There are an awful lot of better ways to get rid of one's angst and one's anger than writing, so I think the aim is to write for pleasure even if you're writing about concentration camps and the black death; and the pleasure one imagines is the reader's pleasure.
-Harry Mathews

Novel Looks at the Publishing Biz

Three new works of fiction examine the troubled industry's nexus of art and commerce. Alas, only two spin tales worth reading
Has book publishing fallen into a state of material and moral rot? Consider a few symptoms: Publishers' seasonal catalogs loaded with already-ripe-for-the-pulper schlock. Fat advances that are thinly disguised payoffs to prominent pols. "Authors" (athletes, porn stars, celebrity girlfriends) barely capable of penning a shopping list. Media conglomerates dependent on big-name writers, whose books get piled in giant stacks meant to stampede superstore customers.
· The list goes on... [Businessweek ]
· 'The True Patriot Act Account [CommonDreams]