Saturday Miscellany – 3/5/16

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Ebook pricing Storify and the Cult of the Debut — Michael Underwood gives some thoughtful perspective on a couple of stories I’ve mentioned lately and some related topics. Interesting food for thought for those interested in the business end of publishing.
• B&N to Close Nook UK Store on 15 March — Not great news for Nook fans — Harry Connolly has a bit of sage advice for the affected users.
• Why Barnes & Noble Isn’t Going Away Yet — The NY Times has some reassuring words on B&N.
• Kids’ Books Have Gotten Longer Thanks to the ‘Harry Potter Effect’ — ” recent survey of books aimed at kids in grades three through eight found that the average page length has increased by 115 percent in the last 10 years.”
• How Not to Worry About Teenagers Reading
• Let This Hidden Manifesto Inspire You to Read More — It’s an older piece, but I saw it this week and wanted to share.
• The Power of Pleasure Reading
• 20 Magical Fairy Tale Retellings for Adult Readers
• Interview with Pierce Brown — from Sci-Fi Bulletin, a great interview.
• Kim Harrison’s newsletter had some great tidbits, most (all?) of which are here, including a cover for the mass market of The Drafter (which I think is probably a better fit for the material), and news about a novella that will bring Peri Reed into contact with Rachel Morgan??
• Michael Connelly and Season Two of “Bosch” — Nice little interview. Been rewatching Season One just to prime my pump. Can’t wait.
• Chapter 1 of the new Alex Verus, Burned, is up. Honestly, I’m not one for reading samples like that — just drives me crazy not being able to turn the page. But glad to see that the release date is nigh.
• 16 Hilarious Signs That Prove Libraries Are the Greatest — these really made me chortle.
• 16 Reasons To Be Proud Of Being A Book Hoarder — same for these

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Passenger by Lisa Lutz — I’m hearing good things about this, and the description sold me even without hearing anything. I just messed up and got my dates wrong, so I didn’t have this ordered. Hoping to get my hands on this soon.
• Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire — blah
• Borderline by Mishell Baker — A little bit of Genrenauts, a little bit of Fringe, a little…I don’t know what. Just go read the description I linked. If nothing else, the Seanan McGuire blurb at the bottom of this page should be enough to convince you if you’re on the fence.
• East Of The City by Grant Sutherland — I’ve been wanting to get to the previous novel for a couple of months, if Fahrenheit Press would just slow down a minute so I can catch up, that’d really help.
• Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Darkness? by Michael Boatman — a reality show to find Lucifer’s replacement? Should be good for a laugh or three.
• The Courier by Gerald Brandt — a little SF, a little thriller . . . looks like a lot of fun.
• Arkwright by Allen Steele — this looks like the most realistic SF novel since . . . Clarke or Crichton, maybe?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Fernando Ortiz, Jr. and ebookbump for following the blog this week.