Bloggers or pod people?

Mediabistro's Galley Cat has a cool story on publishing with a different slant. Author John Scalzi was guest editing Subterranean magazine and came across a story that made several cuts but just didn't quite fit the publication. He was so enamored with it, he bought the story himself and posted it on his blog, Whatever. Scalzi's reasoning is that his blog gets read more than Subterranean, so the story is getting out to a large audience. Arrogant, maybe, but probably true. The story is called "Who Put the Bomp?" It's haunting and sharp, though I didn't find it terribly original, speculation on Martian invasion and pod people, amidst social insanity. Read it and decide for yourself. Scalzi has done the authors a huge service--they will get tons of exposure from this.

I used to think print publications and books were in big trouble with digital media exploding the way it is, but people are fickle and diverse creatures. Sometimes I just want info bites, I love my Yahoo page. So much to interest me, laid right at my doorstep! And other times I want to run screaming from my computer and just curl up on the couch with a thick hardcover, feel and smell the book in my hands. That will never change, for me, or the millions of true book lovers out there. We just might cheat from time to time with our computers, but our hearts belong to binders and wood pulp pages.