Bring Out Your Dead

#FollowReader and Jason Boog to Investigate the Death of Practically Everything This Thursday at 4pm EDT

This appears to be the year for declaring things dead. And, it’s been an especially deadly summer. Seems like lately I can’t open my Google Reader, without reading the news that something else related to publishing or media or technology has tragically died. By my body count alone, I’ve witnessed:

• The death of publishing in general.
• The death of print.
• The death of the physical book.
• The death of fiction.
• The death of the library.
• The death of the imagination.
• The death of social media. And
• The death of the World Wide Web (announced via the world wide web).

Because I love a good mystery, I am declaring this Thursday’s #FollowReader topic to be: “What’s Up With Everything Dying?”

It’s going to be an investigation of sorts.  Because even if all these things are not (as I suspect) indeed dead, we simply must find out why someone (or many someones) want us to believe that they are dead.

Jason Boog, aka @ebookNewser

Having watched more than my fair share of CSI Miami, I know what makes for a good forensic investigation. Mostly you need plastic gloves, powder, blue lights, guns — and a cool-as-ice, dapperly dressed, pensive looking, sunglasses-sporting guy to run the show. Therefore, I’ve recruited Jason Boog to stand in as #FollowReader’s very own Horatio Caine. Jason is well-versed in investigating things. He writes all about book publishing (pretty much nonstop) for GalleyCat and the eBookNewser (neither of which, I am happy to say, have yet been declared dead). And, he wears glasses (albeit, not aviator sunglasses…but close enough).

I guess that makes me Callie, which means I need to brush up on my gun knowledge.

No worries, by Thursday’s #followreader, I should be ready to join Jason–and hopefully all of you, in solving the mystery behind the “death of practically everything.”

About Jason Boog

Jason Boog edits the GalleyCat and eBookNewser blogs. His writing has appeared in The Believer, Granta, Salon.com, The Revealer, and Peace Corps Writers.

Helpful Hints for the #FTR uninitiated – To join the #followreader conversation on Thursday, here’s what to do:

1. Just before 4pm ET, log in to Twitter or whatever interface you prefer. (We recommend Tweetchat, which refreshes quickly and automatically loads your hashtag when you are in the discussion.)
2. To follow the discussion, run a search for #followreader
3. I’ll start by asking Jason a few questions, before opening up the discussion to the group.
4. To post a comment to the discussion, make sure that the hashtag #followreader is in each tweet you write.

Looking forward to investigating with you!