12.17.09
Harry Potter/Dangerous Minds mash-up
While it’s technically more cinematic than literary, I couldn’t resist posting this spoof preview of Dangerous Wands. Enjoy!
12.11.09
An IMDB Addict Reforms: Upcoming Movies I Refuse to Learn About
This article is meant to coincide with the release of James Cameron’s Avatar. I’ve already seen it, thirty seconds at a time.
Is there some thing(s) wrong with the movie industry? Aren’t movies made like they used to be? Or aren’t people entertained like they used to be? The thrill of going to the movies has arguably been on the decline for years now, and many blame the overuse of special effects, the dumbing down of blockbusters, the existence of blockbusters, and the poorness of contemporary professional moviemakers, among other things. Believe what you want. For me, just one thing ruins the experience. Overexposure.
The Internet Movie Database has been a biblical source of cinema genealogy to me for years. When I hear someone ask, ‘Who the heck is that guy?’ I respond, ‘That’s Ted Raimi, the director’s brother. Haven’t you noticed his bit parts in all of Sam’s movies? You can also recognize him as the satellite specialist who helps Harrison Ford analyze the impact crater in Clear and Present Danger.’ Yes, IMDB has helped me a lot, introducing me to Rose Byrne, Alison Lohman, and Alex Reid from The Descent, rekindling my fondness for Michael Wincott, leading me to believe Channing Tatum had chops, and warning me about the fake ending to The Descent.
But it’s got to stop… Read the rest of this entry »
12.08.09
Let the Authors tell you what to Give and Receive!
Looking for the perfect gift for the book-y in your life? Let some of your favorite authors tell you what’s on their list to give and receive!
Chris Bojalian, best-selling author of 11 novels, including Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind and The Buffalo Soldier, offered up a number of recommendations in his recent newsletter mailing (in which he also pumped the tour for his February release Secrets of Eden — No Michigan – Waaah!):
“I am asked often what I am reading. Well, among the books that I particularly enjoyed this year and I can recommend for you and your families and friends are:
• Perfection, by Julie Metz
• Americans in Space, by Mary E. Mitchell
• Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson
• The Third Reich at War, by Richard J. Evans
• The Story Sisters, by Alice Hoffman
• Life Class, by Pat Barker”
Also Penguin has put together a promotion with a number of their authors giving recommendations for books to give and books to ask for! Click through to check out the video featuring Nick Hornby, Robert B. Parker, Kate Jacobs, and Frank Bruni as well as written recs from a ton of great authors!
12.02.09
Schuler places in 2 nation-wide contests!
We are pleased to announce that our Lansing area stores placed among the top winners in two recent publisher contests!
The first involved a contest sponsored by fantasy author and all-around-God Neil Gaiman. Neil challenged bookstores to throw Halloween parties for his Newbery award-winning title The Graveyard Book: Submit a video of the party and Neil would pick his favorite. Winner would earn a bookstore appearance and signing with Neil. (swoon.)
According to Neil, about 40 bookstores entered and his publisher Harper Collins narrowed it down to the top 11 entries. After what seems to have been a harrowing decision, Neil decided to grant author visits to two winners. Unfortunately Schuler came in “first place” after the two Grand Prize winners, but we are still thrilled to have placed that high! (Besides, think about it — Neil Gaiman spent time contemplating our Okemos store! Schuler is now firmly on his radar, which can only bode well for future tours!)
Here’s the video we submitted of the party:
Our Lansing location (in the Eastwood Towne Center) recently took third place in a display contest sponsored by Quirk Classics for their monster mash-up title Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters! Prize was $100 (going to the staff holiday party!) and 5 signed copies of S&S&S. Once received, we’ll have a drawing for 4 of those copies (one to the display-maker – *wink*) at the Eastwood store. Keep your eyes here for details.
12.01.09
Great gift idea: Our Front Pages by the Onion
Sorry the blog has been so silent lately, but we’ve all been slammed by the holiday rush that is retail in November and December!
In the meantime, here’s a great gift suggestion for you:
The Onion, dubbed the “funniest publication in the United States” by the New Yorker, has long been a balm for the sore souls of people like me, who can only take so much of the disaster-peddling that is called the modern media scene. Anything that can turn CNN-inspired despair to laughter is greatly appreciated in my world, and the Onion is always spot on.
David Sedaris is recommending last year’s Onion book, Our Dumb World, during his current tour, but there’s also the new release Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude from America’s Finest News Source, in time for hilarious holiday gift-giving, which compiles the front pages (duh) of the paper from its youth as a free campus weekly through its 21-year evolution to the mock-media powerhouse it is today. Printed in a large format in full color, this makes the perfect present: Give it to a relative and then spend a good chunk of the holidays reading it to each other in tears.
–Whitney
11.19.09
Bookworm’s Musings: Under the Dome
Finally finished the latest Stephen King “Under the Dome.” This is no mean feat considering it’s 1070 pages long. I’m not complaining. I would much rather have a book of this length to tide me over for a week, than a 200 page sprint from a favorite author, that just leaves my begging for more. My poor husband, my poor children, they all know better. Don’t bother mom when a new Stephen King, Matthew Reilly, Douglas Preston, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver book comes out. All parenting, canoodling, cooking, cleaning stops. (I went to knitting group yesterday, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to bring that damn book)
Being that it’s a very long book, it goes pretty quick. Not sure if Steve-o is as big of an Ayn Rand fan as I am, but caught some glimmers of “Atlas Shrugged” near the end. Also very evident is a “Lord of the Flies” mentality that occurs throughout the whole book. It’s even brought up once.
2009 National Books Award Winners Announced!
We’re bummed that Michigan authors Bonnie Jo Campbell and David Small didn’t get the final nod, but we’re proud to have two Michigan authors as finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards!
They announced the winners last night as:
Fiction: Colum McCann Let the Great World Spin
Nonfiction: T. J. Stiles The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
Poetry: Keith Waldrop Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy
Young People’s Literature: Phillip Hoose Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters: Gore Vidal
Literarian Award: Dave Eggers
The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction: The Complete Stories By Flannery O’Connor
11.17.09
Schuler Books Presents the Espresso Book Machine
Schuler Books is h
appy to present our newly acquired Espresso Book Machine, a patented high-speed automatic book making machine. In a few minutes it can print, bind and trim a high-quality paperback book complete with a full-color cover. These books are indistinguishable from paperbacks produced by major publishing companies.
With the Espresso Book Machine, we are able to print books from a growing catalog of 3.8 million books, including in-copyright, public domain and out-of-print titles. Two million of these titles are public domain Google Books. Thanks to the Espresso Book Machine, books long out-of-print are once again available.
The machine is environmentally friendly: books are produced locally, therefore reducing the carbon footprint of the books.
The machine provides authors with an easy way to get published. Whether you have written a novel, a collection of poems, a family genealogy, a cookbook, a memoir or a dissertation, you will be able to get printed copies of your book thanks to the flexible and affordable self-publishing services we are now offering.
For more information about our self-publishing services, please check the following PDFs:
Submission Guidelines
Self Publishing Services
Additional Services
If you have any questions regarding the EBM, the availability of a print-on demand or out-of-print title in the machine database or our self-publishing services, please contact us at printondemand@schulerbooks.com or call Pierre at 616-942-7330 x558.
11.15.09
Bookworm’s Musings
A beautiful Sunday, and I am inside. It does mean that I am reading though. As promised I did finish the prequel to “Black Friday” by Alex Kava. ”Exposed” is a lovely book about Ebola. Relevant now, with all the H1N1 germs flying around. Scary how easy it is to whip my overactive imagination into an absolute frenzy. I enjoyed the book more than the first one I read. Maybe because it has some relevance now. Same cast of characters. Well drawn and believable, though I question whether FBI profilers can pull profiles out of their hats like that. It did make me want to go reread “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston. I was telling my thirteen year old son about that book, scared me very badly. I don’t consider myself a conspiracy nut, but I do find it incredibly plausible that our government is ever willing to cover things up, for the good of the country of course. I guess that begs another question, how are authors able to be so far ahead of us readers? Nelson DeMille’s seems to be frighteningly accurate about what is happening now a days. (He is a big Phillip Roth fan I bet) I always used to think that if I were to invest in the stock market, I just needed to find out what Michael Crichton was working on and invest in that. (Nanotechnology anyone?) Steve Alten, made my jaw drop with “The Shell Game.” I worry about his safety. After that book I wonder if he always looks over his shoulder. Currently reading the latest Stephen King. surprisingly at 1000+ pages it is going quite quickly. He says in the afterwords that is actually pared down from its original length. Yikes! Again, even though it’s a different cast of characters, I feel like some of them could be people I know, my neighbors, co-workers, family. He does have a unique knack for “normal” everyday prose. He writes like I think or speak. I like that in a writer. Makes me think that writing a book might not be so hard after all. (I am joking. Mr. King actually started this book in 1976, I guess that speaks for itself.)
I am thinking I need to read something really eloquent and informative on sibling rivalry right about now. Both children are in their respective rooms, and I need to go mediate somehow. And then I will read more…
11.13.09
Gary Fingercastle “Wins the Internet” with Wanted: Bear Cubs for My Children
Last week a co-worker handed me a copy of Wanted: Bear Cubs for My Children, and I was immediately sold by the utterly awesome premise: “author and agitator” Gary Fingercastle spent several years posting absolutely ridiculous mock advertisements on Craig’s List and gathering the even more ridiculous responses he received.
Think of the most repellent thing you can. Gary has probably posted an ad offering to give it away for free, and someone somewhere actually wants it. Collectible action figures eaten by a dog and left exactly how the dog later deposited them? Someone wants them. Free half-eaten tortilla with the skillet-burned face of Ronald Reagan? Ditto.
Want someone to give you STDs so you can curse an ex? Gary found someone to do it. He also asked for people to work as human crash test dummies, to tattoo his fictitious 12-year-old daughter and to fashion shock collars for kids, with replies to all and more.
Serious laugh-out-loud material!
