Spike: Heard what happened up top, offing your dad and all. Don't know if you know this, but, uh…I killed my mum. Actually, I'd already killed her, and then she tried to shag me, so I had to-- Wesley: Thank you. I'm…very comforted.

'Lineage'


We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good  

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Jessica - Mar 08, 2004 3:47:38 pm PST #1151 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

one of those $3 mass-market sci-fi/fantasy paperbacks.

Dude, where are they selling those? 'Cause I want some. I can't remember the last time I paid less than $7 for a mass-market paperback.

If I spoke to the reviewer face to face, he might be able to convince me otherwise, but I do get a distinct "It's like sci-fi, except it doesn't suck!" vibe from that sentence.


Micole - Mar 08, 2004 3:51:17 pm PST #1152 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

The review is here, though if you're not a Salon Premium subscriber, you may hit an ad.


amych - Mar 08, 2004 3:54:40 pm PST #1153 of 10002
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

This hasn't been true for any genre except romance and possibly horror since at least the mid-nineties

You may be right -- that was about when my buying work shifted to academic presses, which definitely don't do mass anything ever, and since you're far more in touch with the genre market than I am, I'm willing to grant it. Because I'm odd that way, I'd like to see recent numbers on total numbers of titles in HC vs. original (any kind of) PB, though; also, my gut-level impression now that I'm out of the biz is that those trades are still pretty selectively chosen -- a certain kind of high courtly fantasy, anglophile mysteries, Butler, Dick reprints....

I think my comments on the perception of mass-markets in the highbrow review world, and the likelihood that the Salon reviewer was using it as a shorthand for genre fiction in general, still stand.

(And, yeah, it's been yonks since I've seen anything for 3 bucks. Le sigh.)


Micole - Mar 08, 2004 4:26:11 pm PST #1154 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

I think my comments on the perception of mass-markets in the highbrow review world, and the likelihood that the Salon reviewer was using it as a shorthand for genre fiction in general, still stand.

We all agree about this. He's just wrong.

And my impression is that tpb are a mixture of prestige (they're more likely to get reviewed than mm, and less than hc) and sales figures.

From Locus Magazin's list of forthcoming SF for the 8 major SF publishers in the US, for January and February 2004:

ACE

JAN 7 books - 1 hc, 1 tpb, 5 mm. Of the 5 mm, 2 were reprints from hardcover

FEB 7 books - 1 hc, 1 tpb, 5mm. Of the 5 mm, 3 were reprints from hardcover

BAEN

JAN 6 books - 3 hc, 3 mm. Of the hc, 1's a reprint of 2mm originals. Of the mm, 2 are reprints of older books and one's a mm original FEB 6 books - 3 hc, 3 mm. Of the hc, 1's an omnibus of mm originals. All three of the mms are reprints (not sure if from hc or previous paperbakcs)

DEL REY JAN 5 books - 2 hc, 1 tpb, 2 mm 1 mm is a reprint of prior books, old enough that I don't know if they had an hc printing; 1 is original The tpb is an original. FEB 3 books - 1 tpb (orig), 1 mm (reprint from hardcover, 1 mm orig

BANTAM JAN 1 book - 1 mm orig FEB 2 books - 1 tpb orig, 1 hc orig.

DAW JAN 4 books - 1 hc, 1 mm reprint from hc, 2 mm orig FEB 4 books - 1 hc, 1 mm reprint from hc, 2 mm orig

HARPERCOLLINS EOS

JAN 5 books - 1 hc, 1 tpb, 2mm orig, 1 mm reprint from hc, 1 tpb from hc FEB 4 books - 1 hc, 1 tpb reprint from hc, 1 mm reprint from hc, 1 mm orig

TOR

JAN 16 books - 5 hc, 3 tpb (2 from older books, 1 orig), 8 mm (all reprints from hc) FEB 17 books - 7 hc, 2 tpb (1 orig, 1 from older mm), 8 mm (1 reprint from older, 7 from hc)

TOR/ORB

JAN 2 tpb from older HC FEB - 0

WARNER ASPECT JAN 3 books - 1 hc, 1 mm reprint from hc, 1 mm orig FEB 3 books - 1 tpb orig, 1 mm reprint from hc, 1 mm reprint from older mm


amych - Mar 08, 2004 4:31:23 pm PST #1155 of 10002
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

t pretty, pretty stats


P.M. Marc - Mar 08, 2004 4:49:08 pm PST #1156 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

Romance is slowly shifting to more and more hc first runs. Don't know about horror, which I don't read. (Don't have numbers, either, but hey.)


amych - Mar 08, 2004 4:50:13 pm PST #1157 of 10002
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

(plei, you home? If so, get on AIM)


Micole - Mar 08, 2004 4:54:06 pm PST #1158 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

Romance is shifting to hc for proven sellers, but hasn't gotten to the point of publishing midlist or first-time authors in hc.


Betsy HP - Mar 08, 2004 5:00:33 pm PST #1159 of 10002
If I only had a brain...

It's a big deal within the romance-writing community when you move to hardcover. And angsty -- if your sales don't justify the move, you may be dropped entirely.


meara - Mar 08, 2004 5:31:02 pm PST #1160 of 10002

Yeah, the guy in Crazy for You is so creepy-real.

YES. I found it creepy because it was so realistic and gradual and justified. Usually in books, stalkers are weird freaks with no rhyme or reason, just scary threatening serial killers. This was too real. Kinda killed the rest of the book for me.

I read Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce last night, and found it to be eminently readable

Not sure which that is, Erin, but she's a cute YA writer. I loved the Alanna books when I was 11, though they're not quite as good now, I was even more impressed with her latest quartet about Keladry. Cute stuff. Definitely YA, but still.