The 4400
The Sci-Fi channel had a
"The 4400" festival with lots of episodes running. The premise is: what happens when those people abducted from cornfields all return with special abilities to use parts of their brains that aren't usually used?
Attractive cast and interesting story about the government treating the returnees like enemy combatants. The story line completely ignores the point that most people would be happy using 0% of their brain.
This is another show that features a mixed race baby who miraculously becomes a gorgeous woman walking around bare ass nekkid. It's deja vu all over again, because "Angel" also had a mixed race baby, etc.
This show has lots of possibilities and I hope we'll see ZOMBIES featured somewhere.
Onto book stuff, here are a few things I've learned since I've gotten my book deal:
-The author does not get final approval on the cover, no matter what Carrie Bradshaw says on "Sex in the City."
-The author does not get final approval on the title, although the author can whinge and advise.
-The back cover copy can inaccurately reflect the plot of the book if it's too difficult to explain the plot succinctly.
-Authors routinely post five-star reviews of their own books on Amazon under false names. If a "reviewer" only has one review to his/her name and the "review" says, "I couldn't put it down!" then it's a fake review.
-Bestsellers are not books that sell the most copies. They are books that sell the most at selected bookstores within a certain area over a limited time.
-Publishers never expect to recoup the costs of some of their hugest advances. The advances are considered advertising. Does anyone seriously believe that Alan Greenspan's book is going to earn back his $8.5 million advance? Pulleeze.
To read about book covers, check out
Agent Kristin's blog.