The E-Book Headache
This post isn’t about a new E-Book titled “Headache.” Nope! This is about the format itself, and how authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries are trying to figure out this brave new world.
With that in mind, let’s go!
• Sony is oh, so serious about this. Sony Corp. expands their digital Reader Library program to 30 more libraries across the country. Notice in the press release that Oklahoma’s Pioneer Library System is set to join the program.
• Harper-Collins is way too serious about this. Meanwhile, Harper-Collins and OverDrive are facing a backlash after announcing they will limit the number of times an e-book may be lent to 26. The reasoning: print copies wear out and have to be replaced, so e-books should have a planned obsolescence. (Really?! Wow, what Vance Packard could do with this!) The Pioneer Library System takes the publisher to task in this open letter, calling the plan, forced obsolescence.
• The New York Times tries to make it simple with this graphic showing the economics of producing a book.
• CJ Cherryh and fellow authors have their own plan! One of our favorite Oklahoma authors, Cherryh (now a Washington state resident), has joined with authors Jane Fancher and Lynn Abbey to offer e-book versions of their out-of-print titles on the website Closed Circle. You go, girls!!
We’re sure there’s much more out there, but all of this E-book talk is really giving us a headache!
News: C. J. Cherryh in Oklahoma Magazine; Book Smack!; Ian McEwan gets Tulsa Award
Cool, I just mentioned C.J. Cherryh in a blog post, and there she is in Oklahoma Magazine, November 2010 issue. It’s a nice article by Becky Carman, “Rooted in Red Earth”. C.J. has her own Wave without a Shore Blog. So you can keep up with her comings and goings, new books, and it looks like a new venture in e-books, called Closed Circle.
I know Young Bill is a huge fan of Cherryh’s work.
From the World of Librarians and Book folk, you can get Book Smack sent directly to your email. Some of the entries can be directed toward us librarian types, for example, *RA stands for Readers Advisory, Starred Reviews are books Library Journal recommends to librarians.
It’s free, and it’s good stuff, so I recommend it. Go to the Book Smack link, down the page at Library Journal you’ll find the e-newsletter entry for it.
Here’s what LIS library news has to say about it,
Want “high-impact reviews of street lit, genre fiction, graphic novels, audio, and DVDs, along with edgy RA, in-depth prepub info, and industry buzz” direct from seasoned library-type editors? Then you’ll want to sign up for Library Journal’s new twice-monthly newsletter BOOK SMACK.
Dec 3rd and 4th, Tulsa City County Library will give the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award to Ian McEwan. First they have an Award presentation at a black-tie dinner: 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 3 then a FREE Public Presentation: 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Central Library.
McEwan has written numerous novels, short stories, screenplays, children’s books and other writings. His works include the highly praised novels “Amsterdam,” “Enduring Love” and “Atonement.”
Eight Months with Young Ari
Young Bill Young here. I’ll be your guest blogger for the next couple of days while Kitty is out of town. First up: Oklahoma author CJ Cherryh’s latest sci-fi triumph, Regenesis. (Yes, I know CJ has moved to cooler climes, but she was raised here, taught school here, and wrote here for many years. We still claim her. Who wouldn’t?)
Regenesis is the long-awaited sequal to the Hugo Award-winning Cyteen—and yes, you do need to read Cyteen before tackling Regenesis, despite what some reviewers say. It took more than two decades for the sequel to see light, and Cherryh dedicates the book to Daw Books publisher Betsy Woolheim’s “determination.”
Cherryh’s Union/Aliance universe, the setting for Regenesis, is rich and complex, and I’ll let you follow this link to find out more about it.
When Regenesis opens, Arianne (Ari) Emory is 18 years old, and heir to the Reseune company which operates on the planet Cyteen, headquarters for the Union government. She is the clone of the original Arianne—a brilliant, but morally suspect, scientist whose genius has allowed Union’s population to grow (through cloning), giving it an advantage over its Earth and Alliance foes. Following the murder of the original Ari, Emory is cloned. Much of Cyteen focuses on the effort by Reseune personnel to make sure young Ari turns out as brilliant as her predecessor. This leads to cruel familial separations so that young Ari has the same traumatic experiences as her “parent,” but it ultimately makes Young Ari very different from the original: Old Ari doesn’t trust. Young Ari wants desperately to trust. Old Ari has no friends. Young Ari has several friends. Old Ari doesn’t (or can’t) love. Young Ari *does* love.
Where Cyteen was epic in scope, Regenesis is more intimate, taking place in the space of only eight months. But it is an eight-month period filled with political and psychological suspense as the young genius works to keep herself alive, solve her parent’s murder, protect Reseune and Union interests, and protect those she loves.
While telling the story, Cherryh weaves in the big issues that humans deal with: the need for development versus the need to respect nature; the meaning of identity; the need for self preservation versus the need to trust; and (especially in a post 911 world) the rights of the individual versus the need to stay alive and protect a way of life.
Cherryh doesn’t shy away from the big issues. (Why would you write science fiction if you were timid?) But she knows how to tell a story, too, and how to make you care about the characters (both born and cloned) that populate Regenesis.
Oklahoma Author Blogs, Mel Odom, etc.
I’m a Mel Odom fan and look at his blogs frequently. I’ve noticed he posts many other Oklahoma authors to his blogroll. So here is my attempt to get us looking for those Okie authors and what they have to say about what they’re reading, writing, doing or just opinionating on. I think it’s interesting that more of the SciFi and Romance writers seem willing to get in there and talk to their fans and readers.
Odom has his Adventures in Writing , looks like he’s freezing at home like the rest of us this week. He also has BookHound, my personal favorite. Mel also contributes to Blogcritics magazine.
Gena Showalter, is hot, hot, hot. Start at her blog. And I just mentioned Showalter and low and behold I find her and Merline, on Merline Lovelace’s website in a Youtube video. (Be patient it takes a while to load).
Jill Monroe, who is also on the video has a blog. Jordan Dane, has a three book series out (which I’m the proud owner of, but haven’t finished yet so you won’t get any information out of me). Here is her myspace page blog.
What’s progressing with C.J. Cherryh?
Christine Rimmer is an incredibly generous author who gave free books to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries for our women correctional institutions. Much appreciated.
And I need to add a mystery writer to the list, William Bernhardt, and might I say Congratulations on your marriage!! We just received his new book, Nemesis, at the library.
So start looking for others to add to this list and I’ll be happy to post them.
