Good Friday, bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Five days without a blog? I know, it's inexcusable, I'm sorry, I really am. Life comes at you fast and all that. My inbox has been clogged with irate emails wondering what's going on, I can only plead busy-ness.
*** By now, everyone knows that Philip Jose Farmer died Wednesday, aged 91. I never met him, but like so many others I will miss him. Who can read To Your Scattered Bodies Go and not be immediately captivated with Riverworld? He was one of the last of the all-time greats, a contemporary of and one of the very few who compared to Heinlein, Asimov, Zelazny or van Vogt. He cannot be replaced and the world is a sadder place for me, knowing he is no longer in it. On the other hand, he is probably roaming Riverworld even as I write this.
Philip Jose Farmer, RIP
*** Harlan Coben is finally getting some attention from the movies and TV. It seems TNT is interested in a series idea of his, and filmmakers are negotiating the rights to a remake of Tell No One, which made good money as a French made film.
Those who know me, know that the Myron and Win series was one of my favorites. Great interplay, lots of fun, an author who didn't take himself too seriously. Those same people also remember that I casually commented on a message board that I didn't care for his latest book and suddenly, who shows up to bash me for daring criticize his work? That's right, the author himself. This mega-millionaire writer (he had just signed an $8 million deal) is so thin-skinned that he had to pop up and fight back against one guy who had loved all of his previous work, but didn't care for the new one. How dare I not love him! Who did I think that I was?
Anyway, from that point forward I realized he was one of those people who seemed like a great guy, but was not who he seemed to be. I am glad he's having success, I hope he has more in the future, but Coben is in that small list of crime writers, with Patricia Cornwell, who are so disagreeable that if they never sold another book I would be glad for the trees whose lives were saved.
Coben finally breaking into films and TV
*** Going into Harry Potter withdrawal? Apparently some people are. Bidding for a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is already way over previous auction records. And in the category of 'you never something new every day', I was not aware that softcover books got this kind of auction action.
Harry Potter bringing in the big bucks, again
*** A quick ebay update. The stock is tanking again, as I write this it stands at $10.76. When I started following this story last year, it was trading at $34. 2/3 of its value is gone, much worse than the stock market as a whole for a company that should be gaining business as people try to sell anything they can to make ends meet.
Anybody want to hire John Donohoe to perform disruptive innovation on their company? I've said for months that future students of business will study ebay to find out what NOT to do, but even I had under-estimated just how incompetent this guy could be.
Is ebay approaching the point of no return?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Too much government, not enough common sense
Good morning bookies. Stand by for news and comment.
I have said repeatedly that this blog is apolitical, with the one exception being when politics intrudes on the book industry. So there will be some political commentary today, since the government has done that very thing. You have been warned.
*** And so it returns, with a vengeance, the lunacy of the government has now spread to the writers of parenting blogs. I don't usually link to blogs, but this one is linked to the AOL news page and so has influence. And I'm glad. At least one blogger in the non-book field has picked up on the incredible stupidity of this law. We have bureaucrats blaming our collectible kid books for lead poisoning and child endangerment and probably the UFO coverup conspiracies, but at least some people see the law for the idiocy that it is. I would assume that, if you're reading this blog, you didn't die from your old kid's books, you didn't get lead poisoning from reading them, but you were spared the political correctness that has diluted and largely destroyed the content of new kids' books. Since those don't tow the PC line, they must go. It's hard not to see that as the government's real intent, because it's stated intent is so asinine.
Have we really degenerated so far as a society that we are now destroying books because of some wretched overreaction to the fact that we buy too many children's toys from the Chinese, who don't care what's it their products as long as someone will buy them? Because that's what prompted this particular piece of bad legislation, the discovery that the Chinese make crappy products and that we buy them. But instead of urging people to actually buy American products, and requiring the Chinese to actually make good ones, we responded by destroying whole industries at a time when our economy is tanking because the bureaucrats don't know how to do anything else. Why not burn the books instead of throwing them into a landfill, where the horrible lead can leech into the groundwater? Because, heck, there's even a precedent for burning books. If it's good enough for the Nazis, shouldn't it be good enough for us?
But instead of punishing the dolts who write these ridiculous laws, we respond by voting more of them into office and giving them more control over our lives. You get the government you deserve, unfortunately. And now they are criminalizing books. It won't be long before they criminalize the content of those books.
At least one blogger sees through the government lunacy
*** I note with sadness the death of Irish writer Christopher Nolan at age 43. In 1988 he won the Whitbread Award for his novel Under the Eye of the Clock. A most notable achievement, to be certain, but even more so because Nolan was born with cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen during birth. He wrote by having a pointer attached to his head. The level of difficulty involved in daily living wiht such an affliction is beyond anything I can imagine, to produce novels under such circumstances is incredible, but to produce award-winning novels is surely a sign of genius.
I have said repeatedly that this blog is apolitical, with the one exception being when politics intrudes on the book industry. So there will be some political commentary today, since the government has done that very thing. You have been warned.
*** And so it returns, with a vengeance, the lunacy of the government has now spread to the writers of parenting blogs. I don't usually link to blogs, but this one is linked to the AOL news page and so has influence. And I'm glad. At least one blogger in the non-book field has picked up on the incredible stupidity of this law. We have bureaucrats blaming our collectible kid books for lead poisoning and child endangerment and probably the UFO coverup conspiracies, but at least some people see the law for the idiocy that it is. I would assume that, if you're reading this blog, you didn't die from your old kid's books, you didn't get lead poisoning from reading them, but you were spared the political correctness that has diluted and largely destroyed the content of new kids' books. Since those don't tow the PC line, they must go. It's hard not to see that as the government's real intent, because it's stated intent is so asinine.
Have we really degenerated so far as a society that we are now destroying books because of some wretched overreaction to the fact that we buy too many children's toys from the Chinese, who don't care what's it their products as long as someone will buy them? Because that's what prompted this particular piece of bad legislation, the discovery that the Chinese make crappy products and that we buy them. But instead of urging people to actually buy American products, and requiring the Chinese to actually make good ones, we responded by destroying whole industries at a time when our economy is tanking because the bureaucrats don't know how to do anything else. Why not burn the books instead of throwing them into a landfill, where the horrible lead can leech into the groundwater? Because, heck, there's even a precedent for burning books. If it's good enough for the Nazis, shouldn't it be good enough for us?
But instead of punishing the dolts who write these ridiculous laws, we respond by voting more of them into office and giving them more control over our lives. You get the government you deserve, unfortunately. And now they are criminalizing books. It won't be long before they criminalize the content of those books.
At least one blogger sees through the government lunacy
*** I note with sadness the death of Irish writer Christopher Nolan at age 43. In 1988 he won the Whitbread Award for his novel Under the Eye of the Clock. A most notable achievement, to be certain, but even more so because Nolan was born with cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen during birth. He wrote by having a pointer attached to his head. The level of difficulty involved in daily living wiht such an affliction is beyond anything I can imagine, to produce novels under such circumstances is incredible, but to produce award-winning novels is surely a sign of genius.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Mostly Ebay updates
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
I'm a lucky guy. The latest book I'm reading is John Maddox Roberts' latest mystery featuring Decius Caecillius Metellus, The Oracle of the Dead. I'm only on page 22 and I've already laughed out loud six or eight times, much to the annoyance of all living creatures within earshot. The full review won't be out until the ILAM in December, but I can tell you that this series appears to only be getting better, if possible.
*** You all know how much BBG loves lists, so here's one that's pretty subjective but has some of my favorites, so I'm including it. Funniest books is hard to categorize, but as you read the list I can only agree with the fellow who commented: 'anything every written by PG Wodehouse.' Note the great photo of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as Wooster and Jeeves. It's also hard to go wrong with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
A list of the funniest books
*** A while back ebay teamed up with Microsoft to run this fabulous sounding cash back promotion. Now, I have to admit that I shopped a bit looking for a bargain, it sounded almost too good to be true. I almost pulled the trigger on a juicy book on obscure German armored vehicles from WW2. Almost. Then I remember with whom I was dealing. Ebay, King of the Broken Promises. I demurred.
So here's the inevitable article about the broken promise: the cash back offers have not come through yet and I feel like a prophet.
Trust ebay? Ha!
*** Okay, today seems like a decent enough time for something of an ebay-crash update, so here's the third article in a well-thought out look at the history of the site's demise. Current Numbskull-in-Chief Donohoe didn't start the collapse, he merely accelerated it. Think of it this way: remember the old Three Stooges episode where they are duck-hunting in a small boat and Curly accidentally shoots a hole in the bottom? With the boat sinking, Larry starts drilling more holes to let the water out. That's ebay. Meg Whitman shot holes in ebay's bottom, then Donohoe wandered along and began drills more holes to let the sellers out. What buffoons. Even I couldn't screw up the site as badly as those two have managed, but in case you're in doubt as to who has done more damage, by far it's Donohoe.
Ebay's wandering course to oblivion
*** Never one to mince words, the Motley Fool has a look ahead at ebay's upcoming share-holder meeting. Boy do I wish I could be there for that. Can you imagine what tricks Donohoe and company must be planning to try and convince the stockholder's that while the market is down a whole lot versus last year, ebay has managed to grossly under-perform even so, losing more than 60% of its value? Ha! And it has done this during a cycle when it should have been way up, given that ebay's format lends itself to people selling their personal items to make ends meet. Worst of all, it has plunged while Amazon has soared. This could get bloody.
How much BS will ebay stockholders swallow?
*** I warned you that today was beat up ebay day, didn't I? could it possibly get worse for the once-fun, once-loved company? Well, sure it could. Because the one thing that ebay has always failed at doing, its one long-term unresolved issue, customer service, has officially hit bottom. With all of the negatives surrounding the company it could not even improve on the one area that was historically its weak point.
Ebay's customer service continues to disappoint
I'm a lucky guy. The latest book I'm reading is John Maddox Roberts' latest mystery featuring Decius Caecillius Metellus, The Oracle of the Dead. I'm only on page 22 and I've already laughed out loud six or eight times, much to the annoyance of all living creatures within earshot. The full review won't be out until the ILAM in December, but I can tell you that this series appears to only be getting better, if possible.
*** You all know how much BBG loves lists, so here's one that's pretty subjective but has some of my favorites, so I'm including it. Funniest books is hard to categorize, but as you read the list I can only agree with the fellow who commented: 'anything every written by PG Wodehouse.' Note the great photo of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as Wooster and Jeeves. It's also hard to go wrong with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
A list of the funniest books
*** A while back ebay teamed up with Microsoft to run this fabulous sounding cash back promotion. Now, I have to admit that I shopped a bit looking for a bargain, it sounded almost too good to be true. I almost pulled the trigger on a juicy book on obscure German armored vehicles from WW2. Almost. Then I remember with whom I was dealing. Ebay, King of the Broken Promises. I demurred.
So here's the inevitable article about the broken promise: the cash back offers have not come through yet and I feel like a prophet.
Trust ebay? Ha!
*** Okay, today seems like a decent enough time for something of an ebay-crash update, so here's the third article in a well-thought out look at the history of the site's demise. Current Numbskull-in-Chief Donohoe didn't start the collapse, he merely accelerated it. Think of it this way: remember the old Three Stooges episode where they are duck-hunting in a small boat and Curly accidentally shoots a hole in the bottom? With the boat sinking, Larry starts drilling more holes to let the water out. That's ebay. Meg Whitman shot holes in ebay's bottom, then Donohoe wandered along and began drills more holes to let the sellers out. What buffoons. Even I couldn't screw up the site as badly as those two have managed, but in case you're in doubt as to who has done more damage, by far it's Donohoe.
Ebay's wandering course to oblivion
*** Never one to mince words, the Motley Fool has a look ahead at ebay's upcoming share-holder meeting. Boy do I wish I could be there for that. Can you imagine what tricks Donohoe and company must be planning to try and convince the stockholder's that while the market is down a whole lot versus last year, ebay has managed to grossly under-perform even so, losing more than 60% of its value? Ha! And it has done this during a cycle when it should have been way up, given that ebay's format lends itself to people selling their personal items to make ends meet. Worst of all, it has plunged while Amazon has soared. This could get bloody.
How much BS will ebay stockholders swallow?
*** I warned you that today was beat up ebay day, didn't I? could it possibly get worse for the once-fun, once-loved company? Well, sure it could. Because the one thing that ebay has always failed at doing, its one long-term unresolved issue, customer service, has officially hit bottom. With all of the negatives surrounding the company it could not even improve on the one area that was historically its weak point.
Ebay's customer service continues to disappoint
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Junk, an Owl and the end of an Empire
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** You never know what you'll find when scooping around in junk piles. A number of years ago a shopper perusing the stuff at the Memphis Flea Market found a very small, very old photo of a stern looking man and bought it for one dollar. It turns out that man was Jefferson Davis, US Senator and President of the Confederate States of America, and became only the third known photo of the man. As I recall, it sold at auction for $100k. Some time after that a guy rummaging through the piles at a Nashville thrift store bought a framed print. Inside was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. I forget exactly what it sold for now, lots. Need another example? Okay, again here in Memphis, a man went to an estate sale one day and, while waiting for the door to open, went through the discarded stuff heaped on the curb, and found boxes of old slave documents, a few of which were signed by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Or, at least, that's the story still told to this day.
So what does any of that have to do with books? A bookseller in the UK recently found a neat old poster, framed it, hung it in his shop and found out it's an extremely rare poster from early in world War II. After dozens of requests to buy it he made a reproduction and has sold 40,000 of them. You just never know, do you?
UK bookseller hits the jackpot
*** I'm a Roman history buff, newly ordained, as it were. I haven't always been such, but during a visit to England in 2005 we visited a particularly bleak site along Hadrian's Wall and I was forever changed. At that site, where the Roman Army Museum is located, I bought a book on said army written by noted Roman historian Adrian Goldsworthy. And now he has a new book out on the fall of the Empire, The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Empire. Adding to the synchronicity here, my current audiobook is Volume II of Gibbons The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, currently in the reign of Constantius, not too far from that final end in the late 5th century. All of which makes for a great reason to add a link to a review of Goldsworthy's new book.
The end of Rome
*** Philip K. Dick has long been regarded as one of SFF's brightest lights. His death in 1982 was way too soon. Now, his last wife has written/finished the novel he was writing/planning at the time of his death, The Owl in Daylight. It's hard to tell whether it will be good, bad or indifferent, but what's to lose in having it published?
One final Philip K. Dick
*** You never know what you'll find when scooping around in junk piles. A number of years ago a shopper perusing the stuff at the Memphis Flea Market found a very small, very old photo of a stern looking man and bought it for one dollar. It turns out that man was Jefferson Davis, US Senator and President of the Confederate States of America, and became only the third known photo of the man. As I recall, it sold at auction for $100k. Some time after that a guy rummaging through the piles at a Nashville thrift store bought a framed print. Inside was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. I forget exactly what it sold for now, lots. Need another example? Okay, again here in Memphis, a man went to an estate sale one day and, while waiting for the door to open, went through the discarded stuff heaped on the curb, and found boxes of old slave documents, a few of which were signed by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Or, at least, that's the story still told to this day.
So what does any of that have to do with books? A bookseller in the UK recently found a neat old poster, framed it, hung it in his shop and found out it's an extremely rare poster from early in world War II. After dozens of requests to buy it he made a reproduction and has sold 40,000 of them. You just never know, do you?
UK bookseller hits the jackpot
*** I'm a Roman history buff, newly ordained, as it were. I haven't always been such, but during a visit to England in 2005 we visited a particularly bleak site along Hadrian's Wall and I was forever changed. At that site, where the Roman Army Museum is located, I bought a book on said army written by noted Roman historian Adrian Goldsworthy. And now he has a new book out on the fall of the Empire, The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Empire. Adding to the synchronicity here, my current audiobook is Volume II of Gibbons The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, currently in the reign of Constantius, not too far from that final end in the late 5th century. All of which makes for a great reason to add a link to a review of Goldsworthy's new book.
The end of Rome
*** Philip K. Dick has long been regarded as one of SFF's brightest lights. His death in 1982 was way too soon. Now, his last wife has written/finished the novel he was writing/planning at the time of his death, The Owl in Daylight. It's hard to tell whether it will be good, bad or indifferent, but what's to lose in having it published?
One final Philip K. Dick
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Running Scared
Remember the movie 'Fletch?' Or are you a fan of the series? Written by Gregory McDonald, it's one of those series that most crime fiction fans have heard of, but not so many have read. Anyway, McDonald's first book was Running Scared, published in 1964. You don't see copies of it very often and you sure don't see signed copies.
It's octavo, in laminated red paper boards. Cover price on the jacket is $4.50, on the inside front fold. The jacket itself is prone to shelfwear, but not particularly
fragile. Publisher was Ivan Oblensky and the first printing slug is clearly stated on the copyright page.
Casino Royale
Who is my favorite James Bond? Are you kidding? This is a book blog, I don't discuss things like which Bond is the best (Sean Connery), who was the worst (George Lazenby), or what I think of Daniel Craig (closest to the literary Bond). No, instead I search the world trying to find rare books to photograph for your pleasure, and one recent shoot involved the Holy Grail-2nd Class for Bond book collectors. I say 2nd Class because the US first is not as desirable (or costly) as the UK first. The Photos here are of a US first. So, although this is the US first and not the UK, when was the last time you saw one?
Feedback
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Judging from the landslide of emails I received (both of them) after my recent outburst making for of the government for, more or less, outlawing children's books, I received the nicest email from a very famous best-selling author of books for young adults, T.A. Barron. If you aren't familiar with Mr. Barron, I'll let his website explain it all to you: The most likeable author in the world?
As for me, I greatly admire the man, have met him twice and find him even more personable in person, that is, person to person personable, that it lead me to cite his works in my previous blogs. Here's what he wrote in reply:
Wowzer! Thanks again to Mr. Barron for allowing me to repost that. And here you thought your subscription fee (zero) was wasted.
Judging from the landslide of emails I received (both of them) after my recent outburst making for of the government for, more or less, outlawing children's books, I received the nicest email from a very famous best-selling author of books for young adults, T.A. Barron. If you aren't familiar with Mr. Barron, I'll let his website explain it all to you: The most likeable author in the world?
As for me, I greatly admire the man, have met him twice and find him even more personable in person, that is, person to person personable, that it lead me to cite his works in my previous blogs. Here's what he wrote in reply:
"Dear Bill the Book Guy,
This message out of the blue (actually, out of cyberspace, whatever color that may be) is to thank you for defending children’s passion for reading. It’s alive and well! That was true when you saw my event at the Southern Festival of Books (one of my favorite book festivals). And it’s still true today — to which I can testify after a book tour in 21 states last fall (for my new young adult novel, Merlin’s Dragon).
If we storytellers can craft tales that are exciting, funny, and deep enough — kids will read them. That is certain. Sure, there is more competition for young people’s attention today than ever before. We must be as visual as Google Earth, as rich as the Internet, as fun as a video game, and as fast as an action film. But if we do those things, we have something that no other medium possesses: the depth, meaning, metaphor, subtlety, and multiple points of view that we cherish in books.
Hope to see you again someday in Memphis!
Best wishes,
T. A. Barron"
Wowzer! Thanks again to Mr. Barron for allowing me to repost that. And here you thought your subscription fee (zero) was wasted.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Say it ain't so, Joe
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Friday the 13th...anybody going to see the remake of the Jamie Lee Curtis classic that opens today? Boy, I can't wait to miss it. Slasher pics are my cuppa, but I know otherwise unreasonable people who love this stuff. Ah, well. To each his own.
*** This isn't exactly book related, but you know how I love nonsense, and you know how I love history, so when an article appears that combines the two I find it irresistible. Did you know that the Nazis fled Germany at the end of the war, using a flying saucer to escape to Antarctica? You did? Oh. Well, you're one up on me then. Aside from the fact that Antarctica seems a bit chilly for year-round habitation (unless that UFO has one heck of a heating system), why not just flee to a country sympathetic to the Nazi cause that has a more appealing climate? One with a history of aiding Nazis, like, say, Paraguay?
Of course, that's a reasonable question, which has no place in this new exhibit. Like eating a gooey dessert that's all sugar and chocolate, this one tasted great but isn't very filling. New Swabia? Operation Highjump? Man, I like this guy.
One might also note that this article appears in Der Spiegel, a newspaper that one might think akin to the New York Times. That's a fair comparison, too. Just as the New York Times is billed as 'All the News That's Fit to Invent', Der Spiegel once paid millions of dollars for the Hitler Diaries. Which, of course, were fakes, and bad fakes at that. But while some folk might think that even good journalists can be fooled by a hoax, read the book Selling Hitler to understand just where greed can lead a person. Nazi UFOs are certainly not out of place in Der Spiegel.
History as junk science...tasty!
*** Speaking of Nazis, the German Historical Museum took a massive hit the other day when a German court ordered them to return a collection of some 4,000 rare art posters to the family from which the Nazis took them in 1938. The Museum claims this will gut their holdings. Boo-hoo. The collection is worth some 4.5 million euros.
71 years later a family gets its property back
*** In the category of 'Well what do you know about that?', Thomas Pynchon has written his first crime novel, Inherent Vice. Set in LA right after the Manson murders, reportedly with a heavy dose of surfers, sex, drugs and rock and roll, it should be interesting at the very least. It could be horrible or it could be great. Either way, it's always good when an iconic writer brings out a new book.
Pynchon breaks new ground, for him
*** As many of you know, I consider ebooks, and Amazon's Kindle, in particular, as grotesque examples of technology ill-used. Horrible, nasty things. And, in the case of the Kindle 2, bad publicity, too. See, Amazon thought how nifty it would be for this device to have an audio feature. You don't have to just read it from the tiny screen, you can listen, too.
Oops.
It seems that audiobooks are already covered by a copyright and this may well be infringement. The Kindle gets partially exposed. What a shame. And, if it turns out not to be an infringement, it has certainly dredged up some ill will with the Author's Guild. Which raises the question, has Amazon been taking advice from ebay on how to alienate people?
Of course, Amazon isn't stupid, unlike ebay, and in the end I think they will iron this out so the Kindle may proceed. Thus proving that people will buy just about anything if you market it correctly.
P.T. Barnum would be proud
*** And finally, some scary news. Dan Brown, author of the second worst novel ever written, The Da Vinci Code, has reportedly finished his newest book. It's hard to imagine there is a wooden character or cliche that wasn't used the last time, or that any bad research still exists for him to use as an attack on the Catholic Church, but to believe that is to be unreasonably optimistic. Writers like Brown seemingly have an endless supply of gibberish on which to draw and an equally endless supply of people willing to pay to read it.
Nor is this the snotty and condescending view of an arrogant and condescending snot. No. It's nothing more than the personal view of your friendly neighborhood bookseller that someone who writes a novel and asks people to spend their hard-earned money to buy it might actually write something worth reading.
I know, I know, that's asking too much.
Are there any cliches left to use?
Friday the 13th...anybody going to see the remake of the Jamie Lee Curtis classic that opens today? Boy, I can't wait to miss it. Slasher pics are my cuppa, but I know otherwise unreasonable people who love this stuff. Ah, well. To each his own.
*** This isn't exactly book related, but you know how I love nonsense, and you know how I love history, so when an article appears that combines the two I find it irresistible. Did you know that the Nazis fled Germany at the end of the war, using a flying saucer to escape to Antarctica? You did? Oh. Well, you're one up on me then. Aside from the fact that Antarctica seems a bit chilly for year-round habitation (unless that UFO has one heck of a heating system), why not just flee to a country sympathetic to the Nazi cause that has a more appealing climate? One with a history of aiding Nazis, like, say, Paraguay?
Of course, that's a reasonable question, which has no place in this new exhibit. Like eating a gooey dessert that's all sugar and chocolate, this one tasted great but isn't very filling. New Swabia? Operation Highjump? Man, I like this guy.
One might also note that this article appears in Der Spiegel, a newspaper that one might think akin to the New York Times. That's a fair comparison, too. Just as the New York Times is billed as 'All the News That's Fit to Invent', Der Spiegel once paid millions of dollars for the Hitler Diaries. Which, of course, were fakes, and bad fakes at that. But while some folk might think that even good journalists can be fooled by a hoax, read the book Selling Hitler to understand just where greed can lead a person. Nazi UFOs are certainly not out of place in Der Spiegel.
History as junk science...tasty!
*** Speaking of Nazis, the German Historical Museum took a massive hit the other day when a German court ordered them to return a collection of some 4,000 rare art posters to the family from which the Nazis took them in 1938. The Museum claims this will gut their holdings. Boo-hoo. The collection is worth some 4.5 million euros.
71 years later a family gets its property back
*** In the category of 'Well what do you know about that?', Thomas Pynchon has written his first crime novel, Inherent Vice. Set in LA right after the Manson murders, reportedly with a heavy dose of surfers, sex, drugs and rock and roll, it should be interesting at the very least. It could be horrible or it could be great. Either way, it's always good when an iconic writer brings out a new book.
Pynchon breaks new ground, for him
*** As many of you know, I consider ebooks, and Amazon's Kindle, in particular, as grotesque examples of technology ill-used. Horrible, nasty things. And, in the case of the Kindle 2, bad publicity, too. See, Amazon thought how nifty it would be for this device to have an audio feature. You don't have to just read it from the tiny screen, you can listen, too.
Oops.
It seems that audiobooks are already covered by a copyright and this may well be infringement. The Kindle gets partially exposed. What a shame. And, if it turns out not to be an infringement, it has certainly dredged up some ill will with the Author's Guild. Which raises the question, has Amazon been taking advice from ebay on how to alienate people?
Of course, Amazon isn't stupid, unlike ebay, and in the end I think they will iron this out so the Kindle may proceed. Thus proving that people will buy just about anything if you market it correctly.
P.T. Barnum would be proud
*** And finally, some scary news. Dan Brown, author of the second worst novel ever written, The Da Vinci Code, has reportedly finished his newest book. It's hard to imagine there is a wooden character or cliche that wasn't used the last time, or that any bad research still exists for him to use as an attack on the Catholic Church, but to believe that is to be unreasonably optimistic. Writers like Brown seemingly have an endless supply of gibberish on which to draw and an equally endless supply of people willing to pay to read it.
Nor is this the snotty and condescending view of an arrogant and condescending snot. No. It's nothing more than the personal view of your friendly neighborhood bookseller that someone who writes a novel and asks people to spend their hard-earned money to buy it might actually write something worth reading.
I know, I know, that's asking too much.
Are there any cliches left to use?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back in the saddle
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Wow, this whole not-blogging for a while thing is getting out of hand. My only defense is that I've been busy with Life. Yeah, I know, not much of an excuse, but I still think this is the best blog-for-your-buck on the net. Where else do you get so much bang for your (non) money?
*** Elmore Leonard. For those of you familiar with this icon of American letters, the first book that comes to mind is likely Get Shorty, given the success of the movie starring John Travolta. And rightfully so. Leonard is very well known as the author of quirky crime novels featuring lowlifes and almost-lowlifes living on the fringes, characterized by witty dialogue and devious plots. All well enough.
But before (and in between and since) the crime novels came the Westerns. And now the Western Writers of America are rewarding Leonard with a very well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. So the next time you need a gift for someone who likes Westerns, think Leonard.
Elmore Leonard gets his due
*** Comic books have long since become part of the traditional publishing culture (as opposed to their outcast status when I was a kid. And yes, the printing press had been invented when I was growing up. Smart-aleck) but they have not ceased evolving. To wit, the new hybrid format 'Motion Comics.' Basically these are part animation, part comic, using voice actors for the various characters. I haven't seen one yet but I've got to admit the idea is pretty cool. Makes me wish I was a kid again. (No! There weren't dinosaurs then, either.)
Marvel bringing comics into the 21st century
*** As a follow-up to the above, here's a nice article featuring photos from the New York City Comicon. This gives a pretty good idea of what it's like to attend any large comic or SFF convention.
New York City Comicon Photos
Wow, this whole not-blogging for a while thing is getting out of hand. My only defense is that I've been busy with Life. Yeah, I know, not much of an excuse, but I still think this is the best blog-for-your-buck on the net. Where else do you get so much bang for your (non) money?
*** Elmore Leonard. For those of you familiar with this icon of American letters, the first book that comes to mind is likely Get Shorty, given the success of the movie starring John Travolta. And rightfully so. Leonard is very well known as the author of quirky crime novels featuring lowlifes and almost-lowlifes living on the fringes, characterized by witty dialogue and devious plots. All well enough.
But before (and in between and since) the crime novels came the Westerns. And now the Western Writers of America are rewarding Leonard with a very well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. So the next time you need a gift for someone who likes Westerns, think Leonard.
Elmore Leonard gets his due
*** Comic books have long since become part of the traditional publishing culture (as opposed to their outcast status when I was a kid. And yes, the printing press had been invented when I was growing up. Smart-aleck) but they have not ceased evolving. To wit, the new hybrid format 'Motion Comics.' Basically these are part animation, part comic, using voice actors for the various characters. I haven't seen one yet but I've got to admit the idea is pretty cool. Makes me wish I was a kid again. (No! There weren't dinosaurs then, either.)
Marvel bringing comics into the 21st century
*** As a follow-up to the above, here's a nice article featuring photos from the New York City Comicon. This gives a pretty good idea of what it's like to attend any large comic or SFF convention.
New York City Comicon Photos
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Have the mice been playing?
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Wow, have I been dogging the blogging. Sorry about that. The cat's been away, I hope the mice have taken advantage. The other night, just after 10 pm, three 8' bookcases decided to topple over in the home office of the BBG Cave, smashing this, that and just about everything in their path. The cleanup continues, but along with all of the other stuff one deals with in everyday life, it hasn't left much time for bringing you book news. For which I apologize. Let's get to it.
*** As Ebay continues to flounder about like...like...well, like a flounder gasping for air on a boat dock, Bonanzle continues to grow at a pace not seen before in ecommerce. I was one of the first few hundred to join, as of today the membership stands at over 28,000, with over one million items listed. BBG at Bonanzle. A number of articles have been published lately documenting their rise.
Bonanzle growing faster than a largemouth bass in a pond full of minnows
*** And yet, with ebay's idiocy well documented by now, there are still so-called journalists out there that are so far behind the curve they still give credence to ebay's press releases. Seriously, for those who follow this on a regular basis, you read articles like this and wonder if the person who wrote it even knows how to turn on their computer, they are so far out of the loop. But I guess somebody has to write a fluff piece and this doofus volunteered.
Kissing the ebay toad
Contrast that fluff piece with this much better thought out look at the dying ebay. It's amazing what happens when someone who actually understands ecommerce and is familiar with the details of what Donohoe has done to destroy his company writes about it.
Gigging the ebay toad
*** Okay, maybe a catalogue is stretching the news about books thing just a little, but not so much that it bothers me. When the Nazis overran Europe, one gets the sense that is was more to arrange a shopping spree than for any other reason. Most of the bigwigs gobbled up collections of this or that, but the most voracious collector of them all was Hermann Goring. Now a catalogue of his ill-gotten gains has been compiled. I wish I knew how many of these had been returned to their rightful owners.
Goring had good taste, anyway
*** Forrest Ackerman has long been considered the greatest collector in SFandom. When he died he vowed to take it with him but, so it would appear, that really isn't possible. Thus, the bulk of his collection is being auctioned off and is expected to bring a cool half mil. Having once met him I can say that I found him a gracious and genuinely kind man. One of the good ones.
Forry's stuff is going on the block
*** Not long ago I profiled The History Press, a publisher that whose mission I greatly admire. They are in the news now, in a good way. It seems they felt obligated to pay back royalties to some authors, even though they were not legally libel for them, and have now done so. The CEO who oversaw this operation has stepped down now that the job is done.
So let me get this straight: a company does the right thing even though they don't have to. And the man whose job it was to accomplish this moves on when his job is finished. Can this be true? Do ethics and morals still exist in business today? I guess they do. Who'd a thunk it?
The History Press shows the way
*** Let's put this under the category of 'Laughing so you don't cry.' It seems that Bill Ayers, the terrorist who tried to kill people as a member of the Weather Underground, a group that did its best to kill people, good friend and mentor of the new president, is getting his own graphic novel. That's right, a member of a group of would-be murderers not only gets to walk the streets, he also gets illustrated editions of his books. Too bad they failed, he probably would have gotten a bigger advance. Nice gig.
He tried to kill people, failed, and now gets paid for it
*** I guess most bookies know that I was once an avid comic book collector. And, like every other collector, I drooled at the thought of stumbling on a copy of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. And before you ask, no, it didn't happen. But it did happen to someone else, even if it was 59 years ago. And when a cherished comic like this finally leaves its owner's hand and comes on the marketplace, it's very big news indeed.
The first linked article explains how and where this comic comes from. That's interesting. But what's even more interesting to me is that, while the comic will be auctioned online, the word 'ebay' is nowhere in the picture. Instead, the auctioneer will be using their own website. Ha! For those who follow such things this spells doom for ebay, because when they are no longer attracting this sort of high profile rarity you know things are turning south. Oh, and by the way, the original Superman didn't fly, he could just leap a really long way.
Action Comics #1 Found
Wanna see what it looks like?
Wow, have I been dogging the blogging. Sorry about that. The cat's been away, I hope the mice have taken advantage. The other night, just after 10 pm, three 8' bookcases decided to topple over in the home office of the BBG Cave, smashing this, that and just about everything in their path. The cleanup continues, but along with all of the other stuff one deals with in everyday life, it hasn't left much time for bringing you book news. For which I apologize. Let's get to it.
*** As Ebay continues to flounder about like...like...well, like a flounder gasping for air on a boat dock, Bonanzle continues to grow at a pace not seen before in ecommerce. I was one of the first few hundred to join, as of today the membership stands at over 28,000, with over one million items listed. BBG at Bonanzle. A number of articles have been published lately documenting their rise.
Bonanzle growing faster than a largemouth bass in a pond full of minnows
*** And yet, with ebay's idiocy well documented by now, there are still so-called journalists out there that are so far behind the curve they still give credence to ebay's press releases. Seriously, for those who follow this on a regular basis, you read articles like this and wonder if the person who wrote it even knows how to turn on their computer, they are so far out of the loop. But I guess somebody has to write a fluff piece and this doofus volunteered.
Kissing the ebay toad
Contrast that fluff piece with this much better thought out look at the dying ebay. It's amazing what happens when someone who actually understands ecommerce and is familiar with the details of what Donohoe has done to destroy his company writes about it.
Gigging the ebay toad
*** Okay, maybe a catalogue is stretching the news about books thing just a little, but not so much that it bothers me. When the Nazis overran Europe, one gets the sense that is was more to arrange a shopping spree than for any other reason. Most of the bigwigs gobbled up collections of this or that, but the most voracious collector of them all was Hermann Goring. Now a catalogue of his ill-gotten gains has been compiled. I wish I knew how many of these had been returned to their rightful owners.
Goring had good taste, anyway
*** Forrest Ackerman has long been considered the greatest collector in SFandom. When he died he vowed to take it with him but, so it would appear, that really isn't possible. Thus, the bulk of his collection is being auctioned off and is expected to bring a cool half mil. Having once met him I can say that I found him a gracious and genuinely kind man. One of the good ones.
Forry's stuff is going on the block
*** Not long ago I profiled The History Press, a publisher that whose mission I greatly admire. They are in the news now, in a good way. It seems they felt obligated to pay back royalties to some authors, even though they were not legally libel for them, and have now done so. The CEO who oversaw this operation has stepped down now that the job is done.
So let me get this straight: a company does the right thing even though they don't have to. And the man whose job it was to accomplish this moves on when his job is finished. Can this be true? Do ethics and morals still exist in business today? I guess they do. Who'd a thunk it?
The History Press shows the way
*** Let's put this under the category of 'Laughing so you don't cry.' It seems that Bill Ayers, the terrorist who tried to kill people as a member of the Weather Underground, a group that did its best to kill people, good friend and mentor of the new president, is getting his own graphic novel. That's right, a member of a group of would-be murderers not only gets to walk the streets, he also gets illustrated editions of his books. Too bad they failed, he probably would have gotten a bigger advance. Nice gig.
He tried to kill people, failed, and now gets paid for it
*** I guess most bookies know that I was once an avid comic book collector. And, like every other collector, I drooled at the thought of stumbling on a copy of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. And before you ask, no, it didn't happen. But it did happen to someone else, even if it was 59 years ago. And when a cherished comic like this finally leaves its owner's hand and comes on the marketplace, it's very big news indeed.
The first linked article explains how and where this comic comes from. That's interesting. But what's even more interesting to me is that, while the comic will be auctioned online, the word 'ebay' is nowhere in the picture. Instead, the auctioneer will be using their own website. Ha! For those who follow such things this spells doom for ebay, because when they are no longer attracting this sort of high profile rarity you know things are turning south. Oh, and by the way, the original Superman didn't fly, he could just leap a really long way.
Action Comics #1 Found
Wanna see what it looks like?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Baseball is near
Good Sunday morning, bookies! It's bright skies and warmish weather here in West Tennessee and my least favorite month of the year has given way to my second-least favorite month of the year. February is a month of hope, no matter how cold it might be. Because in less than two weeks I'm going to read those magic words that mean Spring is just around the corner: 'Pitchers and catchers reported to training camp today." That's right, baseball season is getting close, and they don't call them the Boys of Winter, now do they? Heck, college baseball season starts in less than two weeks. Let's get this show on the road.
*** Sometimes I tell you things and you don't listen. Like last August when I told you about the new start-up ebay alternative I had found and made a home, Bonanzle. You didn't believe me, or you blew it off and thought 'yeah, yeah, where have I heard that before?' But here we are, six months later, with Bonanzle past the million listing mark and being heaped with praise from media everywhere. Of course, it's still early in the company's history, so you, too, can jump on the bandwagon.
Bonanzle keeps growing
*** The list of Best and Worst places to work in 2008 seems a bit harsh to me. The Best Place to work would be anywhere that gives you a paycheck that doesn't bounce. The worst would be the place that lays you off. But, using different criteria, Glassdoor has compiled its own list, presumably one of companies that actually still pay their employees. And guess who at Number 47 in the bottom 50? Yep, you guessed it, ebay. The site-that-aims-to-have-zero-traffic has never been a highly rated place to work, but bottom 50 is pretty bad. I guess John Donohoe hates his employees as much as he hates his sellers. and no, that doesn't make sense, but neither does anything else the company has done for the past year.
ebay rated as one of the worst places to work by its employees
*** Since we're on the subject of auctions sites and ebay, here's a quick little round up of what some of them plan for the immediate future:
Coming soon to a site near you
*** And, since there's more ebay stuff, we'll just pile it all on here. This actually involves more than just ebay, it's about how our beloved Congress wants to make life even harder for those trying desperately to make a little extra cash on the internet. Why people want these buffoons to have even more control of their lives is beyond me.
Of course, the irony in the attached story is that while Congress is out to destroy the small internet seller once and for all, ebay, who has spent the last year trying to do this very thing, wants help from the small seller in fighting against Congress. In other words, the Devil wants our help fighting Satan.
Two vampires fighting over the same blood
*** Ah, finally, you say. An actual blog entry about a book. Isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?
There is an obvious new trend in World War II histories, one that is quite refreshing to someone like me, but might be easily misunderstood. Namely, historians are examining the role of the Allies in what some might call atrocities. Certainly the Americans, French and British did not set out to commit atrocities, and those that were committed were done so against the rules. But not so with the Red Army, whose behavior in Germany was at least as bad, if not worse, than the German behavior in the USSR. But the Germans had in coming, you say? Not so fast there, bucko.
Let us not forget that until June, 1941, the USSR was no friend of either England or the USA. Stalin had, by that point, invaded and conquered half of Poland (we always forget that the Red Army also attacked Poland in September of 1939), the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, had attacked Finland (without provocation or warning) and taken the Karelian Isthmus for herself, had taken Bessarabia from Rumania...in other words, Stalin was every bit the aggressor that Hitler was, except that his conquests did not have ties of allegiance to the west. Nor was he any less bloody in his treatment of the populace. How many Ukranians were killed during the collectivization of the 20's? Millions, surely, but how many millions? 10-20 million is the figure I see most often.
So the Russo-German War was, in reality, a clash between one murderous dictator and another, nothing more, nothing less. Does the fact that Stalin was an ally of the West during the war years excuse the Red Army's barbarous behavior? It's a question that probably could not have been asked until recently.
Here's a seven year review of Anthony Beevor's Berlin: The Downfall, who was the first of the big named authors to start down this path.
The Red Army's bloody road of rape
*** Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are saved from ourselves by the US Congress! But not for another year.
Bookies have read my rants about the idiotic new anti-lead law passed by the US Congress that was so poorly written that it banned almost anything that could even be seen by a kid under 12, including used books. I commented at the time that, like almost everything Congress does, it was so out of touch with reality that it would need to be seriously amended, delayed or cancelled. Well, the government has picked delay. The silliness won't go into effect until next year, presumably so they can issue guidelines to try and make sense of the senseless.
I say again, just ban imports from China and be done with it.
*** Sometimes I tell you things and you don't listen. Like last August when I told you about the new start-up ebay alternative I had found and made a home, Bonanzle. You didn't believe me, or you blew it off and thought 'yeah, yeah, where have I heard that before?' But here we are, six months later, with Bonanzle past the million listing mark and being heaped with praise from media everywhere. Of course, it's still early in the company's history, so you, too, can jump on the bandwagon.
Bonanzle keeps growing
*** The list of Best and Worst places to work in 2008 seems a bit harsh to me. The Best Place to work would be anywhere that gives you a paycheck that doesn't bounce. The worst would be the place that lays you off. But, using different criteria, Glassdoor has compiled its own list, presumably one of companies that actually still pay their employees. And guess who at Number 47 in the bottom 50? Yep, you guessed it, ebay. The site-that-aims-to-have-zero-traffic has never been a highly rated place to work, but bottom 50 is pretty bad. I guess John Donohoe hates his employees as much as he hates his sellers. and no, that doesn't make sense, but neither does anything else the company has done for the past year.
ebay rated as one of the worst places to work by its employees
*** Since we're on the subject of auctions sites and ebay, here's a quick little round up of what some of them plan for the immediate future:
Coming soon to a site near you
*** And, since there's more ebay stuff, we'll just pile it all on here. This actually involves more than just ebay, it's about how our beloved Congress wants to make life even harder for those trying desperately to make a little extra cash on the internet. Why people want these buffoons to have even more control of their lives is beyond me.
Of course, the irony in the attached story is that while Congress is out to destroy the small internet seller once and for all, ebay, who has spent the last year trying to do this very thing, wants help from the small seller in fighting against Congress. In other words, the Devil wants our help fighting Satan.
Two vampires fighting over the same blood
*** Ah, finally, you say. An actual blog entry about a book. Isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?
There is an obvious new trend in World War II histories, one that is quite refreshing to someone like me, but might be easily misunderstood. Namely, historians are examining the role of the Allies in what some might call atrocities. Certainly the Americans, French and British did not set out to commit atrocities, and those that were committed were done so against the rules. But not so with the Red Army, whose behavior in Germany was at least as bad, if not worse, than the German behavior in the USSR. But the Germans had in coming, you say? Not so fast there, bucko.
Let us not forget that until June, 1941, the USSR was no friend of either England or the USA. Stalin had, by that point, invaded and conquered half of Poland (we always forget that the Red Army also attacked Poland in September of 1939), the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, had attacked Finland (without provocation or warning) and taken the Karelian Isthmus for herself, had taken Bessarabia from Rumania...in other words, Stalin was every bit the aggressor that Hitler was, except that his conquests did not have ties of allegiance to the west. Nor was he any less bloody in his treatment of the populace. How many Ukranians were killed during the collectivization of the 20's? Millions, surely, but how many millions? 10-20 million is the figure I see most often.
So the Russo-German War was, in reality, a clash between one murderous dictator and another, nothing more, nothing less. Does the fact that Stalin was an ally of the West during the war years excuse the Red Army's barbarous behavior? It's a question that probably could not have been asked until recently.
Here's a seven year review of Anthony Beevor's Berlin: The Downfall, who was the first of the big named authors to start down this path.
The Red Army's bloody road of rape
*** Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are saved from ourselves by the US Congress! But not for another year.
Bookies have read my rants about the idiotic new anti-lead law passed by the US Congress that was so poorly written that it banned almost anything that could even be seen by a kid under 12, including used books. I commented at the time that, like almost everything Congress does, it was so out of touch with reality that it would need to be seriously amended, delayed or cancelled. Well, the government has picked delay. The silliness won't go into effect until next year, presumably so they can issue guidelines to try and make sense of the senseless.
I say again, just ban imports from China and be done with it.
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