News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #23…
#135: Two new eBooks for your spring and summer reading! Angels Need Not Apply, the sequel to The Midas Bomb, pits your favorite NYPD detectives Chen and Castilblanco against terrorists and a Mexican cartel. Castilblanco gets personal when an FBI agent’s son is murdered. Chen steps out of her stoic oriental shell to have a hot and heavy romance.
Sing a Samba Galactica, the sequel to Survivors of the Chaos, is an epic sci-fi saga that takes you on a whirlwind tour around the galaxy. Learn what becomes of Billy Clarke, the irascible Mayor of the New Haven colony in the 82 Eridani system; and Brent Mueller and Jenny Wong, last seen on Helene, a moon of Saturn. Follow the high- and low-tech battles as Humans match wits with the xenophobic Tali invaders. And more!
Both books are available at Amazon’s Kindle Select. Angels goes for $4.99 and Samba for $5.99. Download them now to have hours of entertainment just a point and click away.
#136: Many kudos and many thanks again to Donna Carrick at Carrick Publishing. The two new books mentioned above were formatted by Donna in record time. She also did the covers (with a few inputs from me), turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse, to borrow the adage. At the risk of overloading her with work (Donna and hubby Alex are both gifted and clever writers), I would like to recommend Donna and Carrick Publishing for your eBook releases—editing, formatting, and cover work. (I also recommend that you read her and Alex’ books.)
#137: Here’s a follow-up on my comments about David Baldacci’s publisher I made last week: David has just released The Innocent. I’m sure it’s another gripping thriller. However, I won’t be reading it anytime soon. The hardcover is priced at $15.96, the paperback at $10.19, and the eBook at $14.99. C’mon, David, make your publisher see the light! With many good eBooks now available at $5 or less, he’s out of step. I guess he wants to recover all that money spent on full-page ads in the New York Times and those trailers one sees on TV. I’d buy your eBook, David, if it were less than $10. Your publisher is just gouging if he prices it almost as much as the hardcover. Pox on your publishing house.
#138: Talking about over-priced eBooks, here’s two that people probably should be reading, but for the gouging Kindle prices of the publishers: The Real Romney, by Michael Kronish and Scott Helman, Kindle edition $14.99; and Barack Obama: The Story, by David Maraniss, Kindle edition $16.99. These are honest appraisals of the men who will battle in the 2012 election to be the leader of the U.S. and the free world. Too bad the eBook prices are almost as high as the pBooks.
#139: Maybe it’s time to start a campaign of my own. If you believe the eBook prices from the Big Six publishers (and others) are inflated, gouging scams perpetrated on the American public, boycott them! Don’t buy any eBook that is priced at more than $10. If you only buy pBooks, fine—you won’t be reading my future books. However, if you spend more than $10 for an eBook, you’re letting the publishers take advantage of you. Remember, there are only two classes of people needed here—readers and writers. No one else is really needed. However, readers rule—you have the power to bring the Big Six into line. You have a right to new and exciting authors and their books at reasonable prices. Anything less is permitting publishers to censor what you read.
#140: In her post in Brian Kelms’ WD newsletter, Jessica Bell quotes literary fiction author Marilynne Robinson from Housekeeper: “It was the kind of loneliness that made clocks seem slow and loud and made voices sound like voices across water.” Jessica goes on to say, “Isn’t this just so beautiful?”
Regular readers of this blog already know my views on literary fiction. To those who don’t, here is another example to beat you over the heads with. First, we have mixed metaphors that compare loneliness with clocks and voices. I suppose this is artistic license, but they’re not good metaphors! The novel is set in an uncertain period, but, in 1980, there were certainly digital clocks. They can’t be soft or loud—not even seemingly! Second, the verb “made” and the noun “voices” are repeated unnecessarily. Third, I would also mix tenses to create interest. Conclusion: the mixed metaphors aren’t at all beautiful to my eyes or ears.
I’m a minimalist writer. I would have said: “It was a loneliness that makes clocks seem slow and voices like whispers across water.” But that’s just me. Yep, I know Ms. Robinson was nominated to a Pulitzer for Housekeeper (1982) and won it for Gilead (2005), so I’m bashing the big boys and girls here. Reading is subjective, but I often find literary fiction boring and verbose. In this case, rather like watching Idaho prairie grass grow in the hot summer (at that time of year, it doesn’t).
Do I read literary fiction? Sure, see my mini-review of David Baldacci’s One Summer. I have read most of Garcia Marquez’ work—in the original Spanish. There are other exceptions. I usually don’t like literary fiction, though. I suppose my main problem is the genre seems to be a catch-all for anything that doesn’t fit anywhere else, even though that’s where the Pulitzers and other awards are made. There are readers, and there are book critics that acclaim…and ne’er the twain shall meet. Well, maybe for A Hundred Years of Solitude.
In libris libertas…
