January 20, 2009 Links and Plugs

A belated happy birthday to Edgar Allan Poe.

• Ellen Datlow's introduction to Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe (in case you missed yesterday's review, a fantastic anthology!).
• Be sure to catch Adam Rex's Poe features at Tor: An Edgar Allan Poem, Edgar Allan Poe Should Be Writing or Sleeping, Not Doing a Crossword Puzzle, Edgar Allan Poe Hears Sweet Music Like the Dulcet Tones of Angels or Whatever.
  
• Elizabeth Bear on writing characters of color.
• Lucy A. Snyder On Author Interviews.
• Thomas Sullivan on Writing Naked.
• Eric Rosenfield and Matt Cheney on Speculative Fiction in Conversation Part 2 (Part 1 here).
• Blaize Clement on Critique Groups, Pros and Cons (Mostly Cons).
• Just something I find cool: The Origins of Salt, Pepper & Other Popular Spices.
• GalleyCat has a video on How to Write A Book in Two Weeks (ugh!).
• Leigh Butler plans to tackle the Wheel of Time.
• Jeff Vandermeer on Top Five Things Editors Hate.
• Obama's Reading List, Revised.
• Middle-Earth's Civil Rights Movement.

For something less-serious:

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines