Maud points to this Daily Kos item. The rumor is that orders for Tim Schilke’s Growing Up Red: Outting Red America from the Inside are being canceled by the Ingram Book Group, a wholesaler that ships books for Barnes & Noble out of Tennessee.

Unfortunately, the Daily Kos didn’t consider actually calling Ingram, the Nashville based wholesaler in question. So what we have right now is an unconfirmed rumor. Being here on the West Coast, I caught wind of this news item after business hours, but I did track down the appropriate number. I spoke to a very nice Ingram employee who wished to remain anonymous. But he said that he was very aware of the title, but declined to provide information. He believed that he might have seen the title on a shipping circular, but couldn’t quite remember.

If orders for Growing Up Red are being cancelled, my hope is to determine the precise reasons why and see what the horse’s mouth has to say. But to get the true story on this, we’re going to have to do some work. If anybody reading this has actually tried to order this book from a Barnes & Noble in a red state, I would appreciate it if someone emailed me the precise store you tried to buy the book from, so that I can contact them and speak to the store’s manager.

Michael Medved apparently has no grasp on reality. The snide little man lost it on a radio show when confronted with these facts: (1) Bush supports the privatization of social security; and (2) Chris Chocola is a Congressman. When unable to present any kind of argument whatsoever, Medved reportedly called Hans Reimer “a liar,” even when Reimer had the facts at his disposal.

Hopefully, this will put an end to the mystifying notion of Medved being taken seriously as a critic and commentator. But I suspect not. Medved represents the uninformed and moralistic yokel given a bullhorn — in other words, a doofus for the doofuses to latch onto. Talk radio is not about intellectual discussions, but hollow pyrotechnics designed to foster the illusion of such.

Writer and activist Tristan Egolf has died at 33. The death is an apparent suicide, but police are investigating. Egolf was the writer of two novels, Lord of the Barnyard and Skirt and the Fiddle. Another one, Corn Wolf, a novel about a werwolf in Amish country, will be published next year. Egolf had his first novel published after 70 rejections and was initially discovered as a street musician in Paris. Further, Egolf was the head of the “Smoketown Six,” a group of men who were arrested when protesting against George Bush.

I haven’t read any of Egolf’s work, but if he was as promising as several folks have made him out to be, I plan on taking him up.

Life is busy. Posts are sparse. However, in the meantime, there are two things to look out for.

1. In three days (May 15, 2005), the LBC will reveal its first Read This! book choice. I’m not permitted to reveal the title, but since I was allowed to play fast and loose with the nominations, it seems only fair that I be allowed to offer clues for all eager guessers (after all, we’re only three days away):

• If you unscramble the word “hack,” you will have the author’s initials and the initial(s?) of the book’s title.
• I happened to love this book quite a lot, even if I didn’t nominate it. (But it was a close race. The book I happened to nominate was second place.)
• I liked the book so much that I expect to read other books that this author has penned.
• There is one murder (or possibly more) in the book.
• There is awkward sex in the book.
• One of the characters shares a first name with a notable painter.
• One of the characters shares a first name with a notable painter’s brother.
• One of the characters shares a first name with a notable pilot.
• An animal factors into the plot.

That is all until Sunday, folks. And if you manage to guess the book correctly before Sunday, I will personally send you a copy.

2. In addition to the LBC, there is a second exciting multi-blog venture that will be announced very soon on these pages. Perhaps we’ll be ready in time for Sunday’s LBC announcement. Perhaps not. I’ll only say that the people involved are dedicated, nice, and friendly, and that we will be performing a major service. Keep watching the skies. More to come.

• While certain litblogs looking for a picayune fight keep their heads in the sand about anything written outside the English language, Scott Esposito talks with Dalkey Archive Press’ Chad Post. Post reveals how he picked the books for the Reading the World program (an effort to promote global literature based on PEN’s celebration), but stops short of responding to Mr. Esposito’s questions in French. Chekhov’s Mistress has the full skinny on the titles. Taking things further, Robert Gray has pledged to review each book on his blog.
• Within a very interesting Cannes juries (headed by the underrated filmmaker Emir Kustarica, who I am nothing less than nuts about), Toni Morrison is a judge this year. Morrison is also adapting Beloved into a tragic opera.
• One of the first comprehensive world atlases is now on display in Australia. Amazingly, the geographic area that comprises Ohio today is marked as “Beezlebub’s Valley.”
• Kinky Friedman is dead serious about his Texas gubernatorial run. He’s so serious that, in an effort to appeal to Texas conservatives, he’s changed his first name to “Milton.”
• Matt Damon as Marco Polo? What next? Ben Affleck as Galileo?
• Apparently, in addition to being a fabricator, Mitch Albom is also a playwright.
• The California Literary Review tackles Paul Auster.
• Author Peter James is so upset by the film adaptations of his novels that he’s decided to make them himself.