All posts tagged dresden files

I Love Amazon

By | 5 April 2010 | General | 3 Comments

The e-book wars are coming to a head, and the consumer is the victim.

The new Dresden book Changes comes out tomorrow. I was originally planning on getting it for the kindle, just like all the books I read. Unfortunately, it was pulled a couple of days ago because the publish is being a dick. This all stems from the publishers preference to the “agency” sales model for digital media. They prefer this because while they get fewer profits they have more pricing control. Why does this matter? Well, Amazon has been purchasing licenses for books at their whole sale prices (around $13 for new releases), and then turning around and selling them for $9.99 in the kindle store. What does this mean? Well, having cheap books helps bolster the sales of Amazon’s ebook reader, the kindle. Publishers don’t like this because they think it “destroys the value of digital books.”

While other ebook publishers, have given in to the agency model (Sony, B&N) others, such as Apple demand the agency model. Sadly Amazon is the last hold out. As a reaction to penguin refusing to release new books to the kindle unless Amazon agrees to the agency model, Amazon has begun canceling preorders and reduced the price of hardcovers to $9.99.

Please help Amazon “destroy the value of hardcovers” by choosing to purchase their loss leader $9.99 hardcovers rather than paying full price elsewhere.

Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12)

Dresden Files, Completed

By | 4 January 2010 | Rant | No comments

As mentioned in a previous post, I did not manage to complete the Dresden Files in 2009. But, I did manage to finished before the end of 1/1/10, so it was nearly a photo finish. Note that this did not include the short stories, and I do not even own all of those. I guess there is supposed to be a collection of them published this fall, so I might pick that up.

The Dresden Files series is alright. It features a wizard in Chicago that works as a private investigator. It follows a formula very similar to the early Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Blake featured what is effectively a female private investor, and contains the same genre cliches. If it were not for my brother Jason being such a huge fan of the series I would not have read it.

The stories are extremely formulaic, and it shows. If I were Butcher I think I would have a love hate relationship with Dresden. Since, the books much be ridiculously easy to write so you can just keep cashing in, but you know you are capable of writing better. I was not at all surprised when I read that Storm Front (the first Dresden book) was written to demonstrate how awful a book would be if he listened to his writing instructor’s advice.

If you are planning on reading the series, I recommending getting it in audio format. James Marsters does a pretty good reading, and the story has kind of a cinematic feel.

Based on the published novels thus far, I am going to give the series a 0.5 (slight recommendation) on the undecim scale.