Peter Brown Hoffmeister

What does the new publishing model look like? Who sells what, and to whom? And if Borders is gone, is Barnes & Noble the biggest player? Or is Amazon? Will there be another big chain in the future, and will that chain's numbers be built upon the sales of its...

I spent all of Wednesday thinking about this. People around me were making a big (and I mean big) deal out of Kobe scoring 43 points against the Nuggets. They said things like this:

"I can't believe that the Lakers still lost!" and "The other Lakers guards...

I'm biased. So get ready. I was an athlete at the University of Oregon. But I'll admit my bias and even point it out when it shows through. For example, the Oregon Ducks are playing the best college football in the country right now (biased) and LaMichael James is better...

One of my co-workers hates my book. She's made that clear. She dislikes it so much that she whispers derisive comments about it behind my back. She complains about being obligated to attend my readings, but then never shows up. It's not just a personal thing with me though,...

My friend sent me an interview of Harry Crews, the 76-year-old Rough South novelist, essayist, and playwright. It's brilliant. Sure, Crews is wearing old, loose sweatpants as he slow-smokes a cigarette. And yes, he has evil eyes, slurps something out of a plastic mug, and stares at the...

I just finished Andrew Tilin's "The Doper Next Door" (Counterpoint, 2011). It's a good book -- timely, engaging, honest and well-researched. I've told people about it because it raises excellent ethical questions about hormone replacement, supplementation, anti-aging and drug abuse.

In his book, Tilin searches for a "doper...

61 rejections in a row. That's my record. Like DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Or, to be more precise, the exact opposite of DiMaggio's hitting streak. Hitless. More like the old man's 84-day fishless streak to open Hemingway's novella.

61 rejections in a row. Rejections of stories, poems, and a...