The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

I'm such a dork. I love my books, and most of the ones I buy new stay in pretty much that same condition - no broken spines, no bent pages, etc. It's pretty easy to figure out which of my books I bought used, since they tend to be what are usually called "reading copies." Stupid terminology - all books are reading copies by definition. What's the sense in having books you don't read?

I purchased another batch of OOP used books off Amazon, and they started trickling in today. Yay! Now, they're sure to be reprinted within the year, since publishing companies use my buy lists as their republication lists.

The last book I read was...odd. I don't know quite what to make of it. It wasn't bad, exactly, but...it wasn't exactly what I could call good, either. It also had the ugliest coverart ever. I think this is her award-winning first novel, which I may or may not check out.

The reviews for Tinker were overwhelmingly positive (maybe I need more crack in my diet), but one person had this to say:

I rather suspect that this book was a first effort from Ms Spencer that's been sitting in a drawer somewhere and was recently dug out and published on the strength of her other works.

Until I pulled up her writing credits, I thought this was her first book, so the reviewer may be on to something. If it hadn't been in the pile of books I got from Stacey (or did I get this from Frank? I have no idea...), I probably wouldn't have bothered with it. Not a complete waste of time, but...close.

I still can't decide if MADLAX is complete and utter crap, or if there's actually a decent show hiding behind the horrible, horrible first episode. Regardless, I think I'm going to continue renting the series, if only for the "Conversations with SSS" extra. I adore Jay Hickman.

Ever since watching all of Avenger, my Crapometer seems to be broken. Overloaded, I would presume.

Amusingly enough, Bandai is releasing all twelve episodes of Avenger in one shot, at MSRP $30, in a metal case. Desperation much?

I can't focus on anything for more than half a second today. Not good. At least my to-do list is getting shorter. Of course, New!Boss Lady isn't in yet, so I don't think that's going to last very long.

Best website ever. God bless Baen books, for keeping me in free, no-strings, electronic books. Especially those where my old hellhole house is smooshed by aliens, who then proceed to destroy the abomination that is Central Park.

This one, too. Amazing...you provide something that people want, in a format that doesn't restrict them from doing what they want to do, and sales go up! Give something away for free, and sales go up!

There's a lesson to be learned there, but certain industries don't seem to be learning it.