Sorry for being MIA . . . childbirth is a big deal.

So sorry for being MIA for the last few months. The last trimester of pregnancy coupled with an unruly 3 year old and ultimately childbirth left me a little tattered. But, I'm back and more sleep deprived than ever to rant and rave about all things book buyer related.

Soulless, My New Obsession

Listen up all of you steampunk fans: Gail Carriger's Soulless is your new obsession. Just out last week from Orbit Books (one of my true loves) in mass market paper, it's a fast read and cheap to boot. It's also the start of a series, aptly titled the Parasol Protectorate. Just imagine if Jane Austen, Emily Post, and Bela Lugosi had a lovechild. Voila! Gore, but with gloves on and a chaperone.

The story centers on Alexia Tarabotti, a whipsmart firecracker of a character. She inhabits Victorian London but in a world vastly different than our own: Vampires and Werewolves, amongst other things, are a part of civilized society. Alexia becomes very rudely involved in a vampire murder and is then thrown into the company of the (AMAZING!) Lord Maccon, who just happens to be a close associate of the Queen, as well as a strikingly handsome werewolf. Hijinx of the best kind ensue: espionage, flamboyant vampires, uninvited advances, and streetside groping, oh my!

Alexia is my new favorite character in fiction right now. She breaks the mold much like Austen's beloved Elizabeth Bennet (sp?) did because of her unwillingness to be anyone but herself. She is on the verge of becoming a spinster and has nothing left to lose by becoming involved in the paranormal underworld (she's already soulless!) is smart, sassy, has no "filter", and is a refreshing new voice in literature. Think Sookie Stackhouse with a corset and shot-filled parasol.

There is nothing like it out right now (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters may come close but not quite) and I dare you not to giggle like a schoolgirl (and guffaw like a loon) when you read it.

Seriously? Amazon may be the root of online evil.

As I am beginning my day today like I do most days with a quick check of my email, I stumble upon a snippet of an article in Shelf Awareness about how if North Carolina successfully passes a law mandating that online retailers collect sales tax from their "marketing affiliates", whatever that means, and only 4.5% mind you . . . most states hover around the 7-8% mark, then Amazon will pull all of their business out of the state. Seriously, are you kidding me? EVERY OTHER TRADITIONAL RETAILER COLLECTS SALES TAX! QUIT BITCHING AND DO IT! I may be young and I may not have all of the information, but how can collecting sales tax (which is something that has been going on for decades without much of an issue until the online age) be "unconstitutional"? If you are getting paid for goods (or for referring said goods and get a commission), then sales tax should be collected (garage sales are probably the main exception even though you technically are supposed to claim that on your return, but who really does?). The online retailers have made BILLIONS of dollars in the last decade and the states deserve their fair share. The rest of us have been dutifully paying sales tax every month, why shouldn't they? Sales tax is a vital source of revenue for the state economy and frankly, the online retailers who complain that it will bankrupt them to have to pay it are being short-sighted and selfish in the long-run. I understand that having to shell out more money for another random expense is hard in this economy but this money is what fixes our roads, pays for our schools, feeds those who can't feed themselves, pays unemployment, and generally allows the states to operate. Amazon, by complaining that this law is unconstitutional, is basically going to force other NC retailers out of business because it will not allow them to be a part of their referral program, which constitutes much of their business. This in turn, will cost the state money because these people will then be a strain on their economy. The ripple effect is enormous.

But the biggest problem isn't this issue with North Carolina. The biggest problem is that most of these online retailers haven't been collecting sales tax for years and if the states don't choose to enforce or even enact a sales tax law, it will continue to go uncollected. But my favorite part of the whole scenario is that when the states do try to put a law into effect, all of the retailers immediately cry foul like the states are trying to do something that is unreasonable rather than something that every other retailer that happened to decide to do business in an actual store has been doing since forever. It's just ridiculous. If this issue isn't resolved there is never going to be any sort of level playing field, no matter what the industry and no matter what the state of our economy.

This rant is obviously coming from the perspective of an independent bookseller. Our industry is in DIRE straits right now partially because of the lack of a level playing field: stores closing every day, discrepancies in publisher discounts between smaller retailers and giant chains, an industry that is dominated by "bestsellers" that more often than not lead to returns, etc. And the biggest thing that we can do is to try to protect ourselves.

Orbit books, how I love thee

I'm not a poet but I am mildly obsessed with Hatchette's (actually the UK's) Orbit science fiction imprint. 80% of what I read last month was theirs and I don't regret it. Now, let's be honest here, I am not a scifi expert, nor am I going to be in the next few years (I'm only 27!), but I do know the difference between scifi that has the possibility of appealing to a mainstream audience, and scifi that has no inclination to do so at all. Orbit is one of those imprints that is going to suck in people that don't normally read SFF and keep them coming back for more. With the broad range of authors that they represent, and the cutting edge content, Orbit will be around (hopefully) for a long time. And the best part about it, is that the people that work for them are PASSIONATE about their jobs! I had the luck to meet Alex Lencicki at BEA 2 years ago and was so surprised because he was one of the few publisher people who was actually excited to talk to a bookseller like me who wasn't there to place an order or who wasn't there to schmooze. He was genuinely happy to talk to a fellow fan of the genre and was even happier because I was familiar with the catalog (I had ordered the books before I left for NY). I have also gotten the privelege to have some great email correspondence with Nadine Pirogow through the Orbit Report newsletters and the subsequent trivia contests that I can't stop entering!

The way that Orbit is operating is the way that imprints should be allowed to work. The website is a plethora of information about all of their authors (and links to virtually any SFF site, blog, reference, you name it) and their work and they are EXCITED about it. And the best part is that the website is actually functional meaning you have a really good chance at finding the info that you want without wanting to do violence to your computer. They actually want to talk to people about it. How is that not a good business model? Too many people that work in publishing have lost sight of what really drives the industry: the readers. And oftentimes, booksellers, especially independent booksellers, are the driving force behind the readers. Orbit hasn't lost that drive to connect and I hope they never do.

My current favorites for the season:

*Best Served Cold -- Joe Abercrombie
*Fall of Thanes -- Brian Ruckley (Thanks Nadine!)
*Red-Headed Stepchild -- Jaye Wells
*Hand of Isis -- Jo Graham

And don't get me started on the fall. My reading list is already too long and I am not going to have time to do it once my second kid comes in October! Too much great stuff!

Fall Already!?!

Does anyone else feel like the ordering seasons are right freaking on top of eachother? I feel like I just got done ordering Summer (which in some cases I did!) books and already I have to think about things that are coming out in December . . . some of which are the paperbacks for things that aren't even out yet! How am I supposed to know if I want something if I have NO IDEA how it did the first time? And the publishers complain about all of the returns. Maybe it wouldn't be such an issue if we actually had more than 10 minutes to see how a title does before we have to buy it in 3 different formats. I love the book world and I love my job, but this is one of the most irritating quirks. I hate to buy a title just to return it because I am of the mind to be prepared just in case something hits.

Not that I'm not excited for the fall, particularly for Stephen King's new one (I know, I am a total sell out, but seriously, he is guaranteed to please in my world . . . especially when I am in the midst of childbirth which I will be with this new one) Under the Dome and Diana Gabaldon's Echo in the Bone. I know, they are at hilariously opposite ends of the spectrum but both authors are able to entertain me for hours on end without me feeling like I have wasted my time and since both titles will probably be over 1,000 pages, I feel like I am going to get my money's worth as well. I am also excited for all of the little gems that are sure to be hiding in the catalogs. I love sniffing out first time authors or respected midlist authors that are new to me (which, given that I am 27 isn't that hard even being a buyer and having access to all of the titles that I do).

I just get so excited and so depressed in the same instant when the next season's catalogs start showing up from UPS and FedEx. I can't wait to see what is in them but then I realize how much time it takes to put all of the orders in and lose some of my interest. That is why I can't wait for Above the Treeline's Edelweiss to launch. For someone like me who buys all of the adult and all of the kid's books for a 10,000 sqft. + store, it's a big undertaking because I input all of my orders every season. If Edelweiss allows me to order, section, and import it all into my POS without having to spend hours with a 10 key, I am all for it. I will change my whole routine not to have to put catalogs in. I stacked them all up once to see how tall it was when I had them all ordered for the season and it was as tall as I was (I am 5'2" if I'm lucky). That's ridiculous! At least with e-catalogs I won't have to worry about them falling over on me . . .

Did I mention that I love my job?

Comfort Reading

What makes us want to reread a novel again and again? And what makes that list? I have a very small list of things that I will read again and again and there is no rhyme or reason to why I will pick them up other than I can let the book fall open anywhere and read with no confusion. I have read HUNDREDS of phenomenal books but have no desire to read many of them again unless I would need to for bookclub or something. Some of them are just too brutal or emotionally taxing to be able to read again and again for comfort. Because that is why we reread things right? For comfort, familiarity. It's like visiting old friends who have known you since childhood: there are no pretensions and you can let it all hang out without the threat of consequences because they have probably seen all the nasty stuff and still love you. Most of the books that I will reread happen to be a part of a series like Harry Potter, Twilight, Outlander, Lord of the Rings, Dark Tower, etc., which makes the promise of escaping my life a guarantee once I crack open the first book (or sixth). The best part is that I won't get heartburn from reading a 5,000 page series like I will if I eat a huge and very comforting BLT.

Watchmen

In a wonderful turn of events, I found myself able to go and see a matinee (which is also infinitely cheaper) of Watchmen so that I didn't have to wait forever for my husband to decide he wanted to see it. I was extremely pleased with it and didn't object to the ways that they cut things out because frankly, it would have been about 4 hours long without the necessary trimming. It was creepy because some of the scenes were straight out of the comic, right down to the coloring and expressions. Unreal. The only damper on my outing was the fact that as we were all leaving the theater, all of the people that were college age were complaining because it wasn't a "normal" comic movie. There wasn't enough action or too much of an agenda, blah, blah, blah. I was so embarrassed to be young at that moment because of all of the movies out right now, not many have had as much print as Watchmen has had this past year and for people to come seee the movie and have NO CLUE what it is about is just careless. It's their own damn fault really. It was never marketed as Batman: Dark Knight or Blade; it was marketed as what it was: the anti-hero superhero movie based on one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. The biggest indicator that it isn't for everyone is the fact that it got an "R" rating, thankfully. It was just so disheartening to listen to them complain about how much of a waste it was to sit through this movie and to be preached at. These are apparently the people who are spending big money going to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua or Epic Movie, which we all know to be high quality entertainment. Not that I think that you have to read everything that a movie is based on before going to see it, but something like this might deserve a little preparation. Wake up 20-somethings. You are giving the rest of us a bad rap.