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ENTRY

2010 review
December 17, 2010

It was a pretty good year for writing and publishing. Oh! continues to sell well and garner good reviews. A recent blogger said: "One of the things I love most about attending literary events is learning about presses and writers with which I am not familiar. At the Pop Up Bookstore in Chicago this past weekend, I found this gorgeous book, Oh, by Todd Shimoda with artwork by Linda Shimoda, published by Chin Music Press. As an art object, this book is gorgeous–heavy, textured papers, a gorgeous hardcover, and though I just started the book, I haven’t been able to put it down." (for more go to the blog here.

My next novel will be coming out spring 2012. It is inspired by Kobo Abe's The Ruined Map my favorite novel as I'm sure I mentioned before. My novel is titled Why Ghosts Appear and like Abe's book is a hard-boiled detective mystery, with art and philosophical undertones. I'll be writing more about the book in upcoming posts.

The other big publishing news is that Linda and I invested in Chin Music Press. We are so happy with Oh! we approached Bruce Rutledge, publisher of Chin Music Press, about becoming partners. We completed the deal a couple of months ago. We have several plans for the press and will be revealing them soon. Here is the Chin Music Press website to see what's up right now.

I read and reviewed several good books, such as Oe's The Changeling. My review of that book is at the Asian Review of Books. I also enjoyed The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet, reviewed here.

The eBook evolution is still changing publishing, but not as radically as predicted by some. Yes, there are changes and I think there will be a blurring of print and digital and other media over the next decade. Stay tuned for my thoughts on this.

Well, here is to good reading, however and wherever you do it!

© 2013

COMMENTS

Number of comments: 6
click here to add a comment

Jo Reed
Congrats, and good wishes for 2011

Lee Witte
Looking forward to your new novel!

Todd
Thanks Jo and Lee, happy Holidays!

Liz Wagoner
What wonderful news! So many fascinating discussions in novels to come - a wonderful beginning for 2011.

Gail
I haven't been here in a while, but here's some really good news. I'm looking forward to your new book, Todd. I'll have to read Abe's "The Ruined Map" to get prepared for it. I also read "The Thousand Autumns" and really liked it. I tried some of David Mitchell's other books, but "Thousand Autumns" is definitely the best. I got to be an Early Reviewer of Keigo Higashino's "The Devotion of Suspect X" (coming out soon) over at LibraryThing. I hope more of his books get translated. Good luck with Chin Music Press.

Todd
Thanks Liz and Gail! I'll look for the Higashino book, thanks for the tip!

ARCHIVE

date (comments)

Review: Paprika
April 21, 2013 (3)

Review: A Straight Road With 99 Curves
March 30, 2013 (1)

Gripping writing
Feb. 28, 2013 (2)

Review: Salvation of a Saint
January 19, 2013 (2)

2012 in review
December 30, 2012 (2)

Review: Ninja
September 30, 2012 (2)

Review: My Postwar Life
August 21, 2012 (1)

New interview with Colin Marshall
July 15, 2012 (3)

Book events
April 25, 2012 (2)

Subduction
March 14, 2012 (8)

Review: A Room Where the Star Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard
January 14, 2012 (1)

Review: Plainsong
December 20, 2011 (3)

Review: The Devil's Disciple
November 29, 2011 (2)

Haruki Murakami
October 5, 2011 (2)

Busyness and demons
September 25, 2011 (2)

Characters: The Bully
July 30, 2011 (3)

Review: Manazuru
June 28, 2011 (2)

Deadlines!
June 24, 2011 (2)

Review: Butterfly's Sisters
May 18, 2011 (1)

Review: Isle of Dreams
April 20, 2011 (2)

Cades Award for Literature press release
April 12, 2011 (2)

Japan and other news
March 29, 2011 (1)

Borders bankruptcy
February 17, 2011 (2)

2010 review
December 17, 2010 (6)

Congratulations Mario Vargas Llosa
October 7, 2010 (2)

OH! wins best book award
September 23, 2010 (2)

Review: Kissing the Mask
August 22, 2010 (1)

Jonathan Lethem: Writing at the margins
July 12, 2010 (2)

Review: Love in Translation
June 22, 2010 (3)

Jose Saramago
June 18, 2010 (0)

Marketplace of Ideas interview
June 11, 2010 (2)

Imagining Memory
May 6, 2010 (1)

Upcoming Los Angeles events
April 7, 2010 (2)

Time and energy
March 30, 2010 (2)

Review: Botchan
February 28, 2010 (2)

J.D. Salinger
January 28, 2010 (1)

2009 Reviewed
December 31, 2009 (5)

Review: The Word Book
December 12, 2009 (1)

Chaat and Chat event with OH!
November 6, 2009 (2)

Home at last
November 2, 2009 (2)

Los Angeles events
October 17, 2009 (1)

Poets and poetry
October 7, 2009 (1)

Time + place
September 24, 2009 (1)

The future of books
September 23, 2009 (1)

October book tour
September 6, 2009 (1)

Blogging at Powell's Books
August 28, 2009 (2)

The evolution of an idea
August 3, 2009 (1)

The Poetics of Motoori Norinaga: A Hermeneutical Journey
July 9, 2009 (2)

Tour debrief
July 2, 2009 (3)

Book tour events
May 18, 2009 (3)

Simply in the mood
April 24, 2009 (2)

Book tour
April 8, 2009 (6)

The Necessary Book
March 2, 2009 (2)

"Murder Makes the Magazine"
February 7, 2009 (3)

John Updike
January 27, 2009 (2)

2008 misc. (good news, bad news)
January 1, 2009 (3)

Publishing woes and query letters
December 13, 2008 (4)

Punctuation compunction
November 16, 2008 (3)

The Fountain of Youth (and other Ideas)
October 10, 2008 (2)

David Foster Wallace
September 14, 2008 (2)

Ending it all
September 12, 2008 (2)

The mystery of plotting, the plotting of mysteries
August 29, 2008 (3)

Blocking out the block
August 20, 2008 (3)

"What kind of books do you write?"
August 8, 2008 (2)

Theory of Satisfaction: Part 4
July 21, 2008 (3)

Show and tell
July 14, 2008 (3)

Theory of Satisfaction: Part 3
July 7, 2008 (7)

Advice for first-time writers (Barry Gifford and me)
June 30, 2008 (6)

Theory of Satisfaction: Part 2
June 18, 2008 (3)

To be or not to be
June 10, 2008 (6)

Theory of Satisfaction: Part 1
June 3, 2008 (6)

Virtual unreality
May 31, 2008 (4)

The purpose of this blog
May 21, 2008 (5)