New West Shows Beatrice the Love

From “The Best of the Bookmarks, 2005,” as compiled by New West literary editor Allen Jones:

“[F]or my money, one of the best blogs going is Ron Hogan’s Beatrice. A talented writer, a sharp critic, Hogan puts real effort into his page, creating original content left and right, building a foundation of “author 2 author” discussions and reviews that make for truly entertaining browsing.”

Thanks! And, Allen, I absolutely agree with you that there’s room for more blogs focused on regional literature, not just as “good canary-in-the-coal-mine indicators of a regional book’s looming success or failure,” but as a constant reminder that there’s more to both the literary and publishing worlds (which overlap, but are not equivalent) than what happens or is set in Manhattan. Not that I’m complaining about my adopted New York City home—just that I, too, like to hear about what’s going on in other parts of the bookish world.

21 December 2005 | uncategorized |

The Last Pre-Holiday Stewardess! Update

If you’re here because you read about my “near-professional literary site” in Pamela Paul’s NYTBR back-pager on blogs, welcome! Usually, I would be writing about other writers, including the ones that I’m reading, but because I’m also the author of the recently published The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane!, lately I’ve been telling readers what’s new with that.

This weekend, for example, I was so thrilled to discover my book in the very front of the Union Square Barnes & Noble, on a table specifically designated for “Gifts for the Holidays” that I whipped out the cameraphone and took the photo at left. And this was right after I’d spent a delightful afternoon hanging out at Nat Sherman signing copies of the book for a few folks who dropped by. Early on I got to introduce Leora Skolkin-Smith, who’s written a guest essay for Beatrice, to Jessica Cutler and Lauren Cerand, then Dawn Raffel took a break from finishing her next book to drop in and say hello. Later, I snagged a few chairs in the walk-in humidor and unwound with Elizabeth Tippens and Vicky Oliver. And, yes, I did note that I had a signing in a cigar shop and the only folks who came by were women writers… (Well, there was one gentleman who came to see me, but he was in the company of another blogger.)

18 December 2005 | uncategorized |