Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Shelf-hogs at Borders Santa Rosa
Of course I’m delighted to see that old-friend-of-Balls-and-Walnuts Lilith Saintcrow has half a shelf at Borders, but two shelves for Orson Scott Card? I have nothing against Jim Butcher (I’ve only read one of his books, which left me kind of meh, but at least I didn’t need the eye bleach like with O.S.C.), but four shelves? Mercedes Lackey has nearly two shelves. Used to be that the only shelf-hogs were folks like Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, or Piers Anthony, with fat little clusters for folks like Tolkien or Heinlein or Asimov. The old-timers take up far less shelf space these days (not much Bova or Heinlein; PK Dick is still considered cool, though — 1/4 of a shelf, not bad for a dead guy), so you would think there would be lots and lots of room for newcomers.
And that’s really what I’m getting at. When I go to a bookstore, I want to browse for new authors. If I want known quantities, I can shop online. So what I would prefer to see at Borders or Barnes and Noble is MUCH less shelf space devoted to single authors and more shelf space given to newcomers.
Yes, I realize I’m being hopelessly naive, since market forces must drive these decisions. In which case Jim Butcher must be red hot right now, and Charlaine Harris (whose new book was stacked next to every checkout stand) is molten. And don’t even mention Stephenie Meyer.
The interesting thing about Stephenie Meyer is her appeal across sex and age boundaries. I base this on my N of 2: my son read the whole series, and I read and enjoyed the first two books. She’s doing something right. Still. Sometimes it seems like there’s a whole Stephenie Meyer section of the bookstore (approximately where YA used to be).
How does a guy go about finding new voices? It’s the easiest thing in the world to walk into Borders and buy a Terry Pratchett I’ve never read before (I’m convinced I’ll die before I ever finish all of his books), or a Carl Hiaasen. But I want something new.
Anyway, today I picked up Charlie Huston’s Already Dead, which, from what I can, tell fuses the noir/hard-boiled genres with vampire foo. Three pages into it and the writing is crisp though hardly luminescent. On the luminescent front, I recently finished Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, which rocked — great story, plot, characters, writing, everything. Comparable to Martin Cruz Smith for quality . . . a bit more heavy-handed than Smith, but Chabon’s plotting is better.
Read anything excellent lately?
D.
Not exactly excellent, but pretty good – City of Thieves by David Benioff – an entertaining story set in St. Petersburg during the WWII seige by the Germans.
Have you reviewed Lilith Saintcrow before? Where and what, please!
Moon Palace by Paul Auster – a colleague loaned it to me after I had given him some books and I read it on the plane to NYC. I was surprised I liked it, since it was seemed like serious literature and these days I don’t manage more than an article or two in The New Yorker.
Lucie: I recall seeing that one on the shelf some time ago. Only rates a ‘pretty good,’ eh?
Lyvvie: The Society way, way back in 2005.
Kira: Auster’s City of Glass was truly awful. I haven’t been too keen on revisiting that experience.