Book! Book! Book!

You know that rare feeling when you stumble across a new book by a favorite author and you didn't know it was due out yet? I had the pleasure this week and am happy to report that the book thus far is every bit as spectacular as I'd hoped. I bought this one on audiobook, and I have actually been getting more chores done just so I can listen to it on my iPod. Drumroll:

China Miéville's Embassytown is out! And it is excellent!

Miéville has worked the magic of writing about the future without having his work Balkanized into science fiction. He has managed to remain in the realm of literary fiction. I'd love to be able to tell you how to work this trick. Nearly every sentence in this book speaks to a rich unknown reality. He trusts the reader not to need an explanation of every unknown word that comes along. Add the great writing and strong characters and you have a book that I wish were 1,000 pages long.

Returning With Happy News!

No, I'm lying again. I return with a short, sharp, bummer:

http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html

What in the world are we doing writing?