Some authors drop by and lend some insight on Goodread's book giveaway charging, we’re excited from some Old Man’s War movie action on Netflix, and why eatin’ bones is fun.
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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Angry Orchard
Veronica: SomeWine
QUICK BURNS
Rob: Goodreads is going to start charging publishers and author for giveaways. Boo.
To which Clyde wrote "Sigh. That is yet another gatekeeper tax. I suppose some bean counter had a bright idea.
I reckon the result will be that most giveaway activity moves to FB, G+, etc. with links to the writer's/publisher's pages. "
And then Robin Hobb casually sauntered in and wrote "Bingo. I think it's likely that individual writers will do their own giveaways via their own websites/facebooks, etc. It only makes sense to build your following that way. If I pay Goodreads to give away my books, then I'm paying Goodreads to drive more traffic to them. Publishers may pay the fee just to keep their lives simple.It's like the old tale of the Tar Baby. The deeper you get into these things, the harder it is to pry yourself out.
After which Mark Lawrence popped his head in and spake thus "Even publishers may fall back on their own websites using their social media and that of the authors to drive readers to giveaways. I would suggest that and say spend the money saved on a Facebook advert or something similar."
Which made Stephen say "Wow, two of my favorite authors read S&L's Quick Burns ! Okay I will spend a day liking all the Publishing Houses on Facebook, follow them on Twitter ( Most I do on Twitter already) , but is there anything else besides giving Goodreads some grief?"
Louie: First trailer for Netflix adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon
Iain: 2017 best of lists are starting up. The UK Guardian's list is out. Some good books in the list.
Scott: Adding to the 2017 book lists, here's the one from npr
Ruth:
see comment history On the “best of 2017” topic, Is anyone else feeling deeply unimpressed that the Goodreads award for best fantasy book has gone to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay ie a screenplay not an actual fantasy novel?
Lauren: This week, I discovered two neat digital projects involving old science fiction fanzines!
First is a project from the University of Iowa where they have scanned the library's collection of old sci-fi fanzines. They are doing a crowdsourced project to transcribe the content of the fanzines, so if you feel like contributing, there's an opportunity! They have a tumblr where they report out some of the neat things that they find:
AND
The Speculative Wonderverse
This is a digitization project for the Bob Gibson sci-fi fanzine archive with content going back to the 1840s. They have a tagging system so you can find stories and other content based on various themes. There's also a weird symbols system that Bob Gibson used for labeling the stories but didn't leave a key for, so you can try to solve the mystery.
Sandra: Netflix has acquired John Scalzi’s modern sci-fi classic Old Man’s War to develop as an original film.
BARE YOUR SWORD
"Hello, I've lived in Germany for 21 years and have been enjoying German Gluwein, pronounced glue-vine (mulled wine) for quite some time. That being said, I have found a great recipe that will solve all of your woes!
1 bottle of wine (must be a wine you would drink!) I use Merlot or Bordeaux.
1 cup of granulated sugar
3 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
Mix and heat, do not boil, to desired temperature. Make sure sugar is dissolved. Enjoy! I add a piece of orange for extra flavor. Let me know what you think.
Kory"
"Rob:
I thought the plan was to read Frankenstein in January, not March. The wiki says it was published January 1st, 1818.
So maybe Frankenstein in January and A Wrinkle in Time in March?
And then the last two years the April pick has been the March Madness winner.
If you want to follow the ""normal"" alternating Sci-fi/fantasy you could do A Wrinkle in Time in January and Frankenstein in February.
Although last year a lot of people were hoping for a Sci-Fi March Madness tournament, which I'm still hoping we may do next year. "
ADDENDUMS
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