Can anyone who lives in the Manhattan area, or at least frequently goes into the city, tell me anything about Verizon’s service in subway tunnels? I’m considering switching my service, and I’d like to get something that does work in the tunnels (I know pretty much nothing works on the train, but lots of phones seem to work in the underground labyrinth). Or if you don’t use Verizon, but you do use one that’s really great, I’d like to hear about that too. The only reason I mention Verizon by name is that I’m thinking about getting one of their phones: the Verizon Wireless XV6700. Tobias Buckell has one; he showed it to me at Worldcon and I’ve been wanting one since.

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The Chicago Manual of Style is now available online, via subscription. This is good news people, because if you’ve ever tried riffling through the CMS looking for a particular entry, you’ll know it can be quite a pain, unless you know the book very well.

Go to http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.com/ to subscribe or sign up for a 30-day free trial. There looks to be a $25.00 introductory rate, for a one year subscription.

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Carol Pinchefsky needs more assistance, this time for her Intergalactic Medicine Show column:

Do you have a friend/relative in your life, in their 20s or younger, who reads but does *not* read science fiction or fantasy?

Carol Pinchefsky is looking for interviewees who are willing to read a genre short story and give their opinion. The story should take no more than a half hour to read, and the interview will take no more than fifteen minutes to conduct.

She can be reached at carol a-t cybrid d-o-t- net. She needs people before October 1, 2006.

I’m sure some of you out there have been looking for an excuse to get that certain someone in your life to read some SF. Well, here it is!

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So I went down to the local animal shelter today to look for a dog. I found one there that I like–if I was thinking, I would have brought my camera to take a photo of him–but I had to fill out an application, and now I have to wait to hear back from the shelter. Assuming I’m approved (and why wouldn’t I be?), I’ll probably have my new dog this weekend.

I’ll take photos and pass along some details about him once I get him (because why tell you about a dog that I might not get?). The reason I’m posting now is that this particular dog was a stray, and has no name, so I’m pondering what I might call him. I’d like to go with something literary and/or geeky, because, well, that’s the kind of person I am.

Here are some possibilities I’ve thought of:

(1) Gully Foyle (The Stars My Destination)
(2) Montag (Fahrenheit 451)
(3) Algernon (after the mouse in “Flowers for Algernon”)
(4) Offog (“Alamagoosa”)
(5) Zombie (after, you know, zombies, though this was inspired by the pet named Zombie in Scott Westerfeld’s The Last Days)
(6) Montressor (“The Cask of Amontillado”; so I can say “For the love of God, Montressor!” when he does something bad)
(7) Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)
(8) Fezzik (The Princess Bride)
(9) Pirate, or The Dread Pirate Roberts (and we’d call him Pirate for short)

What do you think? Any recommendations?

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Over on Jeremy Lassen’s LiveJournal, he says:

According to Nielsen BookScan, 93% of books sold fewer than 1,000 units in 2004, accounting for just 13% of sales volume. The remaining 7% of books accounted for 87% of sales. Jim King of BookScan brought these illuminating statistics to light last week at The Book Standard Summit. Here’s the full article.

This statistic is trotted out every year, is it not? And every year people get their panties in a bunch over it.

But relax, the sky isn’t falling, as Andrew Wheeler astutely points out:

I suspect some serious disingenuousness behind that statistic. Let’s take a closer look at it…

The exact quote is “93 percent of ISBNs sold fewer than 1,000 units in 2004, according to Nielsen BookScan.” Now, he didn’t say the universe was of books published in 2004, but of ISBNs, which includes every book in print, and plenty of books that are now out of print (ISBNs have been standard worldwide since 1970).

So what he’s actually saying is that, in this one given year, only 7% of all of the books published since 1970 moved more than 1000 units. This is not particularly controversial.

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Kris Dikeman referred me to this cool site, which allows you to make an “official” seal by inserting a graphic and text.  And while she was there, she crafted this tribute to the Dred Pirate Adams.

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Voting is open for the Quill Awards, a “consumers choice” award which celebrates the best adult and children’s books of the year in 20 categories. (Readers vote for the winners from among the five finalists in each category, which were selected by a nominating board comprised of approximately 6,000 invited booksellers and librarians. Voting ends September 30.)

The only actual SF/Fantasy category book that made the SF/Fantasy category was George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows; the others are all mainstream imports. I think we should all rally behind the Martin in both the SF/Fantasy category and in the Book of the Year category to tell publishers that damn it, being labeled SF/Fantasy is nothing to be ashamed of. And since this is a mainstream sort of award, I would find it amusing and satisfying for a fantasy novel to win Book of the Year.

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