Thursday, July 24, 2008

Couple of things

First, I just signed the petition against age banding of books. This is a battle being fought in the UK, but you can bet Australia will be next. (There's nothing we love more in this country than a good classifying, preferably administered by half a dozen overlapping government departments.)

I don't intend to go into age banding here, but if you don't have a clue about the problems it might cause, visit the site above and find out.


Second, I just noticed Planet Fantastic's Bestselling Books of All Time, and the first three Hal books are all present. (Hal 4 was their #1 bestseller last month, so it's a bit soon to expect to see it in a list covering over three years of sales.)

First, this is the top ten:

1...Temeraire, by Naomi Novik
2...A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin
3...Thud!, by Terry Pratchett
4...Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
5...Never Seen by Waking Eyes, by Stephen Dedman
6...Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik
7...Judas Unchained, by Peter F. Hamilton
8...Shadow Box, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
9...Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan
10..Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

then the Hal books take up these positions:

#25...Hal Spacejock, by Simon Haynes
(...)
#57...Hal Spacejock: Second Course, by Simon Haynes
(...)
#86...Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts, by Simon Haynes


Congrats to everyone on the list.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

1 comment:

WordVixen said...

Urgh. My school library did this on their own and it peeved me off! I grew up reading books written between 1890 and 1960- so my comprehension was higher than most of my classmates. Our librarian actually made us read a page aloud, and then explain it to her as proof that we understood enough to take the book home. And she always seemed mad when we had no trouble.

Totally different reason, I'm sure, but the same result. I hate to think what would have happened if I'd only been allowed Sweet Valley High.