This one will be quick.
I recently finished reading the books Psycho II by Robert Bloch. This is a sequel based directly off of his original novel Psycho, and has absolutely no relation to the Psycho II movie that came out around the same time.
This wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t by any means as good as his first Psycho novel. Much of the tension is lacking, and the use of Norman Bates in this book just seems boring.
The book is based around the escape of Norman Bates from his hospital, and the creation of a movie based on the events that happened in the first book. Sadly there is no attempt to be extremely meta about the situation and make any reference to it being a Hitchcock pictures, or use any of the details from the actual film creation. Instead, there is a lot of heavy handed pseudo-psychology, and strange sexually driven glimpses into the seedy belly of the film industry.
Overall the book feels as if it’s trying too hard to do something that should have been extremely simple.
For fans of Robert Bloch and the original Psycho, it is worth checking out, but if you only have a passing interest, best you just pass completely on this one.

So my hopes of staying current every single day during our trip was not successful. But for those of you still hanging around and reading we are still alive and well.
We got into Calgary on Monday, signed all of our legal paperwork, got the keys, and then stayed at a hotel. We didn’t have a bed at the condo yet, and had no intention of sleeping on the floor.
Tuesday brought us back to the condo, and our very fast three hour unpack of our shipping container. Said container, was conveniently and “illegally” parked immediately outside the front door of the condo, for ease of use. Thankfully no one cared or complained.
Today saw us continuing to unpack, and we are nearing the bottoms of our piles of boxes. We got two new shelving units set up today, which allowed us to unpack most of the office, and all of my books. We still need to get a computer desk, and should be able to do so soon.
It’s now somewhere between 11:21 pm and 1:21am for my internal clock, so I’m off to bed.

This evening I was browsing through my RSS feeds, and came across an interesting entry from The Digital Reader. It detailed how since 2009 Amazon has been selling more eBooks than paper books. In 2009, they sold 143 eBooks to every 100 paper books, and now in 2010 they sell 180 eBooks to every 100 paper books. What does this actually mean for the future of book stores?
For large brick and mortar stores, it means that customers are slowly moving away from physical books. It also means that their competition (Amazon) is already well ahead, again. Having crushed them in physical book sales, now they have a huge lead in providing a shopping environment for digital books.
I do believe that stores selling physical books will eventually become a thing of past, though I believe that this vision future is still far off. Stores selling physical books cannot rest and wait for that day to arrive, they need to innovate, and they need to do that very soon. Yesterday if possible.
I also believe that this will be a problem for book stores of any shape, size or purpose. University Book Stores, Independent Book Shops, and even Used Book Shops, will all eventually feel the squeeze of the digital book. We’ve seen this happen with digital music, and it is becoming more and more evident with digital video. Mostly I’m surprised it has taken this long for text to go digital.
So what do these stores need to do? Give up and go home? Surrender and hope Amazon or Google buy them? No. These stores need to focus on something sorely lacking in every retail environment, customer service. These stores need to reevaluate what makes them great, and what turns customers away and forces them online.
For example, a used book store has many built in benefits. Prices will be low, creating a natural draw. The book seller will see every book that enters and leaves the store. Popular books will be readily available, and less popular ones hopefully less available.
What these small stores will inevitably run into is lack of motivation. Where should they go next when things have been good in recent years? Financial instability has pushed people to find cheap books. Green products are in vogue, and 100s of pages of recycled paper sold for a profit are a natural yes. It is easy to see these positives, relax, and hope things remain this way. They could sit back and pray that people will always feel nostalgic for the feel or smell of a paper book. They could also keep things the same because the customers might not like change. Essentially the market will push this store to stay put, to enjoy the moment of comfort. In reality, now is the time to strike and get ahead of the competition.
I envision a book store where an owner is willing to cut the fat from their operation, and run lean and aggressive. Make sure the staff is knowledgeable, make the top priority customer service, and surprise every customer with a terrifyingly accurate knowledge of every book in the store and where to find it. I see stores branching online to bring customers to their store, or to bring the store to their customers. I see stores creating an environment and experience that can’t be had online. Comfy chairs, coffee bars, well organized books, rows of books to discover, and friendly staff waiting to serve every customer. The end goal should be positive and fond memories of the store.
A good book store can help a customer find a replacement for a crappy book. A poor web experience can also easily replace a crappy book store
Let us hope that small book stores do no bring about their own demise through lack of trying.

Being an avid reader, I always have more than one book on the go. As a result the less exciting books in my reading pile often get pushed to the side and remain partially read for long periods of time. Every once in a blue moon though, a book is so boring, or so catastrophically bad that I call it a day and never read the rest of it. The most recent offender of this calibre is PYGMY by Chuck Palahniuk.
I’ve read much of Palahniuk’s work and I’ve been impressed on almost every occasion. His work is often vulgar and graphic, but is usually has some redeeming quality or story quirk that makes it enjoyable. I have yet to find a single redeeming quality about this book. It nearly induces physical pain when reading the hobbled english of the narrator and the story wanders aimlessly along with no real goal being apparent after forcing myself through 94 of the 241 pages. The only real hope I have for this book is that it will make the rest of Palahniuk’s work look better. Worst case scenario is that it will deter readers from discovering a very talented author.

Today I received the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had the chance to set as my background on my MacBook.
My fiance, who after nearly two years is getting to know me too well made me this collage background with my favourite colour, and text from my favourite author.
I’ve included the background here for you if you are interested. Its encoded for 1280×800, but I think if I asked nice and enough and had enough demand, it could be found for other screen sizes.
Thank you fiance for making something beautiful, and thank you Neil Gaiman for providing inspiration.

As of yet Joe Hill has not quite reached the prolific status of his father. Though with the current output of novels, short stories, comic books and who knows what else waiting in the shadows he is poised to approach such selling power very quickly.

Until that happens and mostly likely even afterward, those of us shopping online with small publishers such as Subterranean Press and PS Publishing will be in for a real treat.

Late in 2008 saw the release of Joe Hill’s latest novella Gunpowder from PS Publishing. This title is available in an extremely limited run. Both the Slip Cased and Jacketed hard cover editions already sold out, and the 500 copies of the regular hardcover are sure to go very fast.

I managed to get my order in on time for the basic hardcover edition, at a price of £12.00, plus shipping to Canada. The wait from ordering this 6 months in advance was excruciating, but Hill has made it more than worthwhile.

After devouring all 22,600 words of this novella in a single evening I could little else than stare amazed at the story laying in my lap. Not only was this one of the most beautifully produced books I’ve read, with astounding cover art by Vincent Chong, but it was one of the most engaging Science Fiction stories I’ve read in years. An unlikely cast of children with psychic power, and their regular human mother Elaine populate this stories small desolate planet so fitting nicknamed Gunpowder. These children, bred with the express purpose of terraforming the planet are maturing before their mother’s eyes, and developing exciting powers along with the understanding of the outside world only a child can acheive.

Hill makes every word count, setting each character perfectly in place to pull every heart string necessary to draw you so far into the story I had difficulty leaving. It is a real art to be able to so fully populate such a short story and have such a deep and engaging plot. I commend the abilities of Hill, and continually look forward everything and anything that he writes.

Until his next novel comes out later this year I’ll be reading and rereading Locke and Key: Head Games, available from IDW at your local Comic Shop. If that proves not to be enough I’ll be rereading Heart Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts, as well as the short story Thumbprint (available from Subterranean Press and as part of The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19).

Check out Joe Hill at his website joehillfiction

As well you can find Vincent Chong, the master behind the amazing cover to Gunpowder here.

Here for viewing pleasure is the cover.