Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 85
March 8, 2012
From the Generic Box #1
At the moment my job involves going through the many boxes categorized as "Generic." This term encapsulates essentially everything that wasn't recognized by the scanner when the book was bought back, whether it was an out of print book, a book from another country, a strange barcode that wasn't recognized, or just something the machine couldn't understand, in which case it automatically got categorized asGeneric. As you may have guessed, this can include just about any and every type of book that has ever been printed, and then some. Naturally, it's been a lot of fun, and frankly, quite exciting, to open up a new box and see just what I'm going to come across.
The point of this exercise is that, since all these book are priced a 99 cents, to see if there's anything that might be worth some money that can get correctly priced. I've come across some interesting things so far, such as popular books that are simply worth more, an old James Joyce hardcover, I nice and very old Thucydides hardcover, but today was different. Today, I came across some most unusual books that made me stop and think: 1) someone write this book, 2) someone published and printed this book, and 3) someone bought this book. Naturally, I had to take photos of what I came across, and I hope this can turn into a sort of regular segment here in BookBanter. Only time and the strangeness of the printed word will tell!
Just enough time for a quick cigarette.
To satisfy the inner paranoid voice.
It's scientific, so it must be true.
Still counting down, three decades later.
A neat old edition.
Also a neat old edition.
Was always creepy looking.
Especially with a cigarette.
Found this old looking book . . .
. . . With this old and strange note in it.
And this is just in case . . .
March 7, 2012
Where You Can Buy "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers"
And for people in Europe:
And you can keep up to date on future ebook publications on my books page.
March 6, 2012
Forces of Geek Book Report: Book News for the Week of March 4
10 Great Magical Books for Adults: Flavorwire presents ten special books for adults to enjoy; books that will make you feel like you're taking a wonderful adventure across time and space, leaving in you a lasting memory you won't soon forget.
10 eReaders Reviewed: We've all come to the albeit reluctant acceptance, at least for some of us, that ebooks and ereaders are not going to disappear or wane in popularity, but are here to stay. So with the many ereaders out there, which one is the best for you? Have no fear: PC Tech & Authority have done a thorough review of ten ereaders you can check out to help you in your decision to join the future of books. As for me, I'm kind of leaning towards the Kobo Touch.
Harry Potter E-Books Available at Your Library: Through a worldwide ebook and audiobook distribution agreement between Pottermore and OverDrive, Harry Potter ebooks may soon be available at your local library.
A Memory of Light Print Book Cover: With the sad passing of Darrell K. Sweet, who was the masterful artist behind the many memorable Wheel of Time book covers, Michael Whelan, who was originally commissioned to do the ebook version of the final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light, will also be doing the cover for the print version. Whelan is best known for his moving and sweeping covers to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings.
[CONTINUE READING ON FORCES OF GEEK . . .]
March 5, 2012
Welcome to Read an E-Book Week, March 4-10
March 4th marks the start of "Read an E-Book Week," and March is in fact "Read an E-Book Month." You can read about the background and history of this here. BookBanter will be participating in this and starting at 12:01 AM on March 4th, Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers will be available to readers for free. To take advantage of this offer, enter the code RE100 when you buy Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers on the Smashwords site, which you can find here, and you'll get the ebook for free.
So go ahead and get yourself this free ebook and let me know what you think. And don't forget to spread the word about ebooks and ereading!
March 3, 2012
BookBanter Column on Forces of Geek: Borders Lives on . . . Sort of
A lot people will acknowledge that 2011 was a pretty bad year for a lot of people; it was also the worst year possible for Borders, concluding with its going out of business sale in September, where thousands of employees (including yours truly) lost their jobs.
During the month of the company's demise, I wrote a column, "Thank You Borders," on what Borders had done for me personally, as well as what it had done for so many readers and customers and employees over its many years of service. Now, six months later, Borders Books, Music & More is becoming little more than a memory for everyone . . . and yet the memory that was Borders lives on in some ways. This is how. [CONTINUE READING . . .]
March 2, 2012
GUEST POST with James D. Sanderson, Author of "Sacred are the Brave"
The characters in the stories of 'Sacred Are the Brave' are so different from one another that normally they would have been difficult to confine between the covers of a single volume. They are men and women. Young and old. They are from many different countries and their stories are told, even, in different times. (From 1986 through 1989). What has brought them together here is a global upheaval of revolution that brought down many seemingly invincible dictators by nonviolent means. In the single year of 1989, in fact, nearly one third of the earth's population was involved in nonviolent revolution.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James D. Sanderson began writing at a young age because, he says, his father was so boisterous and loud that the only way he could express himself was through the written word and the only way he could listen to someone beside his father was to read books. Even at as a boy he began to read the classics. His friends often made fun of him when he lugged volumes of Dickens or Tolstoy around with him He is the author of one other book – an experimental novella called 'The Angelic Mysteries' which is available in Amazon Kindle. The author is currently working on a nonfiction book about American literature called 'American Masters' which is due out next year.
ABOUT 'SACRED ARE THE BRAVE': 'Sacred Are the Brave', a collection of short stories by author James D. Sanderson, consists of nine stories about various nonviolent revolutions that took place in 1986 (the People Power revolution in the Philippines) and others that took place in Eastern Europe in 1989. This is the second book to be released by this author – the first was 'The Angelic Mysteries' released in September 2011 – and it is available in Amazon Kindle.
What happens when people stand up to cruel men with weapons using nothing more than their bare hands and their hope for a different future? That is exactly what happened in 1989 when fully one third of the world's population was involved in nonviolent struggle in one form or another. From the Philippines (earlier, in 1986) through the peaceful revolutions in Eastern Europe and the upheavals in South Africa and the former Soviet Union, unarmed people were able to change the future of the world for the better.
'Sacred Are The Brave' is a collection of nine short stories that examines some of these struggles up close and personal. The characters of these short fictions are ordinary people who get swept up in the call for change in their lives and in their nations. One man attempts to change things through a failed hunger strike. A young girl sets out to ask Imelda Marcos to share some of her thousands of pairs of shoes with the poor. A young college student journals the revolution in her home country of Czechoslovakia. A man tries to tunnel under the iron curtain to reach his lost fiancé. A group of protestors set out to liberate Unity Bridge in an undisclosed Eastern European nation. These are some of the stories of courage you will find in 'Sacred Are The Brave'.
Each story tells in unerring detail the plight of its characters as they face the very human and sometimes inhuman treatment at the hands of soldiers and other authorities who are determined to put an end to their revolutionary activities. Some were more successful than others but all, as history has revealed, brought liberation to their nations in the end. If you are looking for a very realistic portrayal of the nonviolent revolutions of recent history, you need look no further than 'Sacred Are the Brave.'
AN EXCERPT FROM 'SACRED ARE THE BRAVE' (From 'A Most Curious Activity' Copyright 2012, James D. Sanderson. All Rights Reserved).
In the years following the construction of the Berlin Wall and the iron curtain, many attempts were made to cross from East to West. Some with tragic consequences. In this story a man has been separated from his fiancé by the wall and is attempting to see her again:
We passed into the new year – 1962 – before a plan finally established itself in my mind. I decided upon a tunnel. And so it was that my own life became also a most curious activity. After all what did I, a lowly government clerk, understand about digging a tunnel? Nothing whatsoever.
First it was necessary for me to find a viable place to dig. After some searching I found a wooden shed with a dirt floor that was not far – a few hundred meters – from the wall. I could pile dirt up inside the shed until I had the opportunity to dispose of it later. I took a shovel and a metal bucket and concealed them there. I was cautious to insure the border guards did not have reason to notice me. My comings and goings were seen to be routine. Still, I could not start digging until late spring, so my days passed in agonizing slowness.
From time to time I checked on my little shed to be sure it had not been inspected or my spade and bucket trifled with. At last, in May, I decided it was time to begin. Fortunately the soil under our Berlin is sandy and not solid or hard-packed. Since I am little used to physical labor, it took some time to get my muscles in shape for such laborings. With the first thrust of the shovel into the dirt of the floor of the shed I felt a sudden exhilaration such that I knew my freedom was only a month or two away. The hole began to form in the bottom of the shed. I took bucket-full after bucket-full of dirt out the door, being careful to keep the structure of the shed between me and anyone who might be patrolling the wall. I took the dirt out to the copse of trees that stood only a few meters behind the shed. There, I dumped the dirt and spread it around so as not to attract any attention. Such pains I took to avoid detection!
I dug down about six feet at an angle so I could access my tunnel. Then it began to turn more and more toward my destination. Meter by meter I made my way toward the wall and, beyond that, my freedom.
How can I describe for you how I felt, Mr. Sanderson, as I hauled bucket after bucket of dirt out of my tunnel? My soul seemed to become lighter with each load. And to know that I was only a few meters under the feet of the border guards – that feeling was truly sublime. I always started digging in the late afternoon after work was finished for the day. On Saturdays I could work off and on all day. My tunnel got so long that the air began to taste leaden, so foul it was. There was no way I could penetrate to the surface for a breathing hole. I would just have to suffer the bad air.
It was on a Saturday at about noon when the unimaginable happened. The overburden collapsed down upon me while I was stretched out at the far end of my hole. At first I could not breathe, so tightly packed down was the sand upon my back. I panicked and began to scream, wasting what little air I had in there with me. It was dark as the tomb. Instinctively I pushed up against the weight of the burden and was able to purchase an inch, perhaps. With that move my life was spared, I am now convinced. My left arm was pinned beside me and my right was outstretched. In a state of complete terror I flexed the fingers of my right hand, managing to push a little sand away with that motion.
I don't know how long I was stuck in that position, barely breathing. Several hours passed. I screamed myself hoarse, though I don't know who I thought was going to hear me. My head was swimming from lack of clean air. I was sure I would die down there in my tunnel.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Your second book is to be published in March. Could you tell us a little about it?
Of course. It is a book of short stories built around the nonviolent revolutions of 1989. One of the stories takes place before that – during the 'People Power' revolution of the Philippines – which sets the stage for the rest. I just love that – People Power. That's where the real power lies.
What made you decide to write about nonviolence?
Well, I have been practicing the way of Christian nonviolence in my own life since 1990 and I have had trouble expressing to others what I mean by that or why anyone else should choose that way for themselves. I thought if I could demonstrate the power of nonviolence through these stories, others might have a better idea about it.
What happened in 1990 to cause you to choose the way of nonviolence?
That's a long story, I guess, but generally it goes like this: I was in Nicaragua volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity site and the people I was staying with showed great courage in the face of armed soldiers. I realized they had a courage that I lacked. I wanted that courage for myself. They recommended I look up Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus himself (in a new light) when I got home. I did just exactly that. It changed everything.
Your first book 'The Angelic Mysteries' came out last October but we haven't heard much about it. What can you tell us about that?
You ask the hard questions don't you? I think 'The Angelic Mysteries' kind of fell through a marketing crack. When I told people it was a love story, it was not the kind of love story they are used to. When I told them it was a thriller, it was not the kind of thriller they normally read. When I told readers it was literary fiction, that didn't seem to resonate with them. So, it is still available on Kindle and Nook if they'd care to try it out. $2.99 is not much to spend to try it. My collection of short stories is a little more traditional in its approach to the story.
What is the title of your collection and where did you get the title?
Oh yes, I nearly forgot to give myself a marketing plug. The collection is called 'Sacred Are the Brave'. I found that the words 'Sacred' and 'Brave' are very closely related and of course they reflect exactly the kind of impression I hope to give. Those who practice the way of nonviolence often must show courage in standing up without weapons and if one takes it the way I do, it is a sacred endeavor as well. These stories are about ordinary people who make extraordinary choices in life, which is always a courageous thing to do. Standing up to men with weapons is always brave. The way of nonviolence is always sacred.
Where and when can we find your book 'Sacred Are the Brave'?
It will be available March 1st 2012 on Kindle for $2.99. I hope everyone reads it and loves it.
CONNECT WITH AUTHOR JAMES D. SANDERSON: www.jamesdsanderson.host22.com.
March 1, 2012
Faces of Publishing #2: Michael Homler, Editor, St. Martin's Press
Michael Homler is an Editor at St. Martin's Press. He has worked on a number of terrific books from the forthcoming JOE GOLEM AND THE DROWNING CITY by Mike Mignola and Chris Golden to Jonathan Maberry's DEAD OF NIGHT and his Joe Ledger series. He has also published Shannon Delany's 13 to Life series, and the literary biographies HIDING MAN, JUST ONE CATCH, and JAMES TIPTREE JR.
Alex C. Telander: When did you know you wanted to become an editor?
Michael Homler: Probably about two years into the job when I realized that it could be a fun profession and that you could get excited about producing books people love to read.
Alex: How did you get started in publishing?
Michael: I started out as an assistant and climbed the proverbial ladder.
Alex: What does an ordinary day look like for you?
Michael: It's usually a lot of running around to meetings, putting out small fires, and fielding phone calls. There's some reading that goes on, but most of that is done at home.
February 29, 2012
Faces of Publishing Exclusive Interview Lineup on BookBanter
On February 1st I debuted the first of my new interview series, Faces of Publishing, where I go beyond the book and the author, and take a look into the world of publishing and the people who made that book happen. Throughout 2012 I'll be putting up a new interview on the first of every month with a publicist, editor, agent, ebook specialist, marketing manager, or some crucial person involved in publishing. My first interview was with Justin Golenbock, a senior publicist for Tor and Forge Books.
[I will still be doing occasional interviews with authors throughout the year, most likely on the 15th of the month. Be sure to check back often on the website, or subscribe to this blog.]
Below is a listing of the interviews I've got lined up so far that you can enjoy reading throughout the year. They are subject to change and I'm adding more all the time and hope to keep this going for a long time.
February 1st: Justin Golenbock, SENIOR PUBLICIST for Tor and Forge books
March 1st:Michael Homler, EDITOR for St. Martin's Press.
April 1st: Danielle Bartlett, PUBLICIST for HarperCollins.
May 1st: Michelle Brower, AGENT for Folio Literary Management.
June 1st: Brady McReynolds, PUBLICIST for Berkeley/NAL.
July 1st: Paula Guran, EDITOR for Prime Books.
August 1st: Kevin Smith, EDITOR.
September 1st: Lynn Pasquale, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL PUBLISHING for Prometheus Books.
October 1st: Jaime Levine, EXECUTIVE EDITOR for Grand Central Publishing.
February 27, 2012
"Discount Armageddon" by Seanan McGuire (DAW, 2012)
It has been readily agreed by most fans that Buffy the Vampire Slayer needed to end in season 7 when it did, but it has still been greatly missed. The comic books from Dark Horse have done a little to fill this empty void, but thankfully Seanan McGuire, bestselling author of the October Daye books, has a new series with a new character that feels much like a new incarnation of Buffy, except less with the superpowers and more with the weapons and kickass fighting skills.
In this world every ghost, ghoul and monster you've read about since you were a kid exists; a number of them look almost human, or can make themselves look presentable in everyday society. They've been around for a long time, and sometimes they overstep their boundaries and enjoy the taste of some human flesh. There are two groups in the world that exist to control and police these cryptids: one is the Covenant, a religious group that has been around for centuries and sees the cryptids as a scorn upon the earth to be killed and got rid of, whether they be succubus, boogie man, or dragon (but dragons haven't been around for hundreds of years); the other is the Price family.
The Price family have also been around for quite a while, and they're the good guys who separated from the Covenant a long time ago because they had this crazy notion that some cryptids deserve not to be hunted to extinction. There was also some inter-marrying going on. Enter our heroine, Verity Price who enjoys spending her free time running and base jumping along the rooftops of New York, checking on the local cryptids and making sure they're staying in line. She earns some okay money and decent tips at Fish and Chicks, a local strip club, where she waitresses only, even though her boss — a bogey man — would love to have her do more; hence Verity's choice uniform on the cover of the book. Verity also happens to be a talented ballroom dancer, which keeps her in shape and her martial arts skills honed, making her made up dancing persona quite the celebrity in the ballroom dancing circles.
Things begin to get pretty crazy when a young, muscular and surprisingly attractive Covenant member shows up to start purging the city and Verity keeps running into him and seriously falling for him. Then cryptids start disappearing and it seems like there might be something really big under Manhattan either killing them or making them get the hell out of town; plus there's some strange snake cult looking for virgins. And then she has this large nest of Aeslin mice living with her, celebrating all manner of weird mice-sized festivals.
Discount Armageddon at first feels a lot like a combination of the October Daye series and McGuire's other Newsflesh series under her Mira Grant pseudonym, as the first person perspective makes it seem like the reader is enjoying one of those books just with different details. But by halfway through the book, Verity Price establishes herself as a strong independent protagonist, part of a tough and interesting family, and the world is complex and fully established, with a cornucopia of cryptid species that each have their own established and researched pedigree. By the end of the first book in the Cryptid series, readers will be thoroughly hooked and checking out the cryptid glossary at the end of the book and wanting more cryptid crunchy goodness.
Originally written on December 30, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Discount Armageddon from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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February 23, 2012
"The Rook" by Daniel O'Malley (Little, Brown, 2012)
Daniel O'Malley's debut novel, The Rook, has a storyline that will hook any person who's looking for a book in the fantasy genre that's something a little bit different. Myfanwy Thomas wakes up with no recollection of who she is or where she is or whether this is even her body. When she reads the letter in front of her she finds out that this is in fact all true. She is now somehow in the body of this Myfanwy Thomas who is no more. As this new Myfanwy puts the carefully laid out pieces together, reading more letters sending her on to specific destinations, she discovers she is a "Rook," which is a special elite-level operative working for a secret government agency within the United Kingdom, known as the Checquy. The goal of the Checquy is to rid the world of supernatural beasts, but Myfanwy finds out there is a mole within the organization who wants her taken out of the picture.
While this sounds like a riveting story with a lot of promise, it is the method in which it is delivered that is disappointing. There is a way of writing about a compelling story such as this one that can be done by showing and revealing through dramatic scenes and descriptive writing, and the other is through telling and regurgitation of what happened with little variety. Sadly, The Rook pertains more to the latter, and while it can be said that a combination of these two writing styles can be employed to effective means, this particular one is told through the recounting of scenes and exposition-filled letters. It is a style of writing that was practiced much in the past, and is antiquated and outdated, which is sad for a story like this that at first seems interesting and compelling, but the constant "infodumping" becomes a nuisance that ultimately distracts from the story.
Originally written on February 11, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of The Rook from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
