Earl Merkel's Blog
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Apr.07.2011
NEWS ALERT: Riding the success of turning Sherlock Holmes into a modern-day 30-something (in the BBC-TV version) the next fictional detective to get a full-body makeover is Agatha Christie's Miss Marple... soon to be portrayed by Jennifer Garner.
I am now awaiting announcement of a cut-and-buff...
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Apr.05.2011
Harry Potter may soon be appearing on a Kindle near you. Rumor has it that Ms. Rowling is about to reverse her anti-ebook stance--and make a $100 million-plus pile of money.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jk-rowling-is-considering-harry-174382
'Bout time, too.
Never understood Ms. Rowling...
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Apr.01.2011
It's April 1 --known gleefully as "April Fool's Day"-- when we gullible types are the foils of those who prey on our innocence with outlandish, often incredible, stories. Everybody gets a healthy guffaw from this (tho the laugh of the "fool-ee" is usually somewhat strained).
So...
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Mar.22.2011
And speaking of the Internet --and literature-- there's a hilarious series of videos that embody the best of both worlds ...and simultaneously tosses in a great marketing campaign that the fine folk at Kraft Foods are riding like a madcap cowboy on a meth-crazed Brahma bull.
I speak of the Sassy...
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Mar.05.2011
For a double-fisted (!) dose of both excellent word-smithin' and what appears (to this humble amateur diagnostician, at least) an example of writer's obsessive-compulsive disorder, you could do far worse than to read James Wolcott's piece in the current Vanity Fair.
It is entitled Morgan In...
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Mar.02.2011
Readers respond to Part 1 of our Ongoing Charlie Sheen Saga...
"Maybe it's not too late to become an insane, drug-addled drunk, Earl," Reader Jan writes. "Now we know that's where the big bucks go, we can all line up at the bar more often. Because publishers and readers don't want...
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Feb.27.2011
On soon-to-be bestselling 'author' Charlie Sheen:
----- Charlie Sheen to Write Tell-All Book by Jean Bentley TMZ Feb 26th 2011
The latest chapter in the ongoing Charlie Sheen saga comes in book form: namely, the proposed tell-all that Sheen told TMZ he plans on writing about what went on behind...
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Feb.23.2011
A first-time freelance book editor asks, 'What To Charge?' Is my reply wrong (and not just cuz it's sexually 'charged')?
Earl, I need advice. How do I figure out what to charge (an author) for the work he wants me to do? While I've edited literary journals before, this is the first time I've...
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Feb.15.2011
It's not everyday one gets to offend most of the media, feminists, revolutionaries, women softball players and the entire nation of Egypt.
But I think I've succeeded...
My old college buddy --and these days, occasional political-writing foil-- Roger Simon has an amusing column on Politico.com ...
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Feb.07.2011
An article today in a Chicago-area newspaper resurrects the time-honored question: "Can a man tell a woman’s story?"
God knows I've tried, to differing opinions on the outcome.
A published review of my Virgins And Martyrs --told in first person, through the words of a woman police...
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Feb.06.2011
It's occasionally been said that the Bible is among the sexiest books ever written, and not only in the "Song Of Solomon" passages.
Below, in an interesting article excerpt courtesy of The Daily Beast (whoa! I just now realized the potentially demonic ramifications of that publication...
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Jan.20.2011
A reader, Tina, writes about my "Poe Mystery Visitor Absent" -column (Jan. 19 posting, on author's Redroom homepage): "Interesting. I like the idea of the roses and cognac but not so much the idea of standing in a cemetery in the middle of the night with freezing rain. So if people...
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Jan.19.2011
Last year, I posted that the mysterious visitor who traditionally had placed three roses and a half-bottle of cognac on the gravesite of Edgar Allan Poe had failed to appear for the first time in six decades -plus.
This year, the unknown mourner again was absent from what had been his annual rite...
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Jan.15.2011
In these difficult economic times, writers everywhere are looking for new income streams. The suggestion below is tailor-made for us, since it requires only a propensity to drink, a little cunning, and a total disregard for public humiliation.
From the "cash-strapped" (but otherwise...
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Jan.14.2011
NEWS FLASH: "The New York/Washington media world is abuzz with speculation on rumors that NBC may fire former Evening News anchor Tom Brokaw for on-air comments he made about 'feeling nervous if I went into a bar in Arizona.''
"With memories still fresh of October's controversial firing...
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About Earl
Earl Merkel is the author of Fire Of The Prophet (Diversion Books, 2013); Virgins And Martyrs (Five Star 2008, under the name "E L Merkel"; Final Epidemic (PenguinPutnam/NAL), a Barnes and Noble national bestseller re-released in hardcover by Elmtree Press/...
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