RobAroundBooks» Site News

‘Shadowing’ the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Rob — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:04:55 +0000

So, you would have seen my post earlier today announcing this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist? If you did then you might also have caught the hint I gave at the end of that post about having a special announcement to make? Well, this is that special announcement:

It gives me great pleasure in announcing that I’m going to be standing as one of the ‘shadow judges’ for this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

So, what exactly is a shadow judge? Well, it’s nowhere near as prestigious as it sounds I guess, but it’s still hugely exciting, for me at least. Flushed with success at having ‘shadowed’ this year’s Man Asian Literary Prize (a brainchild of Lisa from ANZ LitLovers), Stu of Winstonsdad asked a select few if they would consider doing the same for this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize i.e. ‘shadowing’ the judges by reading the same longlist titles as them, and making decisions on which books should be considered the most worthy of progression to the shortlist etc.

As a huge fan of the IFFP (I’m sure everyone knows this by now ) I jumped at the chance of joining this ‘shadow jury’. I tend to work my through the IFFP shortlist every year anyway (or at least I have for the past two years), so this is a fairly minor extra step for me to take, but it’s one that I relish the thought of, if only to rise to a bigger challenge, while working with a group of like-minded individuals.

Before I introduce you to the rest of the ‘shadow jury’ however, let me make one thing clear. I, like the rest of my colleagues, stand as a ‘shadow judge’ for this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize not with any arrogance or authority, or with any intention of stepping on the toes of those who are blessed with doing the job for real. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the IFFP judges, and I step up as a ‘shadow judge’ merely in tribute to their excellence, and to the glory of the Prize as a whole. The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is one of the literary awards that I consider to be closest to my heart, and my intention is to simply increase excitement and awareness of the Prize, while continuing with my eternal quest of bringing translated fiction to a wider audience.

So who else is joining me on the ‘shadow jury’ for this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize? Here’s the team:

Stu of Winstonsdad’s Blog

Simon of Inside Books

Gary of The Parrish Lantern

Mark of Eleutherophobia

Lisa of ANZ Litlovers

Kinna of Kinna Reads

As I have no control over this ‘shadow judging’ I have no idea how this is going to play out. All I know right now from my point of view, is that I’m going to focus on working my way through as many of the longlisted titles as I can – posting reviews as I go – up until the point that the shortlist is announced (Thursday 12 April), and beyond if there are titles that make the shortlist that I’ve still to read. I know my esteemed ‘shadow colleagues’ are doing the same (posting reviews on their own websites obviously), so between us we should be able to cover everything, coming together at the end to pass on an informed opinion on which titles we think are worthy of shortlist selection, and the ultimate top prize.

It all sounds dead pretentious I know, but I’m sure it’s not going to be anything like that. At the very least this ‘shadow judging’ gives me the opportunity to focus my IFFP reading, while offering something a little more wide-ranging and interesting to my dear readers. My hope is that it will also encourage wider discussion, not only of this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize but of translated fiction in general.

Whatever happens, these next four weeks are going to be one hell of a joyride for all of us. I hope you’re able to stick around and enjoy it.

Introducing Jelly Bibliophiles: Adventures in Book City

Rob — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:00:07 +0000

You know what’s been missing from RobAroundBooks for a while (aside from regular posts of course)? FUN, that’s what! I think it’s all gotten a little humdrum and dull around here and it’s time to get back to injecting a little humour around the place, along with a lot more colour (quite literally). To help me do that I’m introducing you to a bunch of new geezers, collectively known as the Jelly Bibliophiles.

Looking at them you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Jelly Bibliophiles were nothing more than static confectionary, but unlike their distant cousins the Jelly Babies, these guys are well-read literary addicts who live in a far off metropolis called Book City. Allow me to introduce you to them:

First up there’s Anton (purple/black). He’s mean and moody and he’s got a bit of a tell-tale heart.
Next there’s JD (white). He’s a recluse and he’s a bit shy and retiring. It’s a good job then that his colour matches that of the written page.
Next is Hunter (orange). He used to be a journalist for the Book City Herald, until his drug habit got way too out of hand and became more Oh No than Gonzo.
Anton is the fella in red. He’s a fiery Russian who enjoys nothing more than hanging out with the more marginal characters of Book City.
Second to last is Haruki (green). He hails from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, and he has a bit of a thing for cats and marathon running.
Lastly there Knut (yellow), who originally comes from Norway. Before hooking up with the rest of the Jelly Bibliophiles, he wandered the back streets of Book City on the brink of insanity, as a starving writer, looking for any and every opportunity to put his pen to work to earn a crust of bread.

So that’s the Jelly Bibliophiles, and I’m delighted that they’ve allowed me to record their daily antics, and share them with you. I think we’re in for a hell of a time because they’re all a bit mental. They read a lot of course, but they also spend a lot of time exploring Book City, and generally causing a nuisance to each other and to those around them. If ASBOs existed in in this far off land then every one of the JBs would have a house full of them by now. God only knows what we’re letting ourselves in for.

Have you gone stark raving mad Rob? Yes, I think I have . Look out for the first instalment of Jelly Bibliophiles: Adventures in Book City, coming soon to a screen near you (and by ‘screen’ I don’t mean anything as extravagant as a TV screen).

Is RobAroundBooks turning short?

Rob — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:25:48 +0000

With all of the posts I’ve put up lately based around the theme of short fiction, I’m guessing that a good number of you are beginning to wonder if RobAroundBooks is slowly turning itself into focusing solely on this literary form? The answer is a resounding NO!

I fully realise that my focus has been on short fiction more than anything else of late, but there is a good reason for this. You see I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump for a while now, and the only way I’ve been able to pull myself out of it is by concentrating on short stories. Short fiction is undoubtedly the form I love the most. I’m never more driven or as thrilled as when I’m reading short stories, and when I focus on them exclusively my brain zings with adoration for the form, and I feel alive (yep, a bit like Frankenstein’s monster getting zapped with electricity I suppose ) . Thing is though, I love the other literary forms that I focus on too, so therefore I have no intention of giving up any of them, any time soon. So please be assured dear reader that RobAroundBooks will continue to concentrate as evenly as possible on the same five literary areas that I’ve always been determined to concentrate on i.e. translated fiction, short fiction, literary nonfiction, essays, and general fiction (with a particular onus on debut novels).

In fact I’d be a fool to turn my back on anything but short stories right now, because it’s an exciting time for all that I focus on at RobAroundBooks, and with my reading slump firmly behind me (thank God), I’ve never been more motivated to bring you as much ‘across the board’ coverage as I can. In general fiction – and especially with regards to debuts – there’s the recently announced Waterstones 11 which has brought to light eleven fine and deserving (I hope) debut novelists, for all of us ‘eager beavers’ to work our way through. In translated fiction there’s the upcoming Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The longlist is announced in just over a month, and regulars know how excited I get over this *grins*.

With regards to essays and literary nonfiction on RobAroundBooks, well I’m still feeling my way around the early stages of exploring these forms with serious conviction, and I’ll continue to do so, and with as much energy and vibrancy as I can muster. In February I’m running a week long special in literary nonfiction, in celebration of one of the pioneers of a form closely linked to it, so look out for that. And with regards to essays, I want to continue to show people just how alive and buzzing the form really is, and particularly how far away from the dusty and dry academic essay, the personal essay is.

I will say after all this, that it may still look on occasion as though my focus is more on short fiction than it is on anything else – especially with the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award winner announcement coming up in March – but it has to be remembered that I file individual reviews for EVERY short story that I read, and I can post a good number of these in a single week. I did consider dropping my individual reviews for anthologies or collections, in favour of just summarising each story in a final ‘afterthoughts’ post, but I decided not to do that because every story is a sperate entity and it deserves to be treated as such.

So be assured once more dear reader, that RobAroundBooks definitely isn’t going short fiction only. I have a deep-rooted passion the all of literary forms that I focus on, and I will continue to focus on all of them. In the coming weeks and months I hope to demonstrate my resolve and commitment to all that I do, by bringing you as much widespread and varied content as one busy little bookworm can possibly bring. My apologies for not having done so during the past few weeks.

OK, I’ve rambled enough (sorry). I’ll leave you in peace.

Welcome back, to an almost new RobAroundBooks

Rob — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:41:06 +0000

Well folks, it’s been a while hasn’t it, but I decided that I’d had enough of running the best invisible website on the Internet (a title bestowed on me by a good Twitter friend – I can’t remember who exactly), and it was time to put RobAroundBooks back on the rails. It’ll probably come as no surprise to you that I’m not anywhere happy with the site as it right now, but I’d rather continue working on the areas that I still have to work on, while the site is available for all to access. It’s killing me having it behind closed doors (quite literally), so it’s time to get it back in to the open. As I do that though, I’d better put on my serious head for a moment and give you a brief rundown on what’s new around the place.

Dedicated subsections
You’ll have seen already (I hope) that RobAroundBooks now has five distinct subsections – Translated Fiction, Short Fiction, Essays, Literary Nonfiction and General Fiction. Since the launch of RobAroundBooks in the summer of 2008, it has always been my intention to make it absolutely clear about the areas of literature I focus on. Trouble is I never got around to doing that before and it was really only through word-of-mouth that people had any real inkling about what I tended to focus on at RobAroundBooks. Now, with the presence of these five distinct areas, I hope that it’s crystal clear to everyone, what RobAroundBooks is all about.

Dedicated content
Going into each subsection you will see that the content is unique to the theme. So going into the translated fiction subsection will only give you translated fiction content, going into the short fiction section will only give you short fiction content, and so on. I should point out that because some of these subsections are new to RobAroundBooks, or some features are new to the categories, that they are rather sparsely populated. But please bear with me. As the site grows and I keep adding more content, these areas should quickly fill up. For now though, if you don’t mind turning a bit of a blind eye I’d be most grateful.

New Reading Journal subsection
What else? Well, my Reading Journal feature also has a subsection of its own, now. I had toyed at one point with dispensing with the feature altogether (you may remember me discussing it), but it is such an integral part of RobAroundBooks, and the way I read, that I’ve decided elevated its presence somewhat. Granted I’ve got to get on with the job of posting journal entries again (from tomorrow), but the functionality is there, and ready to go. Yehaww!

Rob Reports
I’ve also introduced a new Rob Reports section to RobAroundBooks. One of my biggest aims with the revamped site is to go out of my front door more and bring something of the spirit of local events, public readings etc. directly to your front door (well not exactly your front door, but you know what I mean). I begin this lofty ambition with this year’s EdBookFest (gulp!), and you can read a bit about that, in this post.

Added functionality & extra features
Talking of functionality, as I did in the paragraph before last, that’s something that you can’t really see on this new site, but I can tell you that I’ve put a heck of a lot of work into putting more ummphh in my engine (the site engine, not my full tank of a gut). In doing so I think I’ve given myself extra room to breath and a lot more flexibility, which is really important to me as I move forwards with RobAroundBooks.

Evidence of that extra functionality will be seen as I continue to launch the extra features I have planned for v2.0 of RobAroundBooks. I was hoping at relaunch to have had most of these new features in place, but in order to at least get the website back up and running I had to delay on introducing a number of those new features. I’m being rather coy about what these new features actually are (for obvious reasons), but rest assured they are alive and they are getting worked on almost daily. As soon as any of these are ready for implementing, I’ll let you know.

Finally, an apology
As I’m almost done talking for now (you’ll be pleased), I wanted to make sure that the last thing I did in this reacquainting post was to apologise sincerely to you guys. I had no idea when I originally took RobAroundBooks offline that it was going to take so long to put back up. Originally the site was only meant to be down for a couple of days, but then a combination of Real Life and the colossal amount of work I had to do, has meant that the site has remained in maintenance mode for way longer than I would have wanted it too. I could go on about the suffering I’ve endured, and how much credibility I’ve lost in the interim, but I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for showing supreme patience in sticking by me over the past few months. If it wasn’t for the support you’ve shown me I probably would have never had the strength to be putting this site back up today. For that I’m eternally grateful.

Now, that’s get this crazy show back on the road (can I take this stupid serious head off now?)

Oh, and one last thing. Remember that a lot of this new site is untested on the masses, so there’s a good chance you’re going to stumble across things which are broken. If you do then please let me know, so I can stress a bit over fixing. Also if you have any thoughts or queries about the new site, then just drop them in the comments below. Thanks *grins*

Site News: Scheduled downtime

Rob — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:14:21 +0000

Right, I know I said that from last week a normal blogging service will resume on RobAroundBooks, but I’ve decided that I’m going to take the site down within the next day or two – probably for the rest of the week, but hopefully less – in order to implement a few crucial changes.

Why the sudden decision? Well, there are two reasons mainly: 1. I made significant progress in my coding of v2.0 yesterday, and I managed to break through on one of the major headaches that’s been holding up my progress for weeks now. The way forward is clear and I’m so excited to have got over the hump that I want to implement a few new changes asap. 2. I know in my heart of hearts that I’m NEVER going to get back to a reliable and regular reviewing schedule until I have all of the functionality and features in place, that I want to have in place. I’m unsettled massively because my vision for RobAroundBooks doesn’t match the reality, and I’m never going to be settled, either in myself or in my work, until I can get things a lot closer to the way that I want them.

So, please bear with me over these next few days dear people as RobAroundBooks goes up and down like a fiddler’s elbow . As someone famous no doubt once said – it’ll all be worth it in the end (I hope!).

Thanks for your patience
Rob

Introducing ‘Fifty-Two Friday’

Rob — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:54:35 +0000

Nobody was more delighted than me (probably) to find to out last week that Harper Perennial were taking their free short story portal, Fifty-Two Stories into a third year. With the focus in this new year being on the enigmatic single-word topic ‘ASK’, Cal Morgan has already served up the first slice of short story goodness for the year in the shape of Bar Beach Show, a story from Nigerian short story specialist, E. C. Osondu (winner of the 2009 ‘African Booker’). What a absolute treat!

Now, as much as I adore Harper Perennial’s Fifty-Two Stories portal I’m ashamed to admit that I pretty much ignored Cal’s delicious short story offerings last year (a complete contrast to 2009 when I read every single one), and that disappoints me massively. Why? Well, if it were not for this short story portal then I would never have discovered the eloquent and poetic world of Simon Van Booy, the imaginative world of Alex Burrett, or indeed the ‘punch in the guts’ world of Barb Johnson. In other words Fifty-Two Stories has been a veritable gold mine of short fiction discovery for me in the past, and I need to get myself back into the routine of excavating from it.

So to make amends for my lethargic attitude in 2010, and to make sure I don’t make the same mistake again this year, I’m designating Fridays from now on as ‘Fifty-Two Friday’; the day on which I take the time to read and review the short story served up by Cal Morgan on Fifty-Two Stories on each given week.

But that’s not all I’m going to be doing, folks. Because I missed out on all of those great story offerings last year, I’m also going to make a point of also reading and reviewing every corresponding story that was offered up at the same time during 2010.

So that means from this Friday onwards I’m going to be ‘pigging out’ on two Fifty-Two Stories offerings per week, and in doing so I hope that I can encourage some of you guys to follow my lead, and pick up one or two of these stories yourself. Fifty-Two Stories is one of the finest gifts that any publisher has ever given its readers, and we owe it to Cal Morgan et al. to show as much appreciation and support as we can. I hope you agree. See you Friday!

Site News: First step towards evolution

Rob — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:06:43 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! You may have noticed that RobAroundBooks was in maintenance mode yesterday, so I thought I’d fill you in. Basically I was fitting a new engine in the engine room in preparation for the fabled, eventual launch of RobAroundBooks v2.

This new ‘engine’ is more powerful and a lot easier to customise, and its installation was needed if I’m ever to realise the ambitions I have for RobAroundBooks. I’ve got a ton of new installations and features planned for RobAroundBooks v2.0 in the coming weeks/months (including a couple of separate blogs dedicated solely to a single bookish theme – so exciting), and I hope you’ll stay with me on this incredibly thrilling (for me) journey of evolution.

I should add, as excited as I am, that this ‘journey of evolution’ will not be a speedy one. Getting back to a regular routine of reading, writing and blogging is my top priority, so any steps towards evolution will only be taken as and when time permits.

Oh, and I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve performed a few minor cosmetic tweaks on the site. I’m not 100% happy with them (when am I ever? ), but I need to stop fiddling and get the show back on the road. I’m sure in tweaking, a few mistakes have crept in, so if you spot anything odd or untoward (and no I don’t mean the author himself ), then I’d be eternally grateful for the ‘heads up’ (I do have one issue with display on the iPad which I’m trying to resolve).

Anyway, thank you for your patience all, but please take comfort in knowing that it will all be worth it in the end (famous last words, eh? ).
Now, on to the real business. Where did I put that book?
With warm affection
Rob

RobAroundBooks is here to stay (and I’ve got you lot to thank for that)

Rob — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:45:36 +0000

Dear all,
Well, it was a super-traumatic week for me last week as my spirit rose to the heavens at the start of the week, before crashing back down to earth again with a huge bang in the latter half. The actions of a few ‘disbelievers’ i.e. those didn’t think that my intentions in lit blogging were anything but pure, had rocked me to the core and they had got me thinking about my whole future, and whether there was indeed any future for me at all in lit blogging. Well, after much soul searching I’m happy to tell you that I’ve decided that there is real reason for me to hang around, and so I’m not going anywhere soon; anywhere that is, except onwards and upwards.

That’s right folks I’ve decided that RobAroundBooks is here to stay, and I’ve got you guys to thank for making me come to that decision. When I first wrote my ‘I can’t be bothered with this crap anymore’ post last week I truly believed that I couldn’t be bothered with the crap any more. I won’t go back into all the reasons why again, but I’ll simply tell you that you guys have completely reversed my feelings. Your touching words of support have affected me massively over these past few days, and you’ve made me realise without a shadow of a doubt that most people know that I’m the real deal; that my only motive for blogging is to share my passion for books and reading. So I thank you all a million times over dear friends for letting me know that you see me for what I really am.

And so I return to full-time blogging, but under new conditions:

Firstly, I return with the ambition of getting my blogging reliability back up to the level it previously was, and then some. Lately my blogging has been lethargic at best – somewhat ‘stop and start’ – and I’m determined to put an end to this. In order to do that I’ve set myself some lofty targets, which I hope I will hit within 12 months. To reveal those targets would make me look uber-pretentious so I’m not going to reveal them, but I will say that these targets should ensure that my focus stays laser-sharp, which in turn should ensure (I hope) that my blogging reliability is reinstated.

Secondly, I want to qualify myself in as many ways as I can. Sure, I have a good educational background for lit blogging (not essential of course, but important to me), but I have few skills in the areas that would benefit my blogging the most i.e. in journalism and writing craft. So I will also be focusing on honing those skills over the coming months in the hope that I can become a better example for others to follow.

Thirdly, it’s my intention to continue working towards launching the fabled v2.0 of RobAroundBooks you may have often heard me talking about. Behind the scenes I have been working incredibly hard on this, but looking at RobAroundBooks as it currently is you wouldn’t think it. It’s still my intention to focus more closely on four primary areas of literature – translated fiction, short stories, literary nonfiction, essays – and I want RobAroundBooks to wholly reflect this. So rest assured you will see a v2.0 of RobAroundBooks coming in the not too distant future. I just want to make sure that everything is 100% the way I want it before launching.

While I’m on the subject of what I intend to focus on, on RobAroundBooks, I should point out that I’ve decided to keep a single toe dipped in the world of general fiction too. I feel to point-blank omit anything that doesn’t fall within the afore-mentioned categories, is to cut oneself off from a wealth of beautiful and important literature. And given that RobAroundBooks is all about promoting a love for books and reading in general, I need to keep all my avenues somewhat open so to speak (and no, I draw the line at ‘opening my avenues’ to celebrity autobiographies and chick lit ).

Lastly, I return to full time lit blogging with the steely determination that I will never again allow myself to be steered away from my primary mission of spreading my love for books and reading. I will not allow those who’s goal it is in life to bring others down, affect me. I will look upon self-servers and those whose intentions are not pure with silence, taking comfort in the knowledge that morally I will always be a cut above them. Most of all though I will never forget those who have stood by me these past few days and shown me their support. To each and every one of you, I will always be eternally grateful.

Now, let’s get this show back on the road!!

Why Rob is going to be ‘shorting out’ throughout the month of May

Rob — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:39:00 +0000

And so here we are into the month of May, and If the reading schedule at RobAround Manor wasn’t packed enough already – with both my Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist and Totally Knut reading projects running at full throttle at the moment – then things are set to get a whole lot busier around here, as I ‘shoehorn’ two important short story anthologies into my reading schedule during May, in order to meet specific review dates.

The first anthology is that wonderfully exciting Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio edited creation, Stories which I featured a couple of weeks ago in a Daily Bookshot (note: the cover shown left is the UK edition, while the shot above shows a US edition of the proof). Published in the UK on the 15th June by Headline Publishing (same date in the US but published by William Morrow), Stories not only contains close to 30 tales from some of the world’s top writers (including Joyce Carol Oates, Chuck Palahniuk, Jodi Picoult and Joe Hill), but it also comes with the lofty aspiration that the collected stories contained within, epitomise the art of imaginative storytelling.

Stories certainly does sounds imaginatively delicious, and on it’s own it would probably more than satisfy my short story hunger for the month. However there’s another feast of short story goodness waiting for me on my desk, and it’s one which couldn’t be more worlds apart than the Gaiman and Sarrantonio offering.

Published simultaneously in English and Arabic last month by Bloomsbury, and in conjunction with the Hay Festival, Beirut39 (Arabic edition HERE) is another anthology that I highlighted in a recent Daily Bookshot. And with the Hay Festival launching in a little over three weeks (May 27th-June 6th), this is an anthology that I want to have a full working knowledge of beforehand (Unfortunately I’m not going the Festival but some of the authors in the anthology are attending a number of events, both in English and Arabic).

Coming with the aim of showcasing the talent of Arab writers – along with offering a taste of their rich culture – Beirut39 features short stories, poetry and novel extracts from 39 authors around the Arab world. And talented writing is certainly what I’m expecting to get from Beirut39, given that the writers chosen to be included in this anthology – all of who are under the age of 39 – were hand-picked from an initial pool of over 450.

In terms of covering both of these anthologies on RobAroundBooks I’m not, on this occasion, going to be setting things off with a forethoughts post. I think I’ve said enough by way of introduction for both of the titles – both in in this post and in my Daily Bookshot post for each – so I’m just going to launch into the reading of one story entry from each anthology, per day, until complete. As I’ve done often in the past, I’ll be recording my thoughts, ratings etc. in the pages of my Reading Journal (which makes it’s welcome return from a short hiatus tomorrow), before collating all of those thoughts and ratings together, into a final afterthoughts post for each title. So look out for all of this, starting tomorrow.

Now, if I wasn’t giving myself enough short story reading to do throughout the month of May, then I’ve also decided that now is the best time to start reminding people once more that I don’t only read the short stories of classic authors i.e. Maupassant and Chekhov. You may remember last year that amongst other things I religiously feasted upon the weekly short stories offerings served up at Harper Perennial’s Fifty-Two Stories website, before regurgitating my opinion on each (you can find links to all of these short story reviews on my ‘Shots of Short’ hub page. Well, for one reason or another that routine fell by the wayside somewhat and I really want to get right back on board with it (mainly because Fifty-Two Stories really do serve up some amazing offerings).

Additionally, as RobAroundBooks continues towards concentrating more on short stories (along with the other three forms I’ve decided upon – translated fiction, literary nonfiction and essays (you can read more about that HERE)) I’m also adding the offerings of a couple of other short story portals into the mix. So from next week, aside from my ongoing scheduled short story reading days i.e. Maupassant Monday and Chekhov Tuesday, I’m designating a new day – Friday, as the day when I tick off my reading of these selected FREE short stories.

So, have I covered all of my short story reading bases now? Not quite . I also need to get back on board with my Trevor vs Moore Chekhovian reading project, and iPoe, my journey through the fictional writings of Edgar Allan Poe. So to cover these I’m now designating Wednesdays as iPoe day and reserving Thursdays for my Trevor vs. Moore reading.

So my short story reading is really cranking up a notch in May (and that’s even when ignoring a couple of major ‘in the pipeline’ short story projects that are in the works), and while I’m on the subject, now would probably be a good time to mention fellow blogger, Gavin Pugh aka NextRead. Not only is Gavin lucky enough to be reading the same aforementioned Gaiman & Sarrantonio anthology as me this month, but he is also dedicating the whole month of May on his blog, to the short story form.

Although Gavin is normally heavy on genre fiction i.e. sci-fi and fantasy, he is supporting his Short Story Month with a stockpile of 25+ short story anthologies/collections, which I presume to be wide-ranging in theme. So, I’m expecting (hoping) that his focus is going to be as equally wide-ranging, with a little something to suit all tastes. What’s more Gav has also scheduled a number of special guess posts throughout the month of May in celebration of the short story. So if you’re a real fan of short stories then NextRead’s website may well be one of the hottest places to visit during May.

Site News: Rob is certifiably eccentric

Rob — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:17:54 +0000

Dear reader, I really must aplogise for my lack of posts over the past few days. The thing is, I believe that I possess an incurable case of eccentricity – at least in the way I think – because when I get something in my head I grasp on to it like a dog with a bone, and I won’t let go. You may recall in my last post, that I declared that a change of focus would be happening on RobAroundBooks; that I’ll be becoming less general in my reading and more specific, particularly in the area of translated fiction?

You may also recall that I said, that in order to complete my more general reading commitments, that this change of focus would be gradual? Well it’s a real shame then that I don’t listen to my own words, because over these past few days there’s been a whirlwind of planning activity and Photoshopping at RobAround Manor, while my stubborn single-mindedness has driven me towards working on design solutions for this new ‘change of focus’, while ignoring everything else that I should be doing.

Finally however, I’ve realised the error of my ways, and I’ve manage to take my foot off the ‘behind the scenes’ gas. I said the change of focus was going to be gradual so I need to make sure that the change of focus is gradual, and that has to apply to every aspect, especially when it comes to the time-sapping aspect of planning and design.

I mean it’s all very well me going on these little ‘research and development’ forays, but where does that leave my most precious and wonderful readers, and the publishers/authors to whom I’ve given my word with regards to reviews? Heaven forbid I lose any of you, but alas I fear that I will assuredly lose all of you if I continue this single-minded madness.

So dear reader, publisher, friend, although I am excited at what the future may hold for RobAroundBooks, and although I am restless for change to the point of insanity, I will resolutely plant my feet firmly on the ground once again, and get back to the more immediate business in hand.

Profound and glorious change is coming to RobAroundBooks dear reader, that I do know! But it will be, and has to be, progressive. And it will not come at the expense of losing your confidence. This eccentric lit blogger apologies once again!