Site of Interest: Book Square

Our credo says it all

The primary voice of Booksquare is Kassia Krozser. She is a kind-hearted, gentle soul with a wealth of patience for the foibles of humani–wait, that’s not true at all. Kassia has never had an opinion she didn’t wish to express, nor has she ever been shy about telling the emperor that his clothes are, well, transparent. This is her way of expressing love, and she lavishes all of her adoration on the publishing industry because, like a child who needs firm, corrective guidance, publishers and writers need Booksquare.

Suffice to say that she’s never wrong. And when she is, her mother shows up in the comments section to show who’s really the smart one in the family.

Kassia grasped the implications of the reading thing when she realized, at the age of five, that her mother’s scribbles on a sheet of paper (later revealed to be “cursive”) held meaning — in this particular case, they were justification for Kassia’s absence from school the previous day; future scribbles would prove equally enlightening. She grasped the implications of writing the moment her tiny fingers wrapped around their first pencil. She grasped the implications of the Internet back when things like UseNet were considered cutting edge. She has yet to grasp the implications of failing to come to a full stop when encountering octagonal, red signs.

In addition to ensuring that you get your regular dose of BS, Kassia is a founding partner of Medialoper, where she applies her natural love and skepticism to the ever-changing world of entertainment media. The daughter of a librarian, she finds dissecting and discussing books is like breathing — her insightful reviews appear at Paperback Reader. She’s a member of the LitBlog Co-op and a columnist for Romancing the Blog. She’s also published in a variety of other venues, and has, shockingly, received awards and accolades for her work. But she rarely mentions this as it seems like bragging.

A massive machine like Booksquare cannot possibly run through the efforts of one person alone. Though many prefer to remain behind the scenes or in the world of comments alone, some choose to step into the limelight that is this site. Without Jill Monroe, Susan Gable, and David Thayer (also known as The Other Square), our readers would be subjected to one voice, one opinion, one variety of snark. We thank them for saving you from monotony. And, of course, whenever possible, we coerce innocent authors or bystanders into writing guest posts. Anything for a few extra hours in bed. Beauty sleep trumps work every time.

Be honest — you’re madly in love with the great illustrations that grace this site. You wish they were yours. Ha! They are ours, all ours. The header illustration and soon-to-be-named Logo Lady were created by the brilliant Molly Crabapple. Words alone cannot express our admiration for her work; we chose another, more traditional, route. We especially love the fact that Molly somehow figured out that wine is a primary element in our creative process. It’s like she peeked in the windows of BS Headquarters.

The design and technical stuff (and, trust us, there’s a whole bunch of that) was done by WordPress expert Kirk Biglione. He has long been the one to save us from our wilder, more inadvisable urges. When he’s not translating our tai chi-esque hand motions into web design (“white woman waves hands like blogs”), he’s part of the fantastic Medialoper team. In his spare time, he’s engaged in a variety of Top Secret activities. We don’t ask and he doesn’t tell.