Lost worlds and ports of call
I haven’t heard of Hugh Howey’s novel Wool, but what’s more interesting is how he managed to keep his electronic rights and make himself a lot of money, while also selling print rights to a major publisher. Most publishers demand exclusive rights, and according to SFWA, in the case of Random House’s imprint Hydra and Alibi, seem unreasonable and predatory.
Every author should seek to protect their interests, as publishing companies are rightly concerned about how they can make more money.
This will become more important as electronic books and music squeeze out physical content. How do you sell back any electronic music or books that you bought? Both Amazon and Apple are exploring methods for a marketplace in electronic content. Fearing market dominance, many people are worried about what will happen, citing the low cost of used books on the internet.
Scott Turow, the best-selling novelist and president of the Authors Guild, sees immediate peril in the prospect of a secondhand digital thrift shop. “The resale of e-books would send the price of new books crashing,” he said. “Who would want to be the sucker who buys the book at full price when a week later everyone else can buy it for a penny?”
This long article at the NY Times, covers copyrights and patents involved in such a prospect. How sad, when there is no patent involved in opening a used book store. The issue of paying royalties on used books is always a sticky one, though. But should someone have to be paid every time their content is sold and resold?
Surprised to see this on PBS org, of all places, but a good anti-Keynesian argument by John Papola against the silly idea that consumption is the only way to prosperity. The rebuttal by historian James Livingston blasts “austerity” which is the code word for reducing government spending and letting private money remain in private hands, or opposing the idea of inflating our way to prosperity. Livingston’s argues that without “trade unions, social movements, families and governments…markets typically destroy themselves.” These forces act as “outer limits — determined by civil society.” Ah, there’s that mythical “civil society”, or as many Norwegian social democrats simply say, “society.” There is no such entity. Rather, it’s a group of people who declare that they know what’s good for everyone else, and justify that belief by saying “society” benefits. Livingston frankly admits his view “requires planning. Not central planning, mind you. Just some kind of public, purposeful, collective action that acknowledges the social purpose of economic growth.” That so-called collective action is nothing but the law imposed by certain people on everyone else in society, and “social purpose” is defined by those in power at that time. With no logic behind it, just emotion.
Bike helmets are promoted as critical to rider safety. For time when falls are imminent threats (kids, races), that might true. But should you be forced to carry a helmet every time you hop on the bike? With bike shares popping up in cities everywhere, this is maybe not as stupid as it sounds. Aside from the libertarian position that you should be able to decide whether or not you want to wear a helmet, if you want to take a one-way bike trip, carrying a helmet can be a pain. As a cyclist I wear my helmet most of the time, especially on rides where I can reach fast speeds, or on roads with car traffic. Just running an errand in the neighborhood? Sometimes I leave the helmet at home.
Per Publisher’s Weekly, a report of that the Association of American Publishers oppose Amazon.com owning the .book domain. In the future, so-called “generic top-level domain” may be owned exclusively by certain companies. Even though there are many other book publishers than just Amazon, having Amazon own this may set a dangerous precedent.
For American sf fans, Adam Roberts is one of those unfortunate science fiction writers who happens to live in the UK. His books rarely get published in the US, and thus remain unfairly neglected over here. It’s too bad this Guardian blog entry talks about Roberts’ new novel without really talking about the novel.
Here’s a project I wish I’d known about sooner: Janine Southard’s Kickstarter project for her space opera novel, Queen & Commander. With two drafts already completed, the project kicked off in September 2012 and managed to get fully funded, resulting in a book scheduled for publication in April 2013, and two possible sequels in what she called the “Hive Queen Saga.”
Dance crazes aren’t new, but the Harlem Shake appears to go beyond the twist, the conga, and the Gangnam, inspiring freedom in the Middle East. Like the horrified townspeople in Footloose, but with the ability to kill, certain self-declared authority figures are horrified that young people want to express themselves.
A fascinating article at NPR (with audio) about Danish band Efterklang and how they spent nine days on the island of Spitsbergen, in an abandoned Russian mining town. The reason: to get ideas for their new album, Piramida. Aside from the good music, this is story that could be mined for a science fiction novel or novella, or any plans to send humans into outer space. Unable to bring pets with them, the workers had pictures of animals. And, the Danish band members’s biggest worry (aside from cold and loneliness)?Worrying about polar bear attacks. Though owned by Norway, the island of Spitsbergen now largely has been abandoned to the wild. As one of the band members said, “It’s a territory controlled by Norway, but it’s not really Norway.”
Not just 100 books, not even the top 10, but 1000 novels! The Guardian ran this in 2009, so many a couple more books since published might make the list some day. Grouped by genres rather than author, there are many repeat authors, and many omissions. Not a single Jack Vance novel, nothing by Tim Powers, James Blaylock, one of Robert Heinlein’s worst books makes the list and no other novels of his. As far as Terry Pratchett, rather than list one or two of five books (like Muriel Spark), they are grouped under “Discworld series” which has over 30 books. Nice cop-out, Guardian. Like any list, I suppose. Definitive is a subjective term.
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