It Draws Out The Crazies

At yesterday's signing of X-Factor winner Leona Lewis' new book, one fan got a little too enthusiastic. Identified only as Peter, the fan waited in line to get his book signed, handed his copy to Lewis, then cold cocked her, drawing blood and getting himself arrested. A few months ago, comic artist Alex Pardee was first entertained, then mortified, when a 7-foot-tall mohawked fan cut his own belly open to show Pardee just "how beautiful it could be". When stars of movies and television go out in public, there's a pretty strong sense of security keeping everybody in line, but book signings are often just a guy sitting at a table at the entrance of B Dalton in the mall. A while back I felt sorry for that guy; some local writer, at a card table, watching people walk by, hoping someone will stop and buy a copy of his little stack and ask him to sign it, or at least say they've read it and offer their compliments. Nobody was talking to him either time I passed — which might be a good thing, given the high possibility of violence that might occur in that interaction.

When there's a signing, or an autograph table at a con, or a CD launch party, the world gets turned on its head. Usually, J.K. Rowling is the one putting on the show for you, the lowly reader, but when she sits at the table, patiently waiting for each person to present themselves to her, she's the audience. Most people handle that switcheroo with an appropriate respect, but once in a while you get somebody who decides, "hey, she showed me what she can do and I liked it — now she's see if she likes what I can do." It's not limited to the crazies, though; Rob Lieield is, honestly, one of the crappiest illustrators ever, but you'd expect people to wait respectfully in line as reverent fans to meet him. Not so this guy, who waited in line in order to give Liefeld a gift of a "how to draw comics" book, in hopes that he'll hone his craft before trying to get real work in the industry. Violent, no, maybe a little funny, but insulting and rude for the most part.

In that transposition of presenter and audience, if only as far as realizing who's sitting and whose standing, people get crazy ideas in their heads that they've been given the opportunity to finally have their say. Sorry, that's not the truth: things are still imbalanced in the author's favor, you're there to partake in what the star is giving you. When you head down to SpaceCon 2009 to shake Nichelle Nichols' hand, you're still the audience, don't let the situation fool you — and be happy that the security is better at SpaceCon than down at Barnes and Noble; some crazy shit happens down there when authors and readers get together.

Bus Driver Reading While Driving

I'm never one to discouraging reading while riding the bus, but it isn't exactly recommended while you're driving. A Montgomery (MD) County bus driver has been taken off driving duties after a sharp-eyed rider recorded some reading-while-driving skills while on duty. Surprisingly, even after the photos were brought to light, the driver wasn't fired: recent changes have been made in the area which would result in immediate firing for using a mobile device while operating public transportation, but apparently a book isn't as big a threat. I do admit, because they are a series of photos and not video, it's hard to say if she's just reading at red lights…not that it would be much better. Via.

Father's Day Faux Pas

Happy Father's Day everyone! As a dad and a reader, I completely understand books as a way to reward Dad for another year as provider, car-repair-advisor, and master barbecuer (if you don't mind a little stereotyping). Better than another tie or humorous t-shirt anyway. A book I wouldn't recommend is, well, anything to do with Josef Fritzl, the psycho parent who kept his daughter in his basement for 24 years and enjoyed …"intimate"… time with her. That's just my recommendations, however — over in the U.K., however, retail giant Tesco apparently didn't have a problem with daughters buying The Crimes of Josef Fritzl for this Father's Day, until it was brought to their attention and an apology was drafted. From first-hand accounts over at Fark, the book was on a specific Father's Day display in the stores — much to the dismay of sharp-eyed shoppers, but what about those shelf-stockers who put the books out? This didn't happen just at Tesco, but also at W.H. Smith, a large bookselling chain in the U.K. I can understand big-box retailer drones not watching what they're tossing on the shelves, but I'd expect more from a retailer who prides themselves on being a leading example of the book retail industry.

The Daily Mail shows the book on the display, bearing the same "half price" sticker as the rest of the books on the promotional displays, so it wasn't a case of "oops, wrong book on the shelves." Special displays are often paid spots, akin to advertising, where a publisher ensures their big promotions are on the endcap or the table at the entryway where they're likely to get more attention. I dug around to see if Smith's was the one in charge of Tesco's book section, like the K-Mart/Waldenbooks arrangement, but everything I found called the two retailers competitors. Now, I'd hope Harper Collins would be smart enough not to specifically recommend this book for Father's Day, but I find it very suspicious that two different retailers, without shared corporate control, would place the same inappropriate book in the Father's Day display. Somebody — publisher, distributor, retailer — got in their head that they needed a recent, hot-button, True Crime title in their dad's display, because dad's like true crime books, you see, so what have we got? Aw, the book is even about a dad, that works great!

Top UK Stolen Library Books

Scotland has had £223,000 gone missing from their libraries, largely from people not returning them. In the past, sterly-worded letters were about all the culprits would get, but the libraries are beginning to turn people over to collections agencies. The Top 10 List of Books Stolen:

1. Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
2. Lovers And Players
3. The Diamond Girls
4. All Rebus novels
5. DSA Theory Test For Car Drivers
6. Street Child (unsure - possibly this?)
7. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
8. Discworld books
9. The Stand
10. And Then There Were None
    

Rowling Wins Copyright Fight

J.K Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter empire, has won her copyright suit against the Harry Potter Lexicon. The Lexicon was a fan-created reference online, but when Steven Vander Ark started the process of publishing a book, Rowling put her foot down. Most argue that the Lexicon is far from a threat, and deserves to exist, if only because it adds to the art. Sadly, copyright is written in stone, even if you've forgiven transgressions or granted permission in the past. I sincerely sympathize with Vander Ark, because I'm sure it's devastating for such a labor of love to be taken away, and I doubt his book is truly a threat to Rowling. The law, however, is pretty firm, unfortunately. Rowling is in her right to decide not to accept fan-created, unauthorized Potter texts in the marketplace and profit from her creations solely. I'm on the fence; while I do think copyright is extended to absurd degrees today, and the courts need to side with 'fair use' more often, artists still need to protect their creations as their own.

25 Banned Books To Read

A little early for the usual Banned Book Week festivities, but it'll give you a head-start on your reading: 25 Banned Books You Should Read. What I like about this one is that it includes a number of books that aren't the usual Great Works Of Fiction and includes minor, but critically acclaimed, books that have seen opposition but haven't gotten as much press as Huck Finn or Lady Chatterly. Regardless of content, it's always nice to see a book list that includes something unexpected or unfamiliar.

America's Most Dangerous Librarians

It's a common bugaboo about national security, the comment that the government can see your library records (the film Se7en even made it a plot point), but the Patriot Act days we live in actually have FBI agents desiring people's reading habits. These are performed, without warrant, simply by giving a librarian a National Security letter explaining they are gagged from discussing even recieving a letter, and that they are required to turn over the records without ability to question or appeal the request.


Librarians, however, are standing up to the invasion of their readers' privacy -- but at great risk to themselves, which paints them in a poor light in the FBI's eyes, practically terrorists themselves. While progress has been made, enforcing lawful search-and-seizure requirements for all law enforcement, terrorism focus or no, the government is still pushing the limits of Constitutional review of citizen's reading history.

Reading Esquire In Prison

Inmates do well to spend their time reading, when they've got nothing much else to do. As a publisher, I'd say about once every three months we get a letter from a prison inmate asking for a catalog, or at least more information on the kind of books we publish. The letters rarely contain any useful information (is this for personal use, library-stocking, profit-making resale?), and some clearly have no idea what kind of a publisher we are. However, Wifey and I were talking about this on the drive to Wisconsin a few weeks ago, and noted that one out of every 140 Americans are in prison (source: 1 2 ) is a significant portion of society for whom having access to books would be a greater benefit than most recreational readers. It made us wonder if there's publishers or distributors catering to this, ahem, "captive" market, providing non-contraband books that would provide a value to an incarcerated person, possibly with funding from non-profits or federal grants due to the beneficial nature of the business. As a small niche business goes, we know crime and prisons aren't going away anytime soon, and that's the market to get into according to most entrepeneurial advice.