Of all the problems I worry about digital books, them being too clear and easy to read is not the most pressing issue for me. But I still found this interesting.

Stanislas Dehaene, a neuroscientist at the College de France in Paris, has helped illuminate the neural anatomy of reading. It turns out that the literate brain contains two distinct pathways for making sense of words, which are activated in different contexts. One pathway is known as the ventral route, and it’s direct and efficient, accounting for the vast majority of our reading. The process goes like this: We see a group of letters, convert those letters into a word, and then directly grasp the word’s semantic meaning. According to Dehaene, this ventral pathway is turned on by “routinized, familiar passages” of prose, and relies on a bit of cortex known as visual word form area (VWFA). When you are a reading a straightforward sentence, or a paragraph full of tropes and cliches, you’re almost certainly relying on this ventral neural highway. As a result, the act of reading seems effortless and easy. We don’t have to think about the words on the page.

But the ventral route is not the only way to read. The second reading pathway – it’s known as the dorsal stream – is turned on whenever we’re forced to pay conscious attention to a sentence, perhaps because of an obscure word, or an awkward subclause, or bad handwriting. (In his experiments, Dehaene activates this pathway in a variety of ways, such as rotating the letters or filling the prose with errant punctuation.) Although scientists had previously assumed that the dorsal route ceased to be active once we became literate, Deheane’s research demonstrates that even fluent adults are still forced to occasionally make sense of texts. We’re suddenly conscious of the words on the page; the automatic act has lost its automaticity.

This suggests that the act of reading observes a gradient of awareness. Familiar sentences printed in Helvetica and rendered on lucid e-ink screens are read quickly and effortlessly. Meanwhile, unusual sentences with complex clauses and smudged ink tend to require more conscious effort, which leads to more activation in the dorsal pathway. All the extra work – the slight cognitive frisson of having to decipher the words – wakes us up.

Dark Symphony – Book Trailer of the Day

This is a pretty upscale book trailer for a paranormal romance, Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan. I have no idea how much it cost, but I’d guess, $5000 or more. It has elaborate video, of reasonable quality — both the acting and the cinematography — a voiceover, and a good soundtrack. The song was created just for the video.

It’s done by the wonderful folk at Circle of Seven, or “cosproductions.”

They even do wire work I think! Notice the floating at 1:37. On the other hand, the voice over for this should have been low and sexy, whereas this voice as a dead ringer for my gay camp counselor. (He was an actor/waiter, so it’s possible! *waves*) When he said the line (1:47) “But a darkness followed them… something … EVIL!” I snorted my drink. Oh, you were serious. Sorry.

It’s four minutes long. Aiya! But there is an advantage to accumulating a lot of video book trailers (this is just one of many)… fans can do their own remixes:

Sweet.

9-11 Ruminations

On September 11, 2001, I was living overseas. I remember that a local newspaper carried the headline, the next day, “Superman Cries.” I very much wanted to buy a copy, but I had other priorities at the time. My mom was scheduled to be on an airplane on that day, and I was trying to track her down, make sure she was safe (she was), and then I spent a lot of time on the phone or trying to get online to talk it over with her and other loved ones. By the time I tried to pick up a copy of the newspaper, they were sold out.

It’s interesting that at a moment like that, people would turn to a fictional character to try to make sense of the tragedy. They could have used the Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam, the more usual allegorical figures of nationhood, but instead featured the comicbook Superman, with a single tear.

* * *

Via, Mind Hacks, An emotional timeline of 9-11.

UPDATE: See my thoughts 2011 reflections on 9/11 here.

New Agent – Denise Little

There’s a new agent who handles science fiction and fantasy, among other genres: Denise Little.

As you can see, she’s already up to her ears in slush. She seems quite nice, and experienced in the publishing world.

I’m excited to be trying something new, after over thirty years in the book business. I’ve sat on every side of the table in this field, from bookseller to chain book buyer to editor to book packager, and now–I’m an agent.

I’ve got a head full of industry knowlege that’s uncommon for anyone in publishing, simply because I’ve worn so many hats in the the book field. Lots of agents have publishing experience, for example, but I don’t think too many other agents have first-hand inside knowlege of what goes on at the world’s largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble.

I think it gives me an edge in figuring out what will sell that few other agents have.

In addition, I’ve been an author myself. I know exactly what it feels like to submit, then wait for an answer with my heart in my throat for what feels like forever–and sometimes is.

I love working with new writers, but I’m very blunt. If I don’t like something, I’m likely to tell you straight out that I don’t. But if I love something–I’ll tell you that, too, and work my heart out for you.

I would love to jump on the dogpile — who doesn’t love the chance to write a query letter? — but I’m going resist the urge. 🙂

Towers of Midnight – Book Trailer

Just to be completely unfair, I’m going to contrast the video in the book trailer of the previous post with this one.

See? That’s how video and voice over should be, if you are going include them. Of course, the budget for this was probably larger than the budget for my wedding, because we are talking Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Tor could afford to make this look good. It’s pretty hard to compete with the flagship title for a major publisher. Still, it gives all of us little guys something to aspire to.

Oh, and I have this theory that the sweet spot, length wise, for a trailer, is 70 seconds, or one minute, ten seconds. Notice the length on this one.

China Doll – Book Trailer of the Day

This video tackles two of the problems we’ve seen before: (1) trying to make video look professional, (2) combining what seems to be a documentary with the trailer for a novel. I feel the same way I do about Druids and Ghost Horse Hollow. Folks, I love that you tried, I really do. The acting and cinematography in this is surprisingly good. But it still just doesn’t look professional. If you compare this video to the quality of a lot of book trailers out there, it stands head and shoulder above the rest, but if you compare it to standard Hollywood output, it comes up short. The problem is that the viewer subconsciously thinks if the video quality is not top notch, the writing won’t be either. This is a fallacy, of course; writers are good at writing, not necessarily video production. But subconsciously the thought is there.

Finally, length. Very, very seldom does a book trailer need to be long. I would target 100 seconds as the upper limit. This book trailer could have ended at 49 seconds and packed a punch.