We have a scintillating international panel for your entertainment and enjoyment tonight. Leading lawyer, author and Litopia Daily’s newshound Donna Ballman is back from her travels and ready to dispense some authorial wisdom. She’s joined by writer and regular Litopia panelist Dave Bartram, from England’s West country.
From New York, and making his debut appearance on Litopia After Dark, is a real publishing legend – in his time at Times Books, Crown, Avalon Publishing Group and Sterling Publishing, Philip Turner has been responsible for some of the best non-fiction of the past few decades. His credits include books by Barack Obama and Senator George Mitchell, the iconic bestseller IBM and the Holocaust, Susan MacDougal’s book The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk: Why I Didn’t Testify Against the Clintons and What I Learned in Jail, and the massively controversial book by Ambassador Joseph Wilson The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Put the White House on Trial and Betrayed My Wife’s CIA Identity.
And from the icy tundra of extreme Saskatchewan (yes, there’s still snow on the ground!) comes Canadian author Mary W. Walters. You’ve heard Mary recently on Litopia Daily, talking about her seminal critique of what literary agents do for authors – and comparing it to what they ought to do – it ignited a firestorm of controversy. Mary writes fiction, non-fiction and drama – she’s has published two novels and a collection of short stories, and won a Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Excellence in Writing. She’s also written and narrated two programs for CBC’s Ideas series.
Topics covered (and links) from tonight’s show include:
- Elephant art - creativity is not a solely human occupation – YouTube Video
- Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang is published
- Publishing “houses” - do they still offer a virtual home for authors?
- What makes fiction go ‘stale’? “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates feels timeless, but Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” already feels old hat – why?
And as for the Commissioning Meeting - well, things are looking even worse than last week, if that’s possible. The president of Litopia Big Publishing Corp has been accused of fiddling his expenses – he makes a robust on-air defence for claiming costs involved in moat cleaning, various personal stress relief consultants and miscellaneous Emperors Club VIP facilities. “These are all legitimate business expenses”, he declares, “essential to the unique function I perform in this company.” The panel seem less than impressed. Nevertheless, it’s back to dear old Project Guttenberg to cheerfully plunder a few more out-of-copyright manuscripts. This week’s titles are:
“Jack at Sea – All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy!”
By George Manville Fenn, 1831-1909“Joe Strong, the Boy Fish – Or, Marvellous Doings in a Big Tank”
By Vance Barnum“Jemmy Stubbins, or – The Nailer Boy!”
By Anonymous“Janet of the Dunes”
Harriet Theresa Comstock, 1860 – ?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Photo by George Eastman House
Easy way: just click the PLAY button under each show. 
Simply fill in the form under each show and bingo! You’re a critic!
Litopia receives no public funding. For the price of a latté a month, you can keep us going. 
Litopia is the winner
of the first Golden Twits Award for excellence in social media. 
