Book News, In Brief

Hachette Book Group USA’s graphic novel imprint, Yen Press, has acquired world rights to a graphic edition of James Patterson’s young adult series Maximum Ride, and plans to make them into manga. When will American publishers learn that the kids absolutely do not want non-Asian manga. (All of the big comic book companies have tried. All have failed.) Hell, I'm not even sure if it really even is manga if it doesn't come from Asia. Isn't it just digest-sized comics with bigger than usual eyes? Honestly, it feels sort of like Al Jolson cartooning. Mammy-san.

Harvard professor Khaled El-Rouayheb will discuss his book, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800, on campus Wednesday, December 12, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. In case he runs long, allow me to tell you my favorite part of the time spent I touring my amateur drag act in Iran: eye makeup only, and I never had to shave!

The LA Times tries to make up for dropping their Books section by coming out against the Kindle. Some of their reasons as to why it doesn't meet or exceed regular books are sentimental crap:
"Anyone who first read Treasure Island at age 11 could still tell you whether the cover illustration on that copy had Long John Silver in a red pantaloon or a black one."
(Yeah, and people who first heard Sgt. Peppers on vinyl have fond memories of staring at that album cover. But guess what? That wasn't nearly enough to stop the music biz from becoming 99% online -- and unpaid for.)
But other reasons are irrefutable:
"There's no way you could read...a book like War and Peace...or John Richardson's multipart biography of Picasso...on a screen. You've got to be able to concentrate on it, to go back, and go ahead, and look at the footnotes."
(Of course, this doesn't address the fact that most people only read pop-lite, bestsellers, but hey, I'm on your side.)

Book News, In Brief

The Guardian UK does an author profile of Golden Compass author and current whipping boy of the religious right, Philip Pullman. In the article, Pullman is described as being "as happy woodworking as (he is) writing." What a co-inky-dink. So was that bloody guy from The Passion.

Just when it seemed like the whole world was finally starting to agree with me about Chris Ware's penchant for drawing only one mood -- misery, he goes and releases his second sketchbook collection. Apparently, Eeyore's not always the one-note, style-over-substance mope-aholic he makes himself out to be. So why doesn't Ware ever show this second dimension in his 'official' comics work? Branding and marketing, of course!

Kimberly Steele, author of the hit vampire novel, Forever Fifteen, gives a good interview with The Haunted Vampire blog. And if you're too cheap to buy her book, she offers up the whole thing as an audiobook on her website. (One complaint about the Haunted Vampire blog, though. A nit-pick, really. It's just that the proprietor -- purportedly a bloodsucker -- tops his webpage with a photo of himself. But doesn't that go directly against the whole 'vampires can't be photographed' thing? Or have today's goth bloggers evolved to such a point that the old rules -- lack of reflections, fear of sunlight and crosses, etc. -- no longer apply? Could the magnetic pull of the awkwardly angled webcam be their one remaining weakness? +++, just in case.)

Book News, In Brief

According to Reuters, Doris Lessing's publisher will read the 2007 literature laureate's Nobel lecture, as the author is said to be "too ill to pre-record a speech." Eff that. I know how to smoke her out. Let's start a rumor that there is no Doris Lessing; that she's just the construct of some young, gay, cross-dressing hustler raised in the truckstops of the Southern United States. Then she'll have to show.

Christopher Hitchens is still mad at a God he does not even believe in. This month, Hitchens will release an anthology, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, a sequel of sorts to his best-selling God Is Not Great. I don't know about you, but I worry that if Al Sharpton and Quincy Jones don't step in soon, that this is gonna end in a similar manner to the Biggie/Tupac beef in the 90s -- with Hitchens being gunned down in a car driven by Suge Knight, while Jesus gets a few more holes added to his stigmata after leaving a Vibe Magazine party in Los Angeles. Can't we all just get along?

It's like the Necronomicon in the Evil Dead movies! Via Guardian UK: "A 17th century book believed to be bound in the skin of a priest executed for treason appears to bear a 'spooky' image of his face on the cover, according to the auctioneers who are selling the book." (Remember when I said I wasn't going to recommend any books to y'all as gift ideas? I'm making an exception here. If you've got a germaphobe in your life, this would make the ideal gag gift -- in both senses of the word.)

Film Adaptation News (a.k.a. Underwhelming Information Regarding Upcoming Disappointments)

What's even less inspiring than the official website of the upcoming feature film, Watchmen? Why, the exclusive set photos included therein! It's like someone recreated Stanley Kubrick's crappy looking 'New York Street' set from Eyes Wide Shut, and then added a comic book shop. Hopefully, the director -- Zach Snyder, of 300 fame -- will at least bless us with a couple dozen well-oiled visions of gay lust and some more of those small breasted, long nippled pseudo-actresses to help distract us from the mess he makes out of Alan Moore's brilliant work.







Hollywood insiders/internet outsiders predict that the film, The Golden Compass, will make upwards of $500 million this Christmas. If Christian watchdog groups are to be believed, the film is also slated to create a similar number of atheists in middle schools all across middle America. The Jew York Times maps the long and winding road that Hollywood's harlots and homosexuals walked to bring Philip Pullman's anti-Christ-like novel to the screen. Ye godless sinners can click here.

Again, the New York Times. This time, Ian McEwan is interviewed regarding his novel, Atonement , and it's feature film adaptation. Unfortunately, they never get around to asking McEwan what he thinks of KeiraKnightley's one-stop/all-emotions scrunching-of-the-face acting technique. Paging James Lipton...

Random Assortment of Various Links

Need gift ideas for the manga fan in your life? ComicWorldNews.com has a nice list, complete with small reviews. (Thanks to ComicsReporter.com for the tip.)

First week sales totals are in on Amazon.com's Kindle e-book. Although the headlines were many, the sales were few. To cover for their failure, Amazon.com has their lackeys in the press already beating the drum for the version 2.0.

Whoever said comics are dead needs to look at the sales numbers for DC/Vertigo's Y: The Last Man. The trade paperback releases of this title just get more and more popular. First month sales of book two increased a whopping 66% over book one! This news is all the more encouraging considering that Y is actually a damn good read. Check out these reviews.

The 9 most badass bible verses, brought to you by Cracked Magazine. The selections are both apt and hilarious. The accompanying illustrations are just icing on the unleavened bread. (Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip.)

Gift Tips for the Bookish

Jimbo Vinyl Figure

Gary Panter, one of the late 70's/early 80's greatest punk rock cartoonists (as well as the set designer for Pee-Wee's Playhouse!), has just released "the first officially licensed" figure of his most famous creation, Jimbo. The loinclothed figure is limited to 750 pieces and comes with a 32 page book chronicling the character's various comics appearances thus far. Price: $49.99. Available: here.




Mighty Bright Book Light: Triple LED Deluxe Book Light Kit

This is the book light of choice for most of our staff. If you've ever seen the dark, raccoon-like circles around our eyes, you know it works. It has a telescopic arm, maneuverable head, and AC adapter, not to mention a cool, cyber-snake look. Price: $26.99. Available: In our store.

Book News, In Brief

Norman Mailer wins the 'Bad Sex' award for his fictitious portrayal of the incestuous conception of Adolf Hitler. Do we applaud this victory, or yell out, "Too soon!"? Runners-up for this much lauded prize included the book, Will, by Christopher Rush (wherein the author offers a firsthand account of the dirty deed as performed by William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway) and The Stone Gods, by Jeannette Winterson (whose woman-on-robot sex scene is said to have lacked both spark and pulse).

Via AP: Over 100 authors (including John Updike, Anne Tyler and Walter Isaacson) participated in a 'year's best releases' poll initiated by the nation's book critics. Authors and critics were asked to choose five different works in three different categories: fiction, nonfiction and poetry. The winners were novelist Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying and, in a three-way tie for poetry, Robert Hass' Time and Materials, the late Zbigniew Herbert's Collected Poems and Robert Pinsky's Gulf Music. In a remarkable moment of complete obviousness mixed with confusing rhetoric, John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle, told The Associated Press, "Best-seller lists really only show people what's selling, not what people are reading." Um, that makes zero sense, John.

Book News, In Brief

Imitating the popular Rough Guide cell phone service in Britain, Fodor's Travel Books plans to provide a similar service for Americans. United States of Americans. You Canucks are on your own. To sign up for the service, visit AskMeNow.com.

Short-sighted publishers damn Chinese readers to some of the worst book translations on Earth. Or as our translator in Shanghai tells it, 'Near-sighted pubblers goddamn Chinese red rears to sum of those worse bok transformations in Erf.'

How-to tell if your friendly neighborhood bookstore blogger is desperate for links and news items: They recommend an article like, How-To Pick How-To Books. The internet needs a Bill W. for those of us who realize we've hit rock bottom.

Face: 3, Body: 3, Brains: 5

(Or: Kindle, the Jan Brady of E-Books)
Yesterday's Yahoo and Amazon home pages featured press releases disguised as news articles announcing the "long anticipated" (their wording, of course) arrival of the Kindle reader, an Amazon-exclusive e-book priced at an easily affordable $399. The Kindle is the newest, and by far the most heavily hyped, of the many handheld electronic libraries trying to work their way into the hearts and backpacks of ipod users everywhere.
Like it or not, paper & ink purists, it's only a matter of time before one of these things finally takes off, relegating what few of your favorite indie bookstores still remain to that prime real estate spot down Memory Lane. More specifically, it's only a matter of time before someone finally designs an e-book that actually makes carrying an e-book look sexy. And then it's over. After all, a chic shape was the ultimate turning point for the Apple's ipod, after years of lackluster mp3 player launches from nearly every other major electronics company in the world.
Lucky for us bookstores, then, that the Kindle is anything but sexy. Looking like a 1980's Speak N' Spell, this device inspires neither oohs nor ahhs. In fact, with only a black and white display, the average passerby will probably think you're sporting an out of date Blackberry instead of Amazon.com's anemic attempt at creating this year's Tickle Me Elmo. But who knows, maybe you're deeper than me, and don't like to judge an e-book by its cover. Well, how do you feel about that wireless contract with Sprint that you're damned to enter into? Or the fact that you're being forced to buy your books from just one source? Why, from 1983-1989, I sold countless pairs of acid-washed Levis in Leningrad Square to escape such treatment! And now it has followed me here, like the comic stylings of Yakov Smirnoff and the protruding bulge of Mikhail Baryshnikov?! For shame, America.
Don't get me wrong. I accept the fact that someday -- someday soon -- the e-book will take hold of the public consciousness like the DVD and the mp3 and the Hello Kitty Personal Massager. I just don't think that the Kindle is the e-book that will inspire such consumer lust.

Book News, In Brief

The National Endowment for the Arts hates our soldiers! Isn't that what it really means when they say something like, the average American reads less than one book a year, and that the country is testing dumber because of it? Let me state here -- publicly and unequivocally -- that although I, too, am well-endowed, I do not endorse the NEA's hurtful and hateful and clearly anti-American sentiments.

Judith Regan has launched a $100 million lawsuit against her former publisher, Rupert Murdoch, over the handling of her baby, the OJ Simpson book, If I Did It. And to think, only a week ago she was announcing her plans to stay out of the media spotlight.










Via BoingBoing: "The Book Design Review Blog has picked its top book covers for 2007!" Click here to check them out and cast your vote for the best of the best. (Pictured, from left to right, Unmarketable designed by Rob Carmichael, One Perfect Day designed by Evan Gaffney, and Fireproof designed by unknown.)

Book News, In Brief

The Wu-Tang Clan's most surreal member, Ghostface Killah, is set to release a book this January. The book, The World According to Pretty Toney, is billed as the "ultimate guide to life" for "the modern day hustler," and covers everything from "livin'and hustlin'" to "lovin' and eatin'." Sounds mmn, mmn good!

Marvel Comics has begun offering their comics online, at a price considerably less than retail. Over at ICv2, Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics Shop explains why it may lead to the death of comic book shops, and comic book/trade paperback sales in general. For those of you who might think that Strasser is overreacting, call your local record store and ask them how online sales have effected their business...if their phone is still connected.

Travis Smiley, the thought provoking media personality behind the highly successful -- and self-published -- The Covenant With Black America, is expanding his publishing company...in a big way. Smiley recently announced books by Cornell West and Iyanla Vanzant in the coming year, with plenty more to follow.


Bonus! Ghostface Video!

Book News, In Brief

Surprise, surprise! Anti-war, government-critiquing books win big at The National Book Awards. Does this mean that the notoriously right-wing art world is finally expanding their horizons? What's next -- gay-themed movies winning Academy Awards? Asian chefs winning Iron Chef competitions? The times they are a-stagnant.

It's tasteless and tacky and I'm actually a little miffed that someone else beat me to it: A recent poll finds Kurt Vonnegut to be America's Best Loved Recently Deceased Author. Apparently, most folks found (find?) Mailer's work lacking in "staying power." (Keep in mind, these are the same folks who respond to such random, idiotic queries as, "Who's your favorite dead author?")

Dave Roman, editor and illustrator over at Nickelodeon Magazine, offers up a slew of tips for aspiring freelance artists. Wannabe writers and basement bloggers should also take a look. Roman's tips regarding editors, effectively marketing yourself, finding local outlets for your work, creating a memorable business card, and online self-promotion can easily be applied to your fields, as well.
(A tip of the hat to Publisher's Weekly and The Beat for the initial head-up.)

In Defense of Third Person Omniscient

Yesterday, a customer asked me if I could find him some recent fiction written in the third person omniscient point of view. ('T.P.O.' as I'll refer to it from here on out, is when a story is told from the perspective of a god-like narrator who can see every character's actions and thoughts.) My initial reaction was, damn, what a stupid way to find something new to read. Then I set off around the store to find one. But you know what? I couldn't. Not one. It seems that the majority of the novels being published today fall into one of two p.o.v. camps: first person ("I did this," "I went there," etc.) and third person limited (a character's name is used instead of "I", but chapter to chapter, scene to scene, we get to 'hear' the thoughts and 'see' the observations of whichever character is being featured).
So what the hell happened to T.P.O? Looking around online, the majority of folks seem to deride it, calling it "head-hopping," or "lazy writing." Another common claim is that publishers frown on it because it "creates...distance between the reader and the story," while "making it hard to form any emotional attachments to the characters."
Well, I say mother-eff those folks. T.P.O. is the Robert Altman of fiction -- a unique and exciting way to experience the lives of a wide variety of characters, all at the same time. And to call it "lazy" is ludicrous. Switching back and forth between the p.o.v. of a group of characters in a manner that never confuses...that's anything but easy. Jane Austen used to use the T.P.O., and she's no slacker. J.R.R. Tolkien did, too, and he was a literature professor. Hell, even your mother and/or father used T.P.O. when they told you bedtime stories, and that supposed 'distancing' never stopped you from peeing the bed in terror, did it?
In closing, let me pass on this quote from Molly Maquire, herself quoting Stephen Koch. The two of them sum it up perfectly:

"Whenever arguments over the sanctity of certain POV protocols arises, I think of Koch's take on the furor:

'Too often, this rather fussy doctrine pointlessly constricts writers’ options and narrows their range. As for the claim that the reader can’t follow multiple or shifting points of view, it is simply false on its face. The whole history of the novel is testimony to the contrary, from Jane Austen to Thomas Pynchon. In masterpiece after masterpiece, the narrative point of view readily changes from page to page, or even from sentence to sentence and only delights as it does so. In fact, one of prose fiction’s grandest strengths, which it exercises for once in effortless superiority over all other narrative media, including the movies, is its ability to dart in and out of any character’s mind at will. To forgo this splendid artistic advantage in the name of some pallid academic theory is really madness.'
–Stephen Koch, The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop, page 90"

2 News Bits, 1 Photo

Australia is buzzing about a hot new book that features hundreds of candid photos of sex, jealousy and betrayal...under the sea.

Do the often lurid and embarrassing covers of fantasy books actually hurt their sales? When even their regular readers think so, it may be time for the industry to re-think its approach.

Book News, In Brief

I had no idea that the Miami Book Fair was such a big deal. It makes sense, though, considering the state's reputation as a retirement mecca. Those wealthy old folks do nothing but read and reminisce and find new ways to conceal their old racist ideologies. I kid, I kid...I love old people. My grandparents were old. So was Gandalf. Anyway, for a complete review of the MBF, video clips, and some Rosie O'Donnell gossip, head on over to the Miami Herald, MiamiTV 4, and the official website. Oh, and don't forget your reading glasses. None of these sites currently offer large print versions.

Andrew Morton, dirt-disher extraordinaire, is set to publish a new biography about every woman's dream Lamaze partner, Tom Cruise. According to Morton, the book offers so much dirt on Cruise's personal life, sexuality, religious beliefs, etc, that he has had to go into hiding for fear of losing his life. "I have received threats from the Scientologists, and things have become pretty heavy - to the extent that it's almost more than my lawyers can handle. I've sold my flat and I'm not telling anyone where I'm moving to. I intend to disappear for a while."
(Note to Morton's publishers: He told me to tell you to just go ahead and send his checks here, care of me. We all feel that for now, it's safer that way.)

Norman Mailer is dead at age 84. Listed below are are a slew of links to various tributes, obits and career summaries.
New Yorker Magazine
New York Times obituary
San Fran Chronicle
Publishers Weekly
Time Magazine
Mailer on The Charlie Rose Show
Recent interview with The UK Guardian

Book News, In Britain

According to recent across-the-pond polls, Harry Potter is the most re-read book (and/or series) in England. Less embarrassing is the fact that 77% of British readers revisit the books that they enjoyed the first time around. Some say that they go back to find things they might have missed the first time around, while others do so simply out of dissatisfaction with everything else coming out. (Editor's note: It's official -- new release whores are a world wide scourge.)

Via PublishingNewsUK: "Some five million mobile phone users are estimated to be using Rough Guides Mobile, the application which provides travel content through a navigable map interface, facilitating access to travel information to more than 200 cities in 33 countries. The feature is embedded on all Motorola handsets sold in Europe and is offered by Samsung through its Fun Club portal in the UK."
Needless to say, this is not helping our 'folks don't want to read books on their cell phone' argument.

The prize at the bottom of today's blog post is this photo of a handful of England's comics luminaries circa 1990. From left to right, Grant Morrison, Brendan McCarthy, Rian Hughes, Peter Hogan and Charles Shaar Murray. Pic stolen from Forbidden Planet.co.uk.

Book News, No Pics

Judith Regan (publisher of the OJ book, among other atrocities) claims she wants out of the spotlight. She announced this in an exclusive interview with Harper's Bazaar.

UK publisher Picador announced that they will henceforth be putting out their new titles in both hardcover and softcover simultaneously. They then ask this question of other publishers: "When are we going to accept that we live in an A and B (now mostly B) format country; that only a tiny handful of authors command enough reader loyalty to achieve viable hardback sales; that by concentrating promotional energy on a moribund format we are doing no favours to the format people actually want to buy?"

HarperCollins reports that they had a "lousy quarter," with sales falling 11.5%, to a paltry $330 million. I've got an idea that would raise their profits and help the struggling Arab publishing world at the same time. A merger of sorts. Well, okay, more like a government funded, hostile corporate takeover. HaliburtonCollins. I've even got their first three releases picked out for them: Bush's daughter's book, Cheney's wife's softcore pulp, and Everybody Poops (Taro Gomi is Bush's Maya Angelou).

Book News, In Brief

Rosie O'Donnell dropped two f-bombs on the Miami Book Fair, then went on to make this stellar observation: "I’ve never been to a book fair, so I didn’t know what to expect. I thought maybe there would be rides, cotton candy...Turns out it’s a bunch of smart people talking about books."
For those of you too cool to watch crappy daytime television, O'Donnell is the author of the recently published/critically lambasted memoir, Celebrity Detox, as well as the star of the film adaptation/abomination of Anne Rice's Exit To Eden.

After all the fuss, it turns out that only 1,700 people requested a refund on their copies of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. If 1,700 seems like a rather large number to you, keep in mind that millions of copies were originally sold -- along with another 100,000 being purchased after the 'fabrications' were revealed.

Faris al-Saqqaf, head of the General Authority for Books (possibly one of the coolest job titles in existence, no?) says that 'the shortage of reading, and subsequently the shortage of publishing, is damaging the Middle East’s development.' He has called upon the governments in Arab countries to help support and further their book industries by decreasing the cost of customs on materials used for book production, and is asking for tax exemptions for publishing houses. (He is also pushing for e-books for schoolchildren, but hey, nobody's perfect.)

Paul Norris Sleeps With The Fishes

Norris, co-creator of Aquaman, died today at age 93. For a fitting, informative tribute, click on over to Mark Evanier's site.