(1) SFF MAGAZINE SURVEY. Jason Sanford is working on a report about science fiction and fantasy magazines for which he’s already interviewed a number of publishers and editors. Sanford also wants feedback from the larger genre community – that means you! Readers are welcome to respond to his short survey hosted on Google Docs.
Sanford aims to release his report after Thanksgiving.
(2) ELIGIBILITY POSTS. Cat Rambo has started her “Round-up of Awards Posts by F&SF Writers, Editors, and Publishers for 2019”.
Once again I have created this post for consolidating fantasy and science fiction award eligibility round-ups. Here are the rules.
I prefer to link to, in order of preference:
- Your blog post listing what you published that is eligible
- Your social media post listing what you published that is eligible
- A single link to the material that is available online
(3) CIVIL WAR. It won’t take you long to figure out what inspired James Davis Nicoll’s latest Tor.com post “Science Fiction vs. Fantasy: The Choice Is Clear”. Which side will you choose?
…Science fiction provides its readers with iron-hard, fact-based possibility. For example, Frank Herbert’s Dune played with the possibility that the right combination of eugenics and hallucinogenic drugs (taken from enormous alien worms) might allow messianic figures to draw on the memories of their ancestors. Well, how else would it work?
(4) LOOKING BACKWARD. At Quillette, Craig DeLancey analyzes the removal of Tiptree, Campbell and Lovecraft from sff award iconography in “Science Fiction Purges its Problematic Past” to lay the foundation for his own unique proposal.
…If we must be concerned with the author and not just the work, then Houellebecq’s book is an example of the balance that our criticism should achieve: we must recognize that the work is one thing, the author another. Literary criticism should not be a struggle session.
But this is not the spirit of our moment. Instead, as speculative fiction becomes more diverse, the sense that it must be corrected grows, and author and art are evaluated together. There is a notable asymmetry in this evaluation. Most fiction readers are women, and many fiction genres are dominated by women. Men who write romance novels or cozy mysteries must write under female pseudonyms, because the audiences for these genres will largely avoid books by men. In publishing, this is considered merely a demographic fact, and not an ethical failure of some kind. The attitude is very different towards science fiction. That for decades science fiction was mostly written, read, and published by white men is seen, at best, as something that must be denounced and aggressively corrected, and at worst as evidence that racism and sexism were the driving engines of this creative explosion. We do not single out other genres of fiction, or other art forms, for this kind of invective. We do not hear admirers of the golden age of jazz, for example, denounce the great composers of that era because they were nearly all African-American men. Louise Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, and many other such men are honored for their genius, and we recognize their creations as a gift to humankind. Why not consider American science fiction in the twentieth century as a gift, instead of dismissing it as “Sterile. Male. White.”?
(5) EXPLORING SPACE – ON BOOKSTORE SHELVES. Sarah A. Hoyt treats Fonda Lee as someone who deserves mockery for “A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Supply and Demand”. Hoyt addresses Lee’s March 2019 tweets:
…Sigh. We won’t get into the idiocy of traditional publishing and their artificial restrictions on market, but still…
This poor woman has everything backward in her head. It makes it very difficult for me to believe that she can create any kind of sane or believable world. Why? Because she doesn’t understand the laws of supply and demand, which means she doesn’t understand reality….
…The dead great shall always be with us. You want to outsell them: write a lot and write well. Or find another job.
Economics in the end — regardless of what prizes you get for being a good little girl, or how much your professors praised you — is cold equations. Cold equations ALL THE WAY DOWN.
Is it fair? No. Well…. Not fair in the sense that it doesn’t matter how good you are if people don’t know you exist. But it is fair in the sense that if you write well and a lot and figure out how to advertise you’ll be rewarded.
(6) TODAY IN HISTORY.
- November 6, 1981 — Time Bandits premiered. Co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Kenny Baker, Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, and David Warner. It received critical acclaim with a current 89% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and was a financial success as well. Apple has gained the rights for a Time Bandits television series to distribute on Apple TV+ with Gilliam on board in a non-writing production role and Taika Waititi as the director of the pilot.
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born November 6, 1907 — Catherine Crook de Camp. Author and editor. Most of her work was done in collaboration with her husband L. Sprague de Camp, to whom she was married for sixty years. Her solo work was largely non-fiction. Heinlein in part dedicated Friday to her. (Died 2000.)
- Born November 6, 1914 — Jonathan Harris. Doctor Zachary Smith, of course, on Lost in Space. He was somewhat typecast as a villain showing up such Mr. Piper on Land of the Giants, The Ambassador on Get Smart and the voice of Lucifer on Battlestar Galactica. (Died 2002.)
- Born November 6, 1951 — Nigel Havers, 68. The bridegroom Peter Dalton in “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” on The Sarah Jane Adventures. He’s done a lot of children’s genre theatre: Jack in the Beanstalk twice, Robin Hood, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Aladdin. He’s been in one Doctor Who audiobook and narrated Watership Down once upon a time. He was Mark Ingram in An Englishman’s Castle, an alternate telling of WWII.
- Born November 6, 1953 — Ron Underwood, 66. His first directing effort was Tremors starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and Reba McEntire in her acting debut. Later genre efforts include Mighty Joe Young, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, episodes of Once Upon A Time, Fear the Walking Dead and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Born November 6, 1955 — Catherine Ann Asaro, 64. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire. I don’t think I’ve read them, so if you’ve read them, please do tell me about them.
- Born November 6, 1960 — Michael Cerveris, 59. Remembered best as the Primary Observer on Fringe. He’s played Puck and been in Macbeth way off Broadway so his creds there are covered too. He was Mr. Tiny in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, and Elihas Starr, the original Egghead, in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
- Born November 6, 1964 — Kerry Scott Conran, 55. A director and screenwriter, best known for creating and directing Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a film I absolutely adore. And that’s it. That’s all he done.
- Born November 6, 1968 — Kelly Rutherford, 51. She’s here for having the recurring role of Dixie Cousins on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and that’s in addition to managing to get herself involved in more bad genre series that got cancelled fast such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures and Kindred: The Embraced (8 episodes each). Indeed, her very first genre gig had the dubious title of Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge.
- Born November 6, 1972 — Rebecca Romijn, 47. Played Mystique in the X-Men film franchise but my favorite role for her is as Eve Baird, The Guardian of the Library that cross all realities in The Librarians series. She also was a regular playing Roxie Torcoletti in Eastwick, yet another riff the John Updike novel. She is now Number One on Discovery.
(8) LEARN ABOUT STAN LEE. In LA at the Skirball Cultural Center on November 10, there will be a conversation between Danny Fingeroth, author of “A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee”, and comics historian Jerry Beck.
Discover how Stan Lee became known as the voice and face of comics at this conversation between Lee’s colleague and author Danny Fingeroth and animation historian Jerry Beck.
As editor, publisher, and co-creator of Marvel, Lee worked with creative partners, like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, to create world-famous characters including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Avengers. But Lee’s career was haunted by conflict and controversy. Be amazed by Lee’s complex and accomplished life at this illuminating discussion.
(9) MARY YES, HERMAN NO. A word sticks out prominently in this Guardian interview: “Tade Thompson: ‘Quite frankly Victor Frankenstein was a dick’ “.
The book that influenced my writing
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I read it as a teenager and the seething mess of nested narratives and charnel houses lodged itself in my imagination. I’ve read it more than any other book and hardly a day goes by when I don’t think of making corpses walk. Quite frankly Victor Frankenstein was a dick.The book I think is most overrated
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. With apologies to my US friends and my English teacher. This book didn’t just leave me cold. When I finished I wanted to make a list of everybody who had recommended it and make them eat it.
(10) GENRE WORK NOTED. BBC’s panelists invite everyone to “Explore the list of 100 Novels That Shaped Our World”. Chip Hitchcock says, “I count 17 of the 100 (and there’s probably a few I’m missing through not knowing the works), although I’d be happier if the Twilight series wasn’t one of them.”
(11) NOT A TWELVE-STEP PROGRAM. “Boeing aims for Moon landing in ‘fewer steps'”.
Aerospace giant Boeing has unveiled its proposal for a lander that could take humans to the Moon’s surface.
Under a programme called Artemis, the White House wants to return humans to the Moon by 2024.
Its approach, named “Fewest Steps to the Moon”, would use the huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
The company says its plan reduces the complexity involved in sending several different bits of hardware into space on multiple launches.
For most robotic space missions, all the hardware needed for the mission is launched on one rocket. Likewise, the crewed Apollo missions to the Moon in the 1960s and 70s required only one lift-off.
However, the Artemis missions are expected to involve several flights to loft all the hardware needed. For example, the lander elements are likely to be launched separately from the Orion capsule carrying crew.
Boeing says it can land astronauts on the Moon with only five “mission critical events” – such as launch, orbit insertion and others – instead of the 11 or more required by alternative strategies.
…The company says its lander would be ready for the 2024 mission, called Artemis-3. But Boeing’s plan would depend on a more powerful variant of the SLS rocket called Block 1B.
Under current Nasa plans, the Block 1B version of the rocket wouldn’t be ready until 2025.
(12) VARIATION ON FLORIDA MAN. UPI says be on the lookout — “Florida police seek return of 300-pound Bigfoot”.
Police in Florida are seeking information on the disappearance of an unusual piece of property — a 300-pound Bigfoot statue.
The Boynton Beach Police Department said the 8-foot-tall Sasquatch statue was stolen from in front of a store called Mattress Monsterz in October.
(13) HPL. SYFY Wire opines: “Nic Cage goes full Lovecraft in first trailer for cosmic horror tale Color Out of Space”. Tell me if you don’t think the kid doesn’t look like he just walked out of A Christmas Story. (Not the one framed below, the one in the beginning of the trailer,)
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Mike Kennedy, Nina Shepardson, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Cat Eldridge, Chip Hitchcock, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Anna Nimmhaus.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
First!
(10) I get 13 out of 100 – and some of those I read for school and have no interest in re-reading.
(5) How are we supposed to find new authors – or new books by existing authors – if the shelves are full of series by dead guys – or series for games/movies/manga?
(4) LOOKING BACKWARD.
Ugh, do we really need #WhatAboutTheMenz posts from the cesspit that is Quillette in the scroll? 😐
10) 19/100. But as a whole, not my thing at all.
10) I get 22-24/100, but I think I should get extra credit for the sheer number of times I’ve reread Pride and Prejudice and watched its associated movie/TV productions.
13) Oh hell no!
P.S. —
5) Hoyt is right that Tolkien and Jordan outsell Lee. But as others have pointed out, one of the reasons behind that disparity is lack of visibilty for newer authors. Which is one of the great things about the internet — so much more shelf space!
And incidentally — Eye of the World is currently selling in Amazon Kindle at #3315, while The fFifth Season is selling at #3361. So, according to Hoyt’s argument, shouldn’t that bookstore have equal numbers of each?
4) Why link to Quillette? It’s an arch conservative website, Breitbart but with literary pretensions. They’re free speech absolutists and alt-right adjacent, slimy defenders of people like Andy Ngo and the Proud Boys. Severely gross, Mike.
10) 28 for me, with a half dozen more on the TBR pile. I wonder at their definition of a single literary work, though. I’m trying to envisage the Discworld series as a single book: I imagine it would be quite large and rather unwieldy.
7) I read Asaro’s first two books. Way too romancey for my liking and I don’t buy the justifications for the
magicFTL and psi.13) This movie really needs to be filmed in black and white.
@Patrick Morris Miller: Yes, Asaro’s FTL drive seemed to make little or no sense to me, but then Asaro has a doctorate in physics from Harvard, and I don’t. And she could have just gone with the standard warphole/wormdrive nonsense you find in 99.7% of all space opera, and nobody would have said boo. So I’m totally giving her a pass on it. Whether or not I understood it. 🙂
As it’s published in Quillette, I assume that the full text of (4) doesn’t improve from the extract we have here? As it’s published in Quillette, I don’t feel any burning need to find out.
re. Hoyt: either I’m missing something or she is, but the amount of shelf-space allocated to each book in a bookshop doesn’t seem to me to be strictly governed by the laws of supply and demand.
Assuming rational actors (possibly a big assumption, I know!), if there is sufficient demand for a book, a bookshop should stock it. But there is no compelling reason that a bookshop should give shelf space to books in exactly the proportion that they have them in stock. If you have on display 18 copies of Lord of the Rings and one of The Fifth Season, then you are likely to always have several copies of LotR on display: I don’t imagine a generalist bookshop is likely to sell 18 copies of any given work in the time between restocking the shelves.
But if you sell your one copy of The Fifth Season, then until you put the next copy out, anyone who might be interested in buying a copy isn’t going to see that you have it available, and therefore isn’t going to buy it, unless they are so specifically determined to buy that particular book that they specifically ask if you have a copy in the stockroom. And given that books are not fungible, there are likely a non-zero number of browsers who would buy a copy of The Fifth Season if they saw it on the shelf, but wouldn’t buy a copy of LotR – whether because they already have read it/own a copy, or because they are not interested in it.
10) 17 / 100, I intentoinally didn’t count “but I’ve seen the film(s)” and cheeily counted GoT, even though I’ve only read the first 3-4 ones.
6) Economics may dictate that a store doesn’t have storeroom space to hold excess stock or sufficient staffing to move books from one place to another, but that’s not the cold heart of the market as it pertains to books. What is it with market fundamentalists wanting a deterministic machine which explains all things? Can’t they just find god?
7) I liked Asaro’s books. The romanciness was balanced by the creepiness. I didn’t love them, but I did enjoy them.
10) 18/100. American Tabloid isn’t the single James Ellroy book I would’ve chosen, though. (I’d probably have gone with L.A. Confidential or, going by other precedents on the list, the entire L.A. Quartet.)
@Patrick Morris Miller/13) — Have you seen Die Farbe? It was a German adaptation of Colour Out of Space from a few years back — was filmed in black & white except for the Colour itself, which would appear as a kind of purplish shimmer.
10) only 15 of 100. Oh, well.
10) 26/100, not counting the ones I started and gave up on.
@Joe H.: Yep! Which is where I stole the idea from. It was one of two adaptations of “Colour” I watched in close succession and, I thought, quite good.
1.Unless I overlooked it, I found nothing in Jason Sanford’s survey that covers individuals like me who do not subscribe to genre magazines but will buy an individual issue of a magazine (depending on the contents) at a local bookstore or through sites such as Weightless Books.
10) I’ve read 41 of them. Though not all of Discworld, yet. A lot more in some categories than others.
Sarah Hoyt seems to be taking for granted that the supply and demand affecting bookshelves is a free market between readers, as individuals, selecting books they want from the entirety of what’s in print. That assumes there’s no influence from bookstore chains and their algorithms, that publishers spread their promotion budgets evenly among all the books they have in print, and that nobody, whether at Amazon or Pandemonium, is making suggestions based on either an opaque “if you liked this, try that” algorithm or what the store staff are excited about this week.
I not only don’t believe that, I’d be surprised if Hoyt believed it, because she starts by acknowledging “artificial restrictions on the market,” before handwaving them as irrelevant to her point. That point appears to be that the market is so efficient that it knows that the average book buyer cares more about which edition of The Lord of the Rings to buy than about what book she wants, so perfectly efficient already that it could not possibly be improved by offering would-be customers more, or different, choices.
3) loved this. Bravo to Mr. Nicoll.
10) 47/100
Some of their choices were very odd. Emily of New Moon rather than Anne of Green Gables? Anne Brontë but neither of her sisters? Weird.
5) Should be re-titled “A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Fonda Lee’s Tweets,” which were about marketing, a practice used by businesses to increase demand for products. But since Hoyt is published by BAEN, I’m not surprised she is unfamiliar with the concept.
1) “Do you prefer to read SF/F stories in magazines or listen to SF/F stories in podcasts?” is an odd binary from my perspective, though I realize this edge case probably didn’t occur to the survey creator. Both Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog are available in audio for eligible readers through the National Library Service for the Blind and Reading Disabled. Are people who subscribe to these magazines in audio listening to a podcast by the definitions used in this survey, or reading a magazine?
10) I’ve always heard that the novel that had the most influence on US history was “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which is not on the list.
&) Re: Asaro
Her work got some pushback from the Puppies because it does contain romance elements, but she’s a dancer, a physicist and writes characters really well. THE LAST HAWK for example takes and genderflips a bunch of romance novel tropes with its stranded male protagonist, to really good effect.
5) Hoyt is a pontificating windbag. I know guess it takes one to know one.
Contrarius, do you have the numbers on her books vs say Jordan, Fonda Lee and N.K. Jemisin? I suspect they’d be illuminating of how her great
Yog Sothothfree market is treating her.On 5) in general, I stopped going into Barnes and Noble and chain bookstores around 2000 with the expectation that I’ll be surprised or find a new author. Pretty much the same for used bookstores as well due to knock on effects from the chains. This is mainly because there aren’t any new books by mid-list authors on the shelves, or new (to me) authors as well. It’s either the latest and greatest blockbuster or the traditional favorites.
Now for some novel bookstores, there’s Boswell Book company in Milwaukee. Lots of diverse stuff there and their SF section is full of mid-list and British authors. Many of them new to me. There’s also Murder by the Book in Houston. Lots of crime fiction, but a nice urban fantasy section, occasional SF and Martha Wells signing events.
10) I get 26, maybe 27. I’ve read most of the Psmith stores, but can’t remember for sure if I read journalist.
(5) Prominently displaying a well known work like The Lord of the Rings immediately alerts even the casual browser to the fact that is the section where the fantasy books are to be found.
My local bookshop uses the ends of the fantasy shelves to display the lavish editions and calendars for Lord of the Rings, Discworld and Game of Thrones (SF has the Star Wars, Star Trek and Who equivalents). There are then just enough paperback copies on the shelves to ensure there is always some available. All of the newest releases are displayed on a table within the alcove for that genre. The shelves on the three sides surrounding the table hold the perennial titles and any remaining copies of books no longer new enough for the table.
(10) Read 14 (series counting as only one, of course), with several more in the TBR pile. I count 22 as genre.
6) Good memories. I wonder if it holds up on another viewing? And what my daughter would think?
5) one and a half shelves of Wheel of time is probably just a single copy on each issue, apart from volume seven which isn’t there at all, and volume eight, where they’ve inexplicably got four copies.
7) Michael Cerveris gave an amazing performance in the 2005 Broadway revival of Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’. It was one of director John Doyle’s … interesting productions where actors played musical instruments as well. The show ran for nearly a year. Pretty good for such an eccentric version.
(5) Our “local” bookstore is Powell’s City of Books, the largest bookstore in North America, so we can pretty much find anything.
(10) 17 for me. I really have a hard time accepting their premise that most of these books are “Novels That Shaped Our World”.
damn, we’ve got phrenology journal Quillette misunderstanding genre history AND Hoyt repeating tired strawmen eight months after the fact, on the same day! our cup truly runneth over with dillweeds.
@4: perhaps he should be apprised that history shows certain long-standing differences between romances and SF — witness the failed attempt of a romance publisher to get a toehold (Harlequin’s Laser Books) in SF. And while I as a performer of “classical” music deplore the shortage (for various reasons) of known works by women, I doubt that anyone other than a rabid radical would point to differences between (e.g.) Boulanger and Poulenc as showing the kind of limitation of possibilities in the future that were standard in the Campbell era. (I also vaguely wonder just how free is the “free thought” espoused by Quillette in their “About” — IME that can be an excuse for all sorts of nastiness and blocking a large part of the political spectrum. I see @JJ has a less-charitable take….)
@5: should I be surprised that Hoyt believes the befuddlement of economics can be reduced to the same simplicity that governs the basics physical science? Apparently she hasn’t caught up to the work of recent decades, in which many of the “laws” of economics have turned out to be theoretical idealizations that don’t describe how the real world actually work — not that this is any surprise in someone who still uses the term “cold equations” after it has been so disproved.
@11: I’m reminded of Heinlein’s observation (in “Space Jockey”) that making a single vehicle to get to the Moon would be like combining an express elevator, a subway train, and a ferry boat. OTOH, he was assuming massively-reusable components, and I’m not familiar enough with Artemis to be certain how many of their parts will be used more than once.
various, re @10: I’ve read only 20/100 (and around some others — e.g. I’ve read half a dozen Buchans but not Mr. Standfast, which the Wikipedia summary sounds like I’d choke on) — but I’m interested in whether anyone thinks there’s more genre there than I counted.
@Patrick Morris: that was about my reaction to Asaro.
@Joe: that’s an instance of the death spiral that I understand is killing many authors; a chain, observing that it sold half of the copies of the author’s last book, will order half as many of a new title, which means that more stores will run out (or not get any to begin with), thus further reducing sales.
@John A Arkansawyer: as far as they’re concerned, they have found God — and a much more certain one than the vague mysteries most theists believe in. Some people just can’t live with indeterminacy.
@bookworm1398 (edit: /@John Lorentz): the title says “…shaped our world”, but the expansion paragraph says “We asked a panel of leading writers, curators and critics to choose 100 genre-busting novels that have had an impact on their lives.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin may have some trailing-off effect on everyone’s life (Lincoln’s line to Stowe was probably an exaggeration even in its own time, and what would have happened long-term if one piece of slavery had contined to fail gradually rather than abruptly is a matter of intense argument), but I’m wondering how much its thought affects today’s readers.
@BravoLimaPoppa: I similarly stopped looking for genre in general bookstores a long time ago (although space constraints mean I’ve pretty much stopped book buying at all). There is a chain outlet near where I park for concerts that has a substantial genre section, but I haven’t counted either total titles or shelves taken up by a few heavyweights.
There’s an argument to be made for that one (Chip alludes to the Lincoln quote). Especially if the defining quality being considered is a book that provoked change. However, books that “had the most influence on US history” would have to include things like the Bible, The Book of Mormon, Blackstone’s law series — and anything else that was widely owned and influential on public life.
I recently read “The Pilgrim’s Progress” which may have had quite a bit of cultural influence over the centuries, but not so much now. (and which gave “Mr. Standfast” its title.)
I just quickly scanned the list again and counted 20-22 entries that struck me as genre titles, fwiw.
(4) Well, I’m underwhelmed by that writer’s capacity as a philosopher as they centre their argument on the same fallacy of erasure we’ve seen over and over again.
Changing the names (or statues) of awards does not erase, suppress, eliminate, retro-actively de-legacy or remove (or even attempt to remove) influential figures from history.
Most notably with H.P.Lovecraft. Not only are people still writing about him, but they are also still writing within the sub-genre he created and writing stories that engage with his stories. Recognising the problematic aspects of Lovecraft has generated some really interesting works.
Awards and trophies don’t establish people’s legacy and posthumous influence. They are at best static memorials.
(4) “ We do not single out other genres of fiction, or other art forms, for this kind of invective”
Yes, we do. Women predominate as writers and readers of “straight fiction”, but lots of people other than LeGuin point(ed) out that most nominees and winners of literary prizes have been men. This is only starting to change.
Along with the Bible, etc., let us not forget Robert’s Rules of Order. I’d venture to say that work has has a massive effect on political and corporate discourse….
(7) Asaro — I read a couple of her Skolian Empire books, circa 2000, and found them not to my taste. The author is highly educated and a lot of her work has a unique allegorical mathematics/physics element that sailed right over my head. I remember her books as being heavy-handed romance populated by a fantasy culture that promoted the torturing of empathic persons and ending on awful cliffhangers, and I’ve never been interested in exploring her work further. (The Quantum Rose and The Radiant Seas.)
(5) B&N used to have a “New” section at the beginning of the SF/F (and other genres) where they put the new releases, so you could immediately go there and see what is new. They stopped doing that about a year ago, which makes it hard to see what is New at a glance unless it is one of the few genre titles that gets placed on the New tables in the front of the store. You pretty much need to know what is new that you want to find there before you enter the store.
@BravoLimaPoppa —
Heh.
I followed sales numbers for a bunch of books, multiple times per day, for an entire month last month, and the Correia/Hoyt book Monster Hunter Guardian happened to be one of them — as was The Fifth Season. Guardian has actually been selling very well, but Fifth Season has consistently outsold it by a large margin — today Guardian is at 10,120 (Kindle paid) and Fifth Season is at 3751. Hoyt’s solo books, of course, are way down the sales list — for instance, her Darkship Thieves is currently at 286,968.
I haven’t ever followed Fonda Lee’s books, but right now Jade City is at 23,356. Eye of the World is at 3161 at the moment.
@NickPheas “Psmith Journalist” is the one where he and Mike are in New York, take over a childrens magazine called “Cozy Moments” and turn it into a crusading muckraker publication, dealing with gangsters, prizefighters and slumlords.
Chip notes that’s an instance of the death spiral that I understand is killing many authors; a chain, observing that it sold half of the copies of the author’s last book, will order half as many of a new title, which means that more stores will run out (or not get any to begin with), thus further reducing sales.
There’s a recent news story about how rare it is that any work of fiction sells more than fifteen hundred copies in hardcover. There aren’t that many bookstore chains anymore and most of them rarely stock more than one or two copies of most books because they can order pretty much restock overnight if they so desire.
Books-A-Million has a better than merely decent SFF section and almost every title is a single unit save new stock and a handful of classics. Now keep in mind that each store doesn’t make stocking decisions as BAM has a central office, so you’ll get the same stock pretty in all of their stores. So you won’t get A Memory Called Empire but you’ll get a lot of Baen title. And their magazine section stocks four Doctor Who magazines…
6) Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, We Who Live In The Shadows, Jojo Rabbit) is going to direct the Time Bandits pilot for Apple+? That dramatically increases my interest in the series.
For some reason I don’t understand my last couple of comments seem to have gone to moderation.
(7) Michael Ceveris also played Ramses IV in the recent live-action Amazon series of The Tick.
StephenfromOttawa: You typoed your sign-in. So they got treated as first comments.