I Won!

I used to tell people at conferences that I was like the cobbler's children who had no shoes. Because Blythe received books for review at her home in Colorado and I banned myself from reviewing for most of the years I ran AAR in order to maintain a total disconnect between editorial and sales, I bought just about all my own books, save those I reviewed for PW. Which meant that the biggest perk that goes along with owning a book website just didn't exist for me. Boo hoo.

The Internet exploded during my tenure as AAR's publisher, and included in that explosion were author contests. At AAR authors sent in hundreds of books for our weekly giveaways, but they also gifted books through other websites, and later, their blogs. While I was at AAR, I could not participate in these contests. Boo hoo.

That didn't stop me from occasionally reaping the benefits of website ownership. Jill Barnett gifted Blythe and I an entire signed set each of her backlist, Jillian Hunter sent me two hard-to-find beanie babies, and Kate Douglas included a plush wolf with the book I agreed to review when I had my first blog. Seeking out freebies when I ran AAR was unseemly, so I avoided the temptation except when in attendance at RWA conferences, when I proudly announced my book whoredom.

Now I work at a bookstore, so it's assumed I get lots and lots of free books. Not so, particularly since most of what I read outside of reviewing for PW are ebooks. Occasionally we're allowed to visit the strip pile, but far too much of my salary, even with my employee discount, ends up in the store's cash register. Boo hoo.

So I've embraced my "civilian" status over the past year and a half by entering author contests, and yesterday I won a large package from Marjorie Liu. Earlier in the year I won the Australian release (pictured here) for one of the historicals I loved from 2009, Anna Campbell's Captive of Sin, which I'd reviewed very positively for PW. Although I'd already read it and had my review copy, as well as a digital version for my Kindle, the cover art was so gorgeous for the book - and I'm not one who generally cares about covers - that I coveted it - that's right, coveted. And was thrilled when I won.

Earlier this week I noticed a tweet from @marjoriemliu about a contest on her blog celebrating her sixth anniversary as a published author, and being a fangirl for her Dirk & Steele series, entered it. Last evening she emailed to say I was one of two random winners. Here's what I won:

• Christian Kane’s new music, via iTunes, because she's a fan
• A signed arc of A WILD LIGHT, the next Hunter Kiss novel
• A signed arc of IN THE DARK OF DREAMS, the next Dirk & Steele novel
• A signed trade of DARK WOLVERINE (#75-77)
• A signed Dirk & Steele novel
• A signed Hunter Kiss novel

When Liu publicly announced the winners, she also shared that she just signed for three more books. Two are part of her Hunter Kiss series; the third is, at this point, a stand-alone. Though to this point I've only read her Dirk & Steele books, I imiagine I'll soon be trying her other series. Less likely is that I'll become a graphic novel reader, but I've learned to never say never.

I Won!

Beating a Dead Horse

I imagine many of you are tired of my constant bitching about publishers and ebooks, but this morning, after reading two things - a blog entry from LibrarianinBlack about publishers making it difficult if not impossible for libraries to easily provide usable audio books and ebooks to customers (thanks, @madpoptart for the link), and an invitation from PW for a webcast entitled Enhanced Ebooks Today - I thought to myself that, once again, publishers have got it wrong.

Many of us who read a lot are able to feed our habit because as a general rule we read paperbacks rather than hardcovers. I bought an expensive electronic device because I can store my entire library on it...and because, at the time, it was actually cheaper to buy ebooks than paperbacks. Now, of course, with the agency model that I've already bitched about, unless I buy an ebook published by Random House or Harlequin, I am paying as much as print customers for digital paperbacks, and more than I would pay for print versions at B&N with my membership (yes, I have a membership even though I get an employee discount) because the agency model disallows discounting.

That was a mouthful, so let me put it more succinctly: I buy a lot of books and want to get the best price I can for them. Publishers using the agency model would prefer I buy print over digital, so much so that while they allow discounting of print versions, they don't with digital versions, which means that I can generally buy a print paperback for less than I can a digital paperback. Further, I am not the only Kindle (or Nook) owner who bought an ebook reader because it allowed us to keep feeding our reading habit while giving us a handy-dandy, small device on which to store our ever-growing libraries.

All along I've said that publishers are behind the times. I think I shared the incident at the Atlanta RWA conference in 2006 during which a highly placed executive was shocked to learn the Internet impacts readers. This was 2006, mind you, not 1996 or even 2000. Their being behind the times is among the reasons they refuse to let go of old models that aren't forward-looking. Even though the ebook market is the fastest growing, they see it as the enemy, and as one commenter to LibrarininBlack's blog wrote, they see all ebook readers as thieves and pirates, which is why their DRM rules and requirements are so onerous that many librarians want to throw in the towel entirely on audio books and ebooks.

Because, in the immortal words of Pogo, "the enemy is us," publishers would rather cling to old-fashioned models of delivery, leading to the agency model and higher prices. And now, to justify those higher prices, they plan to sweeten the pot with ebook enhancements.

No, no, no!

I don't want no stinking ebook enhancements.

I want the same book I can buy in print, but for less money because it costs less for you to deliver that book to me...and I'm guessing I'm not the only reader who feels this way.

Since the agency model went into effect, the two big publishers that did not embrace it - Random House and Harlequin, experienced a marked increase in ebook sales (for Random House it was 40%). For now I'm going to pay with my pocketbook and try to not buy books published by the big five who went with the agency model, particularly Penguin/Putnam, whose recent pricing increases are most egregious. Instead I plan to make better use of my local library, and spend extra non-work hours at the bookstore reading quietly in the corner.

It's really hard to envision a business plan that encourages customers not to buy their product. Since prices increased, though, that's been the result for this customer. In March, the month before the agency model went into effect, I bought seven ebooks. I've finished buying for June, and bought only five in comparison. They just don't get it.

Beating a Dead Horse

Pathos: Surreal and Shocking, Yet Not Wholly Unexpected

Since Season 6 of Deadliest Catch began a couple of months ago, it's been like watching the Bataan Death March because we as viewers knew that Captain Phil Harris died early this year. As always, he's had boat issues, but the Jake Switch of the first episodes between the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern showed Phil's humanity and a care for his crew underneath the bluster. Comparatively speaking, Sig's single-mindedness may serve him well as a skipper, but even his brother, always his biggest supporter, is tiring of the constant, unrelenting grind on the Northwestern.

Though Captain Harris' hapless moments are more than occasional, this season we also saw major triumphs for him as a fisherman. His understanding of crab digestion, shall we say (okay, fart bubbles), led to an early strong haul, and the precision fishing he engaged in over the last two episodes is something that apparently few skippers try, let alone succeed in doing. Through it all his sons have brought him great joy, and annoyed the hell out of him. Jake, the younger son, joined the crew of his dad's ship a season before Josh did, but clearly Josh has always had it more together than his little brother, and as the seasons have progressed, we've seen him grow into more of a man while his little brother never seemed quite able to set aside his childish ways.

In last night's episode, his lackadaisical behavior turned into incoherence when his dad tried to use a more positive approach to instill a greater sense of responsibility...to no avail. Later, with just a few moments left in the episode, Captain Harris' vision blurred, his back ached, and he seemed ready to pass out. He left the bridge to get his pain pills from his bunk - only to encounter son Jake stealing them.

What followed was a blistering set-down of son by father, including disowning on one side and pleading on the other. As a parent who's lived through some dicey periods and experienced this sort of ranting and raving out of fear for a child's life, I could not turn away from the TV even though I felt uncomfortable watching such an intensely personal tragedy. At the end of the yelling, Jake confesses he is an addict, and the episode ends.

I understand that in next week's episode, Captain Harris will have the stroke that eventually kills him, and the remainder of the season will continue the long death march. Reality TV has rarely been so poignant and real as the last few moments last night on Deadliest Catch. Pathos-filled, surreal and shocking, yet not wholly unexpected as a result of the episode's structure, the pain took my breath away.

Pathos: Surreal and Shocking, Yet Not Wholly Unexpected

Classic Sequels and Mash-Ups

Over the past few years I've reviewed for PW several sequels to classic novels and, earlier this week tackled my first classic monster mash-up for the magazine. It has not gone well.

The vast majority of classic sequels have been for Jane Austen novels. Save one, they've been disastrous, and the sole non-disaster was, at best, no better than "not bad." I try to maintain an open mind for every book I review, but must admit that I am not predisposed in favor of these sequels because I'm a purist. I refused, after all, to watch Clueless for years after it was released to critical and popular acclaim, after all, because no matter how much Amy Heckerling loved Emma, she dared to update what for me already is a perfect story.

As for the myriad of sequels published over the last several years, I find it incredibly presumptuous for any author to believe she knows what Austen might have done with her characters after the books she wrote. Had Austen wished to further their stories, she would have. My guess is that she would not be pleased that Darcy hid his erections from his jovial, knowing father-in-law any more than she would want Lady Catherine DeBurgh to continue plaguing future generations of Bennetts and Collinses and Bingleys. Why these books sell really surprises me; that one author has parlayed Pride and Prejudice into eight sequels to date astonishes me, particularly the one I reviewed, which featured the children and grandchildren of a secondary character in the original. A less annoying read was one of the Sense and Sensibility sequels, but it still frustrated me. While it tackled a social issue I can imagine Austen taking on, Austen's sensibility was sorely lacking in the sequel's prose style, resulting in a mostly plodding effort.

Those are my thoughts on classic sequels. While you might think I harbor similar ideas about monster mash-ups, I don't. I love parody, which is the reason why at AAR I created our annual Purple Prose Parody Contest that in its later years encouraged mash-ups. When Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out last year and received a high mark from Entertainment Weekly (which propelled it from a minor release into a major one that eventually spawned other monster mash-ups), I loved the idea of it so much that I pushed it like mad at the bookstore, although my own effort to read it ended with chapter three. Had it been any mash-up other than P&P, I would have soldiered on. On the other hand, what I've read so far of Sherri Erwin's Jane Slayre has whetted my appetite for more. I love Brontë's original, but it's not at the top of my all-time keeper list, so I'm less invested in it retaining its purity. Erwin's love for Jane Eyre as well as her skills as an author come through so strongly that it's easy for me to get into the fun of a Jane plucky enough to slay vampires and the idea of Rochester's crazy, attic-bound first wife as a monster.

That said, the review I sent in to one of my PW editors yesterday was for a book lacking in any of that sense of fun. The book was such an unmitigated disaster that it took me an entire week to get past the first hundred pages. I can't get into more detail until the book is released, at which point I'll provide a link to my review, but right now it's in serious contention for my worst book of the year.

While both of my PW editors know that I'm probably not the reviewer for future Jane Austen sequels, I remain open to the idea of classic mash-ups, although I wonder about their shelf life - for every Jane Slayre there's a Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Of course, I remain happy to read and review humorous paranormal historicals. Not only am I a fan of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, both Jill Barnett's Bewitching and Rebecca Paisley's Basket of Wishes, which were released in the early/middle 1990s, sit on my all-time keeper shelf.

Classic Sequels and Mash-Ups

Shits and Giggles

I've decided to keep my toe in the water for the time being; I have some ideas percolating in my brain that I'd like to follow through until fruition.

Yesterday, in the heat of a Texas day - five in the afternoon - my husband and I walked into the American Airlines Center with hopes of moving the seats for our Dallas Mavericks half-season tickets perhaps one section to the left to be more or less smack dab center court - albeit pretty high up. I'm not sure why we bothered.

Every year season ticket holders are invited over a three or four day period to show up at a specified time (ours being 5:20 - 5:40 last evening) to possibly exchange seats. Available seats are taped off in various colors, so we were looking for two pink seats that were better than ours. They didn't exist.

We've gone now three or four times out of all the years we've held partial season tickets, and the only time we've had success in moving to a better section came not from moving within our pay-range, but moving up to the next pay-range. So we knew it was likely a futile adventure, begging the question: Why the hell did I go when I was well into day two of my monthly headache, this time with nausea included? Well, as I told my daughter before leaving home, it hurts and I feel the need to hurl regardless of location, whether at home in a dark room or standing in line for a useless cause in downtown Dallas.

One good thing came of it, though; I realized that the reason my Droid didn't take pictures as clear as my Blackberry even though the camera is supposedly better is because I hadn't realized there was a small piece of plastic film covering the lens. When I bought the phone, the salesman put the protective silicone cover on it immediately, and it wasn't until I peeled it off for shits and giggles that I realized its existence. Hooray for me.

When I woke up this morning, my headache was gone.

Shits and Giggles