Win Some Books! Woooo.... Books!

So, the Man Asian Literary Prize is running a competition where you can win some of the novels shortlisted for this year's prize. This, taken from their facebook page:

"To celebrate the announcement of our judges for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize, we are giving away five Man Asian Literary Prize shortlisted books! Q: WHO IS THE CHAIR OF JUDGES FOR THE 2012 MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE? To enter: Send your answer to media@manasianliteraryprize.org and share this status. Entries close at midday on Sunday (Hong Kong time)."

"Housewife with a Half-Life" by A.B Wells Launched Today

Wishing A.B Wells all the best today for the official launch of her ebook Housewife with a Half-Life! The book is available on kindle at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and in a variety of formats on Smashwords. (A paperback will also be available in June.)

"Housewife with a Half-Life" Susan Strong is a suburban housewife who is literally disintegrating. When Fairly Dave, a kilt-sporting spaceman arrives through the shower head to warn her, she knows things are serious. When she and her precocious four year old twins, Pluto and Rufus, get sucked through Chilled Foods into another universe it gets even messier. Where household appliances are alive and dangerous, Geezers have Entropy Hoovers and the Spinner's Cataclysmic convertor could rip reality apart, Susan Strong is all that’s holding the world together. In this madcap, feel-good adventure, Susan and Fairly Dave travel alternate universes to find Susan's many selves, dodge the Geezers and defeat evil memory bankers. From dystopian landscapes and chicken dinners, to Las Vegas and bubble universes, can Susan Strong reintegrate her bits and will it be enough to save us all?

About the Author What is a housewife to do when she becomes 42? Write a book about life, the universe and everything. A.B.Wells is the mother of four children age 11 and under, three of whom are that particularly alien species called boys. As Alison Wells her more literary writing has been shortlisted in the prestigious Bridport, Fish and Hennessy Awards and she’s been published or is about to be in a wide variety of anthologies and e-zines, including the Higgs Boson Anthology by Year Zero, Metazen, The View from Here, Voices of Angels by Bridgehouse and National Flash Fiction day’s Jawbreakers. She recently won the fiction category of the Big Book of Hope ebook with a flash fiction medley and has a litfic novel The Book of Remembered Possibilities on submission. She blogs for writing.ie in the guest blog: Random Acts of Optimism. One of the as yet unsolved mysteries of the universe is whether the B in A. B. Wells stands for barmy or brilliant. In her former life she worked, among other things, as a clerk like Albert Einstein, as a technical writer (and a HR. Manager) and before that studied psychology and communications where, in the college library James Gleick’s book Chaos fell on her head. Her ambitions include a desire to travel to see the Northern Lights and to really travel with Dr Who’s David Tennant in a Tardis. You can find her elsewhere on www.abwells.com and blogging on Head Above Water www.alisonwells.wordpress.com or like A.B. Wells writer on Facebook www.facebook.com/abwellswriter

The Reading Life: Irish Short Story Week

Blogger Mel Ulm is currently exploring all things related to the Irish short story on his site The Reading Life for Irish Short Story Week (which actually runs for several weeks). He has included me in his series of posts on emerging Irish female writers. Thanks Mel!

You can read the blog post HERE.

You can take part in Irish Short Story Week via Mel's blog:

"Please consider joining us for Irish Short Story Week. All of the resources you need to participate, including links to 1000s of stories, is in the Event Resources."

Deadline Looms for Arena Flash Fiction Competition

The deadline for the Arena Flash Fiction Competition is looming like a big looming, loomy loomasaurus. (A loomasaurus being a looming creature that loves to loom, obviously.)

This is a great competition for several reasons. Firstly, it's free to enter. Secondly, the prize is really cool. Thirdly, I think this is the first time I've EVER seen a call for entries that specifies an interest in "quirky" writing.

Here's the entry details:

Competition - The Arena Flash Fiction Challenge 2012

Rules: A story told in 500 words or fewer.

Open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 125.

Quirky, daring, challenging and provocative writing encouraged.

Previously unpublished work only. Multiple Entries allowed.

Deadline: April 30th 2012. Winners announced: May 15th 2012.

The Overall Winner will be crowned 'Arena Flash Champion 2012' and will receive a prize of 7 nights single accomodation at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in County Monaghan. The Centre is a creative retreat for all types of artists. The website for further information is www.tyroneguthrie.ie and the centre's e-mail is info@tyroneguthrie.ie.

The Winner and four runners-up will have their work broadcast on Arena, RTE Radio 1.

Judge: Dave Lordan.

Entries headed ARENA FLASH CHALLENGE to arena@rte.ie or by post to Arena Flash Challenge, Arena, RTE Radio 1, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

Grammar is So Hot Right Now

If you're a fan of all things grammar-related, Grammarly has a cool facebook page with tips, examples, discussions, and images like the one above to tickle your nerdish taste buds.

And because that catchy-ass song has undoubtedly infiltrated your brain now, I've provided a link below. Enjoy!

Shakespeare & Co. Want Your Novella-ella-ella...

The Paris Literary Prize is an international prize for unpublished authors, awarded for a novella. It's now open for submissions (in the range of 17,000 - 35,000 words). Deadline: September 1st.

"We have long been admirers of the novella, a genre which includes such classics as The Old Man and the Sea, Animal Farm and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The Paris Literary Prize celebrates this small but perfectly formed genre while giving a unique opportunity to writers whose voices have not yet been heard."

There are three Paris Literary Prize awards:
-The Paris Literary Prize award: 10,000 Euros
-Two Paris Literary Prize Runner-up awards: 2,000 Euros each
All three winners will be invited to a weekend stay in Paris to attend the
Prize ceremony and read from their work at a special event at
Shakespeare and Company.

Full Details and submission details HERE.

B*tches in Bookshops (based on Jay Z and Kanye West's "N*ggas in Paris")

It's rare that a cover version is better than an original song. You'll know what I mean if you've ever heard Andrea Corr's version of "Tinseltown in the Rain" *shudder*. But "B*tches in Bookshops" is definitely one of the exceptions:



Here's the original Jay Z and Kanye West Version. (Don't watch this if you have a sensitivity to epilepsy or cursing: Severe risk of spontaneous combustion.)