Episode 43 – Too Old and Too Bald

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 Dave laments a gas station chimichanga, which leads us to discuss recent bad press about Harlequin publishing.

We discuss the dodgy sales tactics and licensed distributors Harlequin are using.

This leads us to talk briefly about the idea that all publishers are bad.

We go on to talk about some contract clauses of which to be aware.

Alan then discusses the online beating he took for having an opinion about The Hunger Games. The whole thing was triggered by a couple of blog posts:

www.alanbaxteronline.com/hunger-games-hype-adults-reading-ya/

http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/hunger-games-movies-books/

The idea Alan proposes that the film, in this rare instance, was better than the book caused some visceral responses from 11 year-old fans. This exchange happened on Google+, not Alan’s blog, incidentally.

We also talk about adults reading YA fiction and whether we should expect to be bored.

This leads us to talk about why The Hunger Games, flaws notwithstanding, is such a popular story.

Here’s the article written by Alan’s wife which he mentions in the podcast. The article does a good analysis of The Hunger Games and it’s ethics and morality:

http://www.thirteenoclock.com.au/the-hunger-games-movie-review-and-analysis-by-halinka-orszulok/

We then go on to talk about some of the accusations that Suzanne Collins (author of The Hunger Games) ripped off an earlier book, Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Dave read the book recently and talks about the similarities and differences.

Alan gets one last dig in about The Hunger Games towards the end.

ThrillerCast 042- Author vs Editor with Kane Gilmour

We’re still experiencing some audio issues since Dave’s move due to internet connection problems. We’re trying to sort that out, so please bear with us. We hope it doesn’t spoil your listening experience in the meantime.

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This week, we talk briefly about the benefits of the number 42 and then Alan talks about his nomination for a Ditmar Award.

 Dave talks about his current projects and his new collaboration with Ryan Span.

We discuss the move by Tor to go DRM free with their ebooks, and the subsequent issues surrounding DRM and geographical restrictions. This leads to us talking about region coding on DVDs and the associated issues. 

We talk about Boyd Morrison’s latest publication headaches.

Then we talk about the new J K Rowling book for adults. We’re not very kind about it, but we’re hoping to be proven wrong.

Then we have a Dave Mini-rant: Mary Robinette Kowal recently had a book published with the first line missing along with many other editorial errors. Dave discusses that and goes on to rant about people reviewing indie books and marking them down about errors and typos, yet big trad published books are rarely panned for that reason.

Following Dave's rant, we have great chat with Kane Gilmour. Again, apologies for the sound issues – it’s all Dave’s fault for moving to New Mexico.

Kane talks about his work and his path to writing. We talk about the value of details and research in fiction. 

Kane talks about becoming a fan of Jeremy Robinson and how he came to be Jeremy’s editor. He then goes on to talk about their collaborations.

Kane offers his advice as an editor for other writers out there.

A great bit of advice about writing using GRRM as a role model is well worth paying attention to, especially for thriller writers.

Then Kane talks about where he’s going next with his career and where he sees genre writing going in the near future.

 Kane Gilmour is online at www.kanegilmour.com Also find him on Facebook and Twitter.