{"id":6157,"date":"2012-01-29T08:34:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-29T13:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2012\/01\/21\/"},"modified":"2012-01-29T08:34:19","modified_gmt":"2012-01-29T13:34:19","slug":"the-temperature-at-which-the-kindle-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=6157","title":{"rendered":"The Temperature at Which the Kindle Burns"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is a news story<\/a> I stumbled across forever ago that I meant to kind of rant about and somehow it just kind of got lost in my giant, ever shifting, to-do stack. The main thrust is that despite Ray Bradbury\u2019s dislike of technology and the e-book format, his iconic book \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d has been published in the format.<\/p>\n

I came across the story on the BBC news site<\/a>, where they said Bradbury had \u201cpreviously claimed electronic books \u2018smell like burned fuel\u2019,\u201d and that he had told the Los Angeles Times in 2010 that, \u201cI was approached three times during the last year by internet companies wanting to put my books on an electronic reading device. I said to Yahoo: \u2018Prick up your ears and go to hell.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the BBC story<\/a> states \u201cMr. Bradbury\u2019s agent said the rights for the author\u2019s books had been close to expiring and the publisher had insisted the new contract include e-book rights.\u201d His agent said he explained to Bradbury that, \u201ca new contract wouldn\u2019t be possible without e-book rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Now let me step in here for a moment. This is Ray Bradbury, right? Ray, I wrote \u201cSomething Wicked This Way Comes\u201d, \u201cThe Martian Chronicles\u201d, and oh yeah, motherf’ing \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d Bradbury. It seems to me if this Ray Bradbury fellow would like to find a publisher for his books with the caveat of no e-books there should be plenty of grateful publishers happy to say, yeah, we totally publish Bradbury books. It\u2019s not like Bradbury was being sleazy and looking to publish e-books on the sly, or with some other company, or on his own. Bradbury no likey e-bookies. Seems to me a writer of his stature should have been able to get the respect he deserved from a publishing company out there where they would have published his work in the formats he wished. Sigh\u2026.I wonder at what temperature the Kindle burns.<\/p>\n

The BBC article indicates that Bradbury was persuaded and now his overall views on the matter have changed. Now I\u2019d like to think the previous paragraph made it abundantly clear, but if it didn\u2019t, let me speak it plainly for you; Ray Bradbury is a bad ass. I mean he\u2019s the man who wrote \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d! The man is a legend, a wordsmithing hero, and nothing that I\u2019m about to say changes that one bit, okay? I\u2019m willing to bet that 90% of you reading this own a beat up paperback copy of \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d. How many of you out there own an e-book version of it? I\u2019m guessing almost none. The portable electronic reading device is new, and still a growing and expanding market, and a lot of people are going to start recreating, or building up, their perfect e-book libraries. That\u2019s a lot of people that will potentially be buying an e-book version of \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d, and with the US publisher Simon & Schuster selling it at a list price of $9.99 (which FYI is more expensive than the physical paperback book is on Barnes and Noble\u2019s website<\/a> and Amazon.com<\/a>) we\u2019re talking about some serious cash. That\u2019s right folks, I\u2019m a total asshole. I\u2019m suggesting that Ray Bradbury is looking to get paid.<\/p>\n

What I want to end with is, good for him. There\u2019s nothing wrong with the man getting paid. It\u2019s not like he\u2019s doing paid advertisements for a book burning organization or something, he just put aside his dislike of the e-book and allowed his own work to be published for it. And honestly, the e-book thing is here to stay, so better he sign a contract, do it now, and get paid now, rather than have it all happen via his estate after he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

Of course, I\u2019ll never buy \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d as an e-book\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"