Book

Steve’s Update 8/6/2019

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

As you may guess, I’m keeping these updates! I just may not post them as widely to my four (really) different platforms.

Warning, it has been busy lately, and there’s a lot going on. August is gonna be complicated.

So what have I done since last time?

  • Way With Worlds: I’m back to doing the News book – which is shaping up really well. Still looking at a September publishing date.
  • Chance’s Muse: That’s the name of the Seventh Sanctum book – I’m integrating reader feedback. It’s looking mostly good, and I plan to get it to my editor for September.
  • A School Of Many Futures: The sequel to “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet” is now being plotted – in fact I have most of the basic outline down and am plotting the character arcs!

What’s next?

  • Way With Worlds: Pretty much write it, but next time you see this post, I should be done or just about done.
  • Chance’s Muse: Finish my edits, then start a full grammar edit. That probably won’t be done by the next update.
  • A School Of Many Futures: Finish up the character arcs plotting – and start plotting the book in detail!
  • Seventh Sanctum: I plan to get back to the Python coding, and possibly – possibly – start another generator!

Steven Savage

Make It So: More Little Free Libraries Ideas

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I’ve been writing about Little Free Libraries on and off for awhile. Lately I got some ideas for how we could do some different geeky things with them. So here are suggestions if you run one, want to run one, or have friends who do or may.

Let’s think about ways you can theme, shake up, or vary Little Free Libraries.

Themed Libraries: What if you did a library that was all career advice, or all science fiction? You could also have a multi-shelf library with themed shelves.

Indie Libraries: If you want to be more specific – and probably make some purchases – have your little free library promote indie authors. You could even ask for donations as well – plus network locally.

Game Libraries: Though they’re expensive, game manuals and RPG supplements often make their way to discount and used bookstores, or people get tired of certain games. Why not a game library? This also could be good at a game store.

Comic/manga Libraries: If you’re like me, you probably have a few leftover manga, you can find tons of them at used book stores, and I’m sure you have friends with series they’re done with. Let’s get outside of text-only books and into graphic stories!

Rotating Libraries: What if you had a monthly themed library? Every month, switch out the books in the library with others, each time based on a different theme. Maybe you have six themes, and rotate them one month at a time, keeping the books appropriate to the theme in storage.

Book Club Libraries: If you run a book club, changes are you’ve got people with leftover books. So make your own Little Free Library for the club – with flyers for your club. However you may need to avoid having twenty copies of the same book . . .

Have any other ideas? Let me know!

Steven Savage

The Responsibility of Print

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I have a thing for books in print.

Sure I have a Kindle. Sure I read ebooks in various forms. But most of the time, I order books in print.

Sure there’s the practical reasons. No technical glitches. No screen problems. I can read it in the bathtub without worrying about dropping several hundred dollars of technology into the bathwater. A book on paper doesn’t crash during an update.

But there are other reasons.

First, a paper book can last. Updates don’t destroy it. A pulled publication doesn’t make it vanish off of your device. Compatibility issues don’t arise. A paper book may be vulnerable to the ravages of time, but less so the ravages of technology.

Secondly, a paper book can be given away. You can gift it and regift it. You can lend it with ease. A paper book can pass through many hands easily, imparting its wisdom and humor and thrills and dread.

Third, a paper book is easy to use as a historical record. Put it on the proper shelf. Gift it to a library or a little free library. Wrap it in proper storage materials and hide it for the centuries to come (which history has many records of).

Paper has many advantages, many benefits. But for me, the solidity and the sense of history matters to me. I want good things to last and be beyond the whims of our current age.

So for me many a paper volume passes through my hands. Then passes on.

Steven Savage