Author Archives: Keith West

Franzen Says Ebooks not for Serious Readers

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Literary author Jonathan Franzen says that ebooks aren’t for serious readers.  You can read  his comments here.

As a person who considers himself a serious reader, I take great offense at these remarks.  The medium through which a person chooses to read, whether paper, electronic, or (as in my case) a combination of both, is in no way a reflection of whether that person is a “serious reader”. 

Of course, Mr. Franzen doesn’t define what a “serious reader” is.  Is it someone who places a high priority on reading and buys numerous books every year or month or in some cases every week?  Or perhaps it’s a person who only reads serious Literature?  (Capitalization mine.)  

Aside from the brain-dead connection Mr. Franzen tries to make between paper books and responsible self-government, his remarks show just how out of step he is with vast numbers of readers, both here in America as well as other parts of the world.  Franzen is a darling of the literati, those arbiters of taste and snobbery, most of whom wouldn’t deign to read genre fiction.  At least not in public.  Franzen clearly seems to share this elitist view, despite the fact that his books are available in electronic editions.  He states that paper books provide a level of permanence.  He’s also gone on record saying that “It’s doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.”  I strongly beg to differ, but good fiction is in the eye of the beholder.

Still, I doubt Franzen would recognize good fiction if it bit him in the ass. 

Of course, Franzen’s remarks illustrate one of the results of a recent survey by Verso Digital.  Among their findings was that resistance to ereaders is growing, even among avid readers.  If I’m understanding the survey correctly, the resistance is from people who have never been inclined to read on an ereader.  Frankly, I don’t care what format you choose for reading.  Just don’t take a condescending attitude toward those of us who don’t choose the same as you.

Franzen also says that if printed books become obsolete, he’s glad he won’t live long enough to see it.  Given his attitude, I find it hard to disagree with that statement.  In the meantime, I’m going to read some good indie fiction.

On my ereader.

Happy Birthday, C. L. Moore

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Moore with husband Kuttner

Today marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of C. L. Moore.  Moore was an innovative writer who got her start in Weird Tales with the classic story “Shambleau”, which introduced the Han Solo prototype Northwest Smith.  She also created Jirel of Joiry, one of the pioneering heroines of sword and sorcery.  After her marriage to Henry Kuttner, most of her output was collaborative and mainly science fiction.

I wrote a more extensive tribute last year, albeit a day late. I’ll not repeat myself this year, except to say, go read her.  Right now.  Turn off the computer, put down the tablet, and go read her.  Okay, you can leave the tablet on if you download one of her stories.  She’s too important a figure in the field to be forgotten.  While I’m sure others have written tributes today, I haven’t seen any.  Of course the best tribute you can pay authors is to read their works.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater Available Online for Free

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When I was growing up, we lived in several towns, and one of those was Wichita Falls. There was a small radio station there that used to air The CBS Radio Mystery Theater after the 10:00 p.m. news.  I would lie awake for the next hour listening to it when I was supposed to be sleeping.  Some nights I would continue to lie awake long after the show ended if it was a scary episode (there were plenty of those).  The show had a consistently high quality and was produced by producer of the old Inner Sanctum show from a few decades earlier.  It even had the same creaking door.  Henry Slesar and Alfred Bester both wrote scripts, although Bester only wrote for a year.  He had gone on to other things by the time I started listening.

Other than some really low quality cassettes I used to record a few episodes of the show, I haven’t heard The CBS Radio Mystery Theater since 1980, when we moved to another part of the state.

Now all 1399 episodes are available online for free.  I’ve already identified several favorites I want to hear again, and I’m trying to figure out the titles for several more.  While I don’t recall any sword and sorcery, there were enough horror, suspense, and noir stories that I think some of you might be interested in listening.  You can find them here. And thanks to James Reasoner for posting a notice about this on his blog.

Entering the Dark Realm of the Fey

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Feyland:  The Dark Realm
Anthea Sharp
Various ebook formats, $3.99 (B&N, Amazon)

It’s been a while since I read a YA novel.  Not quite as long as it’s been since I was YA myself, but close.  (Don’t even think about asking how long that is; I’ll only plead the fifth.)  But there’s been some exciting writing going on in the YA world for some time now, and much of it is either science fiction or fantasy.  Since my son will soon be moving into that age bracket, I’m going to be familiarizing myself with what’s out there and passing on some of my recommendations to you.

The first of these recommendations is Feyland:  The Dark Realm by Anthea Sharp.  Before I discuss the book’s plot or its themes, I want to say something up front.  I have no sisters, my wife has no sisters,  we have no teenage daughters, nor have I ever been a teenage girl.  Teenage girls are some of the hardest characters in fiction for me to relate to.  I can usually relate to children or women, but teenage girls don’t think like I do.  At all.  I taught high school for a couple of years, so I have spent time around them.  They just weren’t on the same planet I was much of the time.  (You could argue I’m not on the same planet as most people most of the time, but that’s the subject of another post.)

Why do I bring this up?  Ms. Sharp has created two distinct characters, one male and one female, and not only made me care about them but made me see the world through their very different eyes.  I had some reservations when I first agreed to review this book because I wasn’t sure I would be able to relate to the teenage female character.  I’m very glad to say those reservations turned out to be completely unfounded. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Robert E. Howard

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Today is the 106th year since the birth of Robert E. Howard.  (Yeah, I know the local time is still January 21, but by the time most of you read this, it will be the 22nd.  Besides, it’s the 22nd east of here.)  I’m not sure what I could say that would do the man justice that others haven’t already said and said better.  After last summer’s disastrous Conan movie, those of us who champion Howard’s work as literature probably have a harder row to hoe overcoming the (at best) misguided notion that his writing is hackwork.  If you are only familiar with Conan through the movie(s), pastiches, or comics, read some of the real thing.  And then read some of Howard’s other writings:  Kull, the horror stories, the historicals, the westerns, the boxing stories, the poetry.  And raise a glass in his honor.  Me, I’m going to celebrate by reading some of the spicy stories. 

Status Update: Back to the Salt Mines

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I’ve been something of a slacker lately, reading some stuff outside the bounds of this blog, traveling before classes start, beginning an exercise program (boy am I out of shape).

Anyway, classes start Thursday, and since I’m in charge of all the undergraduate labs now, I’ve got to herd cats supervise all the teaching assistants, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-45, starting this afternoon.  I plan to get back to posting on a regular (or at least semi-regular) basis within the next couple of days.  In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has visited in the last few weeks, both here and at Futures Past and Present.  Traffic has been at record levels, and I really appreciate the interest and support, as well as all the comments.

I need to double check my deadlines on some items I’ve committed to review, but I’ve got several indie published books coming up in the next 4-6 weeks that look promising as well as titles by more traditional publishers.  It’s gonna be fun.

The Shadows Darken

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Shadow’s Lure
Jon Sprunk
Pyr, $16.00, 391 p.

I want a glowing green girlfriend that nobody else can see or hear who can walk through walls.

Don’t tell my wife I said that.  She would probably entertain objections to the idea.

But it would be convenient to have one.  For instance, she could tell me when danger was around the corner.  Like Kit does in the Shadow series.

Jon Sprunk’s Shadow’s Son was one of the first books I reviewed after starting this blog, and it was good to revisit the world and characters. The publisher’s web site says this title was published last June, but I didn’t see a copy on the shelves of a bookstore until October, which until I started writing this post is when I assumed it was published.  If I’d known it came out last summer, this review would have been written months ago.  Just so you know, there are some mild spoilers for Shadow’s Son in the following paragraphs.   Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Continue reading →

A Quick Question

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I’ve been thinking about something for the last few days, and I’ve reached the point where I would like some feedback.

At the end of last year, I posted two essays.  The first was an explanation of my growing frustration with ebooks from major publishers, in  regards to both quality and pricing, concluding with the statement that I would be reading many more indie published books in 2012. The second contained my recommendations for which publishers had the lines I thought would be the most interesting in 2012 based on my reading in 2011. In both posts I put lists of what I intended to read over the next few months.  In the post on publishers I listed titles, although not all the titles I have on hand from every publisher.  The other list only contained authors, in part because in some cases I hadn’t decided which books from particular authors I would read first.

Since then, something interesting has occurred.

Since those posts, I’ve gotten several requests to review indie published books, all of which I’ve agreed to.  In one case, I already had that book on my list.  Another of these books is a YA novel.  Now I’ve never reviewed any novels marketed as YA here.  Not because I’m not interested in what’s being published in the YA market, but because there were so many other things I wanted to read first.

But I’ve got a son who will be reading in middle grade and YA soon, and I want to encourage him to read.  At the moment he doesn’t share his father’s interest in reading, in part because of the way reading was taught in the town where we lived before moving to where we are now.  I need to know what’s out there that he might be interested in so I can direct him to those books.

Here’s where my question, or questions rather, enter the picture.

First, how much YA would you being interested in seeing me review?  I’m going to be reading some, but I’d like to kill two birds with one stone and review some of it here.  How many of you would be open to that?  How many opposed?

Second, I’ve been thinking about how to handle reviewing requests by indie authors.  One of the requests I’ve gotten for a review is a little outside the scope of the blog but not so much that it would be totally out of place.  How far afield would you those of you who read this blog tolerate my reviews going?  I’m not going to review urban fantasy much, and while I have no objection to romance being a major part of the story, I’m not interested in reading anything where that’s the entire story.  I’ve been wanting to increase the amount of historical adventure I include here.  A lot of the indie published stuff I’ve seen has been historical, but mostly historical romance rather than adventure.  On the other hand, some of it has been historical mystery, and it’s been hard to tell just how much adventure as opposed to classical deduction the story contains.

I’ll review indie science fiction over at Futures Past and Present.  What about the occasional detective or noir novel?  Any objections there?

So, to recap:  How much YA should I review?  How wide a range of indie novels should I consider for review?  What genres or subgenres are you (not) interested in seeing reviewed?

Yes, I know this is my blog and I’m free to review whatever I feel like.  But on the other hand, I’m trying to develop a community and a brand.  I want people who visit for the first or second time to have a good idea of what they’re going to find.  And I don’t want to alienate anyone who’s a regular or even an occasional reader. So I would really appreciate some feedback.

Thank you.