Myth, the Universe, and Everything

After the weekend, Amazon said to the world, "Well, we can't help but do what Macmillan says, because they have a monopoly on their own titles." (Well, that's one way to put it.) The wonderful Barbara Vey of Beyond Her Book posted about it as it was happening, with both Amazon's letter to the public and Macmillan's letter to the public side by side. Another great article on Paid Content gives a breakdown of why this is actually a much better deal for Amazon, as far as making money goes. So why the fuss? (And why hasn't Amazon put the Buy buttons back on Macmillan books yet?) Suspicion says that this was all done so Amazon can say, "Hey, it's not our fault that the mean, horrible publishers are charging too much for e-books, consumers. We tried to protect you."

Honestly, Amazon, I can protect my own wallet, thanks. I spend a pretty minimal amount on e-books, have found plenty legal e-books for free (and know there are way more available on Project Gutenberg), and I still like my print books. Consumers will ultimately be the force behind how e-books are priced, without so many shenanigans, I hope. (Correspondent jeff_duntemann pointed out in the last entry that he thinks 50% off of the print price is about right -- of all of the industry pros I know, he's the guy I'd expect to have a handle on this, so I have a feeling he's in the right ballpark.)

One of the things that Barbara points out that once again scares me about the power of Amazon & Kindle is that any of the free previews available on Kindle for Macmillan titles vanished from the Kindles of the folks who had downloaded them already. They're overusing that Big Brother potential, and I hope they realize folks find it annoying (and worse).

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But on to happier things. Do you know how many book birthdays there have been lately? First, mdhenry had Happy Hour of the Damned come out in mass market. (There are contests all over the interwebz to support this release: see Bitten by Books as well as the Home Pages of Michele Bardsley, Stacia Kane, and fellow book birthdayer Dakota Cassidy, who just birthed Accidentally Demonic.) Nalini Singh's Archangel's Kiss, the second in her new series, is now on shelves. And in a few days, frost_light's first Cat & Bones spin off, First Drop of Crimson, is being released. Whew, what a lot of birthdays!

Jeaniene's publisher is actually offering a sneak peak of First Drop of Crimson over at the HarperCollins site. It's almost a full fifth of the book, so if you can't wait, check it out now. Jeaniene also does super nifty book trailers, so I'm posting one below. She's also got a contest at Bitten by Books that's worth checking out.



So, tons of new books, contests, and prizes. Is it time to go shopping or what?

The news is out (via Publishers Weekly): Bloomsbury is changing the cover of Justine Larbalestier's Liar to stop misrepresenting the main character of the book. They're rejacketing the hardcover for the October release. The new jacket has not been decided on yet -- it may be a text version like the Australian jacket, or it may feature an African American girl's face.

As much as I know Larbalestier liked the text idea, at this point, I'm rooting for the second.

Congrats to Bloomsbury for actually listening to their audience on this one, and for (hopefully) learning from this episode. *keeping my fingers crossed that the publishing world has taken note*

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In other news, I've got a new blog post up at Flames Rising about not-quite paranormal romances, talking about books that push the boundaries of the genre (like Nalini Singh's (nalini_singh) Psy/Changeling series and Meljean Brook's "The Guardians") and those that go beyond what I say are the borders all together, like Richelle Mead's (blue_succubus) succubus series and Jeaniene Frost's (frost_light) "Night Huntress" books. Feel free to pop by and comment (and if you think I'm wrong, feel free to share -- I'm forming my ideas about genre as I go, and more fodder is *always* a good thing).

I just have to say: you livejournal people are far too interesting and difficult to keep up with. I had far more concrete writing plans for today, but spent a good chunk of the day reading other people's ljs instead.

Note: I am still not entirely caught up. But I think I'm as close as I'm going to get.

Today is a link day, in part because there's contests that require linking (and I'm a sucker for that) and in part because there were some fun Joss Whedon articles that got tossed around on my mailing lists, and dutiful Browncoat that I am, I must share them.

So, first, the Whedon:

WGA magazine has an article about Joss as a writer (and mammoth-drawer, were he a Cro-magnon) and about the Dr. Horrible phenomenon.

caitrin posted news about Joss's movie, Cabin in the Woods, which will apparently star Bradley Whitford. I didn't know anything about this project, so it's a nice head's up. (It's not Goners, though, which is somewhat disappointing.)

For contest number one, the Urban Fantasy Land Readers Choice Awards need your votes! There are so many good books up for awards that it's tough to narrow it down: devonmonk, blue_succubus, antonstrout, mdhenry, rkvincent, frost_light, blackaire, melissa_writing, stacia_kane, katatomic, ilona_andrews, Jes Battis, and Carrie Vaughn are among the nominees. The polls close on the 30th, and if you also link to the blog, you're entered for a $25 amazon gift card. Who doesn't need one of those?

And finally, the Deadline Dames (including devonmonk and rkvincent) are hosting a number of contests on the new blog, which launched on the 19th. Devon's involves setting goals--and one of mine is to post on livejournal at least twice a week. (The unreasonable expectation? Every day.) So, we'll see how I do!

There were links aplenty today: frost_light had an excellent post on writers and money, shanna_s told her readers how to help convince her publishers they should publish her fifth book in her series, and livelongnmarry has been a flurry of posts as the beginning of an auction for which the proceeds will go to supporting the continued legality of same-sex marriage in California. But other than mentioning them in passing (as tezmilleroz advised against in her tips on blogging), I don't have much in the way of commentary.

So instead, I'll offer another sneak peak into "Don't Let Go," which is going to be in an anthology available at GenCon. (Go find eyezofwolf/Dylan Birtolo if you're headed off to that convention. The anthology is going to feature some pretty neat stories!)

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Today is probably the busiest Monday I've had in awhile: from work to a lunch date to picking up the clothes I'll need for the Greece and Turkey trip (I've lost two or three blouses since then, and having something lightweight with sleeves makes visiting Turkish mosques easier). This means I've not yet gotten any work done, but I may yet accomplish something toward those deadlines I mentioned by the end of the day.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my lunch date. I had a fabulous time with jenlyn_b and amanda_marrone, being regaled with tales of everything from puppy raising (not a good idea while writing a novel under deadline) and being chased by monkeys (not a good idea in general).



Here's us! I started out standing in the middle, but I looked *incredibly* short that way, so we shuffled around a bit.

After lunch, I went to Wal-Mart to get some supplies for traveling and also to do a little bit of reconnaissance--jenlyn_b said she'd heard rumors of the Squad appearing on Wal-Mart shelves. Alas, I didn't see them (sorry Jen!), but I did find two other lj-ers:



Look! It's rkvincent's Rogue and One Foot in the Grave by frost_light! I have now happily joined the ranks of writers who take pictures of their blog-buddies' books in stores.

And now... to start making headway against those projects...

First off, there are just a ton of great author interviews out there this week. Tiffany Trent is all over the blogosphere this week (she'll be here on Friday), and has the listing of her events here, along with information about a contest that none of you are allowed to enter, as I want the prize. So there. (Just kidding. Definitely go visit her blog and read the interviews.)

Ilona Andrews (ilona_andrews) has an interview up on Nalini Singh's blogspot page. There, you will learn the secret of her duplicitous identity! (It is also readily available on her website, but I hadn't visited before today, so I didn't know!)

But now, for something completely different. Browncoat Jessica posted a fun meme over on her blog that I am going to completely change to suit my own purposes. (You are, of course, quite welcome to take my version and spread it around, or go use her original.)

If I were to invite ten fictional characters over to dinner, they would be*:

1) The unnamed bard from Jane Yolen's "Liavek" short stories, because rarely have I had the pleasure of hearing tales from such an endearing voice.
2) Schmendrick the Magician from The Last Unicorn, because I suspect he is as good a listener as he is a contributor, and I also would wager that he likes his food. (But he probably does not like *good* food as much as Vlad Taltos from Steven Brust's series, whom I would be afraid of offending by not offering appropriate courses.)
3) Ilona from the "Hallowmere" books (thus far by Tiffany Trent, though she'll be written by another writer shortly as well), because though I suspect she'd be a shy guest, anything she had to add to the conversation would be worth hearing.
4) Lissy James from Golden by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, because I wouldn't want Ilona to be the only teen at the table, and I imagine that Lissy's power could do wonders for making sure all the guests got along.
5) Warbeak from Redwall by Brian Jacques, although I'd get her her own bird feeder or berries a little to one side, as the Sparra are not known for eating politely.
6 & 7) Shevraeth and Meliara from Crown Duel (and other titles) by Sherwood Smith. Though I doubt my ability to serve up a meal fit for royals, I'm so very fond of both of them that I hope they'd excuse my rather humble provisions.
8) Princess Cimmorene from Dealing with Dragons (and others) by Patricia C. Wrede, because as long as I'm inviting my favorite royalty, why stop?
9) Alanna of Tortall (from a variety of Tamora Pierce's novels), because she has always been first among lady knights in my mind, and because Ilona from "Hallowmere" would, I suspect, enjoy her company.
10) Shepherd Book from Firefly, because someone really ought to say the grace.

I would consider inviting Bilbo Baggins, but everyone knows how hard it is to keep hobbits well fed....

Others who didn't get invited to dinner this time around but are worth mentioning:

I would love to see Eowyn (Lord of the Rings), Cat Crawfield (Halfway to the Grave), and Kate Daniels (Magic Bites) spar.

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*Disclaimer: If I were given this exercise tomorrow, it might change as I thought of other characters I'd love to have over to dinner. In fact, at 3 a.m., I'll probably wake up, feeling bad that I didn't "invite" someone. But in this moment, that list is absolutely accurate. ;)

I got tagged! jenlyn_b posted this one on both her blog and on memegirls, and, having been tagged, I too must complete it. :)

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? If you're as name obsessed as we are, fill out this Meme Girls original meme and share your name- and your favorites- with the blogging world. Then tag five friends to do the same.

1. First Name: Alana

2. Middle Name: Joli

3. Name you go by: Mostly Alana now, but my college friends still call me Joli, as does everyone at karate

4. Name(s) your parents call(ed) you: Lani and Alana, depending on age

5. Other nicknames (past and present): Lani-chan, Jo, Ferrett (as a petting zoo show animal shared my name, much to the dismay of the keepers who called me on stage), Al (though that didn't last), Lana, Nala, Foster (my maiden name), and Boss (my favorite)

6. What did you call yourself when you were little?
I called myself Lani until kindergarten, then went to Alana. By fifth grade or so I had decided that not going by a nickname was boring and tried to invent them for myself, but would then forget what I wanted people to call me (which made for some very confusing church camp experiences). You'd think I would have learned my lesson from this, but I decided to go by my middle name in college, which has confused legions--legions I tell you!--of people over the years.

7. Were your parents considering any other names (that you know of) before they settled on yours?
I remember finding a slip of paper in a dictionary when I was a kid with a list of three girls' names and three boys' names on it: among the girls' names was Alana, so I assume that was the list of possibilities from early on. The only other name I remember from the list was Alexander.

8. What does your name mean?
From the Celtic, it means either beloved or charming (it's derived from a term of affection, but Alan means beautiful or fair, so it could go either way). It could also mean noble, harmony, or fair, depending on the babynames site you use. In Hebrew (Alona), it means from the oak tree. In Hawaiian, it means awakening.

9. Do any famous people share your name?
Alanis Morisette is pretty close. Lord Google tells me that there's an Alana Curry (she was in Terminator 3), singer-songwriter Alana Davis (who, now that I've discovered her, I'm rating her on launchcast), "Quake" record setter Alana Reid from girl 0f destruction, and TV actress Alana De La Garza (Law and Order and CSI Miami).

10. Can you pronounce your name backwards?
Ttobba Iloj Anala. Well, the original surname is tricky, but my vowel dominated given name is pretty easy.

11. Favorite girls' names: For characters (rather than my future children): Aisha, Naimh (pronounced Neve), Noor, Naveen, and Noemi. Apparently I have a thing for Ns.

12. Favorite boys' names: Again for characters: Gaelen, Willum, Saif, Suleimain (which has way too much baggage to ever use in a story, but I love the sound)

13. Favorite name you've ever read in a book: Door, actually, from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, if only because it works so well in context

14. Favorite name from a TV show: At the moment, I'd have to go with Hiro, again as just a really fitting name for the character. Independent of context, I think the name Inara is lovely.

15. Favorite name for a dog/cat: I once had a plan to name four cats as references to the members of the Inklings, so I'd have Owen, Tollers, Chas, and Jack. But as I'm not likely to ever own four cats at once, this is probably best relegated to the realms of fiction.

WRITERLY BONUS QUESTION:
16. Favorite character name from one of your own books: It has to be Taru. I think because that name came from a more personal place than the others (though all of the names of the main characters--and plenty of the secondary characters--are inspired from someone rather than just the baby-name searches I've done for some of the others). When the Steampunk Musha Comic finally comes out, it'll be a tough call between Taru and Amura Hiroko, which is a name that was stuck in my head for weeks while I tried to figure out where I'd heard it--but a Google search was fruitless and I decided I must be meant to use it.

I tag:
slwhitman, mistborn, frost_light, egg_fu (either by cover identity or secret identity, as Mr. Fu chooses), and amieroserotruck, plus anyone else who hasn't been tagged yet and would like to be tagged! (I am assuming that, despite this coming from Meme Girls, the gentlemen are invited to play as well.)