Michael Janairo

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Author: Michael Janairo

  • Lessons in self-publishing

    At the Times Union, we get lots of calls, letters and books from self-published authors. Here are some links with interesting takes on the subject.

    Slate magazine recently wrote about Amazon.com’s practice of having self-published authors enter into a murky ethical realm of buying reviews.

    The Book Square blog follows up, and finds the service may no longer be available. That blog is here:
    http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2007/01/25/2268/

    The moral of the story is that self-published authors need to be savvy about what they are getting into.

  • The text-message novel

    In an update of the good old epistolary novel comes a text-message novel out of Finland. The USA Today reports:

    A novel in which the entire narrative consists of mobile phone text messages was published Wednesday in Finland, home of the world’s top handset maker Nokia Corp.

    The story is here. Now if a book based on a blog is a “blook”; what does that make a text-message novel? A “t-mook?”

  • Events on Thursday, Jan. 25

    From Christopher D. Ringwald’s A DAY APART press release:

    Ringwald is a journalist (and a former Times Union reporter) and educator based as a visiting scholar at The Sage Colleges in Albany, NY. A DAY APART has been hailed by Asma Gull Hassan as “a solemn, brilliant call to multi-faith commonalities and by Solomon Schimmel as “illuminating and inspiring.”

    (Oxford University Press, Jan. 2007; Aly Mostel, publicist, 212 726-6111)

    Lecture by author. Thursday, January 25, 2007. Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Ave., Albany, NY. Sponsored by Friends of the Albany Public Library. Contact John Sirin (518) 427-4344) or sirinj@uhls.lib.ny.us

  • Vanity Fair reviews O.J.’s unpublished book

    That’s right. They did it on “If I Did It.” You can read James Walcott’s review here. One of the best lines is a paranthetical:

    (who knew a book about a double homicide could be so flipping coy?)

  • News from the world of books

  • William Kennedy and the Oscars

    My colleague Mark McGuire recently caught up with William Kennedy and his process of preparing to vote for the Academy Awards.

    Click more for the full article.

    (more…)

  • Events for Wednesday, Jan. 24

    breach.jpgNovelist John Ringo, the miltary science fiction and adventure author, signs his latest thriller “Unto the Breach” at 7 pm at Flights of Fantasy bookstore (488 Albany Shaker Road, Loudonville NY 435-9337).

  • Events on Wednesday, Jan. 24

    From Christopher D. Ringwald’s A DAY APART press release:

    Ringwald is a journalist (and a former Times Union reporter) and educator based as a visiting scholar at The Sage Colleges in Albany, NY. A DAY APART has been hailed by Asma Gull Hassan as “a solemn, brilliant call to multi-faith commonalities and by Solomon Schimmel as “illuminating and inspiring.”

    (Oxford University Press, Jan. 2007; Aly Mostel, publicist, 212 726-6111)

    Reception and book signing. Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007, 5:30-7 p.m. Opalka Gallery, Sage College of Albany, 140 New Scotland Ave. Albany, NY 12208 (at intersection of New Scotland and Lake avenues just west of Albany Medical Center) Contact author.

  • Caldecott and Newberry awards

    From the Book Standard:

    The American Library Association today announced the winners of several major literary awards for children’s and young adult books, including the Caldecott and Newbery Medal, from its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

    Susan Patron, author of The Higher Power of Lucky, won the 2007 John Newbery Medal, for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. The winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature is the graphic novel American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang.

    The story is here.