You hear that? There – that long, low rumbling in the distance?
Yep. Links a-comin’.
Writing Links
At Writer Unboxed this week is a good article on what makes readers decide to buy your book. More specifically, it’s about what doesn’t work: telling people to buy it. “So here’s how to solve that, easily: never, ever tell anyone to buy your book.” Makes sense to me.
This one’s about literary authors coming to the Dark Side – and writing genre fiction.
I don’t normally link to fiction, but Jo Eberhardt’s written a story this week that is worth your time. In this case, “your time” is only about thirty seconds, since she was working under the same 100-word limit as my story earlier this week. It’s like a bite-sized sample of literary flavor!
Apparently the Kansas City Library is made out of giant books. Outstanding!
Non-Writing Links
An electric motor made out of a single molecule? Yes please.
Penny Arcade nails it: this comic sums up my my one thought about the Justice League.
And have you heard about Trenches? It’s by the guys behind Penny Arcade and PvP, which was all the enticement I needed to start reading. This comic is my favorite one so far.
That’s it for me. Do something fun this weekend! See you on Monday.
Brian D. Buckley 
Interesting article about the “literary/genre” thing. I read another article about this phenomenon a month or two ago. I think professional writers go (or try to go) where the market is. I think that’s part of being professional. I have a friend who’s been a professional writer since 1972, and he just wrote a paranormal YA romance novel, because that’s what’s selling.
I always laugh at the whole “going to the Dark Side” thing. As I talked about a while ago on my blog, it’s only when you get into a genre that you really understand how much you can do within it:
And I also talked about how, for some writers, genre restrictions can be a real boon:
Oh, and I think Penny Arcade pretty much nailed the Justice League thing. And don’t get me started on the whole “New 52” thing, either.
It’s odd how placing restrictions on writing (such as genre) can actually draw you out and make you more creative. I’ve found the same thing in poetry: often the more demanding forms (with limits on meter, rhyme scheme, etc.) drive you to produce better work.