Jim Thomsen
@jimthomsen.bsky.social
Kingston, Washington. Editor, writer, photographic noirgasmist, Seventiesologist. A Quinn Martin Production. Act One ….
open.substack.com/pub/jimthoms...
Bad Action Beats in Novels, or You Make My Gut Ululate Like the Wings of a Panther
Action beats—those pauses in the midst of physical or emotionally intense scenes—are essential to commercial story craft. But some are so overwrought that they pull you out of the story. Or do they?
open.substack.com
After reading this list, I realize I have no idea what a “thriller” is, because a number of these novels seem far more pitched to the head than the heart … or the nerve endings. Can you define “thriller”? Can anyone? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The 50 Best Thriller Books of the 21st Century (Gift Article)
Hundreds of novelists, librarians, editors and other book lovers voted. See how their ballots stack up.
nytimes.com
“I didn’t do ‘Mr. Roboto’ for people to hate what I’m doing. I didn’t do it so people could say, ‘Dennis DeYoung’s a poo-poo face.’ Quite the opposite… You’d think I’d invented the Coronavirus.” — Dennis DeYoung, Styx
“When disappointment becomes central to your life, it’s like a religion. It takes up all your spiritual space. Are you Baptist? Are you Methodist? No, I’m Disappointed.”
Unnamed publishing-house editor, as a literary agent nods along: “Authors are usually the worst judge of what will be good for their book.”
“My next book project rests at the intersection of two roads three-tenths of a mile southwest of my university because I threw the unfinished fifteen-page manuscript out of my car window as I drove to the local dive bar to drown out the nagging internal monologue of my imposter syndrome.”
McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 2w ago"My next book project is a trans-species manifesto-cum-collage assembled from excised first editions of Hemingway novels, decaying roadkill gathered over the course of a summer spent barefoot in Michigan, and a series of scatological limericks generated by my AI companion, Judith."
“I went out the kitchen to make coffee—yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. The life blood of tired men.” — Raymond Chandler
Truly a pleasure to be invited by Jonathan Evison to speak to his low-residency Centrum MFA program students about how independent editors work, at the Port Townsend Writers Conference. What a fantastic bunch of folks. Proud now to call a few of you clients as well.
“The sun came down like a sashweight sap across the crown of Puget Sound.” (Kingston, Washington)
Please rise for the real National Anthem. youtu.be/EBBvXcpMzhk?...
Choctaw Bingo
YouTube video by James McMurtry - Topic
youtu.be
every job i see these days is like: LEAD CONTENT ANALYST, Puppy Killing Factory (remote). $350,000 - $500,000. You will edit our internal newsletter (circulation 500). Associate Editor, Nonprofits, Global Good Magazine (in office, NYC). $27,000 - $28,000. Lead ALL of our fundraising efforts!
“i said to Paich, ‘Man, ‘I bless the rains down in Africa’? What the fuck?’” — Steve Lukather, Toto
“There was a strange sense of propriety and politeness on the prairie. Your problems were your own, but everyone around you would beg to help. It was considered rude not to ask, but equally rude to accept the help.” @wiscowriterguy.bsky.social
Goodbye to one of my all-time favorite authors. Stephen Dobyns, who died June 14 at 85, wrote more than 20 novels that tap-danced all around the crime-fiction genre. Thanks for giving me more hours of reading pleasure than anyone not named Stephen King. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/6104...
Stephen Dobyns | Penguin Random House
Stephen Dobyns (1941-2026) was the author of more than thirty-five novels and poetry collections, including The Burn Palace, The Church of Dead Girls, Cold Dog Soup, Cemetery Nights, and...
penguinrandomhouse.com
