The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
A collection of 15 unpublished stories by the late, great crime writer Elmore Leonard is expected to come out in the U.S. and U.K. in 2015. They are early stories, written while Leonard worked as a copywriter at a Detroit ad agency. Leonard died last August at the age of 87. Sophie Buchan, an editor at Leonard's British publisher, said in a statement: "I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to read original Leonard fiction again. And it's wonderful to be wrong about that. Leonard wrote dialogue like a screenwriter; could build a character you can picture in just a few lines. And it's astonishing that, so early in his career, these gifts are already on display."
Giovanni's Room, reportedly the oldest gay bookstore in the country, has found a buyer, current owner Ed Hermance told Publishers Weekly.The historic bookstore in Philadelphia has been closed since May. PWreports: "If all goes as planned, the new [unnamed] buyer will take over the lease on August 1 and the store will be up and running well before the fall season gets into full swing."
Hilton Als' commencement speech about art and memory at Columbia University School of the Arts is reprinted in The New York Review of Books:"By reading I discovered that art-making was a tradition that was bigger and no bigger than myself. I did not feel crippled by this knowledge; in fact, I was liberated by it: being an artist meant you were connected to other people – ghosts — who had been as moved by the enterprise of creating as you are now; evidence of their love was all the movies and performances and books and dances and music that informed your present so deeply and indelibly, acts of creation that stirred your imaginings to the point of making you wonder: How do I make the kind of film I want to see, write the kind of story or poem I want to read, perform the music, play, or dance that is expressive of the artist I'm meant to be?"
James Salter has a new short story, "Comet," up on the Waterstones blog: "At the reception Adele smiled with happiness, drank too much, laughed, and scratched her bare arms with long showgirl nails. Her new husband admired her. He could have licked her palms like a calf does salt."
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