Mmmm, New-release Tuesdays!  (But Do They *all* have To Come In At The Same Time?!)

This is oddly enthralling.  You build towers of sand, and periodically, a wave comes and dissolves them.  Then you start over.  That’s the whole game.

I can’t decide whether this little game is ultimately soothing or super frustrating. :D 

This is so frustrating.  Have any of you wondered why your local library doesn’t have eBook versions of your favorite book?  It’s crap like this.  All of the major publishers (and their subsidiaries -- so this covers a lot more books that you might think) put some sort of major block between libraries and their eBooks.  This can include jacked up prices, limits on the number of checkouts, limits on how long a book can circulate before the library has to buy it again, embargoes, or some combination of those.  Oh, and in most cases, the library can only check an eBook out to one person at a time.  If several people want to read it, they have to wait, or the library has to “buy” multiple copies.  (Yes, even if the limit is on the number of times a book can circulate.  Doesn’t that make sense?)

What do I mean by jacked up prices and limits on use?  Let’s take a look at some books that are popular now, just as examples!

The President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton -- $90 for libraries to buy the eBook.  You can get it on Kindle for $14.99.  You or the library can buy the hardcover print version for $15 or less.  For that matter, you could buy the print version, read it, and give it to the library.  That’s right out for eBooks.

The Outsider by Stephen King -- just $20.99 for libraries.  That’s not too much more than the $14.99 Amazon is charging people.  However, the copy that you buy (probably) won’t disappear after 12 months.

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva -- $28.99 for libraries.  Again, $14.99 for ordinary mortals on Amazon.  Do you think you and your friends could read it more than 26 times?  Not if you’re checking it out from the library!  After 26 checkouts, it goes away.  But it’s still limited to one reader at a time -- even if ten people want to read it today (and use up almost half of those checkouts), they have to wait in line to get it.

Feared by Lisa Scottoline -- Are you ready for this?  $60 for libraries AND it goes away after the earlier of 52 checkouts or 24 months.  (Still just $14.99 on Amazon for individuals though!)  

I could go on and on.  (Just ask my family and friends who have gotten to hear this rant in person!)  I just checked the top 5 New York Times bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction.  All of the eBook editions suffer from these higher prices and/or restrictions on use for libraries.

Why?  Because we cut into sales?  Libraries buy a lot more print books than eBooks, even now, but we get discounts on the print editions.  Publishers know that library sales mean more people reading their books and reviewing those books, talking them up to friends, buying them for family members, even buying their own copies later.

Because people might crack the DRM on the library’s eBook?  It’s possible.  However, it’s probably easier with a regular commercial copy because library eBooks are actually locked down more than individual eBooks.  You can’t access an eBook that you’ve checked out once the loan period is over -- it’s automatically “returned” to the library.

Could libraries spend their money on smaller publishers that are less restrictive?  Absolutely!  However, those eBooks aren’t on the bestseller lists.  They usually aren’t the ones that our patrons are asking us to buy.

I’m afraid I don’t have a great way for individuals to make a difference.  (Mostly, I just wanted to rant because this is a topic I find extremely frustrating.)  Joining Readers First and letting publishers know that you support libraries will help.  Being patient when your local library can’t get the books you want as an eBook is great, too.  If you have a way to talk directly with someone high enough in one of the big publishing houses, let them know that these restrictions hurt libraries, hurt readers, and ultimately hurt sales of eBooks.

Tor Publishing Issues a 4-Month E-Book Embargo on Libraries, Cites Retail Sale Concerns

If you’ve been to the library recently, you might have noticed something strange. New e-books from Tor Publishing are nowhere to be found. Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu. Cathy Clamp’s newest novel in the Luna Lake series. The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. All missing. That’s because Tor is refusing to let libraries have them.

Several library organizations and advocacy groups, including the American Library Association and ReadersFirst, have come out against Tor’s embargo. In a phone interview with io9, ALA president Loida Garcia Febo expressed her concerns that it could mean more trouble for libraries and their relationships with publishers, taking into account how hard they had to fight to get e-book access in the first place. She also said how unfortunate it is that the embargo is targeting sci-fi and fantasy readers, given how dedicated and passionate they are about the written word.

I read Marine Biology when I first saw an ad for The Summage Solution.  I greatly enjoy the Parasol Protectorate series and many of its spin-off, but I wanted to try the shorter story before getting the full-length novel.  I tore through Marine Biology and eagerly went to buy The Summage Solution, only to realize that it hadn’t been released yet.[sniff]  In addition to the Delicate Sensibilities Warning, I would add that this series may be addictive.

Rejoice, Gail fans! Secret Project SAS is finally revealed!

The Sumage Solution is Miss Gail’s first self published novel and is continuation of Gail’s short story Marine Biology. It is first book in her San Andreas Shifters series and will drop July 18, 2017. Just in time for Comic Con! The Sumage Solution stands alone but if you want a taste of the Universe and understand why the pack moved to San Francisco, Marine Biology is a good way to find all that out.

Blurb:

Can a gentle werewolf heal the heart of a smart-mouthed mage? NYT bestseller Gail Carriger, writing as G. L. Carriger, presents an offbeat gay romance in which a sexy werewolf with a white knight complex meets a bad boy mage with an attitude problem. Sparks (and other things) fly. Max fails everything - magic, relationships, life. So he works for DURPS (the DMV for supernatural creatures) as a sumage, cleaning up other mages’ messes. The job sucks and he’s in no mood to cope with redneck biker werewolves. Unfortunately, there’s something oddly appealing about the huge, muscled Beta visiting his office for processing. Bryan AKA Biff (yeah, he knows) is gay but he’s not out. There’s a good chance Max might be reason enough to leave the closet, if he can only get the man to go on a date. Everyone knows werewolves hate mages, but Bryan is determined to prove everyone wrong, even the mage in question.

The Summage Solution 

is available for preorder for Kindle on Amazon, and links to preorders for pdf, mobi, epub, iBooks are available on Gail’s website.

Marine Biology

is also available RIGHT NOW for a whopping $0.99 USD on Amazon, and through a litany of other publishing ways ( pdf, mobi, epub, iBooks) through Gail’s website. Marine Biology was originally published in The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2, a collection of paranormal romance short stories.

DELICATE SENSIBILITIES WARNING!!!! 

This story contains M/M sexitimes and horrible puns. If you get offended easily, then you probably will. The San Andreas Shifter stories contain blue language, dirty deeds, and outright admiration for the San Francisco Bay Area. Not for the faint of heart (mouth/tongue/etc.).

Quick reminder that December 15 is less than a week away.  If you are planning to sign up for health insurance through the ACA, do it soon!

Trump Wants Millennials to Forget About the ACA's Deadline

Andrew Cray didn't have to worry about going bankrupt when he waged a losing battle against cancer. His widow now has an urgent message.

This is beautiful!  It reminds me a bit of @the-other-sandy‘s neighborhood when we were teenagers.

“A house I pass on the way to work has this sculpture in its yard. Its about 8 feet tall.”

(Source)

Here’s to second chances.  (And third and fourth, and completely new chances at something different.)

I am turning 26 very soon, and a week ago I lost my chance at a life and a love better than my dreams, mostly by my own fault. I am applying to the birthday unending in hope that I can hide from my pain and anger until I learn not to hide from myself anymore, and never again to let others carry me through my choices. I bring words that I cannot say out loud, no gender to be seen, many languages to tell stories in, some pig blood and human tears, and a few bundles of rope. May I please come in?

OH, CHILD.

COME HERE.  WE MUST SPEAK TO YOU.

THERE ARE CHANCES WHICH COME AND CHANCES WHICH GO, CHOICES WHICH ARE RIGHT AND CHOICES WHICH ARE WRONG, BUT WE SAY THIS TO YOU, AND WE HOPE AND PRAY YOU WILL LISTEN, THAT YOU WILL BELIEVE, FOR WE MAY NEVER SAY ANYTHING THIS IMPORTANT AGAIN:

SO LONG AS YOU HERE, SO LONG AS YOU ARE DRAWING BREATH, THERE IS NO LAST CHANCE AT A BETTER LIFE.  EVERY DAY IS ANOTHER CHANCE, ANOTHER SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL OPPORTUNITIES, AND SOME OF THEM MAY PASS BY UNNOTICED, WHILE OTHERS CAN BE CAUGHT, AND HELD, AND NURTURED.  YOU ARE NOT DONE YET.  YOU ARE NOT LOST.  WHAT YOU DID NOT GAIN WILL BE BALANCED IN THE FUTURE YET TO COME, WHICH IS BIG, AND BEAUTIFUL, AND WILL GIVE YOU SO MANY MORE CHANCES.

SO MANY MORE.

HERE IS YOUR PLACE AT THE TABLE.  HERE IS YOUR CONICAL HAT.  HERE IS TIME, CHILD, TIME TO LEARN AND GROW AND UNDERSTAND, TIME TO FIND YOURSELF AND LOSE YOURSELF AND BECOME SOMEONE NEW, SOMEONE YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE.  HERE IS TIME.  TREASURE IT.

WELCOME TO THE BIRTHDAY.  WELCOME TO THE BIRTHDAY.  WELCOME TO THE BIRTHDAY UNENDING.

Yay!  There’s a new dragon hoard.

an UNUSUAL HOARD commission for malytwotails featuring their dragon maly gettin REAL CLEAN

all the soap with pawprints are actually straight from their own contact soaps and scents store ! i dont know the process for making soap but if its anything like smelling a bunch of them at once its probably great

Two of my sweeties and I braved the heat at a Families Belong Together demonstration today.  The speakers were good, and it was heartening to see so many people coming together to protest the cruel treatment of children.

#keepfamiliestogether #familiesbelongtogether

Well, crap.  Raven is a great comic with lots of action, drama, and humor.  I would be very sad to see it end.  If you can’t or don’t want to buy it yourself, check it out from your local library!  If they don’t already have it, please recommend it.

Raven the Pirate Princess is Sinking

I despise doing posts where I ask for help, but here we are.

About two years ago I started a new creator owned project.  It began as a spin-off of Princeless, but the reality is this - Raven The Pirate Princess is its own thing altogether.  I knew this from the first issue and if you’ve been reading, so have you.

Sure, the first few issues of Raven: Pirate Princess had that heroic lady feminist banter for which Princeless has become known both among its fans and detractors.  I mean, Raven had this scene:

and issue 1 had this scene:

But perhaps much more importantly, the first issue of Raven had this:

but that wasn’t where that ended.  This is a book about a community of diverse queer women actively claiming their place in the world and taking what’s theirs.  It’s about Raven, who is desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ximena

It’s about Ximena, a girl who was held captive for years by a pirate king who pretended to be her liberator.  Who fell in love with the pirate’s daughter, only to be left behind by that father when she outlived her value.

About Sunshine, the thief that chose the wrong target and ended up falling in love with a woman already hopelessly in love with somebody else.

It’s about Katie, the bisexual second in command who’s motivated by honor…and occasionally beating the snot out of a dude or two

Oh and in case I forgot to mention, Katie is also incredibly muscular:

And Jayla, the asexual science genius who’s tired of being treated like a little sister

and Cid, the deaf engineer who quietly keeps the ship running

and of course, these two:

The socially awkward poet and the angry sword fighter who couldn’t stand her who have somehow become these two:

But here’s the thing: this comic is failing.  It has a very dedicated and exuberant but at this point SMALL fanbase.  Today I had a hard conversation with Action Lab about the reality of the numbers on this book versus what it costs to produce this book and, suffice it to say, Action Lab isn’t ready to cancel the book, but they aren’t ready to greenlight year 3 either.  After Year 2 #13, Raven is set to go on the shelf until numbers can support continuing it.

This is where I need your help

If you care about this book full of queer pirate ladies and you want it to continue, we need to find a way to spread the word about it.  We don’t need to sell single issues (it would be nice) but ultimately we need the trades sales that back up the continuation of this big YA Pirate/Revenge/Adventure/Romance thing.

Digital copies can be bought instantly right on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Princeless-Raven-The-Pirate-Princess/comics-series/46971

You can buy the physical volumes on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01BF7U91Q

In fact, if you’ve already purchased volumes 1-4, volume 5 is available for preorder there right now! 

Maybe you’ve bought all the issues already.  Thank you!  If you still want to support Raven, you can review the books on Amazon or other retailers, you can share, reblog or retweet this post.  You can tell a friend about the book! 

If you have a comics review site or, say, a blog where you talk about LGBT media, contact me for review links or interviews.  Please, help us save our ship.

That is very cool!  It’s on beyond Madison (Google says about 2 hours total from our place), so I don’t know if we’ll get there.  It’s a great design though!

Trilobite. Corn. Maze. Geoscientists, if you’re anywhere near the US State of Wisconsin; you have a corn maze to visit. In fact, based on the response of the family that owns the farm when I asked for an image, I think they almost insist we show up! The trilobite Calymene celebra is the state fossil of Wisconsin and they are found in Cambrian and Ordovician rocks throughout the state. The maze also features cubic Galena – the state mineral of Wisconsin, a fossil ammonite and nautiloid, a microscope, a tool, an empty jar, and a couple insects. The link to the maze’s website is below. Anyone who is there, do feel free to comment on this post while you’re lost inside! -JBB Image credit: http://treinenfarm.com/2017maze