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One Story has always been proud of the authors we publish. As a result, it’s quite exciting when one of our authors comes out with a novel or a collection of short stories. This spring and summer has been a particularly happy time for us as many of our authors have their first books in stores right now.

Pauls Toutonghi recently graced One Story fans and Pianos regulars with a passage from his new novel Red Weather. As a professional Reading Series hanger-on, I’m not ashamed to admit I could not stop laughing through most of Paul’s narrative joy ride. Red Weather’s getting some serious attention from publications including Time Out New York. You can check out an excerpt here or see where Pauls is reading next on his book tour.

Scott Snyder, who will appear at the next installment of our Reading Series, is also on a book tour promoting Voodoo Heart, a collection of shorts. You can find a review of his whimsical but melancholy stories here (also TONY).

And Patrick Ryan, who was kind enough to share some insights into his novel, Send Me, in the recent One Story Newsletter, was recently compared to William Faulkner in the New York Observer. Describing the writing in this story of family “in the shadow of Star Wars and its gaudy mythology” as “light-handed,” reviewer D. Thomson finishes by congratulating Patrick Ryan on his impressive start.

I’m sure many readers have noticed the new Mac ads featuring Mr. One Story #1 himself, John Hodgman. Seth Stevenson tells Slate and the world that while he loves the ads, he’d rather be the “dweeb” than the mac enthusiast. Touche, Mr. Stevenson.

Reuters reports today on the growing excitement behind a new technology which promises to propel the newspaper industry into the 21st century. While e-paper is nothing new, improvements in manufacturing have made the prospect of affordable e-paper a near-reality. At $300-$400 for a Sony reader, daily newspaper downloads are quite the luxury. But access to unlimited news sources, within the confines of wifi access, is an exciting prospect. Maybe if wifi in the subways becomes a reality, major newspapers will see their online subscriptions soar. I’m always wary to call something a “revolution” but it’s clear that the internet is creeping up on the publishing industry.

Zadie Smith was recently announced by the Guardian Unlimited as the winner of the Orange Prize (a fiction award attempting to close the gender gap previously discussed on OSblog).

Her winning novel, On Beauty was previously shortlisted for the Man Booker award; this is her third shortlisting for the Orange Prize.

The New York Times comments on the growing threat digital media poses to traditional publishing venues. Columnist Motoko Rich notes that authors react to the growing importance of the internet in print with a mix of “enthusiasm and dread”, suggesting that it will be used either to spread works for free (with little or no attribution) or will become a newer, more interactive venue in which authors can engage with their audiences.Of course, digital media has already changed the face of print. If you search for “New York Times” over at technorati you see that it is mentioned in blog posts about as frequently as the name of our president. Blogs, once the playgrounds of leftists and rightists and not much else, are now devoted to news of all kinds or to specific artistic movements or styles. Bloggers are even being paid for their insightful commentary on not just technology but also science, culture, and the arts. Blogs are becoming so popular, that services are popping up to turn blogs into traditional books. What, exactly, does this say about the future of books, e-books, the publishing industry, and the survival of printed media? I think many readers will agree that nothing beats relaxing with a traditional-style printed book. This doesn’t mean there’s no future in e-books, which are undoubtedly more convenient on trips–just that the changing face of publishing doesn’t necessarily point to the end of printed works as we know it.

Has everyone read Girl Reporter yet? And while we’re talking about speculative fiction, I should mention there’s an interesting quasi-review of Coupland’s latest Jpods on Wired. Jpods is described as the twin to Microserfs and apparently includes Coupland’s internet alter-ego.