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Iain Hollingshead Wins Award For Worst Sex Writing in a Novel
From: www.writerswrite.com

" Britain's most dreaded literary prize -- for terrible sex writing in a novel -- has been awarded. Two authors were honored with the Bad Sex in Fiction Award and tried to make the best of it.

What organisers call Britain's "most dreaded literary prize" went to first time novelist Iain Hollingshead and Twentysomething for the "passage considered to be the most redundant in an otherwise excellent novel". The award sponsors at Literary Review magazine said it was Hollingshead's "bulging trousers" which put him ahead of runner-up Tim Willocks for The Religion.

"I am delighted to be the youngest ever recipient of the Literary Review's bad sex award," said 25-year-old Hollingshead. "I hope I win it every year." Hollingshead is now part of a select club of writers that includes Tom Wolfe and Sebastian Faulks. He collected a statue representing Sex in the 1950's and a bottle of champagne over shortlisted writers including Thomas Pynchon, Will Self and Irvine Welsh.

The review distributed selected passages of steamy and graphic prose from "Twentysomething" involving groans, grunts, squeaks and "flashing unconnected images and explosions of a million little particles." The prize was founded by then Review editor Auberon Waugh, son of 20th century British novelist Evelyn Waugh, and a prominent journalist and satirist. Now in its 14th year, the prize aims "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it."

...[T]here have developed so many different ways of expressing ideas in words enriched by "wordsmiths" and the "blogs" of countless websites. New literary forms have appeared. Some are new, others are newer versions of old classical forms. Among these is our much thought of post-modern style?a freer and less constricting way of creating art with words, liberated from the strictures imposed by the priests of our time, Mark van Doren, Lionel Trilling, John Crowe Ransom, Robert Penn Warren, and many others of their ilk, and the emphasis on the "hermetically sealed architectonic unit," which we of the previous generation measured our works against. And I understand that today in some countries, especially in America, there is talk of phasing out the print media for the more immediate demands of hurrying humanity who, with one click of the computer mouse, must be informed daily about what is going on in the world. With this, we see the possible demise of words on paper in order to give way to this electronic phenomenon.

But the soul of literature, its nature to sing of human triumph and heroism or lament man?s failures and faithlessness, remains the same, because despite the varied means employed by old and new technology, be it the scroll, the moveable type, the computerized color offset, or the electronic media, writers are guided by the truths of the same unchangeable moral universe.

For no technological advances can change the super-reality of this moral universe. Writers everywhere will still be moved by the same truths, will be propelled by the same consciousness, and literature would still sing of man?s courage and greatness.

"I'm very disappointed," said Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. "It's in the best interests of all concerned to get this resolved as soon as possible." On the film side, the delay means an acceleration of production and stockpiling of scripts, followed by a "de facto strike" next summer as studios stop launching film production once they can no longer be wrapped by Oct. 31. In TV, the prospect of a work stoppage means studios and networks will try to shoot more episodes of scripted series and will be less inclined to launch series while planning for more reality, news and sports programming.

Counter went public Monday with his frustration over the guild's refusal to start talks sooner. That prompted a statement by WGA West exec director David Young. "The WGA will be prepared to commence negotiations in the summer of 2007, well in advance of the November contract expiration," he said. "We are currently meeting with our members on contract issues, as well as continuing our dialogue with sister guilds in Hollywood. The WGA has always worked with the companies to make sure that all writers are covered by a guild agreement with proper compensation and residuals for their work. We fully expect that a fair agreement will be reached in our upcoming negotiation," Young said.

*****

Some execs attributed the WGA's move to simple gamesmanship, designed to show studios and networks that the scribes are serious about getting a bigger slice of the pie. "It's like a batter stepping out of the box with the bases loaded, just to rattle the pitcher," one top agent said. Other speculation for the delay centered on the WGA betting that the extra time will clarify the now-murky outlook on which digital delivery platform will become dominant in coming years.

But for now, pushing back the start of negotiations represents one more big step in convincing studios and networks that a strike is coming, according to "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf. "The guild seems determined to ratchet up the likelihood of a strike," he told Daily Variety. "It's a Neolithic tactic, but it's a clear message that they want to have a work stoppage. I don't have to be the Delphic oracle to have seen this coming." Wolf said he won't lose personally in a strike since his shows are already syndicated. He added WGA leaders appear to be overestimating the potential revenues from downloads of TV shows. "I'm telling everyone who will listen, this isn't the 1950s when TV was growing," Wolf said. "A strike is like shooting arrows into a stumbling animal."

Neve Campbell is glad that she moved to London from Hollywood because she enjoys making British independent films a lot more than cliched Hollywood movies. Neve moved to the UK after getting engaged to British actor John Light and performed in Resurrection Blues in the West End earlier this year. She said recently: "The writers are more talented here."

"People don?t just pick up a pen and say, 'I'm going to write a screenplay,' which happens all the time in LA. They have some background in literature before they decide to come up with a story."

As it turns out, even authors not living in this online age are in trouble. My fellow literary sleuth Alex MacBride recently revealed to me that he'd uncovered an old crime in a new way. MacBride, a linguist employed by Google, idly ran a phrase from England Howlett's 1899 essay Sacrificial Foundations through Google Book Search, his employer's massive digitization of millions of volumes from university libraries. The search had nothing to do with his job?like the rest of us, sometimes Alex just kills time by plugging stuff into Google?and rather than go to the trouble of digging out Howlett's book by name, he'd decided to call it up with a phrase. To his surprise, he got more back than just Howlett: The search also revealed a suspiciously similar passage in Sabine Baring-Gould's 1892 book Strange Survivals. A lot of suspiciously similar passages.

Perhaps it's not too shocking that a small-time amateur like Howlett swiped from Baring-Gould, a frenetically prolific folklore scholar who published hundreds of books and articles. But, the search results revealed, this was not quite the end of the story. "Charmingly," MacBride e-mails, "Baring-Gould seems to have had sticky fingers himself." The wronged author, you see, had in turn used the unattributed quotation from a still earlier work: Benjamin Thorpe's 1851 study Northern Mythology.

"Suddenly space travel -- led by remarkable private industry efforts -- is becoming a hot topic again," says Mark Mayfield, editor-in-chief of Launch and president of MM Publishing Inc., the company producing the new magazine. "The response to our first issue was overwhelming and it's clear that we are filling a void for readers and advertisers."

A lifelong space enthusiast who covered five Space Shuttle flights as a reporter in the 1980s, Mayfield also served as editor-in-chief of three home design-related magazines: House Beautiful, Traditional Home and Southern Accents magazines.

"I remember the Space Age as a kid, when our heroes were astronauts who risked their lives for exploration," says Mayfield. "It's different today, but there are actually so many more opportunities for private citizens to participate in space programs. Back in the 1960s, it was just NASA. Today, there are hundreds of private companies getting involved in space exploration. And there are thousands of people, many of them kids, who are flying model rockets as their way of learning and participating."

According to Mayfield, "With NASA's budgets slashed, billionaires like Paul G. Allen, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are getting into the space business. They are using their personal fortunes to expand space exploration and the public is once again focusing on space travel. We haven't seen this level of excitement since the late 1960s."

From celebrities and charities to real estate and extravagant getaways, Speedway Club Luxury Living highlights the luxury lifestyles of people, places and things within the world of NASCAR. The premiere issue, with young gun driver Kasey Kahne on the cover, explores everything from chic party planning and holiday decorating to the advances women are making in the world of motorsports and new college degrees offered in the business of motorsports.

"This magazine represents the six degrees of NASCAR," said Editor-in- Chief, Colleen Brannan. "While there is a driver on the cover, it's less about cars and tracks and more of an up close and personal look at how NASCAR- related people live, eat, entertain, decorate and recreate."

"The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the magazine validates our thinking that there is a healthy appetite and need for a niche publication like Speedway Club Luxury Living," said Mike Dockery, president of SLC Publications. "It is a natural showcase for the fun loving, yet sophisticated lives of those associated with motorsports."