What is The Literary Hammer?

First of all, let me say "Welcome!" We're happy you found The Literary Hammer online, and I'm excited to be sharing this community space with all of you. Now that you've arrived, let me explain to you the purpose of our site.

The Literary Hammer (TLH) is a website dedicated entirely to the power of Literature, Reading and Writing. Literature and the power that it holds to shape knowledge, critical thinking, and our understanding of the world continues to be one of the most important aspects of my life. That concept alone is why I decided to start my own literary-based website. I have always loved great literature, and I've always been surrounded by a group of people who share that love, and I know that so much of what we have all learned about life, and the world, has come through the power of reading and story-telling.

This website will be a continual "work-in-progress." I've come to understand that fact in only a few short days, but I'm also fine with that idea since it feels like that's exactly what a website should be! Within all of the change, however, the writers here will work to bring you some consistency as well. But we will never forget that TLH is designed to explore the ever-expanding spectrum of literature -- a spectrum which inherently keeps changing and growing -- and, as editor, my goal is to simply continue the process of examining, sharing, and trying to bring that world to you. Regardless of our lives and our experiences, and through great writing, the artistic imagination, story-telling, and the profound power of the written word, I hope that TLH will be a place where our subscribers can come to find something new and something old!

This site will also promote a variety of topics which surround the larger concept of Literature. Reading and writing are not endeavors that a person achieves in life. They are things that a person experiences, much in the same way you experience a story as you make your way through the book. Sometimes they're good, and sometimes they're not so good, but the process is inherently positive and meaningful just for having gone through it.

The constant rise and changing of technology allows us all to have the opportunity to broaden our horizons and reach out to people we've never met, to places we've never been, and to stories we've never heard. And the purpose of TLH is to explore the writing of people from around the world through magazines, reviews, commentaries, essays and critical thinking. We hope to attract contributions from essay writers, academics, literary critics and theorists, novelists, short story writers and writers of fiction and non-fiction alike -- all are welcome to contribute, and to add to the variety of voices found on this site.

In the coming weeks and months, I will bring you more of my own writing, as well as a wide variety of articles and information designed to help people who love to read and write do what they love to do more effectively--and hopefully with more passion. I hope to shape TLH into a web site specifically for lovers of literature, and for readers who want to delve into the magic that great writing produces. We will provide commentary, advice, creative links and reviews, book lists, and topical information aimed at shaping your understanding and your life through the power of literature and through the process of writing. In all of this, the contributions of our subscribers will be welcomed and appreciated.

In closing my first "official" post as TLH editor, let me sincerely thank you for visiting The Literary Hammer. I hope you will return frequently, that you will become a valuable member of our literary community, and that you will bring with you people who share a love of literature.

All the best!



For information regarding our Privacy Policy, please read the following publicly posted information:

Privacy Policy for The Literary Hammer (TLH)

(Privacy Policy model courtesy of Peter N. Jones at: http://newgreatbooks.blogspot.com/)

Working to maintain the privacy of subscribers and visitors to The Literary Hammer is very important to us.

TLH recognizes that your personal information is important. With that in mind, we want to provide some information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you visit our website, so that you can understand how we go about attempting to safeguard your information. First of all, TLH will never sell your personal information to third parties.

Log Files:

Like other websites, we do collect and use some of the data contained in log files. The information in log files may include your IP (Internet Protocol) address, your ISP (Internet Service Provider, such as AOL, Yahoo, or Google), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, for example), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout the site.

Cookies and Web Beacons:

The Literary Hammer uses cookies to store information. These cookies provide information related to your personal preferences when you visit our site. This may eventually include showing you a pop-up during your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as links, forums, or blog lists.
We eventually hope to use some third party advertisements on The Literary Hammer as a means of helping to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit TLH and -- in some cases -- whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geo-targeting purposes (such as showing Chicago real estate advertisements to a visitor located in Chicago) or targeting by showing certain ads based on the specific type of sites visited (displaying cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites, for example).

Visitors may choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in their browser settings, or, they may manage their security and browsing preferences through the use of programs like Norton Internet Security. However, doing so may affect your ability to interact with our site, as well as with other websites. This may include -- but may not be limited to -- the inability to login to services or programs (such as logging into accounts, forums, and various links), or otherwise receiving information you may actually desire.
Thank you for your understanding with regard to privacy and security, and thanks for supporting The Literary Hammer.