CLOUD ATLAS would normally be exactly the kind of book that I'd be looking to carry.
It's a 'cult' favorite with fantasy leanings with a movie coming out (starring no less than Tom Hanks.)
But to my great surprise, I've been getting in used copies of the book, so I thought I was covered.
Had a customer in last week looking for it, and she said the author was 'Mitchell' but I couldn't find it, but I was certain I had it so I kept looking and -- there -- under Liam Callahan, was a copy of THE CLOUD ATLAS, with a very fantasy looking cover with kind of airy ships in the sky.
"No I don't think this is it," she says.
"I think it must be," I says.
But I start reading the back of it, and it's a novel set in Alaska and I'm pretty sure from the movie trailer that isn't right.
Anyway, long story short, it is a different book, that came out in October of 2004. The CLOUD ATLAS by David Mitchell came out in August of 2004 -- which means they came out within two months of each other, which probably means they didn't even know about each other.
In other words, not a cynical attempt to grab another author's audience. It's THE CLOUD ATLAS that I have in stock, not CLOUD ATLAS.
By the way, you apparently can't copyright a title, so if you feel like your book simply must be called GONE WITH THE WIND, have at it.
I'm going to immediately order CLOUD ATLAS, since, like I said above, it's the type of book I would normally carry (and read for that matter.) I'm also going to do my customers a favor and remove the copies of the other book so no one buys it by mistake. Ouch.
ADDENDUM. I say it's the type of book I would normally read, but that doesn't seem to be all that true anymore.
I haven't read a lot of the "cult" books lately -- The Alchemist, or Ishmeal, or House of Leaves. Those sorts of things I read when I was younger, they seem a little too earnest to me nowadays.
Maybe a mistake -- I mean, I would've hated to miss GAME OF THRONES. Then again, I was already a huge fan of George R.R. Martin because of FEVRE DREAM and TUFF VOYAGING and I read him before he was quite so popular.
That's right, you jump-on-the-bandwagon-come-latelies: I read it first.
It's a 'cult' favorite with fantasy leanings with a movie coming out (starring no less than Tom Hanks.)
But to my great surprise, I've been getting in used copies of the book, so I thought I was covered.
Had a customer in last week looking for it, and she said the author was 'Mitchell' but I couldn't find it, but I was certain I had it so I kept looking and -- there -- under Liam Callahan, was a copy of THE CLOUD ATLAS, with a very fantasy looking cover with kind of airy ships in the sky.
"No I don't think this is it," she says.
"I think it must be," I says.
But I start reading the back of it, and it's a novel set in Alaska and I'm pretty sure from the movie trailer that isn't right.
Anyway, long story short, it is a different book, that came out in October of 2004. The CLOUD ATLAS by David Mitchell came out in August of 2004 -- which means they came out within two months of each other, which probably means they didn't even know about each other.
In other words, not a cynical attempt to grab another author's audience. It's THE CLOUD ATLAS that I have in stock, not CLOUD ATLAS.
By the way, you apparently can't copyright a title, so if you feel like your book simply must be called GONE WITH THE WIND, have at it.
I'm going to immediately order CLOUD ATLAS, since, like I said above, it's the type of book I would normally carry (and read for that matter.) I'm also going to do my customers a favor and remove the copies of the other book so no one buys it by mistake. Ouch.
ADDENDUM. I say it's the type of book I would normally read, but that doesn't seem to be all that true anymore.
I haven't read a lot of the "cult" books lately -- The Alchemist, or Ishmeal, or House of Leaves. Those sorts of things I read when I was younger, they seem a little too earnest to me nowadays.
Maybe a mistake -- I mean, I would've hated to miss GAME OF THRONES. Then again, I was already a huge fan of George R.R. Martin because of FEVRE DREAM and TUFF VOYAGING and I read him before he was quite so popular.
That's right, you jump-on-the-bandwagon-come-latelies: I read it first.