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Your next favorite book
is waiting.
If you are an author, published or not, there are two new Twitter hashtags that you'll likely want to follow: #waystoimpressbooksellers and #dearpublisher. The latter will probably be of passing interest to many book lovers as well, as will the often funny #bookstorebingo.
Following on from my earlier post, "Overheard in a Bookstore", here's a link to some more gems; this time collected by Shelf Awareness, including:
"I definitely don't want nonfiction. I like autobiographies and history."
"This is the only bookstore I've ever been in that didn't have a popcorn machine."
People say the strangest things! Here are a few real customer quotes overhead by British booksellers ....
With thanks to the folks at Independent Booksellers Week
I recently joined the ranks of suspense novelists and while I didn't give the word suspense much thought as I was writing, I've since given it quite a bit of brain time. I suppose seeing your book called "A Novel of Suspense" on the cover will do that.
While suspense is a literary category that can embrace many different types of stories, it is also one of the most natural of elements in the real world. The broad definition I've come to these days is that suspense is simply a recognition of the fact that we don't really, on a moment to moment basis, know what the hell's going to happen next. Of course our natural defenses, the same ones that limit what noises come into our ears or what sights come into our eyes, keep the lid on this what's-coming anxiety and allow us to function. But then there are the moments, the ones most often exploited by writers, in which we can't deny that we are in the dark about the future, that we don't know what's around the corner.
The "what-ifs" that kick off so much of our mystery/thriller/suspense fiction are often rooted in our anxieties about life itself. What if I woke up in a strange land? What if I opened my freezer and found a severed hand there? What if an airplane dropped out of the sky and wiped out my back yard? The beauty of finding these oddities between covers is that we have some assurance the author does know what's going to happen next and will lead us through the suspense to the safety of knowledge.
What do Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare have in common? They are considered to be two of the greatest writers in the history of world literature and, not only were they contemporaries, but they died on the same day - April 23rd, 1616, which is recognized in Catalonia, an autonomous region in NE Spain, as the Day of the Book.
In Catalonia, April 23rd is also the Day of the Rose because it is the day we celebrate the patron saint of Catalonia, Sant Jordi. The story goes that as the dying dragon's blood touched the earth, a red rose appeared which Sant Jordi then presented to his rescued princess.
Sound a bit like St. George? You're right, because St. George is Sant Jordi in the Catalan language.
I have a problem with twins. Nothing personal, you understand. In fact I have a pair myself and two more beautiful, wondrous children it would be hard to find (I may be biased here).
No, my problem is with twins in literature. And the problem is that, in books, no-one is ever just a twin. No, being a twin is always a plot device. If you are reading a detective story and someone mentions that they have a twin, look no further for the killer. If your taste is for lighter fiction and a character has a twin, brace yourself for hilarious romantic complications. Phoebe and Ursula In Friends are prime examples. In a comedy, you are bound to kiss your boyfriend's twin brother; in a crime novel, your long-lost twin is very likely to kill you. Incest, yes. Mistaken identity, yes. Good and evil, yin and yang. Yes, yes, yes.
