March 30, 2012
What is it about the anonymity of the web that turns us instantly into triumphalist armchair critics? Best Buy today announced another disappointing quarter and we-who-know-all proclaim that the company is doomed, as are all retailers, and Amazon will be the only company left on the planet. (more…)
March 25, 2012
Destroying paperbacks instead of recirculating them is a curious and wasteful vestige of the days when most pocket books were sold on newsstands alongside magazines. Magazines are topical – they have little resale value. Books do. But freight and logistics costs mean that pulping paperbacks is not necessarily as wasteful as it first appears. (more…)
I assume that on October 2, 2005 Anthony Federico really did die “peacefully at home” of a heart attack before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could lay charges against him. He was only 46 years old. (more…)
March 18, 2012
The New York Times today bestows a glowing review upon Lauren Groff’s new novel, noting that “the raw beauty of Ms. Groff’s prose is one of the best things about Arcadia.” The book sounds marvelous. I’d never heard of Groff, but caught near the end of the review a strong endorsement also of her first novel, The Monsters of Templeton. The Times credits “Voice” as the publisher of both books. I’d never heard of Voice. I went to Amazon, where Voice is given credit for Arcadia, but Hyperion gets the nod for The Monsters of Templeton. The Kindle ebook for the latter, mysteriously priced at $3.03, is credited to Disney. (“Voice” is credited on Barnes & Noble for a $9.56 Nook ebook.) (more…)
March 9, 2012
My friend Anakana Schofield’s debut novel Malarky is about to be published (by the excellent independent publisher Biblioasis) and I saw on Facebook that she was going to launch the book with a reading at the Vancouver Public Library so I wanted to make sure I’m there on March 21st. (more…)