Year / 2007

by Edward Champion

Remember the Ladies

A year after Marisha Pessl became the Hot Young and Overeducated Literary Chick with Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Galleycat reports that there’s a new Hot Young and Overeducated Literary Chick in the making named Rivka Galchen, who has a book called Atmospheric Disturbances and Other Sad Meteorological Phenomena.

Call me crazy, but there’s a title trend here, which I suppose would make this blog post a “trend piece” or perhaps a “trend blog post.” Since I am a philanthropist and I greatly desire to see more women in literary fiction, I hope to help all future Hot Young and Overeducated Literary Chicks get their book deals. With this spirit in mind, I have assembled a helpful list of future titles that might be used to acquire additional book deals:

Naughty Novelties in Quantum Mechanics
Geophysical Undercurrents in Close Proximity
Seismic Shifts and Other Assorted Miracles on the San Andreas Fault
Astronomical Gastronomy and the Burden of Astral-Intestinal Alignments
Zoological Bliss in the Existential Biosphere
Newton’s Ventricles and Ancillary Universal Gravitations
Metaphysical Heartbeats and the Critique of Pure Reason

by Edward Champion

Small Circulation Magazines in Trouble Because of Postal Hikes

As if the Independent Press Association dissolution wasn’t bad enough for small magazines, it seems that the new postal rate increase is going to decimate small circulation magazines. A last minute 758-page plan submitted by Time Warner and approved by the US Postal Service Board of Governors has called for an increase in mailing costs between 18 and 30 percent. Meanwhile, the big boys — Time, Newsweek, the like — they get to see their postal rates go down.

Fortunately, the Board of Governors has opened up a small window of public comment over the course of eight days — set to expire on April 25.

This is a crushing blow to independent magazines, the dead tree equivalent to net neutrality.

Fortunately, a site exists in which you can sign against these inequitable developments. If you care about a democratic magazine landscape and keeping the playing field level, do your part.

by Edward Champion

Bat Segundo Aids Brides to Be!

I am truly stunned, honored, and otherwise blushing big time because of Callie’s kind words and extremely creative approach to Segundo listening:

Part of this wedding prep involves working out a bit more than your average obsessive reader/writer usually has time for (read: none). So I’ve been rising each morning, turning on my iRiver (take that iPod) and listening to one Bat Segundo Podcast each day. This has had the lovely effect of me actually wanting to get out of bed early, wanting to jump on the treadmill. It is excellent to pair such drudgery with the words of my favorite writers. Also: While I had listened to several of the Bat’s ‘casts over the last year, it is only when you consume one (sometimes two) a day over the course of a week, that you really begin to get the wow factor of all the Bat has time to do. I mean, the intros alone are sort of other-worldly. So – my hats off to the Bat and his mysterious creator. I’m only one week in and I have more than 109 days of working out to do, so please, please: more podcasts soon?

And of course, congratulations and many happy years to the future Mr. & Mrs. Counterbalance!

by Edward Champion

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