awwww, the cuteness.

congrats!

Bookninja's first mention in Time

The 50 coolest websites. Naw, not us, but apparently we make The Complete Review cool. We're like the black, lesbian friend of cool websites. (Thanks, Michael)


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you're an ass!

You're just mad I moved away. I was the white Irish boy who made you cool.

I'm being forced to amend my first post. The original comment was not "hate-mail" it was just the humor of an angry (because G-love moved away) black (half actually) lesbian. Now I'm even angrier because I'm being forced to type this long-ass post while recovering from a hangover after four days of NYC pride activities.

You all have no idea how much I've won here. I've cashed in all my favours till kingdom come.

Excuses

I am alone this week, with Peter still on honeymoon and Kathryn on vacay in Nova Scotia, so things are slow this week. We're off Friday for Canada Day too (like Independence Day but the fireworks are illegal and represent pretty colours instead of the the rocket's red glare). Plus, nerd that I am, tonight I am getting my telescope fixed and I can barely think of anything else. You know, those kooky scientists are going to smash a probe into a comet this weekend. Coooool.


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Cruel summer

Okay, kids. It's fucking hot. I'm taking this week off. If I happen to wake before seven on any given day, I may pop in and post something, but otherwise, colour me rested. You're in the hands of my fellow shadowy warlords.

I usually take some time off in August, but we have several major pieces for the magazine coming up then, including: a blogger all-star (Maud Newton, Michael Schaub, and myself) review/reappraisal of Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers, a discussion of the "new" poetics of form by Ian LeTourneau and John Lofranco, an inverse omnibus review of the Romentics line of gay romance novels by Dani Couture and Matthew Fox, and an in depth comparison of the writing life in the "scene" versus roughing it in the bush by Brenda Schmidt. Until then, I plan to be irregular. Bran flakes or no.


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Dude, The Favourite Game is so much better. BL is an interesting failure of a novel.

<Puts cookie on pitbull's nose>

Wait for it...! Wait for it...!

<Hits pitbull with rolled-up magazine and runs>

I agree that Beautiful Losers is much more interesting than Favourite Game, and vice versa, if considered in comparison to much of the boring safe crap pumped lately. Gimme Double Hook and Coming Through Slaughter already. Stop boring me to death with flash fiction without heart, flashing now into 3000 words+ per ego-jerk...followed by whining.

Jennings, send me your mailing address. And email address, for that matter.

G

Happy Birthday to Us

In one day we three are two. Our first public post was August 13, 2003. Pete and I started things (Kathryn joined us this year, much to our relief) as a way to keep in touch with friends over long distances, and word of mouth has snowballed us into an internationally recognized portal for lit news. The site is read by thousands of people daily: publishing folk, writers, and regular old booklovers. We're now considered one of the best lit news sites in the world, having received kudos and mentions in virtually every major Canadian paper as well as international markets such as the Boston Globe, the Denver Post, New York Newsday, Time Magazine, among others.

The Complete Review says it best:

"Previously outrageously overlooked in this survey because of Bookninja's far-reaching ambit (i.e. we always categorised it as a large literary site that merely incidentally had a weblog), but since 2004 it has easily become one of the leading weblogs, with extensive links and commentary. There's a slight Canadian focus, but coverage ranges far and wide, and there's no question that Bookninja has become a must-visit literary weblog."

Sweet! So, we're looking for ideas for articles, reviews, etc. If you have any, please approach us. We're three very busy people who have less and less time to do this kind of thing. If you're interested in writing for us, or contributing in any way, just drop us a note and we'll get in touch.

Look for ninja-related changes this fall, including a new advertising program providing EXTREMELY affordable space to individual writers promoting individual books. (We've been losing sleep with the guilt of our advertising successes, and you're the one to benefit!)

As a grassroots kind of site, we have mainly our contributors and readers to thank for our success. So thanks for reading and sticking with us all this time, and for coming back day after long gruelling day. And tell your friends thanks too, after you tell them to come visit.


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congrats team! awesome work!

If only you guys weren't so entertaining I might get some work done. Happy Birthday!

Susan Glickman

ps. Do tell us more about the incipient advertising program. My first novel's coming out this spring, and my perusal of sites like Bookangst 101, Buzz Balls and Hype, and Maud Newton has convinced me that I oughta get out there and shake my booty rather than leaving things up to my overworked literary press.....