Happy Holidays!

A Child Plays Among the Snowmen Made at the Arbat

I want to wish everyone--old friends and new ones--a lovely holiday.

Bloggers Review Tomato Girl

TOMATO GIRL is reviewed at Bobbi's Book Nook. There is also a review at 1More Chapter.

Dark Time in the Delta

Read my review of Hillary Jordan's debut novel, MUDBOUND, in this month's issue of Gently Read Literature. And watch the book trailer, too!

MUDBOUND:

The tyranny of the to-read pile

A stack of good intentions ... The dreaded to-read pile. Photograph: Roger Tooth

The Tyranny of the To-read Pile: a post by Sam Jordison in the Guardian

Over recent months I've read plenty of articles about the impact the credit crunch will have on publishing, and the general consensus appears to be that while it will doubtless be affected like every other industry, the impact will likely be gentler than elsewhere. The industry is used to struggling already, so it's less likely to be panicked by narrowing profit margins than those skittish coke-fiends in the city. What's more, recessions generally don't seem to stop people buying books. Punters may have less money to throw away on extravagant food-porn absurdities such as The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, but this is balanced out by the sad fact that plenty of people suddenly find themselves with a lot more time to read.

I'm prepared to go along with that theory, but an article I just came across on bookninja.com has led me to question the premise slightly....Read the rest of the post here.

“Dreams (from The Blackbird Series)”

My poem “Dreams (from The Blackbird Series)” appears in Caketrain Issue 06.

Forthcoming December 2008

First printing, 300 copies

5 3/8 w × 8 5/16 h × 264 pages of sixty-pound acid-free off-white text stock, perfect-bound with a ten-point glossy cover stock. Preorder yours here.