Some Mysteries Part II

Jasper Fforde's new book Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron managed to be out before the holidays, so pay attention, fans of this creator of Thursday Next and their loved ones looking for a great gift idea.
Talk about genre-bending. Is it a mystery? Is it science fiction? Is it deliciously inventive wordplay? Or, is it a social commentary?
Set in a post-apocalyptic, chromatically-hierarchical, strict Rules-based world in which one's place in society is based on how much of a hue you can perceive (and really, you can only perceive one at the most without expensively artificial help sanctioned by National Color), we meet Eddie Russett whose uncomplicated existence of meticulously following the Munsell Rules and scheming to marry up is upset with a (hopefully) short lesson in humility: exile to The Outer Fringes. East Carmine is a town that lacks enough resources to be anything but small, drab and full of corrupt and petty officials, resources like a) merits or color scraps to be traded for color, b) residents who can perceive color in order to sort those color scraps, and c) greys -- those who have devolved to the point of not being able to see any color -- to do all the other important work.

Just like George Orwell's 1984, Fforde's world is full of chilling details of a iron-fisted, overreaching government impoverishing its people, culturally, intellectually and spiritually, forcing them to learn new things and enjoy simple pleasures illicitly, even hearing stories told through the hammering of Morse code on the heating pipe system, stories which have long ago disappeared from the library shelves. Ostensibly, the trigger for Eddie Russett's assignment to East Carmine to count chairs is his physical attack on a fellow student, but unbeknownst to him, the true reason is his initiative in and boast about thinking of an efficient system for issuing numbers to waiting room patients. Nevertheless, the reason for his banishment is very real -- he is to learn some humility, and like a scarlet letter, the reason is pinned on his chest for all to see and assist in achieving.

Conspiracy theories abound, Eddie begins to realize just how clueless he is while everyone else is thinking he can't be as clueless as he appears. Giving him a hint, a new friend says, "It makes the rest of us look bad when someone does something pointlessly worthy."

Even I, a novice at social media, can laughingly recognize a jab when the acceptable way to declare yourselves friends is to ask. Friend? Friend. Eddie has 436 friends, most of them Reds, although his connections begin to expand when he accepts friendship from a Green.

The description of an assigned address tortuously following the person as he moves, as an address is no longer applicable to a physical location, but also, that there are still addresses which are more prestigious than others ominously foreshadow the tense culmination of this story.

There's a mystery to discover, ponder and solve amongst all the wonders and pitfalls of a world introduced to us by Fforde.

I now want to learn all about the (Great) Munsell's Color Chart. And did I mention that Fforde is fantastic at wordplay as well as social commentary? The society keeps a tight rein on the populace, suddenly declaring "Great Leap Backwards," rendering things from yo-yo's to

Speaking of words, what is not a mystery to me is why "adnascentia" as a word is dying. Just how many times can one use such a word, meaning the spreading rootlets that a tree throws out? Nevertheless, I shall continue to Save the Word! I urge you to save one, too.

So, how does the world of published writing survive without Kirkus Review?

Join the Nook

Just a quick mention: Barnes & Noble has joined the ranks again of those pioneering into that world of offering readers the ultimate in portable electronic reading medium. Every time someone does, we progress a little closer to becoming that futuristic place which science fiction writers (and readers of the classic genre) saw. How long ago has it been since I read of two kids finding a dusty old printed, bound book while playing in an attic, opening it up and quickly losing interest in the artifact -- the most disappointing point being that when they turned the paper page back and forth, the words were still the same, not refreshing with movement to a new point in the book? (Someone, quick! tell me what book it was I was reading!) BN has conquered yet another objection: sharing a book. With its Nook, a reader can buy the book, download it into the Nook and share it for 2 weeks with anyone he wants (who also has a Nook). During that time, the original purchaser of the e-book wouldn't have access to the book, just like as if he had lent someone a printed, bound book. Hmm, why only 2 weeks? Is BN encouraging people to become miniature lender libraries? I mean, can the friend renew the book for another 2 weeks? Can the original buyer then lend it to someone else? Can the friend lend it to someone else? Can the original buyer simply give the friend the book? For one thing, this would certainly cut down on people losing books due to lending them to irresponsible people who don't make the effort to return them to the original owner. (Not that I'm complaining. I recently sold Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged to a woman who had searched for her prior copy on her bookshelf with the intent to re-read it (in these interesting times -- see my website review saved somewhere earlier in this blog) only to find it gone. Probably not stolen by a burglar who had crept into the house with the sole purpose of taking Ayn Rand. BN should think about that sage piece of advice: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Cash, books, ... all good.

Still, there are people complaining about the cost... the cost of the Nook, the cost of each title... Grumblers who expect all things electronic to cost 99 cents or some small multiple thereof and watchers of the walmart.com vs amazon.com downward spiral seem to think that there are no more costs associated with e-books once costs of printing and distribution are discounted. How much do they think printing and distribution actually cost? And even if we did say, ok, no more "free" freight to recoup somehow along with the cost of ink and paper, what about throwing a little something to the authors (yeah, back to those "I just want to be read" socialists again)? How about marketing costs since no one wants to buy a book he never heard of (even "viral" Youtube videos cost $$ to make)? How about the hourly wages and health care benefits of junior editors and word processors? How about the cost of software development and silicon (or whatever is the current wonder conductor) chips made in third-world firetraps? Not to mention electricity charges and ISP fees?

I am in the midst of enjoying the advance reader copy of a new title by Jasper Fforde -- Shades of Grey, which has a "street date" in December, maybe not even in time for Christmas (what kind of marketing is that?). In all honesty, I enjoy having an actual, physical bound ARC to hold and carry around and read, but if sending me even a .pdf file will cut that $25.95 book down to a list price of $9.99 , I'll accept that. However, we may no longer be able to discount it by 20% to acknowledge our loyal customers' snub of walmart.com and amazon.com. More on the actual book in a later posting. TTFN.