Charlottesville Words

• WWdN: In Exile
  "There's quite a dustup at the moment about an editorial the president of the Author's Guild wrote in the New York Times, railing against Amazon's Kindle 2, which has a text to speech feature that he claims creates unauthorized derivative works and should be stopped at all costs.

  "I'm not the only author who thinks this is ridiculous: John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, and Neil Gaiman all agree….But what if we're all wrong? As an author, performer, and consumer of audiobooks, what does this mean for me?

  "To find out, I picked a short passage from Sunken Treasure and read it. Then, I took the identical passage, and let my computer read it. I recorded the whole thing and put together something I call "Wil Wheaton versus Text 2 Speech" so you can hear for yourself."

  Take a few minutes to listen. The reading itself is entertaining, as well as the contrast between Wheaton and digital "Alex."

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• Tournament of Books betting now open
  "Based on many factors, a little pseudo-science and a hunch or two, here's how we have handicapped the Fifth Annual Morning News Tournament of Books which pits the best books of last year in a bracketed and judged competition. Place your $20 bet and help us buy a truckload of new books for underprivileged kids."

  I put my money where the talent is — how about you?

• VQR » Blog » UVa Young Writers Workshop Seeking Applicants
  "Our friends at the University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop are currently accepting applications for their summer program. The 27-year-old workshop is for high school students who want to hone their writing skills among similarly talented peers in the residential program."

  Applications are due MONDAY!

• Reading Under the Covers: Out on the Town (up the block)
  "Note to authors: You don't have to do much–if any–reading at your readings. The idea is to be entertaining….Last week I went to a "reading" by Jacqueline Winspear, out on tour for her new Maisie Dobbs mystery, AMONG THE MAD. Every seat was taken, the audience was rapt and Winspear didn't read a single word from the book. In fact, she said precious little about it, other than that there's an explosion and some of the action takes place in a madhouse. She mostly talked about World War I, its aftermath in the UK (the series begins in 1929; it's 1931 in the current book) and about her grandfather, a veteran of the Battle of the Somme who was picking shrapnel out of his legs into his seventies."

  Yes. Yes!

• The Morning News
  "Anticipating this year's Rooster, we thought it would be interesting to review the results from previous tournaments all in one place.

  "The following table shows each contender from 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005, including each book's title, author, assigned bracket seed, and also the odds it was given to win by Coudal.com's annual Rooster handicap…"

  Rooster stats!

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• Why it's pointless telling anyone that writing isn't worth it | Books | guardian.co.uk
  "When I started writing no one told me it would come to this.

  "But I do try to tell other people what it will come to – hence my occasional visits to Warwick University and its creative writing students. They want to write, they have application and vigour, they've all come on since I read them last and yet … it would be unfair not to remind them of how horrible their futures may become. If they're unsuccessful, they'll be clattering through a global Depression with a skill no one requires, a writing demon gnawing at their spine to be expressed and a delicately-nurtured sensitivity that will only make their predicaments seem worse – and yet somehow of no interest to anyone else. If they're successful, they still may not make a living, will travel more than a drug mule, may be so emotionally preoccupied that they fail to notice entire relationships, will have to deal with media demands no sane person would want to understand and may well wear far too much black."

• First Gutted Glimpse Inside the Kindle 2 – mediabistro.com: GalleyCat
  "After removing 16 screws, some nerdy readers opened up the Kindle 2–making some interesting discoveries about the future of the digital reading device."

  There's a surprise prize inside!

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• Barreleye Fish With Transparent Head Caught In Photos (SLIDESHOW)
  "Every now and then, nature serves up a weird animal that you can't not stare at. Well, here's one for you — the barreleye fish, with its funky transparent face…"

  Augh! Its head is clear! Augh! Check it out.

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• Newseum | Today's Front Pages | Map View
  Flash display of daily newspaper front pages. The site warns: "Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors. Viewer discretion is advised." Wear your goggles!

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• Dear Restaurant Servers: Stop Being Conspiratorial About Dessert
  "I've been a waitress. I know it's rough, and you develop weird shticks, and a lot of customers probably respond to the whole "co-conspirator" approach to dessert ordering, the sly proffering of the dessert menu, the impish wink of the enabler, otherwise it wouldn't be so common. But. Trying to "tempt" me or winkingly insinuate that there's something naughty about getting a piece of cake or generally carrying on as though we're somehow putting something over on someone by having a sweet is offensive. Because you know what? There's nothing particularly "decadent" or wild about ordering dessert. Is it because I'm a woman, and it's supposed to be taboo and naughty and yogurt-commercial-ish for me to be treating myself? Is the implication that I'm sneaking something or cheating on a diet?"

  Yes! And when I order a Coke, please stop reading my order back to me as "Diet Coke." I'm fat, I get it, but I still want regular Coke.

• The Publishing Industry: An Economic Thought Experiment : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits
  'Can you truly afford to refer to the territory between the coasts as “flyover states” when there are good people there who want to enjoy books right now? If you’re an author or a publicist, can you afford to thumb your nose up at any media opportunity that isn’t the New York Times Book Review? Or are you not really all that interested in establishing relationships? If you’re a newspaper or a magazine, why aren’t you citing the blogs or providing helpful URLs to the blogs that break the stories or make the connections?'

  Sometimes you wonder if publishers even want to sell books. Great column.

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• The @Bookies
  'We asked @bookies members "What is the best book title you ever heard?" The responses are amazing, hilarious and varied.'

  Couple of my suggestions are on there. Via Twitter

• .: Ken Wohlrob's Toilet :.: Goodbye Shelfari. Library Thing, and WeRead
  "After a good year or so of using the book sharing sites Shelfari, Library Thing, and WeRead, I'm calling off the whole experiment…."

  He's sticking with GoodReads. Find out why.

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