storytelling

It's all her fault, really it is. Because she asked us, her loyal readers, if we remembered the first romance we ever read. So I posted a comment about that. The basic facts:

When: circa 1975
Where: Austria
What: a book called Kalifornische Sinfonie, translated into German from English. I remember the author's first name was Gwen. I remember quite a lot about the story.

So after that my curiosity was not going to let it go. I hopped over the Amazon Germany and was I shocked to find it, immediately, on the basis only of the title and the author's first name. This isn't the cover I remember, but it's definitely the same book.

Finding the German edition made it possible to track down the original title.
Jubilee Trail is still in print, as are all of Gwen Bristow's novels. Unfortunately they've redesigned the cover.

I think the original (1950) cover is wonderful. I can say with absolute certainty that if I ran into that cover in a bookstore today, I'd be forced to pick it up and walk to the cash register.


As it is, I put a more recent edition on hold at the library, along with The Diary of Mattie Spencer by Stella Dallas. I read this one too, a long time ago, and remember it vaguely.

As a teenager I had a real weak spot for stories of women in dire circumstances traveling west. Mrs. Mike, for example. Most women my age have fond memories of Mrs. Mike. I'm really wondering how these novels will strike me, so many years later.

NOTE; the formatting on this post is wonky. That's not Beth fault, but I can't figure out what's wrong. I hope you'll muddle through somehow.

Posted by at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

So Amazon has started this new thing called, simply enough, an author's blog. Here's the link to mine. The idea is to write a little something for the readers who have purchased one of that author's books in the past. If you have ordered something of mine from them, you should see my first post over there when you go to the main page. I don't intend to post there very often, but when something big happens I'll put up a few sentences.

Now here's the thing. If you're not interested in this newest author-post marketing doodad, you can turn it off. You can control which author posts you get and if you get any at all.

My first post has been up for only two days and one nice thing is that it has directed some readers to this weblog who didn't know about it before. Of course, there's always room for the less enthusiastic readers to voice their opinions. Ms. Piper, for example, who took the opportunity to be the first to leave a comment. A Piper protest. A declaration of negative Pintent. Never, never again shall she read any of my work. And why? Because there was a discussion of a review here. She took exception to the review, and to the discussion of the review, and specifically to me.

Listen, people. I hope you like my stories and look forward to the next one. I hope you recommend them to friends who you think might like them, too. But if you find yourself publically admonishing another author because that person encouraged discussion? Step back, please. Reconsider.

UPDATE: Amazon deleted Ms. Piper's proclamation of protest, and I deleted my response to it.

Posted by at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Bookseller Chick has an interesting post on the subject of bookshops that don't stock particular books or otherwise isolate books the owners/operators find distasteful. I've been thinking about it now for a while and it seems to me that there's an underlying question:

Does a bookseller have an obligation to her customers? And if so, what's the nature of that obligation?

In any business the idea is to make money. A bookseller is no different. Talking for a moment here about an independent bookstore, the owner has (1) a limited amount of space and resources (2) a customer base to keep interested (3) her own opinions and priorities.

What independent bookseller can stock everything? Is it better to stock a lot of one thing or a little of everything? If I go into a bookstore looking for Faulkner or Byatt or Crusie and they don't have it, what conclusions do I draw from that?

It depends on what happens when I ask. The bookseller who says, I'm sorry I don't have that in stock, can I order it for you? -- that's somebody I can strike up a conversation with. I may not agree on his or her reasons for not stocking romance, but as long as she's polite and as long as she recognizes she's going to lose some potential customers, really, she's met all her obligations, as far as I can see.

If I owned a small bookstore there are books I wouldn't stock. I can name two titles: American Psycho, and The Anarchist's Cookbook. They have a lot in common, these two books. You want to blow something up, you want to torture women to death? You want at least to read about these things -- that's up to you, but I'm not going to stock the books. If you ask me, I will check with other booksellers and the library to see where you can find it, but that's the extent. If you ask me why, I'll say simply that I have made a decision based on my own principals and priorities.

And that would be my right, just as it's the anarchist's right to go find the book someplace else and never come into my bookstore again.

Of course, if I limit my stock to books about civil war reenactment and dominoes, I will go out of business, and that will be entirely my own fault.

My two cents.

Posted by at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Sheena was not only good enough to put herself on the Frappr map, she also included a photo of herself and a very handsome cat called Tiger. Lanna Lee put up a photo. I put up a photo (okay, kinda). Pam put up something too. Be brave! Show us your face, or your dog, or something else important to you.

Come on, cheer me up. Lots of photos will give me energy to write. Yup. It's true. Or at least, that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)