the scowl

One: Stephen Elliott on the ethics of writing for free.

Two: Conor Friedersdorf (and, via block-quote, Lawrence Wechsler) on removing the fiction/nonfiction divide in bookstores.

Three: Blake Butler interviews Peter Cole, editor of the generally excellent literary magazine Keyhole. One passage that should spark some debate:

…word appreciation is probably a reaction to the lack of appreciation for the language in religious and philosophy texts, which I studied in college. I guess reading any amount of technical text could make any story enjoyable in comparison, but religious texts and the books about them are supposed to convey some deep sense of meaning, yet to me they are probably the blandest language there is.