Dykulture's Cover Art: The weird and sexy world of lesbian pulp fiction

The more I find out about the cover art of lesbian pulp fiction, the more I develop a trashy taste for it. The same reason I’m an unashamed fan of country music, puns and Sparletta. They’re almost like those ironic black & white greeting cards where a frumpy uptight woman smiles at the camera, and underneath is the caption: “Jane couldn’t do without a steaming cup of coffee and a hot (insert rude genital reference here)”. Except better. Because they were the real thing. The cover art is iconic on its own, but as a word lover, I like the titles and sub-captions best.

Like this one. “Private Party: No one at school realised they were more than just roommates…No one suspected what took place once their door was locked.”

And there was more behind the choice in titles. Lesbian pulp novels were marketed to men. They were erotic, scandalous novels filled with all sorts of tales of sexual fantasy. So besides having suggestive cover art, the publishers used words like “twilight”, “odd”, “strange”, “shadows” and “queer” to let you know just what kind of novel you were in for.

- Dykulture.com

Read the rest of the post here.

Penguin cookbook calls for 'freshly ground black people'

A recipe for tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto has proved a little too spicy for Penguin Australia, after a misprint suggesting that the dish required "salt and freshly ground black people" has left the publisher reaching for the pulping machine, rather than the pepper grinder.

It's a one-word slip that only came to light after a member of the public got in touch, and which has sent all 7,000 copies of The Pasta Bible at Penguin's warehouse to be destroyed, an exercise which head of publishing, Robert Sessions, told the Sydney Morning Herald would cost $ 20,000.

There are, as yet, no plans to recall copies that have made it into stores, which according to Sessions would be "extremely hard". He was "mortified that this has become an issue of any kind", adding that "why anyone would be offended, we don't know".

Read the rest of the article here.

Sherman Alexie Wins 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Picked from among 350 novels and short story collections, Sherman Alexie's War Dances has won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The award was judged by Rilla Askew, Kyoko Mori, and Al Young, analyzing books from more than 90 publishing houses, small presses, and academic presses.

Judge Young had this statement about the book: "War Dances taps every vein and nerve, every tissue, every issue that quickens the current blood-pulse: parenthood, divorce, broken links, sex, gender and racial conflict, substance abuse, medical neglect, 9/11, Official Narrative vs. What Really Happened, settler religion vs. native spirituality; marketing, shopping, and war, war, war. All the heartbreaking ways we don't live now--this is the caring, eye-opening beauty of this rollicking, bittersweet gem of a book."

- Jason Boog, Galleycat

Orange Prize longlist announced

Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the Orange Prize for Fiction today announces the 2010 longlist.

“It was a tough judging process as there was a particularly strong range of books submitted from all over the world in this, the 15th year of the Orange Prize,” commented Daisy Goodwin, Chair of Judges, “but in the end we have chosen a muscular, original and pleasurable longlist that will appeal to all kinds of readers.”

The 2010 longlist features new and well-established writers, including seven first novels alongside previous Orange Prize and Orange Best of the Best winner, Andrea Levy, and Man Booker 2009 winner, Hilary Mantel.

• Rosie Alison The Very Thought of You
  Alma Books

  Eleanor Catton The Rehearsal
  Granta

  Clare Clark Savage Lands
  Harvill Secker

  Amanda Craig Hearts and Minds
  Little, Brown

  Roopa Farooki The Way Things Look to Me
  Pan Books

  Rebecca Gowers The Twisted Heart
  Canongate

  M.J. Hyland This is How
  Canongate

  Sadie Jones Small Wars
  Chatto & Windus

  Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna
  Faber and Faber

  Laila Lalami Secret Son
  Viking

  Andrea Levy The Long Song
  Headline Review

  Attica Locke Black Water Rising
  Serpent’s Tail

  Maria McCann The Wilding
  Faber and Faber

  Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall
  Fourth Estate

  Nadifa Mohamed Black Mamba Boy
  HarperCollins

  Lorrie Moore A Gate at the Stairs
  Faber and Faber

  Monique Roffey The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
  Simon and Schuster

  Amy Sackville The Still Point
  Portobello Books

  Kathryn Stockett The Help
  Fig Tree

  Sarah Waters The Little Stranger
  Virago

The shortlist will be available on the 20th of April and the winner will be announced on the 9th of June.

Click here to learn about the Orange Prize

e-readers versus books: what's greener?

The Sony Reader e-book viewer hits the UK today, hoping to "revolutionise" the way we read. Whether you think it's a hot gadget, a solution in search of a problem, an opportunity for new authors (Toby Young's opinion) or an over-priced gizmo (Nick Hornby's take), one question remains: is it green? Does Sony's e-book viewer have a smaller environmental impact than the printed book? Let's take a look.

Below, I've looked at how 'p-books' and e-books square up on three areas of environmental impact.

First is the 'embodied carbon', the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to manufacture a book and the Sony Reader in the first place. Second is the carbon running cost -- the energy consumed to acquire new books and read them. Lastly, I've considered what happens to books and the Reader when they reach their end of life.

So, without further ado… let eco battle commence!

- by SmartPlanet, http://crave.cnet.co.uk

See who wins the battle here.

That Woman Who Writes

I’m always seeking places to write. Never at home—laundry piles, dishes in the sink, MOM emblazoned on my forehead. Although problematic, coffeehouses and libraries are a mainstay. Inevitably, I’ll be thick into my work when someone I know will come up behind me, “Hey, hi! What’cha doin’?” Depending on a combination of fluctuating circumstances—a scale that includes politeness, how the writing is coming, and how well I know the person—my reaction will be to glare until I’m left alone, drop everything and chat, or, more likely, a response somewhere in between the continuum of these two extremes.

For a while, I used a private conference room at my local library, partitioned like an office. The conference room’s intended purpose was for gatherings—conferences—and I was politely asked to stop, even when it wasn’t signed out, and just sat there, vacant, begging to be used. Apparently, the various voices in my head do not constitute a group.

I’m a nervous writer. I drink coffee and subsequently get thirsty and drink water. I chew gum—packs and packs, studding the wastebasket with my spit-out wads. I read my work out loud, again and again (I imagine one might hear a light mumble coming from my direction). There are frequent trips to the bathroom (coffee and water). I have to haul my writing materials—computer, notebooks, etc.—with me, so that they won’t get stolen. Or else I take on the Bathroom Sprint—going as fast as I can, returning in a light sweat.

- Victoria Patterson, The Millions

Read the rest of the essay here.

Obama sends Martel a note about Life of Pi

Martel ... revealed that he recently received a handwritten thank you note from Barack Obama, who had just finished reading Martel’s Life of Pi with his daughter. The president wrote that it was “a lovely book – an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling.” Martel told Harper that he would frame the note “for sure,” and still takes it out sometimes to marvel at it:

What amazes me is the gratuity of it. As you would know, there is a large measure of calculation in what public figures do. But here, what does he gain? I’m not a US citizen. In no way can I be of help to President Obama. Clearly he did it for personal reasons, as a reader and as a father. And in two lines, what an insightful analysis of Life of Pi. Bless him, bless him.

- Laura Godfrey, Quill & Quire