WE MIGHT HAVE News

My ebook of twenty-four poems on love and chance, WE MIGHT HAVE, has hit #2 on the Kindle Store's bestseller list of Paid Asian American Poetry ebooks. Pick up a copy for Kindle or Nook and commiserate Valentine's Day with me.

International Please Don't Pirate My Books Day

Today, in other words, is the brainchild of novelist, screenwriter, and game designer Chuck Wendig. I'm participating because, like Chuck, I believe creative and clerical work has value. The books I publish will never be free, but ebooks do cost less to make than print books, and ereader vendors control how long ebooks are stored. I set my prices accordingly.

Perhaps pirates don't genuinely value what they take. If they did, they would pay for it. But everyone values something and would cry foul if that something were taken without compensation.

An artist's creation expresses his individuality on levels even he doesn't see. In that sense, it's more valuable than any price one could set. Please consider paying a fair price.

RIDE 2: MORE SHORT FICTION ABOUT BICYCLES ed. Keith Snyder

I'd known of Keith Snyder for many years as a fellow Robert B. Parker fan and author of the Jason Keltner mystery series. Two years ago, he attended a reading of crime fiction and poetry at which I performed, and since then we've bonded over poetry, Parker, and ebook production.

When Keith mentioned that this second volume of bicycle-themed fiction also featured two poems, I jumped at his offer of a review copy. The eight contributors to Ride 2 clearly share Keith's passion for cycling, and the book is sure to appeal to readers who do, or to someone like me, who last pedaled the block on training wheels but fondly recalls the feeling of coasting under my own power.

Sunday Sales

The ebook version of The Lineup #2 is now available for Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook. The shortest of our four issues, it's a fine introduction to poetry at $1.99.

I was unable to obtain electronic reprint rights for four poems from the original print issue, but you can get 20% off any Lineup print issues ordered from Lulu.com today through December 14 with coupon code FELICITAS.

Finally, through tomorrow, December 10, you can get 15% off orders of $50 or more from The 5-2's CafePress shop with coupon code SHOPUP.

Thanks for your support.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

I love printed books. They will always have certain advantages over ebooks. For one, you can read them without electricity or batteries. For another, when you buy a physical book, it's yours. You walk out of the store and go home with it and keep it for as long as you want.

To the surprise of some, that's not the case with ebooks. Major vendors control whether and how long you can read ebooks you've "bought". (They now say "rented" is a better description of downloaded books.)

Still reading more paper books than ebooks, I hadn't come to think of purchased ebooks as permanently mine. As a poetry editor, I have to be up on how ebooks are read and created because I want the e-reading public to read poetry. That said, my ebook pricing reflects that ebooks aren't solid like books, in the same way MP3s aren't solid like CDs. If I can't hold them in my hand, I expect to pay less for them.

The ebooks I publish will always cost less than print would, reflecting that no money was spent on paper, ink, and binding. My ebooks will never be free because I believe creative and clerical work have value; but, if and when Amazon or BN decides to pull back your purchases, you're only out the cost of a movie rental.

Available Now: The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly, Vol. 1

The 5-2 Volume 1 ebook is available now for Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook. It collects The 5-2's first year of fifty-two poems.

Poems by Nyla Alisia, R.A. Allen, Margaret Anderson, Michael A. Arnzen, Randall Avilez, Jack Bates, Alec Cizak, Robert Cooperman, Ray Daniel, Michael Chacko Daniels, Cassandra de Alba, C.J. Edwards, John M. Floyd, Kent Gowran, Bruce Harris, Clarinda Harriss, Chad Haskins, Kathleen Hellen, Kyle Hemmings, Paul Hostovsky, Peter Ivey, Dorothy James, Tonia Kalouria, Susan Kelley, Ian Khadan, Rauan Klassnik, Lola Koundakjian, Dennis Mahagin, Catfish McDaris, Trevor Nelson, Brett Peruzzi, Thomas Pluck, David S. Pointer, Kimberly Poitevin, William Dylan Powell, Charles Rammelkamp, Keith Rawson, Stephen D. Rogers, Nancy Scott, Jackie Sheeler, Hal Sirowitz, Duane Spurlock, Jay Stringer, and Ray Succre.

Now Available: LOST CHILDREN: PROTECTORS

I'm pleased to have contributed an original poem, "Hushed", to a new anthology edited by Thomas Pluck, thirty-nine stories and two poems benefiting child protection lobby PROTECT, available in ebook and trade paperback.

"Pain shouldn't be this fun."

...reads the title of Shawn Robertson's Amazon review for my poetry ebook, We Might Have. Shawn runs the text-and-audio fiction website Tales of Old, and is on Twitter @TalesOfOld. Thanks very much, Shawn.

@g_so I loved "We Might Have." Poems about pain should not be that fun! B&N site would not let me review, but I put one on Amazon.

— Shawn Robertson (@TalesofOld) August 30, 2012

Coming in October: The 5-2 Volume One Ebook

Fifty-two poems by fourty-four poets, $3.99 for Kindle and Nook.

Featuring poems by Nyla Alisia, R.A. Allen, Margaret Anderson, Michael A. Arnzen, Randall Avilez, Jack Bates, Alec Cizak, Robert Cooperman, Ray Daniel, Michael Chacko Daniels, Cassandra de Alba, C.J. Edwards, John M. Floyd, Kent Gowran, Bruce Harris, Clarinda Harriss, Chad Haskins, Kathleen Hellen, Kyle Hemmings, Paul Hostovsky, Peter Ivey, Dorothy James, Tonia Kalouria, Susan Kelley, Ian Khadan, Rauan Klassnik, Lola Koundakjian, Dennis Mahagin, Catfish McDaris, Trevor Nelson, Brett Peruzzi, Thomas Pluck, David S. Pointer, Kimberly Poitevin, William Dylan Powell, Charles Rammelkamp, Keith Rawson, Stephen D. Rogers, Nancy Scott, Jackie Sheeler, Hal Sirowitz, Duane Spurlock, Jay Stringer, Ray Succre.

LAST CHANCE LASSITER by Paul Levine

LAST CHANCE LASSITER is an ebook novella published this month, a prequel to TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, the first novel featuring Miami Dolphins linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter. The novella has Jake refusing to represent James Farrell, a man who all but admits to beating his wife. Shortly after quitting his firm, Jake takes a case of music plagiarism on referral from the boss he just antagonized.

As with any prequel, the most compelling question is not whether things work out, but how they work out. A crafty lawyer and writer in his own regard, Levine paints Jake into quite a corner and just as craftily gets him out.

If you haven't read the Jake Lassiter novels, this is a chance to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. If you're a Lassiter fan like I am, you'll jump at the chance to see more of Jake's history.