⇒Hey, remember Barry Yourgrau, the short-short story writer who’s big in Japan thanks to the increasing market for cell-phone literature? Well, your kids are probably already familiar with Yourgrau because several of his stories have been compiled by HarperCollins (under the Joanna Cotler imprint) in the NASTYbook series. And if they aren’t now, they may well be soon—the Hollywood Reporter tells us Yourgrau’s sold the film rights to Cartoon Network, for a full-length feature that’ll combine live-action and CGI animation. Says network VP Ramsey Naito: “This is a terrific way to reinvent the horror genre for the younger demographic… with the production values now, we can take it to the next level and do things that the first generation of Goosebumps couldn’t do.”
⇒Gail Konop Baker (who we interviewed earlier this month) sends us an update about the growing interest in the T-shirts based on the cover design to her memoir, Cancer Is a Bitch. The window display is from one of several boutiques in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, that are featuring the shirt along with the book; we also hear that the Lower East Side feminist bookstore Bluestockings is getting a shipment of 20 shirts for the holiday season.
