[Hereford Eye]

John Twelve Hawks' book The Traveller: Let me preface this by saying unequivocally I enjoyed the book. That said, there is this:

Annoyance No. 1:
On the front cover: "The new Da Vinci Code" Metro
On the back cover: "The book they say is the new DaVinci Code." METRO
Has anyone ever heard of METRO?

Annoyance No. 2:
Why did the author find it necessary to justify his prose with a post script? His text made each of his points vary plainly along with enough information to go run it down for yourself if you are so inclined. I was so inclined, at least as far as curioisity about Bentham's panopticon.

Nit#1:
Why do architects designing maximum security facilities always leave access points outside the perimeter? And when they do, why don't the security professionals recognize this weak point and booby trap the sucker?

Nit #2:
Why is it that in the movies one Doberman pinscher can take down the roughest, toughest hoodlum ever known but in adventure stories a pack of genetically enhanced critters experience worse defeats than the German Football Club in the 29th minute of overtime?

[Ouroboros]

Has anyone ever heard of METRO?

Metro is a freesheet newspaper published in several countries, including the UK, US and here in Ireland. There is a main Metro International company, based in Sweden, who go into business with various national press companies to produce it locally.

Supposedly the whole concept has been pretty successful, Rupert Murdoch once said that the London edition was putting a fair dent in sales of The Sun on a daily basis.

Here in Europe there seems to be one template for the paper, which then has appropriate local news tacked on top. A while back they did a rather fun interview with Joss Whedon, which endeared them to me.

As to the rest of it: To be honest reading the back of the book was enough for me, it didn't appeal. I'd be interested to know whether it achieves some degree of crossover success, given that this is SF-lite marketed in the fiction section as far as I can see.

[Katya]

*coughs* I haven't read the book, but in a similar vein, I just really hate it when on the cover they compare it to other books "Such and such is the next Laurell K Hamilton...". It's like they don't believe books can stand on their own any more... they need to drop the name of "successful" authors all the time. It seems like they're trying to validate their presence! :(

[PlanetRetcon]

In many ways books can't stand on their own any more. People are gunshy in their purchases, sadly.

I find it annoying too :D

[s271]

Why do architects designing maximum security facilities always leave access points outside the perimeter? And when they do, why don't the security professionals recognize this weak point and booby trap the sucker?


Because that way some security personnel have a chance to survive. If there is no readyly available access point, or even worse it's bobbytrapped the pissed off protagonist would break in with guns blazing, kill all the security and burn facility to ground.

[Hereford Eye]

Well done, s271; best explanation I've encountered.:)
Using established author's name is nothing more than a marketing ploy ripping off the successful author's reputation to kick-start the newbie. There's another thread - in the fantasy forum I think - that deals with book cover blurbs. My annoyance with this cover is that it lifts "the new da Vinci code" from the context of the actual quote changing the meaning completely from what the actual quote said.