The people at Lulu has released a shortlist of the 2007 nominees of the Blooker Prize. Among them is Seth Godin‘s Small Is The New Big; an interesting novel posted online that i’ve been keeping track of – Methuselah’s Daughter, and a political, non-fiction blook written by Daily Kos‘s Markos Moulitsas, in partnership with Jerome Armstrong called Crashing The Gate.

Besides the three blooks mentioned above i’m keeping a keen eye on The Doorbells of Florence, branded as ‘cult fiction’ – that stemmed from a Flickr photoset about doorbells, of all things. Apparently the blook is about each of these 36 doorbells showcased, the stories behind them, and the lives of the people that may or may not live behind those doors.

Quite a novel idea, pardon the pun.

The other book which i’m watching would be a webcomic called Mom’s Cancer, which i’m betting will win in the 2007 Blooker Comic category. I might give a description of what it’s about, but the introductory passage at the site is loads better:

My mother was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer.
I made a comic strip about it.

Mom’s Cancer is the true tale of my mother’s battle with metastatic lung cancer. The story describes how a serious illness affects patient and family, both practically and emotionally, in ways that I’ve discovered are very common. Many readers wrote to tell me how surprised and relieved they were to learn they weren’t alone.

Sadly Brian Fies had to take down the web comic due to copyright issues, when he published Mom’s Cancer in book form. Apparently content cannot coexist online and offline – at least to prevent copyright headaches from popping up later on. Nevertheless, the story is touching – about mortality and loss, and the webcomic itself won the Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic in 2005. More information can be found in this Wikipedia entry.

The winners of the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize will be announced on Monday, May 14, 2007.