Kae Cheatham's Blog: Whoa! Another Author?, page 24

Closing of Bookstore

In my former hometown, it has just been announced that Davis-Kidd Bookstore will be closing.

Founded in 1980 by Karen Davis and Thelma Kidd, Davis-Kidd grew to four bookstores in Tennessee, with the Nashville store their premiere location. Davis-Kidd Nashville has been voted "best of" in polls by media outlets year after year, even after it was bought in 1998 by Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

Now, J-B is facing bankruptcy and along with several other of their stores, the showcase Nashville Davis-Kidd will be closing. So sad.

This has a big impact on the community, and on local authors. Nashville authors Phyllis Goebbell and Doug Jones, whose true-crime book, A Season of Darkness, will be released on December 7, have been anticipating a gala kickoff autographing at Davis-Kidd on December 9. I'm certain other author events will also be impacted.

I am saddened by this, but it brings to mind a similar sadness when Mill's Bookstore, a Nashville institution for more than 40 years, closed in the late 80s--due in part to competition from the newer, bigger Davis-Kidd.

Bright of the Sky - Review

Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I downloaded this eBook after reading a blurb about it in Kindle Nations (I think).

I liked the writing, the concept and the characterizations. The beginning was a bit slow, with the introduction of characters that weren't even necessary to the true story. The point of view shifted a lot, and it took me many pages before I realized who was the main protagonist. Once I got to that point, I found the action very dynamic; it kept me "turning" the pages and wondering what would happen next.

Why isn't this a 4-star or more? Partly because of the tedious beginning, and then because of several glitches in the storyline where information seemed thrown in or inconsistent with what was previously told.

I imagine I'll read book 2--again, because of the good character development. I want to know what happens to these people.



View all my reviews

eBook Dilemma

A colleague recently commented his dislike of eBooks, in that your readership was being tracked and quantified by many sources when you download a book. I hadn't thought of it that waay, but then, libraries also track books by who they're loaned to, and they know where you live (which my computer eBook libraries don't know). Buying a dtBook at a bookstore doesn't usually lead to this tracking, unless a credit card is used. Then the info is into the storage banks—if anyone cares to look.

But the disparaging comments about eBooks is all part of the cycle—part of humanity fighting change. I'm sure similar disgruntlement was given when cloth bound books replaced leather bound, or when the first Book Club books came out on their cheap paper, and especially with the production of the smaller paperbacks. "It's not the same," someone would lament. Reactions were even negative when the first public libraries opened.

But that's the whole point: it's not the same; it's change; it's more economically viable; it's progress. All of those I see as benefits.

The dilemma I had with eBooks was the purchase price. Since I don't usually go the bookstore route but use my public library, I thought it a bit wasteful to buy an eBook (or any book). But I've managed to justify this (one can always find ways to justify what you want).

The amount I spend on eBooks each month is 1) less than one cinema visit; 2) less than buying three magazines; 3) less than two video rentals; 4) less than half of one dinner at a decent restaurant; 5) 2/3 the cost of a PPV sporting event...

I partake in none of the above.

So Kindle Nation...Entice me!

Reader's Block

It's happening again. I pick up a book, get going for a page or two, then put it down, frustrated that I only sense jumble. Either that or I'm bothered by the size of the page margins or the font style; the content seems inane or overdrawn, or filled with too much angst; I can't get a handle on any of the characters. It's reader's block, all right. I'm in the throes of it--constantly finding fault with word choice and pacing.

I noticed this tendency on my last visit to the library where I scanned the new book shelf, looking for titles to perk my interest. I pulled out several, but since three of the books I had previously borrowed had been returned unread, I was cautious. I sat at a table and read the cover blurbs, the praise from other readers, then started on the first chapters to see if I was with it. Of eight books, only three came home with me, and of those, I've already set aside one, I'm dallying with another, and avoiding the third. I also have four eBook samples in my reader that I haven't even attempted, and two complete downloads I started last month that I can't seem to finish.

I'll bet professional reviewers go through this a lot and force out their comments through clenched teeth. They probably don't know their afflicted. I think I've read some of those reviews: books I found enchanting that someone panned, reviews where the acerbic comments make you bleed with the author, or where the review language is so trite and off base you wonder whether the person read the book at all.

If I have a writing deadline, I can force myself through writer's block and get something down. I pull it off. I can also defeat writer's block with exercise, a change of scenery, or having a luscious lunch at a pricey restaurant. When all else fails, I usually read.

Hmm. Could it be that a cure for my reader's block is writing? My current work-in-progress has been languishing a bit. I'll give that a try.

Lots of Stars

How nice!
New reviews for The Adventures of Elizabeth Fortune at Amazon Reviews

The Incredible Premise

A number of years ago, I read The Discrete Charm of Charlie Monk by David Ambrose and I recently revisited it. The book is incredibly inventive--filled with VR, biogenics and more. A mystery with political overtones and families in distress. Each page brings something different.

Product Description from the publisher:

"Charlie Monk is the ultimate spy, willing to do absolutely anything to accomplish his mission. He has no conscience, no fear...and no memory. Charlie's friend, Dr. Susan Flemyng, thinks she may have found a way to give him his memory back. As the two of them embark on a series of scientific experiments to try and recover Charlie's long-lost memory, they find something terrifying in the deepest recesses of Charlie's mind. Their discovery will turn science on its head, call reality itself into question-and force Charlie and Dr. Flemyng to risk their lives for the entire human race."

"The entire human race." Now there's a broad statement. One which many SF books fall into—perceiving the intricacies of western civilized endeavors as really having global impact. ENTIRE is too massive a word. Ethnologists are still discovering "lost tribes," so it's a bit over the top to think that some Dr. Frankensteins in D.C. will really be able to make changes in the entire human race.

Oh well, it's a premise that has been used for decades. A premise that repelled me from SF books in mid-twentieth century when everything was male-driven and western Judeo-Christian driven. I find fault with it, but books sell because of it. Most readers are, after all, part of the societies that consider themselves the "entire human race" and so if they see a threat to their niche, they assume it's global.

Reminds me of that great movie "The Gods Must be Crazy."

Ambrose, nonetheless, continues to create upbeat, nervy, and intriguing stories. They are often marketed as mainstream and not SF or mystery, even though his web site's sub title is "Hitchcock meets Hawking."

Public Libraries

I really enjoy reading books. I'm usually reading two or three books at a time. You'd think my house would be overflowing in books. But only one wall of one room has filled bookshelves. I used to have many more than that, and I also once vowed I would always buy a copy of my friends' books. There is a long shelf on my wall filled with autographed books of friends. But I couldn't keep that up; so many of my friends are writers—rather successful writers, too—that I would have gone broke in two years.

But I'm able to appease my reading habit (greatly increased in the winter months) by going to my Public Library. The "New Books" shelves are where I start browsing. Every week I'm there, returning five or six books and borrowing six or seven more. I recently came across mention of a title online that I thought I'd enjoy. My library didn't have it. BUT, they ordered it for me on Interlibrary Loan. No charge. I used that service quite a bit when I was doing research for a science book I wrote. I borrowed books from Portland and Chicago, from military libraries and universities.

Our local library foundation is oldest in the state, dating back to the mid-19th Century—one of the first libraries West of the Mississippi; the building that holds it now is much newer and was recently updated. The library fills other of my needs, too, with lectures, workshops, visiting authors and more.

When I was a kid, the town library was a Carnegie Library--an impressive place with a Greek colonnade at the front doors. I remember the doors as being massive, although I'm sure that's a trick of time. Inside the floors were marble tile; I think of the whole building as one big room with the ceilings fifteen feet or more high. In cavernous spaces like that sound bounces around and intensifies. No wonder librarians have the "shhh" reputation.

The Carnegie Library concept really made books accessible to more people, but back in the early twentieth century when Andrew Carnegie opened one of his libraries in Pittsburgh (his home city), many authors weren't too keen on the idea. According to the Carnegie site, local mystery writer, K.C. Constantine, wrote: "Any writer who sees that one copy of one his books in one library has been lent twenty-six times in one year…and knows that he was paid only one royalty check from the time the library made the original purchase knows plenty about involuntary servitude…"

I appreciate my books being in libraries. When I go to other towns and cities, I check the shelf or computer inventory to see if they have my titles. If I sold to every library in the country, that would be a nice dividend. Occasionally I find a real gem at the library, a book I read and am so taken with that I BUY THE BOOK.

Now, with the eBook evolution, I admit I don't visit as often; and this winter, when slick roads and whiteouts will make driving the 15 miles to town a treacherous proposition, I will snuggle up with my eBook reader and a steamy mug of tea, glad not to be going out.

But I won't ever stop going to the library. I like the eBooks, and I also like holding and flipping pages of a dtBook.

A New Trend?

I recently finished reading a mystery that developed well enough with nicely-drawn, believable characters. This was a second book by the author, and I realized at the end, that the protagonist had gotten away with murder--not just in this book, but in the previous title, too. The circumstances are all "justified", but he has killed at least five people (in two books) without having to answer for it.

Disturbing.

Earlier this year I ran across this occurrence in another book. I hope these two authors don't represent a new trend in crime mysteries, where a well-meaning and sympathetic character can murder someone and not have to answer for it. Sort of an Avenging Angel routine. That might be okay in comic books which have a make-believe/fantasy expectation; but it's rather chilling to find on my library bookshelf where stories have more representation of real life.

Who Are Your Masters?

A few years ago, when visiting Theresa Williams' blog, I read her post, "Finding Your Tribe." At one point she wrote, "Through our writing, we have a chance to connect with people who are like us, who have the same thoughts, the same longings." Although I know she is speaking of the writing community at large, I was reminded of a personal moment of clarity that altered the way I approached my writing.

Several decades ago I was on staff with a writers' conference and sat in on a workshop given by poet Robert Pinsky. I'd been struggling with my poetry--the only freelance writing I did at that time. When I'd write, it was like running underwater. I got nowhere and frustration predominated. I don't recall the exercises Pinski gave us, but I remember his continual insistence" Look to the Masters...Learn from the Masters." He didn't expect us to imitate them, but to understand how they expressed themselves and illuminated the human experience.

I struggled with this. For the most part, I found the works and poets he mentioned to be boring and dense. I wasn't at all moved by them. Yet these were the models he insisted who so well represented our culture. After the second class, it struck me: those aren't my Masters. I mentioned to a friend that all the Masters Pinsky talked about were men. She agreed. "We need to find women Masters." For me, I knew it had to be more than that.

I began following Pinsky's directive, but reading and learning from my Masters: women, non-white, people not related to the European Judeo-Christian background--those poets who wrote from philosophies I understood and believed. Once I did that, my poetry became stronger; I began getting published. More importantly, I enjoyed writing.

Finding your tribe can go beyond identifying with a contemporary community.

Busy Making More Work For Myself

I can't seem to keep up with this blog and other networking sites, so what have I done? Created ANOTHER blog.

This one is for Get It Together Productions, my business entity. This is where I'll put up writing and marketing tips, as well as a bit of book industry news.

Several "Tips" are already in place.

(And to think, I almost considered doing NaNoWriMo this month. That would have definitely been too much!)