Action and Adventure

I know, I know.

"Action and Adventure" is not exactly synonymous with Jon Clinch. Either my work or my person.

Still, I've been getting some ideas lately. Not about taking up bullfighting or alligator wrestling or digging for pirate treasure. And not about writing about that stuff, either.

But about where in the world (of literature) my real work may sit.

Because for the last few months, Amazon's sales rankings have more often than not found Finn doing pretty darned well in the Action and Adventure category. Which puts me right up there with Clive Cussler and Robert Ludlum and James Patterson.

Go figure.

Also in the running, though, are folks like Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy. Which makes me feel a whole lot better. Although sometimes Jodi Picoult shows up too, which makes me start wondering all over again.

Oddly enough, Finn's rankings as a Kindle book are in the literary category. Where I feel more at home. Although Finn himself may disagree.

What do you think?

Bits and Pieces

A handful of updates from this part of the world...

• I've written an appreciation of Alistair MacLeod's magnificent collection of short stories, Island, for Post Road Magazine. No word on when it'll appear, but in the meantime you'll find similar pieces by other authors over at the Post Road web site, under "Recommendations."

• The American Booksellers' Association has released their list of Book Sense Pick Highlights 2007, including Finn...

• Amazon.com has named their Editors Choice Top 100 Books of 2007, with Finn among them...
  

• The Sargent First Novel Prize, for which Finn was shortlisted along with fine work by Austin Grossman and Nathan Englander and Mischa Berlinski, went to Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Congrats to Junot...

Mark Twain Project Goes Online

I've just learned that the University of California has announced a beta version of Mark Twain Project Online, a digital critical edition Twain's work.

According to the U of C press release, "Mark Twain Project Online applies innovative technology to more than four decades of archival research by expert editors at the Mark Twain Project. It offers unfettered, intuitive access to reliable texts, accurate and exhaustive notes, and the most recently discovered letters and documents.

"At beta launch, the site will include more than twenty-three hundred letters written between 1853 and 1880, including nearly 100 facsimiles of originals. Users will also be able to search for information about Mark Twain's complete correspondence across his entire life, including letters to him and his family."

In 2010 the site will publish Mark Twain's Autobiography, never before available in its complete form. The Autobiography was a huge inspiration to me in the writing of Finn, so you can bet I'm particularly looking forward that.