We’re shutting things down around here for the rest of 2009 due to the holidays. But don’t worry, there will be lots more Word Pirates in 2010!

In the meantime, here is a free present, not from us but from Audiofiles Magazine. From now until December 29, you can download three free Sherlock Holmes mysteries from their website. The books are: Silver Blaze, The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk, and The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.

Click here for the downloads.

I am getting them right now. I haven’t read any Sherlock Holmes since I was in junior high, so this should be fun.

Merry Christmas!

What? Word Pirates are blogging again? That can’t be! But it is. I figure since Jose Saramago has retired his blog to concentrate on his novel, it was time for me to ignore my novel and concentrate on this blog again. Or something like that. Anyway, the point is, after a long hiatus, I am feeling the Word Pirates blog love. Hurrah!

Word Pirates is looking for a new member. The Petaluma-based writing group meets on the third Tuesday of each month to focus on
creative non-fiction and short fiction. Our goal is to inspire and support each other as we get our work ready for publication. A typical
meeting is split between reading our work to each other and starting new work through writing prompts.

We are looking for members who are professional writers/editors and/or hold a degree in writing. The group doesn’t focus on genre fiction, screenplays, or poetry. If you’re interested, please e-mail us a brief bio and sample of your writing and tell us what you are looking for in a writing group.

Contact: wordpirates @ gmail.com

The book “Can We Have Our Balls Back, Please” asserts that the British invented baseball, and cites the opening pages of Jane Austen’s “Northanger Abbey” as proof.

On the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert did a great riff on what Austen baseball would be like. Here is an excerpt: (The video is also below, with the Austen bit as the second segment)

“Austen wasn’t writing about American baseball. It was a Jane Austen version, where the ball is not hurled about rudely, but introduced to the bat through proper channels at a society function. And one does not steal bases like a commoner; one sends word ahead to the next base by messenger, requesting permission to approach at the base’s leisure. Of course, what the bat cannot reveal is that though he loves the ball desperately, he has sworn an oath of loyalty to the glove to whom the ball was promised. So the bat must pretend he hates the ball, swatting at it, though he wishes nothing more than to profess his undying affection, but he can’t, he mustn’t, he shan’t! And so, the bat must retreat to the gardens of his estate and… pine.”

Writer inspiration! Watch this video of an adorable French child improvising a strange and imaginative story. I guarantee it will make you a better writer. Do it!

Once upon a time… from Capucha on Vimeo.

(I think “chicken box” = “chicken pox”)

-marcia

via Boing Boing

A high school librarian’s daughter illustrated a graphic-novel version of Macbeth. You know, the Scottish play. By that Shakespeare guy. He mentioned it as his pick in the library’s newsletter and put some copies on a library display table (giving free copies to some students). An ethics board decided he had abused his position as a civil servant, fining him $500 and making him sign a three-page admission of guilt.

“There are so many things going on they could investigate,” he said in an interview, “and they had nothing better to do than allege that my daughter would have gotten 20 cents in royalties if someone bought the book. But nobody did. I gave out free copies. I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it.”

(Read on …)

HarperCollins has tossed another vegetable into the social networking salad with Authonomy. Here’s how it works: Take your unpublished or self-published book (or part thereof) and upload it to the site. Then other members read, rate and comment upon your work. HarperCollins says once the site is running full speed, it will read the most highly rated manuscripts in search of “talented writers we can sign up for our traditional book publishing programmes.”

My immediate reaction was cynicism and an audible “ick” noise. I don’t know. I just don’t buy that HarperCollins takes these submissions seriously or that anyone of merit is on there. Also, it seems like it is a way to publicize ideas that may be safer left private or shared with trusted professionals rather than shared with the possibly desperate competition. Also also, I sometimes get all anti-Kumbaya at the prospect of social networking, reality-TV-style competitions and online “communities.” But I am kind of a grump.

Pretending I’m not a grump, I came up with this list of reasons why other people might like it: (Read on …)

This week is Banned Books Week. Let’s read some controversial literature! I am continually surprised that people still try to ban Mark Twain.

According to the American Library Association, more than 400 books were challenged in 2007. The 10 most challenged titles were:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Link

HarperCollins, come on! Lauren Conrad, star of reality show “The Hills” and possibly the most boring person on television, signed a book deal for a fiction series based on her life. Lots of people like Wonder Bread. Maybe it should write a book.
-marcia

link

David Foster Wallace — author of “Infinite Jest” and “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men,” among many other works — died last week. In his memory, Harper’s Magazine has collected full versions of pieces he wrote for the magazine here. The Los Angeles Times scouted YouTube for video interviews of him and put the best of them here for easy viewing. Definitely an original talent, it is a shame to lose him so young from what police say was a suicide.

-marcia