Writing Unleashed with Laura M. Harkins

News Source Amazon the New Library? Lauren Hazard Owen with paidContent covers the early stage of Amazon’s venture into e-book lending . Similar to Netflix and a library, the service would be made available to their Prime members. The venture leaves more questions than answers at this point. Do you think e-book lending through Amazon will create problems? Source Interview with Haruki Murakami Enjoy Haruki Murakami’s interview as The New Yorker’s fiction editor discusses his novel 1Q84 (hitting U.S. shelves in late October) and the excerpt, “Town of Cats,” available online and in print. The setting of 1Q84 is 1984, and Murakami struggled with the lack of technology. Have you faced similar challenges when dealing with settings in your stories ?     Source Vintage Dust Jackets Check out these vintage dust jackets for novelists Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, J.D. Salinger, etc. Which one is your favorite? So...

News Source An Inspirational Montana Poet Laureate Kristen Inbody writes about Sheryl Noethe , Montana’s new poet laureate and her amazing work with the Missoula Writing Collaborative. The non-profit organization provides under privileged students trained writing professionals to inspire their creativity and encourage self-expression through written and spoken word. Do you think all schools could benefit from this kind of teaching? Source Interview with Haruki Murakami Enjoy Haruki Murakami’s interview as The New Yorker’s fiction editor discusses his novel 1Q84 (hitting U.S. shelves in late October) and the excerpt, “Town of Cats,” available online and in print. The setting of 1Q84 is 1984, and Murakami struggled with the lack of technology. Have you faced similar challenges when dealing with settings in your stories ?     Source Poetry Fighting Back Seth Abramson from Huffington Post lists 10-poetry mus...

Source News Famous Mystery Writer Surfing Skills Revealed Sam Jones from the Guardian delights readers with Agatha Christie’s passion for surfing . What special skills do you have outside of your writing life? Source Jennifer Egan and Girl Crush Zine Daniel D’Addario reports on “ Thessaly LaForce , web editor of The Paris Review , and Jenna Wortham, technology reporter for The New York Times ” collaboration on a homemade magazine, Girl Crush . Jennifer Egan will contribute to the one-time publication celebrating strong and respected women. Who do you have a crush on?     Source 2011 and Still Banning Books Alison Flood reports on Missouri school districts decision to ban Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for its profanity and Sarah Ockler’s YA novel Twenty-Boy Summer for its topics of teenage drinking and promiscuity.   Does book banning work or are parents and educators avoiding important topics by pre...

News Book Burning Ian Crouch discusses the heated debate over Canadian writer Lawrence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes. Dutchman Roy Groenberg plans to express his outrage towards the use of the word “negroes” in the title by burning the book . Should racist and prejudicial words be eliminated from our language, or is the fear of the word give it more power? Defending “Darkness Too Visible” Meghan Cox Gurdon responds to the black lash of her essay, “Darkness Too Visible,” that discussed the dark topic and themes in today’s YA literature. Are we opening a door to more darkness by allowing our children to read   dark and painful novels?     arabicfiction.org Spreading Your Literary Horizons Many say that if you want to travel, just pick up a book. With all the media coverage of the Egyptian uprising earlier this year, you would think we would know more about this culture. Unfortunately, most bookstore shelves are light on quality Egyptian writing. Thank Pa...

News spbkchat.blogspot.com Sci-Fi Reacquainting Us With Our Own Sexuality Science fiction authors employ humans characters as well as aliens and intelligent machines in their stories. Kyle Munkittrick discusses the wide acceptance of interracial and interspecies love and sexual relationships found in science fiction and how it will break down the sexual barriers in our own lives in the future. Do you believe fiction will break down the sexual barriers in our world?     flickr.com Neil Gaiman Called a Thief by Congressman Republican Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Matt Dean, urged by his mother, apologized to Neil Gaiman for name-calling . Gaiman received $45,000 for a speaking engagement. Dean felt the payment of $45,000 to Gaiman for a speaking engagement was exorbitant and labeled him a thief. Do you think $45,000 is an excessive amount to pay a superstar author for a speaking engagement? weeklyworldnews.com Mermaids Splashing Onto the ...