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Monte Carlo

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Do you guys ever read books without lasers or swords in them? :lol:

There are books without those ? :p

 

Been struggling through this trilogy Humanity's Fire, right now almost done Orphaned Worlds. Can't say I enjoy it that much - right now is the usual middle part sequence of setbacks and deaths of characters (although key ones get revived, I guess it works when you have god like entities about). But then again I've read 20 Horus Heresy books so who am I to turn my nose up.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Today I finished last book of Bill the Galactic Hero series, for which I fell since first of his adventures got in my hands, I'm gonna chuckle for several YEARS just from the ending, when Bill finally got his foot :biggrin: , anybody else like Bill aswell? 

 

 

Yup. Plus I've actually met Harry Harrison. :)

   Oooh amazing! Lucky you, sir. :thumbsup:

"Have you ever spoken with the dead? Called to them from this side? Called them from their silent rest? Do you know what it is that they feel?

Pain. Pain, when torn into this wakefulness, this reminder of the chaos from which they had escaped. Pain of having to live! There will be no more pain. There will be... no more chaos."

 

 

Kerghan the Terrible,

first of the Necromancers,

voyager in the Lands of the Dead.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For the general quirky literature interest : http://www.salon.com/2013/03/15/hey_amazon_wheres_my_money/

 

On just how much money a popular book can earn it's author..

 

 

In one more week I was going to be a millionaire.

At least, that was the rumor circulating around my wife’s family. One more week on Amazon’s best-seller list and I would have seven figures in the bank, easily. Her cousin had looked this fact up on the Internet, so it had to be true.

“Please tell them that is nowhere near true,” I said. “But don’t tell them how much money I’m actually going to make.”

“OK,” my wife said. “Can I tell them how many books you sold?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

I didn’t have a good answer. Secrecy seemed like the practical, professional response in times of success.

It made me wonder where this writerly knee-jerk reaction comes from. It wasn’t that people would think I made too much money. The opposite, actually.

 

* * *

 

This past summer, my novel, “Broken Piano for President,” shot to the top of the best-seller lists for a week. After Jack Daniel’s sent me a ridiculously polite cease and desist letter, the story went viral and was featured in places like Forbes, Time magazine and NPR’s Weekend Edition. The New Yorker wrote one whole, entire, punctuated-and-everything sentence about me! My book was the No. 6 bestselling title in America for a while, right behind all the different “50 Shades of Grey” and “Gone Girl.” It was selling more copies than “Hunger Games” and “Bossypants.” So, I can sort of see why people thought I was going to start wearing monogrammed silk pajamas and smoking a pipe.

But the truth is, there’s a reason most well-known writers still teach English. There’s a reason most authors drive dented cars. There’s a reason most writers have bad teeth. It’s not because we’ve chosen a life of poverty. It’s that poverty has chosen our profession.

Even when there’s money in writing, there’s not much money.

 

* * *

 

I was reminded of a single page in “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”; specifically, the section where Dave Eggers breaks down his $100,000 advance on sales from his publisher. He then lists all his expenses. In the end the author banked a little less than half. It wasn’t bad money — just not the “I bet Dave Eggers totally owns a Jaguar”-type of income I expected. I mean, his name was on the cover of a book! He must be rich.

 

That honesty was refreshing and voyeuristic. I always said if I ever had a chance, I’d make a similar gesture. As a person learning about writing and publishing, there was something helpful about Eggers’ transparency. So here is my stab at similar honesty: the sugar bowls full of cocaine, bathtubs full of whiskey, semi-nude bookstore employees scattered throughout my bedroom tale of bestseller riches.

 

This is what it’s like, financially, to have the indie book publicity story of the year and be near the top of the bestseller list.

 

Drum roll.

 

$12,000.

 

Hi-hat crash.

* * *

 

I just started getting my royalty checks from July the other day (the publishing industry is slow like that). From what I can tell so far, I made about $12,000 from “Broken Piano” sales. That comes directly to me without all those pesky taxes taken out yet (the IRS is helpful like that).

 

Don’t get me wrong; as a guy with a couple of books out on an independent publisher I never thought I’d see that kind of money. Previously, my largest royalty check was about $153. I’m thrilled and very proud to say I earned any money as a writer. That’s a miracle. It’s just not the jewel-encrusted miracle most people think bestseller bank accounts are made from.

The book sold plus or minus 4,000 copies. (The publishing industry is hazy like that. What with sales in fishy-sounding third-world countries like Germany and England.) Being on an indie press I receive a more generous royalty split than most: 50 percent after expenses were deducted.

 

You can do the math. I’m clearly not buying a mansion. Hell, my measly dreams of constructing a Roald Dahl-style writing cottage in the backyard are even shelved. Twelve-thousand bucks is amazing, but it’s not life-changing money. Unless, of course, I need one of those clearance sale $11,999 kidneys.

 

In the end, I bought my wife a pretty dress to say thank you for putting up with me and my fiscally idiotic quest to write books. I also did the most rock star thing imaginable for a stay-at-home-dad/recipient-of-a-famous-cease-and-desist: I used the money to send my kid to daycare two days a week so I can have more time to write.

 

* * *

 

Now that I have some quiet time around the house, I’ve started wondering: Why didn’t I just tell my wife’s family the truth to begin with? Why don’t most authors talk about money?

My theory: because it’s embarrassing.

 

Sure, there’s a headline-grabbing thrill when Lena Dunham snags a yacht-load of money for writing about stuff only her gynecologist should know. But when a friend of mine, who is a terrific writer, told me he was offered $5,000 for his latest book, which came out on a major publisher, it left me kind of flat. It left me even more silent when it became clear that’s a pretty normal deal. This financial underwhelming hush is the same feeling I was left with after reading Eggers’ fiscal rundown. It’s something people whispered about back when I was dreaming of having a book with my name on the cover and maybe being in the cross hairs of a legal **** storm involving whiskey

 

 

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"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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For the general quirky literature interest : http://www.salon.com/2013/03/15/hey_amazon_wheres_my_money/

 

On just how much money a popular book can earn it's author..

 

 

Hehe, yeah. When I tell friends that "Woohooo! I got paid royalties!" they do seem to expect me to be rolling in cash. Then they ask how much and I get to say "Since summer 2009? 209 euros" :)

Unobtrusively informing you about my new ebook (which you should feel free to read and shower with praise).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just finished reading A Memory of Light last night. I'd give it 4 of 5 stars. Some of it was a little forced but overall it was a good conclusion. One observation for those who read it... do you guys thing Brandon Sanderson might have been playing Portal while he was working on that book?

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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Now reading Child of Vengeance by David Kirk. Wow is it good. If you are a fan of James Clavell's Shogun or even Shogun Total War put this one on your list! 

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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I'm reading the Great Gatsby, just started really. It's refreshing after reading something dry.

Remember: Argue the point, not the person. Remain polite and constructive. Friendly forums have friendly debate. There's no shame in being wrong. If you don't have something to add, don't post for the sake of it. And don't be afraid to post thoughts you are uncertain about, that's what discussion is for.
---
Pet threads, everyone has them. I love imagining Gods, Monsters, Factions and Weapons.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No reading A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I have put off reading this one for far too long.

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"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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Reading Dance of Dragons finally. Got sick of waiting for the paperback release and bought it from the UK. So far am liking it.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Devastatorsig.jpg

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I'm currently reading Perdido Street Station by China Meiville, I was put off by the wordy introduction but as soon as I got to the intimate love scene between a fat man and an insect woman I got interested, I wouldn't say I'm hooked but his writing style is very interesting and he uses lots of descriptive words that I have to look up  :blush:

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Finished my annual reading of Voyage au bout de la nuit. Will be getting to Mort à crédit again next. 

Quote
“Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.”
 
-Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>>
Quote

"The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete."

-Rod Serling

 

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Hm, having that pause between a bunch of authors I like releashing new books. Can't seem to find the right mood on which to look at some fresh authors at the moment. Might just re-read The Count of Monte Cristo one more time...

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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I'm currently reading Perdido Street Station by China Meiville, I was put off by the wordy introduction but as soon as I got to the intimate love scene between a fat man and an insect woman I got interested, I wouldn't say I'm hooked but his writing style is very interesting and he uses lots of descriptive words that I have to look up  :blush:

 

Ugh. I absolutely hated that book. The cover art - yes yes :) - promised a rich World build coming alive through a fabulous monster hunt. What I got was a lot of disjointed gibberish spread thinly across too many pages.

 

It's one of the few books I have actually thrown away rather than give to a charity shop or keep.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Reading The Second World War by Keegan, but eh, nothing I didn't know. Had meant to finish Caliban's War before Abbadon's Gate comes out but not likely, might just be a couple of days late.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Is there any sci-fi out there that doesn't suck?

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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Is there any sci-fi out there that doesn't suck?

Try Leviathan Wakes, I found it enjoyable.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Is there any sci-fi out there that doesn't suck?

 

What are you looking for in Sci-Fi?

I loved Philip K. ****'s "Now wait for last year" for the human relationship parts,

John Scalzi's "Agent to the Stars" for the light hearted humour,

Samuel R. Delany's "Babel-17" for his perception of the importance of langauge.

I am ambivalent about Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" series - it could be great, but his compulsion to add random orgies ruins the flow... a bit like a bioware RPG ;) And the short stories "The Martians" break the timeline and story the same way prequel series do for most books/comics/tv

Possibly why Ben Bova's "Mars" while less memorable to me, also left me with no hard feelings towards the story...

Then again Frank Herbet's "Dune" is always worth a read through for people who haven't read it. Even if it's just to then read "A song of ice and fire" and shake your head at suddenly apparent similarities :)

 

If it is military sci-fi you are looking for there are always the classics:

"Starship Troopers" and its theories on what responisbility means for a society.

"The Forever War" aproaching military sci-fi from the opposit political spectrum

"Ender's Game"

and for newer military sci-fi, less deep and more light reading, John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" is not bad either.

 

 

But Sci-Fi is a very vast genre, that encompasses very different types of books. Which can make it hard to find the style that suits you. I for example am mostly bored by aliens with lazorz ~pew pew.

Unobtrusively informing you about my new ebook (which you should feel free to read and shower with praise).

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Is there any sci-fi out there that doesn't suck?

 

If you like your sci-fi reading somewhat thick and slightly twisty, L.E.Modesitt has  done a bunch with some interesting ideas. You just have to double check you aren't picking up his fantasy writings (which are still good, but can be a little different to his sci-fi).

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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Decided yesterday to finanly get started on Hamlet.

 

Remeber that the play was originally intended to be performed by actors in massive battlesuits. And the swords are missiles. Great fething missile barrages.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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Decided yesterday to finanly get started on Hamlet.

 

Remeber that the play was originally intended to be performed by actors in massive battlesuits. And the swords are missiles. Great fething missile barrages.

 

 

I can never read Hamlet, or watch an adaption without getting flashbacks to the old black and white St.Trinians and the 6th form girls doing the Hamlet Soliloquy as a slow-strip show.

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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