So long, Borders

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According to PW, Borders has suspended payments to some publishers.

At this point it looks as though Borders has no way to avoid bankruptcy, and the big question is whether they will take a bunch of publishers down with them. Small presses are especially vulnerable here, and Borders has been very hard on the whole small press scene for years, using credit from returns to order books on a much faster schedule than they actually paid for books sold.

As for Borders itself, it was once a great place to buy books–the staff were knowledgeable and the selection excellent, and while Joshua Bilmes offers a clear narrative of Borders’s descent into crappiness (quick warning about that link: very interesting), he doesn’t mention that the stores tried to control sky-rocketing rents by locking in long-term leases… right before the economy collapsed. Now their expenses are high and the revenues are low, and who’s going to suffer?

Well, authors for one. And publishers for another. Readers, too, because if we have one major chain store, as Joshua Bilmes points out, there will be certain books that readers won’t even get to see. Months and months ago, James Nicoll asked who was the most powerful but unrecognized person in sf/f, and the answer was the sf/f buyer at B&N. Without Borders, his decisions will sustain or destroy even more writers’ careers.

Hey, I know people like to see this stuff as the “Death of Traditional Publishing.” Isn’t B&N also closing stores (in high-rent areas, during a strained economic recovery)? But that’s just not the case here. Borders has been struggling for years, mainly because their upper echelons have no idea that selling books isn’t like selling other products. The economic crash simply exposed these long-term problems.

What does that mean for you? Well, if Borders isn’t paying publishers for the books they sell, you might want to stop shopping there. I know I will.

Stupid WordPress

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I had to install a security update to WordPress, which meant I needed to upgrade my theme. Of course that reset everything to the default, and now, after fussing with it for way too long, I have the links back to the color I want, and I fixed the tables, and I put my picture back in place instead of theirs, etc.

But the font is different. I swear, it’s different. It looks awful and is annoying the hell out of me.

Personally, I’m not one of those people who want to change their websites every few months. I like it to be simple and legible, with a little green thrown in. But it’s always an assload of work to update the stupid software.

Stupid WordPress.

Randomness for 1/02

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1) Five skiffy death sports you can host in your own home. Reader, I lol-ed.

2) “America sends its best hunks to save the Earth.”

3) Dwayne’s Photo, a little family-owned shop in Parsons, Kansas, is closing down. They were the last processor in the world who could handle Kodachrome film, which Kodak stopped manufacturing in 2009, and now their equipment is going to be sold for scrap.

4) When are we happy? When are we not happy? Video. This one is long, but very, very interesting.

5) How It’s Made: PASS-ta. Video.

6) Robots Speak Out Against Asimov’s First Law Of Robotics.

7) The Most Epic Use of Google Docs Ever (aka Google-doc-based animation). Video.

Would you look at that. A new year.

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The new year didn’t exactly sneak up on me. Honestly, how could it? I marches along hour by hour, just like the end of every other month. This year, though, I wasn’t paying attention and so it happened before I’d had a chance to prepare a resolution.

Not that I don’t have one. Here it is: I will never again buy a can opener from IKEA.

God, I hope I can stick to it.

F*&$ing Amtrak

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I finally got in from my Amtrak train, only 37.5 hours after the original scheduled arrival time. The cab pulled up in front of my apartment literally at the stroke of the new year.

I’ll get around to responding to emails and comments tomorrow sometime. My son is still opening Christmas presents, and I’m getting some much needed family time.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Jake Lake Controls his Span

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Check out this article about Span of Control by Jay Lake. The term refers to the size and shape of the story he can hold in his head at one time, to make it a coherent single entity, esp in first draft form

Me, I don’t have that. Or maybe I should say I don’t use that. I tend to create a situation for the characters to solve, add multiple antagonists, then begin working through the conflicts. I don’t try to hold a part of it in my head as a coherent story idea, because I feel more like I’m riding a wave of whatever goal/setting/resource/conflict is ongoing at the moment.

Eventually, I realize that the story has been running long enough and needs to be wrapped up. All I do then is continue the conflicts, but the conflicts begin to resolve themselves. Sometimes that means it’s time for people to stop surviving the dangers they face. Sometimes it means they need to break down emotionally and surrender. In any event, stuff starts to resolve.

So, everything is outside my span of control, and maybe that’s why I find writing such a painful, laborious process.

Also, I loved Rocket Science.

Well, this post took a while to put together.

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The book trailer shoot for my Twenty Palaces series is still ongoing. A couple weeks back, the good folks at Wyrd posted more set pix and frame grabs from the shoot. Pics behind the cut. Continue reading

I’m what you might call “dismayed” right now

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And a little ticked off, too.

The reason: I’ve been officially bumped down to coach for the whole trip to Seattle. Two nights in a chair with no space to do even rudimentary pain-controlling work on my legs. And this was supposed to be a chance to take a couple of days to myself and finish the submission package for A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark (aka “The Auntie Mame Files”) for mailing next week. I still plan to work, but in coach I’ll be much less productive, if only because I can’t fucking sleep in a chair without a lot of pain.

Oh Jeez, was that negative? Am I posting negative things on my blog, when so many experts advice me to be all cheerful and upbeat and fascinating?

Well, that’s a load of ass. I’m in for two and a half days of pain and I’m deeply unhappy about it. I’ll deal with it, because I always do. I have Tylenol and an extra book to read, and even the coach seats comes with electrical outlets. I’ll work, and eat sandwiches wrapped in plastic, and I’ll carry a bag of bagels onboard. Or something.

Christ. This is going to suck.

Added later: The Chicago Public Library is completely gorgeous, and they even carry my books. I’m sitting in the “Winter Garden” a big, beautiful room with marble floors, trees and ivy in planters, and a glass ceiling to show the blue, blue sky. It’s very soothing a beautiful.

Now I’m going to head out to get some food, then try again for a roomette.

Added later still: Got one! Actually, I got two rooms, one for the first two-thirds of the trip to Whitefish, Montana (about 9pm on Thursday night), and another, much nicer room from Whitefish all the way into Seattle. They’re calling the nicer room a “Deluxe” and I admit I don’t know what that means. If it’s the next size up from the “roomette” I’ll get my own bathroom and shower.

And I get to eat actual restaurant food instead of plastic-wrapped sandwiches out of the lounge.

Now I’m in the “Metropolitan” waiting room, where people w/ sleeping accommodations wait for their trains. It’s as different from the coach waiting room as a hotel lobby is from waiting area of the county hospital. There are leather chairs, big screen TVs, and a fireplace decorated with lights and stockings (not to mention a live fire).

Swank.

The machine urine is brewing

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In my hotel room, there are two little bottles of water with a cardboard collar around them that says “Refresh” in big letters and “$3.00” in teeny tiny letters. I’ll drink from the tap, thanks.

There was no price tag (I could find) on the coffee machine, so I’m braving the hotel coffee. I just wish it didn’t sound so much like someone pissing into a cup.

Dinner last night was pizza in the lounge, but it made me violently ill back in my room. Can you tell I’m having a good time? In a few moments I’ll check out and catch a cab back to the train station to begin my desperate attempt to keep a room for the last and longest leg of my trip.

If I can, I’m going to check out the city a little bit. I need to restock my reading material and, if they refuse to give me the room I paid for, food supply. There’s a Books-a-Million nearby, which I’ve never been to because it’s a regional chain from outside my region, but they cleverly left their store hours off their website. Well, I’m certainly not going to call them from a hotel phone, for all I know its five bucks just to hear a dial tone. Maybe I’ll try Waldenbooks instead.

But there’s the library (second largest in the world) and an actual deep-dish pizza (which I hope to hold down).

Anyway, it’s time to go. See everyone on the flip side.

Oh, shit. A TV.

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So I’m stuck in Chicago because delays made me miss my train. It’s 6:25 my time. I’m going to go downstairs and get some pizza, but while I’m gone I’m going to ask you: What should I watch on TV tonight?

I have no idea what’s on anymore since I don’t have a TV at home and have no time for Hulu.

Have a favorite show airing tonight? Let me know and I’ll try to watch it.

Note, don’t bother posting to this after about 10pm CST on Tuesday night because by then it will be too late.

Update: Thanks for the suggestions, but I think I’m going to go to bed instead.