Percy Jackson, my new favorite thing.

Having seen the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief and listened to the kids behind me talk about how much they enjoyed the books, I decided to take the plunge. I hadn't read them before since they hit when I was either in college or just starting out in bookselling and was so overwhelmed that I didn't have time for them. Being the good book buyer that I am, and by my compulsion to be knowledgeable about the things that I am ordering and also recommending, I jumped in. All I can say is WOW. Seriously, if you have a brain in your head and a funny bone in your body, you will laugh and laugh hard. Rick Riordan has taken what can be stodgy and imperialistic and made it modern and smart. His characters are full of heart without being fake, his plots are well thought out with loose ends tied up for the most part (but not always the way the reader expects which is nice), and his treatment of the various Greek myths and Gods/Goddesses is thought-provoking and hysterical. His characterizations of each of the Gods/Goddesses is spot on with plenty of "in" jokes for those in the know. The best part is that even if you have a working knowledge of Greek myths, you still want to go back and rediscover the stories that he is referring to (I've also seen this first hand with many of his younger readers; we usually stock classic mythology texts very close to the Percy Jackson books because of the constant need for them) just to find all the nuances and allusions. I mean, whoever thought to describe Poseidon as sporting cutoffs, Tommy Bahama hawaiian shirts, flipflops, and week-old stubble? It works, but isn't necessary dignified for a major player in the myths. But it makes him, as well as the rest of the Gods/Goddesses, accessible for the young reader and hilarious for the older ones. I'm so pumped about getting back into Greek myths that I am even considering picking up Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series (recommended by a sales rep friend who shall remain nameless so as to protect her guilty pleasure . . . you know who you are!) which also plays on the different myths, but with a vastly different effect. I just don't know how to explain those titles to my husband while they are laying around. Dark Lover, etc. Hmmm.

Julie/Julia and the impact of a book

So, what they don't tell you about being the parent of young children is that you will only see the movies you want if you rent them (and usually only get to watch them if said children are gone, and in my case, the husband too!) which is how I ended up watching Julie & Julia this morning to my delight. Very cute and Meryl Streep is delightful as Julia Child. The thing that struck me the most, and I must admit that I haven't read either book that the movie was based on (Julie Powell's or the bio on Julia Child) so I don't know any hard facts, was the way that Streep played Julia Child -- she was so full of joy that she looked like she was going to burst. How many people do you ever see that are so full of joy like that? And that joy was something that translated to those around her via her cookbook or her show. People could intrinsically sense that she loved what she was doing and wanted you to love it too. That "joy through osmosis" from her cookbook was able to help Powell through a rough patch in her life, like many books are able to do. Isn't that why we (the "lifers") are in the book business, either on the writing side, the publishing side, or the bookselling side? We believe that books are life changing -- they have the power to affect people's lives in a profound way. As a bookseller and a book buyer, you dream (at least I do at times) of being able to be find the right perfect book that a person is looking for at just the right time. I get excited at the start of every publishing season because of all of the things that are coming, and the possibilities for each. The impact doesn't have to be huge, it could just be a few minutes of blissful escapism, or it can be something so shattering as Randy Pausch's Last Lecture has been for millions of people. But each one has the possibility for that kind of change, and that is an amazing thing.

Holidays, schmolidays.

I hate that when the holiday season is over, you feel so drained and yet you really haven't accomplished anything! Well, besides making the dreams of your three year old come true via My Little Pony stuff and a Magnadoodle (who knew that was all it took? This could be world changing!). Some of the highlights of my holiday season are thus:

*Books that I loved from Nov/Dec that I feel like mentioning:

• Full Circle - Pamela Freeman: Seriously, can she get any better? A great ending to the trilogy although I would have liked to see something of an Epilogue for a more complete look at the after . . . sorry so vague, but no spoilers here! I can't wait for her nest outing.
• Mr. Shivers - Robert Bennett: This is one debut that you don't want to miss, especially if you are a fan of Stephen King, Steinbeck (thanks to PW for that great comparison), with a little Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy thrown in for good measure. Brilliantly written and a gem. And, his guest blog on www.orbitbooks.net is classic and wonderful. He is one to watch.
• Captivate - Carrie Jones: The sequel to last year's Need won't disappoint. Need was one of my favorite things last year (any book whose chapter headings are all phobias is a winner automatically!) and except for Captivate's cliffhanger, it is sure to be as well. She just gets better and better.
• Soulless -- Gail Carriger: OH MY GOD. If you have any inclination for any Bronte, Austen, vampires, werewolves, parasols, or just a damn good read, you must pick up Soulless immediately. I haven't laughed this hard reading a book in years or had so much fun with a bustle ever. And her blog? Total must read. Hysterical. Changeless (4/10)can't come soon enough.
• Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova: I was a HUGE fan of The Historian when it came out 4 years ago and could not wait for this. It is a different sort of book than her previous but it shows her range and her depth of writing, as well as her commitment to research. I will be curious to see if there are historical notes in the finished book (I read an ARC) because the assertions that she makes are powerful enough to pursue, and I don't know if they are rooted in fact or not. Fantastic.

*Fun things of Note:

• Book Blogger Holiday Swap: Calling all book bloggers! If you don't do this, you are missing out. I am not the Secret Santa type, but this was perfect. We are all junkies and love getting book related items, so you can't lose! My santa was great. She was Amanda Teague, from NYC and she sent awesome stuff that was perfect. I am most appreciative and can't wait for next year. My santee (sp?) was Monica Schroeder, www.bibliophilicbookblog.com, who I have to say is PROLIFIC with the book reviewing . . . she puts most of us to shame! I am a new follower of her blog and have to say that I am enjoying it (especially her contests . . . ereaders, YAY!)! Thanks Holiday Swap!
• I love trivia contests! Especially the Orbit ones! I have to say that I am shameless with these because there is no better prize than one that you want. Who doesn't want a special spyglass from Kevin J. Anderson or a bag full of books, usually ones that you are going to buy anyway? It is the best part of my month when the Orbit Report email comes and I get to flex that trivia muscle. Sad, but true.

That's all for now, but more to come now that holiday hysteria is over. My goal for next year? More book reviews, all the time. I read constantly and get so much stuff because of my job and I don't write about much of it! Travesty! I have so much to say!

Why the Cliffhanger?

I have a serious love/hate relationship with series books. I understand that to have a successful series is similar to being given the option to print your own money (especially if said series is in hardcover and has had the movies rights picked up and done well) but do authors have to constantly employ the cliffhanger? Seriously. It's irritating. I hate to read a great book only to have it "not end" so that I will read the next one! I feel like the authors don't trust us as readers to come back so they have to employ the cliffhanger defense to ensure that we are all begging for the next installment. FYI to authors: we are loyal, we will come back (. . . as long as you continue to write good stuff), go ahead and wrap up the current story without a big shocker. I just feel like it is a ploy that some writers will use because they don't know where the story should go next (or they do know but don't know how to get there).

For example, some authors that don't really use the cliffhanger but have successful series are Charlaine Harris, J. K. Rowling, and Stephenie Meyer. Sure there are unexplained and unfleshed out elements of each of those stories, but they wrap things up within the book pretty well before ending it. Except for the shocker at the end of Half-Blood Prince, they aren't trying to sucker us into reading more, we genuinely want to come back because we care about the characters and want to see how things turn out. These authors create debate with their fans rather than leave us all hanging by our fingernails.

Cliffhangers, when used correctly, can be good, but I don't think that authors that take 3 years or more to write the next book need to use them. At that point, I have forgotten what happened and may not have time to re-read everything, and then may not continue with the series until it is done. Take Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Talk about creating debate and dissension among readers for longer than I have been alive (28 years for me, 30 some odd for DT fans). I am a devoted DT fan and will go back through the series about once a year because I love the story and the characters and because there is so much to find each time it's read. But the thing is that I didn't have to wait for the next installment of the series each time: I read it all in about 2 weeks after they all came out circa 2005. So I didn't have the animosity that some fans had because there were HUGE gaps between many of the books, some that spanned 10 years or more, with no guarantee that it would ever be finished. King didn't always employ the cliffhanger, but the books were never wrapped up tight (notable cliffhangers: Wastelands, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and Dark Tower). There were three reasons for that in my opinion. One, and he has admitted this publicly, is that he had NO IDEA where things were going to go next sometimes. He ran out of gas in the story and had to just stop. Two, had he continued some of the books past the cliffhanger, the books would have been even more monstrous (the total series spans around 5,000 pages I think) than they already are. And, third, he was writing an Epic. I don't think that the normal rules apply to writing epics because it is a continuation of a complete and present story, rather than different episodes in the characters' lives like traditional series usually are.

Another author whom I love that employs the cliffhanger is Diana Gabaldon. The irritating thing with her books is that it takes her about 3 years to write the next. And, they are huge books, with multiple storylines so it's almost impossible to remember all of the intricacies without re-reading. Her current book ends in a ridiculously unresolved way that I didn't think was necessary since her fans are some of the most loyal in the industry because they will wait years between books and still read the 1,000+ pages of each (even if it's a dud like Fiery Cross!). I just don't understand the purpose for it.

Some cliffhangers seem to be part of the MO like with YA authors. To keep some kids hooked you have to employ some sort of gimmick and cliffhangers are perfect for that becuase it keeps them thinking and talking about the books. But why use it with adult series books that are wildly successful? It's just irritating frankly and makes me want to wait to read (and buy) them until they are all out.

Walmart, Amazon, Target, Oh My!

If I were running a big publishing house right now, I would be terrified. And, if I were any of these authors affected, I would be furious. Normally a price war is a good thing but not in the case of Walmart, Amazon, Target, and now Sears (WTF!&$). They are taking a valuable (in my humble booksellers opinion) commodity and making it virtually worth nothing by charging 70% less than the cover price. I understand the concept of a "loss leader" but usually it's something like a DVD for a movie that already made $100 million or toilet paper, not a book. Independent bookselling is a precarious place at the best of times and now, during what should be the busiest time of the year, it is thrown completely off-kilter. Titles like John Grisham's Ford County, Stephen King's Under the Dome, and Barbara Kingsolver's Lacuna were supposed to be big sellers for EVERYONE this holiday, not just for the retailers who are going to lose money on them. Having read both Under the Dome and Lacuna, I was looking forward to being able to sell them as stellar novels to my customers with confidence that they were worth the cover price (or the 30% discounted price once they hit a bestseller list). Now I am going to have to convince my customers that they should give us their business as well as that a $9 hardcover is not the new standard.

How can an indie compete with that? Well, many of us are considering jumping on the bandwagon and buying them at Walmart, et al, rather than the publishers. Very scary. But what are we to do? We buy them wholesale for 46%. If we can buy them at considerably lower than that at one of these idiotic retailers, why the hell not? My issue is that I am torn between trying to make a profit this holiday and taking money out of my beloved sales reps' pockets. If I cancel my orders for these titles, titles that my reps are counting on to have great sales and help stabilize the market and therefore provoke more reorders, how is that going to affect them? And let's say that half of their indie stores cancel their orders and get them from Walmart, how much money are the reps going to lose? How much money are the publishers going to lose as a result? Will people lose their jobs? These are scary thoughts in an already shaky industry. But, if it forces people to take a stand against these kind of predatory pricing practices (thanks ABA for giving me this phrase), is it worth it? If the publishers would be willing to finally admit that the big boxes aren't playing well with others, would the industry change? Would we adopt a similar policy to some European countries that disallow pricing below wholesale (therefore making a slightly more level sales field)?

Another big question is what do the authors think? Does Grisham care whether his book is sold at $9 or $26? Or does he just care that it sold at all since he gets paid regardless? If it were me, I would be livid. It's like being told by your boss that you are doing a great job and are invaluable but that you need to take a 40% paycut because someone feels trying something new. "Take one for the Team" in essence. And the hilarious thing is that these authors aren't lightweights, they are some of the most popular and powerful authors in the marketplace today. I would be curious to know their opinions.

These are all very serious questions to ponder. Maybe all of us indies should band together and send an open letter to the affected publishers. Something that may convey the collective terror and dissatisfaction with the current state of the business.

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.