Steph has a Best Books of 2006 list up at Natural / Artificial.

The Creative Loafing “Blood” party at Eyedrum was fun–corpses, limbs, blood, and all.  You can read the first place story here.  Also, from that page you can find the second and third place stories, podcasts of each of the authors reading their stories, interviews with each of the authors, information about the judges, etc.

AWP is going to be in Atlanta this year (February 28-March 3) and I’m super excited–there’s no way I could attend otherwise.  The conference schedule is up; it’s overwhelming to say the least.  Saturday is the only day I’m sure I can attend, and I’m eyeing these panels:  What’s So Funny About Suffering? Writing Buddhist Humor, How to Start, Sustain, Promote Your Own Reading Series, and Authors Who Cross Over to YA.

Sheri Joseph’s first novel, Stray, is available for pre-order at Amazon. Man Martin’s first novel, Days of the Endless Corvette, is also available for pre-order.

ETA: Grace Octavia’s first novel, Take Her Man, is also available on Amazon for pre-order.

 I came across the Killer Year website, and it looks pretty cool.  I love to hear about writers and others in the publishing world coming together to create new communities.  Novels don’t exist in a vacuum and neither do debut novelists.

Killer Year is an elite society of debut mystery and thriller writers. The purpose of Killer Year is to further the writing, publishing, and marketing goals of the 15 members by providing an interactive community with potential readers, buyers, reviewers and publishing professionals.

Appropriate to the site name, all the members of the group have books upcoming in 2007, the Killer Year. The group also has a myspace page, where you can get lost surfing through the various writer’s personal profiles which are on the Killer Year friends list.  It’s more interesting than the usual myspace procrastination, so, even if you’re at work, it’s a Friday, go check it out.  From Killer Year member Derek Nikitas’ page, about his upcoming novel, Pyres:

When a folklore professor is shot dead in his car, the crime smashes together the lives of three disparate women: his anguished teenage daughter, a detective facing her own family’s collapse, and the pregnant former-junkie girlfriend of the killer. These three women must choose where to aim their last shots at redemption, even as they face a gang of barbaric thugs who torch homes and lives for a thrill.

How can you not want to read that? Murder and anguish and thugs! As a person who has realized the initial  manuscript of her novel is essentially plot-less (things happen, but, happening is just not the same as a classically exciting plot), a hook like this is appealing.  And it’s nice that a group has come together to give us not only murder, mystery, and intrigue, but also debuts of especially good writing.

I’ve read a bit about networked books, specifically non-fiction books, often books about technology, applications, new media, that kind of thing.  The idea of a networked book is that the author or publisher releases the book initially on the internet.  Early readers (other experts in the designated field, those using the book to learn applications, other self-appointed interested parties) read the book on-line and in various ways can contribute to the end product; sometimes readers can change the book outright a la wikipedia, or maybe they can only email the publisher or author with suggestions and or corrections. Or, maybe they create forums surrounding the living document, and a real discussion and community grows.  It sounds especially useful for tech related non-fiction.  A final hardcopy of the book might eventually be released by the publisher, the revisions ultimately being a product of the Internet community.  The idea is that for these subjects, this material, is that a collective revision and editing process can only make the text better, more useful.

But can the same idea work for fiction?  Do you want to readers to vote on what will happen next, or suggest plot devices?  It reminds me of those Choose Your Own Mystery children’s books.   Allen Strider is trying to write a novel using the online community at his fingertips:

The world already exists in very exact ways but certain important decisions of major characters will be up to you. At the end of every chapter, I will take the best 2 or 3 suggestions and create a poll. The decision will be made by the popular vote.