March 6, 2014
Zané Sachs stopped by today. She's created a new blog: Zané Sachs-Going Down, in anticipation of the release of her new book, Sadie the Sadist. The blog features forensic information, abnormal psychology, and Sadie's (questionable) recipes.
Zané Sachs stopped by today. She's created a new blog: Zané Sachs-Going Down, in anticipation of the release of her new book, Sadie the Sadist. The blog features forensic information, abnormal psychology, and Sadie's (questionable) recipes.
The interview didn't go as planned. Frankly, Zané Sachs is the strangest author I've ever met.
5 Questions:
Suzanne: Hi Zané. Why are you wearing that apron?
Zané: Hi. I've been in the kitchen--testing Sadie's recipes. Is that your first question?
Suzanne: Not really...what's that red stuff on your apron?
Zané: Ketchup.
Suzanne: Really? It looks like blood.
Zané: Is that your second question or your third?
Suzanne: What inspired you to write Sadie the Sadist?
Zané: Working in the corporate world. Specifically, a supermarket. Any day now, we're going to be replaced by robots. Seriously. While I was working, Sadie appeared--a full-blown character. She started whispering stuff to me, and I transcribed what she said.
Suzanne: Will you give us an example?
Zané: "Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill."
Suzanne: Kill who?
Zané: Just about everyone. That's your sixth question! You can read a chapter called SEX IN THE BATHROOM on my blog. Here's a snippet:
Sex in the Bathroom
Over the past few days a lot has changed at the supermarket.
The check stands have been moved so the contractors they hired for the remodel can redo the floor, plus they’ve rearranged the aisles again. Bandages are no longer next to macaroni; you’ll find them on Aisle 6 across from Oatmeal.
There’s this new guy in Deli. He’s about my age, not a kid, but not an old man either. His glasses make him look intelligent and I like his legs. They’re muscular and tan. I know, because he wears shorts to work. (We’re allowed to wear black, knee-length shorts from Memorial to Labor Day.) I met him on the freight elevator. I was bringing down the trash cart, after emptying all the garbage cans, when Ranger rolled in a U-boat of roasted chickens destined for the dumpster. His name is Richard, but everybody calls him Ranger. He helped me load my garbage into the compactor—the bags from the trash cans outside the store are especially heavy—and, in return, I gave him a BJ in the employee bathroom. It’s unisex, down in the basement, and the door locks.
Now the poor schmoe is in love with me. Women sense these things, and we lefties are intuitive. He’s obsessed. I feel his eyeballs on my butt whenever I walk past.
But blowing Ranger is not the big thing (no pun intended).
The big thing is: Justus is dead, and I’m not sure if I killed him.
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| Release date: April or May 2014
Visit Zané's blog, Zané Sachs-Going Down
Follow Zané on Twitter
Like Zané's Facebook Page
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It's a chilly Sunday morning here in Colorado. The usually blue sky is overcast, and only a few yellow leaves cling to the tree outside my window...great weather for reading. With thousands of books available, it's great to know I have instant access to my own librarian. The Fussy Librarian helps me select the perfect book for my mood--and she'll help you too.
My historical novel, Hetaera--suspense in ancient Athens, will be featured on the Fussy Librarian tomorrow, November 4th. I've put the book on sale for a week through Amazon's new Kindle Countdown Deal, so you can pick up a copy for just .99 cents (list price $3.99).
Jeffrey Bruner, who works closely with the librarian, was kind enough to answer 5 Questions:
1) Please explain the service The Fussy
Librarian provides to readers.
We provide a daily, personalized ebook recommendation service to readers.
You select from 30 genres, answer a few questions about your preferences
regarding profanity, violence and sexual situations, and the computer does all
the rest. All of our books cost $5.99 or less -- many are 99 cents or free.
2) How is this different than other services?
The Fussy Librarian is the first -- and only -- service to factor content preferences into the database that generates the personalized email. It makes a huge difference in the books you get in the email.
There's a lot of different types of mysteries, for example. With us, you can guarantee you only learn about cozy mysteries that don't have sex, violence or profanity if that's what you want. But if those things don't bother you, you'll hear about a wider selection of novels. The content filters make it easier to readers to try new authors with confidence that they won't get to chapter four and find something that really turns them off.
2) How is this different than other services?
The Fussy Librarian is the first -- and only -- service to factor content preferences into the database that generates the personalized email. It makes a huge difference in the books you get in the email.
There's a lot of different types of mysteries, for example. With us, you can guarantee you only learn about cozy mysteries that don't have sex, violence or profanity if that's what you want. But if those things don't bother you, you'll hear about a wider selection of novels. The content filters make it easier to readers to try new authors with confidence that they won't get to chapter four and find something that really turns them off.
3) How has the ebook revolution changed
reading and book buying habits?
For one thing, an ebook never has to go out of print. Ever! Think about the implications of that. Your choices are no longer limited to what's available on the shelf of your bookstore and that alone has enormous implications for American culture. Ebooks also dramatically lower the cost of publishing for authors and it frees them to write what they want.
As for book buying habits, the only downside is the negative pressure ebooks have put on book prices. Americans have been getting so much for free in the digital era -- news, music, video -- that I think a lot of readers expect their books to be free, too. Those people need to put food on their tables, though. They're not living off of trust funds. I'm not arguing for going back to the $18.95 novel, but we do need to condition readers to accept $2.99, $3.99 and $4.99 as reasonable prices for something that might take an author a year or more to write.
For one thing, an ebook never has to go out of print. Ever! Think about the implications of that. Your choices are no longer limited to what's available on the shelf of your bookstore and that alone has enormous implications for American culture. Ebooks also dramatically lower the cost of publishing for authors and it frees them to write what they want.
As for book buying habits, the only downside is the negative pressure ebooks have put on book prices. Americans have been getting so much for free in the digital era -- news, music, video -- that I think a lot of readers expect their books to be free, too. Those people need to put food on their tables, though. They're not living off of trust funds. I'm not arguing for going back to the $18.95 novel, but we do need to condition readers to accept $2.99, $3.99 and $4.99 as reasonable prices for something that might take an author a year or more to write.
4) With all the instant media available,
why do you think people continue to read books?There's nothing more
powerful than your imagination. I think books tap into that in a way that movies
or television can never do.
5) Why are novels
important?
People love a good story and a good novel takes your imagination to places
and times that would otherwise be impossible. When you start to read a book,
you're giving the author permission to start telling you a story ... and there's
just something magical about that.
About Jeffrey: Jeffrey Bruner has been a film and theater critic and currently works as an
editor for Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper company. Under the pen name
Alex Adena, he has written one novella, Signs and Wonders, and one novel, Finding Grace. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wonderful wife,
Stephanie, one goofy mutt and four bossy cats.
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Thanks for stopping by my blog, Jeffrey. You're providing a wonderful service for readers and writers. I know you've received over a thousand books this past week. I'm sure you'll be receiving thousands more, and that's a lot of books to sort through. Thank you for your hard work!
Sign up for The Fussy Librarian newsletter here.
2 comments:
Great, informative article! I didn't realize FL was the first to really provide a more personalized approach via profanity, violence, etc. I've signed up for the FL newsletter, and find it quite useful for discovering new books.
Thanks for stopping by, Rebecca. I also like the way they rate violence and sexuality, etc. That should give readers a better idea of what they're getting.
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