Category: books

Double deja vu

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | books

In the middle of the first chapter of Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane, I kept thinking “I’ve played this book”.  Not “I’ve read this book”, but “I’ve played this book”, as in there’s a game just like this.  And there is.  The beginning of the book is from the perspective of a player in an extremely immersive massively multiplayer online world that is so detailed that at first the reader doesn’t realize that the perspective is inside a game.  Then, he steps back into “real” life, and you realize he was playing his character, and this book is about the game.

Several years ago, I played a series of video games that mimicked both a massively multiplayer online world and the player’s online chat experience during the game as it invaded reality.  I really thought I was reading dot Hack, which was the game in question.  It would have made a pretty good novel.  But Omnitopia only started out the same as the game.

Omnitopia Dawn, dot Hack, and also, surprisingly, Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb, all have an element in common, that of using video gaming worlds to affect the so-called “real” world.  But J.D. Robb uses the next step in virtual reality as a murder weapon.  In dot Hack, the theme is mind control.  But Omnitopia Dawn is much more deeply layered.  The company behind the game is intended as a jab at high tech companies with their own internal geek culture, like Apple, Google, and even Microsoft back in the day.

But in Omnitopia Dawn, the real world is going to be affected in real ways, not virtual ones.  Real competitors of the corporation behind Omnitopia plan to use the launch of the next upgrade to launch a very real attack on Omnitopia’s servers using very real viruses, denial of service attacks and other tools that read like natural progressions from today’s headlines.  And the intent behind these attacks is to steal very real money from the company, and if possible to drive Omnitopia out of business, so that its competitors win.

Under the fantasy layer, and the business layer, there is a science fiction layer.  Omnitopia’s server network is vast and its founder has programmed it with its own individual persona and artificial intelligence.  The new upgrade to the system has caused something unexpected to happen to that artificial intelligence.  It has, like so many systems before it, become self-aware.  And in the attack launched by Omnitopia’s enemies, it starts to defend itself.

The first self-aware machine I remember reading about was Mike in Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  Not all of Heinlein’s adult works wear well because some of his attitudes about women (among other things) were very definitely of his time and not ours.  But I still remember the character of Mike very fondly.  Mike named himself for Mycroft Holmes.  But Mike was the computer that ran all the systems on the moon, and eventually accreted enough memory, inputs, data, whatever to become sentient.  Two things about Mike stuck with me.  His friend, Manny, teaching him about humor and jokes, the difference between funny once and funny always, and that Mike doesn’t live to see the revolution he brings about.

There was a long moment at the end of Omnitopia Dawn where I was afraid I was reading about Mike again.

Book Mooch is not my mother

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | books

The admins at Book Mooch are concerned about the amount of work it takes to give 300 books away to people who really, really want them.  So, allegedly out of concern for me, they deleted the half of my inventory that no one had claimed yet. 

What does this say?  First, that in less than 36 hours, 150 books had been snapped up by eager readers around the country.  Many of the books I was willing to mooch had huge wish lists, 50+ people in many cases.  The requests started coming almost instantly.

trunk of packagesYes, this does take a lot of work.  I packed up 140 books in the end, after I decided not to ship international.  I answered everyone.  I made a couple of newbie mistakes.  I started entering titles on Tuesday, and the last books will go to the post office tomorrow.  The local post office wants me to call ahead before I show up again, so they can lay on more staff to handle the workload.

I spent my time, and also invested some money, to send books to people who actually want those specific books.  It would have been easier, faster and way, way less expensive for me to just drop the books off at my local library.  But I thought this would be a good thing.  And some of the people who have packages on the way have already written back saying that they are looking forward to getting the books.

But the admins at Book Mooch got worried.  They explained that they were uneasy about the amount of work I was taking on, sending out so many books at once.  I asked to have the inventory restored, explaining that I was sending books out, and that I was trying to dispose of a significant collection before moving.  Again, they expressed their anxiety about my workload, and that they would check back in two weeks, to see about putting my remaining inventory back up.

If there is concern that a new account is adding too many books, and won’t deliver, just say so.  Better yet, limit new accounts until a defined number of deliveries have been confirmed. 

Apprehension about business and service levels are Book Mooch’s legitimate concerns.  If they had an issue, they could have raised it honestly.  They didn’t.  Instead, they sounded like my mother, talking about chores, and I mean that literally. I already have a mother.

I didn’t see this as a chore.  I saw it as giving books to people who wanted them.  But if it’s a chore, it’s one that I don’t have to do.  The local Friends of the Library can always sell my books at their next sale.

Whither used books?

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | books

Over the weekend, the great weeding project of 2011 finally got started.  This is a fairly daunting task, as this is an 1,800 sq. ft house, and there are books in every room except the laundry room.  At least, I’m pretty sure there are no books in the laundry room.  When we moved here, we rented a house this size in order to finally have enough room to shelve all the books.  And, we still didn’t make it past the letter R.

In about a day and a half, Galen and I went through 935 books, shifted over 600, and boxed over 300.  The process temporarily halted at the late, and sometimes great, Robert A. Heinlein. 

Library Thing LogoWe’ve added everything to Library Thing, whether we’ve kept it or not, and tagged it appropriately, hence the statistics.  (If anyone is interested in our process, just ask)  The fascinating thing about the listings has been the automatic suggestions that the collection has generated.  So many of the suggestions are books that we do have, they are just later in the alphabet.  But the others, well, just what I needed, a neat new toy to play with that will generate even more TBRs. 

The question about what to do with the books we have weeded, and why we are weeding them, circles back to the questions about the aftermarket of used books in general.  These are books.  They are still readable, and someone can still get still get lost in them.  But how do we effectively get rid of this many?  And what happens to used book stores and sales in the future, when more and more readers like us read ebooks instead of paper.  The news last week showed that ebooks sold more than print books in February.  We, the reading public, have reached the tipping point.

The Friends of the Library here is having their semi-annual book sale this weekend.  It is a five-day event that will probably bring in over $150,000 for the group.  They are extremely successful, rightfully so, and fund literacy projects in the community in addition to the work they do with the local library.  What happens to groups like this in 3-5 years when readers no longer have book collections to donate?  People will still want books to read, but where will those books come from?  I suspect I am like many ebook readers, in that what I am interested in is the content and not the container.  But I can’t re-sell or donate my used ebooks when I am done with them.  The long term implications of this trend are staggering.

Powells LogoMeanwhile, we have a “metric buttload” of books to get rid of, and it’s growing nightly.  The local used book store will only give cash for hardcovers and trade paperbacks, with a store credit for mass market paperbacks.  While I understand their position, since we are leaving for Atlanta in six weeks, a store credit doesn’t help much.  Powell’s Books in Portland, OR will buy books online based on the ISBN.  Admittedly, Powell’s is also giving a store credit, but the store is online, so it is much easier to spend.  And they now do ebooks through the Google bookstore.  We still haven’t used the credit from last time, but we’re going to do that again. With the addition of the ebook option, the credit won’t last long.

Book Mooch logoI’m also going to try Book Mooch for some of what Powell’s doesn’t take.  This is a service where you get credit for listing your books, and you pay shipping to send the book to the person who wants it, and get credit for that transaction, too.  In return, I can receive books I want from other people, based on my accumulated credit.  A friend recommends this service, so I’m interested in trying it, especially for the long term possibilities.  There are just too many books in the short term to deal with the shipping charges–success might be it’s own punishment!

We will not throw any books away.  Whatever we can’t send to Powell’s or doesn’t look like a candidate to be Mooched will go to the Friends of the Library as soon as they re-open for donations.  It takes them a little while to recuperate after one of their sales extravaganzas.

I thought it would make it easier to pass along some of these books if I just kept a record of what I had read, but it isn’t.  Even reduced by a third, this will still be a big personal library.  And I recognize that some of these books are ones that I won’t pick up again, and that there is someone out there who will enjoy them if I let them go.  But damn, it’s hard.

Goodreads or Library Thing or Shelfari???

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | books

The Scream by MunchIf I’m going to weed my collection, I have to keep track of what I’ve read some other way.  Really, truly, or I’ll go mad.

Let me back up.  I have a regular book talk I do on science fiction and fantasy from a reader’s perspective.  I normally do it by updating my bibliography and using current trends as a jumping off point for themes.  I update the bibliography from, you guessed it, looking at my bookshelves.  Which won’t exist after the “grand culling of the books” that is about to be performed.

I really only want to do this once.  I know I have north of 5,000 books to enter, and probably closer to 10,000.  Not joking.  We didn’t completely unpack this time, we never quite got to the end of the alphabet, mostly because we never got the last few shelves set up.  We never quite found room for them. 

But what’s an avowed biblioholic to do?  There’s Goodreads, and there’s Library Thing and there’s Shelfari.  I could use any one of them to track the great dismantling, but I want something that will keep track of everything, what I get rid of, what I read from now on, what I like, and what I didn’t.  And, of course, all my TBRs.  Does anyone have any recommendations for which one would be best?  Not to mention why they think it’s best?

Digital era

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | books

There are a multitude of benefits to remote work for both employees and employers, but a common one that I’ve noticed is that employees feel more committed to the company because they know they have the option of leaving at any time.

The main reason for this effect is that if the organization doesn’t support it, remote workers will quit. Many people who quit for that reason believe that it’s the entire company’s fault. They would probably be wrong. Companies that support remote work know that it’s inevitable. The company that offers remote work knows that it’s inevitable that people will have to move. If you support your remote workers, they will stick around. With so many employees working remotely it can also be very tricky managing them all, but did you know that you can monitor an employee computer to check on what they are doing? This makes managing them so much easier and improves productivity a great deal so is well worth doing.

How do you support remote workers?
When you are a manager, you have a few choices. You can make this a core part of your office policy. If you don’t do this, the company can provide remote work support. Some employers do, others don’t. Either way, you will make a point to support remote workers. It’s not about forcing them into remote work. It’s about allowing them to have remote work. You may want to make a few additional exceptions in the case of emergencies, but it’s important to make it clear that this is a part of your office policy. You can also do one of three things. The third option is to offer a package. The company may support remote work from a local computer that you have for use by your employees, so long as: It may seem a bit expensive. The cost will be covered by the company as long as you provide a remote computer for use by remote workers .It can cost as little as a few dollars a day. When employees are remote, the cost can vary significantly. The option can also cost much more. If your office offers a package, you can provide an internal Web-based software program that automates the process of adding the remote workers to the corporate network. You don’t have to use the company’s remote-worker option to manage your remote employees. You can also create your own policies. For example, you may want to include people from a company in a large network of remote workers without requiring that they work with your remote office. Or you might not need the company’s remote-worker option. If you do need the company’s remote-worker option, use its Remote Desktop program to remotely access the company’s corporate network and administer the computers of your remote employees. If you want to manage the computers remotely, then you must use Windows.

Note Using remote-worker programs to manage your employees is a well-established practice in the United States. But use of such software for any business other than small- or medium-sized businesses is prohibited by the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq. If you provide such software, you may be subject to civil and criminal penalties under that act and other federal laws governing the theft or unauthorized access of a computer or other property. Because of the risk of fines and criminal penalties, companies usually avoid the use of such software for remote access. Instead, the company generally enables only employees who are physically onsite at a company facility to use the remote-worker program for work-related purposes.