How Short Are Short-Shorts?

...Between 200 and 2,500 words long, according to www.shortshortshort.com.

I must admit that I had never heard of short-short stories (also known as flash fiction or micro fiction) until an e-mail from Bruce Holland Rogers turned up in my in-box. Rogers is an award-winning author who runs a pretty unique literary service. For $5 a year, he sends subscribers three short-short stories each month via e-mail.

He has over 600 subscribers in 60 countries so far, and his stories are translated into multiple languages each month. The French-language version of this service is set to launch in January.

Rogers has received some pretty impressive awards and nominations, is a published author, and twice a year "auctions himself" to the highest bidder.

Besides being smart enough to e-mail the bigger literary blogs (yes, I know it's surprising that there are literary blogs more well known than Tampa Book Buzz), he was savvy enough to include a comment about TBB in his e-mail to me, which showed that he took the time to look at my blog. That's smart marketing.

Sample stories and a description of the service can be found at www.shortshortshort.com. At only $5 a year, I think this will help me knock out some of my holiday shopping (gift subscription notices sent by request).

Tampa Antiquarian Book Company Moving to Seminole Heights

I always enjoy reading posts that celebrate books, reading and bookstores. On Friday, David in Seminole Heights announced with glee that the Tampa Antiquarian Book Company is moving to his neighborhood. Lucky Seminole Heights!

Local Author Updates

Wondering what's new with some of our local authors?

*Rita and J.C. De La Torre have been invited to participate in the Dunedin Reading Festival in April 2006.

*Look for Wendy Boucher's interview in the December issue of Tampa Bay Illustrated magazine. Her upcoming book signings (December 3rd at Waldenbooks International Plaza and January 21st at South Tampa Barnes & Noble) are listed in the sidebar calendar. The upcoming sequel to her book Parvenue Throws A Party is called Parvenue Gets A Passport.

*Gabi Lorino shared her recent experiences stalking -- er, I mean watching -- Ewan McGregor in London in Guys and Dolls on my Tampa Film Fan blog.

Local Author Ersula Knox Odom

I was lucky enough to meet and spend a few minutes talking to local author Ersula Knox Odom at last month's Festival of Reading. She was taking a turn at the Tampa Writers Alliance booth. Her book At Sula's Feet contains "fond and treasured recollections of a country girl whose life was shaped and enriched by the wit, wisdom and love of her grandmother."

She recently emailed me some great tips to use when going home for Thanksgiving, such as recording your elders' stories and memories. Future generations will appreciate being able to hear and see these stories for themselves.

Visit www.sulatoo.com to learn more about Odom's grandmother Sula, her book At Sula's Feet and her CD.

Local Author Scott Kelby Has New Book Out

Computer-book author and local resident Scott Kelby has updated his iPod book. The iPod Book: Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store was recently updated and re-released with hundreds of tips and tricks for every iPod, including the new video-enabled iPod, the new iPod Nano, the new ROKR iTunes-enabled cell phone and iTunes V.6.

I'm one of the five people in the U.S. who doesn't have an iPod, so it's all Greek to me. I was glad to discover, however, that Kelby lives in the Tampa Bay Area. He's the Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop Users Magazine, Mac Designers Magazine and Nikon Capture User magazine, as well as an author and trainer. I'm not sure when he find the time to listen to music on his iPod!

Writer Pam Houston at University of Tampa Next Week

The Writers At The University Series at the University of Tampa wraps up for the semester next week with a visit from novelist and short story writer Pam Houston. Here are the event details:

November 29, 2005
8 p.m.; free and open to the public
Plant Hall Music Room
University of Tampa
contact: Wing Barfoot (wbarfoot@ut.edu) 813-253-6216

To learn more about Pam Houston or this event, click here.

"The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova

What is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova about?

After a young girl discovers her father's darkest secret, she embarks on a harrowing journey across Europe to complete the quest he never could--to find history's most legendary fiend, Dracula.

(from the official website)

The Historian is the Tampa Book Buzz Online Book Club's pick for November.

2006 Festival of Reading

Go ahead and mark your calendars for Saturday, October 28, 2006. That's the date for next year's Festival of Reading. Authors, make a note in your calendars to check their website in the spring to find out how to apply to be a featured author or a book exhibitor.

Book Giveaway at Turner Classic Movies

There's still time to enter the monthly book giveaway sweepstakes at the Turner Classic Movies website. This month they're featuring two books: Warren Beatty:A Private Man by Suzanne Finstad and Elia Kazan:A Biography by Richard Schickel. To learn more about these books or to enter the sweepstakes, click here.

The Just Read, Florida! Selection Causes Controversy

Aaah, what would life be like without controversy? This one involves two of the most touchy issues -- religion and books. It seems that Jeb Bush's Just Read, Florida! program is "implementing a statewide event featuring grade level specific contests to promote literacy among all grades 3-12 for public, private and home school students." Sounds wonderful, right?
Well, the catch is that the contest is about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This contest ties into the upcoming Disney film The Narnia Chronicles: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The grade school students are competing in an essay contest, the middle school kids have an illustration contest, and the high school students are competing in a short video contest. Some of the prizes are pretty spectacular, including a private movie screening and award ceremony at MGM Studios, free hotel stay and tickets to Disney's MGM Studios theme park.

The group Americans United for Separation of Church and State is very unhappy at the book selected for this contest. They say that the contest violates the First Amendment because it promotes a "religious story." They are calling on Just Read, Florida! to replace The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with a different, non-religious choice.

The Arizona-based religious liberty group Alliance Defense Fund has offered to provide free legal representation to any schools Americans United threatens with legal action.

I wonder if this will explode or just quietly fade away.

Local Spanish-Language Bookstore Owner Honored

Oceania Gonzalez, owner of Tampa Libros, the only Spanish-language bookstore in Tampa, was recently honored by the University of South Florida's Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean for her work preserving the Spanish language and making Spanish books available to the community. Congratulations, Oceania!

(cross-posted at Sticks of Fire)

To Blog Or Not To Blog:That Is The Question

Bloggers Blog has a summary of the recent Internet Writing Journal article The Author's Dilemma:To Blog or Not To Blog, about whether or not an author needs a weblog. The article also includes the pros and cons of blogging and a list of the best author blogs.

New Local Magazine About Ybor City and Tampa

Cigar City Magazine, a new bimonthly magazine dedicated to the history and culture of Ybor City and Tampa, premiered October 27th. Visit www.cigarcitymagazine.com to find out where to pick up a copy.

(cross-posted at Sticks of Fire)

Tampa Bay Library Consortium's Online Book Program A Success

The website for the magazine Government Technology has just posted an article about the successful launch of an online book program by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium. Members can temporarily download audiobooks and download them onto MP3 players or burn them onto CDs. They've had 2,806 downloads in the first two months.

Stephen King Coming To St. Pete In January

I've just purchased my tickets for "An Evening With Stephen King" at Eckerd College on January 21st. This is the kick-off event for the 2nd Annual Writers in Paradise (more on this event coming soon). For more information about this event or to purchase tickets, visit www.eckerd.edu/stephenking.

Back in Town

Wondering why I haven't posted for a while? I've been out of town, meeting my three-week-old niece Morgan. Isn't she beautiful?

I bought The Historian while I was gone and started reading it in the car. 672 pages! I've got to get busy reading. And posting...

Local Author Jerry Cowling

As TBB readers know, I'm always excited to find out about another author in the Tampa Bay area. So you can imagine how much fun I had at the Festival of Reading in St. Pete on Saturday! I'm still wading my way through the huge stack of business cards, bookmarks and brochures I picked up that day and have been busy responding to the flurry of emails I've received so far.

On Saturday, I met local author Jerry Cowling, who has written a book called Lincoln in the Basement. His book is an "alternate history" novel that explores what things would have been like if Lincoln's life had been a bit different. I don't know much more about it than that, I'm afraid, but it arrived in the mail yesterday so I will begin reading it soon.

Visit www.jerrycowling.com for more information on Lincoln in the Basement.

Skippin' Along at the Festival of Reading

Here I am with Skip Allen, author of Out of the Ashes, at the Festival of Reading this past Saturday. We took a two-minute break from talking each other's ears off to pose for the paparazzi (a.k.a. The Husband).

Partying With the "Parvenue" Author

This is Wendy Boucher, author of Parvenue Throws A Party (on the left) ,and me at the Festival of Reading this past Saturday. She's just as nice and bubbly in person as she is via email.

Wendy's got an almost identical picture taken with a different (and much better, according to The Husband) camera posted on her blog. (Can we hold a pose or what?)

November's TBB Online Book Club Pick is "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova

This month's book club pick is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

After a young girl discovers her father's darkest secret, she embarks on a harrowing journey across Europe to complete the quest he never could--to find history's most legendary fiend, Dracula.

(from http://the-historian.net/)

Throughout the month, I'll post news, trivia and tidbits about the book. On the last day of the month, I'll tell you what I thought of the book and find out what you thought.

Want to choose which book I'll read next month? Join the Tampa Book Buzz Online Book Club.

Authors in the Park this Saturday

It's time for another Authors in the Park event in Centennial Park in Ybor City -- Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. I know that local author Gabi Lorino will be there, but I haven't heard back from the Ybor Fresh Market yet about which other authors will be there. If I find out before Saturday, I'll post the list.

(If you see Gabi, tell her I'm on page 42 of The Independent Woman's Guide to Life and that I'm looking forward to hearing about her recent Ewan MacGregor encounter.)

Online Book Club Review:"The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (ISBN 0-446-60523-9)

The Notebook tells two different intersecting stories. Part of the book is from the viewpoint of an elderly man, who lives in a nursing home and spends his days reading to a fellow resident, an elderly, forgetful woman who sometimes follows his reading and sometimes is oblivious.

Then there's the notebook, which contains a story about Noah and Allie, a World War II-era couple from North Carolina who fell in love as teenagers, went their separate ways as adults, and were reunited a decade later with explosive results.

It's pretty obvious how the two stories intersect, but I won't mention it here in case the element of surprise exists for anyone who reads The Notebook later.

I saw the movie version before I read the book, and I found the film to be much more satisfying. I found the story-within-the-story part about Noah and Allie choppy and a little hard to follow. Their romance and separation didn't elicit any emotion from me because I didn't connect with those characters.

I did connect with the elderly couple's story, however. Sparks gave a moving, if overly sentimental, portrayal of aging: the physical changes as our bodies start to fall apart, the knowledge that we don't have many years left, the mental anguish of being shuffled off to a nursing home with only fading memories of family and friends for comfort.

Sparks wrote a story about love; love that lasts a lifetime and is perfect and fulfilling and all-consuming. Even though it was a little over-the-top to me, I still found myself in tears at the end of the book.

What did you think?

Learn more about the Tampa Book Buzz Online Book Club.