There are Garveys in Welcome to Temptation, which seemed cool till I realized they were douchebags. A Steve Garvey specifically, too!

That series looks good, Tep.

What it's like being an acquisitions editor: [link]

Most trade books do not succeed, financially. Three out of four fail to earn back their advances. Or four out of five or six out of seven, depending on what source you consult. And depending on what kind of accounting shell game is being played in the back office. A medium-strong batting average in baseball -- let's say .305 -- is Hall of Fame-worthy in publishing.

Genuine literary discernment is often a liability in editors. ... I have this completely unfounded theory that there are a million very good -- engaged, smart, enthusiastic -- generalist readers in America. There are five hundred thousand extremely good such readers. There are two hundred and fifty thousand excellent readers. There are a hundred and twenty-five thousand alert, active, demanding, well-educated (sometimes self-well-educated), and thoughtful -- that is, literarily superb -- readers in America.

There are a hundred and twenty-five thousand alert, active, demanding, well-educated (sometimes self-well-educated), and thoughtful -- that is, literarily superb -- readers in America.

So - less than half the population of Seattle.

Very, very, very depressing.

That's an excellent essay, Tom. Thanks for the link!

Wow, I didn't think it was possible to be more depressed about my job, but I guess I was wrong.

Wow, I didn't think it was possible to be more depressed about my job, but I guess I was wrong.

This is what I've been saying! Being an acquisitions editor sounds fun, and it is sometimes, but mostly it's depressing and tedious and ... depressing.

Mostly I'm sad I sought out the actual PW survey article.

The frustrating thing about my job is that I actually really like what I do on a daily basis; however, I have a really really bad manager and comparing my salary to the median income here provides very little incentive to stick with it.

Especially since, lately, our job has involved way more marketing (which is fine by me since that's actually what my undergrad degree was in, and I'm good at) and the amount and kind of work this entails means I should be making a lot more.

Le sigh.

That series looks good, Tep.

I warn you, it is FUCKED UP. But in a good way.

An excellent review of the new book by Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, Her Fearful Symmetry:

It is an inventive take on the ghost story, a neo-Victorian narrative combining the extraordinary with the everyday, kept fresh with just a few unexpected plot twists. It is a coming-of-age story, illustrating two girls staring into the chasm of adulthood. It is a cache of fantastically drawn characters ... It is an ode and a declaration of love to authors and books of the past - while Elspeth's flat is filled with beautifully aged and rare reads, a result of her profession as a bookseller, Niffenegger is clearly tipping her hat to the likes of Jane Austen, H.G. Wells, Lewis Carroll and other such authors that came before her (her use of the verb "galumph," in particular, tickles me). It is a meditation on love and loss, life and death, and the unknown that waits for us beyond. It is wholly absorbing and it is a pleasure to read.

The Three Sisters: Fantasy, Horror, and Marchen:

Bit by bit, we've been rediscovering those old paths, and realizing that fairy tales really were urban fantasy, as we currently define it. "Fantasy set in what is essentially the real world, mingling with real people, in real situations." Well, once upon a time, "the real world" wasn't a city, it was a big, scary wood where there might be wolves, or robbers, or any one of a thousand other things. "Real people" weren't businessmen and police, they were woodcutters and tinkers and little old women whose granddaughters brought them baskets full of goodies. The world changed, the stories moved on...but the roots remained.