With the launch of Amazon Digital Services, people can create a masterpiece, pen their thoughts, pour out their catharsis, and/or puke a point of view, then fast track whatever it turns out to be by self-publishing.  Over at Amazon, by the end of a few keystrokes, the fruit of the writer’s (or poor typist’s, in some cases) labor goes on sale as a Kindle download and takes a ranking at the biggest online retailer of books in the world.

Sometimes this is bad news and sometimes it’s worse than that and today the social media lines are on fire with outrage over Philip R. Greaves’ latest offering, THE PEDOPHILE’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PLEASURE.

The blogosphere and message boards are clamoring for the book’s removal, but some sources are citing a firm stance by Amazon, defending its position on the nobility of free speech.

Updates as we get them, folks.

Amazon’s Customer Service Department can be reached at 800-201-7575.

Update #1 (2:30 PM CST)

Jason Boog has some news about boycotts, negative reviews and assorted outrage, in addition to a (disgusting) excerpt. (GalleyCat)

Update #2 (3:35 EST)

Here’s Amazon’s response -

Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.  Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.

arguably at odds with its own Content Guidelines -

Titles sold through the Digital Text Platform Program must follow our content policy and guidelines, detailed below. Publishers are expected to conduct proper research to ensure that the Titles sold through the Digital Text Platform Program are in compliance with all local, state, national, and international laws. If Amazon Digital Services, Inc. determines that the content of a Title is prohibited, we may summarily remove or alter it without returning any fees. Amazon Digital Services, Inc. reserves the right to make judgments about whether or not content is appropriate.Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with some examples of prohibited content:

Pornography
Pornography and hard-core material that depicts graphic sexual acts.

Offensive Material
What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect. Amazon Digital Services, Inc. reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of Titles sold on our site.

Update #3 (7:00 PM CST)

The author speaks to The Smoking Gun.

A taste:

Greaves denied ever being arrested, but revealed that his mental troubles “came to a head about three years ago” when he suffered a “mental collapse.” At the time, Greaves said, he had been working as a nursing home aide.

The breakdown was so severe, said Greaves, that he was involuntarily hospitalized for about nine months, and spent some of that time in a state mental facility. When he emerged from that hospitalization, Greaves recalled that he decided to go back to writing, which he first started doing while in eighth grade.

His pedophile’s guide is a byproduct of that recommitment to craft.

Update #4, Thursday 8:00am (EST)

The Amazon page for the book no longer displays, and while some are calling it a victory for decency and the law, others think the heavy traffic may just have knocked the internet sideways. A search of the site still lists the book, but there’s ‘no image available’ and only a 404 error as reward for clicking the link.  No official comment from Amazon.com that I can find.  CNN spoke with Phillip R. Greaves:

When asked if the self-published e-book was a “how-to manual,” he said, “there are certain parts that are advisory,” which set out lines that should not be crossed.

“Penetration is out. You can’t do that with a child, but kissing and fondling I don’t think is that big of a problem,” he said.

Update #5, Thursday 9:00am (CST)

As reported in this morning’s LitLinks, UPI is reporting that “Amazon.com has apparently removed a Colorado author’s book about pedophilia from its Web site following protests from hundreds of shoppers, officials said.”

Jason Tudor is one of the good guys.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him and have benefited, more than once, from the clarity of his journalistic integrity.  Today he posts an article that should send us into Veteran’s Day with a thought for the soldiers who have made it home to, ultimately, no home.

“Tomorrow’s pause for Veterans Day is a day to remember there are sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, who fought in battles in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and elsewhere. Many of these people were Army Strong, Aiming High and Semper Fi. Then something happened to make them homeless…”

Please take a moment to read the entire article and then lend your support: 107,000 VETS WILL BE HOMELESS ON VETERANS DAY, by Jason Tudor

As much as I like to read and write, I rarely feel like writing about reading.  So, I’m always pleased to feel moved to write a book review. Friend to AuthorScoop, Dr. Christopher Johnson, has already turned out two excellent books on children’s health that I’ve enjoyed both as a parent and as a person utterly fascinated by the clockworks of the human body.

With his latest book, though, he’s outdone himself.  HOW YOUR CHILD HEALS takes a clever format and uses visual, sensory language to strip away the mystery, but not the majesty, from one of the most complex processes in our bodies - healing.

Dr. Johnson’s expertise as a pediatric intensivist shines through, and his years of talking with parents about their sick children has honed his ability to explain, without condescension, what’s happening and why.

A find for both its depth and clarity, the real surprise is its readability. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book will appeal not only to pro-active parents, but to anyone with a fascination for the universe within.

From the Telegraph:

The poem provides crucial insight into one of the most controversial episodes in 20th century literary history. It is the first poem in which Hughes directly addresses Plath’s death.

Hughes recalls his final meeting with his estranged wife two days before she killed herself, and writes of the devastating aftermath of her death.

“What happened that night? Your final night?” he asks in the opening lines of Last Letter.

And he recounts the moment that he was told of her death:

“Then a voice like a selected weapon
Or a measured injection,
Coolly delivered its four words
Deep into my ear: ‘Your wife is dead.’”

The 150-line poem was not included in Birthday Letters, the volume published by Hughes in 1998 and believed to be his final word on Plath’s death. The reason for its suppression is not known, but it has been discovered in the archive of the British Library and is now available for public view.

A full scan of the poem is available here.

Congratulations to historical suspense author, Tasha Alexander, and her thriller-writing new husband, Andrew Grant.  The two were wed in Chicago’s Centennial Park this summer.  Andrew sat with us for ‘5 Minutes Alone’ this past Spring and will be featured in an upcoming installment of ‘Kill Your Darling… Babies?  Oh My.’ We’re working on hearing from Ms. Alexander — and looking forward to it.

So, all those royalties funneling into one household and looking this spiffy?  Some people just have it all.

Best wishes from AuthorScoop!

Self-help guru, Rhonda Byrne (of THE SECRET fame), is back with her heart-over-matter explanation of money woes in THE POWER.

Eliza Griswold earns the respect of The New York Times for her book, THE TENTH PARALLEL: DISPATCHES FROM THE FAULT LINE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM.

The Star Tribune offers up a look at some late summer reading for the younger crowd.

Elliott J. Gorn puts the spotlight on one of the toughest spectator sports ever sold to the masses in THE MANLY ART: BARE-KNUCKLE PRIZE-FIGHTING IN AMERICA (UPDATED EDITION).

Hello both to and from the annual Killer Nashville Literary Conference for Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller Writers.

I say hello to the conference because Butch Wilson (of tech4writers.com) will be using AuthorScoop in his presentation tomorrow morning and we thought it might be nice of AuthorScoop to say hello when we pop up on the screen at the click of Butch’s gizmo.  So, hi guys.  Wave at the screen.  Thank you.

I say hello from Killer Nashville because I am here, enjoying myself, learning things and marveling at the Tennessee heat and humidity.

More to follow, but right now I have to get ready to go to a presentation on autopsies and medical examiners offered by Lee Lofland.  Wish me luck and fortitude…

“Is that book entertaining or informative?” my eleven year old daughter asked, as I snatched my copy of Tana French’s, FAITHFUL PLACE, from the table.  I was making another run for sanctuary, to read in peace and make this a vacation of books-for-lunch, sand between my toes, and excellent whiskey taken in holiday moderation (which isn’t as much about upping the limit as it is about liberating some of the daylight hours for sipping.)

Her question was a reach for the very basic distinction between fiction and nonfiction that the public school has drilled into her head.  My answer ended up resolving an ongoing philosophical itch I’d had for years – what makes me love a book?  In short, it has to be both.

First off, FAITHFUL PLACE, is plain excellence in crime fiction, or suspense, or literary intrigue – whatever you’d like to brand it.  Tana French reeled me in with her wonderful debut, IN THE WOODS, (which won The Edgar for Best First Novel in 2008) and thrilled me with her sophomore outing, THE LIKENESS (a tantalizing premise that, in less capable hands, probably would have collapsed in a self-conscious heap.)  She’s made the big list over at The New York Times each time she’s gone to print and I’ve never once had the how-the-hell-did-that-happen flinch when I see her books there.

And now FAITHFUL PLACE has brought into bold focus what makes a great read for me.  The book opens with the discovery of an abandoned suitcase that pulls a police detective back to his old haunts to re-examine the conclusions he’d drawn two decades earlier when he’d cut anchor (and all ties) from the neighborhood of Faithful Place, his childhood home, in one of Dublin’s crustier corners.  At the heart of the revelations kicked off by the find is the luminous Rosie Daly.  A handful of hopeful balloon strings has kept her alive in the memories of the tenants of Faithful Place, but the investigation turns a facet of each of the players towards the light, ultimately sending the truth flashing through the tensions in the streets, and behind all the slammed doors.

So, back to the question – is it entertaining or informative?  Some books are all about the story and some books are all about the words.  The best books are about both.  The older I get, the less willing I am to wear uncomfortable clothes (even if they look good) or to devote eight or more hours to novels that pander.  If it’s all breathless Bruckheimer written in see-spot-run syntax or, conversely, a quicksand of impenetrable brooding and no plot, it won’t suit me.

Tana French seems devoted to the idea that only the right words will make you see what Frank sees, make you laugh at what he finds funny, and that only through the precision and music of the right words will you be convinced to throw your lot in along with his, for better or worse.  The people of FAITHFUL PLACE live so vividly through French’s words that the book practically breathes in rhythm with their sighs, huffs, and rages.  Their dramas are entertaining in the way that makes a comfy-chair Olympic sport out of a racing mind and a raised pulse.  And they are real enough (because of the right words) that we’re informed of our own minds as we live a brief parallel existence in Faithful Place.  Above all, if we can learn through the mistakes of others in ‘real life’, we can definitely come away smarter at the closing of the back cover of a book – if only it’s built of the right words in the right order.

I don’t often write book reviews.  My mother’s admonition to keep it zipped if I hadn’t anything nice to say is a terrific cover for my cowardice.  I’m too wimpy to whet my grump on someone else’s hard work.  So most of my literary carping is done off the record. Thank you, thank you, Ms. French, for writing books that let me unpack an opinion in public.  It’s been a pleasure.

***

FAITHFUL PLACE is likely sitting on a front table or endcap at your local bookstore, or you can have it delivered by your postman (or through the magic of 3G or WiFi directly to your eReader) from Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble’s online store.

Also see Ms. French’s thoughts on FAITHFUL PLACE and writing in general in our ‘5 Minutes Alone’ feature and ‘Is Your Book Your Baby’ essay series.

I’ve come across an intriguing bit of Historical Fiction, a debut novel by Robin Oliveira, called MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, from Viking.  I was drawn to it partly because of my own interest in midwifery and then was happy to discover that it relates a fascinating and well-researched account of the evolution of the nursing profession at the start of the Civil War and the path to first female doctors in The United States.

Here’s a nifty, quick interview with Ms. Oliveira on The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC.

AuthorScoop’s gotten word that a second edition of THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD, by Kim Michele Richardson, is gearing up for a new launch, with its new publisher.  (Click here to read Kim’s ‘5 Minutes Alone’ feature on THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD.)

With headlines around the globe converging on The Vatican and its poor record of vigilance against clergy child abuse, the timing couldn’t be more poignant.

Behler Publications will release a revised and expanded version of this heart-wrenching story on October 1st, 2010, but it’s certainly not too early to pre-order a copy now.

From the LATimes:

Comic book author Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical series “American Splendor” was made into the 2003 film, has died. Pekar, a cancer survivor, was found by his wife, Joyce Brabner, early Monday morning at their Cleveland area home; he was 70 years old.

Pekar wrote his first comic strip in 1972; it was illustrated by his friend, R. Crumb. He began publishing regularly, or semi-regularly, a few years later. “American Splendor” was illustrated by a variety of artists and focused on the minutiae of Pekar’s life as a file clerk.

Even spooks have mundane issues and 21-year CIA veteran-turned-author, Susan Hasler, uses the fact to good result (according to The Washington Post) in INTELLIGENCE.

Justin Cronin’s vampire saga, THE PASSAGE, doesn’t live up to the hype in San Diego.

Slate Magazine looks at the highly charged ACTING WHITE: THE IRONIC LEGACY OF DESEGREGATION, by Stuart Buck.

The New Yorker waxes thorough on Anne Carson’s unusual poetry object/memorial/book, NOX.

I don’t know that I’d always have to stop the presses for the awarding of a literary prize, but when it’s given to one of my favorite authors for one of my top 20 favorite books of all time, well, I gotta crow - ’cause I was at the launch event and own a signed copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s THE LACUNA.

Congratulations, Ms. Kingsolver. Well done.

and here’s a link to my review of it, from earlier this year

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Never has it been more apparent why it’s called The Web.  AuthorScoop is getting quite tangled up in it all, and as far as I can tell, that’s good news.  But it’s early yet.

We’re already squawking Tweets about what we’re up to and just today, we’ve launched a page on FaceBook with updates on our articles and galleries of our staff and featured guests.  Of course, every bit of this is linked, for maximum tail-chasing, with our Twitterfeed.

So if you just can’t get enough AuthorScoop, click that button over there in the sidebar to the right of your screen, and then try getting this spider’s snare off your face.

This week marks the second anniversary of AuthorScoop, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank our contributors, interview subjects and our readers—who visit us daily by the hundreds and, on a good day, by the thousands.

Most of all, of course, I would like to thank Jamie Mason, my partner and right hand, for a lot of hard work and a lot of patience, most of which is consumed in putting up with me.

Thanks everyone.

Author, Kim Michele Richardson, takes her appeal directly to the Vatican’s highest office in an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI, in a response to his watery address of the avalanche of criticism bearing down on the Church over fresh allegations of worldwide institutionalized abuse and betrayal.

Richardson’s memoir, The Unbreakable Child, chronicles a decade of trauma at the hands of nuns and a priest in a rural Kentucky orphanage in the 1960s.

Just got word that Christina Meldrum’s excellent debut YA novel, MADAPPLE, was released today in paperback.  I interviewed Christina back in the summer of 2008 for the hardcover release and was so impressed that I hunted her down for our ‘5 Minutes Alone’ segment last March.

MADAPPLE keeps rolling, and well it should.  Congratulations, Ms. Meldrum.  Looking forward to more from you, for certain.

Honestly, my Latin isn’t what it could be, so I don’t even know for certain that I’ve gotten it right, or right enough, but for author Nujood Ali, even a near-miss at an ancient proclamation of freedom through a book seems somehow fitting.  The book, I AM NUJOOD, AGED 10 AND DIVORCED, is her autobiography.

Hailed as “one of the greatest women” Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has ever seen, and honored in Glamour Magazine as one of 2008’s Women of the Year, Nujood diverted the course of her life, and perhaps the lives of more of her Yemeni sisters, in a covert dash to the local courthouse to demand a divorce from her abusive, molesting husband.  Husband.  Nujood was 10.

The book has gone on to translation in 18 languages, but it is the release of her story in her native Arabic that Nujood anticipates the most; the hope of where it could shake loose the most benefit.

It’s an honor to have simply run across the story of her bravery, with a nod to Patti Wiggington for drawing my attention that way.

Nicholas D. Kristof elaborates in The New York Times‘ op-ed section from this past Wednesday’s edition.

My Valentine’s Day guest-blogging column is now online over at Writer in Waiting. A taste:

Since the mid-1800s, Valentine’s cards have been big business in both England and America, and this commercialization of people’s most intimate feelings has spread to just about every other holiday, homogenizing most of our celebrations, both sacred and secular, to the point of cliché.

Read the whole piece here.

In honor of JD Salinger, The New Yorker is making all thirteen of his short stories they published available online.To access the digital archives at no charge, click here.

From their site:

J.D. Salinger has died. From 1946 to 1965, Salinger published thirteen stories in The New Yorker including such classics as “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” There will be much more to come online and in next week’s magazine, but for now, we are making all of his stories available to all readers through our digital edition:

“Slight Rebellion Off Madison” (December 21, 1946)

“A Perfect Day for Bannanafish” (January 31, 1948)

“Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut” (March 20, 1948)

“Just Before the War with the Eskimos” (June 5, 1948)

“The Laughing Man” (March 19, 1949)

“For Esmé—With Love and Squalor” (April 8, 1950)

“Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” (July 14, 1951)

“Teddy” (January 31, 1953)

“Franny” (January 29, 1955)

“Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters” (November 19, 1955)

“Zooey” (May 4, 1957)

“Seymour: An Introduction” (June 6, 1959)

“Hapworth 16, 1924” (June 19, 1965)