As in guillotine...

My Favorite Reads of 2011

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 27, 2011
Post category:Personal Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

Unlike movies, I rarely read books when they're first released, especially hardcover fiction, so my favorite reads in any given year are usually a mix of backlist and "new" trade paperbacks. I also like to mix things up throughout the year, so I rarely read as deeply in any one genre as I might like to, and my to-read pile grows ever higher as I discover new-to-me writers with deep backlists that I'll never have enough time to fully explore. Here are my five favorites (plus one honorable mention), in order of combined awesomeness and emotional impact, in what has arguably been one of the best years of reading in a long time, not just in quantity, but quality, too.

Ownership vs. Access: Which is More Important?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 22, 2011
Post category:Pop Culture
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In less than a week, I've already spent more money on PoxNora—the "free-to-play" virtual card game I raved about earlier this week—than I have on ebooks all year long. If you include all of my Steam purchases (effectively the Kindle of computer gaming) over the past six months, it's more than I've spent on ebooks ever!

New Obsession: PoxNora

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 22, 2011
Post category:Pop Culture
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I never got into Magic: The Gathering, but I did play a lot of Pokemon and VS., so the appeal of collectible card games (aka, social gaming!) isn't new to me, and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is one of my all-time favorite games, so turn-based tactics is right up my alley, too. Combine them with an impressively deep setting, beautiful artwork, and a slick (if not totally intuitive) deck virtual management system, and you have a winner.

On the Appeal of Indie Bookstores

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 14, 2011
Post category:Media
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There are a number of challenges indie booksellers face—a shit economy being the biggest of them—and there are many that won't succeed, not because Amazon put them out of business but because THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO MOST BUSINESSES. There are many neighborhoods that simply can't (or won't) support a local bookstore, and that's perfectly normal, too.

KDP Select: Is It Worth It?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 8, 2011
Post category:Media
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If you're an author who has already been shook and sold your soul and firstborn to Jeff Bezos, I can see this seeming like a good short-term deal, but the potential repercussions are huge.

Publishing’s Brooklyn Problem

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 5, 2011
Post category:Media
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Much like Google didn't disintermediate big ad agencies via AdWords, nor TV networks or Hollywood studios via YouTube, but instead provided new channels for those who had no need for the Super Bowl, Amazon has done the same for authors who are better served with a scalpel than a mallet.

Are Inexpensive Self-published Ebooks the New Blogs?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 1, 2011
Post category:Media
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It reminds me of 2003, the year I started blogging, and how some people were able to attract large audiences for their writing, and the mainstream media scoffed that they would ever be taken seriously. Fast-forward, many of those early bloggers are now considered "real" journalists, some because they went to work for traditional media brands, others because they attracted a significant enough audience on their own that they couldn't be ignored.