Used Book Sale

        We’re having another used book sale to try to reduce the piles of used books. All used books will be at least 20% off, whether you have a discount card or not. The sale includes used paperbacks, used hardcovers, used magazines, used gaming books, and bagged books.
        Because we have so many used audiobooks, we will be selling all used audiobooks at $5.00 each, whether cassette or CD.
        We used to do a fair amount of business in used true crime books, but they have been very slow for the last couple of years. We’d rather have the space for other uses, so all used true crime books will be 50% off.
        The sale runs Friday, June 2 through Sunday, June 11. That gives you two weekends to take advantage of the sale.
        This sale will be for customers shopping in the store–it does not apply to mail orders. If you are thinking about bringing in lots of used books to sell during the sale, expect a longer than normal wait. And don’t bother to drag along your used true crime books.

Award News

        The Nebula Award nominees for Best Novel are All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders ($15.99), Borderline by Mishell Baker ($15.99), The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin ($15.99), Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee ($9.99), and Everfair by Nisi Shawl ($26.99).
        The Nebula Award nominees for Best Novella are Runtime by S. B. Divya ($11.99), The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson ($14.99), The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle ($12.99), Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire ($17.99), “The Liar” by John P. Murphy, and A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson ($14.99).

        The 2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Award went to When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore ($18.99).

        The Hugo Award nominees for Best Novel are All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders ($15.99), A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers ($16.99), The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemison ($15.99), Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee ($9.99), Death’s End by Cixin Liu ($26.99), and Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer ($15.99).
        The Hugo Award nominees for Best Novella are Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson ($14.99), The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle ($12.99), Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire ($17.99), This Census-Taker by China Mieville ($15.00), and A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson ($14.99).

        The British Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist of best sf novel of 2016 are A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers ($16.99), Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee ($9.99), After Atlas by Emma Newman ($15.00), Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan ($13.99), Central Station by Lavie Tidhar ($15.95), and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead ($26.95).

        The Agatha Award winners included Best Contemporary Novel to A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny ($28.99 hc, $16.99 tr pb, $9.99 mass market pb), Best First Novel to The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn ($15.95), and Best Historical Novel to The Reek of Red Herrings by Catronia McPherson ($26.99).

        The Edgar Allan Poe Awards included Best Novel to Before the Fall by Noah Hawley ($15.99), Best First Novel by an American Author to Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry ($16.00), and Best Paperback Original to Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty ($15.95). Grand Master Awards were given to Max Allan Collins and Ellen Hart. The Mary Higgins Clark Award went to The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd ($14.99).

How’s Business? by Don Blyly

        Assorted reports all indicate that sales of print books are up, sales of audiobooks are up a lot, and sales of e-books are down, and this is true not only in the US but worldwide. A lot of the sales of audiobooks are direct downloads, which helps support the authors and the publishers, but cuts out the bookstores. Direct downloads of music have hurt retail stores for many years, and it’s not a surprise that the same thing has happened with audiobooks.
        The reports I’ve seen indicate that sales at independent brick and mortar bookstores are up slightly, while sales at chain bookstore are down slightly. But all brick and mortar stores (including restaurants) are having a tough time, with many national chains closing stores like crazy to try to avoid bankruptcy. (For all of retail, the national chains have announced 3200 store closings so far this year, with some experts forecasting 8600 store closings by the end of the year by national chains. Expect to see lots more empty store fronts in shopping malls.) Here at the Uncles, some months have been up a little compared to last year, some months have been down. In-store sales have been down with increases in mail order sales making up for the slower in-store traffic.
        In other book news, the House of Representatives is rushing through a bill to make the Register of Copyright a political appointment. The Register of Copyright has been a non-political appointment made by the Librarian of Congress, but now the House of Representatives wants to make the position a presidential appointment, with confirmation by the Senate. The people pushing this plan claims that the intent of the bill is to “modernize” the copyright office (which everybody agrees needs to be done), but there is nothing in the bill about modernizing the copyright office. The suspicion is that major entertainment corporations are behind the move, hoping that making the position a political appointment will give them more influence, to the detriment of authors, artists, and musicians.
        The Florida legislature is pushing through a bill to make it easier to ban books in public school. Not only will parents be able to say, “I don’t want my kid to read this book”, but “activists” without kids in a school district will be able to say, “I don’t want any kids to read this book”. Opponents point out that the law makes it easy to ban books in public schools (supported by tax dollars) but not in charter schools (also supported by tax dollars) or private schools. School district officials are not looking forward to having their time wasted dealing with attempts to ban books, especially from “activists” who don’t even have kids in the district.
        A Manhattan principal has decided to get rid of all textbooks. In a school where last year only 5% of the 6th to 8th graders passed state math exams and only 9% passed state English exams, the principal has ordered all the textbooks to be disposed of, because textbooks are “antiquated”. Now they are going to do things the modern way, with computers. But there are only 2 computers in most classrooms, and not all of them are connected to the internet. Now, the teachers hand out worksheets, show videos, and give no homework assignments. And advise the students to grab books from the piles waiting for disposal and take them home before the books can be destroyed.
        One recent British university study found that reading fiction makes people more empathetic. Another study found that children who grow up in home that have books in them tend to make more money when they become adults.