I’ve always been fascinated by the illusive nature of celebrity and the transient nature of contemporary fame. Andy Warhol’s metaphor calculated fame in minutes, fifteen to be exact. What he meant, of course, was that so-called “celebrity” has a very short shelf life.

Father Time wields an unforgiving and indiscriminate scythe. No one presently living has a clue as to what will be the classic of tomorrow or who will even be remembered—except perhaps in future Trivia games, a dubious distinction.

When I was on the Warner lot, I used to visit the main building of Warner Bros. where the green-lighters hung out listening to sweaty-palmed producers, writers and stars pitch their movie ideas.

The reception room was filled with large photos of the stars of yesteryear when the star system was at its height. I would take along my younger staff people, all movie industry wannabees and prod them to identify the names of those pictured.…

Read more: Shelf Life: Not a Trivial Pursuit

A novel is a one-on-one communication system. If you are unlucky enough to draw a reviewer, whether a so-called professional or an ordinary reader who does not relate to your work or has an axe to grind or a hangover or is in a battle with his or her significant other or has a differing political view or is being assailed by a thousand slings and arrows of misfortune, you are in deep doodoo. Worse, you will never know exactly why, since the critique is always subjective, always personal.

Even in the publications designed to serve the so-called literary highbrow “establishment,” such as the New York Review of Books and, at times, the New York Times Book Review, I find many reviews are more about the reviewers’ opinions, biases and prejudices than about the book itself. A case in point was a lengthy review dealing with Philip Roth’s novel, The Plot Against America.…

Read more: Badmouthing Authors

I admit it. I am obsessed by the aging process. I hate it. I hate the accelerating deterioration of my inner and outer body parts, the declining sharpness of hearing and sight, the slowing pace of my legs, and other unmentionable afflictions. Despite medical and pharmacological advances, which I welcome, I know that such advances are merely unnatural palliatives that extend our lives but do little to demolish the reality of our inevitable descent into oblivion.

That said, I have found one saving grace that is both inspiring and encouraging to anyone who has reached the age of seventy. I am inspired by the words and deeds of Ronald Reagan, who once joked that he didn’t trust anyone under seventy.

Once the seventy line is crossed, a person says what they want without worrying about the consequences. I don’t mean that reaching this age of pre-senility gives you the license to say hurtful words or deliberately insult or ridicule others, especially those of lesser years.…

Read more: The Aging Obsession

Suggested by the recent publication of Warren Adler’s latest novel, Funny Boys, the theme for the Summer 2008 Warren Adler Short Story Contest is humor. We’re looking for humorous stories in all their varied forms. From satire to farce, from the whimsical to the uproarious, all writers looking to get a laugh (in a good way!) should enter. We are looking for the subtle and the pungent, the black and dark, the sporty, the salty, the waggish, or whatever can spark a knowing smile, a sly chuckle, or a hysterical belly laugh. In other words, anything goes, just as long as it falls into this category, however one stretches its elastic boundaries.

Entries must not exceed 2500 words, and there is a minimum length of 1000 words. As in the previous contests, all stories will be judged on the basis of character authenticity, plotting, narrative drive, and the skillful manipulation of the short story literary form.…

Read more: The Summer 2008 Warren Adler Short Story Contest

For the past eight years, I have been blindly optimistic about the future of e-books. I have made countless speeches, attended numerous meetings flacking the concept as the wave of the future. Mostly, what I encountered was skepticism, sometimes disbelief, and at times downright hostility. Indeed, the prevailing opinion was that the e-book would never be a credible challenge to the paper book industry. My optimism is, at long last, on the verge of vindication.

My cheerleading was prompted by a very personal agenda, rescuing my books and name from the authorial wrecking ball of time, fading memory, physical disintegration, obscurity and indifference. By re-acquiring the publishing rights to my many novels and short story collections and digitalizing them, I was assuring that they would remain in print and saleable beyond the foreseeable future and be available both as a family legacy and the optimistic and immodest possibility that one day my backlist would have a resurrection and be rediscovered and popularized by future readers.…

Read more: The E-Book Has Arrived