Tampa Book Buzz

book buzz:resurrection angel by william mize

Resurrection Angel by William Mize

Denton Ward is a brilliant, gentle man whose psychic abilities and shattered childhood have changed him into an alcoholic recluse, grumpily holding on to his remaining sanity through cigarettes, alcohol and prescription medicine. Monty Crocetti is a punk-rock spitfire of a woman, a former prostitute who is now a private investigator with a big mouth and an even bigger heart. Denton and Monty are friends, lovers and partners. Together they investigate the case of Lisa Rappaport, a young heiress whose problems begin with amnesia and end with murder, with a possible virgin pregnancy in the middle.

This book is riveting. Most of the story unfolds through the main characters’ rapid-fire dialogue. This unusual technique gives Resurrection Angel a fast-paced vibrancy that makes it hard to put down. Mize brings two potentially unlikeable characters together to form an unique sleuthing team that readers will love. I have the sequel Everlasting Life on my bedside table and I can’t wait to dive back into Mize’s world.

Mize’s website is www.williammize.com.

Book Buzz Barometer: A  (Added 8/6/07 because I forgot to include in my original post; sorry about that!)

thank you

Thank you for all the notes of support and well wishes regarding my crazy busy life. My mom is still in the hospital, but is doing much better. I appreciate your comments and emails!

Also, thank you to all of you who voted for TBB for Best Local Blog in Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay poll. I haven’t had the time to answer each of your emails, but I want you to know that I appreciate your voting for me.

Now pick up that book!

webby award winners

Congratulations to these book- and writing-related winners of the 11th Annual Webby Awards:

Winner, Associations: www.poetryfoundation.org

Winner, Copy/Writing: www.howstuffworks.com

Winner, Magazine: www.mediastorm.org

Winner, Newspaper: www.guardian.co.uk

(Thanks to the Award Winners Blog)

in memoriam:forsell, sowards, whiting

• Swedish poet, playwright and author Lars Forsell has died at the age of 79.
• Screenwriter Jack B. Sowards (Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan) has died at the age of 78.
• Best-selling author and military historian Charles Whiting died this past week of renal failure at age 80.

new festival called deep carnivale:a celebration of words on september 8

There’s a new family-friendly festival in the Tampa Bay area. Deep Carnivale:A Celebration of Words is scheduled for Saturday, September 8, on 14th Street and Palm Avenue in Ybor City from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Presented by the Artists and Writers Group, Inc. and Hillsborough Community College-Ybor, Deep Carnivale is free and open to the public.

According to the press release, “This event will be a celebration of literature and writing in its many wonderful and diverse forms. The goal is to excite our community about the joys of literature, with a special focus directed toward our younger generations of children and young adults about the pleasure of listening, learning and using the written and spoken word creatively.

There will be three sound stages for readings, spoken word, original singer/songwriter performances and small theatrical performances. Areas of arts and writing activities for children and adults of all ages will add to the celebratory quality of the day. There will be visual arts components, such as the Books As Art exhibition, and the 20 arches of El Pasaje building transformed into pages by twenty artists and writers and based on an art concept from the 1920s called the Exquisite Corpse.

Thirty vendors or so will sell books and related literature. Numerous community organizations will provide information on their activities. Coupled with interesting decorations, live music and a wide variety of scheduled readings and performances that will appeal from the youngest to the most sophisticated, this inaugural event will be well on its way to becoming a flagship event for Ybor City.”

The schedule, names and bios of attending authors and more details on events will be announced soon. For more info, email David Audet at daudet(at)hccfl.edu or visit www.deepcarnivale.com.

I’m on the Deep Carnivale planning committee. If you are interested in buying space for a vendor table or an ad in the program, please email me at tampafilmfan(at)aol.com and I’ll send you the details. Hope to see you there.

(cross-posted at www.sticksoffire.com)

help save the education channel

The Education Channel needs our help. Please read the three emails below and call or email your Hillsborough County Commissioner.

Received via email on July 26:

If you live within Hillsborough County, please respond to this urgent request:

IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners is debating the existence of THE EDUCATION CHANNEL and whether or not it should continue to serve the people of our community. Currently, the County Administrator has recommended eliminating all funding to Tampa Educational Cable Consortium which would cripple the essential services of The Education Channel and The Explorer Channel. The motivation as insinuated by a Tampa Tribune article (Public Access Cuts Set Stage For Slams By Ellen Gedalius, The Tampa Tribune, July 25, 2007), to save general funds (i.e. property tax) serves as a thin disguise for the real underlying intent of appropriating The Education Channel’s programming. The BOCC has flagged our organization for further discussion. While the County gives itself raises, they dismantle important educational and cultural infrastructure cultivated over a period of 20 years.

District 7 Mark Sharpe, 272-5735, sharpem(at)hillsboroughcounty.org
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Received via email July 28:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jul/28/na-public-access-tv-seems-irrelevant-in-era-of-onl/

The Tampa Tribune Saturday editorial gets it wrong! Voters consistently say they want more education, less government. And what does the County cut — education instead of government! The Education Channel is so much more than school board meetings. And you certainly can’t find anything like it online! Comparing educational content to videos placed on YouTube is insulting at the very least. And although the county administrator has been asked to cut some fat from the budget—of 3 and 3/4 billion dollars, employees will still be receiving raises this year. The real issue is that the government-run TV channel can not meet the minimum standards of 10 hours of programming per day required by the new state cable franchise law with over 24 employees! What’s wrong with that picture?Please write a letter to the editor TODAY. This editorial is very damaging. We need to refute it before Tuesday’s vote.

You have all been so wonderful to speak up for The Education Channel. I can’t say it enough… Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Received via email July 29:

Your emails and phone calls are helping! Thank you!!

The Commissioners flagged our budget item last Tuesday and will vote on whether to reinstate some funding for TECC next Tuesday, July 31. Please keep up the pressure until then. Some Commissioners suggested that they eliminate funding, appropriate TECC programming and air it on the government’s HTV22, so please urge the Commission to support the channel, not just the programming. I guess they don’t understand that it’s the people — the staff, the board, the educational community — who make the programming. It doesn’t just magically appear and it won’t just magically transport to a different channel with a different mission.

If you haven’t called yet, please call. If you haven’t emailed yet, please email. Please forward this to your friends, family and coworkers and urge them to voice their support for keeping this important and successful educational resource alive and in the hands of educators. Tuesday’s meeting is very important. Please contact them before then.

Commissioner, I’m concerned that the county is considering cutting all funding for The Education Channel. This is a valuable community resource that is important to me and my family. I understand you have to make budget cuts, but The Education Channel should not be completely eliminated. Please reinstate funding for The Education Channel.
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I don’t want to lose Book Talk, the lecture showcase, the Independents’ Film Festival and all the other programming that The Education Channel provides. Do you?

writers in paradise 2008 now accepting applications

Received via email:

Now Accepting Applications for Writers in Paradise 2008 — Apply Now!

Join best-selling authors Ann Hood (The Knitting Circle), Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), Laura Lippman (What the Dead Know), and Richard Price (The Wanderers, Clockers and Freedomland) for the Fourth Annual Writers in Paradise Writers’ Conference, which will take place on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, January 19-27, 2008.

This intensive eight-day experience of intimate workshop classes, panel discussions, readings, book signings, cocktail receptions and dinners is designed for those who are passionate about writing.  Our award-winning faculty and guest speakers will also include Beth Ann Fennelly, Tom Franklin, Peter Meinke, Roland Merullo, Thisbe Nissen, Les Standiford and Sterling Watson.

“The Best Of” this year’s conference selected from student manuscripts will be recognized on the last night of our Evening Reading Series.  These works will be published in Sabal — A Literary Review Featuring the Best Writing of the Writers in Paradise Conference at Eckerd College.  Participants will also have the opportunity to have individual manuscript consultations with noted author and teacher Les Standiford.

To learn more about Writers in Paradise and to help us continue the success of a conference committed to teaching the craft of fine writing, please visit the website and download your application materials today.

Visit www.writersinparadise.com for more info.

tgif!

Damn, what a week.  It’s budget-planning time at the Real Job, a friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and my mom passed out and is in the hospital.

There were a few bright spots, including the debut of my FANGRRL column at www.crazedfanboy.com.

I’m heading out of town to visit my mom.  I’ll catch up on my blogging over the weekend.  Please check back soon!

wizards of words (wow) writers’ conference in tampa september 14-15

From the Tampa Writers Association’s last newsletter:

The 2007 WOW (Wizards of Words) Writers’ Conference will take place September 14-15 in Tampa.  Featured presenters are Florida authors Tim Dorsey, international best-selling mystery author; Linnea Sinclair, RITA Award-winning author of sci-fi romance; and John Strelecky, international best-selling author of The Why Cafe.  Florida authors presenting workshops are:  Rita Milios, Susan C. Haley, A. J. Rodriguez, D’Maria Scaglione and Betty Fasig.  Bob Sanders, co-founder of Mundania Press Publishing, will speak on “How to Get a Publisher to Say Yes.”  The Young Writers’ Workshop will be conducted by Claudette Milner and Associates.

For advance online registration and complete schedule of workshops and presenters, visit www.wizardsofwords.org.  Saturday lunch is complimentary.  Advance hotel reservations may be made at the Quorum Hotel, 700 North Westshore Blvd., convenient to I-275, at www.quorumtampa.com or by calling 813-289-8200.  Conference rates are available.

I’d never heard of WOW before.  According to the website, WOW “provides a conference and online methods to exchange information about writing and the business of writing, to give and receive critique, to network with fellow writers, to find out about other annual conferences and book festivals, to instantly chat with other writers, and much more.”  They have different levels of memberships for published and unpublished authors.

Detailed conference presenter information, price and the full schedule are available at www.wizardsofwords.org.

book buzz:just one more by james e. cheatham

Just One More by James E. Cheatham

In Just One More, author James E. Cheatham shares his personal experiences in short, conversational chapters loosely divided into his Seven Lessons in Leadership. During his four decades of professional life, Cheatham knew and worked with Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, met KFC’s Colonel Sanders, and spent quality time with The Power of Positive Thinking author Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He has suffered a huge financial loss due to a bad business decision and had a failed marriage. Cheatham has also become the CEO of a company that he founded, lectured to university business students, and is enjoying a successful second marriage.

Cheatham shares his successes and failures openly, hoping that the reader will benefit from lessons he’s learned the hard way. Reading Just One More is like getting an inspirational pep talk from your grandfather — some stories are fascinating and others feel a bit preachy. While the personal anecdotes vary in length and in inspirational value, Cheatham’s zest for life is contagious and is evident on every page.

I won’t divulge Cheatham’s explanation of the phrase “just one more” (see page 35 to read it for yourself), but I will say this. Don’t be fooled by the book’s subtitle “The Non-Textbook Approach to Success for the Entrepreneur.” Everyone from new graduates to retirees — entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike — can learn a great deal from Cheatham’s seven lessons. We could all use just one more…both the book and the life-affirming message.

Book Buzz Barometer: B+

Cheatham’s book is available through JimSam, Inc.

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