American Gods has made the preliminary Nebula ballot.
...
Last night I sat on the bed and fed CDs into the computer for the hungry iPod, while reading Gregory Mcdonald's new Flynn book, Flynn's World. I've been a fan of Mcdonald's Inspector Flynn ever since reading Confess, Fletch as a youth -- funny, good books with a heart, with not a word wasted, and dialogue that sparkles and crackles and shines. Flynn's World (accompanied mostly by the Elvis Costello-Steve Nieve EPs) was bliss. It'd be a guilty pleasure if it wasn't so well-crafted that there's nothing guilty about it at all.
The original UK covers of the first three Fletch books (yes, the same Fletch as the sour Chevy Chase movie) had no picture on the cover, just a few lines of great dialogue from the book inside -- I read my hundred words, took my pocket money and bought the three paperbacks. I wish I could write dialogue like that.