Jamie Todd Rubin's Blog, page 379
October 26, 2010
The trouble with David Pogue's "Trouble with E-Readers"
In the November 2010 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, David Pogue writes a column pointing out "The Trouble with E-Readers". The trouble with Pogue's column is that he is focusing on arguments that are old-hat and many of them are being addressed. What he, and the rest of the world seem to miss is that perhaps the most significant problem with E-Readers is their aesthetics. Robert J. Sawyer wrote about this scandalous state of e-books back in February.
Pogue argues that the death of the printed book is premature and that comes as news to just about no one following E-Reader developments. In the long run, E-Reader editions of books may very well replace the paperback market, but hardcovers and trade editions are going nowhere anytime soon. He makes a kind of amusing post hoc argument as to why E-Readers won't replace books (because television didn't replace radio and e-mail didn't replace paper).
And then he goes on to talk about the crudeness of the technology, addressing the points that we are all aware of, but not even mentioning the crudeness of the aesthetics for most of these devices. I've talked about this before, but for those new to the discussion, what I mean by aesthetics is how pleasing the e-book looks to our trained eyes. And our eyes are trained. When we look at a book, we are used to certain types of justification, certain types of hyphenation, and a certain lack of typos in the text. However, many e-books are scanned in from manuscript without a copy editor, introducing numerous OCR errors that never appear in their print version. (Think of the word "turn". An OCR scan may see that "rn" as an "m" and so you get "tum" instead. I've seen this countless times in e-books. Hyphenation in print books helps maintain the satisfying level of word spacing that we are used to. All of this combines to be the aesthetics of the book and it is here that publishers are presently failing. Fix this aspect of e-books and E-Readers and all of the other pieces will fall into place.
It is not an easy fix. It requires changes to the way e-book software does hyphenation. It requires paying copy editors to read the e-book version of each format of the book produced to check for typos introduced through OCR automation. Publishers will argue that this drives up the price of the book. But until the aesthetics of the e-book match that of the hardcover or paperback, people will continue to resist them for vague reasons that they can't quite explain.
Ultimately, no device will ever be as perfect as a book. Isaac Asimov gave a reasoned argument for this in his essay "The Ancient and the Ultimate" and if you've never read that essay, I urge you to check it out. But I have been generally pleased with my Kindle and I consider myself a convert.
October 25, 2010
Clearing the decks
With the start of NaNoWriMo just 1 week away, something's got to give. And so, it is with a fair amount of disappointment that I am giving up on the backlog of science magazines sitting on a pile on my desk. I got lazy and allowed myself to get far enough behind to where it is not likely I will catch up and get only further behind. So I'm cutting bait. I have sitting next to me the November 2010 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. This will be the next issue that I read, skipping over September and October. My next issue of NEW SCIENTIST will be the one I receive in the mail this week, skipping over 8 or so stacked on my desk. I really hate doing that since I love the magazine and I wonder what I will miss–but miss it I will. It is the only way I can get back on track with the magazines.
In a perfect world, I'll have finished All Clear by Sunday night, too, but I don't think that's in the cards either.
Capclave 2010
I spent Friday evening and all day Saturday at Capclave, the local science fiction convention put on by the Washington Science Fiction Association. I like Capclave because it centers around short fiction, which is what I write, and avoids media-related science fiction and fantasy. I had a lot of fun at Capclave. What follows is my summary of the convention.
Most of Friday night was for networking and catching up with people I know. I saw Larry Hodges there, and also met James Maxey for the first time. The three of us spent some time talking shop before heading off to Larry's reading. He read 3 pieces of flash fiction, after which the three of us retired to the bar for the rest of the evening.
On Saturday, I started off my day at the convention by attending 4 straight panels. The first of these was "The Mule, Muad'dib, and Men Who Stare at Goats". The panel was described as imaging whether or not there could be superhumans. I went into thinking there would be discussion of those "superhumans" mentioned in the title, but as it turned out, this was mostly a nonsense panel with the participants discussing things like ESP, telekensis, and other pseudoscience as if it actually existed. There were even claims of scientific evidence for such phenomenon and I was rather disappointed that seemingly intelligent people would discuss these topics with the level of irrationality at which it was conducted. There was one panelist, however, Sam Scheiner, who was the voice of reason on the panel, correcting panelist about what the job of science was in the first place, and correcting the audience when one of our member was confused about how evolution worked.
The next panel, on ePublishing, was far more interesting and far more relevant to both writer and fan alike. The panel was made of participants, each of whom had experience in ePublishing in different ways. There was good discussion of many of the aspects of ePublishing, but one area that was missing was that of the aesthetics of eBooks. Since this is something I have complained about before, I brought it up in the discussion. Neil Clarke responded to this, seemed to understand the problem well and was sympathetic.
Next was Connie Willis, the guest of honor, who was supposed to read from her lastest novel All Clear. However, when she got started, she said that she wouldn't read from the novel since it was finally available and she didn't want to spoil it (or Blackout) for those who haven't read it yet. Instead, she gave a delightful talk on the things that she found in her research that she could not put into the novel. It was the first time I'd ever seen Connie Willis talk and she is a delightful and even more, a funny speaker. She told many stories of the Brits from the Blitz. She also talked about the novel she is writing next, a romantic comedy about alien abduction and Las Vegas, centering around Roswell.
Finally, there was a panel on World Building; Planning and Execution. It was an interesting panel that never really got into the "planning and execution" phase and ended up being focused on other aspects of world-building in various types of genre fiction.
After a break (where I worked feverishly on the outline for my novel) I attended the interview with Connie Willis and she was utterly charming in that interview.
When it was over, I headed to the hotel lounge to get some food. As it turned out, Connie Willis entered the lounge shortly after and sat down with several people at the next table. Her husband, Courtney, who I'd met briefly in the bar earlier ended up sitting with me and over the course of the next 2 hours, we had a delightful conversation.
My final event of the convention was the book-signing. Since I own both Blackout and All Clear on the Kindle, there was no way that I could get those books signed by Connie Willis. So I brought my Easton Press edition of Doomsday Book put out by the Masterpieces of Science Fiction collection and that is the book that Connie signed for me.
The convention was a lot of fun for me, and I was thrilled to get to meet Connie Willis in person. The next event I'll be attending is the SFWA annual reception in New York City on November 22.
October 22, 2010
Doppelgänger
A colleague stopped by today asked me if I knew who ESPN's Sport Science host John Brenkus was? I didn't. So he told me to go look him up at once on ESPN. Apparently, he looks just like me. Or I look just like him. I dunno, he looks older than me, but setting that aside, I suppose I can see a vague resemblance. Then again (and contrary to what others might like to believe) I don't spent a whole lot of time looking at myself, so I am poor judge of these things. What do you think?
Deadlines
I'm entering a kind of writer's crunch time. NaNoWriMo begins in ten days. I still have nearly 40 chapters worth of outlining to complete before then. (I suppose I don't have to complete all 40 before then, but I learned from last year that not having a complete and well-thought out outline can lead to a disjointed narrative, and while this is going to be a very rough first draft novel, it is one that I plan on trying to sell eventually and I want to be as good as it can be.) In addition, I am partway through 3 different short pieces, one of which I'd like to finish and send out before my focus turns to novel-writing in November. That means getting at least a first draft completed in the next 10 days.
For NaNoWriMo, I'm going back to my schedule from last year, where I do my quota writing between 5-7 am weekdays and 7-9 am weekends. I've been trying to get up earlier lately and just haven't had the energy. Kelly says it's because I'm not getting any exercise and I think she's probably right. I've become pretty darn lazy about things. I'd like to say that I'm going to jump back on the exercise/early-arousal routine at once, but I'm too lazy to commit to it publicly at the moment. But I am focused on getting the outline and short piece finished in the next ten days. I generally work better with a deadline and so we'll see how this goes.
October 21, 2010
Tardy bells, redux
With all of the meetings I have been in lately, I once again find it frustratingly necessary to implement some kind of tardy bell within my company. This is nothing new. I wrote on this very subject over four years ago, and nothing has changed. People are still routinely late to meetings, often without notice or apology. When my frustration works up to a requisite pitch, I try to calm myself by imagining a tardy-bell system like the kind I had in junior high school and high school, with middle managers, directors and senior directors dashing down the hallway at the first sounding of the bell, their coat tails trailing behind them, their ties flapping in the artificial breeze. At least that is enough to make me smile.
Thank you, you're welcome
My grandfather was very big on please, thank you and you're welcome, and I picked some of that up from him. It is always nice to be courteous and saying please and thank you are very simple ways of doing this. But I think trends are changing. (I may have pointed this out before but with more than 3,000 posts, I can't remember and don't intend to go back in search through them.) I don't see people saying "You're welcome," much anymore. This is true even of myself. Take your typical retail interaction:
You make a purchase, pay for your purchase, the retailer (sometimes) says "Thank you," and I find myself responding with "Thanks," or "thank you" as well. I am, of course, thanking them for handing me my change or my package, but it skews the mechanics of the transaction. So over the last couple of days I have conducted a little experiment. I have tried to say "You're welcome" each time someone thanks me for something. This is more difficult than it seems. For non-retail transaction–for things at work for instance, I am used to saying, "No problem," or "Glad to help," in response to "Thank you." Saying "you're welcome," feels almost condescending in a way, but I have been forcing myself to do it.
The results so far? I don't think anyone notices, although once-in-a-while, I've felt like the person I've interacted had the feeling that they were doing me the favor and that I should be thanking them, rather than saying, "You're welcome." But my sample size is still small and I think I need to give it more time.
Thank you for listening. (Let's see how many "you're welcome" comments I get.)
October 20, 2010
The Arlington Writers Group
I mentioned my Wednesday night writer's group in the previous post, so I thought I should discuss that briefly. Tonight will be the 6th meeting I've attended of the Arlington Writers Group and the group will be critiquing a story of mine called "In the Cloud".
I discovered this group through another writing colleague, Larry Hodges. There are well over 200 members of the group, but there appears to be 30 or 40 active regular attendees. The group meets weekly at a high school in Arlington, Virginia. Each meeting lasts about 2 hours. Every other week is a critique week. Stories are submitted into the queue and selected for critique at the next available meeting. On alternating weeks, there is usually some kind of discussion or planned activity. For example, last week's meeting centered around a discussion on NaNoWriMo.
I've been part of several groups over the year. I am a member of the Young Gunns, for instance, a group of writers who have completed James Gunn's online workshop on fiction writing. From this group, I found a couple of fellow writers who act as my "first readers" for most of my stories. But this group is entirely online and while I trust the opinions of my "first readers", I have never met them in person. We interact entirely online.
The Arlington Writers Group is nice because our meetings are in person. Writing is a lonely business (other writers will understand this, but non-writers might not). What it comes down to is you and a blank screen, and no matter how good your idea, it's up to you to execute it. It's nice to come to a group each week where you can discuss the mechanics and challenges of writing with people who know every well what you are going through.
Several of the regulars in the group are published authors, and some of them write full-time for a living. Others are beginners just starting out. It's a good fit for me because I fall somewhere in between. There is a great mix of stuff to read, from all forms and genres of fiction, to personal essays, to non-fiction. I get to read and critique stories several times a month and this is helpful in learning to look at your own work critically. In a way, it gives you an abbreviated eye into the life of a slush reader and you get a very broad range of stuff to consider and think about.
The members of the group all seem dedicated and fun. I'm glad I found it.
If there is anyone out there interested in the group, learn more about it here.
A fair-weather fan?
I was accused, yesterday, of being a fair-weather fan because I complained that I was giving up on last night's game and heading off to bed. I surprised by the accusation. No one with whom I work would ever consider me a fair-weather fan, but since I couldn't sleep last night, I gave the matter some thought.
I gave up on the game in frustration. I think this is a natural emotion, the more so when you care about something that is completely out of your control. You can only shout at your TV so many times (the results are the same, regardless). Frustration, to me, is an emotion that shows you care. If the poor showing by Yankees pitching didn't frustrate me, I'd see it as a sign that it was something I just didn't care much about. But I love baseball and I have been a lifelong Yankees fan, despite nearly everyone around me hating the team. There is nothing wrong with frustration.
I also complained that I didn't have the energy for tonight's game and my accuser took exception to that. What kind of fan am I if I don't support my team, whole hog into the wee hours of the night? I suppose, under those circumstances, I am a fair-weather fan. I've found as I have gotten older that it is more difficult for me to stay up late, and these games often go past midnight on the East Coast. This difficulty, however, has nothing to do with being a fan of the team. I have difficulty staying up to midnight on any night. Even so, I claimed I didn't have the energy to watch tonight's game, and in part, I think I meant I didn't have the heart to watch it. This goes hand-in-hand with frustration, I think.
But there are other, more practical reasons why I won't be watching tonight's game. Wednesday night's are my writer's group nights and at the moment, writing takes a priority over baseball. If that makes me a fair-weather fan, then so be it. I can live with that. The bottom line is that fan though I am, baseball doesn't always come first.
