Book News, In Brief

Zombie George Carlin will be releasing a new book this November. Carlin (1937-2008) had been writing the aptly titled Last Words for the last ten years of his life.


You want to break into the geek lit biz? Write fantasy sequels. According to a dataset compiled by Strange Horizon's Valentin D. Ivanov, the popularity of sword and sorcery sequels is at a ten year high. Via.


This is weird. For what seems like the first time in forever, single issue comic book sales have risen (6%), while graphic novel sales have plummeted (35%). Industry insiders speculate that the floppies' bump is due to the release of Captain America #600 and Batman and Robin #1. As for the drop in graphic novel sales, could it be that we've finally realized the 'One Watchmen in every home' dream of our forefathers?


There's even less good news in the world of picture-less books. According to a recent survey by Publishers Weekly, 70% of the industry folk polled reported hiring freezes at their companies, 63% reported layoffs, 11% said they feel "very insecure" about their job safety, and over 60% said that their companies have cut marketing, travel and entertainment budgets. And that's not all. In another PW piece, they're reporting that bookstore sales fell 3% in May. This, after a 3.2% drop in April. Gulp.


Mega-ginormous props to Vromans Bookstore blog for steering me towards this ridiculously self-righteous, pro-book banning website. Among the site's many flaws: Consistently poor spelling, unintentionally atrocious grammar, and Barnes & Noble's corporate sponsorship. Yes, you read that right. One of the United States' (a.k.a. the home of free speech & freedom of the press) largest booksellers is sponsoring a website which proudly proclaims, "Celebrate Banned Books 2008 by helping us censor immoral and indecent books. Lets [sic] keep bad books out of our schools, libraries, and Bookstores [sic] - WWJD. [sic]"