new art from chapter 26 of Goliath, the final book in the Leviathan series. And it looks awesome.

“You can hit the highlights, and you can specialize enough to become knowledgeable in some things, but most of what’s out there, you’ll have to ignore. [...] You simply have no chance of seeing even most of what exists. Statistically speaking, you will die having missed almost everything.”

Scott Westerfeld has posted several illustrations from Goliath, the upcoming conclusion to the Leviathan series. And: See the full-size versions here and here. Leviathan was set in pre-WWI Europe and features ships made out of gigantic fish, political intrigue, and cross-dressing. Behemoth is set beginning a few hours later, and features even larger gigantic fish-type…Read More

“It is perhaps a symptom of print’s decline that the current conversation about the book’s demise has forgotten all these other ones. Instead we shuttle between two equally hollow poles: goofball digital boosterism a la Negroponte on one side and on the other a helpless, anguished nostalgia for the good old days of papercuts. Call…Read More