Gack! “Pump Six” is out of stock everywhere I looked? So, I must wait for the trade paperback in December ‘10.

Another mystery of the publishing world. Phbbt.

-John

I wonder, with an ebook/digital download which has an effectively non-existant propagation cost, why $10 isn’t sufficient? I paid about $19 shipped for my hardback, and I figure a couple dollars goes to the printer, various shipping companies, the brick & mortar store, etc etc etc.

A digital download you should only have the authors share, the publishers share, and a tiny sliver for the distributor (Amazon in this case). They have practically no expense, are doing practically no effort, and should receive practically no profit on their risk-less endeavor. Leaving $9.50 or more each per sale for the author and the distributor to divvy up seems pretty generous.

At least, that is how I as a complete outsider, see it. I’m sure it’s more complicated than I’m reducing it to.

While stupid people have lots of kids.

I look at my neighbors, who are dim and attribute everything to “God’s Will” and in effect take ZERO responsibility for their actions, who have 6 kids (the oldest of which, 17, is now pregnant) and zero parenting skills.

They rail against Obama’s “Socialism” while leeching off of the system through the free school lunch program, special ed services, free meals from which ever church they belong to at any given moment, and the live-in grandmother collects disability.

Did I mention they have at least 2 or 3 flat screen TV’s in their home?

Their 4th youngest (my daughter’s age) has “issues” and is slowly turning into a sociopath. The only attention he has ever gets from his family is when he misbehaves. I’ve seem him locked out of his home to play outside since he was 4 years old. He continues to get more and more violent. When he was 5 I heard him call his older sister a “F’ing Bitch” at the top of his voice.

I feel like I am watching a “school shooter” in the making. (We’ve started keeping a journal for when the news vans arrive)

Ok, I guess I should stop ranting about my neighbor’s now.

What was the question?

– “For sale” signs in front of homes (some of which have been covered up by “for rent” signs)
– empty homes
– stalled construction projects (still)
– empty store fronts (particularly the empty space Linens N Things once occupied)
– abandoned car dealerships
– less traffic during rush hour on the highways (this was immediately noticeable in 2008)
– $60,000+ vehicles now appearing in the Market Basket lot (Market Basket is a supermarket chain with very low prices and is ideal for “people (read:freak) watching”)

All this, of course, is just off the top of my head…

I also absolutely loved “The Fluted Girl”. This sounds trite and you’ve heard it a million times, but the story was fresh and original. C.L. Moore did a story about 80 years ago with the body replaced by gold concentric circles to create the ultimate dancer’s “tool”, the dancer literally becoming the dance, as your characters become the instrument. And, as brilliant as Moore is, your story is better! The character flaw is that she lost her humanity with her flesh, where your characters retained theirs, although there exists the strong comparison with the instrument. This is high praise as she was one of the best of her generation. I’m sure they’ll be saying that about you, but that’s many, many years hence, after a long and I’m sure, very fruitful, career. Thank you for sharing your talent with us and continuing to follow your muse!