If you want some further details on life in Cuba during the 1950s/early '60s for the average person, I might be able to get my BIL's sister to contact you, Barb. She was in her mid-20s when the family left Cuba in 1962.

Thanks, Kathy-- luckily, I've got my enormous family to draw from, many of whom came over at various times from the mid-fifties to the early sixties, but extra perspective is always good.

E-mail me at my profile addy if you'd like, and I'll see if she's available online from BIL.

Too many authors want to show you the scope of their research

::coughNealStephensoncough::

I just posted a snippet over in GWW, to see if the approach I'm taking works. There was a reason I really didn't want to take on something with historical scope, but tell that to the story that wants out.

David Foster Wallace reading a very funny piece about a baton twirling competition at the Harper's 150th anniversary celebration.

Bah.

Children's: Young Adult Candace Bushnell's THE CARRIE DIARIES, about Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw's high-school years, to Alessandra Balzer at Balzer & Bray, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2010, by Heather Schroder at ICM (world).

And my personal favorite...

Nicholas Sparks's new novel, for publication in fall 2009, is being written simultaneously with the author's own adaptation of that story as a starring vehicle for Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus (Offspring Entertainment is producing, for Walt Disney Pictures). Sparks had pitched "a premise for a novel that intrigued Cyrus, her family and the producers," Variety says, though no details are being shared. Sparks says, "This is similar to the way it's gone with movies based on my novels; it's just out of order. Certain opportunities garner your interest, and this was one of those."

Publishing isn't dead, as has been widely reported. It's just been consumed in a cloud of utter vapidness.

Not that I purport to be writing the Great American Novel or anything even approaching it, but really? Miley Cyrus? That's lame, even for Sparks.

Is he really desperate for money? loan sharks threatening his kneecaps, perhaps.

George Saunders is really, really, really funny.

So, when Barack Obama says he will put some lipstick on my pig, I am, like, Are you calling me a pig? If so, thanks! Pigs are the most non-Élite of all barnyard animals. And also, if you put lipstick on my pig, do you know what the difference will be between that pig and a pit bull? I’ll tell you: a pit bull can easily kill a pig. And, as the pig dies, guess what the Hockey Mom is doing? Going to her car, putting on more lipstick, so that, upon returning, finding that pig dead, she once again looks identical to that pit bull, which, staying on mission, the two of them step over the dead pig, looking exactly like twins, except the pit bull is scratching his lower ass with one frantic leg, whereas the Hockey Mom is carrying an extra hockey stick in case Todd breaks his again. But both are going, like, Ha ha, where’s that dumb pig now? Dead, that’s who, and also: not a smidge of lipstick.

I do not approve.

Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book

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