• The New York Blade, one of the two big gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has suspended publication and laid off most of its staff. [NYT]
• How many books can you possibly read about Bernie Madoff? Who knows, but there at least four books about him scheduled to hit stores this fall. [Crains]
• David Rohde, the New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in Afghanistan with his translator in November and released a couple of weeks ago, returned to the Times newsroom to a standing ovation yesterday. [NYT]
• James Frey's young adult novel has been sold to HarperCollins. [NYT]
• Wonkette editor Ken Layne has sold a book to HarperCollins, too. [NYO]
• The battle between CNBC's Dennis Kneale and bloggers goes on. [Dealbreaker]

The New York Blade, one of NYC's only major gay papers, is shutting down. Its entire staff has been let go. But there's still some far-fetched, theoretical hope.

The image at right (click to enlarge) is not, as you may suspect, the backpage porn typical of our city's free weeklies — despite being from the New York Blade. It's really a simple advertisement for a Vespa store in Queens.