Reading "Poets & Writers" & "The Horn Book"

During Monkey Mind Summer, I am managing to keep up better with professional reading than I usually do. No, I don't know what that's about.

What to read in the July/August Poets & Writers

The four articles on literary agents. They make clear the value of agents and the array of things they can do. While I've known writers who didn't have these kinds of experiences with agents, this cover story describes the writer agent dream. Forget princes. "Some day my agent will come..."

How to Pitch Yourself to Bookstores: What Booksellers Want From An Author by Lynn Rosen. Oh, my gosh.

Superpowered Storytelling: What I've Learned From Writing Comics by Benjamin Percy. Favorite bits: Treating outlines like rehearsals  (Remember that, Gail) and "Every story is about the thing and the other thing."

Look What The July/August Horn Book Included!

On Sunday, a family member and I were talking about how there are a lot of childlit bullying books out there. It will be hard for a self-published bullying book, or even one from a small publisher, to get much attention.

"You know what I want to see?" I asked. "I want to see a bullying book from a bully's point of view. Do these people know they are bullies? Do they care?"

Well, the July/August Horn Book carries a review for Patrice Kindl's Don't You Trust Me? that doesn't make it sound like an actual bully book. But the reviewer does say it involves a protagonist who can "lie, cheat, and steal without sparing a thought for the impact on anyone else." The book is described as "a fast-moving tale of unapologetic self-interest." The word "amoral" is tossed in.

While Don't You Trust Me? may not be the bully book I was hoping for, it sounds absolutely refreshing.