KatTales

Finally overcame my computer problems and  got the rest of the pictures sorted.

Olympics Saturday Feb 20

35 Photos

Olympics Women's Gold Medal Hockey

Gold Medal Hockey match (women's) on Thursday, February 25th

24 Photos

Olympics Victory Ceremony

February 26th Olympic Victory Ceremony featuring Great Big Sea

8 Photos

Miscellaneous Olympic Pics

Mostly from the iPhone, so many shots are grainy

15 Photos

 

The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

The Olympics dug into my reading time this month. Only one book read.

I’ve been a bit busy to write a real blog post, but here’s a photo-gallery summarizing our Olympic experience so far. Some fuzziness again here and there, but the night shots turned out surprisingly well considering I forgot my tripod at the cottage.

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Wow. Only in Canada will you see someone brave enough to receive and light the Olympic torch while STANDING UP IN A CANOE!

These pics were snapped as the torch “run” went by my marina, quite literally my backyard. The torch arrived by dragon boat and left by canoe. Apologies for the slight fuzziness, I appear to have a focus issue with the camera. Kudos also to the guy up the mast of the sailboat in the background.

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This is my house. Right now. We are having the weird linseed oil wash removed from the fir beams using an environmentally-friendly glass-blasting process.

This ranks right up there among the “what the hell have we done?” life experiences.

Yes, those are blossoms, and I kid you not, I took these pictures an hour and a half ago outside my office.

I suppose if all the snow melts, we can always have the beach Olympics.

If you’d like to buy any of these books, please consider not purchasing from that online outfit in Seattle (for reasons why, see here, and here). There are plenty of independents out there. Online, for Canada, the big-box alternative is, of course, Chapters. I’m hearing good things about The Book Depository as well (among them, free international shipping). At least one of the books below is a Macmillan (Tor) title. See my previous post for context.

Storm Front, by Jim Butcher

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski

This book was beautifully written and contained many lovely passages. For the most part, I found it captivating. The ending wasn’t quite for me, but this is simply a matter of the kind of reader I am.

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

One man’s admirable quest to educate the world’s poorest children. While not a perfect book, a must-read.

Wizard’s First Rule, by Terry Goodkind

I’m never certain if I want to start a really long fantasy series, but I decided to check this one out. I was quite enjoying myself, although my gore-meter occasionally ticked a bit high. An interesting premise, strong world-building, plenty of adventure. About two thirds of the way through, I was intending to keep moving on with the series, and then the main character was put through 60+ pages of physical and mental torture. This, unfortunately, left me deflated. I know as writers we’re supposed to make our characters suffer, and I understand what the writer was trying to do here. But for some strange reason, this pushed one of my personal reader buttons – again, purely a matter of taste. Other readers will feel differently.

On Friday night, Amazon pulled all Macmillan-published authors’ books from the Amazon.com site. You can still see the books listed, but you can’t buy them from Amazon.com, only from third-parties. The dispute was over e-book pricing, but as a bargaining chip, Amazon decided to pull print books as well. This is like using a bazooka to swat a fly.

I’m not published. I’m not an industry insider. I’m a reader, and as a hope-to-eventually-be-published writer, an interested party.

I don’t dispute Amazon’s right to not sell certain product. I don’t have a strong opinion either way about the value of Macmillan’s proposal, because I don’t know enough about the industry. I do know that a lot of authors I know and respect are now having their income streams slammed by a dispute in which they have no voice at the table.

I disagree with readers who say “Amazon is protecting the consumer by demanding a $9.99 price point”. As a reader, I did not understand the costs associated with a) writing a book b) publishing a book. But if one takes the Macmillan statement below at face value, Amazon is actually turning down potentially lower pricing. This is not consumer protection. From this consumer’s perspective it smells of oligopoly price-fixing. At what point does it veer into anti-trust?

This is not a case of authors being greedy. Most authors don’t even control the sale price of their books – once their contract is signed with a publisher, that control is out of their hands. If your sales numbers are in the four figures (not uncommon), you’re not making much as an author. Especially if the book took you more than a year to write.

In my opinion, this is a case of a near-monopoly distributor putting the smackdown on someone they are negotiating with, and in the process hurting a lot of authors who have absolutely nothing to do with the dispute.

In a free market, Amazon is perfectly within their rights. I also have the right not to purchase products from a company whose negotiating tactics I find distasteful. I will never buy a Kindle. I will be placing book orders elsewhere. In support of the many hard-working authors I know whose livelihoods have been impacted by Amazon’s heavy-handedness, I will be taking my business elsewhere.

Link roundup:

Macmillan statement

John Scalzi

Tobias Buckell

Charles Stross

Jay Lake

Robert J. Sawyer

A legal take by C.E. Petit (via Charles Stross)

Andrew Wheeler (also via Charles Stross), points out this isn’t the first time.

Updates:

[1:45 PM] Edward Champion with more links to monopoly & price discrimination resources

[4:35 PM] An update from Amazon.

[8:30 PM] Scott Westerfeld

[10:15 PM] John Scalzi’s highly entertaining evisceration of Amazon’s PR failures.

I’ve been tweeting for half the week about “Sooper-sekrit Saturday”. This event was secret because it wasn’t strictly legal.

I was only sent the location 4 hours ahead of time.

Why the hush-hush? What den of iniquity did I step into? Should I be locked up as a danger to myself & others?

We’re talking underground dining here. Underground dining is like a gourmet dinner party at someone’s home. The food is cooked for you by strangers, you may also be dining with strangers, but it’s not a restaurant. The reason it’s not strictly legal is that it violates city by-laws regarding restaurant permits and health codes.

I went with a group of 6 friends. We were joined by a jazz singer and an artist, so the conversation was really interesting.

Here’s the menu:

Thai beef salad

Scallop with picked fennel & spicy aioli, scallop ceviche, scallop with miso dressing, leek & apple

Slow cooked fennel pork belly, endive with vinaigrette, mashed potatos

Pink grapefruit sorbet with sliced candied ginger & Campari

Sake sablefish with pickled vegetable & coconut yam cake

Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis

Bring your own wine

It was a really interesting experience. I think I freaked chef Steve out a bit by showing up 10 minutes early – I badly misjudged my taxi (on a positive note, Vancouver waiting time for cabs is down from 20 minutes to 5 minutes). So he put me to work lighting candles. The rest of the guests arrived, so did a sous-chef/helper, and the meal was on. The advantages to this arrangement are great food and a private space where you can actually hear the conversation around you. Plus no markup on the wine. The cons are that if you’re really enjoying yourself, the building’s noise rules mean no more partying after 11 PM, so sayonara everyone.

Overall, a positive experience.

[Update: 4 PM] Pictures, upon request.

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It’s no secret I have a weakness for plush toys. I was never a Barbie girl. The only reason I don’t own more is 16 years of living on a boat.

Which is why last night’s impulse buy should come as no surprise: Mukmuk – the littlest mascot of that immense juggernaut rolling into town in two weeks.

He’s an endangered Vancouver Island marmot. He’s a foodie. And he’s the ultimate underdog: initially designed as only a virtual mascot to guide kids around the website. He was supposed to only ever be a cyber-sidekick to the marquee mascots, and not have a physical presence.

Now, the cynic in me might say, “what a masterful marketing & merchandising campaign to get Mukmuk voted into physicality”.

But you know what? I don’t care. He’s cute. Getting unexpectedly yanked from one plane of existence to another also resonates incredibly well with my current WIP. I like his story. And I’m a sucker for an underdog.

So meet Mukmuk. Maybe we’ll be seeing you around town over the next few weeks.