Sunday’s (Jan. 29) edition of the NY Times featured an article on Barnes & Noble bookstores in the business section.  A summary of the article:  B&N thinks that it’s doing everything it can to survive.  My observation:  No, there are things it could do but doesn’t want to do.  Since we are in the middle of a paradigm shift in the publishing world, I wouldn’t dare make predictions on how eBooks and indie publishing are going to affect legacy publishers.  I can warn them to look out, though.  I remember opting for betamax because it was technically the best option, but VHS won the day (and now, no one uses either one!).  Predicting the fickle fate of modern technologies is best left for people that don’t eat enough protein and can use the egg on their face.

So, what things would I do if I were B&N?  (I’ll ask the same question of small mom and pop bookstores below.)  First, I’d bring out a competitor to the Kindle.  Check that off.  I don’t like the Nook, but I know people who do.  When I say Kindle, I’m referring to the e-ink low glare screen version I have, the one where you can only read books and newspapers.  The Fire is a Nook is an iPad—I don’t like any of them because I’m not an apps-icon pusher.  Apps are baby computer programs, the computer version of drug addiction.  I get along just fine without them and probably always will.

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Author:  [Whisper, like I’m announcing the Masters.]  Readers, today I’m interviewing NYPD Detective Sgt. Rolando Castilblanco.  He has a busy schedule, so let’s get right to it.  [My normal voice.]  Rollie, are you fully recovered from the knife fight portrayed in The Midas Bomb?

Castilblanco:  Physically, I suppose.  Mentally, I’m still pissed.  I think we lost a chance to grill that guy and learn more about the case in general and Vladimir Kalinin in particular.  On the other hand, it taught Chen that a knife strapped onto your leg is often better than that little peashooter the bosses want you to carry as backup.  She’s come a long way, you know.

A:  You two didn’t hit it off so well at the beginning.  What was the problem?

C:  I’d lost two partners.  I figured that with all that inscrutable oriental mysticism, Chen thought I was a jinx.  I was even thinking along those lines myself.  Our boss, Lt. Kennedy, is a crafty old fox, though.  He knew I would teach Chen some things in spite of my many shortcomings.  I’ll have to admit, she taught me a few things too.  She came with a lot of experience from the narcotics division.

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News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #16…

#101:  Paula Krapf of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., has posted in the AME blog (Jan. 16) a copy of my Dec. 8 blog post “The Internet and the eBook” (visit http://www.amarketingexpert.com/the-internet-and-the-ebook%e2%80%a6/ )—thanks Paula!  AME’s website and newsletter offer marketing hints for authors and the company also offers many marketing services (see their free catalog), including virtual book tours and SEO for your website.  Present and future writers should check out AME.  (I wasn’t paid anything for the guest post or giving this endorsement, by the way.  Penny Sansevieri and Paula and fellow marketers are friends with Jeniffer Thompson and my website people.  They all do a good job helping out self-pubbers everywhere.)

#102:  By the way, in the post indicated above, I made a plea to Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler to console me about my eBook doubts.  Now that I’ve taken Joe’s blog off my recommended websites (see my previous post “Antisocial Networking” for the reason), I don’t expect Joe to do that.  I also don’t expect Barry to do it either—he was busy recently as a keynote speaker at a conference (from “News and Notices #14,” you also know my opinions about those), so he just doesn’t have time.  I guess I’ll just have to keep worrying about how to reach all the non-eBook readers and those I can’t reach via the internet.  No one claims this stuff is easy!

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#97:  I received a very nice review of Survivors of the Chaos from Kellie Sheridan of Sift Book Reviews (www.siftreviews.com), which posts honest reviews of science fiction and fantasy books.  Thank you, Kellie.  Just a reminder:  This book is available in trade paperback and all eBook formats.  You’ll want to read it before the sequel, Sing a Samba Galactica, comes out—a teaser for this sequel is included in Survivors of the Chaos.

#98:  As a follow-up to my blog post “Antisocial Networking,” I have finished my experiment with Google Adwords.  My conclusion:  Google’s program doesn’t work, at least for this author as a method for selling books (for me, one of the many ways to reach readers).  While I saw a temporary increase in the number of visitors to my website, over time, the number of readers of my blog held study and there was never a marked increase in book purchases.  I wonder if any other authors have (1) tried Adwords, and (2) had an equally bad experience.  Comment if you have.

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I read that teachers in Idaho are pushing back on requirements that they become computer savvy (NY Times, Jan. 3).  While the Idaho Statesman, a local newspaper, writes this off as politics (there are always at least two sides in these matters), blaming it on legislators pandering to high-tech companies (apparently they contributed to some school superintendent’s election campaign), it reminds me that I’ve heard about teachers resisting technology even in high tech areas like the Northeast and the West Coast.  (I apologize for my bias, but I can’t think of Idaho as another Californian Silicon Valley or Bostonian 128 Loop.  It’s the land of down-to-earth good people—the exception being Aryan supremacy groups—and beautiful, rustic scenery.)

In defense of teachers in general, it’s not like school districts make it easy for them to get any kind of additional training, let alone computer literacy.  Legislatures and governors everywhere are slashing budgets for education, so teacher training goes down the toilet with many other programs.  This is certainly happening here in NJ where, in spite of appearances, our governor performs well in the role of the anti-Santa Claus.  I’m at a lost to come up with a way for a teacher, who has been twenty years on the job and wants to update his or her knowledge and skill sets, to actually do so.  I give education a high priority.  I also know things are wrong with the system.  But slash and burn tactics on the part of governors and legislators is not the answer for our kids.

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(William Brown, Amongst My Enemies, eBook, ASIN B006LAOIWY)

This story might be categorized as “historical fiction,” but the second word almost seems incorrect—the historical details are so well interwoven and authentic that the reader will swear Mr. Brown lived through them.  It might also be categorized as “a thriller”—there are thrills and suspenseful twists at every turn of the page.  It might even be categorized as “a romance”—the two protagonists are as right for each other as Romeo and Juliet.

Perhaps it is best to categorize this story as a “tale of intrigue, adventure, and romance.”  It reminds me of Jeffery Deaver’s Garden of Beasts and Frederic Forsythe’s The Odessa File.  It is the tale of Michael Randall, an unlucky POW at the end of WWII, and his quest for closure.  Here closure means revenge, a desire so intense that it almost takes him into a dark place where everything else, including his love for Leslie Hodge, comes in a distant second place.

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#88:  The January issue of eFiction is now available for download from Amazon…or you can read the individual stories throughout the month on their website.  An up and coming eZine for short story writers and readers!  Congrats to Doug and his editorial staff for selecting another set of good short stories….

#89:  A new issue of Mini-Reviews will follow this one of News and Notices:  Baldacci, Land, Eisler, and Castle—all thriller or mystery writers, but….

#90:  Look for my review tomorrow of William Brown’s Amongst My Enemies…a good read with historical nuances and moral ambiguity….

#91:  I’m putting the finishing touches on Sing a Samba Galactica (sequel to Survivors of the Chaos) and Angels Need Not Apply (sequel to The Midas Bomb).  Coming real soon!  I’m also outlining a new YA novel (NOT a sequel to The Secret Lab, still at $0.99)—this will take longer.

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#9:  David Baldacci, One Summer, 2.5 stars—If you’re looking for a Baldacci thriller, this is not your book.  David is better known as a thriller and suspense writer (I’ve read so many of his books that I feel I’m on a first-name basis), but he can write literary fiction with the best of them (it probably doesn’t pay as much, however).  (How “literary fiction” became part of the legacy publishing lexicon is beyond me—isn’t all fiction literary?)

One Summer is a case in point.  Like his Wish You Well, this little jewel is a folksy, down-home, humorous, uplifting, and romantic entry in the genre that will please some and disappoint others.  While Wish You Well can be considered a coming-of-age novel, One Summer can be considered a dealing-with-death novel.  Nevertheless, One Summer is not morose, since the main characters work their way out of their funks—you might find it enjoyable, especially if you find Baldacci’s thrillers a bit gritty and violent (they’re not).  I found it slow going at first but more interesting as I worked through it—but definitely not a page-turner.

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It’s Saturday, December 31, 2011, and Mr. Obama has just given a New Year’s gift to terrorists.  Barack, the Avenger, just became Barack, the Santa Claus, with respect to Mr. Karzai and his entire corrupt government.  And Mrs. Clinton, his head elf, just goes along with it.  The Afghan leader, who knows he sits on a powder keg, is trying to make peace with the Taliban—our foreign policy gurus just helped him along the way.

Come on, Barack!  The friends of my enemies are my enemies—the Taliban showed their true nature many years ago.  They gave safe haven to al Qaeda members and terrorized and killed their own people.  They have killed our soldiers and civilian contractors whose only crime in that God-forsaken land was to work for the betterment of the Afghan people.  They have falsely accused men under their strict Sharia law and beheaded them.  They have stoned women who have been raped after accusing them of adultery.  They have killed girls whose only sin was wanting to study.  In brief, the Taliban are a blight on humanity, a pestilence that Pandora could have never imagined.

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