Writer blows $10k on a glass of fake Scotch

The Washington Post has an interesting article about a bestselling Chinese writer who dropped ten grand on a rare Scotch, only to discover the spirit was a forgery. Zhang Wei, described as a popular writer of fantasy martial arts books, took his grandmother to Switzerland, and visited a bar known for its collection of rare…

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The Brothers: A tragedy decades in the making

Through a recent conversation about Russian politics, I learned about Masha Gessen?s 2015 book ?The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy,? about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev, the brothers behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Both had been written off as radicalized Chechens whose newfound religious zeal caused them to avenge their Muslim brothers,…

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Who Murdered Fonzie?

Interesting news of a publishing deal today, via Publisher’s Marketplace: James Boice, author of MVP has sold a comedic noir entitled Who Killed the Fonz? that “picks up the story of HAPPY DAYS two decades later, in the year 1984, and finds successful Los Angeles screenwriter Richie Cunningham returning to Milwaukee to investigate the suspicious…

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What gun books do you like?

National media headlines likely won’t be free of firearm related tragedies anytime soon. Our social media feeds probably won’t suddenly be free of arguments between 2nd Amendment proponents and gun control advocates. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, it doesn’t matter, because shit ain’t going away anytime soon. But we can all try to…

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NaNoWriMo: The endurance test that may lead to a bestseller

November is National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo, when Great American Novelists scramble to write 50,000-word manuscripts in 30 days. What began as a 21-person contest in 1999 is now led by an Executive Director (Grant Faulkner, no relation to William) and has become a literary success, with nearly half a million people…

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