Indie authors outselling traditionally published authors, literary agents jumping on the publishing gig, e-Books taking a huge chunk of the bookselling pie, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria! It's nuts out there in the publishing world.
There's more news on this subject, and I bet it's only the tip of the iceberg. Literary Agent Kristin Nelson, of Nelson Literary Agency, LLC has had some interesting observations on the publishing world's reaction to the e-book phenomenon. Last Tuesday, she broke down Harlequin's move to 25% of net receipts for single title romances starting January 2012. Yesterday, she continued with this theme, with a post on Random House's sudden (random?) and arbitrary move to do the same this April.
What do these moves signify? Not sure yet what they mean in the long run, but they're certainly the next volley of shots fired. And while for the most part, big publishing houses and indie authors have a relatively amicable relationship, I think we need to look at the underlying causes for not only this relationship, but for the moves the industry is taking in the future.
First, the indie author wants to stay in good standing with the traditional publishers. They're the ultimate goal, after all. They're roughly the equivalent of his future employers. The indie author, for the most part, would love nothing more than to pick up a nice contract with a major publisher. And publishers are always looking for that next breakout bestseller.
But the bottom line is money. Always has been and always will be. This industry is no different from any other in that regard. The author wants his cut. The publishers line up their business models to maximize profit. If you think otherwise, compare commonly given advice that no publisher will take a debut novel of over about 130,000 words (and that's stretching it) to the success of books like Stephen King's The Stand, and countless others that push the boundaries into epic territory. They understand they're not likely at all to make up costs on your gargantuan debut novel, but they know King can easily break into the profit column no matter what he writes. It looks like hypocrisy, but in fact it's just the bottom line.
The e-book has been turning those profit margins and well established industry norms upside down. GalleyCat recently referenced agent-turned-author Nathan Bradford's poll on e-book price points in their own breakdown of the various opinions of the subject. The paradigm has shifted, and nobody knows just yet where it's settled. The reality is that it hasn't settled yet, and it probably won't for some time. It's going to take a while for the industry norms to balance. As evidenced by GalleyCat's post, there is a wide range of opinion on just how much an e-book should cost. Nobody agrees, and nobody knows who's right or wrong, if there is even a right or wrong now.
This is all about author royalties as well as what percentages agents and publishers are getting from books. With Amazon's royalties at 70% for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and their traditional 35% for all others, it's no wonder in such a hard-to-break-into industry, so many authors are going this route.
The publishers of course, want a piece of that pie. Not only don't they make any money off those independent sales, but those sales cut into their own. A reader is only going to spend so much on books, and if he buys an independently published book, that's one less book publishers are going to profit from.
I'm still on the fence about indie publishing as a whole. I think it's changed dramatically from where it began, and I also think it's going to become a sizable portion of the industry. It's here to stay. There are indie books out there that are just as professional as ones produced by traditional publishers. If and when I publish a book this way, you can know for damn sure it's going to look every bit as good as something you'd buy from one of the big guys. I won't settle for less, and that, I believe is the key to success in the indie publishing world.
Price points are something I'm still very much unsure about. My first endeavor will most likely be a roughly 13,000-word science fiction novella. One of those in that nebulous no-man's-land of "unpublishable" lengths. I've seen all lengths of works priced all over the board. Kindle phenom John Locke proudly publishes all of his novels at 99 cents. Others price theirs on up, even over the $9.99 threshold Kindle has tried to set for the majority of its fiction. I've seen short stories for the same price as Locke's novels, and even higher.
An author needs to find that sweet spot for pricing. Too high and he scares away potential readers who don't want to pay as much as he's asking. Too little, and folks start to suspect it's in the bargain bin for a very good reason. Besides the cover and the jacket blurb, the price is really the only thing people can look at when contemplating a book.
Writing is an art. Writing is fun. It's the sheer exhilaration of crafting words into entertainment without a thought about how much exposure it'll get or how much money you'll make off it. It's done for the pure craft of storytelling.
Publishing, however, is a science. Hitting that correct supply and demand balance to ensure maximum sales. It's all about the marketing, the publicity, getting word out there and getting your book to move. It's my least favorite aspect of the whole thing, by a wide margin, but I realize that to be successfully published, you can't have one without the other. You can't write and ignore marketing and sales any more than you can try marketing a poorly written book. You may see some success, but you won't have reached your potential, and to me, that's not doing it right.
Maybe I'm a perfectionist. Maybe I'm just hesitant to really take a chance. But my bottom line is doing things correctly, whatever correctly is. I'm working on it every day, and that is why this subject is so interesting. Hang on, folks, we're only getting started. There's a lot more craziness in store for the industry!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Family Vacations and Research Opportunities
Just got back from San Diego, California where we spent a few days on vacation, visiting family and seeing the sights. Had a great time, even though ironically enough, the weather in Seattle was better. Not that it was bad, but it did give us a greater appreciation for the Pacific Northwest.
San Diego is the scene for much of my largest piece of writing, The Plexus. Many scenes throughout the first three books are set there, and so visiting again gave me the opportunity to sneak in some more research. I love doing research in person. It's much more entertaining and gives a much better picture than research obtained via the internet or through interviews.
In fact, the whole place was like an instant time machine for me, except that it whisked me away to places in my novels, reminding me of scenes I'd written about and revised over and over again.
I tried to stay with the family and enjoy things from a vacation perspective, I really did. And I think I did an adequate job of it. We did have a lot of fun, but my mind was often a million miles (or a century and a half) away. At least a lot of the time it was.
For me, the best part of our vacation wasn't Sea World, although we had a blast riding the Journey to Atlantis and getting drenched by the dolphins in the dolphin show.
It wasn't enjoying a plate of fish and chips and a glass of Arrogant Bastard IPA at an outside table along the waterfront of Seaport Village, although it was delicious and nutritious.
It wasn't getting to eat at In-N-Out Burger again, something I haven't done in years. That was something the whole family really enjoyed, but it wasn't the best part of the trip for me.
I might get in trouble for saying this, but it wasn't even the great time we had visiting family there. It was being completely lost in my story. Lost to the point where it felt like I was actually there with my characters. Lost to the point where I felt it, not just remembered writing it down.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. I had a wonderful time, both in San Diego and lost somewhere in the story of a time traveling misfit who was damned from birth to a life she didn't choose.
San Diego is the scene for much of my largest piece of writing, The Plexus. Many scenes throughout the first three books are set there, and so visiting again gave me the opportunity to sneak in some more research. I love doing research in person. It's much more entertaining and gives a much better picture than research obtained via the internet or through interviews.
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© Jonathan Dalar
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Right off the bat I was thrust headlong into the right mindset. I saw that shirt on the left in a boutique in Old Town and instantly thought of the Query Shark. Some of you probably already know I follow her blogs on a regular basis, so it's not a stretch to think I'd think of that when I saw the shirt. Yea, I know. It's a geek thing, but I can't help myself. I'm a writer.
Anyway, it seemed like a good omen. It put me into a writing mood, even though I was on vacation with the family and didn't bring the computer. A writing mood is a good research mood, and that's what I needed.
The Old Town District is a great place. It's got real ambiance. It's a touch of nostalgia that hearkens back to San Diego's earliest days. A great place for doing research for a science fiction novel about time travel, wouldn't you say?
In fact, the whole place was like an instant time machine for me, except that it whisked me away to places in my novels, reminding me of scenes I'd written about and revised over and over again.
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© Jonathan Dalar
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The old lamp posts in particular were fascinating. I must have taken a couple dozen pictures of them. They're all great, but this one is probably my favorite. I have several that might even make a good book cover some day, as they convey a lot of the mood of the books.
I can just imagine this type of picture blended with science fiction themes. Maybe the sharp neon contrast of a jump craft in the street behind the lamp post as it blinks back into the past somewhere. I think it'd make a great cover, but then again, it's probably not going to be up to me.
Spanish architecture is a theme that seems to have woven its way into these books whether I intended it to or not. I think it's fascinating. I very much enjoyed poking around in some of the older areas of Southern Spain when I lived there, and in fact, my memories of Cadiz very much helped me write the parts of the story I set in Havana, Cuba. They have very similar architecture, I've been told, as the Spanish founders of Havana wanted it to resemble their homeland.
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© Jonathan Dalar
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Even though a lot of my story is set in the far future of San Diego, I think this old architecture will be preserved in some form or another. Whether as a museum, refurbished, or completely rebuilt in the style of the earliest settlers, it is an essential part of what makes San Diego what it is. It is also something that has made The Plexus that much more fun to write.
I tried to stay with the family and enjoy things from a vacation perspective, I really did. And I think I did an adequate job of it. We did have a lot of fun, but my mind was often a million miles (or a century and a half) away. At least a lot of the time it was.
For me, the best part of our vacation wasn't Sea World, although we had a blast riding the Journey to Atlantis and getting drenched by the dolphins in the dolphin show.
It wasn't enjoying a plate of fish and chips and a glass of Arrogant Bastard IPA at an outside table along the waterfront of Seaport Village, although it was delicious and nutritious.
 |
© Jonathan Dalar
|
It wasn't getting to eat at In-N-Out Burger again, something I haven't done in years. That was something the whole family really enjoyed, but it wasn't the best part of the trip for me.
I might get in trouble for saying this, but it wasn't even the great time we had visiting family there. It was being completely lost in my story. Lost to the point where it felt like I was actually there with my characters. Lost to the point where I felt it, not just remembered writing it down.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. I had a wonderful time, both in San Diego and lost somewhere in the story of a time traveling misfit who was damned from birth to a life she didn't choose.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Bits of You in Your Work
Every author throws a little of themselves into their stories. The main character may have similar tastes or habits or quirks. The setting is probably somewhere very familiar to the author, or even if it's made up, it probably has similarities.
Stephen King is famous for doing this. Many of his works are set in the areas of Maine he frequented growing up. Even works like The Shining were influenced by places he'd lived or spent time in. We see hints now and then of his jobs, such as in The Mangler, where he worked in a commercial laundry.
I know I do this. Many of my stories are set in and around Washington State. I grew up here, and it's easy for me to fall back on the area in some way, if not outright set my stories here. Many times I find myself giving a character a background from the Pacific Northwest or some other ties to the area. It's natural, because I don't have to do as much research to make it accurate and believable.
A lot of times I find the main characters tend to have a lot of the same opinions or views on life I do. It comes naturally to write them that way. It's easier to relate to a character that mirrors you. It keeps you inside a writing comfort zone, and that often helps get words down on paper.
Those things are largely unconscious choices. Sometimes it's intentional, but usually it just feels natural to set a story in a particular place or give the characters certain personal aspects similar to mine. Usually it's just what feels right in the story.
Sometimes I do it on purpose. Because it's fun. I love to throw little bits and pieces of things into my stories that link them together. When I can, I'll generally throw a reference to the Seattle Seahawks into stories. It doesn't come up often, but it's fun. Usually it's a main character with a background from this part of the country who happens to like the team. Sometimes it's a more obscure reference. Often I'll substitute the Mariners or another local team if it's easier or it fits better in the story.
The military, and especially the Navy is another one I'll throw in there somewhere. With of the best years of my life running around the world courtesy of Uncle Sam, it's easy to see this one. Sometimes it's background, and sometimes it's just a reference. I don't write military fiction, so there's not a lot of it in there. Just enough to spice it up every once in a while.
I put a lot of my own personal experiences in as well. Not everything is taken from personal experience, even some things you might swear are, but when I can, I like to do this. Oftentimes other people have been there with me or experienced the same thing, and to me it's fun thinking they'll get that little surprise familiarity reading it someday. The anticipation I feel writing it is why I do it, knowing that someone out there is going to think, "I was there and did that exact same thing!" That's an awesome feeling, and it makes writing the story all that much better an experience.
It all boils down to the readers. It all boils down to the anticipation of their reactions reading my stories. Knowing they'll relate in some way or another, and being able to shape that reaction based on what I write. It's just one of the many little things that drive me to write.
Stephen King is famous for doing this. Many of his works are set in the areas of Maine he frequented growing up. Even works like The Shining were influenced by places he'd lived or spent time in. We see hints now and then of his jobs, such as in The Mangler, where he worked in a commercial laundry.
I know I do this. Many of my stories are set in and around Washington State. I grew up here, and it's easy for me to fall back on the area in some way, if not outright set my stories here. Many times I find myself giving a character a background from the Pacific Northwest or some other ties to the area. It's natural, because I don't have to do as much research to make it accurate and believable.
A lot of times I find the main characters tend to have a lot of the same opinions or views on life I do. It comes naturally to write them that way. It's easier to relate to a character that mirrors you. It keeps you inside a writing comfort zone, and that often helps get words down on paper.
Those things are largely unconscious choices. Sometimes it's intentional, but usually it just feels natural to set a story in a particular place or give the characters certain personal aspects similar to mine. Usually it's just what feels right in the story.
Sometimes I do it on purpose. Because it's fun. I love to throw little bits and pieces of things into my stories that link them together. When I can, I'll generally throw a reference to the Seattle Seahawks into stories. It doesn't come up often, but it's fun. Usually it's a main character with a background from this part of the country who happens to like the team. Sometimes it's a more obscure reference. Often I'll substitute the Mariners or another local team if it's easier or it fits better in the story.
The military, and especially the Navy is another one I'll throw in there somewhere. With of the best years of my life running around the world courtesy of Uncle Sam, it's easy to see this one. Sometimes it's background, and sometimes it's just a reference. I don't write military fiction, so there's not a lot of it in there. Just enough to spice it up every once in a while.
I put a lot of my own personal experiences in as well. Not everything is taken from personal experience, even some things you might swear are, but when I can, I like to do this. Oftentimes other people have been there with me or experienced the same thing, and to me it's fun thinking they'll get that little surprise familiarity reading it someday. The anticipation I feel writing it is why I do it, knowing that someone out there is going to think, "I was there and did that exact same thing!" That's an awesome feeling, and it makes writing the story all that much better an experience.
It all boils down to the readers. It all boils down to the anticipation of their reactions reading my stories. Knowing they'll relate in some way or another, and being able to shape that reaction based on what I write. It's just one of the many little things that drive me to write.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Writing Science Fiction
Writing science fiction is tough. Or rather, writing good science fiction is tough. Anyone can churn out Star Wars-esque fan fiction. Writing an original piece, complete with its own logical science and believable steps in technology is a lot harder. In fact, I'd venture a guess it's at least as hard as any other type of fiction out there.
When I started writing The Plexus a few years back, it started out simple. Actually, if truth were told, it started out a long, long time before that. For the first decade and a half, it was nothing more than a cute beginning and ending of a short story, one that went in a circular pattern and left everything precisely the way it was in the beginning. Sort of a "did this really happen" thing. I didn't even have the story itself for the longest time.
And when that story came, boy did it come! The story burgeoned into a novella and then a regular novel. Then it burped into a trilogy and is now a tidy nine-book series. Don't worry, each book stands nicely on its own as a story. There's just a whole lot more to the story, and I can't tell it all in a single book.
The story has been easy. The story has practically written itself. It just unfolds as the characters do their best to do things according to their varied and different morals and goals. It's the technology that's been the more interesting Gordian's knot.
The whole thing is set a hundred and fifty years in the future. At least that's when the major time continuum is. Being a time travel piece, the characters obviously use time like Spock and Kirk use space. Coming up with new, futuristic technology isn't the hard part. It's bridging the gap between our technology today and what it would most likely morph into in the future that's the hard part. It's making it a truly believable, logical part of the story that is so difficult.
Many science fiction pieces have hugely fanciful technology, developed it seems from the author's dreams of the coolest, most awesome technology imaginable. Flying cars, space travel to distant planets in mere minutes, interstellar cruisers, space age weaponry, space stations the size of planets. The list goes on and on.
My approach was different. I wanted to create a world that was entirely believable. In fact, so believable it would make the logical conclusions in the story undeniably frightening because of how personal they felt. If I took technology from where we are today and projected it into the future using a framework of the pattern of development it's already taken, I'd arrive at a much more logical version of the future.
And that's what I did. I stripped out all the fanciful thoughts of über-cool futuristic modes of transportation such as flying cars, fantastic space age weaponry, and all the other sci-fi standards and concentrated on where things were headed now.
And where is that? Communications. The Internet. Gadgetry. Electronics. The basics. We've seen viewable media go from crackly black and white silent movies in the theater to our own homes, to flat screen HDTV, to portable devices, to streaming through our telephones. Same goes for communication. From early telegraphs to the latest Bluetooth technology running to miniature computers we call telephones, it's all going smaller and smaller, and more convenient to use. That's a no-brainer. The harder part is determining where it's going from there.
With the advent of hands free devices, we've seen a push toward automation and ease of use. Our computers advertise to us based on how we surf the Internet. The auto-correct features automatically correct our spelling, even if at times we don't want it to. We can speak the name of who we want to call into our phones and they will dial the person for us. If I really wanted to, I could simply talk my novels into the computer instead of typing them in with my fingers. Everything is pushing onward toward what we think, rather than what we do.
And that's the logical conclusion. Yes, it's been done before. Thought control of technology. Melding human with machine. But what hasn't been done, or what has been done rarely, is push that to a societal level, one where that technology is created for the masses being entertained by the latest pop divas instead of the megalomaniac government agents or corporate tycoons in a hunt for absolute power. It's all about the money. Always has been and always will be. And this means that the technology developed will sooner or later end up in Walmart, to be marketed to the masses.
The conclusion is there. It's getting there from here that is the tricky part. I'm essentially creating technology before it exists. Hell, if I could actually do that, I'm in the wrong business! Luckily I only have to look like I can do it.
The kinks arrive when the technology I've dreamed up starts thwarting my story's plot. How is the technology of the future going to deal with identity theft? Find a solution for that and it's going to sound plausible. Of course, it's also going to throw a monkey wrench into one of my character's ability to actually survive in the world of the future, so I have to create workarounds in the technology to allow her and those like her to survive. Of course, then I have to respond in kind with technology that addresses those weaknesses, because that's what happens. That circle is quite vicious, and it's a delicate line I am forced to walk to allow both sides to coexist in the story and still have it make sense.
And then there are the logical conclusions one arrives to based on the technology I've already set up. Those present other problems. For example, integrating the virtual world with humanity will logically be done through the body's own optics. This allows not only full integration with the virtual world, but also the ability for one's mind to interpret the input as needed, such as translating into their mother tongue, overcoming colorblindness, and even tailoring advertizing to suit their tastes better. It's logical. And of course, we're back to creating problems some of my characters can no longer overcome.
This delicate balance is absolutely vital in creating a realistic science fiction world. Too little time is often put into science fiction works, and the authors rush their works off before giving them a look from the position of a harsh critic. As soon as you start punching holes in the logic of something, especially technology in science fiction, you start having a problem with the story. We've even seen it with some of the greats in the genre, and that's too bad. It's tough work, but in the end it's worth it if it makes those elements of the story more believable.
When I started writing The Plexus a few years back, it started out simple. Actually, if truth were told, it started out a long, long time before that. For the first decade and a half, it was nothing more than a cute beginning and ending of a short story, one that went in a circular pattern and left everything precisely the way it was in the beginning. Sort of a "did this really happen" thing. I didn't even have the story itself for the longest time.
And when that story came, boy did it come! The story burgeoned into a novella and then a regular novel. Then it burped into a trilogy and is now a tidy nine-book series. Don't worry, each book stands nicely on its own as a story. There's just a whole lot more to the story, and I can't tell it all in a single book.
The story has been easy. The story has practically written itself. It just unfolds as the characters do their best to do things according to their varied and different morals and goals. It's the technology that's been the more interesting Gordian's knot.
The whole thing is set a hundred and fifty years in the future. At least that's when the major time continuum is. Being a time travel piece, the characters obviously use time like Spock and Kirk use space. Coming up with new, futuristic technology isn't the hard part. It's bridging the gap between our technology today and what it would most likely morph into in the future that's the hard part. It's making it a truly believable, logical part of the story that is so difficult.
Many science fiction pieces have hugely fanciful technology, developed it seems from the author's dreams of the coolest, most awesome technology imaginable. Flying cars, space travel to distant planets in mere minutes, interstellar cruisers, space age weaponry, space stations the size of planets. The list goes on and on.
My approach was different. I wanted to create a world that was entirely believable. In fact, so believable it would make the logical conclusions in the story undeniably frightening because of how personal they felt. If I took technology from where we are today and projected it into the future using a framework of the pattern of development it's already taken, I'd arrive at a much more logical version of the future.
And that's what I did. I stripped out all the fanciful thoughts of über-cool futuristic modes of transportation such as flying cars, fantastic space age weaponry, and all the other sci-fi standards and concentrated on where things were headed now.
And where is that? Communications. The Internet. Gadgetry. Electronics. The basics. We've seen viewable media go from crackly black and white silent movies in the theater to our own homes, to flat screen HDTV, to portable devices, to streaming through our telephones. Same goes for communication. From early telegraphs to the latest Bluetooth technology running to miniature computers we call telephones, it's all going smaller and smaller, and more convenient to use. That's a no-brainer. The harder part is determining where it's going from there.
With the advent of hands free devices, we've seen a push toward automation and ease of use. Our computers advertise to us based on how we surf the Internet. The auto-correct features automatically correct our spelling, even if at times we don't want it to. We can speak the name of who we want to call into our phones and they will dial the person for us. If I really wanted to, I could simply talk my novels into the computer instead of typing them in with my fingers. Everything is pushing onward toward what we think, rather than what we do.
And that's the logical conclusion. Yes, it's been done before. Thought control of technology. Melding human with machine. But what hasn't been done, or what has been done rarely, is push that to a societal level, one where that technology is created for the masses being entertained by the latest pop divas instead of the megalomaniac government agents or corporate tycoons in a hunt for absolute power. It's all about the money. Always has been and always will be. And this means that the technology developed will sooner or later end up in Walmart, to be marketed to the masses.
The conclusion is there. It's getting there from here that is the tricky part. I'm essentially creating technology before it exists. Hell, if I could actually do that, I'm in the wrong business! Luckily I only have to look like I can do it.
The kinks arrive when the technology I've dreamed up starts thwarting my story's plot. How is the technology of the future going to deal with identity theft? Find a solution for that and it's going to sound plausible. Of course, it's also going to throw a monkey wrench into one of my character's ability to actually survive in the world of the future, so I have to create workarounds in the technology to allow her and those like her to survive. Of course, then I have to respond in kind with technology that addresses those weaknesses, because that's what happens. That circle is quite vicious, and it's a delicate line I am forced to walk to allow both sides to coexist in the story and still have it make sense.
And then there are the logical conclusions one arrives to based on the technology I've already set up. Those present other problems. For example, integrating the virtual world with humanity will logically be done through the body's own optics. This allows not only full integration with the virtual world, but also the ability for one's mind to interpret the input as needed, such as translating into their mother tongue, overcoming colorblindness, and even tailoring advertizing to suit their tastes better. It's logical. And of course, we're back to creating problems some of my characters can no longer overcome.
This delicate balance is absolutely vital in creating a realistic science fiction world. Too little time is often put into science fiction works, and the authors rush their works off before giving them a look from the position of a harsh critic. As soon as you start punching holes in the logic of something, especially technology in science fiction, you start having a problem with the story. We've even seen it with some of the greats in the genre, and that's too bad. It's tough work, but in the end it's worth it if it makes those elements of the story more believable.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Book Review: The Black Obelisk
I found my copy buried between the hundreds of old bodice rippers and second hand thrillers sent to service members in war zones as a part of the morale, welfare and recreation efforts back home. As you can see by the photo, it's a rather beat up copy, so old in fact (Copyright 1957) that it's proclaimed to be "by the author of The Night in Lisbon".
I recognized the author and picked the book up, waiting my turn at the computers in the MWR hooch of our camp in Afghanistan. I sat down to read and was immediately hooked. In fact, I'm not sure I even found my way to a computer that evening. I think I went straight back to my own hooch, curled up in my bed and read the book cover to cover.
And as soon as I finished reading it, I read it again. It was that good. Finished the last page and started from the first again. I read it a couple more times on the plane ride home a couple of months later. All in all, I've probably read it about a half a dozen times, putting it right up there as one of the books I've read the most.
But what's so special about it? What made it that good that I've read it that many times, especially back to back? Certainly being in a war zone with limited reading material contributed to that, but the book stands on its own merits nicely. It's a fantastic read.
What did it for me was both the setting, and the characters' interaction with each other, which also largely derives from the setting. It's set in 1920's Germany. Inflation is a daily, even hourly sometimes, changing part of life. It's chaotic, fabulous, tragic, and politically and emotionally charged.
The story is written in first person, and follows Ludwig Bodmer, a former German Army corporal and employee of Heinrich Kroll and Sons, a funeral monument maker. Yes, that's right. He makes tombstones for a living in impoverished 1920's Germany.
The characters are all colorful and interesting, as they finagle and con their way through their meager lives, but one of the more interesting parts of the story is the role inflation has on everything. The way Remarque weaves the daily expanding inflation and its effects into their lives is simply amazing. As a reader, you watch in awe as money that yesterday was enough to buy a tombstone, today is not enough to buy bread. You see the way they use not only the barter system but also advance payments to make the money stretch further.
They're so embroiled in the sordid soap opera follies of their lives, that each day provides another twist to the complications they've largely brought on themselves. Coupled with the fact that they are basically forced to take advantage of grieving loved ones after a death to simply make enough money to survive, it's almost too much.
Fortunately, they've got coupons. Back when money was worth something, one of the local restaurants, in an attempt at advertising for more business, offered coupons for a free meal. Ludwig and his friend and employer Georg Kroll have bought as many of these as they can, and now have a sizable stash. Since inflation has basically turned money into worthless pieces of paper, the cost to buy one of these coupons, or a good meal would be enormous. Needless to say, it's a horribly sore point with the restaurant owner, but they have the coupons and he must make good on them, essentially guaranteeing them a free meal any time they wish.
The book is such a compelling and fascinating look at the world of yesterday that I view it as a book everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. It should be one of the books read in high school or college literature courses. It should be in every bookstore in every English-speaking country in the world.
I was going to say that it should be in print. I was going to lament the fact it wasn't available anywhere but possibly some out-of-the-way bookstore. I was going to do that, but after checking Amazon one last time, what do you know, it is available! This is a relatively new thing, too. I checked not a few months ago and couldn't find it anywhere online. At any rate, I'm very, very stoked to be able to point you to it in the hopes it will get a little more of the attention it deserves as one of the best pieces of classic literature ever written. There, I've said it. And I stand by it. It is. I highly recommend it. And I might just have to order a brand new copy myself to replace the yellowed, dog-eared copy I found in the strangest of places.
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