Archive for the ‘News’ Category
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November 7, 2011 Get Ready to Vote
It’s time to get ready to vote.
If you’re like me, that means taking your mail-in ballot out of the pile of papers on your desk and studying it for the last time. It has been waiting there for me for some days now. I avoid voting early; it always seems like there’s some last minute scandal or revelation that makes me re-think a ballot measure or candidate. So here I am today, perusing my ballot, looking at the voter pamphlet one more time and connecting the arrows preparatory to dropping it off tomorrow.
I dislike voting by mail. I liked it much better when we all cast our ballots on the same day, and when we actually had to gather at a polling place to do so. There was something uplifting about walking down to the polling place and standing in line with other people who were about to have their say on our government. Sticking my little ‘I voted’ sticker on my jacket, and having a conversation about it with my grandchildren later. Some years I was able to take kids with me when I went to the polling place. It was a time to talking with them about voting and what it means. I miss that. But I won’t miss voting.
It disheartens me a bit when I see that in several of our races, candidates are running unopposed. It discourages me even more when I see that the paper is predicting a low turn out for the vote. In times like these, when things are hard and there is great unrest, why would the voter turn out be low? I don’t understand that. Occupy movements and demonstrations are great ways to make people aware of issues. Voting is a way to actually do something about those issues in a very immediate way.
If you’ve been considering not voting this year, I hope you’ll rethink it. Even if there is only one measure you think worthy of your attention, mark that ballot and send it out. Even if there is not one politician you want to vote for, then turn in your ballot unmarked. Speak out in that way. Or follow the old tradition of writing in Alfred E. Neuman and voting for him.
Harsh as it sounds, if you don’t vote, then quit complaining. Pushing a pencil across a piece of paper is the most significant thing you can do tomorrow if you want to change your government. Or if you want to keep it the same. Here in Pierce County, Washington, my vote will influence diverse decisions from making the county save some money when we have a surplus to how we enforce marijuana possession laws and how we deal with our 911 systems.
No matter where in the US you are or what you are voting for, whether I would agree with you choices or not, I urge you to vote. Let us be heard.
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Caveat Emptor! Hephaestus Books
Let the buyer beware!
The fact that the Romans had such a saying indicates that we are not the first generation of people to have to beware of con-men and rascals. But we are the first generation to have to deal with electronic ‘pigs in a poke’.
The old saying, “don’t buy a pig in a poke”, meaning don’t buy a piglet sold to you inside a sack is actually related to another old saying, “He let the cat out of the bag,” meaning that he revealed a truth that had been deliberately concealed. It comes from a time when a man in a market might sell you a pig inside a poke, for a very good price. But when you got your piglet home and opened the bag, well, that is when you’d let the cat out of the bag, and realized you’d been cheated.
For a time now, people have been self-publishing their works, and making them available on Amazon and other e-book sites. And I am all for that! I admire the courage it takes to put your own work out there. It’s a tremendous amount of work to prepare you own novel or poetry, put it out in a coherent form, and then market it to possible readers.
Unfortunately, with the door to self publishing opened wide, there were scamps and rascals who came in as well. These fellows did things such as making other people’s books available without acquring the e-rights. That’s piracy. It’s against the law. Publishers and authors can request that such books be removed, at the very least, from the big marketing sites.
But what if instead of that, I gathered up a lot of printed public domain material or internet-published material from a wikipedia, packaged it as an e-book, and sold it? That’s murkier territory. It’s not against the law, so far as I know, to take wikipedia articles that are in the public domain, package them together and sell them for $1.95. Even if I publish the same material under six different titles, so that you unwittingly buy the same e-book six times, I think I’m still on the legal side of the line. And yes, that has been happening quite a bit. Unsuspecting readers who want a book on how to groom a dog may find that they’ve bought an e-book comprised of articles they could have read for free on the internet, articles that the publisher of the e-book did not write nor pay for, because they are public domain. It’s easy to create such volumes, and cheap. The publisher doesn’t have to sell thousands or even hundreds of copies to make a profit. And if he sells you the identical content about dog grooming under three different titles, well, he has tripled his profit.
Legally.
Let the buyer beware.
Yesterday I discovered a new wrinkle on this, one that offends me mightily. So I’m going to open the sack and reveal that, in my opinion, Hephaestus Books seems to be advertising grain-fed piglets that turn out to be stray cats.
If you go to Amazon.com, or Amazon.co.uk or BarnesandNoble.com and do a search for a book titled Novels byRobin Hobb, you will find one published by Hephaestus. In the description it lists my books, and even adds (novel), just like that, in parentheses, after some of the titles. So one might get the impression that for $12.29, you are getting a nice collection of my novels in a paperback format. After all, there is no detailed description to tell you otherwise. The astute buyer will look at the stats on the book and possibly be astonished to discover that all my novels will fit in a 42 page paperback.
Or they may immediately discern that this is a deceptive description. These are not my novels at all. These are a selection of ‘free to read’ articles about my novels gathered from the internet and put into a print on demand format.
Hephaestus Books is listed as the author. If you do a search for Hephaestus books, you will find that my readers are not the only ones they are luring to buy. There are ‘novels of’ books for readers of Ray Feist, Kurt Vonnegut, Diana Gabaldon, E.M. Forster, Sylvia Plath, Lloyd Alexander and, well, you get the idea. Each 42 pages long, and being sold for $12.29. Ouch. $12.29.
So, I’ve done what I can. I’ve posted a ‘review’ on each of those sites letting people know that Hephaestus is not my publisher, and those publications are not a collection of my novels. I hope I save a few readers from making a $12.29 plus shipping and handling mistake.
If you have bought one of these books, I urge you to post your own review, and to let Amazon and Barnes And Noble know how you feel about Hephaestus Books.
After all, a cat chop is not a pork chop, and kittens don’t make good sausage.
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Olympia, Feb. 11, 2012, Barnes and Noble
Well, I think that sums it up! I’ll be at the Barnes and Noble, Black Lake Blvd from 2 to 4 PM on Feb. 11, 2012.
I just thought I’d let everyone know that this stop has been added to the City of Dragons Book Tour.
I always enjoy signing there, so I’m looking forward to this!
Robin
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Publication Dates for City of Dragons, Blood of Dragons
I’ve had a few queries about publication dates for City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons.
So, to be absolutely clear: In the US, City of Dragons in will be available in hardback in February of 2012. This is also when I’ll be doing the book tour to launch it. Blood of Dragons is scheduled for May 1, 2013.
In the UK, City of Dragons is scheduled for April 2012, and Blood of Dragons will come out on May 1, 2013.
So, there you are!
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New Dates for visits
I’ve just updated my appearances area to include the signing dates in February for City of Dragons.
In February, I’ll launch from University Book Store in Seattle, Washington. From there, I’ll drive down to Beaverton, Oregon and the Powell’s store there, then off to Hood River for a noon talk and signing at the Columbia Gorge Community College and the Waucoma Bookstore.
After that, I will visit Fort Lewis and sign at the PX. Then it’s off to Texas and Murder by the Book in Houston, and Bookpeople as a finale in Austin Texas.
For the details, check out the appearances schedule on the Robinhobb.com site.
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Soleil will produce Graphic Novels from The Liveship Traders
Just signed the contracts this morning!
Soleil, who has done a magnificent job of transforming the Farseer Trilogy (see some sample pages here) out as a set of French graphic novels will now continue with the Liveship Traders Trilogy.
Can’t wait to see them!
And to stem the tide of questions: No, they are not available in English, but yes, there are Dutch versions!
Robin Hobb
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Correct Dutch Title!
Ah, in my late night haste to post, I didn’t proof read what I was putting up!
Here is the Dutch cover for the true first edition of City of Dragons, with the correct Dutch title in place:
There have been a number of surprised comments asking ‘How is it possible that the Dutch language edition is out before the English version?’ Well, it’s pretty simple. The manuscript is sent out to the editors of the various publishing houses. Each publishing house determines where the book will fit in their schedule, and then makes it happen.
In this case, a swift translator and an efficient editor means that the Dutch edition has come out first. I might note that since the Dutch are a very literate people and very often multi-lingual as well, this is excellent marketing by Luitingh Fantasy.
The illustrator is Marco Lap. Enjoy!
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Dutch First Edition
As noted here by others, the Dutch translation of City of Dragons is out and ready for reading. With yet another gorgeous cover in this set:
And what might come next? Have a peek here!
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Reddit chat coming up. And a bit of hacking.
Maybe I’ll talk about the second header first!
This site was hacked a few days ago. Some of you received a warning message when you visited, and immediately let me know. Thank you so much. I keep thinking I have fixed this, but this morning someone let me know they had still received a virus warning. The Novels page seems to be the one that triggers it. Please stay off it until I know I have this fixed. I am very sorry about this.
In much more pleasant news, I’ll be dropping by Reddit for an online chat tomorrow night! That is Wednesday, October 19, at 8 PM Pacific Time. You can submit questions ahead of time if you wish. Please pay an early visit to Reddit to find out all about how to participate.
I’m looking forward to an interesting evening!
Robin
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In All Its Glory
The cover for the UK edition of City of Dragons, art by Jackie Morris.
