Saturday Miscellany—1/18/20

I’ve been knocked out by a nasty cold this week (which seems to be returning) and couldn’t focus enough to read anything for a horrible three days. I don’t think anything I posted suffered from lack of focus (but I had to do a lot of re-writing to make them coherent). Thankfully, I recuperated enough that I could focus on the best thing that Steph Broadribb has written (see this space on Monday…I think).

While I couldn’t read, I could surf a bit and this ended up as one of the longest entries in this series that I’ve compiled (I believe). But there was a moment today when I thought this would be my shortest post yet–my browser and Pocket decided to stop cooperating (as they’re under the same corporate roof, this is doubly problematic). I prevailed, sort of, but I’m beginning to wonder if I need to find an alternative. Suggestions to replace Pocket, anyone?

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Jack Reacher series author Lee Child ‘quits and lets brother step in’—I actually read (and enjoyed) Andrew Grant before I tried Lee Child, and hope this move works out for both of them (and expect it will). But I have to say, this is the saddest headline I’ve read in a long time.
• People who read books are nicer than those who don’t, study finds.
• The New York Public Library Has Calculated Its Most Checked-Out Books Of All Time
• Take a look behind the ‘small doors to imaginary spaces’ within bookshelves
• Is this the most powerful word in the English language?: The most commonly-used word in English might only have three letters – but it packs a punch.—A whole lotta words about “the”
• 20 Things Overheard In Bookshops—I enjoyed this one enough that it almost makes up for the trauma of the first item.
• ‘Nobody in Tesco buys spy books by women’: how female authors took on the genre
• “As an author, I hate and fear Goodreads. As a reader, I just hate it.”—a thread from Seanan McGuire.
• Are Crime Writers as Twisted as Our Characters?: Authors Weigh In On Their Creepy Creations
• William Gibson: ‘I was losing a sense of how weird the real world was’—A good interview/profile with the SF master.
• A Narrator In Every Port—Harry Connolly talks about Narrator Voice, one of those things you never think about that is so important for the reading experience.
• My Rules For Writing A Novel—Matthew Hanover shares his rules for writing.
• To My Friends With Reading Tastes Opposite from Mine—I’ll second this one.
• The 16 Best Science Fiction Books of All Time by Global English Editing—The Tattooed Book Geek posted this snazzy infographic in a guest post this week.
• What determines reading speed?—asks Paul’s Picks
• TTBG’s Fifteen Blogging Tips.—I’m reasonably certain that I’ve linked to this before. But we could all probably use a reminder.
• Short Series vs Long Series: Which Do I Prefer?—I don’t know that I’d thought about things in this way before, and may end up posting my take on this soon. Fun to think about anyway.
• Bookworm Problems #1—should make you grin
• I typically try to close with a laugh, or something unusual, but today calls for something else. I’ll just steal Ace Atkins Facebook post from this morning

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Beginning At The End by Mike Chen—A SF Family Drama set 6 years after a global pandemic changes everything.
• The Wild One by Nick Petrie—Peter Ash brings his brand of action to Iceland. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever read anything that takes place there, this should be a great way to fix that.
• Burn the Dark by S. A. Hunt—I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’ll have time to get to this, but it’s a fun concept: “a YouTube celebrity gone-viral with her intensely-realistic witch hunter series. But even her millions of followers don’t know the truth: her series isn’t fiction.”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to aloysius5, writingeatingwalking, Dora , Hâf, Susan, and Shell-Shell’s for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?