Writers news roundup 30th Nov

Writers keep holiday tales short, sweet
"Among this season's crop: The Christmas Pig by Kinky Friedman (Simon and Schuster, $15): A fable, set in an obscure kingdom, about the friendship between a mysterious, mute 10-year-old boy and a talking pig who is seeking a role in the manger scene."

Who is Kinky Friedman? Click here and here. Umm....Just a writer. Nothing special.

Basic Instinct author has gossip, advice for young writers
Among the revelations: "Sharon Stone was so disliked on movie sets that the crew on one of her early films urinated in a bathtub she was supposed to use in a scene."
His advice? "Write what you know, never write the sequel."

If George Lucas had followed that advice, he could have been counted among the legends. Course, he woulda been a couple of billion short...

Debut novelist Iain Hollingshead wins Bad Sex in Fiction Award
"Judges were moved by Hollingshead's evocation of "a commotion of grunts and squeaks, flashing unconnected images and explosions of a million little particles. His description of "bulging trousers" sealed the win, the judges said.
'Because Hollingshead is a first-time writer, we wished to discourage him from further attempts,' the judges - editors of Literary Review magazine - said in a statement. "Heavyweights like Thomas Pynchon and Will Self are beyond help at this point.'"

That's a bit below the belt, isn't it?