CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
From our unpublished guide to How to Write a Blank Book:
Leave a blank page for the "absence of the words: those that slipped away with darkness, leaving a blank page in last night's memory: lost now, having disappeared into silent regret but bound by hope that the muse will return with her gift."
—Jeanine Mah, Deer, Dogs and Day Lilies.
Meanwhile, here's our twist (two twists, in fact) on blank books: Let's Do and Say We Didn't and What Happened in Vegas. Why is one more expensive than the other? Is the more expensive one better? You'll be able to judge for yourself.
"You thought cats ruled the internet but now they also run the DIY realm. Detailed within these pages is how to channel the energy inherent to the feline nature: the power in sitting, what it means to teach the floor to talk, awareness of direction, how to play with yarn (cat's cradle, get it?) and so on, all with lovely old-timey Dover-clip-art-influenced Victorian illustration. Actual sample quote: 'Indeed, Euclid proved over two millennia ago, the shape of a cat's head mathematically points to the center of a circle.' You didn't know you wanted this until you stumbled on it on your way to the catnip." —L.M., Quimby's Bookstore, on How to Be Your Own Cat.