Robert Giroux, who discovered and edited some of the most unusual and paradigm-shifting voices in 20th century fiction, died today at his home in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, at the age of 94. Here's the obituary from the New York Times, for now:

If the flamboyant Roger Straus presented the public face of Farrar, Straus, Mr. Giroux, as editor-in-chief, was its quiet mover, working behind the scenes to shape its list of books and establishing himself as the gold standard of literary taste. The publisher Charles Scribner Jr., in his memoir, “In the Company of Writers: A Life in Publishing” (1991), wrote, “Giroux is a great man of letters, a great editor, and a great publisher.

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Reporters at The Australian are trying to turn up the heat on Ishmael Beah, the former child soldier from Sierra Leone whose memoirs, A Long Way Gone, they have been questioning in print since last month. Over the weekend, the paper published a story describing records from Mr. Beah's time in grade school, which seem to indicate that he was enrolled there through March 1993. These records appear to contradict the account Mr. Beah gives in his book, according to which he fled from his home in January 1993 at the age of twelve after his village was attacked by rebels. According to the book, he enlisted as a soldier soon after, and fought in the civil war in Sierra Leone for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF.  read more »

Yesterday, Alpha Media Group--the name for the investors backed by Quadrangle Capital Partners who bought Maxim, Blender and Stuff from Dennis Publishing yesterday for more than $240 million--announced plans to fold Stuff, the shopping-centered T&A men's magazine, and resurrect it as a regular section in its lad mag, Maxim.

Maxim and Blender will be the chief beneficiaries of the new owners' money and time from now on, with plans to increase the rate-base for Blender, the music and lifestyle magazine, to 1 million by January 2009.

Maxim will get "Stuff for Men" as a section of the magazine, now that the title no longer has to compete with FHM magazine, the other lad-shopping mag.

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