Part I of “The Crow and the Kinnebeck” Now Open to All Readers

Part I to “The Crow and the Kinnebeck,” the first story in The Lemaigne Tales : An Observer’s Casebook from the Years 285 – 295 of the Republics, (prequel anthology to The Ligan of the Disomus) is now open to all readers.

Part II, The Whisper Gun, is now open for First Readers only through the same link above.

Two Links About Me, Myself, and I

At the Sharp Angle blog, guest blogger Juliette Wade offers up some useful insight into the use of 1st Person in fiction.  Although not a favorite of mine, 1st Person did end up being the approach I took in my first novel, so I found Juliette’s observations interesting… and on-the-mark.

Jesse Kornbluth at Publisher’s Weekly surprised me by repeating three of my opinions about how publishers could face the technological and economic minefields facing them, opinions that I considered outside the pale: publish fewer books, publish better books, stop publishing everything in hardback first.  He also advises writers to do what I would do more of … if I actually had more time: spend more time online with one’s own website and social networking sites.  (And, thanks to Dystel & Goderich for the surf assist.)

Archaic Definition of the Week

pro’mptuary. A storehouse; a repository; a magazine.

- Johnson’s Dictionary : A Modern Selection by Samuel Johnson (1755), ed. E. L. McAdam and George Milne (1963)

The Amalgam Poems

A poison seeped into Amalgam’s well
that bit our throats and made our faces swell,
then left us with a fear of what we drink
and cleaning of the well on which to think.

Of Words and Wait Staff

Two recent blogs paired language, food service, and uptight etiquette, albeit from different angles.  I just love low-grade synchronicities like this, and I love language, and food, and deconstructing uptight etiquette … So, here they are, for you to love!

Over at TEStazyk.com, the grand issue of definite and indefinite articles is tackled, starting with the question: Why do we use “the” to refer to foods when ordering in a restaurant?

Claude Vordell, a former Applebees manager at TheAwl.com, responds to two separate appearances in the New York Times of inane peevishness about the phrase “no problem,” particularly when used by wait staff in lieu of “you’re welcome.”

Thanks for the links, you say?  No problem.

As a Nom de Plume …

As some readers may know, John Nelson Leith is not my legal name.  My legal name is so absurdly common that there are already dozens of people in the entertainment industry with the same first-last combination.  So, I added … something.

But, my situation is not really that unusual.  Plenty of writers consider using pseudonyms.  Some of them face the same issue I do.  Others simply believe that their names aren’t as catchy as they should be.

Bookends LLC has some excellent advice for people in our situation.  Enjoy!

Word Cloud – The Crow and the Kinnebeck

As my regular readers (both of you) know, the short story prequel to The Ligan of the Disomus I decided to write in November, “The Crow and the Kinnebeck,”* has reached 4000 words at perhaps one fifth to one fourth complete, and is stubbornly insisting on becoming a novelette. At the least.

The first of eight parts is up now for my First Readers, God bless ‘em, but for everyone else let me present a world cloud based on that first part, courtesy of wordle.net.

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* I’m under the impression that keeping the title inside quotes, rather than italicized, will convince it that it is indeed a short story. You know, like trimming a bonsai.

Archaic Definition of the Week

HANDFASTING * The custom of a couple shaking hands, as the Romans did over an urn, as a means of sealing a marriage engagement, from the Saxon handfaestan.

- Forgotten English : A Merry Guide to Antiquated Words, Packed with History, Fun Fact, Literary Excerpts, and Charming Drawings by Jeffrey Kacirk

The Amalgam Poems

Twice to the town I named Amalgam came
a man who had a face and yet no name.
His conversation stung us like a bee
and yet he left us healthier than he.

Traces of European-American Contact

Excavations in Telfair County, Georgia, have uncovered not only remains of a Native American village, but could reveal evidence of Hernando de Soto’s exploration of the area in the mid-1500s, two hundred years before the founding of the British colony of Georgia.  Read the Associated Press article about it here in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.