To celebrate its 75th year of publication, Esquire magazine will put an “electronic” cover on its September 2008 issue. About 100,000 newsstand copies out of the total circulation of 700,000 will carry it. The image itself is a closely guarded secret, except perhaps for the nations of China and Mexico, the states of Texas and Kentucky, Esquire’s staff and executives of the Ford Motor company

Actually, “electronic” doesn’t really describe the venture very accurately. “Electric” is the more appropriate term. The cover will be produced with E-Ink technology. A mini-battery, developed in China, is the power source and will be hand-sewn into the cover by Mexicans, then the lot will be shipped to the magazine’s distribution depot in Lexington, Ky. The carbon footprint for this exercise in digital modernity is about sixty thousand square miles.

It would be hard to make this up, but if you are skeptical read Tim Arango’s article about the
Esquire cover in the New York Times.

When the battery runs out, readers may wrap their fish in the magazine’s paper.

– Richard Curtis

The publicity value of a multiple-book deal may outweigh its actual monetary value. The pages of publishing trade publications and writers’ newsletters are filled with references to deals that make author and publisher look good but do not necessarily stand up to intense scrutiny. In Part 2, we take a hard look beyond the headlines. And there’s some advice on structuring and negotiating your multiple book deal. Click here to learn more.

As students and parents turn their attention to the academic year, one school that might be at the bottom of your fallback list is the one portrayed in Kampus, Grand Master James Gunn’s chilling vision of a college of the future. In Kampus, college has just one purpose: endless battle. Political organizations urge ruthless combat with an invisible opponent and each student is challenged to be more extreme than the rest. One man finds his fame by kidnapping and killing a professor. Instantly he is immersed into the world of grease-guns and grenades, where the anarchy is suspiciously formulated. The professors have forgotten their pursuit of knowledge, midnight groping has turned into isolated sex with keyboards and the only goal is to compete in deadly political games. By becoming a shining example of academic excellence, Tom Gavin has tapped into the secrets inside the private chambers of the university. He finds it is either play the game or die beneath the latest revolutionary fire.

Kampus is one of eleven James Gunn titles published by E-Reads.

– Richard Curtis

In its own quiet way, The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn has become one of E-Reads’ bestselling nonfiction books, and even a cursory look at the story of these three extraordinary individuals will tell you why it compels us decades later. And though the release of this writeup is timed to tie to the Beijing Olympics and the soaring rise of China to a dominant place among the world’s superpowers, it’s not because China is in the news that we recommend this book to you.

Through inheritance or marriage the girls were among the wealthiest and most influential in China in the 1930s as the clouds of two wars — first between China and Japan, then the Second World War — roiled over Asia. Politically, the sisters had been divided between nationalism and Communism and for many years the two supporters of nationalism – Ai-ling and Mei-ling – did not speak to their Communist sympathizer sister Ching-ling. All that changed when the Japanese brutally invaded and occupied their country. It is worth a few moments of your time to read the Wikipedia entry summarizing their story. It’s worth a few hours of your time to read the inspiring The Soong Sisters.

The Soong Sisters is the second book by Emily Hahn published by E-Reads, the other being China to Me, about which I have written so enthusiastically elsewhere in these pages (see A Missouri Feminist Captures Shanghai). And there are more books to come by one of the most remarkable women of the Twentieth Century.

- Richard Curtis

For many writers the term “multiple-book deal” conjures images of byzantine negotiations conducted in a crowded conference room by a battery of literary agents, lawyers, accountants, and publishing executives, of telephone-number advances and thick contracts replete with state-of-the-art jargon about best-seller escalators, book club passthroughs, and topping privileges. The tyro author who would be overjoyed to get even a one-book contract must view such deals as relevant only to the gods in some literary Valhalla. What pertinence do these John Grishamian, Dan Brownian, Nora Robertsian transactions have to the humble and brutish lives of nickel-a-word galley slaves?

The truth is that many more multiple-book contracts are proffered to writers than most people imagine, and most of them are no more complicated than one-book contracts. To learn more, click here.

Eric Pfanner reports in the New York Times that a company called France Telecom has introduced a portable device to read newspapers online. By tapping a link with a stylus, you can bring up headlines and articles identical to the paper version. The company is exploring ways to monetize the news delivered online, a problem that is giving newspaper publisher fits.

A number of publications have gone in with France Télécom on an experimental basis. We’re not sure how the French public will take to it. Spill latte on your newspaper and you can chuck it in the trash. Spill it on your electronic reader, that’s another thing altogether.

Click here to read more

RC

Ultraportable PC’s are a consumer’s dream, but big-ticket computer manufacturers are very nervous about the emergence of this new breed of modest-sized, modestly priced computers that cater to users who don’t demand much more from their machine than easy access and reliability so they can surf the Net and check their emails. In the New York Times, reporter Matt Richtel writes,

Industry analysts say that the emergence of this new class of low-cost, cloud-centric machines could threaten titans like Microsoft and Intel, or even H.P. and Dell, because the giants have built their companies on the notion that consumers want more power and functions built into their next computer.

Ultraportables may threaten the titans but they’re welcome news to e-bookers.

Read more about Netbooks.

RC

Introduction to The Gorean Saga Volumes 1-3
By John Norman
#1 Tarnsman of Gor
#2 Outlaw of Gor
#3 Priest-Kings of Gor

The Gorean series, to the best of my knowledge, is the longest, most complex, most carefully worked out single-world series in the history of science fiction, or, if you prefer, adventure fantasy. On the other hand, the Gorean series has grown, like a forest, in “foreign lands.” It is not really science fiction, as that genre is normally understood, nor is it adventure fantasy, in the usual way that genre is understood. It transcends genres and its ships beach on unusual shores. For better or for worse it is an “Original,” and it bears all the interest of a new literary form, and risks all the perils of the same.

To read John Norman’s complete essay, click here.

Heiress, the Janet Dailey novel breakout bestseller, is available once again. E-Reads has just issued it as a trade paperback, where it can be purchased on amazon.com. It’s also available as an e-book download.

In Heiress, two sisters meet at the funeral of one of the most prestigious men in the country, Dean Lawson, their father. Abbie Lawson, the dutiful genteel daughter bred in the lap of luxury and, Rachel Farr, a mistake born of a passionate love affair, are almost identical in appearance but are worlds apart. Only one daughter can be the heir to the endless oil fields and magnificent thoroughbreds. A fierce competition has arisen between the women, not only for the inheritance but also for the proof of a father’s love. They should have been devoted to each other as friends and sisters, but they have become the most embittered of enemies. The Texas men they love watch as the rivals tear themselves apart to become Dean Lawson’s heiress.

E-Reads publishes over fifty classic Janet Dailey Romances including the Americana Series, one novel set in every state in the union.

RC

Janet Dailey fans will be glad to see the print edition of Something Extra reissued. It’s also available as an e-book download.

In Something Extra, Jolie Antoinette Smith wants to marry the man of her dreams. But when she meets that man in the form of brash and confident Louisiana native Steve Cameron, he quite clearly wants something different. Jolie’s sensitive soul and passionate heart are now at odds–and she wishes she had never found true love!

E-Reads publishes over fifty classic Janet Dailey Romances including the Americana Series, one novel set in every state in the union.

RC