piranha: red origami crane (Default)
of SFF ebooks, since i've been woefully behind the times in that genre.

the *poing* and i were co-grumbling about the sad tendency of publishers advising authors to switch names in order to beat the crappy software that seems to determine what bookstores buy -- which makes me lose track of authors i like because i don't have the spoons to read industry-watching or individual authors' blogs. the *poing* enlightened me that Sarah Zettel is indeed still writing, except as CL Anderson, and that Laura J Mixon is now MJ Locke. really, guys, a change to a more bland, less unique name is good for you? the gender-neutrality makes up for that? is SFF still so damn hidebound? has anyone done a study on this? do any male authors in SF change names? maybe SFF publishers should develop a logo for "girl cooties" and liberally stamp it on all books so infested to spare overly sensitive guys from exposure.

*grump*.

i set out to do some book buying.

what the heck is wrong with SFF publishers? back lists are still often not available as ebooks! some newer books are too expensive. frex Justina Robson's "Natural History" comes in at C$14. that's too much for me; i won't pay more than C$10 because i don't pay more for a mass market paperback. now, if authors received a much higher percentage of that money, then we could talk. as it is, no. since i am planning to shift all my paper to ebooks, i looked for some lesser known, such as Tricia Sullivan. nothing at all in ebook. *sigh*. how long do publishers hang on to rights? i wonder whether self-publishing might not be a more viable idea than hoping for more than a decade that you'll get a reprint.

*double grump*.

also, kobo.com still does not have a shopping cart, but each book gets bought singly. that is so annoying that it makes me want to go out and download a torrent with 1000 pirated books -- if only that worked as a deterrent to bookstores pissing me off. i have a budget. i want to pile my haul up in my shopping cart to see what it all comes to with tax. as it is, i have to keep track of that in my head (or start writing it down -- yeah, right). maybe this method works to make other people over-spend, but in my case i am under-spending and buying fewer books than i otherwise would, because i hate getting individual statements in my inbox as well.

i would easily have spent double of what i did today if the books i wanted had been available at a price point i am willing to pay, or indeed, had been available at all.

it's a sad day when it is much easier to buy gay tentacle porn than established SFF.

*triple grump*.

also, it makes it much harder to write up a haul because i have to copy-paste everything bit by bit.

Aguirre Ann - Sirantha Jax 1 - Grimspace
Anderson CL (Zettel Sarah) - Bitter Angels
Bear Elizabeth - Jacob's Ladder 1 - Dust
Gould Steven - 7th Sigma
Hallaway Tate (Morehouse Lydia) - Garnet Lacey 1 - Tall, Dark & Dead
McGuire Seanan - October Daye 1 - Rosemary and Rue
Kowal Mary Robinette - Glamourist Histories 1 - Shades of Milk and Honey
Locke MJ (Mixon Laura J) - Up Against It
Robson Justina - Quantum Gravity 1 - Keeping It Real
Stross Charles - Glasshouse
Wilson Robert Charles - Spin 2 - Axis
Wilson Robert Charles - Spin 3 - Vortex
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
*gah*, i was gonna post these weekly, but have really fallen down on the job.

latest fictionwise m/m haul )

oh, and one non-m/m book. an old acquaintance has a new harlequin romance out, and hers are the only harlequins i ever buy: Kistler Julie - Scandal. yay, julie! i wish she wrote m/m, *grin*.
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
i don't know why i have not been posting my ebook hauls like i did my paper book hauls. i guess i didn't think they'd become my main source for books just yet, but in fact they have; months ago. also maybe because it's all smut. :) well, not really. i have previously complained that apparently as soon as the romance is same-sex, publishers and bookstores shove it immediately under "erotica" even if the amount of actual sex is minimal and not particularly graphic; no more so than in the average hetero series romance.

adding to the vague notion that i should be posting these have been a couple of posts by m/m authors who have been very upset at piracy. i want to show what i buy (usually after having originally been exposed to an author or a specific work via file sharing), since there are a lot of us who buy because we want to support the authors whose work we like (so they write more!). even if we prefer to download first because there are no legitimate sources to read before buying, unlike for printed books (no libraries carry our favourite smut, nor may we borrow ebooks from a friend. and one can't buy used ebooks either.).

if you feel inclined to argue the legality or morality of file sharing, don't. well, feel free, but not here. i know all the arguments. and i am not in an arguing mood today.

latest fictionwise m/m haul )

haul

Nov. 27th, 2007 10:03
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
last week chapters had a 20% off sale, so i forced myself to go to the store. :) the real catch turned out to be the takemiya, not something i would have expected to find, and the editions (by vertical) look nice (though no dustcovers, no colour inserts, *sigh*), but large, with wide inner margin, crisply printed. this is a classic tragedy by one of the famous "24-gumi" [1] and i grabbed the 3 volume set faster than a speeding bullet.

bujold, louis mcmaster diplomatic immunity (SFF)
enjin yamimaru   voice or noise v1 (manga, BL)
iwaaki hitoshi parasyte v2 (manga, seinen)
king laurie a. the art of detection (M)
lehman, timothy r.   manga - masters of the art (NF, art)
monette, sarah the virtu (SFF)
rankin, ian fleshmarket close (M)
rankin, ian the naming of the dead (M)
rowland, laura joh red chrysanthemum (M)
shinkai makoto & sahara mizu    voices of a distant star (manga, seinen)
takemiya keiko   to terra v1 (manga, shounen)
takemiya keiko to terra v2 (manga, shounen)
takemiya keiko to terra v3 (manga, shounen)


[1] the 24-gumi were a group of mangaka born around the year 24 shouwa (1949), who were pioneers in developing what we now call "shoujo" manga (manga especially marketed to girls), incidentally also setting off the boys' love boom. it was a Really Big Deal for takemiya, a female girls' mangaka, to get published in a shounen (boys) magazine.
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
bergh renémake your own patterns (NF, crafts)
carson tsiacraftivity (NF, crafts)
greenspan alanthe age of turbulence (NF, bio)
hoffman w.a.raised by wolves: matelots (F, gay)
ogasawara ukivirtuoso di amore (manga, BL)
rehfeldt janet & wood mary jane  crocheted socks (NF, crafts)
souryo fuyimi  ES eternal sabbath v3 (manga, seinen)
souryo fuyimi  ES eternal sabbath v4 (manga, seinen)
takumi youmelted love (manga, BL)
taylor kathleenyarns to dye for (NF, crafts)
urushibara yukimushishi v2 (manga, seinen)
yoshinaga fumilovers in the night (manga, BL)
yoshinaga fumidon't say anymore, darling (manga, BL)
yamada yugipicnic (manga, BL)
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
as i mentioned before, i had a nice soul purchase some doujinshi [1] for me at comiket [2]. this was my first time buying any doujinshi at all, nevermind doing it long-distance through somebody i don't really know, but it all went very well. [livejournal.com profile] deverilin picked good stuff for me (i told her what type of thing i wanted and from which mangaka), packed it all up very well, and mailed it off speedily. if i may channel an ebay buyer for a moment: A+++++, will definitely buy from again.

wow, doujinshi are pretty. it's so much nicer to see the art this large, instead of in paperback size. (they're all about 7x10".)

click on images to see large-size versions.
miyamoto kano
song birds (rules DJ)

nekota yonezou
満ちる部屋 # 4 (michiru heya 4)
神様の腕の中 (kamisama no ude no naka DJ)

sakura haiji
それはきいてない (sore wa kiitenai)

naono bohra
恋愛痛 ~悪化~ (renai tsuu ~akka~)


oh yeah, i have a new scanner. :)

[1] doujinshi are amateur manga publications, though the "amateur" does not refer to the quality, only to the fact that they're self-published. the ones i've seen look very professional and polished to me compared to say, zines. some of them contain fan art, some original. the ones i bought are all original.

[2] comiket is the world's largest comics convention, held twice a year in tokyo. 3 days, 35,000 circles (amateur mangaka associations, kinda like APAs), 500,000 visitors. i know i would hate it. :) but it goes to show how absolutely huge manga and anime are in japan. no commercial publishers are allowed to sell at comiket, it's a grassroots, fan-based convention.
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
air delivery from japan is so fast.

KANO shiuko君さえいれば (kimi sae ireba) (manga, BL)
TAKAMURE tamotsu  前奏曲 ~プレリュード~ (prelude) (manga, BL)
OGASAWARA uki裏刀神記 v2 (ura katana kami no ki) (manga, BL)
OOMINE Shoukoラブリー・シック v3 (lovely sick) (manga, BL)
OOMINE Shoukoラブリー・シック v4 (lovely sick) (manga, BL)
HIGA sakiaLSD v1 (manga, BL)
HIGA sakiaLSD v2 (manga, BL)
HIGA sakiaLSD v3 (manga, BL)


some extremely pretty art in this haul. higa sakia -- very intense. ogasawara uki too (and both completely uncensored -- yay). the kano shiuko on the other hand is badly censored -- white scribbles all over. *yuck*. that'd be a bitch to restore. though i might just do that, since it hasn't been scanlated yet.
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
cause while i was asleep, zie went to our postal drop BY BIKE to pick up my latest book order from chapters, all 6 kg of it.

taeko KAMIDAthe handbook of japanese adjectives and adverbs (lang)
sue a. KAWASHIMA  a dictionary of japanese particles (lang)
hinako TAKANAGAchallengers v2 (manga, BL)
hinako TAKANAGAchallengers v3 (manga, BL)
hinako TAKANAGAchallengers v4 (manga, BL)
fumi YOSHINAGAichigenme... the first class is cicil law v2 (manga, yaoi)
HOMERUN kenclan of the nakagamis (manga, BL)
shoko HIDAKAnot enough time (manga, BL)
chigusa KAWAIla esperança v6 (manga, BL)
chigusa KAWAIla esperança v7 (manga, BL)
i bought these a couple of weeks ago locally:
yuki URUSHIBARAmushishi v1 (manga, seinen)
hitoshi IWAAKIparasyte v1 (manga, seinen)
fuyumi SOURYOES - eternal sabbath v1 (manga, seinen)
fuyumi SOURYOES - eternal sabbath v2 (manga, seinen)

everybody uses a different system of romanization, which bites. i can understand why they reverse the normal japanese name order (familyname first, given/personal name last) to adjust to the west, but apparently they don't always reverse it ("homerun ken" is written the same way as it would be in japan (ホームラン・拳), and no, it has nothing to do with baseball; it's pronounced hoe-MEH-roon. though maybe it has to do with baseball, since the author writes it in katakana, and BL mangaka often use pseudonyms, some of which are weird. ok, this might be a special case). but they also drop out lengthening indicators, as in "shoko", which should really be spelled "shohko" to get around the wrong pronunciation english speakers would give to a romanized "shooko" (日高ショーコ). ah well. nobody but me cares. except maybe other people who catalogue their books on computers.

these are the first english manga i've bought in 3 or 4 years, and quality-wise they are quite nice. the dramaqueen editions have lovely separate colour covers, colour inserts, and good quality paper -- they really look like japanese editions, so pretty! the juné editions are slightly larger, which i appreciate (larger graphics are a good thing). they also have separate colour covers, but no colour inserts, and the paper isn't quite as good. del rey doesn't have separate covers (though mushishi fakes it by using really thick paper and flaps), and no colour inserts. dramaqueen uses japanese honorifics (and seems to presume readers know what those are), the first juné book i opened uses "mr." -- *blech*. i have come to hate that because it loses so much nuance, and it now actively sounds wrong to my ears. del rey also uses japanese honorifics, plus a page to explain them -- that's ideal IMO; it teaches english readers just a little bit about a foreign culture, and it preserves the detail that comes with the honorifics.

hey, i can legally buy manga in a bookstore that could get me permanently suspended from livejournal were i to post the smex from it (cause some of the boys are not yet 18). isn't that special.
piranha: red origami crane (reading)
on sunday i went to chapters (bookstore), as a reward for also running errands -- buying a home depot gift card, and printer ink cartridges. cunningly i avoided the manga shelves for the most part (except, ok, i fondled the pretty edition of earthian, but i really would like to have kouga yun's art in a larger format, and hanging on my wall).

the most needed purchase was a very concise japanese grammar (schaum's). sure, it's been pretty exciting to figure out from listening to drama CDs that japanese must have two classes of adjectives, one that behaves like verbs (and gets conjugated similarly), and one that doesn't, but it's a whole lot easier to read up about that, *wry grin*.

while i am extremely happy with the WWWDIC server (and my undying gratitude goes to jim breen for creating this wonder), i really like paper dictionaries, and the one thing the WWWDIC server is missing are example sentences that clarify usage. i found a great little (that should be in quotes; we're talking 550 pages) dictionary that fits my needs well at this time, the oxford pocket kenkyusha. it has kanji, kana, romaji, example sentences, it tells whether a verb is irregular, and it has examples. once i am more advanced i want to buy an electronic dictionary from japan, but it's as yet too soon for that.

the most fantabulous book i bought is the guide to remembering japanese characters by kenneth g. henshall. it gives details of the "general use characters", the 1,945 characters prescribed by the japanese ministry of education for everyday use, in the order in which japanese school children are taught. it contains on- and -kun readings, english meaning, examples of usage, suggestions for mnemonics (which range from amusing to meh, but are fun to think about), and best of all, scholarly (if compressed) etymology. it doesn't include stroke order, but since i am mostly using a word processor, and have a separate book for that anyway, i don't really care. i am totally excited about this -- i am lugging it along with me between my room, the bathroom, and the computer, *heh*.
piranha: red origami crane (Default)
went to the bank to deposit checque (yay, we shall live another couple months thanks to our small company contract whose owner is fantastic about paying, while the big company screws us over some more). stopped by the little asian food- and giftstore to buy curry and some other random goodies, like coconut spread, kimchee, and japanese "calpis water" (which was, contrary to its somewhat unfortunate name, très yummy, albeit not carbonated as the store owner claimed). and to chapters, to look for farthing and the virtu. they didn't have either, *mope*, though that means i'll be able to calm down about the latter, and make myself wait until it comes out in paperback. the paramour bought up almost their entire stock of kakura puzzles. and of course i couldn't walk out without buying something; that'd be the day.
small haul here if you care )
also went into canadian tire to see whether they'd have a kickboard, but no win. bought two thick noodles instead, with which, in combination with a piece of lexan yet to be acquired, i am hoping to fashion myself a see-through kickboard.

and now i go swimming with the noodles to inaugurate them. i love floating in the water, looking below at all the life in the intertidal zone. neap tide!

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