Micah Joel

Not that anyone reading this would be opinionated <pause role=”for laughter”/> but I’d appreciate any feedback on this cover art for Ritchie Boss, Private Investigator Manager (which you can read in full here under a Creative Commons license).

I haven’t yet decided on the details, and thus welcome feedback in this regard as well, but this will be published as a standalone short story in something like Kindle Singles/Createspace/Lulu.com.

Does this get the point across? Does it make you want to read the story? Do the colors work?

For the curious, I used the software Pixelmator to put this together, and keeping with CC premise, it uses fragments of other CC-licensed images on Flickr, and thus the image itself is cc-by-sa licensed.

Credit:  torley, maebmij, tz1_1zt.

So, what do you think?

Last year, a colleague of mine noticed this contest involving a near-future timeline, program source code, and a Vinge-ian flavor, and said ‘you really ought to enter something here. The end result: I did, and my story took the top prize. It will appear later this year as the final chapter in the book Finding Source Code on the Web for Remix and Reuse.

Go read it here.

What is a “private investigator manager”? Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s say that in the future, going into management is considered the only safe career choice for biologicals.

This story is released under a Creative Commons license, so go do something cool with it. This story is also the sequel to my not-yet-published story I wrote at Viable Paradise. Also, I’m proud to point out that this story contains XML (specifically mixed content) as a kind of punctuation.

Again thanks to Susan, and the contest judges and participants. I’ll have more to say later…

I see lots of articles like this, talking about consumer confusion over ebook pricing. The lead-in goes something like…aw, I’ll just quote it.

Publishers are making a killing on e-books because they cost nothing to produce, distribute and sell and are almost 100% pure profit. At least, that’s what many consumers think.

Another statistic often quoted in this article and similar pieces is that ebook production costs “10% less” than traditional books. Turns out ink and paper aren’t that expensive, etc. (Unstated: 10% less than what? Hardcover? Mass-market paperback?)

Lots of people smarter than me have weighed in on this, and in particular on DRM aspects of the ebook market, for example Charlie Stross here and here and here.

But to consider consumer attitudes, as the top-quoted article does, you need to take into account one other important factor: ebooks are licensed, not sold. This (often in combination with DRM) causes all kinds of problems, for instance the Hunger Games Problem. Buying and licensing are different things, and they’re not directly comparable. It would be like trying to determine whether a brick-and-mortar bookstore has fair pricing by examining how libraries work.

Holding a mere license to something, limited to a particular platform, without the ability to transfer, pass from father-to-son, share [beyond artificially limited horizons like '14 days'], or buy or sell at a garage sale makes ebooks a fundamentally different kind of beast. Some of the differences are subtle, but consumers are bumping in to them when they try and fail to do reasonable things with a book they “bought” (or at least exchanged money for). The inevitable demise of never-been-workable DRM schemes will help somewhat but won’t solve the fundamental problem.

So in the context of the DOJ case against Apple and several publishers, I see lots of people asking the question of wether cheaper ebooks are a good thing for the industry. I don’t think anyone will know for years, but as we move toward a fully licensed world, lower prices reflecting lower utility might be inevitable. Ebooks for many older titles are still unavailable or far more expensive than picking up an old, second-hand paper book–that is to say–too expensive. So prices may have nowhere to go but down. The big question: will publishers make it up on volume?

I had some kind of breakdown and cleaned my desk and office. Family says “wow” when they walk in now.

Cleaning extends to metaphor too, as I get ready to dive into one last edit of this novel. Prepration takes many forms.

Burnout (and the allure of younger, shinier projects) is a serious risk. I’ve been working on this since 2007 (and thinking about it from even earlier days). I got some seriously good feedback from beta readers and I have a good idea what I’m up against.

So, clean desk. Still three kinds of xylitol here a few cables, and a sticky note with writing on it. Two different kinds of cables. Two empty glasses. And one unfinished novel.

OK, here’s the deal.

I read quite a bit, as does my wife. As does my daughter. (Yeah, the one from FOGcon). As will my other daughter in a few more years. We’ve settled on Kindle ereaders for the moment, but that could change in the future.

Let’s say that all of us want to read The Hunger Games. All three of us have separate Amazon accounts. The complete trilogy will take many weeks for any one of us to read through. (We have no problem taking turns, but the whole 14-day lending period is unworkable). I’d rather not buy this multiple times.

So, what would you do in this situation?

Somebody tell me I’m crazy. Or agree with me, who knows?

I’m right at 50% of the way through A Game of Thrones, and I’m about to put it down. Once I start reading something, I usually finish it, even if its not my most favoriteist thing in the world. I’ll chalk it up to ‘broadening my experiences.’

The last time I put a book down like this, it had JOHN CLANCY on the title in huge letters, but not, as I soon discovered, as the author.

So what’s the problem? The simplest way I can put it is that I’m not looking forward to picking it up again. Compared to the huge list of things I have to read, it’s not speaking to me.

Am I being ridiculous? Short-sighted? Missing something really cool that will happen if I just stick with it a bit longer?

Inquiring mind wants to know. Let me know in the comments below.

As unlikely as this sounds, my desk is even messier than last month. In front of me I have an iPhone, on top of some papers, on top of a book, on top of one of the girl’s hand-mirrors, on top of a file folder with more papers, on top of an Amazon receipt, on top of a drawing from my lovely daughter, on top of some of my paper story notes. But during the month I submitted something 15 times, and got a new e-reader (Kindle Fire), so it’s hard to complain too much.

This month brought FOGcon, of which I was only able to make Friday this year. Yes, I even missed the writing workshop, which from the sound of it was fabulous this year. I think I will probably make BayCon, and I’m still lined up for Paradise Lost II in May (and also got a fresh story out of the nest for that)

Novel: Hadley Rille is opening for submissions in June, so I’m still trying to figure out if the delta between where my novel is now and where it needs to be is doable in that time frame.

Reading: I’m halfway through A Game of Thrones, and about to put it down. I’m just not connecting with this story. Somebody tell me I’m crazy (or right).

Health note: running again, but I need to work back to 5k. Exercise helps immensely. Recommended.

Word press tells me this is my 12th Messy Desk Report. Happy anniversary, arbitrary recurring blog topic!

I’m reading a charming, well-loved 1965 Book Club edition of Dune from the local library. We take Space Opera for granted today, but observe how it needed to be described back then. Inside flap copy, after some standard stuff about Duke Leto and the great rival house of Harkonnen: (italics are from original source are shown in bold here)

A page of medieval history? Not quite. Duke Leo Atreides is moving from a planet, which he owns, to another planet, which has been given in exchange. The Emperor, Shaddam IV, is Emperor of the known Universe, not a country.

I’m guessing that printings from later decades changed this up somewhat. Dune went on to win the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, as well as a Hugo, both in 1966.

I’m delighted to announce: my story Ritchie Boss: Private Investigator Manager took first place in the Singular Source contest and will be published as the final chapter in the book Finding Source Code on the Web for Remix and Reuse due out later in 2012. The story will be released under a Creative Commons license and will appear on the web and likely in chapbooks as well. Royalties from eventual sales of the book will be donated to The Fistula Foundation and Sembrando (Sowing in Peru).

The contest was described like this:

It’s common to end academic books with a speculative chapter, and what would be more speculative than a science fiction short story? I invited Vernor Vinge to submit a story, because I think the future might be the programmer archeologists that appeared in his “Fire Upon the Deep” and “Deepness in the Sky.” Rather than writing software from scratch, people are taking pieces from existing systems and combining them. In this style of programming, knowing the archives is as important as the ability to put the pieces together.

Unfortunately, Vinge declined. However, he did give his blessing for a short story contest. So, here we are.

I have more to say about this, but all in due time–in the meantime, there will be more interviews and updates on the project site. I’d like to thank Susan Elliott Sim for organizing the contest and also thank judges Halli Villegas and Rosalva Gallardo-Valencia and various project donors on Indiegogo as well as Tor books.

I’m thrilled thrilled thrilled.

Brand new flash fiction up now at Leodegraunce. It will be there for only seven days, then it’s gone, so check it out.

If you like this sort of thing, also be sure to read my free story Large Feline Collider in EPUB format.