Jonny's Blog

London Gamer Geeks

2008-04-30T08:38:31Z

A few months ago I read the following:

...the final London Gamer Geeks meeting of 2007 is tomorrow night, Wednesday 28th November, at our usual venue downstairs at the College Arms on Store Street, from 6.30pm onwards.

I quite fancy going tonight, but just want to make sure it's still going, is the last Wednesday, and is still at that venue. Unfortunately, the website is a Yahoo group which doesn't appear to give any information to non-members. I've joined, but am awaiting approval. So the question is, do any of you guys go, and are you going tonight?

I Need Your Help II: A Couple More Things

2008-04-30T06:19:21Z

There's a couple of things I forgot to mention in my previous post asking people to send in videos about Game Night.

Firstly, you should send them to gamenight@jonnynexus.com.

Secondly, if you're known under a particular handle at a particular forum it would be nice if you could say that at the start (i.e. "Hi, I'm XXX at RPGNet" for example). And feel free to just mention your name anyway. It all adds authenticity.

As stated before, I'll be very grateful for any help I can get in this. I can do advertising to get people to the Game Night page, but at the moment I think most of them are lingering for a few seconds and then wandering off. Having this video embedded could hopefully "grab" them enough to get them thinking about the book.

I Need Your Help

2008-04-29T19:25:32Z

There comes a time in a man's life when the events conspiring against him seem so insurmountable that his very life depends upon appealing for aid to his fellow men.

This isn't one of those times. I haven't been kidnapped by the Russian maffia, mutant radioactive sewer rats aren't attempting to colonise my house by way of the toilet, and I don't need your help in cashing a cheque smuggled out of a third world country by my father, the former minister of defence.

But I do need some help, and if you're someone who: a) has read Game Night; b) liked it; and c) has access to either a video camera, or a camera or phone that can take video - they you can help me.

I want to do a promotional video for Game Night. It will be very simple. Just an introduction by me followed by (hopefully) a bunch of people each holding up a copy of the book and saying - in a few words or sentences - how much, and perhaps why, they like the book. So I need you to film yourself saying that and then email the resulting file (MP4 would be fine) to me. I'll then stitch them all together. I think a montage of you guys will be way more powerful than anything I could say.

Quality doesn't matter. If the resulting film is a mixture of high-quality video camera footage and low-quality phone footage it will only increase its authenticity.

I've created a mock up of where I will use the video (with a test file shot by camera phone with the size hideously kludged) here:

http://www.jonnynexus.com/gamenight/index-ad.html

As you can see, the plan is to put it on the main Game Night page alongside the free preview (so the Amazon links don't get pushed down the page).

What does everyone think? Anyone up for it?

Needless to say, I would be very grateful for any clips that I receive.

Game Night Promotional Video

2008-04-26T13:33:10Z

At the recent London Book Fair, I went to a talk by some people from J W Wiley on the subject of how authors and publishers can make use of social networking to promote their books.

One of the techniques they talked about was the use of promotional videos, distributed via YouTube, to promote books. They played a five minute montage containing dozens of their videos, and they were very impressive. It immediately occurred to me that this was something I should be doing for Game Night.

Now their examples were all in the non-fiction area, so it wasn't immediately obvious to me how I could use modify that sort of style to promote Game Night. But after a little bit of thought, I think I've managed to do it.

What do you think?

Did Anyone Go To The Last GenCon UK?

2008-04-26T08:33:30Z

Hi all,

We're thinking of having a stall to sell Game Night at this year's GenCon UK, but I've never been to its modern incarnation, and have no idea what it's like. I know it's been at Reading before, but that's about it.

Attending will make three long weekends of selling in a row (after GenCon Indy and the Discworld con), and a table will cost us £400 (about $800) - so I want to find out a bit more about it before signing up.

Did anyone go last year? What was it like? I'm particularly interested in what the trade hall was like, and how many people were there. Any feedback or thoughts will be gratefully received.

Jonny

The ENnies

2008-04-23T08:11:31Z

Just read this on the ENnies website (emphasis mine):

Best Regalia - Awarded for the best product which, while it does not complement role playing game play, does enhance the lives of RP gamers. RPG Fiction, RPG Video Games, Videos, RPG Board Games, miniature painting accessories, etc. are all possibilities for entries in this category.

Think maybe I might have a punt at that...

Another Game Night Review

2008-04-20T18:42:57Z

We've been fairly busy this weekend, but I was very happy to read another Game Night Review on RPGNet by Steve Darlington. I especially liked his highly quotable initial summary.

"The best novel ever written about gaming. One of the funniest novels ever written about anything."

You can read the rest here:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13736.phtml

Some Announcements

2008-04-15T07:23:04Z

Firstly, my initial members pack has come back from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha who I joined at Eastercon. It's got a rather nifty badge and membership card and a big thick letter that I haven't yet read. I'm rather chuffed. Now some of you might not have heard of ZZ9. Well if so, then I'd suggest you take a long hard look at your life and lifestyle and come up with some kind of answer.

Preferably 42.

In other news, we've had some confirmations for places where we'll be selling Game Night this summer.

On 14th to 17th August, we'll be at GenCon Indy's Author's Avenue.

Then on 22nd to 25th August, we'll be at the Discworld Convention at Birmingham.

More news as I have it. Now, I'm off to the London Book Fair.

Things I Learned Today

2008-04-08T12:25:44Z

You can't walk into a Kinkos, give them a USB stick containing a jpeg file, and say, "Please print that at a resolution of 400 dpi."

They'll um and ah for about half an hour, making you late for work, ask lots of questions along the lines of, "But how big do you want it? Is it A4?", explain to you that a jpeg is a bitmap and thus has no fixed size and then ignore your reply of, "I know that, that's why I'm asking you to just print it at 400 dpi."

But they can't do it.

At least, they can't on a Tuesday morning. They had no problem doing it with the same file last Friday lunchtime.

It's a strange world we live in sometimes.

I Have A Shiny New Quote!

2008-04-08T12:03:30Z

From a review by ENWorld's Crothian:

"This is the best work of gaming fiction I have ever read."

Full review.

I'm rather chuffed!

Looking For Games Shops

2008-04-05T09:15:54Z

Hi all,

Now that Esdevium Games are distributing Game Night, I'm looking to send sample copies of the book to games shops, the theory being that if they read it and like it, they might then order a few copies where they otherwise wouldn't (if it was just a line in a product catalogue).

I spent a good chunk of last week trying to come up with a list of current UK and Ireland games shops (or at least shops that might sell games) and found it to be surprisingly hard. There are lists, but they are depressingly out of date (depressingly because it shows how many games shops have gone to the wall). But after a lot of phoning and surfing I came up with a list of 49 shops that are still around and hopefully still doing roleplaying stuff.

And so far, even though the books would only have started to arrive yesterday, I've already had one shop owner phone me up to thank me for brightening up her morning (she read it through in one sitting) and to tell me that she was going to order some copies.

Anyhow, what I want to do is find out any games shops I've missed.

Below (in a cut) is the list of shops that I sent to. If your FLGS isn't on the list (it's in alphabetical order, so it will be easy to spot), I'd be grateful if you can give me its details. Just comment here. Also, if I've managed to get one on there that no longer exists or no longer stocks gaming stuff, again, please let me know. Thanks!

ENGLAND

A Place in Space
101 Church Street
Croyden
Surrey
CR0 1RN

Area51 Comics and Games
230 Gloucester Road
Horfield
Bristol
BS7 8NZ

The Battle Zone
59 Boutport Street
Barnstaple
Devon
EX31 1SH

Caliver Books
816-818 London Rd
Leigh on Sea
Essex
SS9 3NH

Dice 'N' Duel
65 High St,
Totnes,
Devon
TQ9 5PB

Down to The Wood
1 Romsey Rd
Lyndhurst
Hampshire
SO43 7AA

Eclectic Games
58 Station Hill
Reading
RG1 1NF

Gamers
34 St. Marys St
Eynesbury
St. Neots
Cambridgeshire
PE19 2TA

GamesKeeper
105 Cowley Road,
Oxford,
OX4 1HU

The Games Shop
6 Wellington St
Aldershot
Hampshire
GU11 1DZ

The Grinning Demon
5 Middle Row
High St
Maidstone
Kent
ME14 1TF

J.C Books
111 Stoke Rd,
Gosport,
Hampshire
PO12 1LR

Leisure Games
100 Ballards Lane
Finchley
London
N3 2DN

Lingards Games
24 Sir Isaac's Walk
Colchester
Essex
CO1 1JJ

Lingards Games
1 Swan Lane
Norwich
Norfolk
NR2 1HZ

Mad For Miniatures
Unit 20 The Market House,
Market Hill,
St Austell,
Cornwall
PL25 5QB

Marquee Models
Unit 79B The Harvey Centre
Harlow
Essex
CM20 1XS

Marquee Models
Unit 5 The Marquee
Railway Street
Hertford
Hertfordshire
SG14 1SH

MB Models
5 Elizabeth House,
Church Street,
Liskeard,
Cornwall
PL14 3AG

Orc's Nest
6 Earlham St
London
WC2H 9RY

Patriot Games Ltd
1 & 2 Ladys Bridge
Sheffield
S3 8GA

Playin' Games
33 Museum St,
London
WC1A 1LD

Questing Knight Games
6 Old Bakery Row,
The Parade
Wellington
Telford
Shropshire
TF1 1PS

Role-n-Play
174 Stafford Street
Wolverhampton
WV1 1NA

Runik Games
17 Norwich Rd
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2ET

The Secret Games Shop
13 The Pantiles
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN2 5TD

Space, Myth & Magic
38 Eastborough,
Scarborough,
North Yorkshire
YO11 1NJ

Spirit Games
114-115 Station Street
Burton on Trent
Staffordshire
DE14 1BX

Spivey's Web
85 Chestergate
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK11 6DY

Spot-on Models & Hobbies
43 Havelock Street
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN1 1SD

Thadiun
Grand Central Hall
35 Renshaw Street
Liverpool
L1 2SF

Too Fat Goblinz
3 The Colonnade
EastGate Street
Stafford
Staffordshire
ST16 3UD

Travelling Man
32 Central Road
Leeds
LS1 6DE

Travelling Man
4 Dale Street
Manchester
M1 1JW

Travelling Man
43 Granger Street
Newcastle
NE1 5JE

Travelling Man
54 Goodramgate
York
YO1 7LF

Waylands Forge
Unit 2 Fletcher's Walk
Paradise Circus
Birmingham
B3 3HJ

Westgate Games
20 The Borough
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2DR

WALES

Cardiff Games
8 Duke Street Arcade
Cardiff
South Glamorgan
CF24 4SZ

Joust for Fun
79 Nolton St,
Bridgend,
Mid Glamorgan CF31 3AE

SCOTLAND

A1 Comics
31-35 Parnie Street
Glasgow
G1 5RJ

Asylum Books and Games Ltd
29 Adelphi
Aberdeen
Scotland
AB11 5BL

Black Lion Games
90 Buccleuch Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9NH

Megazone
104 Grahams Rd
Falkirk
Stirlingshire
FK2 7BZ

Static Games
37-39, King St
Glasgow
Lanarkshire
G1 5RA

NORTHERN IRELAND

Replay Games
97 High St.
Bangor
Co. Down
N.Ireland

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

4th Dimension
Below 3rd Place comic shop
17 Crow Street
Temple Bar
Dublin
Ireland

Gamers Realm
8 The Cornstore,
Middle Street
Galway City
Ireland

The Gathering
43 Lower Gerald Griffen Street
Limerick
Ireland

Other Realms
1st Floor, Paul Street Shopping Centre
Paul Street
Cork
Ireland

Sub City
2 Exchequer Street
Dublin 2
Ireland

Edited to add Leisure Games and Eclectic Games, which were originally left of the list because I know the people who run both of them and had already given them books. Sorry!

Amazon's Double Whammy

2008-04-02T09:30:38Z

It occurred to me while discussing this whole issue last night that I hadn't pointed out that Amazon are actually being anti-competitive in two ways.

The situation is this.

Amazon is a book retailer that is in competition with other book retailers, both on-line, such as BarnesAndNoble.com, and off-line (i.e. physical stores).

BookSurge is an Amazon owned print-on-demand (POD) printer/distributor that is in competition with other POD printer/distributors such as Lightning Source.

Existing anti-competitive issue #1 is that BookSurge does not distribute books to Amazon's competitors. (Which is a big reason why no-one wants to use it).

New anti-competitive issue #2 is that Amazon is apparently in the process of ceasing to stock BookSurge's competitors.

It's all rather dodgy - and hopefully illegal under European law.

Bertie Ahern To Step Down?

2008-04-02T09:24:11Z

According to the BBC, he's about to make an announcement, which they think will be to announce the date he will step down.

I know that will please some on my friends list...

As One Door Refuses To Confirm Or Deny Its Closure Status...

2008-04-01T13:41:49Z

...another one opens.

This probably isn't the best day to announce this, what with it being April 1st and all, but pretend its the second. Or the thirty-first. Or whatever.

Game Night Is Now Being Distributed By Esdevium Games

We are pleased to announce that Game Night is now being distributed by Esdevium Games, one of the leading distributors of hobby and mass-market products in Europe.

The practical upshot of this is that your local games shop will be able to order it for you. So if you want it, and you haven't yet got it, you can now get it through them.

Its Esdevium stock code is MOP001. (And if they want the ISBN as well, that's 978-1-906402-01-3).

Thanks!

The Second Amazon Response: Better? Erm, No.

2008-04-01T11:18:42Z

Got this back:

Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.

I understand that you are upset, and I regret that we have not been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer any additional insight or action on these matters.

We've appreciated your business and hope to have the opportunity to serve you again in the future.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
[link]
If not, click here:
[link]

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

[name removed]
Amazon.com Customer Service

Here is my reply:

So to summarise:

- You have been accused by multiple parties of serious anti-competitive and unethical behaviour.

- I've asked if these accusations are true.

- You are unable to confirm or deny them.

Well they're obviously either true, or potentially true, because otherwise you'd deny them - wouldn't you?

Since you are unable to reassure me that my book will not be delisted, I'll start working on contingency plans. I hope you understand that you've left me with no choice but to do so since your product, BookSurge, does not give me the distribution I require.

I am pretty disappointed in Amazon. I know they are highly successful, so much so that they've acquired a near-monopolistic position, but I naively believed that they were, as corporations go, good guys. Guess I was wrong. Hopefully if there's enough of a back-lash they might reverse this decision.

And My Response...

2008-04-01T07:23:21Z

In answer to your question, no, the email did not answer my question - and I'm baffled as to why you might think it did, given that you made no attempt to answer the question I was asking.

I'm not shocked that you sent me a form letter. I expected that. But I am very angry that you sent me a form letter completely unrelated to the questions I asked.

So I'll ask again:

1) Is it true that you are removing the buy buttons from some non-BookSurge POD books?

2) Are you going to remove the buy button from my Lightning Source produced book Game Night?

Jonny Nexus

P.S. Can I remind you that in addition to selling through you, I am a long-time Amazon customer.

WTF? Anyone Out There Good At Translating Bullshit?

2008-04-01T07:15:52Z

This morning I got a reply from Amazon to the email I sent yesterday. It reads:

Thanks for your e-mail regarding Amazon's print-on-demand offerings.

We think Amazon's print-on-demand is a great option for both publishers and customers as it allows us to offer more titles and keep those titles perpetually in stock. We know customers love this, and we think that it's great for authors and publishers, too.

In addition, when we can print the titles right in our own fulfillment centers, we can marry the on-demand book together with a regular book and quickly ship both titles the same day in a single box--something that is very important to our customers. And of course, these titles are all eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping and Amazon Prime.

In all cases and for any title, any publisher or author can always use the Amazon Advantage program to list their titles. With Amazon Advantage, publishers send us their titles on consignment, and those titles are also eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping and Amazon Prime. The Advantage program has been in place for many years and thousands of publishers have sold hundreds of thousands of titles using Advantage. For more information, go to www.amazon.com/advantage.

By offering our publishers a variety of options for selling on Amazon, we can continue to provide our customers with the broadest possible selection of titles available.

I hope this information has been helpful.

Thank you for your interest in Amazon.com.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
[link]
If not, click here:
[link]

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Note at the end where it says: "Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:"

Well given that my question was: "Can you reassure me that my loyalty is not misplaced, and that you will not be removing my book from sale?" and given that this is pretty much a yes or no question, and given that your email contains neither a yes or a no, or a confirmation or denial, in relation to either my question, or the allegation that non-BookSurge books are being delisted... no, I'd say it doesn't answer my question.

And now I'm quite annoyed.

Don't get my wrong. I expected a form letter. After all, they are probably getting hundred of queries, all asking the exact same question as me. But given this, I did rather expect them to bother to write a new form letter, that actually addressed the fucking question that we're asking!

I think I'll click on the, "No, the email hasn't answered my question, and I'm baffled as to why anyone who is neither chimp nor retard might think that it has!"

And then simply re-ask the question again.

Amazon Flexing It's Muscle

2008-03-31T12:31:03Z

I've had a couple of people today send me some worrying news about Amazon effectively delisting any print-on-demand books that aren't produced by BookSurge, it's own POD service.

Amazon Tightens Grip on Printing
By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
March 28, 2008; Page B4

Amazon.com Inc., flexing its muscles as a major book retailer,
notified publishers who print books on demand that they will have to
use its on-demand printing facilities if they want their books
directly sold on Amazon's Web site.

Full story here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120667525724970997.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Other links:

http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/03/29/2240209.shtml

So I've just sent the following email to Amazon:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I've read today of multiple reports that print-on-demand books by printers other than your own BookSurge are being effectively removed from Amazon by having the buy button disabled.

As someone who currently has a Lightning Source produced book available on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, this news greatly worries me. I am currently an Amazon affiliate; my book's main webpage has affiliate links to both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. In accordance with your terms, I have not put links to any other book sellers on that page.

http://www.jonnynexus.com/gamenight/

Can you reassure me that my loyalty is not misplaced, and that you will not be removing my book from sale?

I should stress that BookSurge is not an option, as I understand such books are *only* available from Amazon and don't have unique ISBN numbers. I need my book to be available for order in bookstores, in addition to being available online.

If you do delist my book, I will obviously have no option but to remove your (now non-functional) affiliate links, and replace them with links to other book sellers such as Barnes & Noble.

Yours,

Jonny Nexus

I await a reply. But as of this moment, Game Night is still up there. For now.

A Belated Eastercon Report

2008-03-30T19:42:07Z

We had a stall at Orbital 2008 (the name for this year's Eastercon) to sell Game Night. Sales numbers weren't huge, but I wasn't disappointed as I think we were selling as much as anyone else. There were 1300+ people who came though the door, but I don't think they came to buy books. (Why would they? If they wanted to buy an in-print book, then they can just go down their local high street, and if they wanted to buy an out-of-print book, then it's very easy to find anything on-line).

But we did have some very nice feedback, the best of which was from a Discworld fan called Chris, who bought a copy of the book on the first night. What she told me the next day was so nice that it really did make my day, my weekend, and my week - so much so that I've been telling everyone about it since. What she told me, when she came back the next day on the Saturday was this:

"I was awake half the night and it's your fault, because it's brilliant and I couldn't put it down. And I just wanted to come here and tell you."

I do sometimes start to doubt myself. It's responses like the above that convince me that I have got something, and it's not just dreams. It was really nice of Chris to go out of her way to come back to the stall and tell me.

There isn't really much more to say. Neil Gaiman walked past me a few times, but I don't think he noticed me. (At least, I think it was Neil Gaiman. It doesn't help that there were at least three other guys at the con who looked like they were trying damn hard to look like Neil Gaiman). I went to some interesting panels. And saw a good play about Rod Serling, the guy behind the Twilight Zone.

Other than that, it was just four days of sitting around. I did at least have two nice sets of people on the stalls either side of me. On one side were Abaddon Books (the publishing arm of the people who do 2000AD).

And on the other was ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, he Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Appreciation Society. I splashed out on a Beeblebear (a teddy bear with two heads and three arms), a towel, and a t-shirt, and guess how much it came to?

£42! Which I thought was pretty cosmic.

And lastly, some pictures:

Our stall

The guys from Abaddon Books - a.k.a. the guys on the stall next door

Orbital 2008: It's On Now, And I'm There

2008-03-21T23:25:41Z

Forgot to mention earlier that I've got a stand at Orbital 2008, the British National Science Fiction convention, which is on now, ending on Monday. It's being held at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, near Heathrow. There's a pretty interesting looking schedule (which I'll miss most of, on account of being busy selling books) and I'd strongly recommend it. And if you fancy picking up a copy of Game Night, it's a pretty good place to do so.

Priorities

2008-03-18T13:53:46Z

In this mad, mad world, it's good sometimes to see someone get their priorities straight:

The host, whom Arrington says is a gadget-hound, was carrying his new MacBook Air, and thus he had a big decision to make: Protect his face, or the beautiful machine? In the split-second before he kissed the pavement, Rose chose to save the computer. "In doing so, he pretty much hit the pavement face first, unfortunately," producers told Arrington. Producers say the MacBook Air was undamaged, save for the blood stains.

After all, this was a MacBook Air!

In other news, from the same source, it appears that some Mac fans have an irrational and emotional bias toward Macs and against PCs. Can't see it myself.

I'm Being Stalked By Owen Sheers

2008-03-18T13:38:57Z

A few years ago we went to a poetry reading evening at an Oxfam bookshop. One of the readers was a young (when I say young, I do of course really mean someone merely younger than me), charismatic and good-looking Welsh poet. I generally find modern poetry difficult to follow, but I seem to recall he was pretty good. (He did a nice poem about finding a picture of his mother when a young woman called, "Not yet my mother"). This was from his second book of poetry (blue something or other), he'd won a posh-sounding award, and the bio in the event programme said he was already working on a novel for some publisher or other.

Git.

Anyhow, fast forward a few years to last Saturday, when I'm minding my own business on the Central Line platform at Bank station, and what do I find in front of me? A damn great poster advertising a book called "Resistance" by a bloke called "Owen Sheers", a name that was instantly familiar.

"Wasn't he that poet we heard at Oxfam?" I thought, making but failing to file a mental note to tell my other half about it.

An hour or so later, I'm walking into Foyles bookshop, minding my own business, when a book cover leaps out at me from a thousand other books. Resistance, by Owen Sheers. I read the blurb. It's alternate history, not what I'd have been expecting. But when I flip to the biography section at the front, it's him, blue wotnot and all.

That evening I pick up a copy of the Guardian that my other half just happened to buy the day before, flip to a random page in a random section, and what do I find? Bagging Munros in a weekend. An article about a weekend walking holiday climbing mountains in the Highlands of Scotland. By Owen Sheers.

And then this lunchtime, what do I read, whilst reading an American webzine? (An American webzine). A review of Resistance, by Owen bloody Sheers.

Now I know some will argue that this is just coincidence, nothing more than obsessional pattern-recognition and observational bias by a bitter, jealous and unbalanced individual. But I know better, and I think - deep down - you do too Owen. This is stalking, and I want it to stop. Now.

Mind you, the book does look interesting. Must buy it some time.

March 14th

2008-03-14T13:57:21Z

Today is both Pi Day and Steak and Blowjob Day. I guess you get to take your pick. The BBC have already abandoned neutrality and chosen though. No prizes for guessing which one they went for.

So Much For The Ultimate Terminal

2008-03-11T13:45:07Z

One of the hot local political issues round my way is the expansion of Heathrow Airport, both the just about to open Terminal 5, and the proposed third runway. For the record, I'm agnostic on Terminal 5 in principle and against the third runway, but I have been working on the assumption that as a terminal, Terminal 5 would be pretty cool. After all:

It took 19 years to develop, cost £4.3billion and is supposed to represent the future of air travel.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=518414&in_page_id=1770

And then you read further, and get to:

But BA has already complained about the facilities at the terminal.

It is unhappy that 45 per cent of the boarding gates will not connect directly to planes along covered walkways. Instead, passengers will have to be bussed to their aircraft.

In documents sent to BAA, the airline says: "This is the lowest share of pier-served stands at any terminal in Heathrow. Two to 2.5million BA passengers per annum will not enjoy pier service."

What? Now I do realise that 45% of gates is not 45% of passengers, but why - in a modern, purpose built terminal - should anyone be getting bussed? I hate bussing. I don't want to stand for ten minutes in a bus while they try to round up the laggards who didn't get to the gate in time. I want to walk straight onto the plain, stow my backpack in the overhead bin, and sit down in my seat to read my book or paper - while they're trying to round up the laggards.

I'm not impressed. Not with BAA for building it, nor with BA for taking 19 years to realise.

Looking For Podcasts, 'Zines, Blogs or Clubs For Reviews

2008-03-08T15:39:29Z

Hi all,

I'm posting this in a couple of places, so I figure I ought to post it here too. As you know if you've read my last few posts, after an unplanned period out of print, we've now got a second printing of Game Night out (same as the first, but with some typos fixed and a bunch of quotes at the front) and have a stack of review copies waiting to be sent out.

But no-one to send them to.

So I'm looking for people/organisations I could send the book to for a review. This could be 'zines and podcasts (either gaming or SF/Fantasy), reasonably well-read blogs, and even games clubs, where there's a fair number of members.

Do you have a favourite 'zine or podcast you think I should be contacting? If so, please post a comment with their details here and I'll drop them a line.

Alternatively, if you'd like to nominate yourself, then either post a comment with the relevant details here, or drop me a line at gamenight@jonnynexus.com giving:

a) details of where you plan to post the review;

b) a postal address (anywhere in the world) to post it to.

I'd be very grateful for any and all suggestions.

I should stress there's no catch here, or hidden agenda, beyond the obvious one. I've got a book I'm trying to sell, and as part of that I want to get as many reviews (and since I think it's a good book, I'm hoping they'll be broadly good ones) published as I can.

Thanks,

Jonny