Thoughts on Bookish News

Ebooks!
Yesterday I read in Shelf Awareness about how Random House and Politico.com are teaming up to release four ebooks about the 2012 presidential campaign. I thought this was one of the better ideas I've heard for ebooks to be honest, political campaigns are such time sensitive events and I'm not really sure the interest in books about them is high for more than a year after they are over. I'd like to see ebooks used more and more for this kind of thing, (save our trees),celebrity memoirs, hot button current events, etc. Of course this also allows the publisher to be on the cutting edge of something, releasing the books as the campaign is happening so it's much more timely. There are, ahem, blogs for that, too. :)

New Orbit Authors!

I don't love all their books, but I always love giving them a try because I like a lot of what I've read.

The first is God Save the Queen by Kate Locke described as "an urban fantasy novel set in our time period — but with a twist. Queen Victoria still rules 175 years after her ascension. This is the world that half-blood Alexandra has been born into — a world where horse-drawn carriages, ballgowns, and corsets mesh with the modern fashions of the humans outside of the vampire aristocracy."

I don't know that sounds AWESOME to me!

And

Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson which is about "Jessica [who] is the only female werewolf born to a race of males. And prophecy claims that her birth will signal the end of their race. Who said it was easy being a girl?"

Of course! The girl comes along and EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE. That makes me laugh, but seriously, this sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Read all the details on their blog. (which rocks by the way. One of the best publisher's blogs)


Books That Probably Won't Come Out Forever But Sound Awesome and Were Announced in Publisher's Lunch

Author of THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY Tiffany Baker's MERCY SNOW, pitched as a contemporary twist on the Antigone myth set in a mill town in New Hampshire, about three women whose lives collide following a tragic accident and the cover-up that surrounds it, to Helen Atsma at Grand Central

This sounds awesome, too, I thought The Little Giant of Aberdeen County was beautifully written.

NYT bestseller Kathleen Kent's MIDDLE BAYOU, set in 19th-century Texas, about the legend of a pirate's buried treasure, a killer on the run, and a woman determined to make a new life for herself at any cost

What? I don't exactly know but this seems really awesome to me, the part about a pirate's buried treasure and a killer on the run. Throw in 19th century Texas and I think this could be really interesting.

Former member of the infamous hate group The Westboro Baptist Church Lauren Drain's BANISHED, about her seven years living with the group and her ensuing expulsion, to Emily Griffin at Grand Central

I think we're all interested in this due to our sick fascination with just how hateful hateful people can be.

Elizabeth Black's THE DROWNING HOUSE, the story of a young woman born and reared on the island of Galveston, Texas who returns to the island for the first time after a personal tragedy and discovers the true story behind the charismatic family who owns the grand mansion across the street from where she was raised, and the legend of Stella Canaday, a young girl said to have drowned during the Great Hurricane, hung by her long hair from the chandelier in the drawing room, to Nan Talese and Ronit Feldman at Nan A. Talese

Okay I was just like, reading along and then I saw "drowned during the Great Hurricane , hung by her long hair from the chandelier," and I don't know this book just got a lot more interesting, I mean how exactly does that happen? MUST READ THE BOOK.

And they also announced Marie Mockett's next Above the Waves about her family's Buddhist Temple in Japan. I still need to review Picking Bones from Ash, but I definitely think this next one will be worth a read.

Lenore's Fairy Tale

If you don't know her, Lenore is a really awesome book blogger who is now going to be a published author. She blogs at Presenting Lenore and is now group blogging over at Brave New Worlds. Go for the story, stick around to drool over all the great sounding books coming out.

Other Big Topics I Have a Few Thoughts About

There have been a few other things being discussed quite a bit in the bookish world that I don't have enough to write whole posts about but I do have a few things to say.

To the Person Who Said Book Bloggers are a bunch of housewives who read paranormal romance and have unwarranted influence over publishers

First, So? I mean really, why do you care if we are? How does it hurt you?

And secondly, it's not true.

Indie Bookstores Charging For Author Events

I can see where they are coming from, but going to an author event is already a huge deal for me. My closest indie is well over an hour away. Whenever I go, I really do make an effort to buy at least the book the author is promoting, and often I'll buy something else as well. In fact, every time I go to an independent bookstore I try to buy something there, but I don't often go because it's not convenient. So if I have to fork over additional money I'm less likely to go.

So that's it for thoughts about bookish things with Amy. What's on your mind?