We Thought For Sure Everyone Would Write In To Tell Us

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The WGA has reached as settlement with the studios after being without a contract for several months. Interestingly, the deal does not address the hot button issue of DVD/video royalities. We can only say that the studios didn’t so much dodge a bullet as much as sidestep the first shot. Interestingly, the WGA chose to focus on increased health care contributions — all things considered, this is not a bad idea. For those who care, reality television remains an unresolved issue. Writers Guild of America Reaches Tentative Agreement with the Major Studios and Networks

Tools and Craft

Taking His Toys and Going Home

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We know, we know. We should be nicer. We should also get up earlier and eat better. It’s all so difficult. But, in a world where far too many books are published, you can’t expect each one to receive the careful, thoughtful, undivided attention it surely deserves. Even if the world of book reviewers magically increased ten-fold, the law of averages and volume and probably other laws we don’t know about would dictate that not every book would get critical attention. Yet, rather than accepting the industry for what it is (and we all complain about the industry in some

Square Pegs

We Are Torn, But Resolute (Or Maybe It’s The Other Way Around)

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Inefficiences are inherent to entertainment industries like publishing. Business has to change, but it takes time. Consumer pressure is a start, but is it consumer pressure when the consumer is taken out of the decision chain? Writing about Wal-Mart and censorship is somewhat of a hobby for us (yes, we could take up knitting, but the cats…). We have argued that Wal-Mart’s business practices are a form of backdoor censorship. They’re the only game in town for many consumers, and they have sufficient purchasing power to dictate content and packaging. Wal-Mart imposes its vision of morality (no sex, but, boy,

Square Pegs

We Sit, Amused

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The Walt Disney Company has done more to change this country’s copyright law in the past two decades than was done in the previous centuries. It is not a stretch to suggest that as a company, they understand and appreciate copyright and its value more than most. It is also not a stretch to say they have taken incredible advantage of the public domain to expand their empire. So, yes, we’re choking-back-laughter-amused when we read comments like this: Disney contends the copyright in the U.S. expired before the 1998 law and the book now resides in the public domain. Sick

Square Pegs

Hubris Meets The Critics

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How good, how experienced a writer do you need to be before you are able to judge your work with a casual reader’s dispassion? Do you, the author, have such incredible skill and judgment that you can say, absolutely, that every word, every sentence, every plot line is exactly right? The New York Times takes a look at Anne Rice’s, well, misjudgment when it came to responding to negative reviews on Amazon. Here’s a hint: if readers don’t like your work, that’s an opinion. Our analysis is that Rice missed the mark on this book. We do not believe that

Square Pegs, Tools and Craft

But Whose Story Is It?

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Writing is weird — you get into a story and sometimes it takes a life of its own. To non-writers, it seems the author has full control: you are, after all, putting the words down on paper. It’s your imagination. You can shape the text however you wish. But, if you’re a writer — and when this happens for the first time, it’s often a surprise — the unexpected, unplanned, unwanted happens. In the end, whatever the flaws or missteps, the story is the story. In fiction, it is hard to weigh the real world (such as it is) against

Books/Mags/Blogs

It’s The Lists, Baby, It’s The Lists

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The Literary Saloon gets appropriately snarky about the tangle of dates surrounding book releases (do not put out for customers to buy before the sun hits its peak the day of release under penalty of death and all that) and an attempt to clear up matters that will surely make things worse. Any time an industry needs an initiative to clear up the simple matter of A versus B, there will be more paperwork and confusion. Of this we can assure you. We have to agree that the concept of embargoing a title is antiquated. How often does a line

Square Pegs

Speaking of Booze-Filled Events

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Sarah (and of course we’re not implying anything) has survived Bouchercon and reports on the various awards, well, awarded. For details on The Barry Awards, The Macavity Awards, Shamus Awards, Hammett Award, and Anthony Awards…seriously, how did she find time to report on all this…visit Idiosyncratic Mind. Awards, awards, awards

Square Pegs

Soon To Be a Major Motion Picture

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Or maybe a television series. We can see it now: the wacky adventures of a sane man at a book fair. Our hapless hero tries to fight the good fight (which will have be worked out in story meetings) while resisting the urge to bring literature down a notch: If The French Suite suggests that nothing works better than literary Sturm und Drang , plenty of Frankfurt’s habitues are happy to enthuse about slightly more ephemeral projects. In addition to the aforementioned vogue for books about war, pestilence and not eating crisps, for example, there is an alleged boom in

Square Pegs

On Networking

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Here, it is still socially acceptable to smoke cigars, and pretty much de rigueur to get ragingly drunk. Told that all this was a central part of the Frankfurt experience, I sheepishly give it a go: after six glasses of wine, I have half-convinced a French publisher that the time is right for a Gallic-flavoured biography of Pink Floyd, and managed to get myself pencilled in for dinner in London with PJ O’Rourke. You read it here first

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