Friday: Blogs Noted

As of March 1st I am no longer maintaining a blogroll. Every other Friday (or so) I'll be posting blogs noted. Herewith:
Peeking Between the Pages
Chez Namaste Nancy
Big Blog of Marvel
Notes from the Bedside Table
Book Foolery
DC Books Examiner

For the Novelist's Bookshelf: One Dozen Recommended Books on Craft and Creating

My guest-blog for ForeWord's Publishing Insider column.

Juggling Point of View in the Novel

First, second, third, omniscient or---? I'll be on a panel with novelists Susan Coll and Leslie Pietrzyk discussing point of view in the novel this April 11 in the 3rd annual Conversations & Connections Writers Conference. Its looks like a great lineup of writers and editors--- and loads of practical advice on getting published. More anon.

Children's Book Guild of Washington DC Honors Susan Campbell Bartoletti

My amiga DC writer Margaret Blair sends news:

The Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C. is honoring Susan Campbell Bartoletti as the 2009 winner of The Children's Book Guild/The Washington Post 2009 Nonfiction Award in an April 4th program to be held at the National Geographic Society at 1145 17th Street, N.W. The 2-4:30 pm program will include a talk by Bartoletti as well as a performance by the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance with a reception and refreshments to follow. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online at www.childrensbookguild.org, or by sending a check to The Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C., 216 Walnut Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20012.

A Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary Sullivan (Inside Mexico)

My profile of Canadian writer and poet Rosemary Sullivan and her book Villa Air-Bel is now on-line in the new issue of Inside Mexico.

Coyoacán has become inextricably linked with painter Frida Kahlo, so what better place to rendezvous with poet, writer, and biographer of Surrealists Rosemary Sullivan? A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Sullivan had just alighted in Mexico City and would soon be on her way to meet with Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington when we met over cappuccinos at the sun-drenched Café Moheli to talk about her latest book.

Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille is a page-turner of a deeply researched history about the rescue of artists and intellectuals trapped as the Nazis closed in. This effort, promoted by the New York-based Emergency Rescue Committee and their agent in Marseilles, Varian Fry, managed to save André Breton, Marc Chagall, and Max Ernst, among others, and found refuge for them in the United States. But some came to Mexico, including Russian novelist Victor Serge, his son Vlady, and most famously Surrealist painters Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, who today (along with Frida Kahlo) are among Mexico's most revered artists. For this reason, Villa Air-Bel is a work important to the history of modern art in Mexico.

But the book's connection to Mexico goes deeper.

"Villa Air-Bel started here," Sullivan said. ...READ MORE

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, the new anthology edited By Alvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears--- (which includes my translation of a short story by Alvaro Enrique, "On the Death of the Author")--- is gathering a slew of great reviews. A new batch:

Book List

"Short-story fans hungry for something that doesn't taste like it was cooked up in an MFA program workshop should take note of this anthology of contemporary Mexican writers. There's great variety here, but what all 16 stories have in common are distinctive voices. For the most part eschewing realism, these stories are exuberant, playful, informal, and experimental, and may make some readers nostalgic for the years before U.S. fiction got so institutionalized. Standouts include Álvaro Enrigue's "On the Death of the Author," a metafictional account of the author's attempts to tell the story of Ishi, the last Yahi Indian; Jorge F. Hernández's "True Friendship," about a man's perfect but probably fictional best friend; and Juan Villoro's hilarious "Mariachi," the tale of analysand El Gallito de Jojutla, "the only mariachi star who has never sat on a horse." Stories are printed in both Spanish and English on facing pages; bilingual readers will be able to judge the translations for themselves, and readers who only know English will at least be able to see the shape of the originals."

Omnivoracious on amazon.com

"Even as Mexican culture has become more a part of our everyday lives here in the U.S., most of us probably have not read these influential editors, translators, columnists, and professors, even though they are the most prominent and award-winning authors of the Mexican literary scene. Why? Because many of these writers, and most of these stories, have never appeared in English before."

Shelfari: Translated!

"This extraordinary anthology of short stories, all written by Mexican authors born since 1945... represents an important cultural exchange, at least for U.S. readers. Even as Mexican culture has become more a part of our everyday lives here in the U.S., most of us probably have not read these influential editors, translators, columnists, and professors, even though they are the most prominent and award-winning authors of the Mexican literary scene. Why? Because many of these writers, and most of these stories, have never appeared in English before."

The Latin American Review of Books

"One unique aspect of this work is its transparency with regard to the translation. While many readers will opt to choose to experience the anthology either in Spanish or English, according to their own personal preferences or abilities, it is important to note that, in several cases the translations do not always run parallel to each other, a clear example that this should not necessarily be viewed as a pedagogical text that one uses to learn Spanish with the help of English (or vice-versa), but rather as a collection of narratives intended to offer “a glimpse of the rich tapestry of Mexican fiction” to an ample public. To this end, each story has its own well-established translator whose biographical details, like the original authors themselves, are also included at the end of this volume. This is a worthy recognition of the contribution they make in enabling this book to reach both the Spanish- and English-speaking world."

The Quarterly Conversation

"...Alvaro Enrigue...is such a talented writer that he manages to describe, from within his own story, exactly what makes his story superlative, and he pulls this off without making the inclusion seem the least bit strained:

There is a story, and a very good one at that, told by Bernardo Atxaga. He says that one day, as he walked through a town in his native Basque country, all of a sudden he came upon a man by a door with a hole in it. He chatted with the old man for a spell and then the man asked, Did he know why there was a hole in the door? Atxaga answered, It would be for the cat. No, said the man. They made it years ago, in order to feed a boy who, having been bitten by a dog, had turned into a dog.

The stories I like, the ones that make me wildly jealous and yearn to be able to write that well, have the bedazzling logic of that old Basque: they lack a piece, and this lack transforms them into a myth, appealing to the lowest common denominator that makes us all more or less equal.

'On the Death of the Author' lacks a piece; in fact, it lacks about four or five pieces, as there are four or five “mythical” sub-stories found within this work. Impressively, Enrigue manages to join these sub-stories together with thematic and particular links that make the entire piece come together as a deeply mysterious yet quite comprehensible whole."

OF Blog of the Fallen: "Short Fiction Sunday"

"an excellent, rich, diverse collection of stories that hopefully will inspire readers to dig deeper into Mexico's very rich literary tradition."

More anon.

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life, by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. Ten stars. The mega-paradigm shift explained by a leading networks scientist in plain, if elegant, English. Though this book first came out in 2002, it's well worth reading for the light it shines on the current financial crisis and the Madoff scandal. More anon. Maybe via twitter.

Use an Egg-Timer If You Must: The Five Minute Cure for Writer's Block

A brief article of mine about "'Giant Golden Buddha' & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises" is on-line at ForeWord Magazine's blog. I'm doing three more pieces for the the "Publishing Insider" column for March--- look for my next column on Wednesday 3/10.

P.S. See also Tom Christensen's excellent piece for this column, on Book Design Primer.

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, edited by Alvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, Dalkey Archive Press, 2009, is just out-- it includes my translation of Alvaro Enrigue's short story "On the Death of the Author." Herewith the review by Scott Esposito over at The Quarterly Conversation. More anon.

White Nose and the Collapse of the Bat Population in the Northeast U.S. or, Here Come the Bugs

"White nose" links:

->Linda Moulton Howe Interviews Dr Eric Britsky
Most recent, with detailed information and photos.
->CBS News Dead Bats: Why It Matters to You
Aired Saturday Feb 27th.
->Scientists Scurrying to Find Cause of Bat Disease
->US Gov White Nose FAQ (PDF)
->Bat Conservation International: "The Race Against White Nose Syndrome"

National Public Radio (both text and link to listen in):
->Bats Plagued by Mysterious 'White-Nose' Disease
->Disease Deadly to Bats Spreads in Northeast U.S.
->Northeast Bat Die Off Mirrors Honeybee Collapse
->Experts Identify Fungus Suspected in Bat Die-Off
More anon.