query on

A very helpful and savvy book on writing from Luke Reynolds. With a foreword by me.

the indiscernible library

Reading Philip K. Dick's essay "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later," in which he mentions a book published by a friend titled Snakes of Hawaii, which may be this. Published, not written. There are no snakes in Hawaii (according to Dick) and no words in the book. My inner Jim Fingal kicked in. I checked that fact. Well, there are, in fact, snakes in Hawaii, at least according to this site. In fact here's a picture of the Island Blind Snake:

Still, that would be a pretty short book since this is the only established species on the islands. What I started out to say, however, was that the book reminded me of a library I have written about briefly in my novel-in-progress. Here's the passage:

When he got home, Wayne went online and updated his blog, which he called In Private and in Publix. He linked to a Borgesian website called The Indiscernible Library which, it turns out, is a collection of books that have only appeared in other books. The books were unwritten, unpublished, unread, and they cannot, of course, be checked out. And then Wayne wrote that he had not written a number of books himself, and he listed three of them: Until Nevermas; Boffo!; and Practical Gastromancy.

I thought I had seen a reference some time in my life about that library, but apparenly I made it up. Or Borges mentioned a similar insitution an dI can't recell where. There is the Library of Unwritten Books, which is actually short summaries and interviews with people about the books they would like to write--a fabilous idea. That might be where I got the notion.

florida books

My pal Lynne Barrett won the Gold Medal in this year's Florida Book Awards. Michael Lister is making his book Blood of the Lamb available for free download for a limited time. I'll be joining both Lynne and Michael at the FIT Creative Writing Institute in May. Lynne and I will also be at the Rosemary Beach Foundation Conference for Writers in May. 

blue christmas cocktail

Now you can enjoy your own Blue Christmas cocktail all year long. More info here--the making of the Blue Christmas cocktail by David Gonzalez! 

florida heat wave

Today is the last day to get your free e-copy of Florida Heat, edited by Michael Lister. I've got a story in there, "Iffy."  So does James W. Hall, Tom Corcoran and many others.