As Sarah notes, Mickey Spillane has passed on at the ripe age of 88. I will have a lengthy post about Spillane, dispelling certain impressions of Mr. Spillane as a “purveyor of smut,” as soon as I can get around to it. In the meantime, pass the flask around.
Month / July 2006
No More Absurd Than “Courtney Love: The Real Story”
Poppy Z. Brite hates John Updike: “Mr. Updike, I’m sorry you have arthritis. I truly am. Both my grandmothers suffered from it, I suspect I have a touch myself, and I know it is no picnic. Sometimes it’s torture. In spite of everything, I wouldn’t have wished it on you.“BUT WHY, O WHY, O WHY, O WHY, O WHY do we have to hear about your STIFFENED NETHER MEMBER?”
Also, Colson Whitehead hates ice cream, which is a very sad and possibly more troubling thing than damning a writer exclusively on a phrase. Note to all aspiring writers: don’t work in an ice cream shop! (Both links via Jenny D.)
Here’s a Hint: Look Below the Waist
New Scientist: “Now the body of Farinelli, the most famous castrato opera singer, is to be exhumed to learn how he achieved such dulcet tones.”
The “It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know” Rule Applies to Nobel Winners Too
The Australian: “Inquirer submitted, under a pseudonym, chapter three of [1973 Nobel Winner Patrick] White’s The Eye of the Storm to 12 publishers and agents. This novel clinched his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973, with the judges describing it as one of his most accomplished works. Not one reader recognised its literary genius, and 10 wrote polite and vaguely encouraging rejection letters. The highest praise was ‘clever’. A low point was a referral to a ‘how to’ book on writing fiction.”