the best revenge

the embarrassment suffered by author Tom Bullough first mentioned here when his name was mistakenly called at a major book award ceremony is apparently selling more copies because of the publicity.  whatever it takes….

what took ‘em so long?

Tor.com Launches

By Lynn Andriani — Publishers Weekly, 7/29/2008 7:50:00 AM

SF/fantasy publisher Tor Books has a new site. Tor.com, which launched at ComicCon last week, offers original content from SF/fantasy authors—both authors who are published by Tor and ones who are not—and image galleries from science fiction and fantasy artists. It also features blogs from an array of SF luminaries as well as SF/fantasy news and commentary, and registered members can interact on the site.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden, senior editor of Tor Books and Tor.com’s editor-in-chief, said, “Our objective with Tor.com is to bring this vibrant community a science fiction convention that never ends.”

Up on the site now are original short stories from Hugo Award-winning British SF writer Charles Stross and film critic-turned Campbell Award Winner for Best New Writer John Scalzi.

Tor.com is accepting banner ads and offering other promotional opportunities, but it is not selling books on the site.

Tor.com was active before the launch, but in a more corporate capacity, said Shannon Kerr of SSA Public Relations.

Eisner Awards

The Eisner Award for comics and graphic novels was just announced.

From http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13005.html

 

Dark Horse with five outright awards and DC Comics with four led all publishers in the 2008 Eisners, while Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, and Archaia Studio Press each won two.  Dan Clowes won “Best Short Story” for “Mr. Wonderful,” which was serialized in the New York Times Magazine, while Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha won “The Best Single Issue” for JLA #11, and Brian K. Vaughan took the “Best Continuing Series” for Y: The Last Man and Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy was voted “Best Limited Series.”

 

Other key awards include “Best New Series” won by Joss Whedon and company for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, “Best Graphic Album” won by Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds, and “Best Reality-Based Work,” which went to James Sturm and Rich Tommaso’s Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow.  David Petersen’s Mouse Guard 1152 won two awards, “Best Publication for Kids” and “Best Graphic Album-Reprint,” while Viz Media took home “Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan for Tekkonkinkreet: Black and White, and IDW won “Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Strips” for its Complete Terry and the Pirates Vol. 1.  

 

Ed Brubaker was named “Best Writer,” while Chris Ware took home Best Writer/Artist, and Eric Powell won both “Best Writer/Artist—Humor” and “Best Painter or Multimedia Artist (interior art).”  Atom! and Portlyn Freeman of Brave New World comic shop of Newhall, California won the prestigious ‘Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award.”

 

For the full list http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml

oh the shame

a couple of authors recently expounded on the marginalization of young adult literature among other authors and bookstores.  Margo Rabb, who published “Cures for Heartbreak” last year, received an apology when her agent first delivered the news that her book was picked up by Random House.  in a New York Times article, Rabb discusses this phenomenon and interviews strictly YA authors, as well as those who are cross-overs, authors marketed to both teen and adult audiences.  follow-ups to her essay appear on her blog.

Cory Doctorow also weighs in since publishing the much buzzed about “Little Brother.”  apparently, some readers can’t find the book since it’s shelved in YA and not Science fiction.  not surprisingly, Doctorow argues that sometimes it’s a good thing to be marginalized since that can translate into freedom and creativity.

the “new” reading

some argue that reading on the Internet is just not the same as picking up a book and therefore less valuable, leading to the downfall of education  and literacy as we know it.  regardless, the series of tubes that we call the Internet is not going anywhere.  so how is reading on the Web different and how can students be taught to evaluate what they’re reading online?  the New York Times kicks off a series of articles about reading the old fashioned way versus online.  perhaps they’ll interview a librarian at some point?!

just in case you missed the news…

Randy Pausch of “The Last Lecture” fame died of pancreatic cancer last Friday.  much media coverage including a piece in the New York Times.  more copies of the audio version are on order.

Bye-bye Audiocassette!

There was a funeral the other day in the Midtown offices of Hachette, the book publisher, to mourn the passing of what it called a “dear friend.” Nobody had actually died, except for a piece of technology, the cassette tape. The music industry has passed this old format by, but audio book producers have been hanging on for the library market and long distance truckers who purchase them at truck stops.

At some point, the cassette will go the way of the eight-track tape…

Need help, just ask

One of the good ideas from this morning’s sessions

Susan Broman of the County of Los Angeles Library shared this OverDrive Help form her library created using WuFoo which they then had the OverDrive people embed in their site.  The form requires the patron to put in some contact information and a statement of the problem.  There’s even a space for the customer to add a screen capture.  Cool!

Anne of Green Gables turns 100 this year

Happy birthday, Anne!  Newsweek journalist Ramin Setoodeh states that “‘Anne of Green Gables‘ turns 100 this year, but she’s the most modern girl in the bookstore.  Earlier this month, the blog Jezebel featured a post called Why Isn’t Anne Shirley Worthy of Huck Finn Status? Even Mark Twain praised “Green Gables,” and yet the books are rarely taught in college. Is it academia’s own inherent bias against children’s books and women authors? Or the fact that it’s not as sexy to read about a girl rascal, who, ultimately, is good in the same way as Tom Sawyer?

Just yesterday, the Collection Development Department was asked to include Anne of Green Gables in our classics order.  We will be sure to include Anne in one of our replacement orders.

Steal this idea

Lodi Public Library of Medina County Library District has this nice solution for identifying music genres to improve browsing.  Magnetic signs–simple yes, but aren’t all the best ideas.