From the YouTube description:

Charles Dickens writes to the Magistrate John Hardwick about a ‘fallen woman’, Susan Mayne. Hardwick had previously recommended Mayne as a suitable candidate to live in Urania Cottage, the home for ‘fallen women’ established by Dickens and Angela Burdett Coutts. Shortly after Susan Mayne’s arrival, suspicions arose that she was pregnant. If her pregnancy were to be confirmed by the medical attendant, she would have to leave the home and go back to the jail from which Hardwick released her into Dickens’ care. Dickens informs Hardwick of the suspected pregnancy and conveys the plans he has formulated for Mayne’s departure and return to jail should those suspicions be realized. The fate of Susan Mayne remains a mystery, but this letter survives to give us a glimpse into her troubled life and chance of redemption. A unique glimpse, as seen through the eyes of one of the greatest writers in English history.

(If you have $12,500 burning a hole in your pocket, you can purchase the letter here.)

11 year-old poet fighting back against Taliban through poetry.

New York Magazine recaps some of Harper’s “descriptions of the major players in the waning world of publishing”.

Penguin wins bidding war for Mr. B Virdot’s Gift.

Ang Lee set to make film adaptation of Booker Prize winning novel Life of Pi.

Terry Pratchett honored by Queen for literary achievements.

R.I.P. Daniel A. Solari

“Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.”

-Stephen King

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Hmmm.  There’s a certain someone around these part who might know a thing or two about this sort of book, but as it is, we’ll have to make do with Gamasutra’s review of Jesse Schell’s, THE ART OF GAME DESIGN.

The Huffington Post’s John Alderman takes a look (a listen to?) the audiobook version of John Grisham’s, THE ASSOCIATE, but finds its appeal fairly narrow.

Ancient Egypt is painted anew in Paul Doherty’s Amerotke series.  The new one, SPIES OF SOBECK, get labeled ‘brilliant’ at Monsters & Critics.

EVE, A NOVEL OF THE FIRST WOMAN, by Elissa Elliott gets the raised eyebrows over at USA Today.

From his Good Morning, America appearance:

Early work of JRR Tolkien to be published for the first time.

Discredited Holocaust memoirist Herman Rosenblat to Good Morning America: “It wasn’t a lie. It was my imagination, and in my mind, I believed it. Even now, I believe it.”

Happy Birthday Toni Morrison

Literary works of 28 Tamil writers to be nationalized; families react with anger.

R.I.P. Tayeb Salih

“Story is to human beings what the pearl is to the oyster.”

-Joseph Gold

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Lee Child’s newest, GONE TOMORROW, gets pummeled in The Oregonian.

More post (peri?) mortem of the world’s financial follies from George Akerlof and Robert Shiller in ANIMAL SPIRITS: HOW HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY DRIVES THE ECONOMY, AND WHY IT MATTERS FOR GLOBAL CAPITALISM.

Joe Gore hurdles time and giants by penning the backstory to one of the cornerstones of noire, in SPADE & ARCHER: THE PREQUEL TO DASHIELL HAMMETT’S THE MALTESE FALCON.

Reviewer Carol Bardelli cautions us not to assume too much by the cover, CONFESSIONS OF A CARB QUEEN - THE LIES YOU TELL OTHERS.  THE LIES YOU TELL YOURSELF, by Susan Blech is a powerful memoir.

From the YouTube description:

Maeve Binchy, beloved Irish author, shares her take on life and how her point-of-view reveals itself in her writing.

Philip K. Dick’s last wife reworks and self-publishes the novel he was working on at the time of his death in 1982.

Publishers Weekly posts a report from the Jerusalem International Book Fair.

Neuroscientists say writing poetry helps regulate emotions.

The Stephen King / Stephenie Meyer brouhaha rolls on.

Poet Laureate and professor Andrew Motion says that teaching literature is becoming more difficult because students don’t have the fundamental knowledge of the Bible or classical mythology to appreciate it.

How heavyweight novelists avoid the minefield of cliches.

Geraldine Bedell’s upcoming book has been banned in the United Arab Emirates and the author has been dropped from a Dubai literary festival for criticism of Islam.

 R.I.P. Alfred Knopf Jr.

Four Pens
(Jamie Mason)

Four pens
til the ink runs dry

One for the diary-
That dowry of
the gravestone altar
the prize
of that inevitable husband
the treasure
of the shrouded bride
every thought
that seemed worth noting
lying
(and sometimes lying)
beneath its date

One pen pressed hard
to the ledger
what first wrote
love notes
and pillow devotionals
hefts insult against bliss
bricks and feathers
tallied to a sum
of over and done
until the balance
lets one stay

Another for the stories
Laying the spider’s silk
that winds the fiction
binds it
wrapped for feasting
to fatten
all we think
and stretch each road
with possibilities
where asphalt
never could

The last pen for the verse
the lyric spyglass
that builds
necessary mountains
from overlooked molehills
and breaks Goliath
to his clay
then to his dust
then to his ode

The stylus
the quill
the stick in the sand
the ballpoint clicking
and clicking
the thumb’s annoyance
at words that
come too slowly
run, spill, leak, spew
a rainbow
from content to anguish

I match each shade
to its brand of sigh

Four pens
til the ink runs dry
***

(Read more of Jamie Mason’s poetry here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.

“Writing makes a map, and there is something about a journey that begs to have its passage marked.”

- Christina Baldwin

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PatentBaristas.com gives a brief, but thorough, look at books on Abraham Lincoln, especially illuminating his technological bent.

And bringing that notion forward into our present day, Peter W. Singer wows us with modern technology in WIRED FOR WAR.

Author, Daniel Gray, reveals a a Scots’ angle on the Spanish Civil War in, HOMAGE TO CALEDONIA.

Hey look, a book that’s not about war! Publishers Weekly’s pick of the week is Emma Wildes’ AN INDECENT PROPOSITION.

Cool Hunting sees the potential for Plastic Logic to position itself as a Kindle Killer. Below you can check out the technology for yourself.

From the YouTube description:

Plastic Logic shows off its ultra-thin, large-screen Reader at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company hopes to compete with current eBooks on the market, including Amazon’s Kindle.

In the days following his death sentence by religious nutjobs, Salman Rushdie found refuge in the home of Ian McEwan.

Could piracy be the recipe for success for e-books?

Why comparisons to the iPod fall flat when talking about the Kindle.

The Internet rapidly becoming the medium of choice for Chinese literature.

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler writing a memoir (through the fingers of ghostwriter David Dalton).

The Seattle Times interviews Drood author Dan Simmons.

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown finishes a new book about the Freemasons.

Julia Keller, writing for the Tribune, celebrates the “fortunate return” of the literary feud.

R.I.P. Leila Hadley

“If you try to please audiences, uncritically accepting their tastes, it can only mean that you have no respect for them: that you simply want to collect their money.”

-Andrei Tarkovsky

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The Christian Science Monitor brings back its review of MARK TWAIN: A LIFE, from 2005.  Presumably because it’s that good.

All sorts could find this book interesting: Christopher Dickey sketches out the the best and the coolest in SECURING THE CITY: INSIDE AMERICA’S BEST COUNTERTERROR FORCE - THE NYPD.

Kirkus stars David Kinney’s, THE BIG ONE - AN ISLAND, AND OBSESSION, AND THE FURIOUS PURSUIT OF GREAT FISH.

And Library Journal hosts a page of new mystery novels.

From the YouTube description:

The video promo for “Amberville”, a novel by Tim Davys, published by Harper Collins publishing. The project was written by Michael Ahern and produced by Robin Bilardello (HarperCollins), Jeremy Balon and Matthew Amenta (Destroyer Digital).

Will the Kindle destroy the permanence of the written word? And could this be used in sinister ways? (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)

The newly formed Australian Children’s Literature Alliance to appoint a children’s laureate to champion reading among kids under a new youth literacy program.

‘The Irish Times’ Poetry Now shortlist announced.

A-Rod book being rushed to press after the baseball star’s admission of using banned substances.

84
(William Shakespeare)

Who is it that says most, which can say more,
Than this rich praise, that you alone, are you?
In whose confine immured is the store,
Which should example where your equal grew.
Lean penury within that pen doth dwell,
That to his subject lends not some small glory,
But he that writes of you, if he can tell,
That you are you, so dignifies his story.
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made so clear,
And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,
Making his style admired every where.
You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,
Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.

***

(Read more of William Shakespeare’s Sonnets here)

Editor’s note: ‘Midnight Poetry’ is a showcase for work by poets across the spectrum—from the pantheon of literary giants to contemporary, underground and new voices.

If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please see our Submission Guidelines.