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.
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!
Kat Kennedy
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