A curiosity emerged yesterday with the announcement of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize awards: No prize was given this year for fiction.

That means Denis Johnson, a North Idaho author whose Train Dreams was shortlisted as one of three finalists, will have to wait for another shot at the prize. 

The last time Pulitzer judges declined to award a fiction winner was in 1977, according to the Daily Beast. Check their write-up of the flap here.  

In late March of 2010, The Inlander published a story about the nagging nuisance of phone directories, and how citizens statewide were calling for the death of the dated technology. 

Phone book haters: Your wishes have been granted. The Spokesman-Review reports that Washington state lawmakers and phone book publishers have agreed to print opt-out information on the covers of their directories. But you don't have to wait for a phone book to arrive on your doorstep. Visit YellowPagesOptOut.com to opt out of receiving one.

According to reports, the fight isn't over. White Pages: You're next.

Just in time for the tail end of the U.S. Olympic women's boxing team trials comes a visit from boxer, trainer and boxing club owner Gail Grandchamp. She'll be at Auntie's Bookstore tomorrow, Sat, Feb. 19, to sign copies of her memoir Fighter With a Heart.

The ladies currently fighting for a spot on the U.S. team essentially owe their careers to Grandchamp. After all, it was she who spent 8 years tangled in a court case, fighting for the right for women to box as amateurs in her home state of Massachusetts. This ruling then led to the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation making amateur female boxing legal nationwide.

By the time the court case was over, Grandchamp had surpassed the 36 year age limit set for amateur boxers. That didn't deter her dreams though; she went on to make a name for herself as a professional boxer, earning a 12-5 record before leaving the sport in 1997.

Though she no longer fights professionally, she is never far from the ring, training young athletes in her Grandchamp Boxing Club and Fitness Center in Massachusetts.

With all Grandchamp has accomplished, could she have a more appropriate last name?

Gail Grandchamp will sign copies of her memoir Figher With a Heart Sat, Feb. 19 from 11 am to 1 pm at Auntie's Bookstore, located at 402 W. Main Ave. For more information, visit www.auntiesbooks.com or call 838-0206.

Some people write about wizards or space robots or sexually repressed vampires. Others choose to write about average people. Antonya Nelson is one of those authors who, instead of reaching for the fantastic, opts to profile the ordinary. That's not to say her stories are hollow, though. In his review of her 2009 short-story collection Nothing Right, Adam Kirsch of The New York Times called Nelson “a writer who isn't afraid to remind us of the familiar, who values insight over epiphany.”

Therein lies the beauty of Nelson's style — the morals and moments reserved for fantasy heroes are instead soaked in normalcy, yet are no less able to resonate with readers. Not everyone is on the Nelson train, however. She made a Huffington Post list of “The 15 Most Overrated Contemporary American Writers,” which criticized her use of dysfunctional characters.

In any case, Nelson has publications like The New Yorker singing her praises, and with all the guest lecturing and publishing she does, it sounds like dysfunction functions quite well for readers.

Antonya Nelson reads tonight at 7:30 pm in Gonzaga University's Cataldo Hall (502 E. Boone Ave.). The event is free to the public. Visit gonzaga.edu or call 313-6681 for more information.

A federal judge dismissed Dex One’s lawsuit against the City of Seattle’s Yellow Pages opt-out service, ruling that it does not violate the First Amendment, as several phone book companies argued.

“The route the City of Seattle has chosen to take is completely unnecessary,” Local Search Association President Neg Norton wrote in a statement Wednesday. “Seattle taxpayers should be outraged that the City continues to waste its resources on a system that is unnecessary and, we believe, illegal.”

The lawsuit was filed in May when Seattle launched its Stop Phone Books website. Phone book companies argued that directories provide community and political information in addition to ads and commercial information, comparing yellow pages to newspapers. The Inlander earlier looked into the growing controversy of phone books ("Paper Cuts," March 31, 2010).

The phone book companies argue that the city’s website will not protect privacy as well as their commercial site, www.yellowpagesoptout.com.

“We believe that the city’s redundant site is not necessary and is unfairly leading residents to believe it has spent the government’s time and the taxpayer’s money on something new…” says Norton in a statement.

But in his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart said that phone books are commercial speech, which has less protection under the Constitution.

The ruling comes shortly after state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, announced he would introduce a bill to take the opt-out registry statewide in 2012.

According to a statement, publishers intend to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.

“Tonight we got cash money. What the f--k indeed,” announced hostess Taylor Weech to the screeching crowd gathered in the main ballroom of AClub last night. Weech and 50 or so others were there for the latest installment of the Spokane Poetry Slam finals. Said cash was a welcome addition — previous slams featured only candy as prizes. That, plus the live music, booze, a rowdy audience, and the rise of an unlikely champion made for an event that was less “poetry” and more like a sporting event.

But slams truly are the sporting events of the poetry world. Poets perform one piece in each of two rounds. The pieces are strictly timed and contestants lose points for going over. Random audience members grade each poet, and scores are announced immediately afterward, making for a pretty intense showdown.

Last night's seemed especially so. It was the penultimate round of the finals, meaning many poets had already been eliminated and the competition was getting steep.

There was a lot of love, some deep-seated hate and a nice splash of humor. After the scores were tallied, however, the night produced a surprising victor. Molly Fitzpatrick, an 18-year-old Running Start student who often reads about her activism work, beat some of the area’s more established poets (including one from Spokane’s first poetry slam team), despite having written and performed poetry for less than a year.

“I did not think I was going to win,” says Fitzpatrick (pictured), who plans on using her $20 prize money to buy food. Despite the starving artist lifestyle, Fitzpatrick says she’ll keep doing her poetry in the area. She’s going to Eastern next year on scholarship to double-major in psychology and women’s studies.

You can check out Fitzpatrick and others in the final final round on June 14 at 7:30 pm at Aclub, where winners will duke it out for the championship and an unspecified cash prize.

Ryan Crocker, who has been the U.S. ambassador to both Afghanistan and Pakistan during the last decade, defended the school-building work of embattled Montana author and mountaineer, Greg Mortenson, against charges that he and his charity have not built all the schools claimed.

"I do know his work, and it's real," Crocker said while taking questions after delivering a speech Tuesday evening at the Millwood (Wash.) Community Presbyterian Church. "I do know the schools are there. I think he has made a great contribution, and I'm not the only one to think so — USAID thinks so; the U.S. military thinks so.

Mortenson, from Bozeman, is accused on the CBS news show "60 Minutes" of fabricating the number of schools built by his charity, The Central Asia Institute (CAI) and, more seriously, enriching himself through donations to CAI. Here's a  link to the episode.

A Seattle Times columnist, Ron Judd, reflects on his early support for Mortenson and how he and others in the tight-knit mountaineering community now feel sold out. Read his column, Three Cups of Bull.

In it, Judd details how another former Seattle-ite, author and mountaineer, Jon Krakauer was also an early cheerleader for Mortenson (donating $75,000) but who now is so infuriated that he pitched the story of Mortenson's alleged misdeeds to "60 Minutes," and ladles out even more vitriol in his own report. Judd lists these examples:

•  As CBS reported, Mortenson appears to use charitable contributions to the Central Asia Institue (CAI) to cover the considerable expenses for a highly lucrative speaking tour, with most of the proceeds going into Mortenson's pocket. A private January memo from a tax attorney to the CAI board, quoted by Krakauer, says Mortenson might have to repay his own charity as much as $8 million to avoid breaking tax laws for the years 2007-09.


• Even the book's seemingly miraculous run atop bestseller lists might be squishy. The charity itself routinely purchases large quantities of the book to be given away at Mortenson speaking engagements, Krakauer writes. Those books are purchased at full retail through traditional booksellers, rather than wholesale direct from the publisher, thus ensuring a royalty cut for Mortenson — and a fake sales boost recorded in sales figures.

 Krakauer's screed can be seen here. It's not free.

Mortenson has begun to fight back this week, saying David Relin, who actually wrote Mortenson's NYT best-seller, "Three Cups of Tea," compressed events in order to create a more engaging narrative. This has resulted in fudged dates, Mortenson says. Read Mediaite's capsule summary of Mortenson's interview with Outside Online. See the Outside Online piece here.

Crocker says he is disheartened by all the charges and counter-charges.

"I'm sorry to see the stuff on Greg Mortenson. To me, this is a literary dispute more than it is a dispute about what he's done for education," Crocker says. "These allegations there are ghost schools are easy to check. You can send people out there. All the schools are in areas that are accessible without too much risk."

The BBC on Wednesday released a story that did just that. Two writers by and large found schools in operation where Mortenson and CAI said there would be schools. In places where the schools were empty, the reporters found interference from government officials, corruption or tortuous bureaucracy. Read the BBC story.

You’ve got three and a half weeks to read Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carried, before O’Brien himself will appear at the Bing as part of Get Lit!

In the meantime, there are lots of events this week in connection with the Big Read.

And what's that, you ask? 

The Spokane version of the Big Read 2011 — a nationwide event, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, which encourages entire cities and smaller communities to read and enjoy the same book, more or less simultaneously — is focusing, this month and next, on O’Brien’s semi-autobiographical account (which was first published in 1990). Here's some of what's coming up this week:

Platoon
To get a view of Vietnam that’s complementary to O’Brien’s vision, watch Oliver Stone’s 1986 film (starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and yes, a much younger Charlie Sheen). Downtown Library, 906 W. Main Ave. Wed, March 23, from 5:30-7:30 pm

Discussion panel on The Things They Carried
Experts about such topics as disabilities, engineering, media and military affairs will share their perspectives. EWU Riverpoint Campus, Phase One Building, Room 122. Wed, March 23, from 6-8 pm

Book discussion at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 51
A U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman will lead a discussion, open to all ages and backgrounds. VFW, 300 W. Mission Ave. Fri, March 25, from 5-7 pm

“Things We Still Carry: Veterans Reflect on the Big Read”
Two Vietnam vets and two Gulf War vets, all members of the Spokane chapter of Veterans for Peace, share their perspectives on O’Brien’s novel. Community Building, 25 W. Main Ave. Fri, March 25, from 7-8:30 pm

VETS: Portraits of Veterans and Their Stories
John Thamm shares his book as poets and visual artists provide additional perspectives. Visit johnthammstudios.blogspot.com. J.F. Thamm Gallery, 11 S. Washington St. Sun, March 27, from 3-5 pm

The American Experience: My Lai
An 80-minute documentary examines the 1968 massacre through the eyes of survivors on both sides; a panel discussion follows. Moran Prairie Library, 6004 S. Regal St. Wed, March 30, 6:30-8:30 pm

Book discussion at Barnes & Noble (Spokane Valley)
Everyone’s welcome in the cafe to discuss O’Brien’s novel. 15310 E. Indiana Ave., in the Market Pointe Shopping Center, Spokane Valley. Thurs, March 31, from 7-9 pm

Book discussion for EWU students
Student-led discussion of The Things They Carried. EWU, Morrison Hall, Cheney. Sun, April 3, from 5-6:30 pm

Fairchild AFB book discussion
For military personnel only. FAFB library. Tues, April 5, from 6-8 pm

Visit neabigread.com or ewu.edu/getlit, or write dward@ewu.edu or call 359-6977.

Books available over the next three weeks include a coming-of-age novel, an investigation of information systems, a road trip through Scotland, and a naturalist's view of the Pacific Northwest.

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, by James Gleick (Pantheon, 540 pages, March 1)  
For thousands of years, every utterance died the moment it was made. Then we created alphabets, and information spread slowly. Now we're drowning in it. Gleick (Chaos, Genius) posits that history is the story of information becoming aware of itself.  

Pym, by Mat Johnson (Spiegel & Grau, 330 pages, March 1)  
Edgar Allen Poe's 1838 novel is about a stow-away on a whaling ship who encounters mutiny and cannibalism before being rescued by a tribe of Africans and continuing his voyage toward the South Pole. Johnson's riff on Poe becomes a wide-ranging satire on American culture and race relations.

Rodin’s Debutante, by Ward Just (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 270 pages, March 1)  
A coming-of-age novel set in northern Illinois and Chicago in the 1910s-'40s. A kid goes to a boys’ school endowed by a robber baron, becomes involved in football, sculpting and his studies — and also gets entangled in the aftereffects of a horrific sex crime committed during in the Depression. This is Just's 14th novel.

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir, by Margaux Fragoso (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 330 pages, March 1)  
A chilling account of how her life was controlled by a pedophile for 15 years, starting in 1985, when she was 7.

The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, by Jonathan Coe (Knopf, 330 pages, March 8)  
He doesn’t get along with his father, wife, daughter or friends. So naturally, he goes on an eccentric road trip to Scotland  — during which he feels closest to his car’s GPS voice. A commentary on lack of communication in an instant-communications era.

I Am the Market: How To Smuggle Cocaine by the Ton, in Five Easy Lessons, by Luca Rastello; trans. from Italian by Jonathan Hunt (Faber & Faber, 180 pages, March 8)  
The real action in cocaine smuggling is by the ton, so forget about some drug mule with capsules in her stomach. How can you move that much white powder? Conceal it in electric cables and liquids inside the shipping containers of reputable companies. Bribe officials. Bribe crane operators. Provide your own sniffer dogs. And send out mules, hoping they'll get arrested (as diversions).

Three Stages of Amazement, by Carol Edgarian (Scribner, 300 pages, March 8)  
Her husband has just moved their family to San Francisco and founded a surgical instruments company. But funding is difficult. She has her hands full with an unhealthy child, too — and then the relative she hates turns up offering starter money to her husband's new firm. This is Edgarian's second novel after Rise the Euphrates (1994; about three generations of Armenian-American women).

In Earshot of Water: Notes on the Columbia Plateau, by Paul Lindholdt (Univ. of Iowa Press, 160 pages, March 16)
Like an Annie Dillard, Loren Eisley or John McPhee of the Pacific Northwest, Lindholdt covers our corner of the country — flora, fauna, people — by incorporating Lewis and Clark, Capt. James Cook and Bureau of Reclamation records into impressive prose.