The Weird Week in Writing: Justin Bieber and Holden Caulfield; Harry Potter V. Willy the Wizard; Throwing a book at the president

Freaky Friday—the latest from the often weird and wonderful world of writing
this week (followed, as always, by a prompt). Happy weekend!

Close Encounters of the Authorial Kind: Did a former NORAD officer and self-published author predict the sighting of a purported UFO in New York this week?

The Pressures of the Modern Book Business: Last weekend, you might have heard about a man who hurled a book at President Obama (he missed) during a rally. Interestingly, the CSM reveals that it was not a political statement, nor ironic tea-party based recommended reading—but rather a wayward attempt to get the prez to back his book. (As for our blurb-nabbing tips a couple of weeks ago, I will now add: No. 5—Do not throw book at president.)

"Even though I don't want to be given special treatment, I guess some things are a little bit different for me as I was surprised to be given a Range Rover for my 16th birthday”: Justin Bieber’s memoir (First Step 2 Forever: My Story) dropped this week, and The Daily Beast has a new quiz to see who offers the best advice: The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield, or Bieber?

“Tarantallegra!”: This week a court rejected author J.K. Rowling’s move to have the copyright infringement case against her dismissed. Rowling may yet find herself defending her 734-page book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire … against a 16-page “novella” called Willy the Wizard, written by an author who died in 1997. (Tarantallegra! spell translation: “Forces opponent to dance.”)

♫ I wish that I had Ricky’s Book … ♫: So I could read the details about how Rick Springfield’s old band committed robbery, how he dated a teenage Linda Blair when he was 25, and other assorted strangeness. (Actually, never mind: EW has the scoop on the memoir here.)

Beyond General Hospital: James Franco, in addition to starring as poet Allen Ginsberg in movie theaters right now, is on an awesome “literary shopping spree.” If I could put an entire person in our new Top Shelf column, I would.

The Girl Who Kicked The Wall: Is my friend Kate S., who adores Stieg Larsson’s Millenium books. This week she found out that the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo author wrote a fourth installment in the series before he died—but that it was actually the fifth book in the series. And that it probably won’t be released.

(Image: Via)

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