Pony request: Mefite Author List/Link?

October 20, 2007 3:22 PM

reminded by the post on Peacay's new book, can we put together a list of published Mefites, with links to purchase, listed here somewhere?

It could be a revenue-generator too, if linked to Amazon under Mefi or something.

posted by amberglow to Feature Requests at 3:22 PM (104 comments total)

Let me get this straight, you want two ponies?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:27 PM on October 20, 2007

yup--and a castle, and free ice cream every day, and 100 million dollars in unmarked bills, and an EU passport, and ...


; >
posted by amberglow at 3:31 PM on October 20, 2007

(i mefimailed matt about it--there's a lag now when you post here?)
posted by amberglow at 3:32 PM on October 20, 2007

Speaking of amazon, does metafilter still alter amazon URL's posted on the site? Only for logged off users? I'm wondering because I posted an amazon link in an FPP a while back but it was never altered.

Anyway, isn't this what projects is for? Maybe what we need is more topicality with projects. Like I could post a "book" or a "web2.0 thing" I guess you would want to split things up based on how common they are.

Alternatively, we could allow tagging on projects, so that people could self-organize them.
posted by delmoi at 3:35 PM on October 20, 2007

How long has MetaTalk had deletion reasons?!?
posted by Rhomboid at 3:39 PM on October 20, 2007

we added deletion reasons this week.

So this would be fairly easy to do if we had a list of known authors. There's pecay, jennydeski, and ? Miguel?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:06 PM on October 20, 2007

maybe there could be sidebar request for mefites to come forward and let you guys know?
posted by amberglow at 4:13 PM on October 20, 2007

jjg wrote a terrific book on user-centered web design.

Hasn't that Haughey guy written some stuff too? Don't forget him.

we added deletion reasons this week.

That's the best pony ever. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
posted by timeistight at 4:23 PM on October 20, 2007

Not all particularly active (but what's the threshhold for being MeFi's own ... ?), the first to come to mind are hodgman, doctorow, stevewoz, cstross....
posted by mumkin at 4:24 PM on October 20, 2007

I translated this if anyone has 100 bucks to spare and some fairly specific academic interests. The author is a lovely and learned man, and the publishers deserve loads of support. I get no royalty :( (though I will on the one I ought to be finishing right now).
posted by Abiezer at 4:28 PM on October 20, 2007

Would self-published stuff (via Lulu, etc.) count? If so, the author list would be somewhat more extensive ...
posted by woodblock100 at 4:34 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Jscalzi has published a few novels and books of trivia.

We have a few Wired contributors here. Digaman definitely, and I could have sworn there was at least one other. Don't know if they've published any books though.

Plus you all know I'm really Ken Wilber, right?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:35 PM on October 20, 2007

If you've got $99.95 (arrgh) to spare, I committed this.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:35 PM on October 20, 2007

I have four books -- and another one coming out in a big way in just a few weeks: The Daring Book For Girls. I'll be talking about it on the Today Show on the 31st!
posted by mothershock at 4:48 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

If we get to other kinds of published works beyond books, there are lots of Mefites who have radio shows.
posted by parmanparman at 4:50 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

cool--we have tons of people for the list already : >

Would self-published stuff (via Lulu, etc.) count? If so, the author list would be somewhat more extensive ...

Why not? It totally should, i think.
posted by amberglow at 4:50 PM on October 20, 2007

Ooh, and I did most of the essays in this that weren't originally in English. And a whole 0.95 cents cheaper that thomas j wise! You know it makes sense!
posted by Abiezer at 4:51 PM on October 20, 2007

rcade has some books (guides) published.

In 1999, I had a letter to the "Ask Beth" teen advice column published in the Boston Globe. Unfortunately, it might not count because I was pretending to be a girl who was worried about getting VD from toilet seats.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:52 PM on October 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

Mefi user gompa has a new book out (or coming out?) soon called The Geography of Hope. It has been getting great reviews, and I am eager to start reading it.

Gompa (aka Chris Turner) also has a book called Planet Simpsons: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation.
posted by Quartermass at 4:53 PM on October 20, 2007

I have been published in newspapers and magazines. (And while the stuff is probably all available free online, you are welcome to pay me directly if you get to feeling guilty.)
posted by veggieboy at 4:54 PM on October 20, 2007

HOLY SHIT! THIS IS THE LETTER! Awesome! I didn't know she was syndicated.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:55 PM on October 20, 2007 [3 favorites]

How 'bout published musicians with CD releases? Lotsa those, too.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:57 PM on October 20, 2007

Previously
posted by Rumple at 5:01 PM on October 20, 2007

Didn't mean to be coy. Since other people are linking, here are some links. Like I said, pay what you think is fair.
posted by veggieboy at 5:01 PM on October 20, 2007

Wouldn't the Wiki be a great place for this?
posted by mkultra at 5:05 PM on October 20, 2007

I've got 2 with a 3rd on the way...
posted by moonbird at 5:08 PM on October 20, 2007

I'm pretty sure J-Walk is a mefite, or at least a serial lurker.
posted by Sk4n at 5:16 PM on October 20, 2007

You could just reformat the Famous Mefites page to split out a section on authors.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:27 PM on October 20, 2007

I wrote a novel called The Grasshopper King.
posted by escabeche at 5:30 PM on October 20, 2007

OK, it seems we're not being too shy on this thread, so here goes - I doubt many other MeFites have a published colouring book!
posted by woodblock100 at 5:41 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Didn't the somethingorotherinthelibrary write that cool book about girl pirates? What'ser user name? The ghost in the library? I forget - ringing a bell anybody?
posted by serazin at 5:43 PM on October 20, 2007

It's The Corpse in the Library!! She wrote a book called "Booty", how can you not love that?!
posted by serazin at 5:51 PM on October 20, 2007

Don't forget the book about Paris Hilton's dog. I've seen brief flashes of it while stopping briefly on a bio of the stars show on MuchMoreMusic.
posted by TimTypeZed at 5:51 PM on October 20, 2007

The corpse in the library. I think she also has a parenting book.
posted by Rumple at 5:51 PM on October 20, 2007

If you've got $400 to spare, I was a contributor to this.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 5:58 PM on October 20, 2007

Aw, thanks. And yes, I do, for after the pirates get knocked up.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:02 PM on October 20, 2007

i mefimailed matt about it...

Talk about a slippery slope, God help the man.
posted by R. Mutt at 6:16 PM on October 20, 2007

*The Man
posted by R. Mutt at 6:16 PM on October 20, 2007

I have a piece in this book.

Not that I knew about it at the time, but it still counts.
posted by sugarfish at 6:41 PM on October 20, 2007

As mentioned (but not explained in detail), if you're a science-fiction fan, we're lucky to have two best-selling authors who were both nominated for Hugos (or was it the Nebula?) last year: John Scalzi (jscalzi) and Charlie Stross (cstross). Both are intermittently pretty active here. I was just thinking about this because I've recently been reading both these authors and also a third, John C. Wright, who is also a Hugo nominated author and also in one of my communities (he's an alum of St. John's College, like me). I knew Jack Williamson when I was a kid growing up, and my aunts and late grandmother know Stephen Donaldson, but I still think it's sort of weird to have a number of authors one reads that are also real people in one's social universe and not just someone “out there” and inaccessible.

I can't believe no one has yet mentioned this mefite who is a prolific and well-known author.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:42 PM on October 20, 2007

I bet there are hundreds, if not thousands of published Mefites.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:48 PM on October 20, 2007

There's pecay, jennydeski, and ? Miguel?

Me too goddamnit.

In fact this post is oddly timely (and yeah amberglow there's like a small lag for MeTa posts -- new post trigger an email to the admins so we can at least eyeball them before they go live) because I just made a post about peacay's book on my own site and I'm selling a few copies of my book on Ebay with the proceeds going to the EFF.

Mayor Curley, I know Peg Winship and you are now in big trouble.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:17 PM on October 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

My book on northwest Indians has been marked down--oh the indignity! It makes a fine gift.
posted by LarryC at 8:08 PM on October 20, 2007

I bet there are hundreds, if not thousands of published Mefites.

Yeah, if you start including magazine and newspaper pieces, a ton of us have worked as journalists or freelancers at some time or other. But I'll join in: I'm one of the gay teachers (or was, at the time) in this book.
posted by mediareport at 8:22 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

oh the indignity!

Tell me about it, brother! Amazon Japan's selling one of my old releases from '95 at half it's original retail price. I don't get no respect...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:27 PM on October 20, 2007

wow mediareport that is a really interesting chapter, or what I could read of it on Amazon was anyhow.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:29 PM on October 20, 2007

Thanks, jess. I'll pay it forward by noting that when I was a DJ at WXYC back in the early 90s, I used to play the Samm Bennett and Chunk Knitting Factory CD all the time on my shifts. Thanks, flapjax; it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I realized you were *that* Samm Bennett.
posted by mediareport at 8:39 PM on October 20, 2007

Wait!

Wait.

Wait, flapjax at midnite is Samm Bennett?

Holy shit!
posted by Kattullus at 8:54 PM on October 20, 2007

Yup, that's me, Kattullus... And glad to hear you were spinning some Chunk back in the day, mediareport! I reckon I'll be self-releasing a new album of songs within the next few months: hell, I think I've posted enough to MeFi Music to make about an album's worth!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:11 PM on October 20, 2007

I'm out of print, but collectible. Does that count? (I was "Jack" on that project.) I've also had 2 plays produced, but I've got nothing but memories for those. I did improv for years with ARK Improvisational Theatre, where I worked with some good people. I do a radio show, but that's pretty sporadic and ephemeral. Come to think of it, the only thing I've done that's noteworthy is to have raised 2 kids to adulthood. They'll surely do something really worthwhile. Or I guess I could sell 'em on Amazon.
At a loss.
posted by Floydd at 9:17 PM on October 20, 2007

Goddamn. I happen to be in Iceland where all my old CDs are kept, in my parents basement. So I thought it was high time to get some of the improv noise stuff out of storage, but I can't find the box it's in. Goddamn! I want me some random-seeming clicks, beeps and pertwangsssssggrgxzrxxrsssss. Well, I guess I'll just have to hit up the excellent Armageddon for some new noise stuff when I get back home.
posted by Kattullus at 9:21 PM on October 20, 2007

It's funny, flapjax, I first discovered you while living in Chapel Hill, where you hit the radar after Superchunk had to change their name from Chunk because of you guys. I was all prepared to hate you until I listened to the music. :)

(For folks who don't know, here's flapjax's Allmusic bio, where I just found out he also did soundtrack music to reissues of old Fleischer brothers Koko the Clown cartoons, which happen to be some of my fave cartoons ever. flapjax, if we ever meet, I'm gonna pour a bunch of beers down your throat.)
posted by mediareport at 9:28 PM on October 20, 2007

Whoa, cool. Hey Samm, we've played with a bunch of the same people.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:31 PM on October 20, 2007

Hey, that's cool, Joseph! Why don'tcha drop me a line (Mefi Mail?) and lemme know who some of those folks are?

Thanks for making that Allmusic link, mediareport, but damn, that thing hasn't been updated in more than a decade! Anyone who'd like to know more about my musical history are better served by this bio, on my own site. It's a bit lengthy, but, hey, it's thorough!*

*Although it doesn't go into details on that stint I did at Attica for credit card fraud...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:50 PM on October 20, 2007

jessamyn, I am sorry I forgot to name you - and miguel - as authors in the peacay thread. And I knew that! But I don't remember things so good before my first cup of coffee, and I didn't have that until about 5 pm today.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:00 PM on October 20, 2007

dong_resin wrote the Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries (published under the name "D. Resin", which still tickles me).
Also, James Lileks (The Gallery of Regrettable Food and others) used to hang out here.
posted by stefanie at 11:30 PM on October 20, 2007

I wrote this "complex, rewarding story of how and why government leaders establish targeted programs for unpopular, politically weak groups," but generally just tell folks the book is about sex and drugs.
posted by donovan at 11:31 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Me too goddamnit.

You authors are so touchy. Thanks madamjjj for mentioning my book in the peacay thread. (His book looks so much nicer than mine that it's almost funny.)

My first printing was done by a publisher in PA, but I did the second and third printings myself in Maine to bring it back home. It's basically sold out of only one store in Bar Harbor, with no advertising except word of mouth, but continues to be popular more than 14 years after its debut because of the millions of people who wander through this town every summer.

I mostly write magazine articles , not books.

I also own two of Man-Thing’s books, which are nicely done. One about Ben Franklin, the other about the Civil War.

Wait!
Wait.
Wait, flapjax at midnite is Samm Bennett?
Holy shit!

I thought everybody knew that. The guy is great. But did you know that quonsar (supposedly) is really Mick Jagger?
posted by LeLiLo at 12:14 AM on October 21, 2007

quonsar (supposedly) is really Mick Jagger?

Never satisfied, right?
posted by woodblock100 at 12:44 AM on October 21, 2007

Never satisfied, right?

No. Lucifer.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:48 AM on October 21, 2007

Hey, lelilo, I didn't know you were a scribbler! But, look everybody, lelilo leads a double life as a behatted banger of percussive objects!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:55 AM on October 21, 2007

Yeah, I am the guy in the hat. But then Professor Gene (yellow hat, in front) went off and started a 15- to 30-piece ukulele club, without me....

(When he was on my radio show some years back, he played not only a uke but also the saw, the jug, and “Over the Rainbow” on the theramin.)
posted by LeLiLo at 1:10 AM on October 21, 2007

Sorry. Make that theremin.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:12 AM on October 21, 2007

Not strictly on subject (as far as I know Zoe is not a member), but I did (relatedly - quarsan, definitely is) comment on the release of My Boyfriend is a Twat.
posted by tellurian at 3:19 AM on October 21, 2007

I co-edited a Dutch-language book on chain automation and also contributed a chapter.
posted by rjs at 6:37 AM on October 21, 2007

I open up boxes of used books for a living. Is that close enough?
posted by jonmc at 6:46 AM on October 21, 2007

Author, author!
This is a great suggestion, amberglow, and it spawned an awesome thread. What a talented crew of scribes we have here on mefi!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:52 AM on October 21, 2007

I've e-published an epic, schizophrenic tone-poem on site management, community dynamics, etc* here.

*other major themes including e.g. the ethics of popcorn deployment; the constraints of iambic pentameter and the limerick form on metareferential critical commentary; and evaluations of the lolness of butts.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:42 AM on October 21, 2007

I've had a few poems and translations published and should have a coauthored book on curses and insults coming out in the States in the not too distant future. Next year I'm supposed to get a contract for a solo book, but I'm not counting my chickens.
posted by languagehat at 8:53 AM on October 21, 2007

I've had a few poems and translations published and should have a coauthored book on curses and insults coming out in the States in the not too distant future.

Way to go, motherfucker.
posted by jonmc at 8:55 AM on October 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

should have a coauthored book on curses and insults coming out in the States in the not too distant future.

That explains so much....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:07 AM on October 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

How does he know which exact insults are the ones that'll come out in the near future? Cos he's the one that'll be making them! The erudite potty-mouth!
posted by Abiezer at 9:10 AM on October 21, 2007

Know who else is coming out in the States in the not too distant future?
That's right; Larry Craig.
posted by Floydd at 9:27 AM on October 21, 2007

LarryC - I finally got off my ass and ordered a copy of your book....
posted by Rumple at 10:11 AM on October 21, 2007

I write a quarterly column for the American Kennel Club Gazette and have an article in the November issue of Dogs In Review magazine.

I am an official crazy dog lady.
posted by biscotti at 10:54 AM on October 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

I am an official crazy dog lady.

You are MetaFilter's own official crazy dog lady.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:16 AM on October 21, 2007

I was mentioned in two different 'zines that were reviewed in Factsheet Five. (I may never write great literature, but maybe I'll be a character in it).
posted by jonmc at 11:30 AM on October 21, 2007

Well, i'm impressed. Plug Away! : >

Keep them coming--and who wants to grab all the links here and make a page out of them? (maybe with an option for others to add their stuff too?)
posted by amberglow at 11:35 AM on October 21, 2007

Biscotti, finding out you are a published, professional writer about animals surprises me not at all.
posted by vito90 at 1:33 PM on October 21, 2007

What about adamgreenfield? Everyware is a tiny, tiny bit dated now, but it's still good.
posted by lodurr at 2:14 PM on October 21, 2007

Oh gee, ancient history. Way long out of print. When I was 18, did the illustrations in 1973 for The Book of Charms (50 rapidograph drawings in 4 days) and my nom de plume, Victoria Hyatt, was misspelled as Victoria Hayatt.

At 19 wrote The Book of Demons, which is quoted on homework sites on the web to my astonishment and horror, as parts of the book are really awful, lol. In a fit of literary snobbery, my boyfriend of the time, poet Pierre Joris, who originally got the commission to do the book, refused to write "a coffee table book about demons" five months into our six month contract. But he'd/we'd already spent the advance money. So I wrote the book - approx 130 pages in a month- and he got co-credit for writing 10 pages and basically typing the thing (it was written longhand).

That same year Pierre and I edited and published England's largest poetry magazine in 1974, Sixpack, which had some pretty awesome contributors. Does that count?
posted by nickyskye at 2:28 PM on October 21, 2007

Are editors allowed? I have some recent (or recent-ish) exhibition catalogues here, here, and here, with another coming out in the spring.
posted by scody at 2:55 PM on October 21, 2007

I made a (pretty awful) movie you can find on Amazon.
posted by brundlefly at 3:30 PM on October 21, 2007

My first book, One Day the Soldiers Came, was just published a few days ago. And I just did this piece for the NY Times Magazine.
posted by cal71 at 4:19 PM on October 21, 2007 [3 favorites]

Ha! I just heard you on ATC Sun about two hours ago! Good interview.
posted by lodurr at 4:32 PM on October 21, 2007

Back to the larger subject: Previously reference sometime MeFite jscalzi runs occasional "pimping threads" on his blog -- anyone can pimp their own shit, their friends' shit, and so on. The idea is pretty obvious: Keep the pimping in the pimping thread, no pimping outside the pimping thread or you lose your hands.

I think that might be a sound MeFi tradition (though a sort of permanent list might also be a good idea).

So, amberglow is suggesting that we make a list -- amberglow, are you suggesting a permanent list, or something like this?
posted by lodurr at 4:40 PM on October 21, 2007

Ha! I just heard you on ATC Sun about two hours ago! Good interview.

Thanks lodurr!!
posted by cal71 at 5:00 PM on October 21, 2007

Which zines, jonmc? That used to be my world.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:08 PM on October 21, 2007

Been reviewing for the Sydney Morning Herald for the last five years. Got a book for little chilluns on the way.
posted by Wolof at 5:14 PM on October 21, 2007

Moving article in the NYT magazine cal71.
posted by nickyskye at 5:15 PM on October 21, 2007

I recently patted MeFi on its (our) collective back in the vocabulary for rice thread. Maybe it's unseemly to do so again. (Although, it should be mentioned that in another thread I claimed, earnestly, that MeFi isn't much better than some of the more strident right-wing sites in terms of using stereotypes and such.)

It seems to me that MeFi has an unusual portion of its membership that are professional writers (or musicians or moviemakers—hell, also professors, scientists, and librarians) than other comparable general-interest, large web communities.

Our high literacy may be our defining characteristic. And that, in turn, as expressed in MeFi's character, may account for a number of unusual characteristics of MetaFilter. (Such as the relatively high signal-to-noise ratio, the lack of IM-speak, the sentiment favoring flat-threading, etc.)
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:54 PM on October 21, 2007

Wow, this is so cool! No wonder I am constantly plagued by a feeling of inferiority. It's true!
posted by arcticwoman at 7:52 PM on October 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Which zines, jonmc?

Muffin Bones, and one about the Borders Union movement (I was involved in that) who's title escapes me.
posted by jonmc at 8:10 PM on October 21, 2007

Our high literacy may be our defining characteristic.

U sed it
posted by jonmc at 8:14 PM on October 21, 2007

Wow, this is so cool! No wonder I am constantly plagued by a feeling of inferiority. It's true!

ha, I often think this on Mefi, and now even more so. Athough we have our fair share of moments of stupefying (and sometimes delightful) idiocy, overall here on Mefi, there are so many smart people, so much expertise, and so many good writers. I'm used to being in corporate settings where I am either the best or among the best writers. But I feel like such a lightweight here, yikes! That's a good thing, all in all - once you get over the intimidation factor it is a challenging and often inspiring environment. You best never say anything without being able to back it up!
posted by madamjujujive at 9:04 PM on October 21, 2007

cal71, great article -- I love your writing style. And congratulations on the new book!

mjjj, if it's any consolation, I'm a professional writer and editor and I feel the same way when I'm here!
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:00 AM on October 22, 2007

My first book is supposedly coming out before the end of the year. Please read it!
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:26 PM on October 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm a published erotica author, with stories in several anthologies, to pay some bills. But that's just smut and doesn't count as much as a plate of beans in this incredibly literary community. You are now all my idols.

I've yet to finish that fantastic novel that will earn me millions ; ).
posted by misha at 4:28 PM on October 22, 2007

for real, misha? very cool--being able to write good dirty stuff is really hard--don't sell it short at all.

"mmmm, smut"
/Homer Simpson : >
posted by amberglow at 8:21 PM on October 22, 2007

Wow, way to "raise the bar" guys, suddenly I have a massive inferiority complex.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:38 PM on October 22, 2007

Whoops. I done did declare my latest magnum opus in you wrong thread. Cos I am a bit of a tit.
posted by Abiezer at 1:59 AM on October 23, 2007

I just had 2 poems published in Sentence 5, for what it's worth. ("Untitled" and "Hydriotaphia.")
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:42 AM on October 30, 2007

I have four books -- and another one coming out in a big way in just a few weeks: The Daring Book For Girls. I'll be talking about it on the Today Show on the 31st!

mothershock, i just saw you! it went really really well, i thought : >
posted by amberglow at 6:49 AM on October 31, 2007

mothershock in the NYTimes now too!

excellent!
posted by amberglow at 6:39 PM on November 2, 2007