Publishing Come See Me At the Festival of Books! By Neal on Mar. 21, 2008 - 7:51 AM The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has unveiled all the goodies on the 2008 schedule, and if you’re not doing anything at 10:30 A.M. on Sunday, April 27, I’ll be moderating a panel called “On Page and Screen ...
Events “In a Year, I Shall Be Unknown Throughout America” By Neal on Mar. 20, 2008 - 12:00 PM So I was on my way into town yesterday to meet Sebastian Horsley at the book party for Dandy in the Underworld when I get an email from Harper Perennial announcing that, when his flight arrived from Heathrow yesterday, he was turn ...
Adaptation Ivan Dixon, 1931-2008 By Neal on Mar. 20, 2008 - 9:05 AM I wish I had heard sooner about the death of actor and director Ivan Dixon Sunday—if you recognize him, it’s probably as Kinch, the black guy on Hogan’s Heroes, but he also had a solid career in the 1970s and ...
Bookselling Pershing Square Gives Borders Cash Infusion By Neal on Mar. 20, 2008 - 9:00 AM All that talk about the new face-out policy at Borders turns out to be so much window-dressing: The real story comes this morning in the form of a $42.5 million bailout, with funds coming from Pershing Square Capital Management, a ...
Authors Beah’s Supporters Stand Firm: Nothing to See Here By Neal on Mar. 20, 2008 - 8:00 AM This week’s Village Voice cover story on the questions surrounding Ishmael Beah‘s memoir reinforces a theme that’s taken shape in recent coverage of this story by American media. Unlike the original reporting in ...
Book Bix Borders Face-Out Strategy: Pump Up the Volume By Neal on Mar. 19, 2008 - 3:00 PM Here’s an interesting take on Borders‘s new face-out program, from Dave Marx of PassPorter Travel Press: “Can an advertising venue with surplus display space fill that space at a profitable rate?” Marx asks ...
Authors Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008 By Neal on Mar. 19, 2008 - 10:55 AM Apart from the thoughtful Times of London obituary and Gerald Jonas‘s extensive NY Times essay*, one of the best tributes I’ve seen to the late Arthur C. Clarke is Jeff VanderMeer‘s write-up on Omnivoracious. The ...
Publishing Mixer Prepares to Rock Out for Year 2 By Neal on Mar. 19, 2008 - 8:59 AM In honor of tonight’s one-year anniversary of the Mixer reading series, which takes place at the LES bar Cakeshop, here’s a video of co-host Rebecca Keith and her band, N** Y*** T****, performing “Monster Eyes,&# ...
Adaptation I Must Not Fear the New Dune Movie By Neal on Mar. 19, 2008 - 8:03 AM Remember the rumors about a new Dune movie last fall? I wasn’t convinced, but as I said at the time, “I don’t work the film beat, so don’t take my word for anything.” And lo, Paramount went ahead and ...
Digital Another $8 for Another Pride and Prejudice? By Neal on Mar. 19, 2008 - 8:00 AM Penguin‘s recent announcement of a new line of electronic editions of classic literature augmented by supplementary materials, starting with Jane Austen‘s Pride and Prejudice, doesn’t impress Jimmy Guterman, the ...