Various Book Things, 12/5/08

Posted on December 5, 2008    Posted by John Scalzi      14 Comments

Some book-related notes:

1. I’m going into Jay & Mary’s Book Center to sign books this weekend, so today is a fine time to give them a call and order some books to have me sign and personalize for holiday gifts. I’ll be doing this for at least a couple of more weeks, but as you know, holiday mail being what it is, the sooner y’all get your orders in, the better.

2. Speaking of Jay & Mary’s Book Center, author and Whatever reader Ian Randal Strock will be there on Sunday as part of his Midwest tour supporting his new book, The Presidential Book of Lists — and he’s dropping on other places in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky from today, when he’s at the Wright State University Bookstore, through the 14th of December. Here’s his entire tour itinerary — if he’s near you, why not stop in, say hello, and pick up the book.

3. METAtropolis, the audiobook anthology I wrote with Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake and Karl Schroeder, was selected as one of the Best Audiobooks of 2008 by the folks at iTunes. Go us. You can see this accolade for yourself by clicking into iTunes’ audiobook section. While there, if you’ve not already picked up METAtropolis, you might, you know, think about doing so. Maybe. If you want. No pressure or anything.

4. By the way, be sure to congratulate Toby Buckell, since his latest book The Cole Protocol will be dropping in on the New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller List at #4. Which is pretty damn nifty.

5. Folks who regularly purchase eBooks through Baen’s WebScriptions program have noted the appearance of two of my books there, so I thought I’d share such information with the rest of you: Both of my Whatever-based books, You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop and Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded are available there, and for very reasonable prices. So if you’ve been looking for a version of these books you can take with you electronically, and to appreciate the delicious recursiveness of electronic versions of print versions of words originally published electronically, now’s your chance. Both are also still available in print, however, if you’d prefer them that way.

6. Finally, remember that if you’re looking for book as gift ideas, there are 100+ suggestions from your fellow Whatever readers right here. You can’t blame us if you can’t think of anything.

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14 Comments on “Various Book Things, 12/5/08”

  4. coo1b1ue – Vermont – I'm a software engineer within the aerospace industry as well as a father of four (mostly) grown children, one of which served in Iraq (OIF2) as a combat medic.
    Frank

    Here’s Bush’s reading list (from 2007)

    Quick Red Fox by John D. MacDonald
    The Dreadful Lemon Sky by John D. MacDonald
    After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro’s Regime and Cuba’s Next Leaderby Brian Latell
    Challenger Park by Stephen Harrigan
    Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
    Finding Fish: A Memoirby Antwone Quenton Fisher
    Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Differentby Gordon S. Wood
    The Bridge at Andau by James Michener
    Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Fraser
    Mayflower : A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
    Through a Glass, Darkly : A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon
    Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
    Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History by Craig L. Symonds
    The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruthby Leigh Montville
    Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero by David Maraniss
    American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin
    The Messengerby Daniel Silva
    The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
    Beach Road by James Patterson & Peter de Jonge
    Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power by Richard Carwardine
    Polio: An American Storyby David Oshinsky
    The Stranger by Albert Camus
    Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural by Ronald C. White, Jr.
    Promised Land, Crusader State by Walter McDougall
    Cinnamon Skin: Travis McGee Mysteries by John D. MacDonald
    Macbeth by William Shakespeare
    Hamlet by William Shakespeare

  7. coo1b1ue – Vermont – I'm a software engineer within the aerospace industry as well as a father of four (mostly) grown children, one of which served in Iraq (OIF2) as a combat medic.
    Frank

    Well, I’m sort of an asymmetrical thinker and when you mentioned “The Presidential Book of Lists” I munged that together with “if you’re looking for book as gift ideas” and presto, you get a Presidential list of books.

    A clear path if you ask me.

  10. According to the site, the paperback of the “You’re not fooling anyone…” book is sold out and out of print. You got my hopes up. :-(

  11. Kim, there was no paperback, so I’m not sure how it can be out of print (except to notate it was not in print to begin with). The second edition of the hardcover should still be available.

  12. If you’re buying books for the holidays, please consider buying through the Help Vera Nazarian fundraiser or donate directly to the charity drive via paypal.

    There are some awesome limited edition Subterranean Press books being sold there. If you don’t have the money to bid or donate, you can put something up for auction there if you have an LJ account.

    Details for why Vera needs help are here.

  14. Off topic.

    I was in Warwicks bookstore in La Jolla today and saw two John Scalzi paperbacks. I would have bought them but I couldn’t remember if I already owned them or not.

    What do we learn from this?

    1) Warwicks stocks the books so it’s a good store.

    2) La Jolla residents know that Warwicks is a fantastic independent bookstore (try and do a signing there some day). It stocks the books so John Scalzi is a good writer.

    3) I need more sleep to be able to remember what books I won.

    4) I’m procrastinating to avoid writing a Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation preliminary proposal for NSF.

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Athena Scalzi, editor/writer -AMS
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