You have two weeks until the Sept. 1 deadline if you’re thinking of applying for a $5000 Rasmuson Foundation project grant for individual artists (including writers) living and working in Alaska. The foundation is exeptional in understanding what real working artists need, including money for attending retreats or conferences, travel/research time, and so on. I […]
Rasmuson Grant Deadline ; Diane Benson Speaks Tuesday Read More »
First, a headline I somehow missed. “Coast Guard rescues sinking Andromeda.” Well, OK, the headline was a little different, and the name of the boat wasn’t mentioned until later, but my first thought stumbling upon this a few months after the fact was: “See? I told you guys I gained weight this year.” And I
The Killer Hill in Anchorage Press this week Read More »
Too much good stuff to miss in the upcoming NYT Sunday Book Review. I won’t be blogging everyday once I get this blog rolling (though I will aim for a fresh Q & A every Thursday, plus other small items throughout the week). But the subject of blurbing in this essay by Rachel Donadio is
To blurb or not to blurb: a necessary evil? Read More »
He is a former newspaperman, a current State Legislator, and a novelist with a third mystery released, as of August 14: Mike Doogan, thanks for taking part in our very first Q & A. SKELETON LAKE : A NIK KANE ALASKA MYSTERY is a police procedural woven with three chronological strands, in the 1960s, 1980s,
Skeleton Lake released today: Q & A with author Mike Doogan Read More »
Fellow writers, are you creative enough in titling your books? I’m not, clearly. The UK Guardian reports that Bookseller Magazine is accepting votes for the overall oddest book title drawn from a list of previous Diagram Prize winners in the 30 years this contest has run. Well, you’ll just have to read the whole article
Diagram Prize for Odd Book Titles Read More »
“All of the great forces that motivate people — love, sex, money, power of all sorts, including political power — can make people noble or venal, and the difference between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing is often narrow and, in some ways, inexplicable.” Mike Doogan, Novelist and State Legislator on the
About 13 years ago, shortly after I moved to Alaska, I got a call from George Bryson, a local newspaper editor who was having trouble reaching me. I must have been working on my first or second article for “We Alaskans,” that wonderful and now-defunct Sunday magazine of the Anchorage Daily News, a place where
Blogging about Blogging: The Why of “49 Writers, No Moose” Read More »
I’d spent the week ranting, as I often do, about the lack of book review coverage and general promotion opportunities for writers, when out comes the Anchorage Press Summer Books issue with three thoughtfully written reviews. About Kantner’s Shopping for Porcupine, an essay collection accompanied by photos, reviewer Krestia DeGeorge writes: “The writing here rings
Doogan, Kantner and Sherwonit reviewed in the Press Read More »
Starting August 25, I’ll be giving away weekly prizes — including Kaladi coffee, Title Wave book certificates, and copies of The Spanish Bow, to people who leave comments at this site.
The best things in life are sometimes free: coffee, books, and more books! Read More »
It’s somehow appropriate as the huge midnight parties are gearing up for Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn (2.4 million copies? 4 million copies? I have trouble with these big numbers.), Oprah is kicking off her list of 100 recommended reads for kids. I have nothing personal against Oprah. I like what she did with Eckhart Tolle,
