Sandy and I had a fun trip to Barnes and Noble today, where we mostly browsed through the sales aisle.
Author: Tom Fasano
I am an unapologetic hack writer, blogger, and poet, and an obsessive writer of classical music cd reviews at www.classicalguy.com. The circle photos below are some recent photos I've snapped.
Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos
Hailed as a masterpiece on its original publication in 1921, Three Soldiers is a gripping exploration of fear and ambition, conformity and rebellion, desertion and violence.
A Writer’s Room
Thomas Fasano is an old-fashioned guy, and stepping into his home office is like stepping back in time, perhaps like visiting an old C.P.A. who still uses ledgers and adding machines. The office is in the back of the home where he has lived with his wife, Sandy, for the past eleven years. Among his…
The French love their bookstores
In the 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan stars as an independent bookseller whose livelihood is threatened by a behemoth bookstore chain owned by Tom Hanks. Thats was fifteen years ago. Today, book selling is a different game, the pendulum having swung so much to the other side that it’s the few chains left who are fighting for survival against Internet book sellers and e-books.
Rediscovered novel by Hermann Hesse, In the Old Sun, published by Coyote Canyon Press
One of Herman Hesse’s earliest novels, In the Old Sun (In der alten Sonne) was completed in 1904. The story is of novella length and comes long before the novels that were to make Hesse famous in the decades after World War II. In his early years as a writer, Hesse turned memories of his…
Book cover designers at Random House
The Inside Random House series has released another video. This one gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the publisher’s offices as book designers explain their creative processes and the experience of creating covers for some of the world’s best-known authors. What’s great about this video is that we get to see some of the best…
Stephen King’s print-only book is now a pirated ebook
Stephen King’s latest novel, Joyland, was supposed to be published in a print-only edition by Hard Case Crime. The move was roundly applauded because it demonstrated some real faith in traditional print publishing. It was also a savvy business decision driving sales sky-high.
Amazon hiring in Southern California
The opening of the Amazon facility at the former Norton Air Force Base has proven to be a boon for the city of San Bernardino, which is reeling from a recent bankruptcy filing and workforce layoffs.
Winners of 2013 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards
Claremont Graduate University is handing out a couple of huge poetry prizes here in Claremont, California. Earlier this month in a press release, CGU announced Marianne Boruch won the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for her book The Book of Hours. The prize, given to a mid-career poet, is one of the largest cash prizes…
Richard Blanco’s inaugural poem ‘One Today’
The following poem was delivered by inauguration poet Richard Blanco at President Obama’s second inaugural today. The text of the poem was provided by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. “One Today” One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth…
GERTRUDE publishes as part of Hermann Hesse Project
Coyote Canyon Press just published the first of two novels by Hermann Hesse, an endeavor we’re calling our Hermann Hesse Project. Just published is Gertrude. The text for this edition is taken from Adele Lewisohn’s translation of 1915, Gertrude and I, published in New York by The International Monthly. Gertrude was the first novel by Hermann…
Poet Richard Blanco to read at President Obama’s Inaugural
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has announced that Richard Blanco has been chosen to read a poem at President Obama’s inauguration ceremony on Jan. 21. The choice marks a couple firsts: Blanco will become the first Hispanic and the first gay poet to read at a presidential inauguration. He will also, at 44, be the youngest…
Hunting Bigfoot in the Wilds of – Florida?
Frank Cerabino has a write-up about my brother today in the The Palm Beach Post. The interview was the result of a cold-call by Mr. Cerabino. Hunt for Bigfoot yields more exercise than sightings Many of you are probably vowing to start exercising after the holiday season. It happens every year. Gym memberships swell in…
Christmas Cards from Robert Frost with his poems printed on them
Longing for some memorable holiday cards? How about a beautiful Christmas card from Robert Frost with one of his poems printed on it? In 1926 a recently opened letterpress shop in New York City named Spiral Press printed a book of poems for Frost. One of the owners of the press, Joseph Blumenthal, printed one…
Don DeLillo’s Typewriter
In late 2000 I wrote a letter to Don DeLillo asking him what kind of typewriter he used. I’d read in the Paris Review interview that he used a manual typewriter. A page from said typewriter (from his novel Libra) was also reproduced in the article, and I found it fascinating because it showed evidence…