The weekly news report

The Fiscal Year 2010 Federal budget is available online. You can download the entire thing here in PDF.

Patrick Rothfuss provides his own lamentation (not to be confused with Ken Scholes’s Lamentation) over the release dates issue of his second novel, The Wise Man’s Fear. Personally, I think we're all at the mercy of good authors. But that's a good thing, right? We enjoy their work, so why can't we wait a few more days, weeks, or months? You're world won't end.

Sarah Micklem's sequel to her debut (Firethorn) is due in July of 2009. Wildfire should be priced in the $25 range.

An interesting list of King Arthur and Camelot books.



Alan Sklar, audio book reader, gives a nice interview.

I hate bugs but loved grilled steak. This would have me screaming like a little girl.

The name is familiar, but the topic is creepy. Could this be the New Weird meets Horror?



Could Asian YA (Young Adult) and Children’s books be the next market to get into? Might want to re-write your characters now future writers.

I’ve long been a fan of the shirtless Kvothe cover to The Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss. The last photo in this post made me think of that “other” over of the face in the ivy.



I have mixed feelings about Clive Cussler and Jack DuBrul's latest team effort, Corsair. It's due out in the next week or so, but I'm still convinced Cussler is dragging DuBrul's talent down the toilet.

Want free books? Me too. But I'm too far away and I'm sure they're gone by now.

Scribd has been making waves recently. Is it worth it? Any users care to comment?

And finally, Library Dad gets 15 seconds of fame on The Old Bat's Belfry blog.

Most interesting to me though is how to take Tia's advice on getting/keeping blog readers and applying it to Library Dad.



And big news for me, S. M. Stirling has a sample chapter up for his latest work, A Taint in the Blood. It sounds like an Urban Fantasy style novel and the first reading made it sound interesting, but certainly nothing like the Nantucket books (or Emberverse or Change or whatever you want to call it). He's also had sample chapters of the next Nantucket book, The Sword of the Lady, available for some time.

Anderson News is facing down bankruptcy and four major publishers.

Library News

The national library in Scotland was hit by flooding from some sprinklers. The damage sounded minor, but it's not the first time it happened. Me think the plumber needs to check out a book from the DIY section.

And here’s some antique (or vintage if you prefer) library porn from 1910. A reading room in the New York Public Library before it opened.



The age-old debate on censorship in the library is making rounds again. Should patrons of age or under age be allowed to check out material with sexual content? Maybe the parents should monitor their kids first.

If my library had a Wii (and I didn't), I'd certainly think about going more often.

You mean people still have VCR's?

Borders News

Yep. Borders closed a store in Chicago. No big deal, but it may be a sign of the times. And my former employer, Books-A-Million? BAMM! They're cooking!

E-Book News

Galley Cat reports that some comic book publishers are fearing the e-book format as it may “kill” the industry. Unlikely in my mind. After all, we already know e-books give an uptick to print sales. After all, did the 45 or CD kill the music industry? Did the VHS or DVD kill the movie industry? Jenna Kay Francis talks e-books and says essentially the same thing.

Galley Cat is also reporting that Google has reached a settlement to pay authors for the books they scanned. But I can’t figure out how the authors get $45 million of the final $125 million settlement. Can someone explain that math to me?



Sean Williams and his publisher Pyr are giving away a free copy of The Crooked Letter (in PDF).

And Daniel G. Keohane and his publisher Dragon Moon Press are giving away a free copy of Solomon's Grave (in PDF).

Suvudu has also issued some free books here.



E-book pricing has been raging through the web recently in several discussions. Should publishers charge less for e-books? I think so. I think they can easily publish a book at a greatly reduced price if they use the electronic format. And while they may be able to increase their profit margin some, I think the retail price should still be lower than the cover price of a regular print book. Which brings about another aspect of the pricing debate. What if the reader set the price? But could this turn into a Google Bomb phenomenon? Could you be e-book bombed? A bunch of people get together and say your book is worth one penny?

Amazon's Kindle 2 has a new feature that reads books to you. And it caused another firestorm of conversation in the industry as it infringed on the rights of authors. Well, Amazon changed their policy. What's interesting is of all the articles and comments against this feature, this is the only article I can find to the contrary. And it raises a valid question. What are the visually impaired to do? And leave it to Jim C. Hines to bring in a level head to the discussion.

The world's oldest profession meets the publishing industry's newest technology. That's right, prostitutes and e-books.