266. (Nothing to do with 2666.)

Mon 20 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on 266. (Nothing to do with 2666.) | Posted by: Gavin

It’s been great seeing transparency and public responsibility hit the government in the last 3 months since the previous administration was turfed out. (It’s not all getting an equal amount of light: hello State Secrets Act, time for bed!)

So we have today’s headlines which are all about two men who got tortured—waterboarded—by the US Government. Not once:

The controversial technique that simulates drowning — and which President Obama calls torture — was used at least 83 times in August 2002 on suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, according to the memo.

Interrogators also waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in March 2003. Mohammed is believed to be the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
—CNN

Which doesn’t quite jibe with the propaganda spouted in 2007:

A former C.I.A. officer, John Kiriakou, told ABC News and other news media organizations in 2007 that Abu Zubaydah had undergone waterboarding for only 35 seconds before agreeing to tell everything he knew.
—NY Times

We spent the period from January 20, 2000, to January 19, 2008, being lied to by our government. Around the world everyone else knew that the US was operating secret prisons (what kind of military junta were we being led by??) abroad although few members of the media reported it here.

Now it’s time to clean up and for those cowards who lied (for our own good, of course) should stand up and be counted, try and defend their actions, and where it fits, be tried and sentenced.

It won’t be particularly easy or nice and it might be distracting during this huge recession but if we as a country want to have any say in how the world works we have to own up to our mistakes and take the punishment for crossing lines which should not be crossed.


Tumblr

Fri 17 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Tumblr | Posted by: Gavin

Ok, we were told this was easy. Sounded like a challenge. Nope. No challenge. Really, really easy. What’s it for? Who knows? For the nonce, here’s http://smallbeerpress.tumblr.com/


Some Mass. book affairs

Fri 17 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Some Mass. book affairs | Posted by: Gavin

We have a few things coming up in local environs that we wanted to tell yous all about in an endeavor to get you off the internet and back into peopleville. First up, a busy weekend, second a publishing course, and last, the best, a book!

  1. First one comes in two parts:
    a) The 9th ANNUAL JUNIPER LITERARY FESTIVAL Celebrating 50 Years of the Massachusetts Review April 24 & 25, 2009, wherein there is a bookfair where we will be selling books and, if they have it like they did last year, eating candy floss and attending readings by Marilyn Hacker, et al.
    b) June 21-27, Juniper Summer Writing Institute (which includes the  Juniper Institute for Young Writers). Wherein Holly Black (and maybe Kelly Link) will be teaching.
  2. The same weekend as the Juniper Lit. Festival Gavin will be in Boston for a panel at MIT as part of the MiT6 Conference:
    The Future of Publishing
    Gavin Grant, Small Beer Press
    Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency
    Robert Miller, HarperStudio
    Bob Stein, The Institute for the Future of the Book
    Moderator: Geoffrey Long, MIT CMS
    Saturday, April 25, 6:45-8:15 pm, Wong Aud., E51
  3. Then in May, Gavin’s on a panel at Emerson as part of their 2-week Certificate in Literary Publishing program:
    Keeping Afloat in Literary Publishing
    May 22 – 1:00 to 4:00 pm
    Panelists: Jan Freeman, Gavin Grant, William Pierce, Thomas Radko & Ladette Randolph – Moderator: Gian Lombardo
    A panel of literary periodical and book publishers will present information on their presses and magazines, outline their key concerns, and be available for questions from participants. Jan Freeman is founder and director of Paris Press. Gavin Grant is publisher of Small Beer Press. William Pierce is senior editor of Agni and contributes a series of essays there called “Crucibles.” Ladette Randolph is director/editor-in-chief of Ploughshares.  Before that she was an editor at the University of Nebraska Press, and was managing editor of Prairie Schooner.
  4. This last one’s a bit of a stretch, but we’ll be having a closer look at it nearer pub. date and the press is based in this state. Also, after all these conferences and writing workshops, it’s a bit of a relief to talk about an actual book!
    Harvard UP is publishing a book by one of our favorite WFMU DJs, David Suisman. (Check out that great cover!) If this rings a tiny (musical) bell, it might be that you read David’s great piece in The Believer a couple of years ago, “Welcome to the Monkey House: Enrico Caruso and the First Celebrity Trial of the 20th Century“—which you can read today through the magic of the internet (and The Believer and whoever taught you to read). Pre-order the book here:Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music
    From Tin Pan Alley to grand opera, player-pianos to phonograph records, David Suisman’s Selling Sounds explores the rise of music as big business and the creation of a radically new musical culture. Around the turn of the twentieth century, music entrepreneurs laid the foundation for today’s vast industry, with new products, technologies, and commercial strategies to incorporate music into the daily rhythm of modern life. Popular songs filled the air with a new kind of musical pleasure, phonographs brought opera into the parlor, and celebrity performers like Enrico Caruso captivated the imagination of consumers from coast to coast.

Whose the big bad wolf?

Thu 16 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Whose the big bad wolf? | Posted by: Gavin

Something for the to-read pile from Shelf Awareness:

Shelf Starter: An American Trilogy

An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River by Steven M. Wise (Da Capo Press, $26, 9780306814754/0306814757, March 23, 2009)

Opening lines of books we want to read, excerpted from the prologue:

In the fall of 2008, I learned that an undercover agent working for People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had been investigating reports of cruelty at a large hog-breeding farm. I asked PETA lawyer Dan Paden to send me some video showing what their agent had seen.

I thought that nothing we humans do to pigs could upend me. Then Paden sent me a four-minute highlights clip of what the latest farm investigator had seen. Soon after I flicked it on, I began crying so uncontrollably that it took me an hour and a half to finish it.

Read on


new picture book

Wed 15 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Comments Off on new picture book | Posted by: Gavin

Mabel, One and Only CoverOne of our favorite writers has her first book out: and this one comes with pictures. Mabel, One and Only is by Margaret Muirhead who long time readers will recognize as a contributor of some great and hilarious poetry as well as an early nonfiction piece. Some of these pieces can be found (or rediscovered) in The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

When we saw Mabel, One and Only was coming out (and it should be in your local store now), we tracked down Margaret and got her to sit still long enough to answer a few questions. Of course, we very much recommend her book:

We just loved reading your new picture book, Mabel, One and Only. Can you tell us about it?

Mabel is the story of a girl who is the only kid on her block. Usually she can convince her grown-up neighbors into playing a game or two, but one afternoon, she finds they’re all busy. So Mabel and her canine sidekick, Jack, set about to find their own fun.

Mabel is a great, lively kid. Do you have more stories for her planned?

Read more


#amazonfail

Tue 14 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on #amazonfail | Posted by: Gavin

Pity we missed the latest Amazon debacle due to chocolate consumption and losing a couple of days to a cold. Whether it was a cataloging error, hack, or whatever, it sure did make (heads up for a late Easter reference) keeping all one’s eggs in one basket sound like a bad idea.

Perhaps readers might take note that Amazon’s annual sales are over $10 billion and that books are only a small part of that total, which make Amazon more of a Wal-Mart than a bookshop. And we know what Wal-Mart wants to do to your town: rip out its heart and make you drive out to the periphery to buy cheap stuff made abroad in factories where people are paid pennies.

Women & Children FirstHappily Indiebound is easier to use than it used to be (we just ordered a couple of books from there which went out through one of our fave bookshops in Chicago, Women & Children First) so we 100% encourage everyone to keep a multitude of voices alive and Shop Local!


Sunday morning

Sun 12 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Sunday morning | Posted by: Gavin

Ok, so this is why newspapers are in trouble: it has something to do with the 150-people rule and something to do with those friends providing better morning reading than the papers:

Photo012Maureen on vodka infusions, mmm! We tried this, great fun: we got better results with dried things—peppercorns, coffee, and vanilla—over green—basil, cucumber, lemongrass—but passion fruit was the real surprise winner.

Gwenda reported on a doll parts horror scare (with optional fuzzy unicorn posters).

A. really got things going with a post on Kutiman, which has been everywhere recently, but it was the voice of authority/trusted recommendation that made it worth looking at. And then, dancing Sunday mornings, Batman, that is great stuff. (Looks like their site is down, so will just keep listening to it on YouTube for now.) Yeah.

Autobloggreen (ok, it’s more newsy than people) says that our fave jellybean will arrive over here . . . only another 2 years to wait, dur. We saw the non-electric version in Japan in 2007, so what’s 4 years to wait for a jellybean? (Why so loved? Maximum space, minimum ride!)

But then The Scotsman showed its mettle with a piece on ear symmetry and dancing skills! So get your dancing shoes and calipers out:

At the Edinburgh Science Festival event, good dancers will be asked to put themselves forward for a dance-off to find the five best among them. The five worst dancers, Prof Wiseman said, would be easier to spot.

Then the ear measuring will commence. Prof Wiseman said researchers suspected the best dancers would have the most symmetrical ears, while the worst dancers would be less equal – though there may only be a few millimetres difference.


Lone Star Stories on paper

Fri 10 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Lone Star Stories on paper | Posted by: Gavin

The Lone Star Stories Reader CoverEric Marin emailed us to say that the The Lone Star Stories Reader is now available as a free PDF download here. It is a great collection (although I recuse myself from talking about my story, “Janet Meet Bob”) with stories by Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, M. Thomas, Sarah Monette, Catherynne M. Valente, Tim Pratt, & more. I think it’s worth popping for the paper edition myself, but to try it out, why not download it.

Eric says:

I am asking that anyone who downloads and enjoys the anthology spread the word about the book and Lone Star Stories in general. I will be curious to see what effect the download has on visitors to the LSS Press and Lone Star Stories sites.


How social are you?

Thu 9 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on How social are you? | Posted by: Gavin

We just got a query on how socially Web 2.0 (isn’t it 2.1 by now?) this press is. Not much, we said. We’re the retiring types. It’s fun to put the books out there, not us. But then the listing began. And did it go on:

  1. Obviously we have this bloggity-type thing with RSS feed and livejournal syndication for which we sometimes get people to write but usually it is robot-produced text (such as this: 1001011010101000110).
  2. We dropped myspace: hated it. (It would be great if we were a band. We’re not.)
  3. We’re on Scribd.
  4. We’re on LibraryThing.
  5. We’re sort of on Flickr.
  6. And on YouTube.
  7. We’re on Facebook. (Fixed, thanks Jed!)
  8. Gavin’s on IndieBound—we should add the press as an indie business—and Goodreads.
  9. Some of our authors are on Twitter (although god knows we’re not, so maybe we can add to this later): Benjamin Parzybok, Holly Black, Jedediah Berry, Alan DeNiro, & ?

Not sure which of these is our favorite. Or if there’s something else that would be fun to join?


AS Byatt in the New Yorker

Thu 9 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on AS Byatt in the New Yorker | Posted by: Gavin

Just read a fantastic poem by A.S. Byatt in The New Yorker of April 6th, “Trench Names.” Byatt thanks Peter Chasseaud, and a quick search finds his blog: “Peter Chasseaud: Landscape, Air Photos, Trench Maps.” Oddly enough for someone in the visual arts, it’s white text on black so a bit hard to read, but who needs words when the pictures have so much in them.

Anyway, here’s the third and fourth verses of Byatt’s poem, go forth and read the rest:

The sunken roads were numbered at the start.
A chequer board. But men are poets, and names
Are Adam’s heritage, and English men
Imposed a ghostly English map on French
Crushed ruined harvests and polluted streams.

So here run Piccadilly, Regent Street,
Oxford Street, Bond Street, Tothill Fields, Tower Bridge,
And Kentish places, Dover, Tunbridge Wells,
Entering wider hauntings, resonant,
The Boggart Hole, Bleak House, Deep Doom and Gloom.


Swedes wanting couches

Wed 8 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Swedes wanting couches | Posted by: Gavin

KARLSTAD sofa-bed w/storage compartmentWe just received this completely trustworthy email. (Maybe they don’t have IKEA in Sweden?)

From: Richardson Dawson <richardson_daw2g8@yahoo.com>
Date: April 4, 2009 9:31:32 AM EDT
To: info@lcrw.net, info@metroshed.com
Subject: order
Reply-To: richardson_daw2g8@yahoo.com

Hello Sir/Madam,
My Name is Mr. Richardson Dawson.I am from Ohio in the United states,I will like to order for couch Funitures for my Client in Sweden.I want to know from you what sizes and brands you do have instock so that i can have you know what i need to order for my client.I do also want to know the prices as well per.Secondly i do want to know if you do accept credit card payment as i will be making my payment with my Credit card.I hope to hear from you soon and to do more  favourable business with you.Thank you

Your’s Faithfully

Richardson Dawson


Any Massachusetts librarians out there…?

Fri 3 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Any Massachusetts librarians out there…? | Posted by: Gavin

We just read the program guide for the Mass. Library Association’s annual conference and found it is full of fabulous things to do and people to see (Lynda Barry!). So our question to any librarians in Massachusetts is: can you help us get in?


I saw it on the back of a cereal box

Thu 2 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on I saw it on the back of a cereal box | Posted by: Gavin

http://www.alexmyers.info/files/gimgs/8_danishgirls-copy3.jpgDon’t know if you got a beer and put up the slideshow of the Interstitial Arts Foundation cover pool on Flickr on your computational device — it was great fun to do, highly recommended for passing a good amount of time.

The IAF have pulled (ouch) out a winner, “e” by Alex Myers, which will be used for the cover of their next antho, Interfictions 2. And, natch, it was painted on the back of a cereal box. Or maybe the inside. Which side is the inside if the box is flat? Hmm. (More about Alex and the cover).

Interfictions 2 comes out in November. Keep up with it here. Check out that ToC, should be a great book!


linkdump

Tue 31 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on linkdump | Posted by: Gavin

Random links, mostly to reviews of our books. Why would you read this? It’s coming near to the end of the day and the teleprompter isn’t working and really, who is watching CNBC right now anyway? Might as well read out a bunch of reviews and see if any of the books catch your eye. Go on, newsreader, have some fun.

Brian Slattery enjoys Geoff Ryman’s The King’s Last Song in The New Haven Review:

As sensitive and humble toward the subject matter as the author could be, yet manage also to tell an unflinching, wrenching story involving some deeply, deeply flawed people who are nonetheless searching for a way out.

Nice short piece on Venus Zine about Anne Elizabeth Moore and Cambodia.

Jedediah Berry’s book is getting a bunch of nice notices, including in the Boston Globe. See his site (or our calendar on this page) for more of his upcoming readings.

Rambles looks at Generation Loss:

The reader will find it difficult to put down. The multiple levels of mystery, the setting and the characters work together seamlessly. In Generation Loss, Hand proves that real life can be scarier and stranger than fantasy.

The Seattle Times on The Ant King: (and Howard “Yay!” Waldrop and Cory Doctorow):

The Ant King and Other Stories shows just how strange and wonderful the microcosms he creates can be.

More readings from Ben R. are coming soon: watch out!

A bunch of people are out there on the couch reading the eponymous couch. It gets two shots from The Daily Evergreen from Andrew and Jessica Schubert McCarthy—who both like it, which is good news for us.

The essential message of Couch appears to be that the world and our lives would be better if we all got off our couches (literal and metaphorical) a bit more often.
—Zone SF

Charles Tan interviewed Ben Parzybok:

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn Cover

I enjoy multi-tasking – I find it a kind of high – and yet I don’t believe it’s good for me. When I wrote Couch I was in a small apartment in Ecuador with no Internet access, and it was a tremendous boon to productivity.

Gavin reviews Alison Goodman’s Eon: Dragoneye Reborn and Ray Bradbury’s We’ll Always Have Paris for the LA Times: “In recent years, Ray Bradbury has settled comfortably into his role as the wacky grandfather of American letters….”


Pretty

Fri 27 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Pretty | Posted by: Gavin

Look: Indiebound gets on the crafty/etsy/pretty bus! Local bookshops celebrate spring, yay! (Now if they could only help our snowdrops come up, that would be excellent.)


Cloud & Ashes

Mon 23 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Cloud & Ashes | Posted by: Gavin

We’re about to send this book to the printer and PW has just published the first review of Greer Gilman’s Cloud & Ashes:

Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales Greer Gilman. Small Beer, $26 (448p) ISBN 978-1-931520-55-3

Almost two decades after the publication of her debut novel, Moonwise, Gilman returns to the fantasy realm of Cloud with a trilogy of interconnected narratives. 2000’s Nebula-shortlisted “Jack Daw’s Pack” follows an otherworldly traveler as he creates a rich tapestry of myth in the cards he throws down. 2003’s “A Crowd of Bone,” which won the World Fantasy Award, is a decidedly nonlinear tragedy about child witch Thea, who flees her goddess mother and a foolish love-struck mortal. The novella “Unleaving,” the original piece of the trinity, revolves around Thea’s daughter, Margaret, who “unravels” the heavens and, in turn, much of the mythos of Cloud. Though the sublimely lyrical Jacobeanesque dialect is challenging, readers who enjoy symbolism and allusion will cherish Gilman’s use of diverse folkloric elements to create an unforgettable realm and ideology. (May)

Order here!


Kristin’s converter tables

Wed 18 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 6 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

A Working Writer's Daily Planner 2010: Your Year in Writing CoverIn response to our call for suggestions for A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2010: Your Year in Writing Kristin had a fantastic idea:

How about something targeted to the young fantasy/science fiction/mystery writer in all of us?

  • How far can a horse travel in a day?
  • Carrying two riders when one is an elf and one is human?
  • What is the minimum amount of oxygen content/gravity/sunlight able to sustain human life?
  • How do you allow for time dilation?
  • A ratio for ambient temperature to body temperature for establishing time of death.

Which led us to supply a few more:

  • How about how many old ladies visiting your town does it take to produce a murder?
  • An adverb removal tool to convert your text into noir?

Which then led to the thought: there’s a curiously large internet’s worth of writers out there. Any conversion tables you’d like to see?


Ugly couches and more

Tue 17 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Ugly couches and more | Posted by: Gavin

Ben Parzybok is tearing up the west coast this week on another tour. Here’s a flier, here’s an interview at Powell’s, here’s an ugly couch competition at Auntie’s Books in Spokane (come on, surely all the couches are beautiful in the west?) and here are the dates!

Olympia, WA
March 17thcouch, 7 PM
Orca Books
509 E. 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98502

Tacoma, WA
March 18th, 7 PM,
Garfield Book Company at PLU
208 Garfield St S., Tacoma, WA 98444

Seattle, WA
March 19th, 6.30 PM,
Ballard Public Library
5614 22nd Ave. N.W., Seattle, WA 98107
(sponsored by Secret Garden Bookshop)

Bellingham, WA
March 21st, 7 PM,
Village Books
1200 11th St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Missoula, MT
March 23rd, 7 PM,
Fact & Fiction
220 N. Higgins & University Ctr., Missoula, MT 59802

Dillon, MT
March 24th, 7 PM
The Bookstore
26 N. Idaho St., Dillon, MT 59725

Spokane, WA
March 25th, 7.30 PM
Auntie’s Books
402 W. Main Ave., Spokane, WA 99201

St. Helen’s, OR
April 7th, 7 PM
St. Helen’s Book Shop
58527 Columbia River Hwy. St. Helens, OR  97051


The Beer of Alchemists and Witches

Mon 16 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 10 Comments | Posted by: Michael

If you came to the Manual of Detection release party, you may have had the chance to sample my latest brewing experiment, the Legendary Black Beer of Aaaargh!–a first attempt at recreating a long-extinct style of medieval herb beer, flavored, in this case, with rosemary and sage as a substitute for hops. If you were one of the intrepid few, I thank you. It came as quite a shock to me how many compliments the black beer got, considering half the reason for the silly name was the reaction I expected it to get. The experience has given me hope that people are a lot more open-minded about their beer than the world’s brewing industry would have us believe.

That in mind, I’m going to talk some about how and why this style of beer went extinct, and how and why I might go about bringing it back.

Read more


lcrw 23 out!

Fri 13 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on lcrw 23 out! | Posted by: Gavin

LCRW 23. Celebrate!Maybe it was the Utne Reader, maybe it was something else, but we’re out of stock on the paper edition of LCRW 23! You can still buy the ebook at Fictionwise or Lulu (or a pdf from us) or there’s the swanky trade paperback at Lulu…! We printed a few less than before (hey, it’s a recession), but these went fast. Maybe we’ll go make more. For now subscriptions will get LCRW 22 or 24 as their first ish.


What do you want in a planner?

Mon 9 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What do you want in a planner? | Posted by: Gavin

In August we’re going to publish something different: the first in what we’re hoping will be an annual series of . . . desk calendars(!) with A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2010: Your Year in Writing. (You can preorder it using that Paypal link or here.) We figured there was a gap for something like this, so why not go for it.

A Working Writer's Daily Planner 2010: Your Year in Writing CoverThe calendar will be published in August so we’re almost finished putting it together and we’ve been having great fun adding all the things we would like to be in a calendar.

And then we thought: there’s a whole big internet of people who might, just might, have some opinions on this, too, so here we go: what are you looking for in a planner/calendar/diary? What is the killer app (as it were, this is a book, there may be an online component of it later, we’re not sure) that would make this irresistible to you—or for someone else as a gift? Is it phases of the moon? Birthdays of interesting people? Converter tables between liters and pints, inches and centimeters, parsecs and kilograms?* Market information? Blank space?

Some of these will be in the calendar, some won’t. We’re looking for your help to make this better and we’re looking forward to your suggestions. So, please, send in what you’d like in it and feel free to repost this on anywhere else.

* That’s a tough one. May need a physicist or two to help us there.


lcrw 23 updates

Fri 6 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

March 11 update to update: Nice write up in Utne Daily blog:

The latest issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (LCRW) fairly buzzes with vibrant, intelligent writing….

LCRW 23 cover by Kevin HuizengaAlex Wilson’s story, “A Wizard of Mapquest,” from LCRW 23 was a nominee (which maybe means finalist/honoree or something, or it was nominated by someone else?) for the 2nd Annual Micro Award.

We’ve added an option to buy the trade paperback of LCRW 23 from Lulu on that page.

And, at last, we’ve managed to upload LCRW 23 to Fictionwise.com. Sorry: could not do it and needed a lot of help! Happily, it is easy to find, right there on the front page. Er, just below the big sign that says Fictionwise has just been acquired by Barnes & Noble. (Although if you go to bn.com, there’s no mention yet of Fictionwise.) Fictionwise delivers ebooks easily, cheaply, and well, and their customer and publisher interfaces have been very user-friendly, so we will hope it continues that way and congratulate Steve and Scott Pendergrast, the founders of Fictionwise, Inc., for having built the company so well and hope that they do indeed get to “run the Fictionwise websites as a separate business unit within Barnes & Noble.”


Text-to-speech on a per-title basis

Sun 1 Mar 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Happy to see PW reporting that Amazon backed down on the text-to-speech debacle. It’s not that the robotic voice reading a book aloud is a huge problem now, but letting it go now would create huge problems later when contextual reading widgets will allow text-to-speech to sound more human. (10 years? More like 5?):

In a surprising about-face, Amazon has decided to give publishers and authors the choice over whether or not to enable the Kindle 2’s text-to-speech function…. Despite protests from the Authors Guild, Amazon’s move came as a surprise since the company rarely reverses a policy once it is in place….

Amazon are the 800lb gorilla everyone in publishing deals with and they own so many parts of the book business that we have to be careful with every move they make. No doubt we are missing some of the ramifications of their actions right now….

Their market share isn’t that high, but it is enough that they can dictate terms—and they are not particularly kind. It’s a relief to see IndieBound getting more creative and useful, being able to link to individual titles should have been available years ago, but at least it’s available now.


On memory

Fri 20 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on On memory | Posted by: Gavin

When we asked Vincent McCaffrey for a bio (since we’re publishing his book in September, it seemed the polite thing to do), this is one of the variations he sent:

“I have conveniently forgotten everything I did before I started my bookshop. This allows me to make things up as need be. A writer’s prerogative, according to Mark Twain, who should know. My first professional memory is selling a book on the morning of October 15th, 1975. It felt good so I kept doing it, just like any baby-boomer would.”


Your Mysteries Earn Free Books

Thu 19 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Your Mysteries Earn Free Books | Posted by: Gavin

The Manual of Detection CoverJedediah Berry’s awesome first novel, The Manual of Detection, is out Today! Today! Run to your local bookshop and if they don’t have it firebomb them, er, ask politely when they will have it in. If they do have it, what are you reading this for? Go read the book.

Or, maybe you will win a free copy!

We were going through Jed’s desk the other day and found a few lonely and unread copies so we decided that we should find them good homes. First, we made him sign them, and now, clearly, it’s time for a contest.

To enter, leave a comment on this post with a mystery in need of solving. Personal or historical, major or quotidian, real to everyone or just to you. We’ll choose five of the most strange and intriguing mysteries and those folks will get a copy of The Manual of Detection. They may even get their mysteries solved. (Please don’t wait around for that to happen.)

Submit conundrums and enigmas within a week or so. And in the meantime, you may want to read up on the Manual over here: www.manualofdetection.com.


The real reason car sales are falling

Wed 18 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on The real reason car sales are falling | Posted by: Gavin


NYTimes, Nerdcore, & love

Wed 18 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on NYTimes, Nerdcore, & love | Posted by: Gavin

Lev Grossman and Sophie Gee recently posted their playlist on the NYT Paper Cuts blog. This is a guy who outnerds most of the readers of this blog, seriously—although his list may overlap with yours more so than it might with ours. It’s somewhat like reading what Junot Diaz’s playlist might have been before Oscar Wao came out would be like. Every time it looks like he’s hit nerdvana, he ratchets it up again.

There is also lite (sic) jazz and a book with a scientist falling in love with a ghost:

…the book I’m working on now, “The Magicians,” which you could glibly but not inaccurately describe as Harry Potter meets “The Corrections” for shots of synthohol in Ten Forward….

Palmcorder Yajna, the Mountain Goats…. the mental soundtrack that I wrote to. I used to picture a scene of torch-lit close-quarters sword-and-ax combat with this song in the background. Dwarves, orcs, elves, no heroics, no speeches, just sweat and dirt and blood in their beards. Like, as if Tarantino filmed the “The Lord of the Rings” instead of Peter Jackson. That’s what the past sounds like to me. You know — the past that never happened….

Unlike Dylan, as far as I know, T.D.O.T.H.T. mostly do pop-metal songs about the works of H. P. Lovecraft….


An Opportunity to Partake of Both Beer and Literature

Tue 17 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 3 Comments | Posted by: Michael

This is it, ladies and gentlemen. Until now, all my talk of beer and literature has been just that: talk. Finally, however, the opportunity has arisen to put my barley where my mouth is. Er…not that I haven’t been doing that all along. You know what I mean.

On Friday, February 27th, Jedediah Berry will be at Amherst Books to celebrate the release of The Manual of Dectection, a beautifully complicated novel about a clandestine detective agency and a meticulous clerk thrust unwillingly into a detective’s role. He does not, as would I, resort to drink under pressure… though there’s a fair amount of whiskey swallowed throughout.

I’m brewing beer for the occasion because home distilling happens to be illegal.

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