Cut for length and to temporarily conceal how few of these I have read.

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I need a special "this may make Charles Stross sad" icon.

Last night at gaming, someone mentioned avoiding an author - not Charles - because their books have a blurb from Orson Scott Card on them. Now, the author probably didn't ask to have an OSC blurb. Someone at the publishing company just assumed that having a positive comment from a nutty homophobe would boost sales [1]. This turned into a discussion of what things involved in the production and sale of a book are within the control of the authors and what isn't. Is the following correct?

Assume a standard mid-list author:

Under the Author's Control For the Most Part

Most of the text within the book.


Not Under the Author's Control For the Most Part

The cover art.

The cover text, including blurbs.

The font used in the book.

The formal advertising campaign (if there is one), although the publisher won't stop the authors from promoting their own work.

Whther or not the entire text is in one volume or spread over several or if only a fraction of the entire text is published at all.

The physical quality of the book.

The choice of hard cover, trade or mass market paperback.

The release date of the book.

Any others?




1: They probably think of him as a "best selling author" rather than having a deliberate policy to try to sell as much SF as possible to people who think the more uppity queers should be put in jail.

What kind of dog is that?



He's a Catahoula. They need about 8,000 acres of ground to roam around in, they're smart as a whip. In other words - a lot of work.

This one liked to snooze away the hot summer days submerged in the horse trough, only his nose poking up out of the water.


Awww ...




I didn't take this - I just found it squirreled away on my hard drive. Clearly Momma Deer thought that the blossoms matched her fawn well enough. Never mind that they're on someone's front porch.

"In the suit filed in Monmouth County Superior Court earlier this year, Bauer named 19 bloggers and website administrators who she said posted negative comments about her. She also sued the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website and Wikimedia, the owners of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. The entries on Wikipedia can be written by anyone, including anonymous users of the site."

Update: the Wikipedia suit has apparently been dismissed.

Nicked through a twist path from Maya Reynolds.

Thrill! As a writer's ego becomes a career liability.

Nicked from Antick Musings.

"[...] Cat Rambo has been appointed the new chair of the SFWA Copyright Committee."

We've got this guy. He and his partner commit armed robbery at a Subway.

A 71-year old man - who at the time was being forced into the bathroom - drew his weapon and shot them both. Got one in the head, the other in the chest. The latter fellow ran for his life, and was found by police hiding in the bushes.

The dead dude's grandmother is upset.

He should not have taken the law in his hands," said Rosa Jones, Gadson's grandmother.

Well, spit and hellfire, Mrs Jones - it's not like the law was right there keeping Mr. Lovell safe, was it?

Her husband, Ivory Jones, also condemned the media for its portrayal of Lovell's actions.

"I don't condone what they did, (but)

Well thank God.

I definitely don't condone the news people making him out to seem like they're making a hero out of this man because he shot somebody down," he said.

Fair enough. As an official non-new people, then, I'll announce (as if anyone cares) that

To all who shall see these presents, greeting:

Know Ye that Mr. John Lovell of Plantation, Florida, for the actions taken June 25, 2008, is a Hero and shall have all the accolades, respect and honors that said office shall enjoy.

Given under my hand this day, July 2, 2008.

r/s
Brian Dunbar

........

S4C also wishes to tender their condolences to Mr. and Mrs. Ivory Jones, for the loss of their grandson. We also extend these condolences to Mr. Arrindell's friends and family.

Requiescat in pace.

An author very kindly sent me a copy of her book back in April or May. It never arrived. She sent another copy on June 16th, priority mail so it could be tracked. It just arrived.

Now it might seem unfair that I immediately assume the problem is on the Canadian side of the border but this is because experience tells me that every time someone posted a package that got delayed or went missing, it did it on the Canadian side of the border. This is because Canada Post sucks.

Cut for length

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Dear Workstreamer,

Your suck-ass comment authentication system ate my comment on your post. Here it is.

blah blah blah convince my boss blah blah a whole lot invested in current systems blah most workers are just guys, not hotshot web people blah natter natter.

So - yes. Good luck on launching an application that is so good and so awesome people will pay money for it and throw over an entire communication system that has been working in one form or another since 1971.

Another problem just hit my noggin ... you'll get a lot of traction in small companies and organizations - a company with less than 20 people would go nuts over something like this.

They won't pay your bills. A GM or Motorola - they'll pay your bills. Good luck pitching to them.

And about your problem getting your blog to authenticate comments - that's a nice touch there in the 'convincing people we're serious' department.