A writer responds to fan mail: ‘Dear Crazy People’

 Posted by on 12 February 2010  Modern Life
Feb 122010
 

Sean Chercover is a former private investigator, originally from Toronto, who now writes and lives in Chicago. He is the award-winning author of “Trigger City” and “Big City Bad Blood” as well as numerous short stories. I’ve never read any of his works, but I’m certainly going to pick one up if I happen across it, especially after this.

As a contributor to a collaborative blog called “The Outfit” (made up of Chicago crime writers), Chercover has written An Open Letter To The People Who Send Me Crazy Emails. An excerpt:

Your letter is all kinds of crazy.

And while I’m flattered that you have selected me as the person to help you publicly expose “the hidden truth” you’ve discovered, I have some bad news for you.

You have not discovered the hidden truth.

  • The Illuminati do not secretly control the Federal Reserve. Neither do “the Jews”, you racist nutjob.
  • The Masons do not secretly run the Catholic Church, while pretending to hate Catholics.
  • The 1993 WTC bombing was not an FBI false flag op.
  • The assassination of JFK was not a secret operation carried out by “the Blacks” (see, “the Jews” above).

Read the whole thing, it’s worth it!

Does “free” count as a sale?

 Posted by on 8 January 2010  Modern Life
Jan 082010
 

I have a vested interest in the rise of the ebook, true.  Although I love toys and technology and gadgets, I’ve resisted the ebook.  I’ve struggled with the reasons for why I’ve dug in my heels, trying to be objective while realizing that I may just be emotionally unable to face the death of the traditional book industry.

Recognizing that I am biased against ebooks (though attempting not to be), it was with a somewhat heavy heart that I heard Amazon announce triumphantly that on Christmas Day, ebooks outsold traditional books.

Defensively, I immediately thought “of course they did — who’s buying books online on Christmas Day?”  It then occurred to me that someone must be buying ebooks at least.  I rationalized the situation as such:  people were getting Amazon Kindles as gifts and immediately began to purchase books to see how their new device worked.  Rationalization or not, it was disheartening.  More and more people were buying ebooks.

But is that exactly true?

By my count, as of this moment, 61 of the top 100 selling ebooks on Amazon are free.  At least two others cost less than a dollar.

Do these count as sales?  Of course readers will flock to the free book over the one that costs $9.99.  But how will this affect traditional book sales?

The Washington Post has a great article about the conflict between readers, publishers and authors that is escalating with the popularity of the electronic book.  Nowhere is the lowly bookseller mentioned.

But I begin to wander from my point:  can one state that “selling” something for free counts as a sale?  If I decide to give away 10,000 books to customers (and I’m not saying that I will), can I claim to have my best day of sales ever?  As an writer, can I “sell” thousands of copies for free and legitimately call myself a best-selling author?

With all the hoopla surrounding ebooks, I am not overly concerned that the death of the traditional book is yet upon us.  There is still too much fudging of information for me to take any of the numbers seriously.

Should you become a librarian?

 Posted by on 6 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 062009
 

Shouldyoubecomealibrarian

The Daily What calls this their “Flowchart of the Day.” I call it oversimplified. Unfortunately, it’s a too-accurate presentation of what the public thinks librarians might be. Frankly, I’ve been impressed by some of the front-line duty that librarians are pulling in defense of civil liberties, privacy, and information access.

At least two librarians are semi-regular readers of this blog. I thank them for their services.*

(*and, honestly, I appreciate them more than soldiers.)

42.

 Posted by on 26 October 2009  Modern Life
Oct 262009
 

In 1997, a team of Cambridge scientists came up with an important number.  This team spent three years using a new technique for determining  the Hubble Constant – the speed at which galaxies are flying apart.  By determining this number, it becomes possible to calculate the age of the universe, something that is vitally important because…uh,….just because.  Whatever the case, the number these high-falutin’ scientists came up with (as measured in kilometres per second per megaparsec) was 42.

(Cue laughter)

If you’re not laughing, allow me to explain:  in a novel by Douglas Adams, a computer called Deep Thought, after several millions of years thought, found the answer to life, the universe and everything to be 42.

Coincidence, maybe.  Out-and-out error by the Cambridge folks, possibly.

If you’re a super-genius, you’ll have spotted the problem.  Should the Hubble Constant actually be “42,” then the universe is actually younger than some of the stars contained within it.

None of this is new (or news, really), but the recent publication of the latest installment in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series has me thinking about these things again….

Judging a book by its cover

 Posted by on 26 October 2009  Everything Else
Oct 262009
 
Foreign language issues aside, it's a sure sign of bad book design when even a topless woman can't get me interested in it.

Foreign language issues aside, it's a sure sign of bad book design when even a topless woman can't get me interested in it.

Design is more of Grant’s thing than mine, but I like to think I know a thing or two about book design.  Whether I do or not is debatable, but I know what I like.

And I like this blog:  Judge a Book.  Run by a former librarian, this blog is filled with all sort of strange and ill-advised book covers, past and present.  The best part is the commentary about each cover.

Enjoy.

And read books.

Words Alive, Day 2

 Posted by on 24 October 2009  Modern Life
Oct 242009
 

WordsAlive

Don’t forget, if you live in the Brandon area, you should come to Words Alive, downtown Brandon’s premiere literary festival. It’s put on by a group that has significant overlap with the bloggers whom you know and love as Absurd Intellectuals, and it’s lots of fun.

I blogged about it yesterday, the first day of this year’s festival, but today is the real meat. We’ve got workshops at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the business of writing as well as on the art and craft of writing, with Jim Chliboyko and Michael Van Rooy.

Tonight, we have authors Margaret Sweatman and Joel Thomas Hynes giving readings from their latest works. We have an impressive track record of booking authors right before they blow up huge and get sweet awards, so you’ll be able to tell all your book-loving friends that “you saw them when.”

Absurd Intellectual is an official sponsor this year, for which I’m proud. Now all I have to do is figure out a revenue stream for this blog, and it’ll all be gravy.

P.S. Admission to Words Alive is free.

Words Alive book festival tonight and tomorrow

 Posted by on 23 October 2009  Modern Life
Oct 232009
 

WordsAlive

I don’t want to turn this blog into my personal shill-space, but I’m pretty proud of the fact that Keith and I (with a couple of others — and Amy is plenty involved, too!) have managed for three years to put on an annual book festival in our hometown.

It’s called Words Alive, and we bring a few authors to downtown Brandon for readings and workshops. The first year, we had more workshops than we knew what to do with. Last year, we just had readings. This year, I think we’ve got a great balance:

Two evenings of readings as well as two daytime workshops.

The evening of October 23, beginning at 7 p.m., will feature West Coast author Des Kennedy as well as Christina Penner. [That's tonight!]

The following day, at 10 a.m., freelance writer and editor Jim Chliboyko will give a workshop, guiding participants in the ins and outs of making a living as a writer. In the afternoon, novelist Michael Van Rooy will teach some of the finer points of the craft of writing.

Saturday evening, again beginning at 7 p.m., two more authors will be on hand to read and discuss their work. Margaret Sweatman will kick off things off, followed by East Coaster Joel Thomas Hynes.

We’ve had incredible success picking authors in the past few years — we’ve managed to snag several authors just before they win prizes or get TV deals. I credit Keith and his bookstore workings for that.

That authors, too, are very gracious with their time, and we’ve managed great conversation that goes late into the evening.

I’m heading out right away to pick up the booze for the weekend, so if you’re in the area, come on by!

Words Alive — downtown Brandon’s premiere literary festival — takes place tonight and tomorrow at The Music Studio, at 10th and Rosser. See you there!

Absolutely engrossing video of a book being manufactured by hand

 Posted by on 25 September 2009  Vintage/Retro
Sep 252009
 

In 1995, John Carrera found a century-old copy of Webster’s Dictionary. Enthralled by the engraved images illustrating the dictionary, he devoted the next decade-plus to making what you might call a “new-old” edition.

First, he tracked down the original metal engravings, which had been donated to Yale University. Then, he went through the 13,000 engraved blocks, selected the ones he wanted, and printed them by hand in a book all their own. The result is the “Pictorial Webster’s.”

But that’s just skimming the story. Watch the video for an in-depth look at the level of care and craftsmanship that went into printing and binding these editions by hand — from setting the metal type to tooling the leather. It’s incredible.

I only wish I had a few thousand dollars to buy an edition for myself.

The good news is that a $35 version is also available through Chronicle Books — same stuff, just not hand-made.

(via Coudal)

Literary classics, meet modern illustrators

 Posted by on 22 September 2009  Everything Else
Sep 222009
 

For as long as I can remember, the Penguin Classics book designs have been fairly simple and sleek, with the trademark artwork at the top, and black section at the bottom, broken by a white bar.

You know, like this:

bleak

I have a ton of these books on my shelf, from picking them up at used book stores, or buying them for classes at the university. That’s the great thing about Penguin Classics — they work to publish the most accurate translations of stories like The Odyssey, or to publish books that may have fallen by the wayside.

Now it looks at though Penguin is wanting to update their classic cover design — with a twist. They have commissioned comic and graphic novel illustrators for the covers. Artists like Frank Miller, Art Speigelman, and Michael Cho, who talks about his experience on his blog, have created covers for Gravity’s Rainbow, The New York Trilogy, and White Noise, respectively.

I think this is a fantastic way to update Penguin’s look, and it enables the artists to get their work to a different (if not wider) audience.

whitenoisehuck

See all the covers in the flickr set here.

Scientific study regarding zombie outbreak worrisome

 Posted by on 18 August 2009  Modern Life
Aug 182009
 

A new book entitled “Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress” contains a paper by a team out of the University of Ottawa regarding the impacts of a zombie outbreak.  In their paper When Zombies Attack!, the team noted that an infected individuals should be destroyed immediately, lest civilization be destroyed.

They concluded there was no point trying to cure those infected or live with them – the best thing was to destroy them as quickly as possible.

“A zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly,” they write in the book

“While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often.

“As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble.”

Never one to challenge how research funds are spent, as I make a hefty portion of my income from the academic world, I did begin to wonder about the relevancy of the study. 

“Why,” I asked myself  “would anyone want to know this?  Unless…  They must know something!”  My overactive imagination immediately set to work giving me the cold sweats and causing me to cringe in fear anytime someone strolled past my office door.

Despite my nervousness, I decided to finish reading the brief article:

Joe Imad, the study’s co-author, said: “If you look at it in a more realistic way, zombies are about the same as any other major infectious disease, they get out and we try to eliminate them.

“Modelling zombies would be the same as modelling swine flu, with some differences for sure, but it is much more interesting to read.”

Yes.  Interesting…

The beginning of something infinite

 Posted by on 12 July 2009  Modern Life
Jul 122009
 

infinte_As part of Infinite Summer, both Amy and I have embarked on the reading of David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus, “Infinite Jest.” It’s a 1,076-page monster, and although I’m not yet very far into it, I can already tell that its density has not been exaggerated.

Already, I’ve encountered things that I know will be richly rewarding in a way I can’t appreciate until I reread it. That thought fills me with both dread and delight.

I avidly anticipated coming across my first footnote, since they are legendary, and now that I have, I’d like to post something that was tweeted by Steve Juras a while back. Here’s a (pdf) link to David Foster Wallace’s course syllabus when he was teaching Literary Interpretation in 2005. It’s funny and dense and it’s got footnotes.

You should get a copy of Infinite Jest and join us in the read!

Jurassic Park be damned!

 Posted by on 3 July 2009  Modern Life
Jul 032009
 

dinosaurWe all know the story — scientists discover dinosaur DNA and use the genetic material to resurrect extinct species with disastrous results.  Unfortunately, in the real world, DNA is too unstable to likely survive the multi-million year ride through the ages to arrive intact in a laboratory.  Although soft materials have been found, including protiens, it is unlikely viable DNA will ever be found.

But don’t lose hope!  There is another way that we might yet see dinosaurs in our lifetime.  Real, true-life, non-CGI dinosaurs.  Of a sort.

It’s been dubbed Chickenosaurus.

In “How to Build a Dinosaur,” Jack Horner explains how a new dinosaur can be created through the use of technology that currently exists:

He wants to alter the embryological development of chickens, which are living descendants of dinosaurs. His idea comes from the fertile field of “evo-devo”, which focuses on how evolution affects the way animals develop from fertilised eggs.

Preliminary attempts to tinker with nature have not worked out — a researcher tried to give a chicken a dinosaur-like tail, but the experiment failed.

Although science has the tools necessary to do all the things necessary to create the chickenosaurus, we still don’t know how to wield these tools in order to get us the desired result.  In Horner’s case, he knows exactly what that result is:  to walk on stage of Oprah, with a chickenosaurus on a leash.

The future of the book

 Posted by on 26 June 2009  Modern Life
Jun 262009
 

I recently attended the Canadian Booksellers’ Association Summer Conference.  In addition to the renewal of old acquaintances, author visits, sales presentations and other sorts of activities you would expect to encounter at a professional conference, there was a panel discussion on the future of the book industry.  Although this discussion touched on many of the issues affecting independent booksellers (the fluctuating Canadian dollar, reassessments of returns policies, the economy, big box discounters, etc), the most interesting topic, to my mind, was the mindset of various publishers regarding the rise of the ebook.

Even the idea of the ebook gives me a nasty crawling of the flesh.  It isn’t that I am some sort of Luddite or that, as a bookstore owner, I have a vested interest in the survival of the book.  My problem is that the ebook may eventually win out over the physical book, despite the fact that the centuries-old format is the superior of the two.

A cursory listing, in no particular order, of my arguments for this position include:

  1. Books have no requirement for electricity, battery or any form of power.  Thus, they can be used in even the most primitive of conditions.
  2. Although ebook readers have improved greatly with the latest generation of products, the resolution of the book will be difficult to surpass.
  3. Transferability is less an issue for books than ebooks.  While handing a book to a friend is rarely an issue (even if getting it returned is), sharing an ebook across different readers has, to date, been problematic.
  4. Books are a very popular gift.   Ebooks do not possess that physical dimension that is often important in gift-giving rituals.
  5. Environmentally, books are superior.  While much hue and cry can be raised around deforestation and the pollution resulting from pulp and paper mills, there are alternatives to these industrial practices.  Electronic devices, in both production and disposal, are frightening with respect to what is released into soils and waterways.

Certainly, there are additional arguments and just as many counterarguments.  Yet, because the general public has a love affair with hand-held electronic devices, publishers are looking to monetizing that small, but growing portion of the market seeking digital versions of new books.

The general consensus among the publishers present at the CBA conference was that ebooks will not likely play a significant role in the marketplace for at least 5 years.   In that time, I cannot say how else the book industry will evolve as we are truly in a time of change.

In short, although the publishing industry is in a time of flux, it is almost certain that the book will survive.

(This post has been simultaneously published on both Absurd Intellectual and the Pennywise Books blog.)

It’s time to read Infinite Jest

 Posted by on 20 June 2009  Modern Life
Jun 202009
 

infinte_

It does kind of shame me, as a literary type, to admit that I’ve never read Infinite Jest. Of all of David Foster Wallace’s great (I hear) writing, all I’ve read is “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” which is kind of like saying you went to Paris and spent the whole week at the Eiffel Tower.

“A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” is the one thing that everyone’s read, because it’s short and it’s easy to get through and it’s funny. I loved it.

Infinite Jest is not short, nor is it easy to get through. In fact, it’s over 1,000 pages, and it’s notoriously difficult to get through. It’s also rumoured to be fabulously rewarding for those who do persevere.

This is the summer to finally read it all the way through. Why not? Everyone else is. Like Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists.

No, I’m serious — it’s “Infinite Summer”. There’s a blog and everything.

Pitched as “an endurance reading event,” the online book club plans to read through the whole book, starting tomorrow (Sunday). They’ve set a pace to 75 pages per week, meaning you can finish it this summer.

Of course, after having trekked to every damn bookstore in the city, I can’t find a copy of Infinite Jest anywhere, so I’m probably going to have to buy it on Amazon and then catch up, but I’m going to do it!

And I’m going to make Amy do it with me.

Surprise! Don’t you like finding things out on the blog, Amy?

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