Juno Books

Rambles:

Walker’s pseudo-Arabian setting is well-realized and a pleasant change of pace from fantasy’s more usual medieval European settings. It is easy to visualize Elishiba gliding across desert sands. Elishiba herself is a good character: a strong-willed woman who is not afraid to act on behalf of herself and her realm, nor afraid to sacrifice her own happiness for the greater good should such become necessary.

The ending, however, is something of a disappointment. The set-up for a bittersweet ending where both Hanrah and Elishiba have made sacrifices that bring their realms closer together is well done, but Unveiling the Sorceress is, first and foremost, a romance, and romances demand a happy ending.

Uh. I realize I shouldn’t comment, I mean, this is a nice review it. But, really, this almost is a “factual correction” — (1) It IS a happy ending. (2) The book is, “first and foremost”, a fantasy. (3) Although “romance as a marketing category” and its fans have defined “romance” as having a happy ending, that is not the only definition of romance. Since this is *not* a “romance as a marketing category” novel, then why demand it be one? That definition of romance also asks that the story be impelled by a romance. Romance plays a big role in this fantasy, but it is not so much the story of “girl meets wizard” as “girl becomes empowered and saves her people”.

According the the Wall Street Journal Amazon is going to shaking be up the print on demand publishers in a big bad way.

So big, I don’t even think THEY realize it. And there are some holes to the story do far, but –

To quote WSJ: “Amazon.com Inc., flexing its muscles as a major book retailer, notified publishers who print books on demand that they will have to use its on-demand printing facilities if they want their books directly sold on Amazon’s Web site.”

Okay, *I* am a POD publisher and no one has notified me. I started Writers.com Books in 2003 (an started first with short-run, not POD), Infrapress and Caelum Press in 2004. I’ve published 13 books (some in two editions) through Lightning Source (LSI). The books are distributed through Ingram. These books sell steadily in small to minuscule amounts. Perfect for true POD. This is what print-on-demand is about. The authors are not getting rich, but they do get royalties. Having the books available for one author has also resulted in two movie deals.

I do not supply books *directly* to Amazon, although I used to, thorough Amazon Marketplace. When you first start out with only a title or two, that’s the only way to do it. It gets pretty inefficient — Amazon has this automatic system that orders from several locations, so you might get a book order for 1 book at 4 PM on Monday, another copy of the same title at 6 PM the same day, and then, on Tuesday, they order three copies. Once I could avoid that, I did.

So, Amazon orders the books like any other bookseller — they place an order with Ingram; LSI prints the books and ships them and keeps track of what they printed and shipped; deducts printing, shipping and handling and keeps my account. I get (automatically deposited) a check every month (delayed by three months) for the books. I can check online at any time to see what’s selling. (Curious? Okay, this month, as of today, eight books have sold at least one copy. One sold 39 copies. Another, that sold maybe six copies all last year sold 12.) I have no idea who ordered the books. That data is not available to me. But all these books do sell through Amazon. Perhaps the majority of them do. I have no way of knowing.

Now. I haven’t published a new title since April 2006. I’ve been a little busy editing Juno Books, among other reasons. But this is still a viable little business, operated professionally, that brings in a few bucks for me and the authors and I have no intentions of shutting it down. It epitomizes what can be done by keeping good books that do not sell enough otherwise to be kept in print.

So, is Amazon going to shut me down? Maybe. Angela Hoy has a more frank and alarming report at . Other comments are at and Virtualbookworm

Let’s hope Amazon comes to its senses. I don’t think they have any idea themselves what they are asking here.

Update #1 (3.30.08): First off — I thought it would be obvious that these posts have NOTHING TO DO WITH JUNO BOOKS. I do occasionally blog about publishing-related news and even personal stuff. But perhaps it was not obvious, so: Is it obvious now?

O’Reilly Radar examines the aggressive explicit lock-in attempt

Publishers Weekly’s article contains an interesting sentence: “An Amazon spokesperson . . . said for publishers that don’t use BookSurge for pod, they can still use Amazon’s Advantage Program (which works on a consignment model) or third party vendors to sell their pod books.” As noted, Advantage is not something I’d go back to (nor would most, I would think), but is “third party vendor” a code phrase for “Ingram Distribution”? Will Amazon suddenly provide a loophole?

Booktwo notes: “POD has been turning from a vanity publisher’s niche into a mainstream printing option - Cambridge University Press recently passed the 10,000 title mark (pdf news release) with Lightning Source. Big publishers are increasingly turning to POD to support backlist titles, while new publishers use the technology to bypass the industry’s traditional (and traditionally expensive) high print run, warehousing and return mechanisms…Have no doubt that POD is only going to grow. 50% of all books printed are never read - that figure, coupled with the growth of ebooks (another potential monopoly for Amazon), ensures that POD will account for the majority of books published at some not-too-distant point in the future. At the moment, there are price and quality issues, but these are rapidly changing….What Amazon is attempting to do is build a print/bookseller monopoly as POD enters the mainstream. As Amazon is the largest online bookseller, POD publishers are going to have to use BookSurge even if there books are sold in plenty of other places. And using BookSurge involves higher costs, and being locked into Amazon’s crippling discount rates.”

LibraryThing notes: “For book-industry bloggers, and particularly the POD people, this has become something of an I-am-Spartacus moment. (Of course, those guys all died.)” Okay, I already WAS Spartacus. But then, I’ve been crucified before.

Update #2 (3.31.08): Some of the hysteria being blogged out there seems to be overlooking the fact that Amazon.com is not as monolithic as Microsoft and that books are not as profitable as software. Further, although self-publishers may rely on Amazon for 75% (a guess) of their sales, legitimate POD publishers don’t. Again, a guess, but maybe 25% of sales? Scam vanity publishers probably don’t sell that much through Amazon, either, but having a book on Amazon means something to authors they are trying to take advantage of.

Publishers (not me, haven’t bothered) who have contacted LSI are reporting they are being told not to worry and that LSI will have more information later in the week.

Update #3 (3.31.08):Amazon’s published an official letter. Still not terribly clear, though. (1) They don’t address the cost of setting titles up. (2) They don’t address the matter of Booksurge quality/cost/service. (3) Nor do they mention how they will pay/account for copies sold. (4) They mention. “If the POD item were to be printed at a third party, we’d have to wait for it to be transhipped…” — which makes no sense. But Amazon stocks POD books just like other books. As I explained above, they order them from Ingram and stock them. They don’t wait for a customer to order one book THEN order it from Ingram. That’s why the books say “In stock and available from Amazon.com”. Weird.

However — do a search for PublishAmerica titles — looks like all 23,699 ARE no longer available through Amazon.

Fantasy & Sci-Fi-Lovin’ Book Reviews:

This book was such a pleasant surprise for me. I don’t know why exactly, the books I’ve read so far from Juno Books have been very good. But I don’t read a lot of Steampunk and the descriptions I’ve read about “Clockwork Heart” usually call it a “Steampunk romance.” On the surface that’s a pretty fair description, but I’m afraid it might discourage people who don’t read Steampunk from picking it up, which would be a shame since it’s such an accessible and enjoyable book.

Set in a city called Ondinium, “Clockwork Heart” is about a young woman named Taya who is an Icarus. The Icarii are messengers who fly with lighter-than-air metal wings across the city. In a world that is divided by caste, the Icarii fly freely between castes and are among the privileged few who are allowed to talk to and see the “Exalted” caste unmasked.

While flying over the city on a routing delivery, Taya saves an Exalted and her son from a deadly accident and soon finds herself embroiled in the affairs of the Exalted Forlore family. Alister Forlore is the charismatic, handsome brother who writes programs for the Great Engine and Cristof Forlore is the outcaste brother who chose to leave his caste and live as a clockwright in the lower caste section of Ondinium. Taya comes to know them both after a series of bombings in the city draw attention to both brothers and the secrets they keep.

On the surface the book sounds like it would be a simple story about a woman caught up in a little political intrigue and a bit of a love triangle but it manages to avoid being that simple. I think the strength of the book is that the caste system and the technology or both really well developed.

The people of Ondinium live in different parts of the city and work certain jobs based on caste. Laborers fall into the lower caste while craftsmen are something of the middle class. The Exalteds are the highest caste and are believed to be the product of thousands of rebirths. The Goddess of Ondinium, “The Lady” is believed to bless the births of the Exalteds and they are therefore considered beyond reproach. The Icarii are considered outside of the caste system. Children of Ondinium take the “Great Examination” at seven and those who are considered especially suited to being Icarii are pulled from their birth caste for the job.

The “Great Engine” fuels the technology of Ondinium. Programs run through the Great Engine determine the suitability of citizens who live in Ondinium to work certain jobs and their loyalty. But like any society that is run on technology there are protests to the system. The main group that opposes the system in Ondinium is the “Torn Cards,” a terrorist group that tries to undermine the Great Engine by bombing sites critical to the functioning of the Great Engine.

I’m probably doing a poor job of simplifying the story for the purpose of a review, and I hope that doesn’t lead anyone to think the book is hard to follow– it really isn’t. “Clockwork Heart” has enough complexity to make it interesting but it never gets confusing. I also liked the way the romance was handled in the book. It may seem like the love story is the main thing based on the excerpt I chose to feature, but it really isn’t the main focus of the story. The reason I chose that particular excerpt is because it was such a pivotal point in the book for me. Up to that point the love story reminded me a lot of “Pride and Prejudice” (one of my favorites). Taya and her love interest (I’m not going to tell you who it is) spend a lot of time verbally sparring. And while the kiss they share doesn’t completely end their antagonism, it definitely changes the relationship.

All in all, I really enjoyed “Clockwork Heart,” so much so I left a comment on Dru Pagliassotti’s web site hoping to hear that she was planning on a sequel– though no plans for one are in the immediate future. I don’t know if it was the technological slant of the book or the romance that hooked me, I suspect it was a little of both, but I thought it was very well done.

Fantasy Literature Net (There’s also an interview with Dru there.):

I really don’t know what sort of story this is. It’s an adventure, it’s a mystery, it’s a crime novel, and a romance kind of all throw into one. It’s a complex blend of genres all set in a different world where technology is far behind our modern times in many respects, but has been carefully enough thought out that it makes sense.

At the center of the story is a young woman who works as an Icarus — basically the equivalent of a bicycle messenger, only state-sponsored and with wings instead of a bike. The setting is a city-state that supports a caste system of governance. Again, pretty well thought out and not so complicated that you can’t follow it. Taya, that main character, is a free-spirited, intelligent, unknowingly pretty protagonist who is drawn into a convoluted series of plots because she happens to be in the right place at the right time to save a woman and child who are members of the highest caste.

Taya is pretty well written and, as is often the case with female main characters in fantasy works, she blends an interesting combination of stubbornness, willfulness, and outright luck. She makes mistakes and causes problems for herself and others, and this makes her believable as a character. She is surrounded by a variety of supporting characters that fill their respective places in the story fairly well. No glaringly out of place supporting cast in this book.

The story follows a fairly quick pace and covers a variety of settings. It’s not quite an action/adventure book, but there’s enough action to pace the slower social scenes. On the whole, it’s well blended. I honestly felt more like I was reading an urban fantasy novel, but the setting is not modern.

If you’re looking for traditional epic fantasy, this is not it. If you are willing to try something that carries hints of fantasy with no real magic or knights in shining armor, then this is worth the trip. It’s not too long and feels in no way like it’s the beginning of another series. Kudos to the author for that!

I quoted both of these in full because they both hit on one of the challenges we have with this book — how to describe it!

Now, if RWA wanted to REALLY get behind something and use their clout . . .

As PWDaily and others have reported, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has blasted a new Indiana law that requires bookstores to register with the government if they sell what is considered “sexually explicit materials.” The new law, H.B. 1042, was signed by Governor Mitch Daniels on March 13, and calls for any bookseller that sells sexually explicit materials to register with the Secretary of State and provide a statement detailing the types of books to be sold. The Secretary of State must then identify those stores to local government officials and zoning boards. “Sexually explicit material” is defined as any product that is “harmful to minors” under existing law. There is a $250 registration fee. Failure to register is a misdemeanor.

ABFFE spokesman Chris Finan said the law is the only one of its kind currently on the books in the country. Calling it “clearly unconstitutional,” Finan said ABFFE will urge the Media Coalition to challenge the law at the organization’s next meeting on April 9. H.B. 1042 does not go into effect until July, by which time Finan is hopeful the lawsuit will be filed and an injunction issued by the court.

GUD Magazine:

Kane writes with conviction and verve, drawing the reader into the book’s world with nary a blink of disbelief. Just as Megan is forced to be convinced by events that demons exist, and aren’t exactly what we’ve been taught to think they are, so we are carried along to believe in them too–at least for the moment.

The book is nicely paced and the writing lively. The characters are fleshed out so well that they all seem to have lives outside the interactions we see when those lives collide. Megan in particular is a convincing mix of strength and vulnerability, and as for the fire demon, well…he’s hot!

With exciting action scenes and hot, hot passion, this romance-with-a-plot is perfect for snuggling up with by the fire, or for wiping out the tedium of a train or plane journey.

There’s a good slogan: “Juno Books Banish Travel Tedium!”

Romance Junkies:

Jamie Craig has penned a thrilling adventure in CHASING SILVER. This time-travel romance is filled to the brim with non-stop action, sexy dialogue, and sensual love scenes. Remy is a sassy, street-smart heroine who refuses to give up, no matter what the obstacles. In my opinion, Nathan is the perfect hero for her. He is strong and protective toward Remy even though she is a strong woman who does not need coddling. They work exceptionally well together whether tracking leads, dodging bullets, or just having fun in the bedroom. CHASING SILVER is an inventive and exhilarating adventure that you do not want to miss. The explosive conclusion left me breathless! I cannot wait to see what Craig has in store for these remarkable characters in the future.

BookLoons:

Lucke begins House of Whispers on a creepy note, starting the novel from the viewpoint of a ghost. When Claire is introduced, she is instantly likeable, and Avery, Claire’s rival at the real estate office, is equally despicable. As Claire gets more involved with the house, the horror grows but is nicely offset by her budding romance with Grant. Aside from the chilling horror and the warm romance, Lucke also writes a good, complex mystery with plenty of suspects. Once I started House of Whispers, I could not put it down – either I was too scared to stop reading where I was or I had to know what was going to happen. Margaret Lucke keeps the plot moving at a breakneck pace that, along with the story’s emotional atmosphere, keeps the reader sucked in and hanging on for dear life.

Cynthia Ward’s essay/review, Chicks Rule: The Rise of Female-Oriented Fantasy and Science Fiction, looks at Moon Called & Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, Embraced By Darkness by Keri Arthur, Ill Wind by Rachel Caine, Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin, Heart of Stone by C.E. Murphy, and Juno Books titles: Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell, Dancing With Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas, Blood Magic by Matthew Cook, and Amberlight by Sylvia Kelso.

Okay, so you may not be into my musical tastes, but the Black Keys have been getting attention for several years now and they are born, bred, and remain in Akron, Ohio where I live (and, consequently, the “Midwest Editorial Office of Juno Books”, ahem). Literally “home boys”, the Keys went to my kids’ high school, one of their moms was one of my daughters teachers, etc. Anyway, you should check out their music, but this video the Wall Street Journal did is also a little tour of Akron. It is not quite THAT bleak and gritty here, especially once winter moves on (something I hope happens soon). And here’s a link to the WSJ article on the Keys.

These are the covers for our “samplers” that will soon be available. SEABORN is a stand-alone 96 pg the size of a mass-market paperback. The other two are a dos a dos — two-in-one–where you flip the book over to read the other excerpt — 128 pages in all.

The Wall Street Journal updates the Borders situation and quotes Barnes & Noble’s chairman, Leonard Riggio as saying he would consider any presentation by Borders’s investment bankers. “I think it would be the height of irresponsibility for us not to look at something presented to us,” said Mr. Riggio, who owns 16.6 million shares, or 27.6%, of the Barnes & Noble, making him the company’s largest investor. “If they want us to take a look, we would be pleased to do so. We also feel we would be obliged to do so.”

The article also mentions the multiple threats the chains face: “Several of the country’s biggest discounters, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp., have built thriving businesses with best-sellers. Elsewhere, Amazon.com Inc. dominates book sales on the Web, offering a huge selection of titles and aggressive discounting. Booksellers have also had to deal with book sales that are generally stagnant.”

(BTW: Borders is investing heavily in a new online presence. Seems ridiculous to me with Amazon.)

A quote from an independent bookseller is rather disappointing: “There’s a lack of big books,” says Roberta Rubin, owner The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, Ill. “We need the headliner authors to give us a jolt. And I just think that publishers are having the same issues. I don’t hear them telling us how great things are. The publishing representatives I talk to say they are worried about their jobs.”

Hello? The indies are supposedly bastions of the hand-sell? Do you go to a nice little bookstore to buy a blockbuster bestseller? If a new Stephen King or Nora Roberts novel is the salvation of an independent bookseller, then I doubt they will be saved. As for jobs — hey, Ms. Rubin, we are in a recession. Everyone is worried about losing their jobs.

As SHELF AWARENESS puts it this morning — Fasten your seat belts.

Borders is putting itself up for sale or may sell divisions. It has suspended its dividend and is borrowing some $42.5 million from the hedge fund (from Pershing Square Capital Management) that is its largest shareholder. That fund may buy parts of the company and is being granted warrants for Borders stock that represent about 20% of the company.

Noting that “this will be a challenging year for retailers due to continued uncertainty in the economic environment” and that “the current credit environment has made many . . . alternatives prohibitively expensive or entirely unavailable,” CEO George Jones said that the deal with Pershing provides “funding that gives us adequate opportunity to implement our plans this year and pursue a range of longer term solutions.” Without the deal, “liquidity issues may otherwise have arisen in the next few months.”

Jones added that Borders believes that its 2009 financial targets “remain attainable, yet within the current economic environment, we will be slowed in our progress and expect that we’ll reach them later than originally planned. Still, we believe our strategic plan remains the right path toward achieving these goals.” This plan includes the imminent launching of the company’s website on its own, the spread of “new concept” stores that emphasize digital offerings, the display of more titles face out and a related reduction in inventory of 5%-10%, among other initiatives.

* * *
UPDATE: Reuters: U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble reported a lower quarterly profit as a deteriorating economy hurt sales. Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest specialty book retailer, boosted its quarterly dividend and said it expects same-store sales in the current first quarter to fall slightly. Consolidated sales at Barnes & Noble fell about 2 percent to $1.85 billion from the year earlier, which included an extra week.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS via the NEW YORK TIMES
Published: March 18, 2008
Filed at 6:06 p.m. ET

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, lured by his interest in marine diving which he said was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space.

‘’I'm perfectly operational underwater,'’ he once said.

Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick’s film ‘’2001: A Space Odyssey,'’ Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.

——

On the Net:

The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation: http://www.clarkefoundation.org

—–
NYTimes Obit (3.19.08)

First off — since she’s blogged about it, I think I can now mention that our Stacia Kane has just signed with Chris Lotts from Ralph Vicinanza Ltd. This is a major “squee!” and, well, rather an inspirational tale. Read her LiveJournal entry and see what I mean. Yes, sometimes talent does win out.

And here’s an interview at Urban Fantasyland with her.

Review on someone’s blog I can’t ID:

I loved Stacia’s take on how Demons work, and the world they come from. There’s no holding back on the fight scenes, they are vivid and bloody (Just how I like ’em). What stands out most in this book of course are the characters. They pull you in making you want to learn more about them, and stay in their world longer. Megan is not perfect, she’s not a super hero, and that’s refreshing to read in a world of super powerful women. Now don’t read into that the wrong way. She has powers, but not the physical fighting kind. Although, she can hang when entangled with humans….it’s a good thing there will be a sequel to this in January 2009 (Demon Inside), because we shouldn’t be denied the hotness that is Greyson Dante, the charm that are Brothers Brown, or the strength that is Megan Chase.

Spotlight Review:

I received an ARC a few days ago and could not stop reading once I started it….Personal Demons is an exciting new addition to the urban fantasy/paranormal romance genre. Its action packed, humorous and suspenseful. There were parts where I was looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was lurking behind me. The heroine and hero were slightly reluctant when it came to their hearts, but even their kisses heated up the pages. Megan Chase is a psychic/psychologist that will get into your head to solve the problem. Since this book is written in first person, it was easy to feel Megan’s experiences in the book.Greyson Dante is a hot demon who is unforgettable. He has a bit of alpha male in him,but its hard not to like his lighter side. Even the secondary characters were memorable. My favorites were the Cockney Bodyguard Brothers, they had me cracking up the way they “watched over” Megan day and night. Hopefully Stacia has them in future books. This book will have you thinking about your own personal demons and wanting more from Stacia Kane.

Scooper Speaks (and on list of “Series I’m hooked by” too.):

Ms. Kane’s book … is exciting and fun. I clicked through the pages and after I finished it, I discovered several chapters of book two, Demon Inside. I started to read them, but then got irritated with myself because it doesn’t come out until January of 2009. I can’t go that long wanting to finish a book that I got a taste of. But you bet your ass I’ll be reading it when it comes out….The fight scenes are vivid and intense. They’re bloody and graphic; they encourage the reader to picture the battle, every detail of it. It’s in one of the fights that I fell in love with the three brothers. They are rough and uncouth, and even thought they’re demons they are loyal, loving and even tender.

This book is being marketed as a fantasy novel. I would liken it to Katie MacAlister’s Aisling Grey series and Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels. There is a romance reminiscent of Aisling Grey and the fighting is like Kate Daniels. I guess I’d say mix Andrews’ and MacAlister’s books and you’d get Stacia Kane’s big release, Personal Demons. Almost a gray area between romance and fantasy.

Thus begins the madness that soon includes three brothers with cockney accents, a witch that eats a lot and has very little social manners and a sexy, powerful demon.

The Mystery Gazette:

Lillian Stewart Carl writes a thrilling supernatural modern day gothic thriller that starts off with a woman coming to terms with a different reality that she saw in her dreams. Now she must enter Faery to break an evil spell that engulfs David’s home. There is plenty of action with people who lived past lives influencing decisions made by the heroine. BLACKNESS TOWER focuses on a brave woman coming to grips with her gift of Sight and a man who needs healing finding love with one another.

Darque Reviews:

House of Whispers is the first book in The Supernatural Properties series. Claire is doing everything in her power to make a new life for herself, but a meddlesome coworker and a few insistent ghosts are about to make it a very difficult process. Ms. Lucke pulls readers into her story with an intriguing murder mystery, and adds a bit of romance and the paranormal to the mix. This is an entertaining and suspenseful tale with a sweet blossoming romance. Readers will see more in The Supernatural Properties series in Ms. Lucke’s next installment, Mansion of Desire.

Midwest Book Review:

HOUSE OF WHISPERS is a fascinating blending of romance, mystery and the paranormal. Every few chapters, the ghost talks to herself wishing she could communicate more directly with Claire so that the truth becomes known about her parents, her brother and her. Claire’s reactions to what her senses find seem right as she goes from doubter to questioner to believer. Margaret Lucke provides an entertaining haunted house whodunit.

Huntress Reviews (3 Stars):

The story starts out slow, but gradually picks up speed. The character of Avery is the best. Everyone knows of an employee like her. She is the perfect back-stabber in business that looks so perfect and charming while stomping all over coworkers with her high heels. The author carefully dishes out parts of her past in such a way that I cannot help but feel sorry for her. I understand where Avery is coming from, why she is the way she is. Even so, I found myself hating her for her scruples and work ethic. However, all the characters are not as well developed. As for the romance blooming between Ben and Claire, they seemed to jump into bed way too fast to be believable. It seemed almost out-of-the-blue. Otherwise, their romance is great. I hope that Claire’s untapped powers have some surprises in store for me in the next installment.

. . .but not without spending an unproductive day in an airport waiting for a twice-delayed flight. Sigh.

I did eant to post the following message though. If you don’t follow publishing news, you may be unaware of the alarms being sounded concerning Publishers Weekly. The simple way to put it is that many print magazines are in need of rapid evolution due to drop of in subscriptions and ad revenue. PW is just one of scores of magazine that the parent company, Reed-Elsevier may have on the market.

The last time PW went through a shake up, they did some dumb things (fire good people and shorten reviews) and some smart things (update lay-out and put more online). So, suspecting dumb things will definitely occur (and are already occurring) I thought it might be a good idea to lend some support to a smart thing they did — and MIGHT consider being dumb about at some point.

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of writing BARBARA VEY’S Beyond Her Book blog. She’s planning an online party to include lots of giveaways. She emails:

In a couple of weeks I’ll be in New York talking to the bigwigs at PW about my “success” online and I’d like to blow them away with numbers. So I’m asking everyone I know to send out messages to have everyone and their uncles to read and/or post a comment to the blog on Friday (tomorrow) to try and hit record numbers. Anything you can do to help would be much appreciated.

I’d really like to send the message that a place is needed and wanted to talk about all kinds of books in general and romance specifically.

Ms. Vey probably barely knows Juno Books exists. She requested a copy of a book last month which is the only reason I suspect even that. But she seems to be an asset to readers and that’s good enough for me.

Send forth the message!

Here I am at Stephen’s computer in Rockville MD — trying not to mess anything up (using someone’s else equipment is so…intrusive…)– at Wildside HQ. I’m also trying to figure out how to make the color printer print.

Otherwise, I left 18″ of snow in Ohio and 30 degrees. Here it was snow-free and 50. Whole new world…Sean and Jen’s cats allowed me to occupy their suite and I’ve asked them not to throw up on the bed while I am gone today. (Something they did the last time I upset their feline boundaries.)

The Diamond meeting is later today and mostly I am frustrated I am not able to actually get any real work done till I get home

Isn’t the publishing biz exciting?

Yesterday (Sunday) all was back to normal — well, there are large piles of snow about, but the streets were clear and the sun was shining. Not that I could get out of my driveway…

The Kid made it out and to rehearsal in the 4-wheel drive Honda CRV. My Accord is — lower. But one of his friends brought over a snowblower and cleared the entire (immense!) driveway and front walk (so the mail, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. can get through). I think I owe the young man some cookies or something.

Anyway, this meant I could get out and get my errands done, they could get the airport, and now life goes on. I’m on my way to Wildside HQ in Maryland so I can attend a sales meeting with our distributor, Diamond. I’ll be telling them about our fall line-up and cheering the troops on to sell Juno Books. Rah!

Also means I’ve been frantically trying to get things together, of course.

Got some copies of CLOCKWORK HEART and BLACKNESS TOWER finally. Look good!

After a fairly snow-free winter, we did get a nice snow a couple of weeks back. Now that it is MARCH, we are now having a real winter storm. Airport closed down yesterday afternoon. Even the MALLS closed this afternoon. The Kid’s regional choir comp was canceled last night. (He had tickets for the Cavs game today, but even with 4-wheel drive, I pointed out it was foolish to go. He didn’t.) Since it is light snow, the wind is blowing it into really deep drifts. Probably at least 18″ out there now (6PM Saturday), but looks more like four feet…

Let’s just hope the power doesn’t go and I can keep working (and keep staying warm.)

Is not quite right on most pages. It is now SUPPOSED to look like that on the entry page:

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…but I haven’t got back to updating. Soon!

The rare event — a JUNO BOOKS NEWSLETTER — has just happened. More on that later. You might check and see if you’ve gotten it. Meanwhile the other news update is that it is Primary Day in Ohio. Since it seems the Whole World is Watching, I thought I’d give you an eywitness account. . .

First off, you’ve hardly been able to walk down a block in the last couple of weeks without tripping over Barak, Bill, Chelsea, Hillary, Michelle, or a third cousin of one of them. (Note names are listed alphabetically.) We literally did walk out the front door the other night an trip into a pair of college students coming up to the door. And those pre-recorded telephone calls — yesterday was the high point. Luckily we have caller ID and an answering machine.

Now that the day is here we’ve exchanged warmth and sunshine for cold and freezing rain. A lot of folks went to the election boards yesterday in the nice weather to vote early and avoid the weather. They got to wait in line in nice weather.

At my polling place, there was definitely more traffic than usual for a primary and the few minute I was there I saw three people vote on provisional ballots and I noticed they already had a list of others. First time I ever SAW a provisional ballot. The people I saw had simply moved and not updated their residency. No big deal. They had IDs to check so one assumes there will be no issues. However, if there are a LOT of provisional ballots, it will slow down the results.

Otherwise, considering all three potential presidential candidates are best-selling authors who met no challenges in getting published in the first place, I don’t think anyone has issued any statements of the State of US Publishing. Barnes & Noble, however, reported preliminary results for fiscal 2007 yesterday and warned that “the company believes that recessionary pressures in this uncertain economic environment will make 2008 an especially challenging retail year.” They added, “the company’s post-holiday sales trends have continued into the first quarter of 2008 and the bookselling environment remains very competitive….”

9 PM Update

Remember those provisional ballots I mentioned above? And all those people voting the day early? (And, of course other absentee ballots.) The news at this time is that it looks so close that all those provisional and absentee ballots may make the difference. And it may take ten days to count them. At least two polling places remain open now. They ran out of ballots.

Take a look at the reviews of DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES on Amazon.com.

Although one never expects everyone to like any given book there have been a number of negative reviews posted just within the last couple of weeks that seem somewhat severe. I’m sure some of them are valid, but we also all know that this sort of “blast an author thing” does happen. Is it happening here?

I really don’t know.

Honestly I expect some fans of this type of book not to like DWW. It is more complex than many such books, there are several layers of plot going on, and it doesn’t resolve tidily at the end. And there are some reviews here that refect that.

But whenever people get really nasty about a book, you have to suspect something other than disappointment is going on.

Nor do I know if it really matters.

I do know I am often influenced by reader reviews on Amazon, but when there is a huge disparity as you see here I tend to give the most credit to anything that is obviously more in depth and thoughtful. I tend to ignore “This is the best book ever!” as much as death threats to the editor

Amazon used to take down obviously inappropriate reviews if an author complained. Now anyone can can complain, but I have no idea if this is effective.