Quickies

OK, here are a few short pieces inspired by my mailbag, just to start the day.

First, Eric Mayer has kindly let me know that he is running a series of comments on my essay On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile, beginning on 6 June. What he has to say is interesting (to me at least), and may perhaps cause you to read the original essay if you haven't done so already. Various people have also commented on his comments.

Eric, by the way, is co-author, with his wife Mary, of a series of detective novels which are published by Poisoned Pen Press. The two authors use the name Mary Reed.

Next, the much-beloved P.G. Wodehouse has a prize named after him. Full title the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. (We mustn't forget our sponsors.) This year's winner is Marina Lewycka for A short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Further details in the Guardian.

Finally, it seems that an Oops is in order. In my review of Ian Hocking's book (see below), I gave the wrong link to his publisher. The site I linked to is that of UK Authors, whereas the publisher is actually UKA Press. True, the two sites are closely related, not least in that they are run by the same boss lady, Andrea Lowne, but we need to distinguish.

UK Authors is a writing community website, with some 2000 members. It's a place where you can find stuff to read, and, if you are a member, submit material for publication on the site.

UKA Press is a small press which publishes in traditional style. Their latest book is by Kevin Brownlow, and tells the story of how the film It Happened Here was made. Like many small presses, however, UKA Press is deluged with mss and proposals and is currently closed to submissions.