Weekend Roundup!

First of all, there's a new Star Trek: Into Darkness poster up.  You know the drill: Let's get excited!  There's not a lot to go on; I've heard speculation that it's the Borg (please, God, no!), and if you zoom in on the poster you can see the devastated city is clearly London.  How that ties in is anyone's guess, but after they destroyed San Francisco in the last one anything goes. 

It also seems pretty clear that the central figure isn't Kirk.  Chris Pine is many things, but brunette he certainly is not.  So that leads me to suspect Cummerbatch; if that's the case, and we know he's set to play the villain, that makes me pretty sure the devastation has been wrought by Gary Mitchell, the rumored bad guy in this go-round.  From the Original Series, we know that Gary Mitchell gained near-Q powers and would certainly make sense to see someone unsettled by the sudden acquisition of power go berserk on a major Earth city.  So that's my speculation, what do you think?

This is pretty cool: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is set to be made into a BBC mini-series.  The book, written by Susanna Clarke, still ranks in my Top 10 Fantasy Books List.  It's up there with Name of the Wind, and The Farseer Trilogy (I know, trilogies shouldn't count as one entry, but in the genre of fantasy if I didn't include series as single entries there'd only be two [maybe three] on there.)  That being said, I'm really excited about the mini-series.  Tor.com has an interesting article on who should play each character; even though he's been just about everywhere, Benedict Cummerbatch would make a great Jonathan Strange, and Ian Holm would excel as Mr. Norrell. 

The interwebs have been abuzz recently with an ongoing controversy surrounding sexism in the comic industry and nerdom in general.  The basic argument is that women are under-represented and that rampant sexism denies their agency and objectifies them.  Over at The Hawkeye Initiative, artists have recast Hawkeye in many of the provocative poses of female superheroes.  io9 has a great article detailing some of the better entries.

Meanwhile, in movie news, Terminator is being remade, that creepy kid from Chronicle is playing Harry Osborn in the new Spiderman movie, and NASA is building a warp drive (okay, not really movie news, but hella awesome anyway.)

In book news, Dean Koontz signed onto a six-book deal with Random House, the self-publishing phenomenon Wool by Hugh Howey was picked up by 20th Century Fox, and Kenneth Calhoun's novel Black Moon was scooped from William Morris Endeavor by Crown's Hogarth imprint. 

And here's the trailer for the forthcoming Les Miserables, this Christmas, which I'm really excited for:

Weekend Update . . . Or, Lincoln's Revenge!

It's Friday again, and once more I'll recap the week and let you in on what's happening this weekend. 

First, Lincoln is being released today.  Based on the Pulitzer prize-winning Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lincoln is the story of the eponymous president struggling with the carnage of the Civil War while pushing for emancipation.  Originally slated to star Liam Neeson, who dropped out because he felt he was too old for the role, the movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as President Lincoln, and Sally Fields as Mary Todd Lincoln.  It looks interesting from a historical bent and I was pleased that Daniel Day-Lewis was able to capture the tone and timbre of the thirteenth president.  I'll be seeing this and it seems like a pretty good bet.

Other than that, there's Wreck It Ralph, from Disney, which has been getting a lot of word-of-mouth publicity.  Everything I've heard so far is good--good voice acting, good story, good CGI.  The only complaint so far is that its many pop culture references are directed toward an audience older than the usual cartoon demographic.  Bring your kids, or go see it on your own, seems to be the general consensus.  Either way you'll probably like it.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, go see Skyfall.  I've already reviewed it here, but suffice to say, it was very good and definitely worth your time.

I just finished Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman and I'll have the review up probably around Tuesday.  Quick snapshot: It's good.  Not as accessible as Those Across the River, and with a heavy dose of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, but otherwise a fun read.  That means that I've started The Twelve by Justin Cronin. 

Also, I've just started reading a new collection of Lovecraft inspired short stories/novellas.  Space Eldritch is a collection of science fiction stories with a Lovecraftian bent; I heard about it from Howard Tayler (Hugo award-nominated for his web comic Schlock Mercenary, and co-hosting of the writing advice podcast, Writing Excuses) whose long short story "Flight of the Runewright" holds pride-of-place as the capstone story. 

In publishing/book news, Sir Terry Pratchett has decided to turn over control of his Discworld franchise to his daughter, author and game writer, Rhianna Pratchett.  Diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007, Terry Pratchett has nevertheless remained active, and Rhianna is already working on the Discworld television show The Watch.  Head on over to tor.com for the rest of the details.

TV news: Elizabeth Henstridge and Ian De Caesstecker have joined the cast of Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D TV show.  You can get the full story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Hey, check this out.  James Franco as the Wizard of Oz?  You better believe it.  Directed by Sam Raimi and set to be released in 2013.

And here's the new Hobbit TV Spot:

That's my weekend, what about yours?  Let me know in the comments.

How To Be Awesome and Have Fun Doing It . . . Or, Weekend Round-out

I've decided that Fridays are going to be devoted to a brief synopsis of cool things that happened in the last week, or cool things to do over the weekend.  These could be up-coming, or recently released movies, or movies you just plain need to see; these could be upcoming author signings; these could be books I'm currently reading and excited about . . . the list continues!  But regardless, it's a quick and easy way for me to let you know what happening in the wider world of awesome.

First.  Go see Argo.  You can read my review here, but suffice to say it's my favorite movie out at the moment.

Then, go see Skyfall.  It's the 27th James Bond movie and it's been getting incredible reviews.  It's on my agenda this weekend.

I'm in the middle of Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires and so far it's great.  It's the story of an excommunicate knight, a priest and a young girl who sees angels trying to make their way in fourteenth-century France.  Set during the Hundred Years War and not far on the heels of the disaster at Crécy, it has everything you could want in a historical fiction, but it's not entirely historical fiction.  It's also horror, fantasy and that weird blend of Gothic that Buehlman did so well in Those Across the River.

I also have The Twelve by Justin Cronin on my shelf.  The sequel to The Passage, it continues the story of the end of the world after a viral plague has turned most of the population into vampires.  The Passage, with its sudden and inexplicable conclusion distressed me enough to recommend no one read that book, but I've mellowed in the meantime, and now I recognize just how awesome (most) of the book actually is.  Now that the second in a planned trilogy has been released, I think you should give it a look.

Also, since the buyout of Lucasfilm to Disney has sent shock waves through the geek community, I thought I'd temper that with news of the merger of Random House (who publish Christopher Paolini, Dan Brown, and Jean Auel, among others), and Penguin Group (who publish titles by Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy, Laurel K. Hamilton among others, and who recently published No Easy Day), two of the largest book publishers in the world.  They're hoping to use their combined powers for good, offering brick-and-mortar stores a new vitality.  While they're not the juggernaut either Disney is, or Lucasfilm was, they nevertheless come in at a whopping $4 billion in yearly profit; that's some clout to throw around, and the resources a publisher needs to make some innovated but risky decisions.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they come out with.

And since I seem to be on a zombie kick this week, the new trailer for "World War Z" has been released to the internet.  World War Z is the documentary-style book written by Max Brooks (of The Zombie Survival Guide fame) that details the last days of humanity, and the reconquest of the planet by small pockets of human beings.  Based on the trailer, it seems like that documentary style has been completely abandoned; instead we're treated to the usual paint-by-numbers action flick starring Brad Pitt.  The movie does, nonetheless, depict some truly terrifying zombies.  Still excited to see the movie, but not quite as excited as I was two years when I heard about this being made into a movie.  Take a look:

E-Book Price Wars!

Remember when you could buy a brand new book on your Kindle for less than $10?  If you don't that's because selling books for cheap costs publishers money.  In response, they turned to Apple and signed contracts which introduced so-called "most favored nations" clauses, which prohibited e-book distributors from pricing e-books lower than what iBooks had listed them for.  But, according to The Atlantic Wire, a federal judge last Thursday struck those contracts.  Now, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins and Apple are forcibly separated, and cannot enter into contracts for another two years.  In the meantime, get ready for a price war which will undoubtedly drive prices down, hopefully back to or below $10.    

The New Kindle Conflagration

www.uncrate.com

Last Thursday, Amazon rolled out their new product line.  With an eye toward the coming holidays, Amazon must be hoping to capture some of the excitement surrounding the forthcoming announcement from Apple believed to be the unveiling of their new iPhone.  Amazon, however, is doing things a little differently.  Instead of focusing strictly on what's forthcoming, they've taken the opportunity to showcase technologies new and old.

The Kindle Fire has a new look, a bit bigger and a bit more powerful; but where Amazon really succeeds is its continuing dedication to pre-existing technologies, improving on the traditional Kindle with a back-light, higher contrast screen, and a pixel count over sixty percent greater than existing technologies.  This is a big deal for two reasons. 

The Kindle still maintains the allure of a read-only device.  That is, instead of handling multiple functions poorly, it focuses on a single product and delivers remarkably.  Amazon has always realized that e-readers are about ease of reading.  While Barnes and Noble, Sony and others jumped on the bandwagon with various degrees of success, Amazon legitimately holds the market firmly in its grasp.  And by reducing pricepoints on pre-existing technology, they're able to capitalize on a key market demographic that isn't terribly concerned about snazzy graphics and downloadable apps.  They just want the book.

www.uncrate.com

But the improvements they've made sound pretty good, including an LED backlight that's apparently been in the works for over four years.  A definite selling-point here, I'm excited to see how it handles as far as eye-strain and reading in the dark are concerned.  The flickering of most tablet screens has always bothered me, and strained my eyes, so that I've foregone extended reading on computer screens.  This seems revolutionary.

More remarkable, though, is managing to maintain the coveted under $200 price-point for their Kindle Fires, despite improvements in screen size and operating speeds.  For a little more, you get a little more, but the Fire's primary use is still mainly apps, videos and music and for under $200 you're getting a pretty good deal.  Including a new HD screen is icing on the cake, and may be what Amazon needs to steal a big chunk of the pie from Apple.

The one feature that doesn't really make sense to me is the Time to Read function, which times your page turns to gauge how long a particular chapter or book takes to read.  I can imagine someone generating tables from these statistics to demonstrate the readability of a particular book, or gauge how much of a fit it is with your style or reading based on your own reading rate.  At best, I'm leery of this feature.  I think it's invasive beyond necessity and seems patronizing.  At worst, I think it's more data floating around the ether about you that doesn't need to be there.

Despite that, I'm excited for Amazon's new releases, and I'm all the more excited to try out the new Kindle Fire for myself.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

On Demand Publishing

The Atlantic recently reported that Penguin Group, the second largest publisher in the world, with over 40 imprints in the United States, acquired the self-publisher Author Solutions for $116 million.  With profits of more than $100 million annually, this seems like a pretty good deal for Penguin, and it marks a shift in the marketplace, as publishers finally get it through their head that on-demand is a good thing.  But the article goes on to cite the difficulty of finding an audience through on-demand venues.  The odds, apparently, are pretty bad.  Something like winning the lottery, or becoming the next Brad Pitt.  But let's keep the hope alive, and let people invest themselves in telling stories they hope will sell.

On the one hand, I'm excited by this move.  It means that traditional publishers have decided the time is right to make a move toward profit again.  With brick-and-mortar bookstores on the decline, publishers have been scrambling to figure out where the next big thing would be.  E-books have made extraordinary strides, and as the recent success of Fifty Shades of Mediocre have shown, people are less interested in quality than they are in shallow characterizations and ludicrous plots.  The move on Penguin's part demonstrates that maybe books can still be profitable.  Indeed, the move to a more mobile inventory arguably means that publishers can slash overhead costs such as warehousing and shipping, while still providing quality (such as it is) content to consumers. 

On the other hand, democracy has rarely encouraged excellence.  Athenian democracy more often than not led to massacre and war, and mob pressures have, more often than not, led to things like Revolutions and anarchy.  Art requires a gatekeeper.  Literature requires a moderating influence that editors and publishers have tended to exert. 

While one can make the argument that market forces will moderate production, in this case producing works that people enjoy, one assumes that what people want in inherently good, or even good for them.  People addicted to nicotine seem to enjoy cigarettes, but people realize they're inherently bad for them.  Food, in general, is a good thing, but people like to eat and we've been counseled in moderation.  A treat is nice; eating chicken nuggets for breakfast, lunch and dinner will wind up killing you. 

Editors, those ivory-towered saints, and agents, serve the function of gatekeeper and treasure-hunter.  Sifting through the dross, they often find gold.  Scouring the pebbles, they often find diamonds.

So maybe there is a paradox involved in self- or on-demand publishing, but I think the author of The Atlantic pieces is missing the point.  Inasmuch as authors will probably fail to find a readership, that's sad.  But tragic is the bevy of less-than-worthwhile books that are found.

Fifty Shades of Crazy?

Last week saw sales for E.L. James's erotic "Twilight" fan-fic Fifty Shades of Grey fall to tenth place on Publishers Weekly bestseller list.  Bolstered by strong internet sales in its early weeks, and then by selling her soul to the Devil (probably), Fifty Shades has continued to hold the top three slots in Top 10 Overall, Trade Paperback and the number two slot in Audiobooks for the year.  Amazon sales continue to maintain their juggernaut status, with the collected trilogy continuing to sell well.  The runaway bestseller has spawned numerous imitators, and left the rest of the world scratching their heads.  The camps of those who love it and those who find it less than rubbish seem as divided as the Tea and Democratic parties.

So what's going on?

In 1841 Charles Mackay wrote a book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, describing the paroxysms of stupid into which people sometimes work themselves.  His book popularized the strange phenomenon that occurred in the Netherlands in late 1636 and early 1637 when people went crazy for tulips.  Sometimes called Tulipomania, at its height a single tulip bulb could sell for ten times the average income of a skilled craftsman.  We recognize the phenomenon as an economic bubble, and we're still falling prey to it today.  Mackay continues by examining a number of popular delusions to which we're still (more or less) prey:  "alchemy, crusades, witch-hunts, prophecies, fortune-telling, magnetisers (influence of imagination in curing disease), shape of hair and beard (influence of politics and religion on), murder through poisoning, haunted houses, popular follies of great cities, popular admiration of great thieves, duels, and relics."

Now, while the tulip mania had some sort of basis in reality, and built on false hopes of government intercession, at its base it was an economic bubble.  People were getting rich, and hoped that they would continue to get rich.  So at least people were going dumb for something tangible.  The rest is simple superstition, which nonetheless motivates more people than we'd like to account for.  Recent statements by a Republican nominee seem to indicate that some people, as my training instructors liked to say, are still "stuck on stupid."

It would be irresponsible of me to conclude that fans of Fifty Shades are simply ill-educated or lacking mental faculty.  The epithet of "mommy porn" has been applied to these stories often, and not just by literary detractors.  Feminists have argued that this sort of depiction undermines much of their work over the last half century, relegating women to subservient positions.  Champions have responded that the book touches on deeply buried wants (some say needs).

Splitting an argument into a false dichotomy is one of those fallacies that logic teachers try to beat into our heads, and the dispute over Fifty Shades is no different.  Certainly, if you like it, you're not wishing for the return of women as chattel, or a diminution of hard-won rights.  But maybe there's something to the popularity of a book about BDSM.  Maybe women really do want to get a little kinkier in bed?

Every so often, sex becomes popular.  Wait, let me re-phrase that.  Every so often, talking about sex loses some of its taboo and the popular dialogue embraces a more nuanced approach.  Kinsey gave us his eponymous report.  The 60s taught us the joys and social dangers of lack of restraint.  AIDS made us all terribly aware that pleasure has its physical price.  While Fifty Shades certainly isn't a Kinsey report, it has unleashed a popular dialogue of sex that has been clouded by the book's abysmal quality.

Like the tulips' unqualified beauty was clouded by the avarice of short-sided men, perhaps the lesson we should learn from Fifty Shades isn't that people like to read really trashy fiction, but that they'd like to experience a fuller, deeper sexual experience.  But first we have to be willing to talk about it.

Cheap On-Demand Printing . . . The Future of Publishing

I'm pretty sure that Ingram's new tech is the wave of the future in publishing.  It eliminates much of the waste that we currently see while still allowing the traditional features of publishing (an in-house editor, design and layout, etc.) to flourish. 

I've been saying for a while that the current model of large batch printing, which is sent to bookstore and allowed to sit for months on end, only to be returned at the end of the credit cycle, is a poor model.  Ideally, I foresee bookstores offering a very limited physical selection, while maintaining a large database of digital copies which than be printed on demand,  in-house while you browse.

Powell's in Portland already does something like this.  I was able to see a demonstration last time I was in town and it convinced me both of the feasibility of on-demand publishing and of its economy.