October 17, 2005

A FEAST FOR CROWS sales rank, Sep. 27 through Oct. 17. Climbing towards #1!

Norwich Evening News 24:

Over the next two weeks the Evening News is asking readers to vote on their favourite read as part of a competition to celebrate the Norwich Reading Festival.

… there are modern masterpieces on the list too, like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, or Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity which was made into a hit Hollywood movie starring John Cusack.

Youngsters though are likely to have a big say in the final standings with a number of choices on the list.

Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s hit summer movie could well be enough to give Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the sweet smell of success in the competition.

And the ever-popular Winnie The Pooh could well cause a stir by taking the title.

Is “Modern masterpieces” too strong a term?

Two ways of looking at it: does Dan Brown look like a “master”–a Leonardo–relative to his contemporaries? And does THE DA VINCI CODE look like it will be his “master piece”–the culmination and greatest expression of his talent? He’s a relatively young fella.

Bookselling Online: Finally, the article we’ve been looking for: “Few of the myriad used book industry articles published after the BISG’s report on the sector satisfied this blogger or any other online bookseller. Nevertheless, some time later the Union-Tribune of San Diego offered a wonderful piece which gives all sides of the issue, and actually romanticizes the used book trade. It is a refreshing change from previous stories, so I just had to post it.”
The article is a morale-booster for book-lovers.

This Spectra-sanctioned image of Daenerys’ dragon, Drogon, is interesting in terms of its biomechanical composition. It’s a very snake-like dragon, not a great deal of magic inherent in its design. The wings are clearly too small to provide enough lift for the creature. The legs look like goats’ legs that have been grafted on–not derived from a bird or dinosaur base.

George Bush ‘Incompetence’ Makes Nuclear Terrorism More Likely, Claims Author in New Book:

A new novel about an Al-Qaeda plot to destroy America’s largest cities with nuclear weapons presents a thinly disguised George Bush as the incompetent Commander in Chief who fails to act decisively when presented with growing evidence that the next 9/11 is imminent.

Blaming Bush is missing the point. There are huge structural reasons, beyond the grasp of any single leader, why the world is likely to become proliferated.

Publishers Marketplace: The Latest Deals:

Japanese rights to Lisa Rogak’s THE MAN BEHIND THE DA VINCI CODE, now with 22 territories licensed, to Kadokawa, by Japan UNI, on behalf of Scott Mendel at Mendel Media Group

Sounds like a biography of Dan Brown. I know from my research he’s not a terrifically easy subject … not an enormous paper trail. It will be interesting to see how many interviews she’s done with people who know him.

Norwich Evening News 24:

Over the next two weeks the Evening News is asking readers to vote on their favourite read as part of a competition to celebrate the Norwich Reading Festival.

… there are modern masterpieces on the list too, like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, or Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity which was made into a hit Hollywood movie starring John Cusack.

Youngsters though are likely to have a big say in the final standings with a number of choices on the list.

Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s hit summer movie could well be enough to give Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the sweet smell of success in the competition.

And the ever-popular Winnie The Pooh could well cause a stir by taking the title.

Is “Modern masterpieces” too strong a term?

Two ways of looking at it: does Dan Brown look like a “master”–a Leonardo–relative to his contemporaries? And does THE DA VINCI CODE look like it will be his “master piece”–the culmination and greatest expression of his talent? He’s a relatively young fella.

–
Posted by wfzimmerman to The Solomon Key and Beyond: Dan Brown News at 10/17/2005 11:42:39 AM

Blogcritics.org: Interview with Jeremy Robinson, highly successful Lulu author:

Do you attribute any of your books success to the similarity with Da Vinci code?

Not at all. It has been compared to Da Vinci a few times but it really shouldn’t be. This is happening to just about every religious thriller published today. Any story that involves Jesus or the Catholic Church is now a Da Vinci rip off. I’m a Dan Brown fan too, but he didn’t invent the genre. For those in disbelief, check out The Da Vinci Legacy, published in the 80’s. Dan Brown is following in the footsteps of those who paved the religious thriller road, just like me.

While what Robinson says is, literally, true, he needs to take a humility pill or two.

The Open-Source War - New York Times:

The Open-Source War

By JOHN ROBB
Published: October 15, 2005

IN September, the Defense Department floated a solicitation for a company to build a “system of metrics to accurately assess U.S. progress in the war on terrorism” and make suggestions on how to improve the effort. As a software executive and former Air Force counterterrorist operative, I began thinking: how would I build this system and what would I recommend?

My first task would be to gauge our progress in Iraq. It is now, for better or worse, the epicenter of the war on terrorism. By most measurements, the war is going badly.

As so often the case, the metric design assumes a debatable theory of the problem. The administration’s stated theory of terrorism is to bring the war to the enemy and force them to fight on their terrain, not ours. Under this theory, the key metric would be number of attacks on American soil since 9/11, which is zero. While I do not regard the “on their soil” theory as a completely satisfactory explanation of the events of the last four years, Robb is wrong not to mention it. As anyone who has played with metrics knows, they can tell you a great deal, but only if you ask the right questions.

Update: e-mail from John Robb, who didn’t quite get my point, which is that his metric is flawed on theoretical grounds, just as Bush’s is. I told him:

Right, I’m not saying it’s a perfect metric.

The *real* metric that explains Bush’s actions since 9/11 is probably something like:

Number of nation-states that occupy central position in MidEast geography, possess vast oil reserves, and are run by a megalomaniac who a) openly defies US power and b) tried to assassinate my father:

Dec 2001: 1
Dec 2002: 1
Dec 2003: 0
Dec 2004: 0
Dec 2005: 0

Viola! “Success.”

The problem with Robb’s metric is that by assuming that Iraq is the epicenter of the war on terrorism, he is locking himself into a debatable view of that war. In one view, Iraq is, essentially, a secondary front, a distraction to keep jihadis busy while the real work of Tom Barnett’s globalization goes on.

Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog: Commentary on Robb’s Op-ed:

as so often happens when dark siders have to sum up in print, this one was dark seemingly for the sake of being dark.

Nice point.

There is no way out in this piece. Many consider this realism, but in reality there is always a way out.

Not so. Just ask any of the hundreds of millions who have died in war. There may be a way out in the long view, but that doesn’t do much to help those who die in the short term.