Myth, the Universe, and Everything

I was going to write up something about the SFWA's removal of Amazon links from their Web site due to the current IPG/Amazon throwdown, but then I realized that a lot of people have had a lot more intelligent things to say about the whole situation, including the SFWA itself. UK publishers are also getting into the mix, and my favorite article, by Los Angeles Times contributor Carolyn Kellogg, compares IPG's move to the Boston tea party.

So, let's get rid of those Wild West metaphors for the e-book scene and instead make comparisons to the American Revolution from now on, okay?

In other news:

• Teen say they're just not that into e-books, but YA books sold five times as much in digital as in print last year, according to Karen Springen in PW. (Must be all us grown ups buying YA novels...)


• J. K. Rowling is lined up for a new adult novel.


• Maria Bustillos wrote a very long look into romance novels and why they're awesome over on The Awl.


• Greg Sandoval of CNet shares snippets from the nonfiction work Gotham to explain how American publishing was founded by literary pirates -- publishers of the past hired merchants to buy British books and transport them back to New York, where they then made American editions and sold them without paying the British publishers a dime. At the time, U.S. law only protected American copyright.


• And lastly, a huge congratulations to Rich Burlew for his phenomenal Kickstarter success, which PW talks about here. If you haven't been able to get a hold of Rich's out of print Order of the Stick books, it won't be long 'til they'll be back on the shelves.

Hope everyone has a delightful March 1st!

Earlier today I commented on sartorias's recent post about keeping old books. I'm not particularly sentimental about my books (though the ones that are signed--whether by my children's librarian growing up from books I won during summer reading or by the authors--are certainly special). When a book gets old, I replace it. Nearly five years of working at bookstores trained me to think that old books, beat-up shouldn't be read. (In some cases, this is for their own protection; we recently replaced an old copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology that was falling apart at the spine. It's still on the shelf, but we have a shiny new copy to refer to without having to worry about losing pages.)

On the other hand, I love physical books. I love how they look on the shelf. I loved seeing my first novel in print, feeling its weight, having a friend heft it and then ask if there were pictures. (Thanks to the lovely and talented Lindsay Archer, I could say yes. He didn't believe me, and I had to flip through to show him the insets.) And, as Giles once said on Buffy, books smell. I recently got a new dictionary because it was required for a copyediting assignment I'm working on. Possibly the most fun I've had in this assignment is opening up the dictionary and flipping through the pages, having that new-book-smell of paper and book glue waft up as I found the answers to my questions (and got distracted by words like "emissary," which I didn't realize could mean not only messenger, but secret agent).

I love content posted online, but find that I read comics better online than prose. I've only ever made it through one e-book without printing it. (This was a novel by the aforementioned sartorias, who didn't say it was a novel when she posted it on Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch Day, so I was fooled into thinking it was a short story. By the time I realized, it was too late, and I'd been utterly sucked in. Given how much I enjoyed it, I'm not complaining.) At this point, however, I think I read maybe fifteen web comics, most of them cohorts on DrunkDuck whose authors or artists have found us over at Cowboys and Aliens. As much as I enjoy the serial nature of the stories... it'd be nice to sit down with them away from the screen. Which I suppose explains Rich Burlew's success with Order of the Stick in print: geeks like me like how books smell.

Owen Barfield is my favorite philosopher of all time (though my views on mythology, while influenced by him, are more solidly related to Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories").

Order of the Stick is one of my very favorite Web comics.

Put them together and you get this, which is much funnier when taken in context of both.

Here's to hoping that someone else will find this funny, because if I have to explain it, it won't be.

First, allow me to give praise to Shanna Swendson (shanna_s), Neil Gaiman, and other authors who can both blog and work at the same time. I've just gotten over a two weeks stint of working, relatively non-stop, on the second novel, Departure. (I even worked on it while waiting for Rich Burlew and the Giant in the Playground staff to navigate the Boston area--a challenge for anyone--before making it to his Pandemonium Q&A in Cambridge, MA. The event was quite enjoyable, and a sure way to keep me procrastinating...)

I turned the first completed draft of Departure in to my publisher at 11:30 p.m. on Monday night and have been recovering since. (By recovering, I mean catching up on unanswered e-mails and desperately trying to make headway on the projects I've been neglecting.)

So Shanna, Neil, I applaud you. Someday I hope to emulate you as well.

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The reviews have started to come in. Along with a very nice review on Amazon (although the book is still showing as currently unavailable, despite the publisher having shipped them the required number of books), a review has also been posted on RPGBlog. Here are the links for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Reach-Redemption-Trilogy-Book/dp/0977448118/sr=8-2/qid=1157683881/ref=sr_1_2/103-4061154-9136658?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.rpgblog.org/rpg_blog/2006/09/book_review_int.html

I also understand that a review will be running in either Game Trade or Game Buyer, which points out that many game stores won't necessarily want to carry the title as it is not, in fact, a game, but rather a game tie in. I can't really blame them for that advice (as much as I'd love to see the novel on every possible bookshelf...)

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If you're local to the Shoreline Connecticut area and don't have plans for Saturday, please feel welcome to attend the "release party" being held at the Blackstone Library in Branford, CT from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. I'll be there, signing copies available for purchase. Local author James Griffin, a Western mystery writer, will also be signing books. There may be cookies. It's still undecided.

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Just a note of thanks to my livejournal readers who have spotted reviews before I managed to post them! Emma and Jen--you ladies are on the ball!

Now... back to those other assignments.

Ah, Origins. Game convention of adventure and excitement. This was my third year as an Origins attendee, and again, it was a productive experience.

For some background:

At Origins of 2004, I met James Lowder, who presented at a panel on shared world fiction. (The panel also featured Michael A. Stackpole of Star Wars novels fame.) Mr. Lowder was kind enough to speak with me after the panel and give me some advice on how to get into the industry. Though I no longer remember most of the details of the conversation, I remember that moment being the one where I decided that this was something I could really do.

At Origins of 2005, I passed off my business card to John Prescott at White Silver, who is, in August, publishing my first novel. (I've contributed to both of the other sourcebooks they have coming out at GenCon, where I will be signing my novel. It's been great fun to work with them.)

So Origins of 2006 rolled around, and I came armed with business cards and the pre-print of my novel to show around. Because I consider going to Origins a business trip, I attended several writing workshops. Having arrived an hour early for the workshop on how to present your portfolio to publishers, I decided to attend another seminar happening in the next room. To my delight and surprise, there was James Lowder on the panel! (The panel, which was on the nature of the secret identity in super hero fiction and games, included Sean Patrick Fannon (seanpatfannon), the events coordinator for Origins as well as a writer for the Champions RPG; Michael Miller, the creator of With Great Power; Steve Kenson, designer of Mutants and Masterminds; and active audience member Steve Long of Hero Games.) The panel was excellent, both because it was informative and because it was the creators on the panel and the audience talking about our favorite comic book heroes. It doesn't get much better than that.

(Incidentally, the theory was espoused that neither Clark Kent, reporter, or Superman are the real identity of America's favorite super hero. Instead, Clark Kent, farmboy, at home with his parents, is the true identity of Superman. Both of the others are just aspects of his personality. I have been converted to this way of thinking.)

After the panel, I showed James Lowder my pre-print copy of Into the Reach and told him that he'd literally changed my life, which he took extremely well for coming out of the blue. I hope that it pleased him to know he gave me such confidence!

I quickly hurried over to my scheduled panel on showing your portfolio, which featured Keith Baker of Eberron fame; Rich Burlew, creator of Order of the Stick; Ken Hite, who was offering an exclusive Origins release first printing of his new book Dubious Shards (and who may or may not be princeofcairo, but I rather suspect he is); and an artist whose name I sadly neglected to write down. These presenters were excellent, and what was perhaps most exciting about the panel was learning how much I've been doing right in marketing myself. It's extremely nice to be assured by people who are successful in the industry.

Keith Baker and Rich Burlew were both around and available for conversations during the rest of the convention, and I had a wonderful time chatting with them. It makes me extremely pleased to know that my money that has gone into buying their books has been well spent, not only because they both do such great work, but because they're really awesome people as well.

Most of the rest of my convention was spent working with the Living Kingdoms of Kalamar staff. The show was extremely good for them, largely due to the successes of the other staff members (despite the credit folks have been kind enough to attribute to me). Our Conventions Director did an amazing job, as did the rest of the crew, who judged when they weren't scheduled, printed out new certs that had been forgotten, and quickly solved all manner of other crises.

Alas, I did not get a chance to play in the new Xen'drik Expeditions campaign, but I hope to be able to catch an evening slot of that at GenCon. Otherwise, the convention was a roaring success, and I got to show off my pre-print to assorted people in the industry who are far better known than me (including Jamie and Renae Chambers of Margaret Weis Productions, who have promised to set aside a copy of the new Serenity RPG adventure for me at their booth at Gen Con). Many of these folks even offered to come stop by the White Silver Publishing booth at GenCon. I hope that their fans will say, "Well, if Keith Baker thinks she's worth reading, I ought to buy a copy of her book, too!" I'll post my schedule for when I'll be at the booth at GenCon as soon as I get it, so if you're coming, you can stop by, too.