The D.C. newspaper novel, the media, the Washington area, tech and other surrealism: David Rothman at large
A new local bookstore and Twilight Times Books, publisher of The Solomon Scandals, are teaming up to offer the e-book version for free, in major digital formats, for customers who buy the paperback from the store (price: $16.95). The bundling deal will be limited to the first eight buyers. re∙reads Books is south of Alexandria, […]
Read MoreIn character, one of Rob Pegoraro’s last “Faster Forward” columns for the Washington Post is on Digital Rights Management, aka “copy protection,” the scourge of e-book lovers for many reasons. DRMed books in the ePub format for iBooks—the Apple-created reading app for the iPad and related gizmos—are not readable on the Nook or on Sony […]
Read MoreUpdate, 11:41 a.m. and after: Well, that was fast. The Swedes have withdrawn the warrant for Julian Assange, saying the rape allegations are false. MSNBC says a Swedish prosecutor “did not address the status of the molestation case, a less serious charge that would not lead to an arrest warrant.” Also see CNN story with […]
Read MoreSkimpy little items in the Washington Post and Politico, on the end of an Oregon inquiry into the sex charges against Al Gore, didn’t do justice to the ex-VP. Given the seriousness of the charges and Gore’s prominence, wasn’t he worth more than those pathetic follow-ups? Check out a far more detailed AP report in […]
Read MoreOh, the temptation to do a Moliere act here, despite the sweetness visible in the wedding photo from so long ago. Remember? Al Gore talked up Internet filtering to shield children from Net porn, while his wife, Tipper, crusaded against racy rock lyrics. Less than a month ago, we heard about the Gores separating, hardly […]
Read MoreHow to bribe a corrupt bureaucrat? No need for cash in brown bags. In The Solomon Scandals I tell of a lower-mid-level ‘crat whom Sy Solomon flies to New York and treats to a $110 lunch. Sy is the biggest of the real estate tycoons renting office space to the feds, and not just by […]
Read MoreJonathan Stone, the reporter in The Solomon Scandals, grilled me for this Q. & A.—uncut. Last updated April 10, 2024. STONE: Why’s Scandals copyrighted in your name? It’s my newspaper memoir. ROTHMAN: Er, faux memoir. Without me, you wouldn’t even have been born…or have worked for the Washington Telegram…or have struggled to avert an IRS-CIA […]
Read MoreBoth are self-made men from Chicago—intellectual politicians with law degrees. And like me, both are on the liberal side. No doubt, a few superficial parallels exist between my fictitious Eddy Bullard and President-elect Barack Obama. And it isn’t even deliberate. Thirty years ago when I conceived The Solomon Scandals, President Bullard held a law degree […]
Read MoreBlame The Solomon Scandals on my lack of ESP. Oh, to have read the minds of the people whose lives and deeds helped inspire the novel! Just why did the late Sen. Abraham Ribicoff end up in the 1960s with a $20,000 investment in a building that the CIA moved into? What were Ribicoff and […]
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