Blooker Prize Blog

Truth strange enough for fiction

So far, we've given a lot of attention to our Non-Fiction entries, so it seems high time to give the floor to some of our submissions to the Fiction category--several of which are novels based on the author's non-fiction blog.

The Washingtonienne: A Novel
by Jessica Cutler - www.jessicacutleronline.com

$10.95 (Hyperion) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"When Jacqueline Turner's fiance give her two days to move out of his apartment, she has no choice but to leave New York City and crash with her best friend in Washington, D.C...It's a town where a girl has to make her own excitement--and Jacqueline is just the woman for the job...Jackie's roster of paramours grows so complicated that her friends ask her to start a blog so they can keep up. But in a small town like Washington, the line between private and public blurs very easily, and Jackie quickly realizes this blog idea may be more than she bargained for...Deliciously gossipy and impossible to put down, The Washingtonienne is every bit as steamy and outrageous as the real-life exploits that inspired it."

The Banana Project
by Cat Oars Fiction Collective - forums.losangeles.craigslist.org

$8.50 (Francias/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

Stories by the Cat Oars Fiction Collective--writers who post on the Craigslist Literary & Writing forum.

"What are we? Well, we're not an MFA publication. We like to think of ourselves as the garage band equivalent of a literary review or a punk rock version of the Algonquin Round Table, or an online community of outsider artists, or anything you can think of besdies an MFA review...For Banana I asked the writers to find a few words from a Velvet Underground or Lou Reed song that had some personal resonance, then blend them into a story, then write about why they picked that songs and those lyrics."

Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push
by Pip Wilson - www.wilsonsalmanac.com

$21.48 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"'She struggled to get women the vote. Her son was Australia's most famous writer. They drove each other crazy.' Meticulously researched big Aussie historical novel that takes the lid off the world of Louisa Lawson and Henry Lawson and their circle of radical friends: revolution, poverty, love affairs, madness, drunkenness, sedition, terrorism, passionate hopes, and friendships with some of Australia's most remarkable people. Much historical info here is not in their biographies."

Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog
by Ellen Simonetti - queenofsky.net

$22.95 (Blog Based Books) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"The novel is based on the controversial true story of Ellen Simonetti, whose 2004 firing from a major US airline made headlines around the world and causes an international debate about the limits of free speech. It follows the online ramblings of Queen of Sky, the alter ego of Elena Guaio, a fun-loving, light-hearted and slightly dysfunctional flight attendant for "Anonymous International Airlines." Elena's blog quickly becomes her trusted confidant, which she uses as a release and a tool to sort through the numerous ups and downs of her life...She eventually even decides to post pictures of herself on her blog--pictures in her flight attendant uniform. The result of this seemingly innocent act throws her life into complete disarray."

The Doorbells of Florence
by Andrew Losowsky - www.flickr.com/photos/andrewlos

$27.99 (Prandial Publishing/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"As more than 12,500 viewers (and counting) of the Flickr set can testify, The Doorbells of Florence is cult fiction at its least predictable.

This book contains 36 real Italian doorbells (including some never before seen), each one with a strange story about the people and things that may, or may not, live inside.

This first-ever volume of "flicktion" was written by Andrew Losowsky and lovingly put together by award-winning designer, Nuno Vargas as the mini coffee table book that espresso was invented for."

Anonymous Lawyer
by Jeremy Blachman - anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com

$25.00 (Henry Holt) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"He's a hiring partner at one of the world's largest law firms. Brilliant yet ruthless, he has little patience for associates who leave the office before midnight or steal candy from the bowl on his secretary's desk. He hates holidays and paralegals. And he's just started a weblog to tell the world about what life is really like at the top of his profession...Written in the form of a blog, Anonymous Lawyer is a spectacularly entertaining debut that rips away the bland facade of corporate law and offers a telling glimpse inside a frightening world."

New Blooks for a New Year

We're back for 2007, and there are only 11 days left to enter the Lulu Blooker Prize! Remember, entries  must be POSTMARKED no later than Monday, January 15. For anyone who has already entered, and would like to advertise it on their own website, we've created this official web badge:

Download it for free

This image could even be used as a button to link back to www.lulublookerprize.com.

For today's spotlighted entries, we have six non-fiction books which represent many of the key genres of the blogosphere--such as mommy blogs, soldier blogs, and photoblogs.

The Blog of War: Front-line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Matthew Currier Burden - www.blackfive.net

$15.00 (Simon & Schuster) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"In The Blog of War Burden presents selections from some of the best of the military blogs, the purest account of the many voices of this war. this is the first real-time history of the war, a history written even as the war continues. It offers a glimpse into the full range of military experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, from the decision to enlist right through to homecoming. There are powerful stories of soldiers in combat, touching reflections on helping local victims of terror and war, pulse-racing accounts of medevac units and hospitals, and heartbreaking chronicles of spouses who must cope when a loved one has paid the ultimate price."

Vegan Lunch Box
by Jennifer McCann - www.veganlunchbox.com

$22.95 (Little "S" Press) Buy it

Blooker category - Non-Fiction

"If you think vegan lunchtime means peanut butter and jelly day after day, think again! From the simple to the sublimely gourmet, Vegan Lunch Box brings you an amazing array of entirely meat-free, egg-free, and dairy-free launches that will transform how you look at lunchtime forever!"

Mommy Confidential: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood
by Melinda Roberts - www.themommyblog.net

$19.95 (Aventine Press/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Mommy Confidential is a naked, brutally funny, endearingly honest chronicle of family life beset by disaster on many fronts. Mindy keeps her family together through catastrophic illness, four bouts of postpartum depression, financial peril, familial Waterloo, and job instability. All through it her sense of humor and her sharp, edgy, witty writing keeps her together and upright. No, really."

Blood, Sweat & Tea: Real-life Adventures in an Inner-city Ambulance
by Tom Reynolds - randomreality.blogware.com

£7.99 (The Friday Project) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Have you ever wondered what's going on inside the ambulance you see screaming past with its sirens on and blue lights flashing? Meet Tom Reynolds. Tom is an Emergency medical Technician who works for the London Ambulance Service in East London. He has kept a diary of his daily working life since 2003, first as a website called "Random Acts of Reality" and now for the first time as a no-punches-pulled book. His award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending and compassionate...the stories Tom tells give a fascinating--and at times alarming--picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it."

Tana's Habitat: The Ultimate Guide to Finding, Affording, and Styling Your First Place
by Tana March - www.tanashabitat.com

$18.95 (Perigee) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"From living in a storage unit to creating art out of the everyday, Tana's been through it all, and knows how to turn trash into treasure. Now she's bringing her special brand of design savvy to you. Her popular website is a hit with people who crave her creative, environmentally friendly, do-it-yourself projects and real-world philosophies."

Fotolog.book: A Global Snapshot for the Digital Age
edited by Andrew Long, texts by Nick Currie - www.fotolog.com

$34.95 (Thames & Hudson) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"With digital cameras and camera phones, millions of people are obsessively documenting their daily lives. The fotolog™ phenomenon transcends national borders, language barriers, and age gaps. From hotblooded (and sometimes hot-headed) teenagers in Brazil to cool silver surfers in Iceland, doctors, lawyers, dentists, mothers-to-be, and great-grandfathers, all these people have one thing in common: they communicate with images.

Organized into themes with quotes and commentaries, this book guides us to the best of the millions of images and multitudes of words found in the fotolog™ archives.

fotolog™.book shows us how we see our world, rather than images that newspapers deem newsworthy, images that marketers hope will be money-making or galleries judge to be Art with a capital A. It shows us what the fresh eyes of hundreds of ordinary men and women find beautiful, funny, moving, or extraordinary. Over 1000 color illustrations."

Not a Shot was Fired - a Blooker Christmas card

For the last post before Christmas (as well as the last post of 2006), I thought it would be appropriate to spotlight a particular entry directly tied to the Holiday season.

Not a Shot was Fired: Letters from the Christmas Truce 1914
By Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park - www.christmastruce.co.uk

$21.78 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Hidden away in the archives of local newspapers throughout the UK (and abroad) are first-hand accounts of one of the most remarkable events in history: the Christmas Truce of 1914. Warring soldiers lay down their arms and walked across no-man's land to shake hands and wish their "enemy" a Merry Christmas. Thankfully, the soldiers wrote home about their experiences and those letters were published in their local papers, preserving them for future generations.

But there those letters may have stayed in the archives were it not for the efforts of volunteers recruited by the www.christmastruce.co.uk website. Those volunteers gave up many hours of their leisure time to go through the back issues, find the letters and transcribe them for the website. Some of the letters are now reprinted--for the first time in nearly a century--in this book."

For more information on the origins of this fascinating and inspiring blook, episode #16 of the Lulu Radio podcast features an interview with co-author Alan Cleaver.

So, for those who celeberate it, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Blooker Prize and Lulu.com. See you in 2007!

Politics and Baseball (Not to mention Religion, Grammar, and Travel)

Three days, three posts...as the kids say, OMG!

Today we continue Operation: Making Up For Lost Time with a sextet of Non-Fiction entries.

Crashing The Gate
by Jerome Armstrong  - www.MyDD.com
and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga - www.dailykos.com

$12.95 (Chelsea Green) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"This book lays bare, with passion and precision, how ineffective, incompetent, and antiquated the Democratic Party establishment has become, and how it has failed to adapt and respond to new realities and challenges. The authors save their sharpest knives to go for the jugular in their critique of Republican ideologues who are now running—and ruining—our country.

Written by two of the most popular political bloggers in America, the book hails the new movement—of the netroots, the grassroots, the unorthodox labor unions, the maverick big donors—that is the antidote to old-school politics as usual. Fueled by advances in technology and a hunger for a more authentic and populist democracy, this broad-based movement is changing the way political campaigns are waged and managed.

A must-read book for anyone with an interest in the future of American democracy."

Bleeding Red: A Red Sox Fan's Diary of the 2004 Season
by Derek Catsam - www.ephblog.com

$16.00 (Vellum) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"On October 27, 2004 the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, capping an improbable postseason run that saw the team exorcise demons and send its fans into paroxysms of joy. Although Bleeding Red chronicles in great depth much of the 2004 season, it is truly a memoir about identity, unrequited love, and almost inexplicable loyalty to a team, to an idea. Even knowing the results, one cannot help but be caught in Catsam's emotions, a blend of humor and passion."

Missing Pieces of the Bible: Lost Books Fill-in the Blanks
by D.M. Wessel - sacred-texts.com

$10.13 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"There are a lot of unanswered questions in the Bible like: Why was Adam created 'on the earth' and God later moved him to a special garden? Who are the ‘sons of God’ in Genesis Chapter Six who cohabited with women and produced ‘giants’ who were on the earth at various times past and will be again in the end times? Whatever happened to Enoch and the prophecy he wrote which the book of Jude speaks of? Who is the man with the writer's inkhorn in Ezekiel Chapter Nine? Who were the wise men in the Book of Matthew in the N.T. who presented Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? Is the number 666 really the correct interpretation of the mark of the beast of Revelation? The Bible mentions these things but doesn't seem to provide any real answers, however, there are other writings - books which were lost but which answer these questions and more..."

Catholic Analysis 2006
by Oswald Sobrino - catholicanalysis.blogspot.com

$7.94 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"This book contains selected 2006 essays from the Catholic Analysis blog (www.catholicanalysis.blogspot.com). The essays cover these timely topics: selected biblical insights from St. Paul's letters, authority and primacy in the Church, the Charismatic dimension of the Church, Catholic heroes for freedom in China and Cuba, Christian character traits, and rebuking various heresies. The author embraces the teaching authority of the Catholic Church as set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium. An E-book version is also available at Lulu.com. Author Oswald Sobrino, M.A. (Econ.), J.D., is a Catholic writer trained as an attorney and economist. He is a lay graduate student in Biblical Studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit. He writes the Catholic Analysis web column at www.CatholicAnalysis.blogspot.com and produces a podcast at www.CatholicAnalysis.libsyn.com. He is also the author of Unpopular Catholic Truths available at Amazon.com."

Far From The Madding Gerund and other dispatches from Language Log
by Mark Liberman and Geoffrey K. Pullum - itre.cis.upennn.edu/~myl/languagelog

$22.00 (William, James & Co) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"What do linguistic professors do for fun? Savage the SAT, defend "Bushisms," trash Dan Brown, and show why we must split infinitives--all in witty little essays meant not for specialists, but for everyone interested in how English works. Like Language Log, the site that inspired it, Far From The Madding Gerund is exuberant, tart, and totally addictive."--Jan Freeman, language columnist, The Boston Globe

Surviving Paradise
by Michael C. Perkins - www.survivingparadisehawaii.com

$19.95 (Quidnunc Press/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Hawaii has rightly been called the most idyllic paradise in the world. But every paradise has its perils. The same natural wonders that make Hawaii beautiful--the lava, the ocean, the tropical environment--also make it more dangerous than most tourist destinations.

Many of Hawaii's dangers are hidden: the locals may know about them, but visitors almost never do. Every year, innocent tourists die in Hawaii because they didn't have the vital information that could have prevented a tragedy, or helped them survive one. Now they do."

Five from Lulu

As we get nearer and nearer to the entry deadline (January 15th, for those of you who haven't been paying attention), more and more entries will be arriving here at Blooker HQ. The problem is, there are still a lot of submissions that have already come in that I haven't blogged about yet. So, let's see if I can't manage to close the gap a little bit...

Adventures in Whopperland
by Bill Sanders - sanderscartoon.blogspot.com

$8.62 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category - Non-Fiction

"A satirical look at the Bush administration with essays, opinions and political cartoons" by a retired political cartoonist for the Milwaukee Journal and King Features Syndicate.

Don't Read This! And Other Advice I Recommend That You Take
by Tony Pearson - blogs.delphiforums.com

$6.35 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"People can be so weird sometimes, can’t they? Not you. I’m sure you’re lovely, but some people can just be insufferable. One afternoon, I was on my way to the grocery store with my Aunt Edna (she wasn’t really my aunt...actually, it was my parole office, but he liked to be called "aunt". Okay, he hated it, but I'm needy right now. Happy?)...and when we get to the store, this old lady grabs the shopping cart I was going for. To be fair, her stuff was already in it, including her baby, but I did have my eye on it the day before when I came in...and I think "dibs" have actual legal effect. It was *my* cart. I was going to spit at her, but my mouth was all dry. Don't you hate that? I mean, I was completely parched. Ah, well. The nasty look I gave to the back of her head probably did the trick. The guy who saw me do it looked frightened, that's for sure. The way he moved away from me so quickly is proof of that."

Reflekshins: Inspirational and Contemplative Imagery
by Shane E. Gilreath - shanegilreath.blogspot.com

$25.97 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"Inspired by his blog, "Reflekshins," Shane Gilreath takes readers on a visual journey of inspirational, thought provoking and whimsical imagery. This full-color interior soft-cover book is beautifully composed -- a fantastic collection of inspirational and contemplative images accompanied by haiku minimalist poetry."

The Littlest Collection

by Sean Martin - www.joey-aristophanes.com

$29.99 (JA Press/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"Vignettes of the "little people" we encounter every day, from the overworked (and under-appreciated) office adminstrator to the wizard whose powers are confined to a few streets and the local economy. Based on the long-running online series THE LITTLES, The Littlest Collection brings together 40 fan favourites into one lavishly illustrated volume."

Goats Eat Cans
by Steven Novak - stevenovak.blogspot.com

$15.99 (Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"Remember that weird kid with the greasy hair and the weird smell, who never talked to anyone, and sat alone at lunch? The kid who drew weird little pictures? The one who you caught picking his nose and wiping his boogers on his pants? You know, the kid everyone hated. Well, this is his story. In "Goats Eat Cans" Steven Novak recounts though short stories, the moments that have made his life as a dorky loser, extremely annoying, incredibly painful, totally idiotic, and absolutely hilarious. "Goats Eat Cans" is 430 pages, 70 stories, 70 illustrations, and a butt load of surprises that will have you chuckling, laughing, or maybe even rolling around on the floor, holding your stomach and bleeding internally.* Without a doubt, it will make you appreciate your life a little bit more, because, if nothing else, at least you aren't him. *Mr. Novak accepts no responsibility for internal bleeding, or any other injury that may occur as a result of reading...so don't try to sue him...douche bag."

War: Past and Present

War is the common theme of today's featured entries. Covering three different conflicts from three different decades, these blooks provide a wide range of views and experiences directly from people who were on the front lines.

Heroes Among Us
by Hal Terrell - www.realheroesamongus.com

$26.50 (Trafford) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Tells the story of twenty-two boys who grew up in a small western Colorado town during The Great Depression and how they dealt with their circumstances. It also delves into each individual's WWII experiences and what each one did after WWII to help build America into what it is today. Each chapter is loaded with emotions and humor. How many other young men from other small towns across America have shared similar experiences? This book will appeal to all veterans as well as our young people and the public in general."

Mission Saddam
by Herb Eash - www.herbeash.com

$20.00 (Lulu) - Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Mission Saddam is about severe atrocities from an over-zealous dictator who caused a stir that brought in the Calvary! A soldiers’ daily survival in a time of war and wait. The effects of war on both this soldier and his beloved spouse. By reading Mission Saddam you learn more about (GWI) Gulf War Illness which is plaguing thousands of Soldiers who served in the Middle East during a time of War to save the Kuwaiti people from Saddam's Tyranny. Includes a Gulf War Timeline from the start in 1990 to the end in 1991."

My War: Killing Time In Iraq
by Colby Buzzell - www.cbftw.blogspot.com

$15.00 (Berkeley/Penguin) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Colby Buzzell traded a dead-end future for the army--and ended up as a machine gunner in Iraq. To make sense of the absurd and frightening events surrounding him, he started writing a blog about the war--and how it differed from the government's official version. But as his blog's popularity grew, Buzzell became the embedded reporter the army couldn't control--despite its often hilarious efforts to do so."

Three new entries

It seems as though I have exhausted all my cleverness a few posts ago, at least when it comes to the titles of these posts (not that they were really all that clever to begin with). Slow Dirty Education? The Spirit of Home Goes Bad? Yeah, neither of those seem particularly appropriate. Oh well, I guess I'll have to let my imagination recharge. But please don't let my failings alter your perception of today's three Blooker entries.

A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad: John Cowart's 2005 Blog
by John Cowart - www.cowart.info/blog

$16.95 (Blue Fish Books/Lulu) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad records the humor and happiness of a frustrated writer. John’s daily blog, Rabid Fun, bears the caption, 'A befuddled ordinary Christian looks for spiritual realities in day to day living.' Sounds like a downer. Yet, over 104,000 readers from 102 countries visited his website in 2005. A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad reveals John’s happy joys as well as his struggles with temptation over bitterness, resentment, pornography, Microsoft, depression, laziness, Google, Blogger, pettiness, sloth, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and anger. All in all, this is a real-time love story told day by day by a man who loves reality."

The Spirit of Education
by jeff white - www.spiritofeducation.com

$20.00 (Dirt Sheep Press/Lulu) - Buy it

Blooker Category: Non-Fiction

"What is education? It's a term we use every day to describe the process of putting 25 or 30 young souls into a cinder block room and filling their heads with what-all over the course of the first quarter of their lives. But is that education? If it's not, what is it? And what are its consequences? Education--true education--is not a process of pouring in from without, but of calling forth what is within. It's not a process of memorization or socialization or instillation, but a process of nurturing, of allowing, of evoking. It's a process of bringing forth the person one is meant to be. The Spirit of Education attempts to begin anew our conversations about education: what it is, and where it might take us."

Slow Road Home: A Blue Ridge Book of Days
by Fred First - fragmentsfromfloyd.com

$15.95 (Goose Creek Press) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Following the sudden realization at fifty-four that his working life had left him unfulfilled in those needs that mattered most, First leaves that world behind. Tracking the quit turns of solitude's seasons, these short essays capture the daily miracles of an extraordinary time in a beautiful place. First finds himself home at last in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia...Why, he wonders, do some places call to us so strongly that we cannot ignore their pull?"

Adversity and Hope

Our next two entries are a pair of emotional memoirs from opposite sides of the world. From South Africa, we have one woman's account of her struggle to overcome infertility, and from Canada comes a father's story of his son's battle with cancer and his family's determination to make the most of the time they all had left together.

So Close: Infertile and Addicted To Hope
by Tertia Albertyn - www.tertia.org

R130.00 (Oshun) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"What happens when you start trying for a family...and trying, and trying some more? How Far do you go to achieve your dream of having children? So Close is the heart wrenching, exhilarating, devastatingly funny story of Tertia Albertyn's battle with infertility...During Tertia's journey everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Until, finally, everything goes just right."

Ya Can't Let Cancer Ruin Your Day: The James Emails
by Syd Birrell (with Forward by Tom Hanks) - www.jamesfund.ca

$16.95 (Green Train Books) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Syd Birrell is a man with a mission. In fact, make that two missions. His goal is to inspire families to cherish each other, living each day as if it were their last together, and while he's at it, he'd like to find a cure for cancer--specifically, for neruoblastoma, the deadly childhood cancer that claimed his son, James, at the age of eight. When James was diagnosed with the disease that killed him, Syd, his wife Pam and their family didn't retreat, withdraw or give up. Instead they set about realizing as many dreams as possible with whatever time they had left with James...the result was an all too short life lived to the fullest and this book, a loving testament to his son and words of encouragement and hope for anyone who ever faced adversity."

Dating by the blook

Just in time for a lonely Friday night, our next two entries delve into the world of dating. First we have a witty and candid memoir of a serial dater, and that is followed up by a collection of relationship advice that spans 20th century.

Dating Amy: 50 True Confessions of a Serial Dater
by Amy DeZellar - www.datingamy.com

$12.95 (5 Spot) - Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Here to give hope to smart single women everywhere is Amy DeZellar, who bravely dedicated two years of her life to debunking common dating myths and documenting 50 of her dates. Each of the 50 chapters in this book is dedicated to a different date, and includes the kinds of tips and sharp observations that only someone on the front lines can offer. Get ready to laugh, cry, and commiserate with Amyand learn, as she did, a few things about finding the perfect man."

Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage: Classic Advice for Contemporary Dilemmas
by Abigail Grotke - www.missabigail.com

$14.95 (Thunder's Mouth Press/Avalon) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Let Miss Abigail Help! Since 1998 her website has provided time-warp words of wisdom to over 500,000 of those in need. Drawing from her collection of more than 1,000 classic advice books, author Abigail Grotke uses your mother's grandmother's, and great-grandmother's advice to solve your modern-day dilemmas!"

Blooks from down the street and across the sea

Man, the entries have really started to pile up since I last did one of these posts! So far, there have been ~50 entries logged through the online form, and 20 of those have already arrived here at Blooker Central. That's a marked improvement from the way things stood after the first month of the 2006 Blooker. Here are the next four submissions, and, once again, I am amazed by the sheer varitey of blooks we are getting in this year.

Suburban Diva: From the Real Side of the Picket Fence
by Tracey Henry - www.backwash.com/content.php?id=274

$13.99 (Ephemera Bound Publishing) - Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Tracey Henry writes about her adventures living family values in today's world. And although it may not always be as glamorous as it sounds, it is always hilarious. Suburban Diva’s stories from the real side of the picket fence are the chick lit postscript: insights for the woman who has already won her romance battles and finds the spoils are as humorous and entertaining as the pursuit."

The Switzer's Guide to Hamlet
by Darran Foxon - www.switzersguide.com

$9.99 (Lulu) - Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"What is it like to be an extra with the world-famous Royal Shakespeare Company? Eight ordinary residents of Stratford found out in the summer of 2004. They played Switzers (Swiss mercenaries) in Mr Michael Boyd's production of Hamlet starring Toby Stephens in the title role. "The Switzer's Guide To Hamlet" is a comic account of their experiences."

Albert The Third
by Slim Palmer - www.althought.com

£9.99/$15.99 (Exposure Publishing) - Buy it: UK /US

Blooker category: Fiction

"Albert The Third sees our hero  encounter Witches, Time Travellers and Gargoyles in the further adventures of Albert 'I am NOT a snail' Aiten. The stories are based upon Albert's meetings, adventures, imagineerings and characters from his website. It is the illustrated follow up to The Albert Tales and Albert Tales Too."

Across The Sea
by Max Vande Vaarst - www.king-of-dragons.com

$8.95 (Lulu) - Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"The quintessential story of a crestfallen young man struggling to capture some semblance of direction in his life. A tale of self-destruction, American style."

Dirty Minds?

Direct from Random House UK we have two steamy memoirs of women who took control of their faltering love-lives...and blogged about it!

Straight Up and Dirty
by Stephanie Klein -- www.stephaneiklein.com

£12.99 (Ebury Press/Random House UK) Buy it
$24.95 (Regan Books/HarperCollins) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"A thirty-year old divorcee hits rock bottom then hits the town...Bergdorf Blondes meets Desperate Housewives meets The Sexual Life of Catherine M. in a funny, erotic, razor-sharp story of love, marriage, and sex."

Girl with a One Track Mind
by Abby Lee -- girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com

£7.99 (Ebury Press/Random House UK) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Abby Lee is smart, sassy, and perpetually single. Frustrated with her mediocre love-life, she's now looking for the kind of sex she's always wanted. This is the intimate diary of her extraordinary sexual journey."

Here For Crafty Software

Here are the next three submissions. All have been entered into the same category, yet they cover vastly different material. It looks like this year the judges are again going to have their work cut out for them!

Here For a Good Time: On the Road With Trooper--Canada's Legendary Rock Band
by Ra McGuire -- www.ramcguire.com

$14.95 (Insomniac Press) - Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Famous for his quick wit and sometimes too-candid stage banter, McGuire has always has a knack for keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. In Here For a Good Time, he reveals the peaks and valleys of his life on the road and the joys and challenges of being a fifty-something rock star at large in the country he knows like the back of his hand."

Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box
by Alex Epstein -- complicationsensue.blogspot.com

$15.00 (Owl Books/Henry Holt) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Epstein, a veteran TV writer and show creator himself, provides essential knowledge about the entire process of television writing, both for beginners and for professionals who want to go to the next level...Fresh, funny and informed, Crafty TV Writing is the essential guide to writing for and flourishing in the world of television."

Eric Sink on the Business of Software
by Eric Sink -- software.ericsink.com

$24.99 (Apress) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"For developers who want to be coding entrepreneurs and know more about the business side of things...This book collects and expands on articles from Eric's popular weblog...You will find stories of his successes and failures across eight rich years of managing a self-funded software product company."

Small French Monsters

Today begins a new regular feature here at the Blooker blog--a closer look at the blooks that have already been physically submitted to the contest. All quoted text has been taken directly from the books themselves.

Small Is the New Big: and 183 other riffs, rants, and remarkable business ideas
by Seth Godin -- sethgodin.typepad.com

$25.95 (Portfolio/Penguin) -- Pre-order it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"Collected here for the first time are eight years of his very best blog posts, magazine columns, and e-books. On literally every page, Small Is the New Big offers ideas and stories that can change how your work, what you buy, and how you see the world."

Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language From the South of France
by Kristin Espinasse - french-word-a-day.typepad.com

$18.00 (Touchstone/Simon &Schuster) -- Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"A heart-winning collection from an American woman raising two very French children with her French husband in Provence, carrying on a lifelong love affair with the language."

Monster Island: A Zombie Novel
by David Wellington - www.thirteenbullets.com

$13.95 (Thunder's Mouth Press/Avalon) - Buy it

Blooker category: Fiction

"In New York City, the dead walk the streets, driven by an insatiable hunger for all things living. From the other side of the planet, a small but heavily armed group of schoolgirls-turned-soldiers comes in search of desperately needed medicine, with a former UN weapons inspector as their local guide. They think they are prepared for anything. On Monster Island they will find that there is something worse even than undeath."

Listing entries

I've just changed the format of this blog slightly by adding a column on the right to list the entries. We did this for the 2006 Blooker, but, to be honest, there was a slight problem--we listed the blooks as they were entered via the website, and many of them were never physically submitted! If you don't send in your blook, it's not eligible for the Blooker that year. It's a simple as that. (That's why Jessica Cutler's Washingtonienne is on the list again--she never sent it in last year, and was therefore able to re-enter it.)

Despite this potential point of confusion, I will still be listing all the blooks entered through the site. (What can I say? It makes an otherwise static blog a bit more dynamic.) However, if any of these entries fail to be submitted by the January 15 postmark deadline, I'm taking them down. Likewise, if it becomes apparent that an entry is ineligible for the Blooker (e.g. it is not based on online content, or it is not printed in English), it will be removed from the list. Make sense?

Something new for the 2007 Blooker will be posts about the legitimate entries as they get physically submitted. Seven have already come in, and I will be blogging about them in a bit more detail very soon.

International blooks

Blooks, like blogs, are not just an English-language phenomenon, but it's an unavoidable fact that the Lulu Blooker Prize can only accept blooks written in English. For this very reason I had to inform the publishers of Italian journalist Pino Scaccia that we could not accept his blook for consideration. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve acknowledgment.  If you read Italian, please check out his blog and corresponding blook.

Of course we've already had a number of legal international entries including, most recently, blooks from Singapore and Japan.

Listing blooks

A few quick notes about our list of entries...

You may wonder how we got so many entries so quickly. Well, the list is comprised of entries submitted on the Blooker website. Physical submissions are still required to be officially entered into the contest, so don't forget to send in those blooks! (Several have already come in, by the way.)

If your blook has been entered but not yet published, and you prefer that it not appear on our list of entries until it is published, please let us know.

The blooks pour in

You may have noticed that Jason has begun to post the entries received so far in the right column of this blog. We'll need to start breaking them out by category soon, but you can already see some interesting and diverse titles, including big name (big marketing) books like John Battelle's The Search, based on work developed through SearchBlog, and Jessica Cutler's scandalous novel The Washingtonienne (Jessica, call me, ok?). And, closer to my heart, there are also some terrific independently published books already submitted to the Blooker contest. The Happy Hacker, by Carolyn Meinel, gets my award for best title so far.

Blook collecting

Jason and I plan to blog the blook entries as they come in, adding a title (linked to the book or a description of the book on the web if one can be found), and author (with a link to the originating blog/site). Does anyone anticipate a problem with this approach? Is there any reason you would not want the world to know your book had been entered in the world's first blook competition?

The entries have already started to trickle in, so we should be able to start listing titles on this blog by the end of the week. Have I mentioned how excited we are?

In other book news, you may have noted that Irish writer John Banville has won another prestigious literary prize for his novel, The Sea. The blogs are agog.