While researching my articles on biblio mysteries, I again came across the dust jacket art for a title called The Bookshop Mystery, by James Saxon Childers. And as I usually do, I judge a book by its cover, and since the cover is a Deco delight–I hunted one down–not as easy as one would think–they seem … Read more
I have a bunch of articles on the burner, but when I heard of Hitchens’ death, and read some obits, I thought I’d comment. I’ve not read any of his books. I’ve seen him on various talking head shows, including The Daily Show, and I generally knew what he was about. It wasn’t until reading … Read more
Richard Russo interviewed several best selling authors about the recent amazon trickery, and the results were comforting, at least. The authors, including, Scott Turow, Stephen King, and Dennis Lehane all found amazon’s tactics less than a stellar business practice. However, the comments to the article were typical in the ‘oh you elitists’ and ‘poor amazon’ … Read more
FBA stands for “Fulfillment By Amazon.” It’s an order fulfillment service offered by Amazon.com that allows 3rd party sellers to procure inventory and send it to Amazon for storage in one of their warehouses. The seller then advertises the merchandise for sale and when it sells, Amazon fulfills the order and deposits the profits … Read more
You know, I honestly used to enjoy buying certain books from this giant non taxing paying Walmart in the ethernet sky. That was before slave labor was discovered, and the foisting of kindle on the masses began. This new development takes the slime bucket award. Mysterious Galaxy, a fantastic indie bookstore featuring mystery and science … Read more
The Format Wars have begun! To arms! To arms! Choose your weapon, grab your hardcovers for close-in combat, your paperbacks for ranged attacks. Get your kindle and hope that the screen doesn’t shatter on the first impact! A month or so ago I read the headline “Barnes & Noble Pulls Watchmen, Sandman And 100 DC Graphic Novels From … Read more
I didn’t realize that biblios had such a broad range. While researching, I found rare manuscripts and letters, and even scraps of writing on paper were considered part of the genre. A few titles fit very neatly. Here’s one–The Vivero Letter, Bagley, Desmond, 1968– A letter dating from 1539 and the conquest of Mexico by Cortes … Read more
New legislation to impose state sales tax collection requirements on Internet retailers such as Amazon.com is in the works according to Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. Legal confrontations between the giant Internet retailer and state lawmakers have been occurring for years as cash-strapped states continue to pressure Amazon to comply. However, the tide seems to be … Read more
