Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-23-2015: Behemoth [OregonMuse]

This Is What Amazon Actually Looks Like

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The Sunday Morning Book Thread is the only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Kilts are OK. But assless chaps don't count. Serious you guys. And no tutus. Unless you're a girl.

No trigger warnings this week. Everything is just fine. Go back to sleep.

But we do have a health warning: reading the book thread excessively may result in severe wallet shrinkage.

Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.
-John Green

Book Thread Note

One of the cool things I've noticed about the book thread is how long it remains active. I mean, it pretty much owns the joint on Sunday mornings, but even after it gets pushed down by other threads in the afternoon, there's usually some activity still going on throughout the day. And occasionally late in the evening I will see new comments, and new recommendations posted.

So the reason I'm bringing this up is to encourage you morons not to give up on the book thread early, but try to stop by once or twice in the afternoon or evening to see if there's anything new. You might be surprised. And who knows, you might discover something worth reading hidden in a late comment that you might otherwise have missed.

The Amazon Story

You ever wonder what it's like to work at Amazon?

In a report published Sunday in the New York Times, writers Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld outline a work environment that's hostile and grueling. According to the report, employees at the online retailer are expected to compete with one another, work nights and weekends, report on colleagues they feel are underperforming, and face probation if illness or family matters are perceived as affecting their performance.

But Jeff Bezos tells a different story:

Amazon's founder and chief executive says that the New York Times report misrepresents his company's workplace environment. "The article doesn’t describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day," Bezos writes. "But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR."

Who's right? Eh, I don't have a dog in this race. But it's not unusual for a CEO and top level management to be completely oblivious to what conditions are like in the trenches. And Amazon's leadership principles sound like typical corporate word salad.

But, whatever the case, the Amazon operation is a lot bigger than I had realized.

Last month, it eclipsed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the country, with a market valuation of $250 billion, and Forbes deemed Mr. Bezos the fifth-wealthiest person on earth.

The NY Times piece makes the Amazon work environment look pretty grim. But, then again, according to the Times, Reagan was a dunce, Hillary! is pure, and Obama is a kick-ass president.

The Oxford Comma

Because without it, this sentence:

Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Duvall.

...becomes this sentence:

Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard'a two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

Ew.

The Oxford comma: useful, clarifying, and necessary.

Werehipsters?

One of the good results of the growth of e-publishing/self-publishing is that a lot of really good books that somehow didn't make it past the traditional publishing-house gatekeepers can now enjoy a wider audience.

One of the bad results of the growth of e-publishing/self-publishing is that a lot of dreck gets published that probably should never see the light of day.

And the cover art. Oh. My.

Here is a bunch of Kindle book covers, and no, they're not being made up, these books actually exist.

We're talking about books like Werehipsters, which is actually available for free, and Bigfoot Bob: Why I Chase The Monkey (which cover looks like Duck Dynasty gone horribly wrong). The cover art is bad enough, but I always wonder, who writes these books?

In ye olde days, if you had an odd or perverse habit, like stamp collecting or eating mayonnaise with a spoon, you did it in the dark, washed your hands afterwards, and didn't tell anyone. You knew nobody you knew wanted to hear about it.

But nowadays, you wrap yourself in your idiosyncrasy like an Easter bonnet, climb aboard the internet crazy train and discover that You're Not the Only One with your hitherto peculiar inclination or habit.

The libertarian part of me thinks, so, what's the harm? If someone wants to write pr0n featuring New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski, and she can find an audience for it, then who am I say no, she can't publish? Also, if she wasn't writing her fantasies about Mr. Gronkowski, she'd probably be stalking the guy, and there'd be no end of creepy phone calls, arrests for trespassing, and restraining orders, so perhaps this perverse publishing is actually a net social plus.

On the other hand, does this extend to kiddie pr0n? I think most of us would draw the line at that, but I've known hardcore big 'L' libertarians who wouldn't.

I don't have any grand theory of What Should and What Should Not be published. But seeing all of these bizarre books reinforces my belief that the content of many people's heads should probably remain there. It very much reminds me of G. K. Chesterton's observation that the only Christian doctrine for which there is unquestionable empirical evidence is original sin.

More Tolkien Coming

Harper Colllns is set to release JRR Tolkien's first fantasy story:

“The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala – is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world,” Harper Collins said in a statement, echoing the author's own words.

“The germ of my attempts to write legends of my own to fit my private languages was the tragic tale of the hapless Kullervo in the Finnish ‘Kalevala,’” Tolkien himself wrote in a 1964 letter. “It remains a major matter in the legends of the First Age (which I hope to publish as ‘The Silmarillion’.”

Tolkien wrote it in 1915 while he was studying at Oxford.

The unfinished short story is based on a tragic character in the Finnish poem, "The Kalevala." After a magician kills his father and kidnaps his mother, young Kullervo is brought up by a dark magician who also tries to kill him. Kullervo is sold into slavery, after which he uknowingly commits incest with his sister, who, upon discovering what they have done, kills herself.

And they didn't live happily ever after. Because they were dead.

The Story of Kullervo will be available on August 27th.

You Are Getting Sleepy... Zzzzzzzz...

I don't know if any of you morons are parents of small children, and if you are, whether it's a major undertaking to get them to settle down and go to sleep at night. The Muse family fortunately did not have this problem. When our kids were little, we just tucked 'em in and that was that, but I know that for other families, bedtime can be a real struggle.

So there's been a book written to help out with this:

The book was written by Swedish author and psychologist Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin. He recommends parents read the story methodically, and to even yawn while reading it. Children will mimic their parent’s behavior and end up quiet and napping in no time. “It’s the verbal equivalent of rocking your child to sleep,” Ehrlin told The Express.

How does the book work? The author says:

The book is written with a specific language pattern based on psychological techniques that will help your child to relax and fall asleep.

So I guess it's kind of like hypnosis.

And:

Ehrlin is the first independent publisher to top Amazon's best-seller list. You can also get a free e-book version at Ehrlin's website.

Well, I don't know if that last bit is true. I went to his site, but couldn't find the free e-book version. Maybe it's been removed.

Nevertheless, The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep: A New Way Of Getting Children To Sleep is available at reasonable prices on Amazon.

And if this doesn't work, the court of last resort is to play the audio version of Go the F**k to Sleep, read by Samuel L. Jackson. Free version on YouTube here.

Or perhaps you might prefer the Morgan Freeman version.

Thanks to whoever posted the hypno-book in the sidebar.

What I'm Reading

My reading time has been shortened lately, as I have a new job with a steep learning curve and I'm pretty tired at the end of the day. But I've been reading Flashback by Dan Simmons. Ace should pick this one for the AoSHQ Book Club, since so many of you morons are reading it, or have read it. The setting of the story, a near-future United States in serious decline, is very depressing, even though Simmons gives progressive politics (and Obama in particular) a severe beating. I especially liked how he described the graying ponytails worn by the aging hippies elected to Denver's city council whose policies accelerated the region's economic decline as "dork knobs".

I'm also working my way through Saigon: An Epic Novel of Vietnam, by Anthony Grey, which is lively and entertaining. Grey also has "epic" novels set in China and Japan.

And by "epic", I think he means "has a lot of pages".

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1
The results from last night Hugo Awards. Due to the Sad Puppy kerfuffle, plenty of "No Awards":

www.locusmag.com/News/2015/08/2015-hugo-and-campbell-awards-winners

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:02 AM (kdS6q)

2 And in a poof of dust the art thread is gone.

Posted by: freaked at August 23, 2015 09:07 AM (BO/km)

3 I felt a great disturbance in the force...as if a dozen comments suddenly cried out in terror and then...were gone...

Posted by: Mr Wizard at August 23, 2015 09:07 AM (hCdMd)

4 Because Circe was revealed to be Hillary!

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:10 AM (kJll+)

5 when you screw up an Oxford Comma example....

Posted by: Mr Wizard at August 23, 2015 09:10 AM (hCdMd)

6 Ah, Book Thread! Okay, who's actually read "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. It's this year's Hugo winner. Any good?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:10 AM (jR7Wy)

7 Aaaaand it's gone.

Posted by: rickl at August 23, 2015 09:10 AM (sdi6R)

8 So it wasn't just me! I thought I'd killed the art thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:12 AM (jR7Wy)

9 YAY BOOK THREAD!

Very Much Yes to the Oxford comma. It really can make a world of difference in terms of meaning.
As for Kullervo... much as I love the good Professor, I think I'll pass. That's the basis for The Children of Hurin, which is one of the most depressing parts of the legendarium. (I'm much more partial to Beren and Luthien and to Tuor and Idril, personally, but evidently Christopher Tolkien hasn't found any more unpublished work on those stories.)

Loyal Valley: Captives paperback proofs are in my hot little hands and have received a thorough going-over, so everything should be set to launch next Monday as scheduled. For school, I've been reading a bunch of mythology texts, including Gods and Men by Lady Gregory and The Story of the Emergence by Hasteen Klaah. Up next: The Dream of the Rood and Der Heliand for the nth time (whee!).

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:12 AM (iuQS7)

10 Ahhhhh books!

What percentage of the Horde, do you suppose, reads 'classic books' (and by this I mean, books with actual pages) as opposed to books via e-readers?

This has probably been discussed before.

Posted by: Sixkiller at August 23, 2015 09:13 AM (hRytD)

11 If the New York Times lies about most everything, and it certainly does, why does it matter that the Times is going after Amazon now? How many people are actually paying attention to that article and is the number large enough to matter?

Now excuse me while I go fire up a Prime order...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 23, 2015 09:13 AM (LUlyE)

12
Aaaaand it's gone.
Posted by: rickl

Told ya.

Posted by: Flight 19 Over the Bermuda Triangle

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:15 AM (kdS6q)

13 Wow those covers, makes my cover for Golden Isis and all my agony creating it well worth it.

If you are part of the FB Moron brigade, there you will find said cover and my efforts. Still waiting for Amazon to finish their review process before Golden Isis goes live for $2.99.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:15 AM (kJll+)

14
And by "epic", I think he means "has a lot of pages".

And thus, an "epic" dump means you used a lot of toilet paper?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 23, 2015 09:15 AM (BK3ZS)

15 I just finished Love In The Ruins by Walker Percy (because I found it in a box in my storage--don't even remember ordering it). "Speculative fiction" from 1971 and except for a device the protagonist invented, it seemed highly contemporary. Notably the race war.

In the process of packing up a crapton of books to donate to the library's semi-annual sale because I'm moving, and since I'm one of those people who love all my books it's been painful and sad. I have a lot of mid-20th century books that have not been digitized--and won't be, because they're still under copyright but the owners are dead or defunct or don't want to spend the money to digitize something less than a thousand people might buy--and I hope they find a home at the sale, but it's really depressing to think about how much of the literature and information from the past is going to be lost as people jettison print for digital.

Posted by: HR trinken trinken trinken at August 23, 2015 09:16 AM (rHXGG)

16 If the New York Times lies about most everything, and it certainly does, why does it matter that the Times is going after Amazon now?

Bezos owns the Washington Post.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, hither and yon at August 23, 2015 09:16 AM (m9V0o)

17 Surely werehipsters aren't real, are they?

Just in case, what sort of phenomena cause them to turn and, more importantly, how would one kill them?

A steak, maybe? I do mean "steak," not "stake" - hipsters are usually vegan sissies, right?

Posted by: Doctor Cynic at August 23, 2015 09:16 AM (nkrB2)

18 Walmart is a Zoo....It costs less in the aggregate to buy everything for a dollar or two more and have it delivered to my door...most of the time the price is the same and of the things they can't compete on...well that becomes a much smaller list to fetch...

Posted by: Mr Wizard at August 23, 2015 09:17 AM (hCdMd)

19 HR, you might want to find a way to scan those books for your own archives before you get rid of them. My mom's planning to do that with some books she'd salvaged but doesn't want to keep in hard copy.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:18 AM (iuQS7)

20 Christopher Taylor is going to cringe at the werewolf cover. The people of this smart military blog will cringe because the werewolf has his fuzzy finger on the M-16 trigger.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:18 AM (kJll+)

21 Photo covers are generally the worst.

And self-publishing illustrates the premise that just because you CAN speak doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 23, 2015 09:19 AM (oVJmc)

22 Surely werehipsters aren't real, are they?

Just in case, what sort of phenomena cause them to turn and, more importantly, how would one kill them?

Coors Light. Silver Bullet, yo.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, hither and yon at August 23, 2015 09:19 AM (m9V0o)

23 What percentage of the Horde, do you suppose, reads 'classic books' (and by this I mean, books with actual pages) as opposed to books via e-readers?

This has probably been discussed before.
Posted by: Sixkiller at August 23, 2015 09:13 AM (hRytD)
---
E-readers are for convenience, impulse buys, and things you wouldn't want to kill a tree for. Like dino-Gronk porn.

Few things can compare to the tactile pleasures of real books. For clarity of image with art and history, they are still supreme in my opinion. Flipping back and forth between pages is as yet easier.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:19 AM (jR7Wy)

24
The Story of Kullervo... neither Tolkein nor Sibelius could just leave it well enough alone.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 23, 2015 09:20 AM (BK3ZS)

25 Speaking of terrifying monsters like werehipsters and Ron Gronkowski, I just ordered the latest Dresden Files paperback from the evil warehousian Amazon corporation. Fun books that have stayed consistently good through a dozen or so. (I think Jim Butcher got a Hugo nom this year, actually. Guess I could click the link and see.)

Posted by: Doctor Cynic at August 23, 2015 09:20 AM (nkrB2)

26
Scott Lynch has announced a schedule shift in the release of the next installment of his Gentleman Bastard series, The Thorn of Emberlain, from Autumn 2015 to a 2016 date. Citing health reasons, Lynch nonetheless assures that the completion of the manuscript is near and that he will appear at various events this year.

http://www.scottlynch.us/blog/

Lynch went thru a divorce and is still in the midst of sever depression, so that's affecting his books coming out.

While we wait, his novelette A Year and a Day In Old Theradane is now available on line, featuring more less a gender-swap version of the Gentlemen Bastards:

uncannymagazine.com/article/a-year-and-a-day-in-old-theradane/

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:20 AM (kdS6q)

27 If Steve Bezos of Amazon is to be believed; e-book, as part of the overall market, has held steady at 23% for the past 18 months.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:20 AM (kJll+)

28 Can we check back this afternoon for the art thread?

Posted by: Enquiring Minds at August 23, 2015 09:21 AM (7QLvI)

29 "But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR."

And what exactly does Bezos think HR will do? People in that group side with management and will probably tell the employee to shut up and get back to work. Not only that but ummm...I think I'm going to have to ask you come in on Sunday.

Posted by: Titanium at August 23, 2015 09:21 AM (u9UgT)

30 Anna, I don't think I thanked you last week for sharing what you did of the info from your writers group meeting. Very interesting stuff, and potentially useful as well!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:22 AM (iuQS7)

31 This week I read The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels by Thomas Cahill. This work is the second in The Hinges Of History series. I read the first in the series, How The Irish Saved Western Civilization, about fifteen years ago. I'm sorry that I did not keep up with the series as each book was published. There are now six books in the series.

In this work, Cahill shows that the Jews not only gave the Western World ethical monotheism, but they gave us a "processive worldview". Prior to Judaism, the ancient societies had a "cyclical worldview". Life was just a part of an endless cycle of birth and death. For the Jews time had a beginning and and end. It was a narrative.

What difference did this make in our lives? I quote from pgs. 240-241 of the book. "The Jews gave us the Outside and the Inside - our outlook and our inner life. We can hardly get up in the morning or cross the street without being Jewish. We dream Jewish dreams and hope Jewish hope. Most of our best words in fact - new, adventure, surprise, unique, individual, person, vocation; time, history, future; freedom, progress, spirit, faith, hope, justice - are the gifts of the Jew."

This is an interesting book; well-written with humor. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Posted by: Zoltan at August 23, 2015 09:23 AM (g3wYF)

32 HR, you might want to find a way to scan those books for your own archives before you get rid of them.

I have no idea where to even start, but the packers are coming in two weeks so it's too late.

Moving might be the stupidest thing I've ever done. We'll see.

Posted by: HR trinken trinken trinken at August 23, 2015 09:23 AM (rHXGG)

33 I got books for my birthday yesterday.

___
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving, a "secondary school" book from 1911. In pretty good shape.

___
The Face is Familiar - The selected verse of Ogden Nash, 1941 printing. Someone wrote a long poem in 1946on the ... flyleaf? whatchacall that page facing the title? The edge (whatchacall the face you see on the shelf?) needs some gluing, but otherwise in good shape.

___
The Verse by the Side of the Road by Frank Rowsome, Jr. with drawings by Carl Rose. The story of the Burma-Shave signs and jingles, containing all 600 of the roadside rhymes. 1965, my printing 1975. I will, no doubt, be able to read this one, despite my web-obliterated attention span.

Past schoolhouses
Take it slow
Let the little
Shavers Grow
Burma-Shave

Posted by: mindful webworker - have to learn to read again at August 23, 2015 09:23 AM (IlQaj)

34 Bezos owns the Washington Post.

Ahhh, fratricide. Popcorn time it is, then...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 23, 2015 09:24 AM (LUlyE)

35 E-readers are for convenience, impulse buys, and things you wouldn't want to kill a tree for. Like dino-Gronk porn.

In large part, I agree.

I changed my mind while flying weekly as a consultant. I went from needing space in my backpack for 2 books - some of them quite thick - to needing space only for a thin e-reader. A second advantage - when you live 45 minutes from anywhere (rural Texas), e-readers are a godsend. With it, I'm never out of books.

Posted by: Sixkiller at August 23, 2015 09:26 AM (hRytD)

36 The thing about that example sentence...

"Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Duvall."

...is that even WITH the comma it reads pretty much the same. My point being that if you read it aloud some smartass in the room is going to make a joke out of it.

It's one of those sentences of which any writer worth his or her salt is going to say, "That needs to be worded a different way."

The comma won't save it.

And for fuck's sake, fix the "Haggard'a."

Embarrassing to have such a glaring typo in a grammar example!

Posted by: RKae at August 23, 2015 09:27 AM (erO8I)

37 22
Coors Light. Silver Bullet, yo.

Good thought. Their livers wouldn't be accustomed to anything that's not either fruit-flavored from a microbrewery or absinthe.

Posted by: Doctor Cynic at August 23, 2015 09:27 AM (vI8Pw)

38 Hey, OregonMuse, I wonder if you could do a post bump and update later in the day, especially if it happens to be a light posting day? I bet the cobs wouldn't mind.

Posted by: Y-not at August 23, 2015 09:27 AM (RWGcK)

39
I almost exclusively read books printed on killed trees.

I have the earliest edition of the Kindle that I received as a gift, but have read only perhaps a dozen works on it.

I have gotten many dozens of manuscripts, mostly technical in nature, off the web in .pdf versions and have printed out about half of them.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 23, 2015 09:28 AM (BK3ZS)

40 Those bad covers are genius!

Sextrap Dungeon! (Selling points: Extra large text. No long words).

This is how it's done, wordsmiths.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:31 AM (jR7Wy)

41
The Guardian: Top 10 conservative novels

While their politics may be unappealing....

http://tinyurl.com/qbtt8km

Oh, the give away!

Read down in the comments for other suggested works.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:31 AM (kdS6q)

42 Sigh. Vox Day is many things, subtle ain't one.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, hither and yon at August 23, 2015 09:32 AM (m9V0o)

43 @15 HR trinken, etc.

Walker Percy was one of the 20th century greats. I have all that he wrote, some autographed. His essays are superb.

One of my favorites is a bit on booze. You can read it free on the web. Type in: Bourbon, Neat Walker Percy. You'll love it.

Posted by: Libra at August 23, 2015 09:33 AM (GblmV)

44 @33 I have owned "Verse by The Side of The Road" for about 30 years.
It's a literary classic which will change your approach to poetry forever.

Within this vale
of toil and sin
Your head grows bald
But not your chin.

If you don't know
Whose signs these are
You can't have driven
Very far.

They missed the turn
Car was whizzin'
The fault was her'n
Funeral, his'n

Plus, the Parable of The Thousand Jars...

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 09:34 AM (xq1UY)

45 I changed my mind while flying weekly as a consultant. I went from needing space in my backpack for 2 books - some of them quite thick - to needing space only for a thin e-reader. A second advantage - when you live 45 minutes from anywhere (rural Texas), e-readers are a godsend. With it, I'm never out of books.
Posted by: Sixkiller at August 23, 2015 09:26 AM (hRytD)
----
Half my seabag was books and it barely got me through one month. An e-reader would've spared me a lot of back pain and saved space!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:34 AM (jR7Wy)

46 Elisabeth. Thank you but am merely reporting.

But if it helps someone find the right publisher and get on the gravy train. Good for them.

And I want to shake Amazon's computers hard right now, to make my book go live right this minute.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:34 AM (kJll+)

47 Reading Daniel Silva's "The English Spy." I'm an admitted fanboi, but I contend he keeps getting better and better.

***

Anyone reading Glenn Beck's new "It Is Islam"? Amazon reviews are good and some claim there is minimal politicking, but the early sample is likely to be self-selected Beck fans.

***

I prefer zoos to Walmart. I picked up a few things this morning and the self-check stations took 15-20 seconds to weigh each item before allowing me to scan a new item. The aisles are crammed with goods to the point where it is hard to get through. If they keep squeezing the pennies, the shopping experience will become completely unacceptable.

On the bright side, we just got an Aldi. Quirky selection of goods, but I find a lot to like and it is generally cheap.

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 09:35 AM (170jh)

48 @All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at 6

I enjoyed it. I expect it lost some in translation as usual but but that and GoG probably only two winners that deserved it (I hated the world turned story as SciFi. More like freshman college writing trying to seem deep. Maybe translation took something but just seemed a conceit with words wrapped around it). It is a bit dry but interesting.

Posted by: Aacid at August 23, 2015 09:35 AM (oNYRV)

49 For those who care. The 2016 Old Farmer's Almanac comes out September 1st. I look forward to this each year and getting it at the earliest date is now a ritual in the JTB household. There is just so much fun and, sometimes, useful information.

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 09:38 AM (FvdPb)

50 Funny how these NYT Amazon articles come out after Bezos buys their competitor, the Washington Post. Not saying it isn't a highly competitive company, but those white collar employees are very well compensated and are free to seek work elsewhere if they don't like it. The job market here in the Seattle area is very hot right now. The cancer and stillbirth/miscarriage stories are disturbing, but I'm not convinced that just isn't the work of a couple of shitty mid-level managers who can't handle the pressure of the job the right way.

Posted by: not the mama at August 23, 2015 09:40 AM (BP45w)

51 There are non-destructive book scanners, but they were expensive last I checked. If you're handy, you can build one cheap with plexiglas platens, glare-free lighting, and dual digital cameras. But it's obviously a bit involved. If you're lazy, clamp book spines between sacrifical wood and run a circular saw through them, then load the liberated pages through an all-in-one scanner--but beware of moisture content in the paper causing jam issues.

Posted by: derit at August 23, 2015 09:40 AM (jT+gh)

52 47 Reading Daniel Silva's "The English Spy." I'm an admitted fanboi, but I contend he keeps getting better and better.

................

I totally agree. I started it the other night and read 30% before I could put it down. Hope to finish it today.

Posted by: Molly k at August 23, 2015 09:40 AM (zS+qK)

53 That Amazon article is pretty spot-on. I had a family member work for Amazon a few years and I also Interviewed for a technical position myself. There isn't much chance of upward mobility, they expect a ton of work time and the benefits are at best average when you facyor in everything and do the math. Sure they pay you in stock, but that's roughly 30 of your pay, not a bonus. You have to sit on the stock for 2 years before you can sell. The average person working for Amazon is about 2 years. Extremely high turnover. Especially in business management and IT functions. No raises, including cost of living raises without some herculean efforts of your manager and his upstream managers. Good place for a short time espcially if your looking to move into a area they operate in as they will pay for your move, but seems most do not stay and find better opportunities in a few years.

Posted by: Janir at August 23, 2015 09:41 AM (BiKMa)

54 28 Can we check back this afternoon for the art thread?

Posted by: Enquiring Minds at August 23, 2015 09:21 AM (7QLvI)

Probably. There was an inadvertent collision when both the both the book thread and the art thread were posted almost simultaneously. Then rdbrewer graciously yanked his own thread and let the book thread breathe. I expect the art thread will reappear sometime later today.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 09:41 AM (XUdaJ)

55 Amazon sounds a lot like my company, including the encouragement to "snitch" on underperformers which just leads to a lot of petty bs problems. Management acts like they don't know, but I've been there close to 20 years and they've all been on the other end of the spectrum so I find it hard to believe. My own company is one of the reasons I shy away from any company that uses the word "Christian" to describe their corporate values. They do a lot of good things, but that doesn't excuse all the bad stuff I've witnessed over the years.

Posted by: digitalbrownshirt at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (YikDz)

56 And for fuck's sake, fix the "Haggard'a."

Aargh. Fixed.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (XUdaJ)

57 All Hail Eris, I just read the blurb for that book on Amazon. Sounds a bit like Will Eisner's Message from Space. But have to wonder if its political allegory and which civilization is really dying in the book - the Chinese Communists or the Americans who woke the Sleeping Dragon.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (kJll+)

58 This week I read The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels by Thomas Cahill.

-
Some years ago I read Explaining Hitler by Ron Rosenbaum. TRIGGER WARNING whoever you are and whatever you believe, something in this book will deeply offend you. The book is about various people who have tried to explain Hitler. One theory was that the Jews invented guilt and for that they must die
.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (RbfXm)

59 Tolkien's Simarilian is very hard to read, so wonder how the new book will go. The trilogy (as1 story) is fantastic and would put it on a top ten reads.
Determined to get Levin's Plunder for next book.

Posted by: Skip at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (2jtuf)

60 I haven't converted to e-books yet.

Posted by: Y-not on the phone at August 23, 2015 09:45 AM (RWGcK)

61 Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard'a two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

Ew.

The Oxford comma: useful, clarifying, and necessary.

I am not a fan of the Oxford Comma, it seems to be used mostly to patch over confusing sentence logic and muddy concept flow. One second of review would give you:

"Among those interviewed were Kris Kristofferson, Robert Duvall and Merle Haggard's two ex-wives."

The original sentence is misleading in a minor sense, it misses that Merle has 4 ex wives.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 23, 2015 09:46 AM (3pRHP)

62
On the want list:

The Making of Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey

Tashen

This comprehensive visual record includes on and off set photographs, pre-production paintings, and conceptual designs from the Kubrick archives. With numerous fold outs, these dazzling images offer insight both into Kubricks meticulous directorial methods, and into the mysteries and magnetism of a film at once vast in scope and intricate in its exploration of our relationship to technology.

http://tinyurl.com/odtzrt5

Inside the book gallery at the link.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:46 AM (kdS6q)

63 Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:42 AM (kJll+)
---
Hugo Award Winner + Political Allegory = Meh.

I see they're making a movie of it. I can wait.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:46 AM (jR7Wy)

64 Strictly a paper book user, myself. Mrs. Eez the same.
We probably have close to a thousand right now.
I like the idea of having a hundred or so of my favorite books in one little box to carry around, but ....pay for them all again ? No.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 23, 2015 09:48 AM (go6ud)

65 If Bezos were truly concerned, he could hire corporate spies. But, he's not. How much do these people who sob at their desks make? It might be worth the tissue. Frankly, I have had very few jobs were people wouldnt stab you in the back. It's disgusting.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 09:48 AM (iQIUe)

66 My Wal-Mart is very organized. (SE PA semi-rural suburbs)

Posted by: chique d'afrique (the artist formerly known as african chick) at August 23, 2015 09:48 AM (Mt8T4)

67 Oxford comma FTW!

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 09:49 AM (Edob3)

68 The Guardian: Top 10 conservative novels

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:31 AM (kdS6q)

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I may have to write about it next week.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 09:49 AM (XUdaJ)

69 Bizony barely makes it with an 'original' title for his 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Edited by Jerome Agel. Signet Books. First printing April 1970. Includes a 96-page photo insert.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:51 AM (kJll+)

70 All Hail Eris, is Mat Daemon going to star in it I wonder?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:51 AM (kJll+)

71 I love having a kindle for travel - nothing better than loading it up w/books, especially when you never know when you'll have flight delays and burn through more than one book, or decide you want to read something else. Vacation packing is so much easier now...

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 09:51 AM (NOIQH)

72 Count me in as an Oxford comma enthusiast!!

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 09:52 AM (NOIQH)

73 I'm a paper book person and while have read books on line have yet to buy one on line

Posted by: Skip at August 23, 2015 09:52 AM (2jtuf)

74
Molly will be denied food today starting at 12n in preparation for her surgery Monday at 10 am. She will be one miserable goat.

Her sister, Joy Joy, continues to look and cry out for her. She's miserable, too.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/goatslive

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 09:52 AM (iQIUe)

75 Reading has been eclectic this week, more than usual. I scored a pristine hard back of The Collected Poems of Robert Service. Haven't read his poems for a long time but it is fun stuff. And it lends itself to reading aloud. (I don't know if much is written these days for that purpose.) Such stark and clear imagery. The little asides he includes in a stanza. Bits of alliteration that might be missed if you aren't paying attention. For all the 'literary' critics of Service's verse, it is very effective. Perhaps what a Shakespeare sonnet about Conan the Barbarian would be like. Not sure that's true, but I like the idea.

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 09:53 AM (FvdPb)

76 Fuck the Hugos. Burn it to the ground.

The "trufans" no-awarded Toni Freaking Weisskopf purely out of spite. They didn't like the *politics* of people who think her work is top-notch.

And the assholes made "asterisk" jokes all night.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 09:53 AM (Edob3)

77 60 I haven't converted to e-books yet.

..........

I did several years ago. I ran out of room for all my books. Nearest book store is 30 miles away. I got the old style kindle and found that hubby would want to read what I had just read so I would have to wait until he was finished to order another book. I then got the kindle fire, I can order 1 book now and have it delivered to both devices for the price of one.

Posted by: Molly k at August 23, 2015 09:53 AM (zS+qK)

78 Just to let you know, since there's a lot of buzz about Netflix and long maternity leave, they treat people like Amazon. I worked in the call center. Not only do they not get the benefits, they don't even get their own desks. This was like working at a fruit packing shed, as far as turnover. You'd just notice that you hadn't seen someone for a week. They fired my boss, his boss and four other supervisors on the same day. I got in trouble for missing work, when I had coughing spasms so bad, I had to put customers back in the queue. I had a notice from my doctor and they knew how badly I was coughing, yet they had to threaten me with losing my job because I couldn't get well fast enough.

Customer service reps were held accountable for any bad survey results, even if the issue had nothing to do with them. Too many bad surveys and you got fired. I have never been in a job where I was threatened with firing as much as at that place. It was hell and I'm sure Amazon is hell too.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 23, 2015 09:54 AM (Lqy/e)

79

Any authors out there use this service? If so, what did you think?

http://99designs.ca/book-cover-design

Great concept. Some really good designs. They do the ebook as well. (They handle ALL graphic needs, including book illustration, corporate branding, logo, packaging, advertising, etc.)

But a good fairly cheap alternative, 4 tiers of payment options.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 09:54 AM (qCMvj)

80 'Cause we got a little comma
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a little comma,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our comma
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' comma
'Cross the U-S-A.
Coma!

Posted by: derit at August 23, 2015 09:54 AM (jT+gh)

81
The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Edited by Jerome Agel. Signet Books. First printing April 1970. Includes a 96-page photo insert.
Posted by: Anna Puma

Which was all there was back in the day, but kinda a jump up in the new book.

Although, weird format: 562 pages, 6.9 x 15 x 1.6 inches.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:56 AM (kdS6q)

82 After this Show Trial of Intolerance due to Sad Puppies, I wonder what I could write under the nom d'plume of Noe Juan or maybe Juan Noe to make it more believable.. to garner even a nomination to the Soviet Justice Wanker's Award?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:56 AM (kJll+)

83

The Guardian: Top 10 conservative novels

Partly because they're British, I'm sure, but their definition of 'conservative' seems to be an emotional and selective one.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 23, 2015 09:56 AM (oVJmc)

84
The Guardian: Top 10 conservative novels
Partly because they're British, I'm sure, but their definition of 'conservative' seems to be an emotional and selective one.
Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel

Fops gonna fop.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:58 AM (kdS6q)

85 OT: A doctor working at St. Jude specializing in abnormal psychology tweeted to a conservative woman, "Die soon. There are liberals waiting for your organs." See WZ. At least he got the abnormal psychology part right.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 09:58 AM (r+lhE)

86 My Kindle will be my best source of English-language books after I move. I have a library card, but the books in English are mostly recent best-sellers (i.e., stuff I don't much care for), so I expect I'll be using it mostly for German-language picture books for preschoolers.

I'm keeping mostly non-fiction, and of course all the books with my grandparents' nameplates in them. Time to let all the cat cozies go.

Posted by: HR trinken trinken trinken at August 23, 2015 09:59 AM (rHXGG)

87 The brit commies are up in arms in what they claim is a smear of Cedric Belfrage by the Daily Mail.

http://goo.gl/efnD48

Yes, Belfrage was a spy. It's old news so dont know why the commies consider it a smear. He was outed to the fbi in the late 40s. He was also a film critic in Hwd. His defense when interrogated by the fbi was that the material he passed was not important. I love who every commie and their enabler feels they have the right to determine what is vital or not. smh

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 10:01 AM (iQIUe)

88 The NYT lies about everything, EVERYTHING. If the NYT agrees with one of my viewpoints, I have to reconsider that viewpoint.

Also NYT vs WAPO. Can't wait for the broadside back from Bezos.

Posted by: Jukin, Former Republican at August 23, 2015 10:01 AM (f+6Pd)

89 Re: Paper books vs. Kindle

I have been a Kindle fan for a long time. I buy books and borrow them them from my library via Overdrive.

I've been buying self-published amateur radio Kindle books but am likely to stop. While some are quite good, many are poorly formatted for the Kindle. Some don't have a Table of Contents or the TOC is not hyperlinked to the chapters. Some don't even allow you to do a chapter-by-chapter jump.

I just bought a book with excellent content, but no hyperlinks and intend to really zing it in a review. Navigation is very painful. $8.99!

You don't care so much with a novel, but it is very important in a tech book,

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:02 AM (170jh)

90 "Die soon. There are liberals waiting for your organs."

At least he has the decency to wait for her to die. In his party of ghouls, I'd say he's one of the good guys!

Posted by: t-bird at August 23, 2015 10:03 AM (FcR7P)

91 I still buy paper books - sometimes it's the matter of price (used books can be wicked cheap!), and it also depends on whether I want to hold on to the book: paper if it's a keeper, typically reference book/instructional book, such as cookbooks, quilting, gardening, science, that sort of thing. History books, too - want to have 'em in a form that can't be altered. All you have to do is have one prolonged power outage to understand how fleeting ebooks can be in a crunch.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 10:04 AM (NOIQH)

92 The blm crowd are all quoting from this article that purports to quote from sandra bland's toxicology and autopsy reports. They found it on a website that reports "fake news" for "satire and entertainment" purposes only. No shit. There is a disclaimer on the website. It's called tmztoday.com. Pretty sleazy tho if people used their brains they wd see that the info is bogus.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 10:05 AM (iQIUe)

93 OT:

George Will has burped forth another hand ringing article with regards
to the GOP's demise if we don't allow millions upon millions of third
world peasants into the country.

This would be the same bloc that we have 32+ years of hard data that shows they routinely vote 3:1 Democrat.

Remember, George Will routinely bashed Reagan as too conservative and alienating in the 70's.

And can the other non Trump candidates shut the hell up about the 14th amendment?

You do not have to repeal the 14th amendment and you are unecessarily creating an issue with blacks when you talk that way assholes.

God this party.

I know it's called the stupid party but GOD!!!!

Posted by: Kreplach at August 23, 2015 10:05 AM (WVvzl)

94 His defense when interrogated by the fbi was that the material he passed was not important.

-
Better forward this to Hillary!

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 10:05 AM (vW81E)

95 Partly because they're British, I'm sure, but their definition of 'conservative' seems to be an emotional and selective one.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 23, 2015 09:56 AM (oVJmc)

I noticed that. It certainly means something quite different than it does here.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 10:06 AM (XUdaJ)

96 Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Duvall.

...becomes this sentence:

Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard'a two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

That's amazing how that oxford comma changed that apostrophe s into an apostrophe a. It there no limit to its power?

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 23, 2015 10:06 AM (IN7k+)

97 The results from last night Hugo Awards. Due to the Sad Puppy kerfuffle, plenty of "No Awards":

www.locusmag.com/News/2015/08/2015-hugo-and-campbell-awards-winners
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 23, 2015 09:02 AM (kdS6q)

Thanks for this.

I like to follow all the SF awards, including Nebula.
https://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/

and I always sneak a peak at L. Ron Hubbards place
http://www.writersofthefuture.com/

Also, if you haven't seen this.

Who Won Science Fiction's Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/won-science-fictions-hugo-awards-matters/

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:07 AM (qCMvj)

98 I did a book club talk in Beeville, Texas a couple of years ago, and about two thirds of the members had Kindles or Nooks - because the nearest substantial bookstore is about a two hour drive away. The members loved ordering on-line, and then getting their choice of book downloaded. There's a lot of bookstoreless country in this USA.

And yes - I was trained by one of the last of the old-style editors in the use of the Oxford/serial comma. It saves a lot of confusion.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 23, 2015 10:07 AM (95iDF)

99 When you have as many employees as Amazon or Walmart, even a small fraction of employees who are malcontents or trouble makers can equate to a considerable number of employee complaints. What would be most telling would be their turnover figures.

Is there a line to get out the door there?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:07 AM (PMlgt)

100 6
Ah, Book Thread! Okay, who's actually read "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. It's this year's Hugo winner. Any good?

I read it. Thought it was meh. There were a couple of key things that I had a hard time suspending my disbelief far enough to reach.

Posted by: Anachronda at August 23, 2015 10:08 AM (o78gS)

101 The lack of an Oxford comma in business writing makes me nuts to a degree that is not healthy.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:08 AM (PMlgt)

102 If the New York Times can be trusted, Amazon is using the management plan developed by the US Postal Service. The description gave me a warm feeling as I thought about my my time working there, and reminded me that I left because I didn't want ulcers. Maybe the Grey Lady would be happier if Amazon had 4 unions as well?

I did a business review on Amazon. According to their website and all references I could find, Amazon does some pretty fantastic employee benefits, including subsidizing continuing learning - for any subject. They do insist on production though.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 23, 2015 10:08 AM (3pRHP)

103 HR, I moved a few months ago and the book packing and sorting was p-a-i-n-f-u-l!!
Took a lot of paperbacks down to the used bookstore for a little cash and store credit. Even still, had many book boxes. Hubby, who is not a book guy, was a bit annoyed (those boxes are heavy). I think amazon + Sunday book thread can be dangerous.
Not a fun process.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 10:08 AM (NOIQH)

104 The blm crowd

-
2/3 of black Americans say that all lives matter better represents their view than black lives matter yet BLM gets all the press.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 10:09 AM (vW81E)

105
About 13 years ago, I ordered some legal books from Amazon. They were shipped form Georgia and I had them in less than 24 hours. I was impressed.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 10:10 AM (iQIUe)

106 PBS All Things Belittled deigned to notice the Sad Puppies kerfuffle the other night, covering guess-which-side in some detail, and owlishly mourning the necessity of Reforming the Nominating Process. I'm still coloured Shocked over that one.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 10:10 AM (xq1UY)

107 All Hail Eris, I might have just blown up your mailbox with an 8MB .TIFF file. Sorry...

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:12 AM (kJll+)

108 The lack, of an Oxford comma, in business writing, makes me nuts, to a degree, that is not healthy.

The trouble with Oxfordism is that it leads to pasting up a wall of text on a target frame, loading a magnum shell with commas, and, having at it. Used to see it a lot, before all the nets fell. Now, commas are usually used in place of a semi-colon. It's the grammatical equivalent of an ostomy bag.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 10:14 AM (xq1UY)

109 Seveneves was quite the page turner.

Neal Stephenson. It's a post apocalypse survival story in near earth space. Very hard science.

Posted by: dude guy at August 23, 2015 10:14 AM (QCc6B)

110 Oxford comma user, too, although I think I was taught the other way. To an engineer who can parse things entirely too hard, the comma just makes more sense.

By the way, wikipedia says it's called the Oxford comma, Harvard comma, series comma, or serial comma. Such a tiny thing to have four names.

Posted by: t-bird at August 23, 2015 10:14 AM (FcR7P)

111

That Gronk romance has good reviews... lol.
Couldn't be 85 family members...

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:14 AM (qCMvj)

112 I dont get it. If this moroccan terrorist was a known isis fighter, why was he allowed back into the county?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 23, 2015 10:14 AM (iQIUe)

113
In ye olde days, if you had an odd or perverse habit, like stamp collecting or eating mayonnaise with a spoon, you did it in the dark, washed your hands afterwards, and didn't tell anyone.

Absolutely right. Imagine the mass nausea caused by the knowledge that there are deviant reprobates out there that do things like collect Albanian creamed corn wrestling porn videos.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 23, 2015 10:15 AM (o98Jz)

114 plenty of "No Awards":
__________________

I'll have a 30,000 word essay about this later today!

Posted by: George R R Martin at August 23, 2015 10:15 AM (/7WOo)

115 I'm sure someone has mentioned this, but the Oxford comma is a no-no in AP Style.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 23, 2015 10:15 AM (yxw0r)

116 So, there were ***5*** "No Award" winners at this year's Hugos?

Wow. Now there's a fine example of a Pyrric victory.

I bet the authors nominated in each of these categories were thrilled that the tantrum-throwing 'no award' voters got back at those Sad Puppies, guys, huh?
Nothing like getting dressed up thinking you may win an award and get some greater exposure for your work only to find out some d***heads thought is was more important score political points.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 10:16 AM (NOIQH)

117 My latest guilty pleasure is the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. They're a cut above the old Mack Bolan-style adventure novels for men - barely. I've read "Persuader" and "61 Hours." They're luridly violent, especially at the end, with over-the-top ridiculousness like Reacher killing men with one mighty punch, or twisting their heads until their vertebrae snap. And even for a gun nut like me, the esoteric firearms talk gets silly. A typical Child sentence would be something like, "Reacher kept his back flat against the seawall and gripped the Beretta, grateful for the Bruniton finish. Berettas were blued until 1987, so deep and polished it would make a hard man weep. But blued steel corrodes. The electrochemical nitride coating shook off the saltwater spray like the sixteen 135-grain Hydra-Shok hollowpoints in the Italian-made Mec Gar magazine would shake off Quinn's thugs."

(Not a real Child sentence, but that's the idea.)

He also, hypocritically, is given to strident anti-gun sermons at points.

If you can read them in their over-the-top spirit, and shake off the feeling that at some point Reacher's nagging wife will shake him out of his daydream just as he's imagining the grim "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa" of the German flamethrowers, then they're fun page-turners.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at August 23, 2015 10:16 AM (/pB9Z)

118 Behemoth: member of lepidoptera that believes in irreducible complexity.

Posted by: Ken Ham at August 23, 2015 10:16 AM (DGrkU)

119 70 All Hail Eris, is Mat Daemon going to star in it I wonder?
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 09:51 AM (kJll+)
---
Not unless Matt also starred in Dragon Blade and Monkey King 2: Electric Boogloo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(film)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 10:16 AM (jR7Wy)

120 Here are NR's 10 conservative novels.

http://tinyurl.com/q682x52

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 10:17 AM (Nwg0u)

121 Commas from Oxford? No thanks. Mine come from Singapore. Cheaper and easier to return if a malfunction occurs.

Posted by: fairweatherbill at August 23, 2015 10:17 AM (gXkh2)

122 I'll have a 30,000 word essay about this later today!
Posted by: George R R Martin

Hey it's not like you have anything better to do.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 23, 2015 10:18 AM (AVEe1)

123 All Hail Eris, I might have just blown up your mailbox with an 8MB .TIFF file.

Ooo. Just flashbacked to the days when that was a big file.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 23, 2015 10:19 AM (oVJmc)

124 And what exactly does Bezos think HR will do? People in that group side
with management and will probably tell the employee to shut up and get
back to work.

I'd like to hear from any Moron who's had a positive experience with the HR department in a large organization with regard to disagree and commit, i.e., bucking the system.

Ever been to a Quality Assurance meeting that actually made a difference? SOPs are basically a joke, and usually only the little people are held to account. I can tell story after story where the next day after a new SOP had been implemented that said procedure was circumvented by a senior manager.

Posted by: Yeah right at August 23, 2015 10:20 AM (2X7pN)

125 @103 I sold many boxes of books and DVDs back to Amazon. You enter the ISBN on a web page and they tell you whether or not they want it. They will offer a price based on condition. When you think you've entered the number of books that will fit in your box, they will print out a prepaid UPS label.

I found the process to be worthwhile and thought the prices offered were reasonable. There were a fair number of books they didn't want, but I have eclectic taste.

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:20 AM (170jh)

126 IMHO: if it's in the NY Times it's either pure idiocy, agenda-driven or a lie.

Posted by: Northernlurker at August 23, 2015 10:20 AM (4rzL1)

127 it's really depressing to think about how much of
the literature and information from the past is going to be lost as
people jettison print for digital.

Posted by: HR trinken trinken trinken at August 23, 2015 09:16 AM (rHXGG)
What books?

Posted by: G. Orwell at August 23, 2015 10:21 AM (ftVQq)

128 "On the other hand, does this extend to kiddie pr0n? I think most of us
would draw the line at that, but I've known hardcore big 'L'
libertarians who wouldn't."

One thing to remember when evaluating the recent Hugos is that the anti-Puppies are just fine with NAMBLA spokesman Samuel R. Delaney.

Posted by: SDN at August 23, 2015 10:21 AM (p/ktF)

129 It's been written before but bears repeating:

Amazon books need explicit paper acidity information from publishers. If the infinity symbol for paper permanence isn't present, assume the book pages have a wood pulp composition that will yellow and crumble in a few short years.

Posted by: derit at August 23, 2015 10:21 AM (jT+gh)

130

With so much at stake, more people than ever forked over membership dues (at least $40) in time to be allowed to vote for the 2015 Hugos. Before voting closed on June 31, 5,950 people cast ballots (a whopping 65 percent more than had ever voted before).

wired link above

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:22 AM (qCMvj)

131 Here's a Breitbart article on the Sad Puppies kerfluffle:

http://tinyurl.com/kgbqrsm

Larry Correia said (per his Monster Hunter site) that he's avoiding the internet this weekend, so we wont get his take on this year's awards.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 10:24 AM (jR7Wy)

132 >>@103 I sold many boxes of books and DVDs back to Amazon

Thanks, good advice! I have heard about that but never done it. I held on to some hardbacks because I think they have re-sale value on Amazon - just ran out of time (story of my life when it comes to packing for a move).

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 10:24 AM (NOIQH)

133 In ye olde days, if you had an odd or perverse habit, like stamp collecting or eating mayonnaise with a spoon, you did it in the dark, washed your hands afterwards, and didn't tell anyone. You knew nobody you knew wanted to hear about it.

But nowadays, you wrap yourself in your idiosyncrasy like an Easter bonnet, climb aboard the internet crazy train and discover that You're Not the Only One with your hitherto peculiar inclination or habit.

-
God faced a similar problem with the Tower of Babel. Maybe He'll introduce compatibility problems in the web to save us.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 23, 2015 10:24 AM (Nwg0u)

134 Talking about books. I just by Kathy Reichs because I've been watching Bones on Netflix and she's credited with inspiring the series.
I was surprised to find the books are apparently set in Canada.

Posted by: Northernlurker at August 23, 2015 10:25 AM (4rzL1)

135

The evening began with an appearance by a fan cosplaying as the Grim Reaper, and it turned out he was there for the Puppies.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:25 AM (qCMvj)

136 Also, for my bdy yesterday, Milady gave me...

___
Jesus and his Times - Reader's Digest, ed. Kaari Ward. Large size book, 300pp. Looks to be a good, illustrated encyclopedia of basic information about the Gospels and the times of Christ. I see a nice, simple chart paralleling the four gospels, a dictionary of Biblical place names, study aids like that. A spend time with off and on kind of book.

Read about a Caravansary, the motel6 of the times. Usually centered on a watering hole, a walled enclosure, large courtyard, shows two-story buildings with stables on the first floor, rooms upstairs for those wealthy enough. Otherwise, you might just sleep with your animals in the stables, or even in the courtyard. Point being, Joseph and Mary in the barn was not as harsh as it might seem to finicky moderns.

___
Speaking of, The Urantia Book (free at urantia.org) claims Jesus was born Aug 21, 7BC. Since that makes last Friday his birthday, I'm linking to my comic-strip take on the birth narrative, which draws ;~) heavily (if loosely) on the Urantia version.
http://bit.ly/1p0lYeT

Posted by: mindful webworker - what is a 'book' now anyway? at August 23, 2015 10:25 AM (IlQaj)

137 Oxford commas do not leak oil. They simply mark their territory, old chap.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 10:26 AM (xq1UY)

138 Grim Reaper for the Sad Puppies??

Da tovarich, Peoples Tribunals

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:26 AM (kJll+)

139 127
What books?

Keep alert. You could find them anywhere.

Posted by: Montag at August 23, 2015 10:26 AM (o78gS)

140 Re: SJWs and the Hugo Awards. The left is getting pretty openly Fascist about this "Literature must serve the Party." stuff.

Posted by: V the K at August 23, 2015 10:26 AM (c/Ipt)

141 "According to the report, employees at the online retailer are expected to compete with one another, work nights and weekends ..." Since when is that cruel or unusual? (Except in union shops.)

Posted by: gp at August 23, 2015 10:27 AM (+Jpqc)

142 If you sprinkle enough commas in your children's bedtime stories the little kiddies will soon be at least semi-commatose. Works for me anyhow.

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at August 23, 2015 10:28 AM (NeFrd)

143 Nice cover Anna! So I take it this story involves the Ahnenerbe a la Indiana Jones?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 10:28 AM (jR7Wy)

144 >>>And by "epic", I think he means "has a lot of pages".

I prefer the term "yuuuge".

Posted by: the Donald at August 23, 2015 10:28 AM (DGrkU)

145 97

Who Won Science Fiction's Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/won-science-fictions-hugo-awards-matters/

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:07 AM (qCMvj)
_____

Thanks for posting the link over to Wired. It seems the post-battle plan is the same as the pre-battle plans for the entrenched and entitled, namely to smear the opposition.

Next year should be even more interesting. Sad Puppies will be led by an all-female team.

The mood at Worldcon this year was pretty interesting to observe. Friday I attended six panels. Four went sideways fast, headed hard left to "you must have xxx in your story" without regard to making it a better story.

One panel started with jokes by the moderator about "Trump-Palin 2016."

One panel, on self-pubbing, diverged completely from the topic and wandered the wilderness for 45 minutes. Plus, they didn't know much about self-publishing.

Did meet some cool folks, bought a dozen books (including a couple from the Childe Cycle), and inhaled smoke from the fires while walking with the likes of Brad Foster.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at August 23, 2015 10:30 AM (/A5gb)

146 All I got to read last week was Chaim Rubin's 1951 "Ancient West-Arabian" (with-hyphen), which someone had uploaded to archive.org. Yay freeware! (I hope.)

It's dated given that, since then, Ahmad al-Jallad has recently nailed down the origins of Arabic (=Safaitic). It's also technical, mainly for philologers (or is that philologists). I did learn some stuff - like about Himyaric, which might have been a sister-language to Safaitic-Arabic.

Lastly I didn't notice a conclusion in this project. It presents Himyaric, the Azd dialect, the Hijaz, and Tayy(i)'. Then it abruptly ends.

Also there was something mentioned about the Qur'an being revealed in several dialects. Wait wait wait. Hold on. That's important. If the Book Of God was revealed in several dialects then why is it being credited to one freakin' prophet? Most people have one dialect and speak that. So which dialects are associated with which suras? The book doesn't tell us! Or at least I didn't see it.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 23, 2015 10:30 AM (AVEe1)

147 Pocketa-pocketa German flamethrowers. That's...rich. My hat's off ta yas.

Moron prose-mockery is first rate. The poetry, usually not so much.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 10:31 AM (xq1UY)

148 That's amazing how that oxford comma changed that apostrophe s into an apostrophe a. It there no limit to its power?
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at August 23, 2015 10:06 AM (IN7k+)

You want to take that up with Oregon Muse. That is based on a cut-and-paste from the OP.

Go ahead, mock him more, piss him off lots.

Maybe he has Yoko Ono clips to share too?

Posted by: Kindltot at August 23, 2015 10:31 AM (3pRHP)

149 Oh yeah I freely call it my Indiana Jones story.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:31 AM (kJll+)

150 E-readers are a convenience and space saver. They also offer, sometimes, a chance at books that are very inexpensive. I love having the complete works of (fill in author's name) for a couple of bucks on a device that can fit in my breast pocket.

But I don't trust computers or even the availability of electricity. And I REALLY don't like being at the whim of a medium that could be obsolete in a few years. (One of many reasons I prefer film over digital photography.) The books I treasure and will re-read or flip back and forth through are made of paper. There is also the tactile pleasure of using paper books.

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 10:32 AM (FvdPb)

151 @134 Bones & Reichs.

The books are set in Canada and the US, depending on the book.

It is hard to compare the books to the TV show. While the TV actors are all fine, the scripts seem to be written to a Junior High School sensibility. The Brennan character is practically a social imbecile.

The books are far, far better. The Brennan character is an accomplished, smart woman with the sort of normal interpersonal problems real people have. That is the only character in common between the books and TV show.

I really like the books but find the TV show to be painful to watch because the scripts are clearly not written for grownups.

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:33 AM (170jh)

152

I'd like to hear from any Moron who's had a positive experience with the HR department
Posted by: Yeah right at August 23, 2015 10:20 AM (2X7pN)

*************

Wish I could oblige, but no.

When HR came into its owm, management skills were no longer necessary to advance; hence the uber-political, back-biting, clueless executive class we see today.

If your small company decides they want to "get to the next level" by hiring former mega-corporation execs, pack your stuff.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 23, 2015 10:33 AM (yxw0r)

153 FenelonSpoke earlier today:
Sorry about the long post; I didn't know if I'd get back for the book thread. :^)

Here is post:

I am reading a very long and excellent biography of Calvin Coolidge by Amity Shales and I have decided Coolidge was one of our greatest and most underrated Presidents. He had the tragedy of having his son die while he was in office. After playing tennis Calvin got a blister on his foot which turned into sepsis and killed him a week later. Calvin Coolidge had been a church goer but his faith seemed to become increasingly important to him after Calvin's death. The biographer notes:

Protecting the space that faith enjoyed in American culture, the realm of the spiritual seemed to him especially. In those early days after Calvin's death he had refused many appointments, but had agreed to talk to a group of Boy Scouts in a telephone hookup. "It is hard to se4e how a great man can be an atheist," Coolidge told the boys. "We need to feel behind us is intelligence and love." Now as he was preparing a speech for the dedication of a statue of a Methodist Bishop, Francis Asbury: In that speech he wanted to his conviction that government's power, since the days of Jonathan Edwards, had derived from religion and not the other way around.

(And JTR posting, this is no reflection of anyone here who is an Atheist. I just think in the case of Coolidge his faith informed his life. Barack Obama has no God but himself, I think. Bernie Sanders' god seems to be the socialist state. Obama is hardly a great man. I don't know about Sanders but his political "theology" is scary. Neither of them want religion to be part of public life as far as I can tell.

Maybe we should asking the Presidents who were great men and who believed in God to pray for us and for our nation.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 23, 2015 07:18 AM (OSs/l)

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:34 AM (qCMvj)

154 99 When you have as many employees as Amazon or Walmart, even a small fraction of employees who are malcontents or trouble makers can equate to a considerable number of employee complaints. What would be most telling would be their turnover figures.

Is there a line to get out the door there?
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:07 AM (PMlgt)

Sounds like a law firm I once worked for. The turnover there would shock you.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 23, 2015 10:35 AM (mx5oN)

155 If you are in the mood for some relaxed, pleasurable reading about the outdoors, try one of John Gierach's books about fly fishing. I'm reading 'Still Life With Brook Trout' this week. I enjoy the images he describes and can feel my blood pressure improve as I relax with the picture of a cool, quiet morning on a stream with the only sounds the gentle flow of water and some bird song. Ahhhh!

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 10:37 AM (FvdPb)

156 "According to the report, employees at the online retailer are expected to compete with one another, work nights and weekends ..."

I guess no one at the Times ever puts in OT.

Posted by: V the K at August 23, 2015 10:37 AM (c/Ipt)

157 Not reading much. Rather I've been continuing to write. I'm about 60,000 words into my tale of three brothers during WWII set mostly at Anzio. Sort of a "Guns of Navarone" meets "Saving Private Ryan". The kernel for the story is my dad's WWII diary which gives some unique personal insights into the Anzio beachhead and has allowed me to weave a fictionalized story in and around his observations. It has been both fun and challenging matching up the timeline and the geography of the fiction tale with real historical and personal events. 9-1/2 chapters done out of 13 projected. I can sense it all coming together nicely.

The bad news is that all of my early choices for cover art and titles appear to have already been used. So I won't be titling the book "Werewolf of Artillery"

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at August 23, 2015 10:37 AM (NeFrd)

158 Amazon's "Truth Behind the Click" - on youtube, pretty much concurs with the claims, with hidden video.

Posted by: AC at August 23, 2015 10:41 AM (TzeLs)

159 The Hugos are pretty much a joke by this point, simply being the dying publishing industry patting itself on the back.

The Free Market's only going to diminish them further in the coming years.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at August 23, 2015 10:41 AM (oVJmc)

160 Just finish Frank J. Fleming's first novel, Superego. That was a fun read.

Posted by: BigFire at August 23, 2015 10:42 AM (pNmmq)

161 Sounds like great stuff Muldoon, and keep writing

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:42 AM (39g3+)

162 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:34 AM (jR7Wy)

I am reconsidering my Kindle's efficiency. I just checked the digital "library" and I have over 250 ebooks in that tiny device (about 1/3 read), boy am I behind. I still prefer real books though.

At my local estate sale, I scored four books (ca 1924) by Albert Payson Terhune, a collie breeder and author whose books I read many many moons ago. Thought they might be good "gentlemanly" reading for grand-kidlets, and I intend to re-read them myself!

Posted by: G. Orwell at August 23, 2015 10:43 AM (ftVQq)

163 I'd like to hear from any Moron who's had a positive experience with the HR department in a large organization with regard to disagree and commit, i.e., bucking the system.

Posted by: Yeah right at August 23, 2015 10:20 AM (2X7pN)

The primary purpose of an HR department in a large company is not to help employees. It is to head off employee-initiated lawsuits.

So, no.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 10:43 AM (XUdaJ)

164 Muldoon, might want to send a query letter to Grand Central. They are apparently looking for gritty Band of Brothers type stuff. Unless you have an agent to pitch it to them.

http://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:43 AM (kJll+)

165 I'd like to hear from any Moron who's had a positive experience with the HR department

***

HR departments do not exist to make the lives of employees in any way more bearable. They exist to protect the interests of a company. If, however, the employee benefits as a result, it is purely a byproduct of their real objective.

There are certain truths in business:

*Age discrimination exists and is one of the easiest forms of discrimination to hide as they can cloak inn the need for a department to "take a fresh approach" or to "move in a new direction". In the end, they can offer an early retirement or a buyout and send the older folks packing.

*If you are targeted for demotion or dismissal, you WILL be demoted or dismissed, and HR will do all that is within their power to facilitate that action. You can fight it, but the statistics bear it out that the harder you fight for yourself the more difficult your situation will become. It can make your head spin.

*Trends such as "Work-Life Balance" are marketing slogans, not corporate directives. They are used to target younger job-seekers who insist that they will never hand their lives over to a job, as have the older employees. It's a sticky trap of a web. Do not buy the hype. If you seek work-life balance you will still lose promotions to the fella who works more hours than you do. Don't be shocked about it when it happens.

The best you can hope for in your dealings with the HR department is to never actually deal with them beyond the scope of applying for/interviewing for a job.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:45 AM (PMlgt)

166 If your small company decides they want to "get to the next level" by hiring former mega-corporation execs, pack your stuff.
Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains
-----------------------

When our exploding high-tech startup hired a management guy from K-Mart as our VP of Sales, those of us in R&D began polishing up our resumes, figuring it was time to get out.

I could mention the name of the company, and some of you would recognize it. It is gone now.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 23, 2015 10:45 AM (9mTYi)

167 "According to the report, employees at the online retailer are expected to compete with one another, work nights and weekends ..."

I guess no one at the Times ever puts in OT.

***

There are no participation trophies in the workplace.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:47 AM (PMlgt)

168 I'm also working my way through Saigon: An Epic Novel of Vietnam, by Anthony Grey, which is lively and entertaining. Grey also has "epic" novels set in China and Japan.

Hey, what about me?

Posted by: Korea at August 23, 2015 10:47 AM (Na4RS)

169 I read The Black Count on recommendation from the horde. Its a mixed bag; lots of interesting historical stuff and the tale of Alexandre Dumas' dad is amazing, if even half of what is claimed is true, he was a truly monumental figure in French history.

The book is flawed by the writer's adoration and worship of the French revolution, however, and he tries really hard to excuse or brush away the horrors and excesses of those days. Anyone who opposes the revolution is deemed a "conservative" in a sad tip of the author's political persuasion: "royalist" would have been a far more accurate term.

An awful lot of speculation takes place, especially around Napoleon who the author clearly despises (not without cause). Too many instances of him assuming Napoleon hated Dumas because he was short and Dumas was tall. Yes, the Black Count was rather tall but Napoleon was average height for the time, and there's zero supporting evidence to suggest any sort of height conflict occurred.

Another problem is that the author spends about half the book setting up scenes with detailed history, like he did all this research and felt like he had to include it all or it was a waste of time. But the plot gets lost in all the details.

So its a flawed but fairly good book. Worth reading for history you might not know, but frustrating that the author was perhaps too close to the subject.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:47 AM (39g3+)

170 The Hugos are pretty much a joke by this point, simply being the dying publishing industry patting itself on the back.

That's historically been the Nambulas. They're the ones voted in by SFWA members. Hugos are voted in by convention-funders, so includes the more serious fans.

This year's Hugo was disgusting to watch BTW. Mary Robinette Kowal bought "scholarships" for fellow SJWs to tilt the voting and kill the Puppy-dominated awards. That's just awesome.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 23, 2015 10:48 AM (AVEe1)

171 Hallelujah!

Golden Isis is now live on Amazon. Price $2.99.

Here is the AoS Link -
http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/B014BTSEYO

I repeat, Golden Isis is live. Now I hope you, dear readers, like it.

*faints from nerves*

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (kJll+)

172 OK, how does one choose SF books that are indoctrination-free?

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (170jh)

173 I've always tried to avoid the last comma in a list. If the sentence comes out awkwardly without the Oxford comma perhaps the sentence should be restructured.

Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

I would lose the passive voice and change this to:

The writer interviewed Merle Haggard's two ex-wives as well as singer-curmudgeon Kris Kristofferson and actor Robert Duvall.

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at August 23, 2015 10:50 AM (NeFrd)

174 Took a lot of paperbacks down to the used bookstore for a little cash and store credit.

Yeah, that's why I'm taking mine to the library. They price them by the inch--local quirk--and if they sell a paperback for 40 cents that's 30-40 cents more than I could get for it at Half-Price Books.

Posted by: HR trinken trinken trinken at August 23, 2015 10:51 AM (rHXGG)

175 >>If your small company decides they want to "get to the next level" by hiring former mega-corporation execs, pack your stuff.

As a veteran of a few startups with the scars to prove it, no truer words spoken.

New exec wants to prove his or her chops asap to the board and the easiest way is to hunt for the guilty, whether they are guilty or not, and bring in their own team. Happens like clockwork.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 23, 2015 10:51 AM (OGm46)

176 Congratulations, Anna!

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper- quietly rebellious at August 23, 2015 10:52 AM (wyXRZ)

177 On Kowal's vote-buying and encouragement of others' vote-buying, don't take it from me, take it from Kowal: http://tinyurl.com/kdwg4g9

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 23, 2015 10:52 AM (AVEe1)

178 The best you can hope for in your dealings with the HR department is to never actually deal with them beyond the scope of applying for/interviewing for a job.

Truer words...

Posted by: AD at August 23, 2015 10:52 AM (s4wTA)

179
The best you can hope for in your dealings with the HR department is to never actually deal with them beyond the scope of applying for/interviewing for a job.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 23, 2015 10:45 AM (PMlgt)

The thing to remember about corporate HR staff is that they are disproportionately populated by "Studies" majors, hence SJWs. Even worse is that they are pissed off and resentful that they essentially sold their communist souls to corporate capitalism, so they take it out on the employees.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 23, 2015 10:52 AM (o98Jz)

180 Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:43 AM (kJll+)

*****

Thanks for the tip.

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at August 23, 2015 10:52 AM (NeFrd)

181 " Imagine the mass nausea caused by the knowledge
that there are deviant reprobates out there that do things like collect
Albanian creamed corn wrestling porn videos.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 23, 2015 10:15 AM (o98Jz)"

I started imagining Albanian creamed corn wrestling porn videos and...what am I supposed to do if this thing does not go away within four hours?

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at August 23, 2015 10:53 AM (QHgTq)

182 Good luck, Anna! Congratulations on getting it finished.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at August 23, 2015 10:54 AM (bxoVs)

183 I repeat, Golden Isis is live. Now I hope you, dear readers, like it.

Yay! Now you can rest a bit. The cover turned out solid, it works better than I was concerned about. Now how do you get stuff into the ace store?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:54 AM (39g3+)

184 I would lose the passive voice

In modern journalism? And lose one's ability to make insinuations and to obfuscate facts? How could your local big-city newspaper even survive?!

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 23, 2015 10:54 AM (AVEe1)

185 Christopher Taylor. What I do is click on the Ace Amazon link. Do a search in books for the title. Then copy and paste the link.

That way I get sales and Ace gets the Ewok's cut.

And thank you for liking the cover. I think I was more nervous about getting the cover 'right' than when I was writing the story.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:56 AM (kJll+)

186 *faints from nerves*
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (kJll+)

gratz

now for the book tours

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:56 AM (qCMvj)

187

nood

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:57 AM (qCMvj)

188 >>In modern journalism? And lose one's ability to make insinuations and to obfuscate facts? How could your local big-city newspaper even survive?!

Critics say that could be a loss to quality journalism.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 10:57 AM (NOIQH)

189 Age discrimination exists and is one of the easiest forms of discrimination to hide as they can cloak inn the need for a department to "take a fresh approach" or to "move in a new direction". In the end, they can offer an early retirement or a buyout and send the older folks packing.

Or simply shove them out the door via layoffs, downsizing, or, my personal favorite, "restructuring".

Age discrimination is as natural as breathing. Managers simply prefer to hire younger employees. I don't know why this is since frequently us old phartes possess wisdom and perspective that might be valuable to a company, but they apparently don't agree.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 10:58 AM (XUdaJ)

190 Still reading "Shogun" but it's mostly my bedtime book. Started "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" which seems interesting with some slightly different thoughts on the subject perhaps. Started "Christian Self-Mastery" by Basil Maturin, and no, it's not; it's about any habit.

I have been spending way too much time on FB when I get home from work so I'm not reading as much as I should, but after 20 miles of traffic, I'm so damned tired. And I just realized that my boss is almost certainly a big chicken, which is shameful, and so afraid of having something "look" off that he is resisting my expertise which is hugely greater than his. I'm not enjoying this job very much.

Posted by: Tonestaple at August 23, 2015 10:58 AM (WdorP)

191 OK, how does one choose SF books that are indoctrination-free?
Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (170jh)

wait for the amazon reviews, once they have climbed over a certain threshold

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 10:59 AM (qCMvj)

192 Covers are incredibly important. Back when you got the book at the bookstore, chances are you would not look that closely at the cover, but flip through the book, check out the blurb, see what the back had on it in terms of reviews, etc. You can't do that really today. The cover is what sells your book, so its even more important than ever. Its nervewracking.

You either have to be good at making covers - a totally different skill than even other graphic arts - or you have to have money to pay someone who is. If not, your book suffers.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:59 AM (39g3+)

193 Ah, the art thread has returned.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 10:59 AM (XUdaJ)

194 "172
OK, how does one choose SF books that are indoctrination-free?

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (170jh)"

Don't buy any SF written by a woman. That is not a 100% foolproof method but it will eliminate a lot of crap that you will throw across the room about halfway through.

Probably the best technique is to buy books recommended on the Ace Book Thread. If you have time to read everything recommended here, you have too much time and too little meatspace life.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at August 23, 2015 11:00 AM (QHgTq)

195 Proponents of the Oxford comma like to dredge up badly-written sentences that are made marginally less horrible with the additional punctuation, but in general it is not as useful as more thoughtful composition and editing. For example, the sentence cited would be perfectly intelligible if it were simply changed to read: Among those interviewed were Kris Kristofferson, Robert Duvall and Merle Haggard's two ex-wives. In most cases, it isn't even necessary in the first place no extra editing required, viz The members of the Triple Alliance were Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. And really, isn't something that is called the Oxford or Harvard anything just a bit pretentious?

Counter-examples can also easily be provided, for example: Performers included her father, a tuba player, and Merle Haggard. There the Featherstonehaugh-Cholomondeley comma makes it look like her father might well be a tuba player. And trust me, he isn't. I've heard him play.

On another subject mentioned in the post, this week I finished reading the Kalevala (Kirby translation). This, like Njal, is one of the rare cases where I prefer an older translation to the newer stuff. Fagles and Knox revolutionized the Iliad/Odyssey and Aeneid with their new approach, Mitchell refreshed Gilgamesh, and Heaney's Beowulf is a wonder, but sometimes you just need a 19th century English translator to get the job done.

Posted by: HTL at August 23, 2015 11:03 AM (gVyJ+)

196 Managers simply prefer to hire younger employees.

Younger is easier to manipulate, hungrier, and are seen as having more drive and energy than older employees. There's an old Simpsons where he grows a full head of hair and is suddenly promoted several times and admired because he looks younger. Its satire, but all too true.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 11:03 AM (39g3+)

197 78 Just to let you know, since there's a lot of buzz about Netflix and long maternity leave, they treat people like Amazon. I worked in the call center. Not only do they not get the benefits, they don't even get their own desks. This was like working at a fruit packing shed...
It was hell and I'm sure Amazon is hell too.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 23, 2015 09:54 AM (Lqy/e)

Call centers are notoriously lousy work environment with huge, and I mean yuuuge turnover rates.

Call centers that are actually good places to work exist, but they're few and far between.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 11:04 AM (XUdaJ)

198 Covers are incredibly important. Back when you got the book at the bookstore, chances are you would not look that closely at the cover, but flip through the book, check out the blurb, see what the back had on it in terms of reviews, etc. You can't do that really today. The cover is what sells your book, so its even more important than ever. Its nervewracking.

You either have to be good at making covers - a totally different skill than even other graphic arts - or you have to have money to pay someone who is. If not, your book suffers.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:59 AM (39g3+)

Incredibly important. Pay someone.

(see my link for 99designs above as an example, a great way to price it your way, but still have a true graphic designer do it. You pay a set fee starting at $299 (bronze), $499, $799 (seems to be the sweet spot), and $1,199 for Platinum)
http://99designs.ca/pricing

what is nice about them is it is a pool of designers "bidding" for your book cover design. You choose a pricing level, and the pool from that level of designers submits designs, then you choose the one you like most.

Brilliant. Hated by individual designers competing in the market place, but a great way for customers to have choice in pricing and design.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 11:04 AM (qCMvj)

199 My daughter worked at an Amazon distribution center. She got hired for the Christmas busy season but was not asked to stay on afterwards. The experience seems to have been good for her. She developed much better work habits, made some money and is a lot more serious about every job she has had since then.

I can see how people with a socialist/labor union mindset would hate that.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at August 23, 2015 11:09 AM (QHgTq)

200 194 "172
OK, how does one choose SF books that are indoctrination-free?

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 10:49 AM (170jh)"

Start by buying from Baen. Don't buy anything from Tor, they hate their writers.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 11:09 AM (Edob3)

201 >>John Gierach's books about fly fishing. I'm reading 'Still Life With Brook Trout' this week.

But, just one. He gets really old, fast.

Also, he's not a very good fly fisherman. His buddy AK Best, otoh , an get it done.

Posted by: Frisbee at August 23, 2015 11:10 AM (VAOV/)

202 artisanal 'ette, I bookmarked 99cent. Might give them a whirl on next book and see what different flavor of anxiety I can get.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 11:11 AM (kJll+)

203 And lose one's ability to make insinuations?

Clearly, you're a Strunkin' White.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 11:12 AM (xq1UY)

204 As much as I admire Tolkien's works I'll probably skip the new book. Children of Hurin was just too depressing and this one sounds like it will be in the same vein. There's a limit how far even excellent writing can take a subject. Instead, I'll break out my copy of the Kalevala. At least the depressing aspects will be more spread out instead of being concentrated in one story.

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 11:14 AM (FvdPb)

205 Currently reading 'Battleground Atlantic'. Central to the book is the mission, sinking, and salvage of the Jap sub I-52. I-52 was bound for France in order to pick up a large quantity of war-related materials from the Germans.

In 1998 a salvage operation was attempted, but failed to recover anything of significant value. That effort will probably continue.

The book concerns itself largely with the details of the Jap/German cooperation and coordination. The number of decoded dispatches, memos, etc. included in the book make it worth reading.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 23, 2015 11:14 AM (9mTYi)

206 I'm currently trying another Ed McBain police story. I like them all right, but at some point he lost the interesting cop story line and began focusing on his favorite cops. And to make matters worse, his favorite cop is kind of a bleeding heart that constantly has internal comments that annoy me, and then he added this fat bigot who is basically useless except when suddenly out of nowhere he's brilliant just to make it seem like he should stay around as a cop. Its distracting from what interests me: the procedural part and the crime work. One more try, McBain.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 11:18 AM (39g3+)

207 Bezos owns the Washington Compost

If Amazon was owned by the Sulzberger family or the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim who spotted them half a billion to keep the Slimes from going under, you know damn well that the reporters who even suggested that story would be reassigned to zoning board meetings

Posted by: kbdabear at August 23, 2015 11:19 AM (GrXXa)

208 "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin.

It's good and weird.

Posted by: DaveA at August 23, 2015 11:21 AM (DL2i+)

209 For some reason, I kept a paperback of "The Dinosaur Club" by William Heffernan. Middle-aged fantasy revenge tale about older folk rising up and taking down the layoff-hungry marketeers and Bschool twits. Very well written.

Youngest kidlet (protoengineer) was telling very funny stories about the Bschool interns telling her how to wrap burritos in her summer job at a gas station/convenience store. Bless her, she kept her mouth shut and should have employment for breaks and summers for a few years.

Posted by: mustbequantum at August 23, 2015 11:22 AM (MIKMs)

210 Hey Horde--
Pulled myself off of lurking here to read an actual book this week, so had to share. "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of "Fight Club." If you like weird and graphic in the first person (like FC), then it's worth the $.01 paperback on Amazon. Quick read, but I read in one sitting anyway.

Posted by: Johnny I at August 23, 2015 11:24 AM (JhlNs)

211 Finished the Martian, saw the preview for it, may still wait till its on DVD. Overall an enjoyable book Now reading another "Destroyer Series" novel just because they are so brainless, so un-pc and hilarious. Trying to decide what to read next.

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier, a military sci fi adventure available on Amazon Kindle at August 23, 2015 11:24 AM (eTvJc)

212 201 ... I agree about the Gierach books but I don't read them for 'how-to', just for the atmosphere. Same way I enjoy the Robert Traver fly fishing books. They are something I can dip into when the mood hits, enjoy a few pages, and go on to something else. Reading them cover to cover would kill the effect.

Thanks for mentioning the AK Best books. I will check them out.

Posted by: JTB at August 23, 2015 11:24 AM (FvdPb)

213 Greetings:

I recent;y re-read John Costello's "The Pacific War: 1941-1945". The author is/was British and a BBC alumni so the pre-actual-war diplomacy tend toward why the colonies didn't first surrender to Mother England. Once the fighting begins, he kind of evened out.

My father was swept up in the non-Japanese-American interments from 1942-1946, spending a couple of years in a couple of America's cultural backwaters, then going on an all-expense-paid tour of the western Pacific with complimentary stops on Saipan and Peleliu. So, I had that dog in this fight.

But, what developed over my reading course had to do with all those naval battles especially down Guadacanal, the Java Sea, Leyte Gulf way. I couldn't help but wonder if our current politically correct, rules of engagement, JAG-infested Navy is up to those kind of task especially with what the Chicoms are up to in the(ir) South China Sea.

Posted by: 11B40 at August 23, 2015 11:25 AM (evgyj)

214 Start by buying from Baen. Don't buy anything from Tor, they hate their writers.
Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 11:09 AM (Edob3)

the problem here is, I have sci-fi books from both on my shelves, and I loved many of them

don't penalize the authors, just find the subject matter you like, and do a little research

that is why amazon's ranking system is so great, not only does it accumulate an average over time (best to really wait out the numbers because you can get anti-whatever people voting) but read the comments - sorted from worst, then sorted from best and in between. You can get a really good feel of the book and it's content by the best commenters, not the spammers and trolls.

I also find authors from the anthologies of short fiction.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 11:26 AM (qCMvj)

215 Also NYT vs WAPO. Can't wait for the broadside back from Bezos.

Posted by: Jukin, Former Republican at August 23, 2015 10:01 AM (f+6Pd)

Might be popcorn time. We might find that the impeccable social facade the Sulzberger family has built up has some rather unpleasant things they don't want made public, and to save the paper they had to give Carlos Slim a majority share of the company.

Surely a Mexican billionaire like Carlos Slim built his fortune by nothing but benevolent service to mankind, right?

Posted by: kbdabear at August 23, 2015 11:28 AM (GrXXa)

216 AK is a monster tyer and an excellent stick. I don't know that he writes anything worth reading outside of his tying books.

I have a hard time reading Gierich after fishing him...and it has been over a decade since he was in the boat.
Perhaps he got better by now?
But I doubt it. It has been my experience that most of the industry writers tend to be mediocre fisherman, at best.

Posted by: Frisbee at August 23, 2015 11:31 AM (VAOV/)

217 I'm seriously considering publishing my book under the nom de plume Noa' Ward. Then I can put on it:
"Hugo Award Winning Author!"

Posted by: David, infamous sockpuppet at August 23, 2015 11:35 AM (1TUV/)

218 SF, Baen, confusion, screw it

OK, went over to Baen, browsed, and found Eric Flint's alternate histories. Looked interesting.

No problem in the first few Amazon reviews for "1632."

I googled "eric flint sjw" and got Vox Day quoting Flint "I am a social justice warrior. Not an 'SJW,' not a figment of the fevered imaginations of right-wingers, but the real deal." as well as Vox quoting and refuting some apparent smears by Flint. http://bit.ly/1Nu9UEh

Now, Vox is no shrinking violet, but Flint seems to be a master of ad hominem attacks.

Finding good SF seems to be more work than it is worth...

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 11:40 AM (170jh)

219 71
I love having a kindle for travel - nothing better than loading it up
w/books, especially when you never know when you'll have flight delays
and burn through more than one book, or decide you want to read
something else. Vacation packing is so much easier now...

I am with Lizzy, except that I have the Kindle app and it is a godsend for travel when you are fast reader. I usually throw in a couple of paperbacks though along with the app.

Posted by: Charlotte at August 23, 2015 11:42 AM (5etLx)

220 I finished King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, by Robert Moore and started working on The Archetype of Initiation, which is a collection of his speeches and essays. KWML was a good overview of his "archetypes of mature masculinity". Between that and his discussion of initiation, I think I got a lot of useful tools for character development in some of my own writing. If you're a writer, I highly recommend it.

I also finished "John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth Century Italy". Holy crap, how is this not a series on Showtime or HBO? The book was well written, with a lot of academic details but it never felt too dry. Basically, Hawkwood fought in the Hundred Years War and then went south into Italy and rose to prominence as a mercenary commander. By the end of his career he was feared by everyone and was constantly in the middle of various schemes, including ones of his own making. The man was at times ruthless and a manipulator who played all sides against each other for his own profit. Meanwhile, he was also a loyal servant of Richard II, serving at various times as THE representative of England and English soldiers in Italy.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 23, 2015 11:42 AM (10ydV)

221 Where'd that Sock come from?

Posted by: Garrett at August 23, 2015 11:43 AM (VAOV/)

222 Now, Vox is no shrinking violet, but Flint seems to be a master of ad hominem attacks.

Finding good SF seems to be more work than it is worth...

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 11:40 AM (170jh)

With Vox vs. the SJWs, I'm rooting for injuries.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 23, 2015 11:44 AM (10ydV)

223 I love the Sunday Book Thread. Thank you. I ordered the Kill Artist (first in Gabriel Allon series - Daniel Silva) and Deja Dead (first in Temperance Brennan, Bones series - Kathy Reich). And you also brought back from memory all those great Walker Percy books -- which I also read in sequence. Fun -- thanks.

Posted by: gracepc at August 23, 2015 11:48 AM (DMQhB)

224 Hey OM thanks for the Book thread! Wonderful as always.

I saw this a week ago and thought of you. You should feature some of the covers some time
http://accordingtohoyt.com /2015/08/14/pulpy-things-julie-doornbos/

Posted by: @votermom at August 23, 2015 11:53 AM (cbfNE)

225 Congrats Anna. Bought and delivered.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 23, 2015 11:54 AM (02bBE)

226 I googled "eric flint sjw" and got Vox Day quoting Flint "I am a social justice warrior. Not an 'SJW,' not a figment of the fevered imaginations of right-wingers, but the real deal."
...
Finding good SF seems to be more work than it is worth...

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 11:40 AM (170jh)

Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater here. Flint may be a lefty, but the only way you see it in his books is his pro-union sentiments. He's a big pro-union guy. Other than that, his books are fine.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 11:55 AM (XUdaJ)

227 I just started Storm of the Century, by Al Roker. It's about the 1900 hurricane, and the obvious question is well, is it worth reading if you've already read Isaac's Storm?

I can't answer that question for others, but I'm a TX history junkie, and who doesn't find disaster stories fascinating? I'm enjoying it so far.

For people on the Gulf coast, this time of year there's always that little thought in the back of the head about what the next big one will do when it hits.

Posted by: stace at August 23, 2015 11:55 AM (CoX6k)

228 Surely a Mexican billionaire like Carlos Slim built his fortune by nothing but benevolent service to mankind, right?

I'm sure no sales of drugs were involved in his wealth accumulation. Well, reasonably. OK yeah probably.

I got a great 5 star review of my book Old Habits on Amazon

"A great book; very gripping escapism."

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 11:55 AM (39g3+)

229 Book 5 of The Expanse Nemesis Games is great. They can't resist the tweaking though with some minor bad characters coming from Pinkwater private security.

Posted by: DaveA at August 23, 2015 11:57 AM (DL2i+)

230 224 Posted by: @votermom at August 23, 2015 11:53 AM (cbfNE)

Thank you for the pulpy goodness, votermom. I had hoyt's piece ready for this week's thread, but dropped it at the last minute since I already had enough material. But I'll be including it next week.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 11:58 AM (XUdaJ)

231 >>With Vox vs. the SJWs, I'm rooting for injuries.

Heh. They haven't figured out that Vox thrives on their butthurt.

Discovered his site years ago when I followed a link to a post of his in response to some female grad student who had informed him in the comments of a post that she was "offended." Heh.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 11:59 AM (NOIQH)

232 Discovered his site years ago when I followed a link to a post of his in response to some female grad student who had informed him in the comments of a post that she was "offended." Heh.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 23, 2015 11:59 AM (NOIQH)

lol. Yeah, I'll bet Vox fell all over himself apologizing to her.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 12:01 PM (XUdaJ)

233 "Death by Misadventure" by Kerry Greenwood

Picked it up used when I was in Australia. Pretty entertaining about a female detective in 1920's. Pretty short in length. Can see where this might be a series that gets better over time. Did make me want to pick up the next one in the series. Think that there is a BBC (?) series based on the books.

Posted by: Charlotte at August 23, 2015 12:07 PM (5etLx)

234 192 Covers are incredibly important. Back when you got the book at the bookstore, chances are you would not look that closely at the cover, but flip through the book, check out the blurb, see what the back had on it in terms of reviews, etc. ...
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 10:59 AM (39g3+)
----
Who needs scholarly analysis when there is a Frazetta cover?

Sold!

*11 yr old Eris hands over wad of cash*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 12:11 PM (jR7Wy)

235 While on the subject of commas, does anybody else get miffed when you hear the "extra" comma placed in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

It's "one Nation under God," not "one Nation, under God," Dammit! Please, everyone, stop the madness.

Posted by: Fritz at August 23, 2015 12:11 PM (KJ2mA)

236 Speaking as a writer, please don't publish the stories I wrote in college after I die. There's a reason I didn't try to get them published when I was alive.

Posted by: Zoomie at August 23, 2015 12:14 PM (3l9k4)

237 the problem here is, I have sci-fi books from both on my shelves, and I loved many of them

don't penalize the authors, just find the subject matter you like, and do a little research

that is why amazon's ranking system is so great, not only does it accumulate an average over time (best to really wait out the numbers because you can get anti-whatever people voting) but read the comments - sorted from worst, then sorted from best and in between. You can get a really good feel of the book and it's content by the best commenters, not the spammers and trolls.

I also find authors from the anthologies of short fiction.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 11:26 AM (qCMvj)

Me too. I had no opinion of Tor and it's management until this year. It is increasingly clear that they would rather their "righty" authors - or even their non-right authors *liked* by righty fans - die in a fire. The Haydens passed best editor back and forth with a buddy of theirs for YEARS, and now they have an issue with logrolling because it's out in the open? Fcuk them, fcuk Irene Gallo, and may Tor die an ignominious death and Baen pick up their library.

I recommend if you *do* buy Tor titles, buy them used, or just borrow it from the library.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 12:15 PM (Edob3)

238 Listened to Simon Winchester's The Men who United the States read by the author. It was interesting but strange in that Winchester is a naturalized citizen who manages to both appreciate America and (amazingly) flyover state Americans while still retaining his British socialist worldview and assumptions. I almost quit near the beginning, but managed to keep with it. I don't think it was a waste of time, but I'm not going to be looking for anything else by him.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 12:18 PM (phT8I)

239 There is that: some cover artists were so good the book was almost irrelevant. Guys like Frazetta, the Hildebrandts, Whelan, Kelly Freas, etc would sell the book just by having a picture there and that's always been the case.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 12:18 PM (39g3+)

240 Good for you on the great review Christopher Taylor.

Now my shakes are really kicking in because of how I wrote this story... People might not like how it's first person in the noir style. But Diana can be a bit insistent.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 12:25 PM (kJll+)

241 Mentioned at neo neocon. A book with actual photos and stories of 8 men who fought in the American Revolution.

http://tinyurl.com/o8vwgu4

Posted by: gracepmc at August 23, 2015 12:25 PM (DMQhB)

242 I would lose the passive voice

Part of my day job is incorporating executive comments into documents. They have no friggin' clue what means 'passive voice.' I have seen sentences like this marked as 'passive voice' and been told to fix them:

"Our personnel have performed beyond expectations."

Posted by: Hardliner V the K at August 23, 2015 12:29 PM (c/Ipt)

243 Never understood why Toni Weisskopf has been consistently dissed at awards. The woman has singlehandedly kept various threads of SF/Fantasy viable. Who the heck did she offend?

Anyway, Eric Flint is the best when he has a cowriter; much like Niven. His best work is cowritten. I admire Flint's work with Baen and appreciate his honest acknowledgement of his personal biases.

For moron reading, I keep recommending "Frankenstein" (free, contemporary topics, etc) or, as the Blogfather Reynolds keeps recommending, "Fallen Angels."

This week I have done nothing but watch 'Veggietales' with 1yo grandson. The only thing he really likes is the songs, so he goes off to destroy pans and cans (lower cabinets) but runs when he likes a song to dance.

Posted by: mustbequantum at August 23, 2015 12:29 PM (MIKMs)

244 Some people hate first person, I don't know why. My first two books were in first person and I got some people upset at just that, nothing else. Had an agent tell me my writing was great and she wanted to see more but didn't like first person.

Very odd.

The thing is, its not only a great device for pulling readers in, it fits certain genres perfectly. I will save up money and pick up your book some time, Anna

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 23, 2015 12:29 PM (39g3+)

245 This is one of my favorite Michael Wheelan covers. For the novel Illusion. The art grabbed my eye before I even read the blurb.

http://ayay.co.uk/backgrounds/fantasy_art/michael_whelan/illusion.jpg

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 12:31 PM (kJll+)

246 Getting yourself an ugly book cover through Amazon's self-publishing arm takes an effort. You would have to make it up and submit it yourself. The cover they did for me is beautiful. Behold and admire.

http://goo.gl/wUhqRm

Posted by: Jeremiah McCarthy at August 23, 2015 12:32 PM (62uxv)

247 Posted by: mustbequantum at August 23, 2015 12:29 PM (MIKMs)

Shes admired by all the wrong people, it appears. And that's enough for the fandom twits to think no award is better than her work.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at August 23, 2015 12:40 PM (Edob3)

248 I read an interesting book this week - "The House on the Strand", by Daphne du Maurier. It's a science fictiony sort of book - the main character experiments with a potion that transports him back to the 1300's. He can't interact with anything happening in the past, just observe, and if he accidentally touches someone from the past he's immediately thrown back into present-day. He becomes more wrapped up in the past and becomes a jerk to his wife. It was interesting - written in the vein of 'be careful what you wish for.'

Posted by: biancaneve at August 23, 2015 12:42 PM (kBiy2)

249 You could always read to your child while rocking him/her to sleep. No special book needed - you'll fall into the rhythm of the rocking as you read. It's the sweetest time of the day with them.

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at August 23, 2015 12:46 PM (nUNmO)

250 Saw the Hugo results on Twitter last night and they were meh, apparently the winners were all SJWs or no-winner, I didn't vote for any of the winners. Apparently Sad Puppies is important as it clearly illustrated the Left votes based on political content. Someone pointed out the published list of winners didn't show the No-Winner winners, guess it would make clear the ugliness of the result. Did enjoy the Hugo experience, introduced to some new good writers.

Listened to Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, which follows the career of an architect, Rourke, who is gifted and goes his
own way, which causes him to make influential enemies and repeatedly get
into hot water. Rourke espouses the Rand philosophy that
men should rely on themselves and be unflinching in their dedication to
their life's work. Enjoyed it quite a bit, don't know if I'll ever
tackle it's big brother.

Read The (N-Word) Of The Narcissus by Joseph Conrad, where a black sailor James Wait is taken ill (or is he?) at the beginning of a sea voyage. Wait becomes a contemptuous leader among many of the crew from his sickbed, as they try to survive a hurricane and becalmed seas. It was good though so densely-written it was somewhat of a slog to get through.

Listened to Transfer Of Power (Mitch Rapp #3) by Vince Flynn, where Islamic terrorists attack the White House and it's up to Mitch Rapp to deal with it. Interesting characters and high-octane story, really good.

Posted by: waelse1 at August 23, 2015 12:54 PM (R55aW)

251 The whole reading to your children is a canard. If they see you reading, they will try. My demand was that they read to me -- two of my kids had to prove their reading chops to get the hand-held Pokemon stuff. Both passed with flying colors by 4yo and got their own library cards. I guess even teachers and other 'leaders' do not read on their own and must have an external goal to make reading an integral part of life.

Posted by: mustbequantum at August 23, 2015 12:58 PM (MIKMs)

252 E-readers are for convenience, impulse buys, and things you wouldn't want to kill a tree for. Like dino-Gronk porn.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:19 AM (jR7Wy)

E-readers are great for those of us who work in remote locations (major international construction projects). On the other hand, they are best suited for either light or medium reading. They are a royal pain in the ass for anything that you're going to want to be flipping back and forth to understand a point, or to reference the notes/addenda. They are also inconvenient if one likes to write comments while reading.

And they are good for carrying reference books around.

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at August 23, 2015 01:00 PM (nUNmO)

253 Regarding Anazon, being a picker in a warehouse sucks no matter who you work for. Moral to the story, try to develop a real skill, and if you go to college, major in something that has a job other than barista, convenience store clerk, or picker waiting for you when you're done.

Posted by: OCBill at August 23, 2015 01:05 PM (VCCXE)

254 I am currently reading Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana. Old fashioned paper form.

Recently listened to Killing Lincoln while driving home from South Dakota. Not bad.

Posted by: The Jackhole somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 23, 2015 01:31 PM (dULJN)

255 I do not begrudge Amazon it's success, but working retail is truly a crappy job, now think of working a retail job and having it all removed from the public eye...

my answer is not that Amazon should be punished, but that each person apply themselves enough so that they can learn a skill(s) that allows them job opportunities above the retail level of employment.

Posted by: Shoey at August 23, 2015 01:35 PM (vA94g)

256 I'm watching "Gods and Generals". I know it's been criticized for too much speechifying but I'm enjoying it. I have a high tolerance for slow-moving historical dramas.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 01:57 PM (jR7Wy)

257 Downloaded Flint's "1632." The Kindle version is currently free on Amazon.

"1633" is not Flint, "1634" is Flint. Odd.

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 02:08 PM (170jh)

258 Anna, if you are still here, you lured me in!

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 23, 2015 02:26 PM (ftVQq)

259 "1634" is Flint. Odd.

Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 02:08 PM (170jh)

No, that's even!

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 23, 2015 02:26 PM (ftVQq)

260 Have spent the last couple of weeks re-reading all of the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes. I'm about half way through the stack now, and I know I'm gettin' old, because I only remembered who the villains were in 2 of 'em. On the side, I'm reading "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" for a book club, and it's been a slog. If I ever finish that, I just received a copy of "The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything" by John D. McDonald. I remember reading it back in the 70's and enjoying the hell out of it, so we shall see if it stands as tall in reality as it does in my memory of it.

Posted by: Bookaday at August 23, 2015 02:30 PM (Djtwl)

261 Posted by: Bookaday at August 23, 2015 02:30 PM (Djtwl)

Just got a hardback copy of the Crimson Freefall and read it pretty much straight through. Formulaic McGee, but he has a way of turning a good phrase!

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 23, 2015 02:35 PM (ftVQq)

262 I am addicted to the Amazon Unlimited program. For $14.95 per month, my wife and I get to read as many Kindle books as we can. The problem is that these are the books that don't normally sell, so I read all the bad science fiction ever written, and my wife reads all the not-worth-publishing romance novels. It is getting bad. We need a support group, and maybe a 12 step program.

How do we stop?

Posted by: Bob at August 23, 2015 02:36 PM (XESH2)

263 Anna, Hrothgar peer-pressured me into getting Golden Isis.

I kid! I'm looking forward to reading it tonight.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 02:41 PM (jR7Wy)

264 How do we stop?
Posted by: Bob at August 23, 2015 02:36 PM (XESH2)
---
Start writing your own bad sci-fi!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 02:42 PM (jR7Wy)

265 I'm looking forward to reading it tonight.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 02:41 PM (jR7Wy)
At last, Anna is in my debt!

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 23, 2015 02:43 PM (ftVQq)

266 Oregonmuse, what e-mail address should I contact if I want my work pimped on the Book Thread?

I'm not to publication yet, but should be in the next month or two.

Thanks!

Posted by: logprof at August 23, 2015 02:47 PM (vsbNu)

267 Bruce,
So you have goats, huh? I have a friend that has two kids and they ride on the donkey protection them. It's really cute:

http://tinypic.com/r/14t8poz/8

http://tinypic.com/r/1smoeu/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2duft7c/8

Posted by: lindafell de spair at August 23, 2015 03:17 PM (xVgrA)

268 248---" I read an interesting book this week - "The House on the Strand", by Daphne du Maurier...."
Posted by: biancaneve at August 23, 2015 12:42 PM (kBiy2)
---------------
Yes! That's a good one. Odd, but good.
Love, love, love her stuff. "Rebecca," "The Scapegoat," "The Birds," etc., etc.--- all of which are much better than the movies, although the movies weren't necessarily bad.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at August 23, 2015 03:29 PM (cN9Sk)

269 239 There is that: some cover artists were so good the book was almost irrelevant. Guys like Frazetta, the Hildebrandts, Whelan, Kelly Freas, etc would sell the book just by having a picture there and that's always been the case.

--

Michael Whelan - loved his covers unconditionally.

Posted by: @votermom at August 23, 2015 03:37 PM (cbfNE)

270 Oh, I finally figured out how to make Text-to-Speech work on my new Kindle FireHD. Not every book is enabled, but many more than with the third-party TTS I had to use for the original Kindle Fire. The voice is better as well. Much more pleasant than the other which I originally described as "Like GLaDOS but without the warmth and personality."

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 03:38 PM (GDulk)

271 Which reminds me, *please* Horde authors make sure to make your e-books TTS compatible (at least if it doesn't cost too much extra or something). The vast majority of my "reading" is done through TTS because it's hands-free and I know at least a couple of the Horde are sight impaired and it would probably help them as well.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 03:43 PM (GDulk)

272 @235 --

Hell, yes!

I'very been drawing out "one nationnnnn under God" for years. William Safire made a good argument for excising those two added words to restore "one nation indivisible."

As for books --

Finished audio book abridged version of "Six Frigates," about the founding of the Navy. Lots of detail on the War of 1812. I never knew that cutlasses and grapeshot produced such bloody results. Brrr.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 23, 2015 03:48 PM (+P39t)

273 William Safire made a good argument for excising those two added words to restore "one nation indivisible."
---
Or "invisible" as we kids used to say it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 04:07 PM (jR7Wy)

274 "The House of The Strand" is an excellent, odd novel.

As noted in the early morning thread, I am continuing with the biography of Calvin Coolidge. I mentioned that his son Calvin Jr (aged 16) died unexpectedly while President Coolidge and his wife were in the White House after he developed a blister after playing tennis, a blister that turned into sepsis.

Children apparently drew them both after their loss. Coolidge's wife, Grace, who was apparently a kind extrovert wrote to a friend that one morning arriving at the WH, Colonel Starling, the family Secret Service man, found a boy pressing his nose against the WH iron fence. "I thought I might see the President," the boy said. "I heard that he gets up early and takes a walk. I wanted to tell him how sorry I am that his little boy died." Sterling took him in; the boy was overwhelmed. Starling later recalled that he could not speak. Starling explained to the President. At that time Coolidge nearly did break down; the President, Starling saw, "had a difficult time controlling his emotions." Later, when they walked through Lafayette Park, Coolidge told Starling, "Colonel, whenever a boy wants to see me always bring him in. Never turn one away or make him wait."

I mentioned earlier that Coolidge was such a man of integrity as well as faith that maybe it would be a good idea for Christians to ask Coolidge and his wife (whom I believe are in heaven) to pray to God for the United States. Protestants don't ask for prayer from Saints (although I've been doing it :^) and Catholics probably wouldn't ask prayer from someone who hasn't been declared blessed, but given the state of our country and the love Coolidge had for America, maybe it would be a good idea. After all, all Christians believe in the "communion of Saints" -the followers of Christ.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 23, 2015 04:14 PM (OSs/l)

275 I have a Kindle HD, how do I enable tits and why wasn't I told?!

Posted by: waelse1 at August 23, 2015 04:21 PM (R55aW)

276 The biography of Coolidge is by Amity Shlaes.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 23, 2015 04:42 PM (OSs/l)

277 6 Ah, Book Thread! Okay, who's actually read "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. It's this year's Hugo winner. Any good?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at August 23, 2015 09:10 AM (jR7Wy)

I'm on the waiting list with Overdrive but what I can say is it's good enough that Vox Day voted for it over the novels he nominated.

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 04:54 PM (zpNwC)

278 10 Ahhhhh books!

What percentage of the Horde, do you suppose, reads 'classic books' (and by this I mean, books with actual pages) as opposed to books via e-readers?

This has probably been discussed before.
Posted by: Sixkiller at August 23, 2015 09:13 AM (hRytD)

I read both. The year so far is a ratio of 4 to 1 in favor of ebooks though.

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 04:57 PM (zpNwC)

279 Posted by: logprof at August 23, 2015 02:47 PM (vsbNu)

Oh cool, I'd be happy to pimp your book, or whatever you're going to be publishing. Send all of the relevant info to the book thread email address, which is: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 05:06 PM (XUdaJ)

280 Coolidge inscribed a book to a cabinet member who also lost a son, "To my friend, in memory of his son and my son, who have the privilege of being boys together forever."

Posted by: Stringer Davis at August 23, 2015 05:12 PM (xq1UY)

281 I prefer paper books.

Posted by: @votermom at August 23, 2015 05:21 PM (cbfNE)

282 Thanks for the quote, Stringer.

Coolidge had the reputation of being "silent Cal" but the people who knew him mostly felt his silence was restful-that he was a thoughtful, deep man and certainly this was not any indication that he was not a compassionate man. He didn't talk a lot because he was a good listener and not glib. There are many little stories in the book that show him as a warm person just not an extrovert.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 23, 2015 05:23 PM (OSs/l)

283 Book Thread! *cough wheeze hack*

Returned this morning from Worldcon, site of the Hugo Massacree and Washington State Combustion Festival. Only went because it was so local to me and has lots of fans who need to know about my books. Oh my the conniving and the butt-hurt, I could tell stories... and probably will. I'm a writer, after all.

If I were to compare the SF world to WWII, this year's Hugo awards were the Dunkirk evacuation. I don't know if the Hugos can be saved, frankly. But the fight is still worth winning. The one thing I heard from all *sorts* of people, including the shuttle bus drivers, was "I used to love to read science fiction..."

I want to bring that love back. The Hugos can sink for all I care, but I want that bus driver back. It's things like the Book Thread that are the Resistance. Vive la France!

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at August 23, 2015 05:30 PM (GG9V6)

284 Currently a little under halfway through Baen's "The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera" edited by David Afsharirad.

Afsharirad did a great job and I'm thoroughly enjoyed everything I've read in it so far. Best story so far was "Persephone Descending" by Derek Kunsken. Very impressed.

For those not in the know, Baen is polling readers on baen.com as to which of the stories is the best in the anthology, and the winner will be announced at Dragoncon and receive an inscribed plaque and a $500 cash prize. Voting closes August 31, 2015.

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 05:32 PM (zpNwC)

285 79

Any authors out there use this service? If so, what did you think?

http://99designs.ca/book-cover-design

Great concept. Some really good designs. They do the ebook as well. (They handle ALL graphic needs, including book illustration, corporate branding, logo, packaging, advertising, etc.)

But a good fairly cheap alternative, 4 tiers of payment options.
Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 23, 2015 09:54 AM (qCMvj)

An even less expensive competitor of theirs is Design Crowd
http://bookcover.designcrowd.com/

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 05:55 PM (zpNwC)

286 Sabrina Chase, I do hope you had some fun at WorldCon. In spite of the Soviet Justice Wankers trying to regulate the concept of entertainment.

C.J. Cherryh even reported that smoke had come into the convention. And even on FB, boy can she write - Spokane last night looked like doomsday---grey smoke everywhere, thick
and making people cough, an apricot sky, with the sun a dark red, like
stained glass, and the smell of smoke infiltrating everywhere

And to those brave 15 who have bought Golden Isis so far. Thank you.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 23, 2015 06:01 PM (kJll+)

287 And another place to croudsouce book covers is http://www.crowdspring.com/

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 06:06 PM (zpNwC)

288 Am I a bad person because I skipped the comments after the first hundred or so? I'm not the Time Giant, here, people.

I use my computer to read just about everything. I've demolished my eyesight, and I love the fact that I can blow up the font and fix the contrast to be whatever I need. AND THE BIGGER REASON is that I am HORRIBLE when it comes to returning library books on time. So with an e-reader, I can download a book from my library, and when it's due back, it just shuts down, no fees. I get my fix of being able to have stuff delivered right to my computer without ever having to make a trip somewhere (heaven forfend!), and I don't get docked for a book I only half-read anyway.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at August 23, 2015 08:06 PM (yjhOG)

289 I'm sure someone has mentioned this, but the Oxford comma is a no-no in AP Style.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 23, 2015 10:15 AM (yxw0r)

Finally, a comrade in arms. I much prefer the clean look of sparse punctuation as shown in the blocks of copy in Time Magazine per se. BUT, I'll gladly use teh Oxford comma if the sentence can't be rewritten.

Posted by: RushBabe at August 23, 2015 08:09 PM (1WSHx)

290 257 Downloaded Flint's "1632." The Kindle version is currently free on Amazon.

"1633" is not Flint, "1634" is Flint. Odd.
Posted by: doug at August 23, 2015 02:08 PM (170jh)

"1633" is still Flint. He co-authored it with David Weber just as he co-authored "1634: The Galileo Affair" with Andrew Dennis.

Posted by: BornLib at August 23, 2015 08:37 PM (zpNwC)

291 I started reading "The Vorrh," which has enough grit that I was nauseated by the first chapter (and whatever I was eating), and haven't been back to it yet. I imagine it'll be great, but I'll have to have the stomach for it.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at August 23, 2015 08:38 PM (yjhOG)

292 Finished listening to Golden Isis, thanks for making it TTS compatible AP. Could use a little polish, which isn't surprising in a first novel (I believe that's what Anna Puma said). A reasonable read at a reasonable price.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 08:39 PM (GDulk)

293 Thanks for mentioning TTS, Polliwog--just checked, and mine have TTS enabled. Still hoping to be able to release audiobooks soon; I've made contact with someone who's willing to record for me, but she's a busy mom and is still getting her equipment together. So we'll see.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 08:46 PM (iuQS7)

294 Okay. Just got through the whole thread.

I finished "Johnny Carson" this week, by Henry Bushkin. In his later years, Johnny just irritated me with all the lip smacking and old-person habits he acquired, but I remembered being a kid with older bro and sisters who all got to "stay up late" to watch Carson. Some of his skits were da bomb.

Anyhoo, Bushkin paints him as a near schizo, worsening with age. JC's mother is shown to be an icy beyotch whom Truman Capote even had the displeasure of meeting.

Some of the more interesting facts -- Bushkin met Carson on the same evening JC and "friends" were going to break into his estranged wife's apt at the UN building. Carson always carried a .38 -- even in LA if it had to be in his glove box.

The apt was filled with all sorts of damning evidence to use in divorce court, but the most eye-catching thing were the photos of the second Mrs. Carson's BF -- Frank Gifford.

I always thought Carson's fourth and final wife was the love of his life. Au contraire. Bushkin makes her sound like a gold digger who never accomplished anything other than marrying well. They separated after 10 years, but she was still the record holder and big winner. He had so alienated everyone he ever knew that he died alone. Wife #4 lasted 18 years, on paper at least, and inherited without divorce papers ever being filed.

The Carson Foundation is still flush with cash and funds Los Angeles PP among other things.

Posted by: RushBabe at August 23, 2015 08:47 PM (1WSHx)

295 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 08:46 PM (iuQS7)

I listened to the last half of (Lonestar Son?) the YA one you released recently. Don't have any of your others yet. How many are there and are they all in e-format?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 08:48 PM (GDulk)

296 Lone Star Sons is Sgt. Mom's. I have three out and one available for pre-order, all available on Kindle. Titles are as follows:

Loyal Valley: Assassination
Loyal Valley: Bystanders
Loyal Valley: Captives (this is the pre-order one, coming out next Monday)
Look Behind You (different series)

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 08:57 PM (iuQS7)

297 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 08:57 PM (iuQS7)

Whoops, thanks. Sorry for mixing you two up.

Guess that means Sgt. Mom is good on the TTS front as well though.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 08:59 PM (GDulk)

298 No worries!

How are things going on the shop front?

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:03 PM (iuQS7)

299 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:03 PM (iuQS7)

The paperwork is endless and the tropical storm meant I couldn't get any computer work done this week (turned off due to constant lightening strikes). I'm slogging along, but apparently Galveston county is notorious for all the hoops. I haven't given up (and won't) but it *is* very slow.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 09:09 PM (GDulk)

300 Ugh, I hate bureaucracy. Do let me know when you get through the last of the red tape, though--I'd love to be able to schedule my book signing to coincide with Dickens on the Strand, which has long been on my "one of these days" list!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:13 PM (iuQS7)

301 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:13 PM (iuQS7)

I would *love* to make that possible. Prayers and advice are both very welcome.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 09:16 PM (GDulk)

302 "The Three-Body Problem" is an awesome book. Be sure to put on your physics thinking cap though. It is the first part of a trilogy from what I understand. "The Dark Forest" (which is part two) just came out this month. After finishing "The Three-Body Problem" I preordered it last May.

Seveneves had potential but the last third of the book messed up everything for me. I also hated the Elon Musk and NDGT worship given, it made the book difficult to finish.

Posted by: WinLinBSDAdmin at August 23, 2015 09:17 PM (k6kXg)

303 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 23, 2015 09:16 PM (GDulk)

No advice to give, alas, but you definitely have my prayers!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 23, 2015 09:22 PM (iuQS7)

304 Posted by: RushBabe at August 23, 2015 08:47 PM (1WSHx)

Ever since I first started watching the Tonight Show back in the 70s, I regularly saw stories about him in the supermarket tabloids for any one of several divorces or being seen drunk somewhere, and I always figured he wasn't a happy man. Looks like I was right.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 23, 2015 09:40 PM (XUdaJ)

305 Seveneves had potential but the last third of the
book messed up everything for me. I also hated the Elon Musk and NDGT
worship given, it made the book difficult to finish.

Posted by: WinLinBSDAdmin at August 23, 2015 09:17 PM (k6kXg)
Sorry to hear that, Seveneves is in my reading queue,but I might push t down now!

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 23, 2015 10:03 PM (ftVQq)

306 Michael Whelan's Lovecraft covers freaked me right the hell out, made me afraid to read the books. Damn, those are scary and still sitting on my bookshelf, some right in front of me.

Posted by: Tonestaple at August 23, 2015 10:19 PM (WdorP)

307 Sounds as though at least some of Kullervo made it into "Of Turin Turambar" (Silmarillion) or the Narn I Chin Hurin (Tale of the Children of Hurin). Along with the Lay of Leithian (Beren and Luthien), it's one of the great stories of the Elder Days.

Posted by: Mentor of Arisia at August 23, 2015 10:36 PM (ybzJi)

308 I just finished Ted Cruz' book, which left me with a sense of optimism that we may yet turn the tide on this horrid train wreck of liberal misgovernment we've all been enduring.

Posted by: norrin radd, prisoner of Galactus for a time at August 23, 2015 11:09 PM (7r4C+)

309 @195 I agree with basically everything you have to say on this subject. Generally, I don't have strong feelings about the Oxford comma either way. I don't generally use it, as I have a degree in journalism (as others have mentioned, it's not used in AP Style), but it's fine. I'm a professional copy editor, and I don't generally dock the writers if they use it or don't, as long as the sentence is still clear. But I find that the proponents of the Oxford comma (I work with a *lot* of English majors) are often rather pretentious about it. It's annoying.

Posted by: John at August 24, 2015 02:37 AM (zezy2)

310 John --

Glad to see another copy editor! I still consider myself one, even I haven't been paid to be one for four years now.

Are you sure AP still doesn't add the elite comma? They sure seem to have fouled up most of their other compact styles.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 24, 2015 03:00 AM (+P39t)

311 I was there as a Rabid Puppy Campbell nominee.
Meh.
I lost, as expected. Lost HUGE. :-)

I was mostly ignored the whole time I was there, except for being insulted by the MC as part of the nominee group in the pre-Hugo get-together, then again during the ceremony. (Year of the asterix, eh? Yeah, let's get back to that next year, shall we?)

The pre- and post-Hugo parties were not particularly enjoyable; they were mostly old friends talking to others in their cliques (not called CHORFs for nothing), and I was mostly only able to sit in with the other outsiders new to cons.

Overheard some bragging about not reading any of the puppy stuff, a fair number of attendees were blissfully unaware of it all.

Not terrible impressed with any of the panels I sat and watched. Not a lot I really wanted to sit in on, though, either. I spent a lot of time just sort of wandering around, alone, listening, watching. Normal Con freaks and geeks, normal folks, a few families with kids, a lot of older and grossly fat people, sellers selling, many books and authors. I say a stupidly high "polyamory meetup" advertisements around.

Was it worth going? Maybe. If I'm nominated again next year, I'll have a much better plan on how to deal with them, now that I know how they operate.

Posted by: Rolf at August 25, 2015 01:32 AM (n+40i)

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