Cat Wagons. These were mobile bordellos that traveled to mining towns, construction jobs and groups of cowboys on the range. A madam would load up her girls and take them to a site where they would ply their trade.
– Prostitute Dictionary of the Old West
fallow1 [Old English] In Old English the verb fealgian meant ‘to break up land for sowing’. Of Germanic origin, the word is related to Low German falgen. The sense now is ‘leave unsown’ referring to land which has been ploughed and harrowed.
fallow2 [Old English] Germanic in origin, Old English falu, fealu is related to Dutch vaal and German fahl, falb. Describing the colour pale brown or reddish yellow, it is now most commonly found in the word fallow deer, a Eurasian deer which has a reddish-brown coat in the summer.
– The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories
You might have heard that different types of creative writing require different approaches: what makes a good novel isn’t the same as what makes a good short story, a good poem, or a good film.
While this is certainly true, I think the distinctions between different forms of creative writing are over-emphasized. Despite differences in presentation, length, and form there is a lot in common among different forms of art, particularly in terms of process, and a lot that can be learned across boundaries.
In this context, let’s discuss what fiction writers can learn from music and movies in regard to revision suggestions from first readers, agents, and editors.
simoleon American slang, since c. 1830 A dollar. [ < British slang (since XVII but obsolete by late XIX) simon, a sixpence. There is no explanation of the British usage. Simon Magus sought to buy sacramental powers for money, and simony, named after him, is the sin of selling the services of the church for money. The money nexus is apparent, but no proper priest will sell out his office for a mere sixpence. Nor is there an explanation of the American variation. What is certain is that British simon passed into American simoleon, the monetary exchange rate shifting from British 6 p. to American $1.]
– Dictionary & Native’s Guide to the Unknown American Language
The debate continues on whether “literary” fiction is distinct from “genre” fiction.
“Literary versus genre fiction: Meaningful difference or false distinction?” is an upcoming panel discussion on this issue scheduled for 28 January at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, New Jersey. The panel will include several authors: Christina Baker Kline, Alice Elliott Dark, Laurie Lico Albanese, Elizabeth Brundage, and Peter Golden.
As I am currently rounding up contributors for a website dedicated to promoting a concept of literary quality that is not spoiled by genre bigotry, this issue is high on my watch list. If I were in the northern New Jersey, I would definitely stop by; any aspiring writers or interested fans in the area should attend.
For more of my take on this issue: Continue reading
There has been a lot of buzz lately about the implosion of Borders, with two executives recently resigning and banks offering the troubled company lenient terms for repaying its debt.
In response, Barnes & Nobles executives are offering a sadly typical, false free-market argument against the “special terms.” Continue reading
nicker. In Kingsley’s HYPATIA (1853) we find: “What is a nicor, Agilmund?” “A sea-devil who eats sailors.” Various other meanings have been attached to this form: a cheater; an 18th century hoodlum…
– Dictionary of Early English
I have a Top Book of 2010. Yes, a book. Singular.
I was considering posting a Top Books of 2010 list. After all, that’s what people do. The New York Times did it, Publishers Weekly did it, The Daily Beast did it, The Huffington Post did it, you get the idea.
And, if all these guys are jumping on the literary soap box, so would I. And I eventually did (see the bold, red text below) but not in the way I expected.
Negative Space: Where all the mopey aliens are from.
This week, a double gift for Christmas!
HORSE … a thick rope, extended in a perpendicular direction near the fore or after-side of a mast, for the purpose of hoisting or extending some sail thereon. When it is fixed before a mast, it is calculated for the use of a sail called the square-sail … When the horse is placed abaft or behind a mast, it is intended for the try-sail of a snow, and is accordingly very rarely fixed in this position, except in those sloops of war which occasionally assume the form of snows, in order to deceive the enemy.
SNOW, (senau, Fr.) is generally the largest of all two-masted vessels employed by Europeans, and the most convenient for navigation … When the sloops of war are rigged as snows, they are furnished with a horse, which answers the purpose of the try-sail-mast, the fore-part of the sail being attached by rings to the said horse, in different parts of its heighth.
– Wm. Falconer’s Dictionary of the Marine (1780).
