April 21, 2010
For generations on end,
men and women have looked toward the heavens
and been inspired to write poetry. I'm no poet, but even in my own
case, I managed to scratch out this haiku - I stare at the stars
counting the syllables in
Cassiopeia.
But today's post isn't about me. It's about B. Kliban.
When people remember Kliban (if they remember him at all) they think of
him as the guy who drew all those cat cartoons. But a closer look at
his cartoon collections reveals that B. Kliban, at heart, was a poet - There goes that rotten Haley's comet.
It makes me sick, I want to vomit.
You can find those two lines of pure poetry in Kliban's Whack Your Porcupine, or perhaps, Never Eat Anything Bigger than Your Head and Other Drawings. I'll check the reference when I get home.
I
read those two lines more than thirty years ago, and felt a need to
share them with you today. Consider it my contribution to National
Poetry Month. EDIT: My memory is pretty good, but not perfect.
The lines are indeed found in Whack Your Porcupine (1977, Workman
Publishing). But I forgot the caps and the exclamation points and the
spelling error - THERE GOES THAT ROTTEN HALLEY'S COMET!
IT MAKES ME SICK! I WANT TO VOMET! To read the comments or to add your own comment, please use this link.
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
April 19, 2010
I intended to do a photo essay of my day yesterday at the Philadelphia Book Festival (the Free Library Festival), but when I checked my camera at the end of the day, I realized that I had only snapped one pic, early in the morning, before the book festival began, before even most of the set-up had begun. So here's a look at the Free Library of Philadelphia on Vine Street early yesterday morning.
What did I do all day, instead of snapping pics? What I always do at street festivals. Br...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
April 18, 2010
I had a great time at the "Meet the Authors" event last night in
Gloucester County. The event, which was a collaborative effort of nine
small libraries was a huge success. The community turned out in large
numbers for a chance to chat informally with the 41 authors who agreed
to participate. I shared a table with author Tom Wilk, who I had not
met before last night. Tom is a journalist by profession and is the co-author of two wonderful books about New Jersey - New Jersey Firsts: The Famo... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
April 8, 2010
Okay. I get the point.
Times are tough for the airline industry. I've gotten used to airlines that charge a fee for checked bags. I don't like the idea, but I've grown accustomed to the practice. So it's not really surprising that Spirit Air recently announced plans to charge a fee for certain carry-on luggage as well. Normally I would call that an unreasonable fee, but then I read about Ryanair.
Ryanair (a European discount airline) intends to start charging a fee to use the lavatory. Th... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
April 7, 2010
"Before leaving the house,Big Jim ran his wife a bath. While the tub
filled, Rocki subjected herself to examination in the harsh bathroom
light, the two mirrors positioned to permit her to check herself from
every unflattering angle. Rocki had warm green eyes and red hair
falling like eternal summer waves on her beachfront shoulders. Now
that she was in her forties, Rocki knew, if she was not ever-vigilant,
things would start to sag. Big Jim didn't seem to notice, but Rocki
couldn't ignor... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
April 5, 2010
It's the library.When I was a little kid, I don't remember
going to book stores, but I do remember going to libraries. Every
week, without fail, browsing the shelves, borrowing books, discovering
new worlds. I never gave much thought to how such a place could exist,
why such a place would exist. It was just the library. Of course it
was there. It even had a great theme song. This
year, National Library Week (April 11-17) celebrates the theme
"Communities thrive @ your library." I've ha... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
March 31, 2010
In response to my last post, youandwhosearmy asked,
"how do you 'network' specifically, are you blunt with them? Do you explain what you are planning on doing while making small talk? Are they essentially cold calls?"
Writing is a solitary activity. It takes me approximately five months to write a first draft (well, it did for the first three books, the next one, that's another tale for another day). During that five month period, I pretty much live inside my head, in a fictional world, kn... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
March 30, 2010
In response to my last post, Boowasborn commented,
"you seem to handle the promotional stuff so well." I don't think I'm especially good at promotion. What I am good at, to be honest, is learning from my mistakes. So I thought it might be interesting to devote a couple of blog posts to deconstructing my book promotion, to discussing what worked and what didn't. Perhaps some of the other authors on xanga will jump in with promotional stories of their own.
John Wanamaker, of Wanamaker Dep... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
March 25, 2010
We all know what follows success -
sequels, variations, imitations and spin-offs - until we bleed the corpse dry. And so the hugely popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies spawns new titles such as Jane Slayre and Android Karenina. In last Sunday's New York Times Book Review, Ward Sutton wonders what mash-ups will follow when "publishers run out of 19th-century classics to ransack."
Sutton suggests a few contemporary titles that cry out for the monster mash-up. In Green Blood. Eat, Prey... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
March 22, 2010
My thanks to the Literacy Volunteers for hosting Friday night's event at
the Springfield NJ Barnes & Noble. And special thanks to the two
authors who were also there signing books, Marco Conelli and Ralph
Raab. I had great fun chatting with customers and swapping stories
with my fellow authors. At
some point during the signing, Neal showed up. I haven't seen Neal in
approximately 35 years. But through the magic that is social
networking, we reconnected recently and he decided to make ... Continue reading...
Posted by Jeff Markowitz
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About My Blog
Folks tell me that my blog address is cumbersome, that it's hard to spell and even harder to remember. They may very well be right. Although it's derived from the title of my first mystery, even I can recognize that it's not a user-friendly address. So this page will contain selected entries from that blog. Each entry will include a link back to the original post. Use the link to read comments about the post and to add your own.
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