Month: April 2011

$23 million book for sale on Amazon (and book mega-listers in general)

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Ever look at the used book prices on Amazon? They don’t make a great deal of sense, do they? I’ve seen a number of out-of-print (OOP) books I either own or would like to have and there will be a single copy available for something like $200. And it’s silly because there are usually other copies available on bookfinder or other sites for something like $10-15. I’ve also ordered from booksellers on places like half.com and they seem to be from monstrously large sellers with tens (or hundreds) of thousands of books available for sale. Who are these people?

Well, one astute observer watched two Amazon sellers continually increase their prices on an OOP book until it reached over $23 million. Which is ridiculous, because there were other copies available for $35. This piece describes what happened. I wasn’t aware of just how automated this process is. The comments on that piece are particularly interesting, because they describe how many of these “mega-listers” operate (here’s a lengthy piece on this phenomenon). I was shocked to find out that many of them don’t even own the books they’re selling! If you buy from them, they quickly acquire the book from another online seller and have that seller ship directly to you, while making a profit. Not illegal — some folks call this an example of “arbitrage” — but it sure seems borderline unethical to me. In any case, these two pieces offer some insight into the world of book mega-listers.

Comparison of eBooks with paperback originals

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I’ve seen this comparison before — and you probably have too — but here’s a link to another interesting piece that discusses the parallels between the rise of inexpensive, mostly-self-published eBooks and the rise of the “paperback original” in the early 1950s. I especially like that piece because it led me to a reprint of a short article by Bill Crider from 1971 (!) that gives a nice, quick little history of the paperback original. I probably never would have encountered that piece had it not been for the first article.

Book Review: Vegas Knights by Matt Forbeck

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The book was billed as “Harry Potter meets Ocean’s Eleven” and I have to say that it doesn’t live up to that description. It’s neither as charming as the Potter series, nor as clever and quick-witted as the Ocean’s Eleven films – well, the book is probably about as exciting as the original Ocean’s Eleven film (the Rat Pack version), which I found unaccountably boring.

Some plot spoilers follow.

Two college students, Bill and Jackson, are in Vegas on Spring Break with a surefire way to win big at the casinos. No, they’re not card counters, one of their college professors has taught them how to do magic. The story begins in media res, with them already in Vegas and using magic. I would have liked a bit more explanation and discussion of how the two protagonists first learned magic. That’s kind of a big deal, frankly. Anyway, they quickly run afoul of the local Powers That Be in Vegas, a cabal of ruthless magicians, who don’t like customers using magic. Can’t say that I blame them. They escape and go on the lam, eventually getting help from a local Native American woman who’s part of a rival faction of magicians. All right. I’m about to spoiler you on who the big bad guy is in the novel. If you don’t want to know, skip the rest of this paragraph. The main villain of the book is an undead Harry Houdini who wants to restore his mouldering corpse to life. Frankly, I think the choice of villains was in poor taste. I don’t know a lot about the real Houdini, but I doubt that he deserves to be depicted as an ancient, murderous necromancer. It just seems tasteless to use an actual historical figure as the bad guy.

The characters are a bit flat, and at times it really felt like Forbeck was just going through the motions. At times, I felt like the book was no much more than a series of chases through Las Vegas. One strong chase scene would have been perfect, but it eventually gets old. And, well, zombies as cannon fodder bad guys? Come on. Been done to death.

I give this one 2.5 stars out of 5. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but if I had to characterize it in one word, I’d describe it as “mediocre.” Not great, not terrible, just kind of boring and run-of-the-mill. Utterly predictable in all particulars. Nothing we haven’t seen before, and both the characterization and plot are thin. If you really, really like contemporary urban fantasy and “secret magic in the real world” kinds of stories, and you are obsessed with Las Vegas, then go for it, you’ll enjoy this one. Otherwise, there are better examples of this genre out there.

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.

Review copyright 2011 J. Andrew Byers

Ed Lynskey interview

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As a follow-up to my review of Ed Lynskey’s new “Appalachian noir” novel Lake Charles the other day, I’d like to provide a link to a good interview with Lynskey posted on the Out of the Gutter (OOTG) magazine blog. If you’re not familiar with OOTG, it describes itself as “pulp fiction and degenerate literature,” and I think that sums it up nicely It contains some interesting, foul stuff you won’t find elsewhere. I heartily approve of the mag and have been a fan since issue #1.

In any case, check out the interview, and check out Out of the Gutter!

Borders bankruptcy judge approves exec bonus plan

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Sadly, I predicted this would happen back on April 5. Just to recap, Borders submitted a restructuring plan to their bankruptcy judge that included $8.3 million in “incentives and retention bonuses” for company’s “key employees.” As I said a few weeks ago: “Bet all those laid-off clerks and store managers are really rooting for Edwards [the CEO] and the ‘key’ members of his team. Riddle me this, Batman — why exactly would a company want to retain the executives who led the company into bankruptcy, much less offer them bonuses to stay on? You and I both know that the deal will inevitably be approved and the bigwigs amply rewarded for doing a bad job of running the company.”

The judge has approved approximately $6 million in bonuses, if the company can negotiate at least $10 million in rent reductions from its various landlords. What a great deal! As one of the bankruptcy trustees said, “the bonuses were premature because Borders has only been in bankruptcy two months and hasn’t shown how it will reorganize or pay unsecured creditors.” All they’ve got to do is go to a handful of landlords and threaten to close those stores if they don’t receive a rent reduction, then *bam* the company bigwigs get their bonuses. No need to show a plan for actually, oh I don’t know, paying back their debtors or keeping the rest of their stores afloat.

Business as usual, and, sadly, with the collusion of a judge. Judge Martin Glenn ought to be ashamed of himself.

Library budget waste in Detroit

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I love libraries, always have, always will, and that’s why I hate to see them waste their declining budgets on frivolous expenses. I came across a recent case of some serious waste, fraud, and abuse in the Detroit public library system that I have to mention here because it’s so egregious.

We are all abundantly aware that we’re in a time of economic crisis, and I think most of us would agree that some amount of austerity measures are warranted. Detroit is in particularly dire straits — the city was never exactly an economic powerhouse, and its population has been in serious decline, falling 25% in the last decade, giving it the same population that it had in 1910. This of course has tremendous implications for the city’s tax base, which in turn funds the local library system. And that’s where we get to the heart of the story. Detroit is considering closing up to 18 of its 23 branches (!) and laying off 191 of 333 library workers. That sucks. Pretty draconian, actually, but with a population decline of 25%, you’d naturally expect that at least a quarter of the city’s branches would need to close. But then we find out that the library system has purchased twenty $1100 chairs (that’s $1100 each) as part of a $2.3 million renovation of one library wing. They’ve also spent $160,000 on food vending for various events — some for the public and some or employee meetings and the like. I’ve been a library patron all my life and can’t recall a library ever giving me free food. Why would they? This was probably not the right time for the 160 unionized library workers to get a 6% pay raise when other, non-unionized city workers faced across-the-board 10% pay cuts.

Libraries, live within your means, tighten your belts, and cut out the bad behavior, please, because taxpayers aren’t going to tolerate this kind of nonsense in the current environment.

Do you love the smell of books?

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I know I do. I have to admit that I enjoy cracking open a new book and smelling it sometimes. Always different — based on paper, glue, ink, etc. — but always interesting. And of course old books have interesting smells of their own. My wife (who I drag to used bookstores all the time) describes the smell of those old, cramped, disorganized, often dirty bookstores as “that weird maple-y smell.” In any case, you too can smell like books soon, courtesy of designer Karl Lagerfeld. I didn’t realize that Lagerfeld was a bibliophile, but apparently he is (I’m not sure I believe the rumor that he owns 300,000 books) and is developing a fragrance that smells like books.

I’d probably buy it. And take a look at the photos of his apartment library — beautiful stuff.

Books in the digital age

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Two recent articles on the impact of the information revolution on books and how readers consume them provide some good food for thought. The first is a piece by Robert Darnton that attempts to debunk five “myths” in this regard: “the book is dead”; “we have entered the Information Age”; “all information is available online”; “libraries are obsolete”; and “the future is digital.” All, according to Darnton, are either outright wrong or are at best misleading. I don’t agree with everything Darnton says (in particular, I think he overvalues the role of traditional publishers), but it’s a thought-provoking piece.

The second article discusses ten ways in which eBooks are changing the way we read. I does a good job of highlighting both the advantages and limitations of the digital format.

Book Review: Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey

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The book was billed as Appalachian noir, and it certainly lives up to its name. It’s dark, gritty, bloody, and the Southern setting makes a real difference in the story. I was actually reminded a bit of some of Elmore Leonard’s work: Lake Charles depends heavily on a small cast of well-drawn characters and, more importantly, their dialogue. I apparently glossed over the clue on the first page that the book is set in 1979, but this soon became readily apparent. Lynskey does a good job of injecting the time period into the book in ways both big and small throughout. Oh and by the way, the cover’s gorgeous, isn’t it?

Plot spoilers follow.

The protagonist is Brendan Fishback, a young man who faces a first degree murder charge at the start of the novel. He’s been accused of murdering Ashleigh Sizemore, the daughter of a local bigwig, with whom he partied at a concert then returned to a seedy motel for some sex and drugs. When Brendan woke up, Ashleigh was dead. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) Brendan’s pretty sure that he didn’t kill the girl, but thanks to a drug haze, can’t quite recall exactly what happened. Brendan (now out on bail awaiting trial), his twin sister, Edna, and her husband, Cobb, head to the eponymous Lake Charles, Tennessee for a relaxing weekend of fishing and jet skiing. Two problems turn what should be a fun weekend into a nightmare: (1) Edna disappears; and (2) Brendan and Cobb discover that Lake Charles is the site of a massive marijuana farm guarded by brutal thugs. Brendan also discovers that his sister’s kidnapping and the industrial-sized pot farm are intimately connected with the murder he’s been charged with. Jerry Kuzawa, Cobb’s father with a mysterious past, soon gets involved with the quest for vengeance, and he’s an eminently enjoyable character. Brendan’s dreams are an integral part of the story, and I was initially a little concerned that it would result in silliness, but it’s a well-done element in the novel, and a good vehicle for his memories of that fateful drug-fueled night gradually resurfacing.

There’s a stunningly high body count in the book, though I won’t spoiler the ending of the book, but it’s fairly satisfying (if a bit more positive than we’d expect from a “noir” novel). The setting – both time and place – play a major role in the book and is a real strength of the novel. I liked the quirky, unique characters a great deal, and while I occasionally got a little tangled up in the dialogue, they were well done (though maybe just a little too blasé about killing people). If it’s not abundantly clear, drugs do play a major role in the story, but I should clarify that they are never glorified and their use is depicted only as debilitating and, frankly, stupid, so no worries on that score.

I give this one 4 stars out of 5. Lots of fun and definitely recommended. Prior to reading Lake Charles, I wasn’t familiar with Ed Lynskey’s work, but I’ll definitely look for more of his crime fiction. I’m looking forward to seeing what else Lynskey can do with the Mid-Atlantic and Appalachians (my neck of the woods).

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.

Review copyright 2011 J. Andrew Byers