An appreciation of Louis L'Amour

Louis L'Amour—could there be a better name for the author of Western novels? He not only sounded right, he had legions of fans, including the author of this piece. (There's an excerpt at the end of the article you want a taste.) 'They always had men on the front cover. Tall, handsome, rugged men — their rifles slung across the saddle, looking towards the dusty green, burnt sienna buttes of Colorado or New Mexico. My uncle Thaddeus kept two stacks on the dinged-up coffee table, and another on the laminated kitchen dinette. Sometimes, I'd slip my hand behind the recliner cushion and find one that had slipped down the back, chased by crinkled candy wrappers.' More...

Joseph Finder

We like author Joseph Finder, and we're even using his latest Nick Heller novel. I guess that makes us Heller's Angels? His website seems to indicate that we're up for some nice swag. 'We are recruiting an elite group of Joseph Finder "superfans" to help spread the word about my books and Nick Heller. Because nothing in the book business is more important than word of mouth.' More...

Book trailers

It used to strike me as odd that there were such a thing of book trailers, but given that so many people are regular watchers of videos online these days, why not? And as the folks at Brain Pickings say, 'As provocative, funny, and poignant as the books they represent, these videos prove that ideas are the ultimate teasers. And despite the publishing industry’s alarmist prophecies, these trailers bespeak the power of books to appeal to readers with their core, age-old value proposition: Compelling storytelling, creatively delivered.' More...

WISDOM Trailer from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.

Dead authors on Twitter

The Atlantic has collected the best of tweets of people who are, well, not tweeting. 'What would Flannery O'Connor have sounded like if she'd had a Twitter feed? Or Charles Dickens? Or Shakespeare? The writers themselves may no longer be with us, but clever fans are impersonating them on Twitter, imagining what the scribes would have said if they'd had access to the microblogging service.' More...

The Cars are back

And this time they're not from Pixar. The great band of the 80s has a new record after breaking up in 1988. I'm surprised and happy to hear it. 'Out May 10, The Cars will be releasing Move Like This, the first record from the band in 24 years. Not too long ago, Ric Ocasek said, "A Cars reunion? Put it out of your mind." Thankfully, something or someone convinced them that millions of us needed them back. Ocasek says he simply had a batch of new songs, and his former bandmates were the best men for the job.' More...

Five funny kids books

The Seattle Times gives us a nice list of five books for beginning readers—four new and one classic. And the idea is that if they give kids the giggles, they may also give kids the belief that reading is a good thing. Sounds good. Link.

Robert Parker and Spenser

"Spenser. Like the poet." He's one of the most popular fictional private investigators ever. Author Parker passed away earlier this year, and it has since been announced that the books will go on under different authorship. A feature on CriminalElement.com takes an in-depth look at Spenser and his creator. 'Spenser is a hero, an ideal, and an inspirational figure: Parker’s perfect man... While I usually drift more toward the gritty noir stuff, occasionally you need a reason to think that people can do the right thing after all. For nearly forty years, Spenser showed up in bookstores to do just that. Long live Spenser.' More...