Friday, December 16, 2005

Friday Morning Directions to Your Nearest IHOP

That's right--the kitchen is closed until after the New Year. It's going to take that long for the crew to come in and get rid of all of the blood spatter anyway. And those chalk marks don't come off as easily as you think they might. Besides, the kitchen manager (that's me) has got a serious laundry list of items to tackle while out on holiday--including getting ready for a book tour for novel number two, and all the related items--and I do not expect any new trends in POD to occur during this time anyway.

Reviews will continue each week, though not necessarily on Monday. There is always treasure to unveil here at the Mouth.

So things may be light, but once my hangover from the New Year is over (let's say, on the 5th) we'll be back with a banner wrap up of the first 50 POD books (there are only a few slots left) and the beginning of selection for the Needle Awards. 2006 will be a big year here, indeed.

So, how about one more P5 for the road:

(1) THE DIDYMUS CONTINGENCY: 9,165 6
(2) SUFFER IN SILENCE: 10,808 5
(3) WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO END: 13,122 5
(4) GOLEM: 38,943 5
(5) THE CIRCLE OF SODOM: 67,671 5

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What is the dream of almost every author? To see your novel/memoir/etc. turned into a movie. This is even more of a dream for a POD author (as in, "dude, you are dreaming.")

Well, it is a dream-no-more for POD author Jeff Edwards. His novel, TORPEDO (published by iUniverse), has recently been sold to Hollywood. Here is the deal info from Publishers Marketplace:

Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer and Anti-Submarine Warfare Specialist Jeff Edward's TORPEDO, optioned by Paul Sandberg (The Bourne Supremacy), by Don Gerrard of The Bookworks.

This is a real movie deal, by real players in the industry. If the option turns into an actual film, expect this book to be snatched up by one of the big, money-grubbing, our-bottom-line-is-more-important-than-literary-merit-or-we-would-have-purchased-this-book-before-it-became-a-movie traditional publishers.
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And it must be the holiday season, because we have not one but two POD to traditional publisher conversions to tell you about today. Here is the other:

Patrick Heron's THE NEPHILIM AND THE PYRAMID OF THE APOCALYPSE, self-published in Ireland and an Amazon Top 10 title, an investigation of end-times prophecies and their relation to recent world disasters, to Gary Goldstein at Citadel, in a nice deal, by John Talbot at Talbot Fortune Agency (USCOM).TV and DVD rights to Grizzly Adams Productions.

This book was self-published and available in America through Xulon. Currently ranked 1,593 at Amazon.
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Well, Happy Holidays, everybody. Looking forward to a massive and exhausting 2006. Try not to drink too much on New Years.

Unless, of course, you just got your last rejection from all the publishing houses. Then it's time to drink up!

Treasure awaits next week.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Diane Duane considers POD

For those of you unfamiliar with Diane Duane, she has written many books with major publishers and many are selling quite well. She is, indeed, a popular author.

However, as this article from BoingBoing points out, Warner has decided not to publish the third book in a trilogy she was writing (among other books) because sales of the first two lagged. Her potential solution? POD that bad boy--since fans as been asking her to finish the series.

From her blog:

The obvious solution to this problem is publication on demand (POD). I don't mind doing that. But you have to understand that it ain't cheap at the reader's end. Without dragging you all through the math -- which would take me a while, and I have enough trouble with math after the caffeine hits, let alone before it -- let's just say that a "trade paperback" perfect-bound copy of The Big Meow is going to cost you hardcover prices, not paperback. If I'm to make any money at all on the deal (by which I mean, at least recoup my publishing and labor expenses), you're going to be paying $20-25 for a copy of this book.

The truth is, however, that TO VISIT THE QUEEN is published by Warner/Aspect and is selling for $18.99 (for 354 pages.) I'm not sure POD would be any higher, really.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Help out a Katrina victim: the Garden District Book Shop In New Orleans

My friend and talented author, Will Clarke, has brought our attention to the re-opening of the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, a book store that was closed for months after Katrina slammed into the city. They are finally open once again and have some cool stuff to sell--and could use your patronage. Will writes:

Garden District Book Shop is a great, independently owned bookstore in New Orleans. When authors come to the Big Easy, this is the place to sign. Mainly because, the owner Britton and his staff are so dang nice and they love books and they always serve wine and cheese and make it a really special event. In short, they are big part of the New Orleans literary scene.

Not only that but they have oodles of signed product! Signed copies of books by David Sedaris, Anne Rice, and other great authors, including some clown named Will Clarke. And these are the kind of people who, when you ask for a recommendation, know what they are talking about. Cherish booksellers like these.

Besides, how cool is a book store that serves wine and cheese at a book signing? I'm heading to New Orleans for my next book tour!

Order some signed books (and other stuff) now and get them in time for the holidays. The store number is (504) 895-2266. Tell 'em Poddy sent you.

Oh, God, don't do that.

Monday, December 12, 2005

CIRCUIT by T.C. Gardstein (Xlibris)

Many months ago, I got a one-liner email from someone recommending a book called CIRCUIT by T.C. Gardstein. I didn't give it much thought since I typically get at least 15 of these a day, but for whatever reason the title stuck with me.

A few days ago, I was actually contacted by the author who wanted to submit the book for review. I figured it was sort of serendipitous (or synchronicity, as the author suggested) so I gave it a look.

What a good move.

CIRCUIT is your basic coming-of-age story, which happens to be a genre (or sub-genre) that appeals to me. It is a literary journey (not science fiction as the cover suggests) that steps through the life of Nancy Roth, told partly by Nancy herself and partly through an omniscient third party. The novels begins in 1991 and alternates between Nancy's college days and her icy childhood/adolescence, page by page bringing the elements of her life together, exposing who she is and the choices she has made--and the decisions that face her in college and the distractions of her boyfriend.

T.C. really captures the longings of youth and the ultimate ennui and disappointment that result, the teenage images and events that begin to shape the rest of our adult lives:

I tune back in to my father, who is saying something about how scholastic achievement and scoring high on the college boards would help my self-esteem, and I immediately get depressed. The lecture is not about sex but I start thinking about it. I did it, had sex, for the first time yesterday, with this boy I'd been seeing for only a month. Yesterday was the first day of spring; I guess it'll be easy to remember the date.

I always wanted my first time to have a lightning storm outside, with Ravel or maybe Indian sitar music playing in the background, but instead it was drizzling, and there was a corny black-and-white movie on the TV. We had moved the bed against the door because Lowell's mother and the maid were downstairs, probably speculating on the nature of our relationship. In the middle of it all, we had a fight about protection which I won because I told him I wouldn't go on otherwise. That'd be just my luck, to get pregnant the first time. After it was over, we got dressed and walked into town. It had started to rain harder, but Lowell wanted to hang out at the Dr. Video arcade. He ran into a couple of his video junkie friends and totally blew me off for the rest of the afternoon. All around me were nonstop quarters slipping into slots, contralto blips and tinny explosions, frogs and space aliens and muscled warriors drowning and dissolving and karate-chopping into infinity.

If you loved BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (or any other Jay MacInerney novel, minus the roman a clef infusion), you will love CIRCUIT. And here is another sign that this is an excellent novel: The characters are still with me now.

One other note: this title was published by Xlibris back in 2000, which is arguably one of their initial titles. Had this book been published by Random House, it would likely be out of print now. Take advantage of POD and grab this one now.