A wet market (also called a public market) is a marketplace selling fresh meat, fish, produce, and other perishable goods as distinguished from "dry markets" that sell durable goods such as fabric and electronics.  The term wet market is often used to signify a live animal market in which vendors slaughter animals upon customer purchase.  Wet markets are common in many parts of the world, notably in China and Southeast Asia, and include a wide variety of markets, such as farmers' markets, fish markets, and wildlife markets.  They often play critical roles in urban food security due to factors of pricing, freshness of food, social interaction, and local cultures.  Not all wet markets carry living animals or wildlife products, but those that do have been linked to outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, with one such market believed to have played a role in the 2019 coronavirus pandemic.  Wet markets were banned from holding wildlife in China in 2003, after the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak which was directly tied to those practices.  Such regulations were lifted before being put into place again in 2020, with other countries proposing similar bans.  Media reports that fail to distinguish between all wet markets from those with live animals or wildlife, as well as insinuations of fostering wildlife smuggling, have been blamed for fueling xenophobia related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_market

The International Thriller Writers is an honorary society of authors, both fiction and nonfiction, who write books broadly classified as “thrillers.”  This would include (but isn’t limited to) such subjects as murder mystery, detective, suspense, horror, supernatural, action, espionage, true crime, war, adventure, and myriad similar subject areas.  ITW’s mission is “To bestow recognition and promote the thriller genre at an innovative and superior level for and through our Active members; to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.”  ITW By-laws: Article II, Purposes, Section 2.  One of the main purposes of the organization is to provide a way for successful, bestselling authors to help debut and midlist authors advance their careers.  To that end, ITW has designed numerous, effective programs and events which promote debut and midlist writers and their work, sometimes in partnership with bestselling authors.  In addition, ITW promotes literacy, gives money to worthy organizations, supports libraries, and advances the genre.  Finally, it brings together almost a thousand writers, readers, publishers, editors and agents at its annual conference, ThrillerFest, as well as at CraftFest, a writing workshop program, and AgentFest, where aspiring authors can meet and pitch top literary agents.  http://thrillerwriters.org/about-itw/

Killer Year is a 2007 book with short stories of seventeen authors.  Each entry in this one-of-a-kind collection is introduced by the author’s Killer Year mentor, including bestselling authors James Rollins, Tess Gerritsen, and Jeffery Deaver.  Includes Killing Justice by Allison Brennan, Perfect Gentleman by Brett Battles, Bottom Deal by Robert Gregory Browne, One Serving of Bad Luck by Sean Chercover, The Class of Co-opetition by M. J. Rose, Gravity and Need by Marcus Sakey and additonal stories by Ken Bruen, Bill Cameron, Dave White, Patry Francis, Marc Lecard, Derek Nitikas, Gregg Olson, Jason Pinter, Duane Swierczynski, and Toni McGee Causey.  Killer Year:  Stories to Die For… was originally published January 2008 in hardcover.  https://www.allisonbrennan.com/book/killer-year-stories-to-die-for/  “Ours has become a risk-averse industry that more and more puts all its eggs in the same basket year in, year out:  a few brand-name authors, yet there are more than one thousand novels traditionally published every month.”  The Muser was lucky enough to get a free copy of Killer Year that was published before it was proofread. 

The New York Public Library is partnering with public radio station WNYC to give New Yorkers a shared community to connect with one another over thought-provoking books while cooped up inside their homes.  If you tend to look to literature in stressful times, this virtual book club could be your escapist pleasure and provide a sense of togetherness with other bookish New Yorkers.  “During this unsettling time, we believe reading can be both the escape and the connection that New Yorkers need,” said Brian Bannon, the Merryl and James Tisch Director and chief librarian of the New York Public Library.  “The Library brings New Yorkers together, offering welcoming spaces for people of varying backgrounds and perspectives to learn, grow, and explore the world.  During this unimaginable moment in our history, when we all must stay apart but long for that kind of togetherness, we are proud to team up with another venerable New York institution to offer our city an opportunity to connect.”  The first book on the book club's agenda is James McBride’s award-winning novel Deacon King Kong, a New York Times bestseller that takes place in the Brooklyn projects of the late 1960s.  Book clubbers can join the live-streamed discussion of the novel on April 30, 2020 at 7pm, led by WNYC journalist Alison Stewart, on social media outlets of both Stewart's channel All of It NYC and the NYPL.  McBride himself will also be on the livestream to join the conversation and carry out an audience Q&A.  New Yorkers can download the library’s e-reading app SimplyE to connect their library cards to and borrow the novel for free (as well as download from a selection of 300,000 other free e-books available on the app).  If you don't have a library card, you can apply for one within the app, and if you're in New York State you'll be able to immediately start borrowing.  Collier Sutter  https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-new-york-public-library-has-launched-a-virtual-book-club-040620

Mort Drucker, the cartoonist and caricaturist who helped satirize decades of pop culture in the pages of Mad magazine, died April 8, 2020, The New York Times reports.  He was 91.  Drucker was a self-taught illustrator and freelance cartoonist who joined Mad in 1956 and soon took a regularly recurring bit—film and TV show parodies—and turned it into a defining staple of the humor magazine.  His first was a spoof of the Fifties court drama, Perry Mason, and over the next 50-plus years he illustrated a total of 238 of them, riffing on everything from Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever to Yentl and Forrest Gump.  His last film parody was published in 2008, a send-up of The Chronicles of Narnia:  Prince Caspian titled The Chronic-Ills of Yawnia: Prince Thespian.  Jon Blistein  https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/mort-drucker-mad-magazine-cartoonist-dead-obituary-981159/

Quarantine Cuisine:  Mediterranean-Style Chicken and Couscous Salad

https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/food/2020/04/10/Quarantine-Cuisine-Mediterranean-Style-Chicken-and-Couscous-Salad/stories/20200406003  yield four servings

A walkie-talkie (more formally known as a handheld transceiver, or HT) is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver.  Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald L. Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola.  First used for infantry, similar designs were created for field artillery and tank units, and after the war, walkie-talkies spread to public safety and eventually commercial and jobsite work.  Typical walkie-talkies resemble a telephone handset, with a speaker built into one end and a microphone in the other (in some devices the speaker also is used as the microphone) and an antenna mounted on the top of the unit.  They are held up to the face to talk.  A walkie-talkie is a half-duplex communication device.  Multiple walkie-talkies use a single radio channel, and only one radio on the channel can transmit at a time, although any number can listen.  The transceiver is normally in receive mode; when the user wants to talk they must press a "push-to-talk" (PTT) button that turns off the receiver and turns on the transmitter.  Read more and see many pictures at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkie-talkie  See also Walkie-Talkies Make Comeback With Folks Stuck at Home.  Coronavirus lockdowns give the World War II-era device new life by Sarah Krouse  While attorney Eric Monzo took part in a bankruptcy-court videoconference last month, he kept an eye on his new link to the world outside the guest bedroom of his Delaware home:  a Pokemon-themed yellow walkie-talkie.  The Wall Street Journal  April 12, 2020

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Kate McKinnon) invites people to join her workout at home.  April 11, 2020  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99MI90bKWtE  3:49 

Twyla Tharp quotes  “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”  “I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things:  the people you meet and the books you read.”  “Life is about moving, it’s about change.  And when things stop doing that they’re dead.”  “Before you can think out of the box, you have to start with a box.”  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/148884.Twyla_Tharp

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2254  April 13, 2020