Blooker Prize Blog

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!

One month left to enter the 2007 Blooker!

Today begins the final month of entry for the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize. To be considered for the Prize, all entries must be postmarked by Monday, January 15, 2007. That's the physical blook we're talking about, not just submitting an entry on the Blooker website.

I will also take this opportunity to review the eligibility requirements:

• Only printed, bound books are eligible. Self-published books are just as valid as those that come from a traditional publisher; however, e-books are not accepted. (Neither are print-outs of screen-captures of your blog for that matter.)
• The content of your book must have been developed in a significant way online. This can range anywhere from an archive of your blog posts, reproduced verbatim, to general themes, research, or characters. Note: just having your book available for sale online does not make it a blook!
• Your blook must be written in English (although it can be sent from anywhere in the world). For those of you who blog/write in a language other than English, we'll have big news for you in the coming year--Watch This Space!
• If you sent your blook in last year, you can't enter it again. However, if you never actually got around to submitting your blook, you've got a second chance!

Please also refer to the Official Rules for the complete list of eligibility requirements.

If you want to enter the Blooker, but are afraid that there's not enough time, there are a several ways to quickly blookify your blog.

LJBook - convert your blog into a PDF, which can then be uploaded to Lulu.com (or similar service)and made available as a print-on-demand blook.

• Supported Platforms: LiveJournal, DeadJournal, AboutMyLife
• Cost: Free to make PDF, printing costs at Lulu start at $4.53 + $0.02/page (pricing example)
• Turn-around Time: 3-4 minutes to produce PDF + 3-5 business days to print book through Lulu.

Blurb - download and install the BookSmart(TM) software that will "slurp" the contents of your blog. The software is also necessary for design/layout/editing.

• Supported Platforms: TypePad, WordPress.com
• Cost: software is free to download, books start at $18.95 (full pricing chart)
• Turn-around Time: 5-6 business days

Blogprinting - Web-based service that prints blooks through Qoop.com

• Supported Platforms: TypePad, WordPress, Movable Type
• Cost: books start at $7.50 (first 28 pages) + $0.04/additional page
• Turn-around Time: 3-5 business days

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."

It's no secret...blooks get noticed by The New York Times

The Blooker, and blooks in general, got a nice mention in the New York Times this week - Blogs Into 'Blooks': The Cranky and the Chaste. The article (from the Fashion & Style section) focuses on two recently published blooks, one of which has just been submitted to the Blooker.

My Secret: A PostSecret Book
by Frank Warren - www.postsecret.com

$19.95 (Regan/HarperCollins) Buy it

Blooker category: Non-Fiction

"The sensational PostSecret project returns with a never-before-seen collection of postcards created by teens and college students from around the world. Compiled by Frank Warren, postsecret.com founder and author of the national bestseller PostSecret, the handmade cards bear compelling and personal messages that have remained secret--until now. Raw and revealing, My Secret expresses the hopes, fears, and wildest confessions of young people everywhere." Also, it comes with stickers!

For the record, he other blook mentioned in the article, one that has not been entered for the Blooker yet, is The Thrill of the Chaste ($13.99, W Publishing Company) by Dawn Eden--based on her blog The Dawn Patrol.

This Times piece follows another recent article on the blook phenomenon--this time from the Wall Street Journal: How Demon Wife Became a Media Star And Other Tales of the 'Blook' in Japan. The WSJ piece focuses on the smash success in Japan of Demon Wife Diaries, by a blogger known by the pen name "Kazuma," and the spreading popularity of blooks in the Japanese market.

Coming in from the cold

O, November, where did you go?

You put your head down to work on some other projects and you loose an entire month! Fortunately, this blogger's negligence can't do much to slow the progress of the runaway boulder that is the Lulu Blooker Prize, and we are approaching the bottom of the hill--much to the horror of the doomed townsfolk below.

OK, maybe I took that metaphor a little too far...

Annnnyway...now that I'm back, you might be wondering (if there is anyone out there who hasn't given up on ever seeing a new post here again) what's going on with the Blooker? Entries are still coming in at a good clip. I've updated the Entry list over on the right, and we are currently at about 95 or so--which , of course means it is time for me to repeat the Blooker mantra: SEND IN YOUR BLOOKS! Lots of submissions have already arrived (in fact they are piling up like snow drifts around my desk), but there are several still outstanding. Remember, to be considered for the Prize, a physical copy of your blook must be sent us postmarked by January 15!

A quick spin around the Technorati blog search reveals much public musing all across the blogosphere about the thought of entering the Blooker. All I can say is...

What are you waiting for!?!