Public Service Announcement

For those of you who follow my work as a critic/reviewer at http://www.bookslut.com/, I've got some news--both bad and good. The bad?

I just sent out the follow email:

"Jessa,

"After giving the matter some serious thought, I've decided it's time for me to move on, effective immediately. The August, 2005 column marks my last contribution to http://www.bookslut.com/. Use or discard the gutterslut column name as you wish.

"Good luck to you, and the rest of the good folks at Bookslut.com, now and in the future.

"Best,

"Bill Baker"

There's any number of reasons for this move, but the primary one has to be time. I can only do so much, so fast, and like everyone else these days, I need to really concentrate on my paying gigs, nonfiction and otherwise. Something had to give, and while it has a really good pedigree and viewer base, and while I really appreciate the opportunity to contribute reviews to that site for over a year, I ultimately have come to the conclusion that the fit just isn't right anymore.

Sad, that, but I honestly believe that this is what's best for the future of both my career and bookslut that I move on.

Which brings us to the good news...

All of my extended reviews will be appearing as part of this blog, starting Friday. Even better, I will now be able to simply post these critical ramblings as I finish them, so hopefully there will be a real immediacy to the work. Finally, I will also be reposting all of my old reviews, including the pieces that I did for my gutterslut column.

And all of that material will be in addition to my usual entries and reviews of works read.

Look for all that and more, starting...well, today. Now.

So, a bittersweet announcement. But definitely more sweet than bitter, which suits the season and my temperament just fine.