Buzz Worthy News
This week, on Buzz Worthy News: Apple is up in arms, another author has passed away, Hachette instructs its authors that their work – even in other territories being published by a different publisher – MUST have DRM, Lauren Conrad gets in trouble and more.
Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly Friday news post featuring all the most interesting book world news.
Read on to find out what’s been going on!
News
Apple Will Not Settle For It – Ya Here!
Apple has stated in a memo filed in its defense that it will not settle with the three big publishers, but will instead go to trial over the charges brought by the DOJ. Apple has stated that it won’t settle because it could not reinstate its contracts if a court trial was successful whereas a court decision is irreversible.
The Proposed Judgment penalizes Apple in a manner that is inconsistent with the public interest and the law. Without Apple’s consent and without a trial, the Proposed Judgment automatically terminates Apple’s agreements (IV.A.) and effectively bars Apple (and other retailers) from selling eBooks under the agency model for two years by mandating shared responsibility for pricing between principal and agent (V.B., VI.B.). This result also is inconsistent with the fundamental tenet of agency relationships, not justified by proven facts, and has been overwhelmingly opposed by the public.
Harry Harrison, Troll Author Extrodinaire, Passed Away
At the age of 87, Harry Harrison, a science fiction author who once called Science Fiction rubbish, passed away.
Harrison is who we have to thank for Soylent Green (SPOILER: It’s people!) and The Stainless Steal rat. Mostly he just liked to troll his own genre though.
“But Mr. Harrison was best known for subverting his own genre. In 1965 he wrote “Bill the Galactic Hero” to satirize the militaristic perspective he saw in “Starship Troopers” (1959), a book by the science-fiction giant Robert A. Heinlein. The St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers called Mr. Harrison’s book “a deeply felt antiwar statement.” He went on to write six sequels.” -Douglas Martin, NY Times
One of Harrison’s more famous quotes: ““Incompetent, unlettered, unskilled writers sell to unexacting editors. All of this is going completely unnoticed by an incompetent readership.”
Hachette VS Tor – It is ON!
So here’s the run down.
First Tor was like: Dude, you know, like, DRM TOTALLY sucks. Amirite?
Then the world was all like: Jah! Totes does!
Then Tor was like: I am SO not hanging out with DRM any more. DEFRIENDED!
Then the world was all like: Oh no they didn’t!
And then Hachette was like: Oh they did. It is ON! Well, none of my authors are allowed in the club house without their DRM. TAKE THAT TOR!
I hope that brings you up to speed. You can read Hachette’s letter to it’s authors here. Whether you laugh or weep is at your discretion.
Pictured: Lauren Conrad not murdering her own book. Not pictured: the souls of the books she DID murder.
Lauren Conrad Sends Multiple Books to Book Heaven. They Shall Be Avenged.
On her web only craft show, Lauren Conrad took it upon herself to slice and dice a set of Lemony Snickett books to use the spines as decorations.
Predictably, lots of book fans became frothing-at-the-mouth angry. The Youtube video received 8 dislikes for every like and fans angrily tweeted at Conrad for the book murder.
Conrad responded by taking the video down – but the anger didn’t subside.
The reclusive author of the Lemony Snicket series was contacted for comment and passed the following through his publicist.
It has always been my belief that people who spend too much time with my work end up as lost souls, drained of reason, who lead lives of raving emptiness and occasional lunatic violence. What a relief it is to see this documented.
Whilst, I Kat Kennedy, and not necessarily the Cuddlebuggery team speaking here, think cutting up perfectly good books – I struggle to appreciate the fury this has generated, to be honest. Books are amazing, incredible things. And cheap craft projects aren’t always the best use for them. But – if LIBRARIES -the venerable churches of a book idolatry, can bring themselves to burn hundreds of thousands of books a year – then maybe Conrad shouldn’t be crucified for being a little blasphemous. Locked away in a dark dungeon for all eternity, yes. But the hate? Kind of unnatural and disturbing.
FBI Opens its Files of Sylvia Plath’s Father
Sylvia Plath, one of the great modern poets, had an interesting dynamic with her father despite the fact that he died in her childhood. However, the recent revelation of the FBI’s file on her father, including a psych assessment that deemed him to have a morbid disposition.
“Apart from the investigators’ report on Otto’s character, the files reveal that he was detained over suspected pro-German allegiance.
He also encountered discrimination at the University of California, and was passed over for a scientific post due to his birth in East Prussia, though he moved to the US aged 15. The files also reveal that he lost a salesman job for not buying Liberty Bonds to aid the war effort, and it is implied that he had a less than wholehearted attitude towards the first world war and America.”
Some scholars debate the way Plath depicted her father in her work. Either way, her journals are almost set to be released – and they should hopefully provide more of a clue! Excitement!
sanashamskhan
Wow, Laura Conrad takes the icing on this Buzz Worthy post -__-
P.S. The spelling of Lemony Snicket has an extra t.
Sana @ <a href=”http://artsymusingsofabibliophile.blogspot.com/”><b>artsy musings of a bibliophile</b></a>
Stephanie Sinclair
@sanashamskhan Fixed! Thanks!
P.S. You can set you LiveFrye account to post a link to your last post on your comments automatically. 🙂
cynicalsapphire
Hachette vs. Tor:
LOL. Oh, Kate Kennedy. You never fail to tickle my funny bone. You could write books that would give Janet Evanovich a run for her (quite a lot of) money. YOU SHOULD DO THIS THING.
Lauren Conrad:
Lots of people make art out of books. In Pittsburgh, there was a bar/restaurant called The Library. It’s menus were children’s books with the menu pasted into the first couple of pages. The rest you could peruse. *shrug* It makes me sad when good books are destroyed for art, but there are always TONS of Lemony Snicket books at Goodwill. Maybe she used beat up copies? That would be legit. Also, Daniel Handler is amusing.
ANOTHER WEEK WITH NO SCANDALOUS SCANDALS? HAS THE BLOGOSPHERE FINALLY CHILLED THE FUCK OUT? IS THIS BECAUSE OF THE COMING OF WINTER?
KatKennedy
@cynicalsapphire Thank you. There really wasn’t any scandal I could see worth commenting on.
Lissa Bilyk
I don’t get what the big deal about Laura Conrad’s art project is. I’ve considered doing the floating bookshelf, which sacrifices a few novels. What I don’t like is that she wants to make it look like she reads the books she doesn’t actually and I think (because I haven’t actually watched the video) she achieves this by murdering a few books or something? But truth in all they are HER books and she can do what she wants with them. I’m precious about my books: they hardly ever get shared, so it’s not like anyone’s missing out. If I were to cut up my books, who would know? (besides the Viking)Seriously. The big deal. What is it?
KatKennedy
@Lissa Bilyk My books see A LOT of use. Some of them have been lent out as many as 15 times. So I wouldn’t cut them up because I love all my books – but I agree – I don’t see the big deal.
Fangs4Fantasy
I admit being extremely disturbed by the thought of destroying a book. There are things you Do Not Do
But I also recognise that as being, at least in part, somewhat unreasonable. And there’s a difference between burning a book to destroy the knowledge within (which, I think, is where the discomfort about book destruction comes from – since many regimes have done just that) and using a copy of a mass market book for a craft project. Millions, if not billions, of books are pulped every year.
There is a difference between trying to destroy knowledge, erase stories and suppress learning on the one hand, and simply destroying some paper that happens to have a copy of that story on the other
KatKennedy
@Fangs4Fantasy I agree. A lot of people confuse the issue. Now, if she were cutting up rare or out of print books – that would be a different story. But a popular set of used books? I think the hate is a little unreasonable.
JayJason
That quote by Snicker up there…
It reminds me why I loved his books when I was younger. I remember that brilliant marketing campaign. “Read Something Else”. Have you guys at Cuddlebuggery read his Unfortunate Events series? It’s quite entertaining to say the least.
JayJason
That quote by Snicket up there…
It reminds me why I loved his books when I was younger. I still remember that brilliant marketing campaign: “Read Something Else”. Have you guys at Cuddlebuggery read his Unfortunate Events series? It’s quite entertaining to say the least.
KatKennedy
@JayJason I haven’t read them, actually. But I should.
usagi
@KatKennedy @JayJason Kat, you totally have to. They’re awesome.
Lexie
Frankly, I have to agree, re: the book-murdering. While I’m not happy to see any books destroyed, quite frankly, if you paid for them, they’re yours to do what you wish. And as Lissa mentioned, if you don’t loan them out, the only person you’re hurting is yourself. I can understand a bit of upset, but she doesn’t deserve to get crucified.
(Although, I must say, that quote kind of epitomizes the reasons I adore Mr. Snickett. He’s a character.)
KatKennedy
@Lexie It WAS a pretty hilarious quote!
usagi
@KatKennedy @Lexie When I met him at ALA this year, he apologized for “ruining” my childhood (I told him I’d been a fan since the books came out in my early teens). He’s full of lulz and a great guy. And if he’s getting money from the books, where’s the harm? He’s laughing all the way to the bank.
parajunkee
Dude! They need to leave my Apple alone!! I don’t buy eBooks from them because they are sooo expensive, but really you can’t tell them what to do — they are APPLE! LOL
I can’t believe Lauren Conrad got so much bad press over that, talk about rabid fans. If it wasn’t her books, then maybe yes, but she can do whatever she wants with her own artwork. If she wanted to make a bikini with the pages and strut around singing “Polly the Prissy Beaver” that is her prerogative. But, then I guess it is her fans prerogative also to dislike a youtube video … I’m such a damn hypocrite.
KatKennedy
@parajunkee I so agree. If she read the books or if they’re second hand then it’s not like they haven’t served their purpose. Better than sitting uselessly on a shelf or getting pulped!
KD
Harry Harrison is not the worst (professionally published) troll author out there. Will Shetterly blows him out of the water.
The craft girl makes me kinda sad. She wasn’t making a political statement, just crafting. The outrage doesn’t surprise me. There are plenty of people out there that will use any excuse to hurl mounds of hate at other people, especially women. Some of the comments on here (youtube) are extremely disturbing.
DRMs caused me to quit playing the newest generation of console games. (yay FTP internet games) If the book industry thinks DRMs are going to convince me to buy an ebook reader, they’ve got another thing coming. I’ll stick to physical copies. There’s more than enough real books to last me the rest of my life. Even if I never buy another book published after 2012 ever again. Maybe they should think on that.
Also, some companies are forcing LIBRARIES to buy multiple copies of ebooks because the rights expire after so many times of lending them out. What a complete fail. I understand the authors have a right to be paid for their work, fully support it in fact. But this isn’t doing authors any favors.
KatKennedy
@KD I despise DRM with a fiery passion. Let’s put it this way: I saw Doctor Who on ABC TV where they stream their shows for free. I loved it and now own all the new series. I can’t watch any Teen Wolf however, no matter how much people recommend it – so I won’t BUY it!
Lyndi
I fail to see why Lauren Conrad is a book’s worst enemy. People destroy books every day for various reasons. And to destroy or maim a book for art is one of the least offensive reasons for doing it. I don’t see people flipping out over Harry Potter books being carved to pieces to make book-safes. I don’t see people losing their minds over Hunger Games being gutted to turn them into iPad charging stations. People are always looking for something to be outraged over – this is not something worth anything more than a raised eyebrow and a shrug.
Also, there is a library in Troy, MI that was at risk of being shut down due to citizens rallying against a slight tax increase that would help them keep their doors open. So, the library employees created fake FB accounts and started a hoax campaign to burn all the books at the library. The citizens of Troy were so outraged that people wanted to burn the books, they voted in favor of the tax increase and the library was saved. Epic win in my book.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/16/award-winning-book-burning-hoa.html
KatKennedy
@Lyndi I have to agree about the books things. They get used for art all the time – and I don’t see the point of putting books on the pedestal of untouchable. Awesome story though!
Mary BookSwarm
While I am so far from an LC fan, I don’t see what’s so bad about using books for art, especially if she purchased those books. Lemony Snicket doesn’t seem upset about it, why should anyone else?
KatKennedy
@Mary BookSwarm Inagree
Georgette
DRM- sucks. The letter makes me wish to sacrifice some Hachette books for art.(LC would approve). Speaking of LC and Lemony Snicket, I love Lemony Snicket more, what a great quote!
I am kind of surprised LC didn’t sacrifice, say, her own books for this- I mean, no such thing as bad publicity, right?
I think I’ve done gone and lost it, so if this doesn’t make sense, apologies to all who witness my comment. As usual, great blog! 🙂
Sarah saz101
Aw, Harry Harrison 🙁 I remember reading the Stainless Steel Rat YEEEEAARS ago, when i was in high school. Sad 🙁
InfiniteKay
I’m surprised that the Lauren Conrad video got this much attention, to be honest. I tweeted about it once, commenting how I felt like she was ripping my soul, but in all honesty I wasn’t taking it this seriously. The hate it received, woah! I was more shocked about how silly the idea was; I could imagine someone trying to pull the books of the shelves only to find a box!
JeepinJaime
If she wants to destroy perfectly good books, then she can. It is her right, her prerogative. My only complaint is, instead of tearing them up to decorate a box, why not buy a box of the books and donate them to kids all over our country that would love to have them and can’t afford them. Thats all I am saying. Thanks Kat Kennedy, as always!
Heartless_Lyn
The whole Conrad thing seems a bit….blown up. I would have loved to see those books go to a worthy cause, or a struggling library, but it isn’t like she is killing women and children. With scanners, state of the art printers and an online hoard of starving artist, it was a poor decision, but not something to threatened over.
And the interest yet again saves/ruins the day.
MdHasan1
Some science fiction is good why some is mediocre, but that’s the same with any area of literature
http://science-fiction-books.com.au/ccp0-prodshow/Tigana-Guy-Gavriel-Kay-Paperback12.html,
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