Guest Post: A&A's Movie A Day Presents NIGHT WATCH, continued!

This is part two of a guest post series by Andy and Amanda, movie bloggers at A & A's Movie A Day. Click here for part one, Andy's post. Here's Amanda's take on this weird, fun and always-thought provoking Russian film!

You can read Amanda's original post here.

A few years ago when we went to visit family in California I bought the book this movie is based on. I’d brought several books with me for the flight there and back, but as I might have mentioned I am usually a very fast reader and I whipped through the books I’d brought. And no, they weren’t children’s novels. They were fairly heavy books, actually, but by the time we landed in San Francisco I’d finished all but one, and that one only had a few chapters left. So we hit a book store before we headed home two weeks later and I bought this book because it was thick and Russian and dense and I figured it would last me. Boy was I right. It lasted me so well it’s still unfinished. I found it far too dense for an airplane flight and ended up writing or sleeping for much of the flight instead. I feel somewhat ashamed of this. Having seen this now, perhaps I will go back and pick up the book and finish it.

The thing is, it really is a dense story. I only got through a couple of chapters of the book and it was a few years ago now, but I remember it okay. Not perfectly, but well enough to have the impression that while the movie does set up the world and story fairly well the book went into a hell of a lot more detail. I’m not really comparing the book to Tolkien, but when looking at the transition from book to movie there had to be a similar truncation of the world building. It had to be done in a visual manner that would condense all of the pages and pages of details in the book into a few minutes of scenes on a screen. That’s tricky. It ends up meaning that the background between the Light and the Dark is explained in an expository prologue and the whole major plot with a woman who’s been cursed, bringing down a vortex – not to mention the meaning of the vortex itself – is also explained through some expository dialogue and kind of glossed over. Vortex = bad. Got it. But it’s expressed much more eloquently in the book if I recall correctly. I definitely found myself thinking back to what I could recall of the book to fill in my understanding of the scale of the danger here.

It’s not that the movie does any of this stuff poorly. It’s that there’s just so very much to pack into one movie and some bits are going to get lost. As I’ve said, things that work on a page don’t necessarily work on a screen. And really, I was pleased by the world-building work done in this movie. Anton, the main character, gets some background and we’re really introduced with the modern Night Watch and his personal conflicts and troubles through a job he goes on. He’s got a drinking problem, both with alcohol and blood. He’s working for the Light side of things, but he’s friendly with a few vampires and seems to be a little too close to them for comfort. He gets himself into trouble while dealing with two vampires who’ve used their powers to lure an innocent boy to them to feed on and while looking for them he encountered a woman with a vortex forming above her. And a vortex is a bad thing indeed, dooming all of those around her. So we’ve got the vampires and we’ve got the vortex and there’s definitely something deeper going on in the world that the movie has built. The whole world is put together in such a way that you know that the Truce between Light and Dark is a fragile thing indeed, with both sides pushing and testing and using loopholes. It’s implied that the Dark is chafing against the rules imposed by the Light and the Light may perhaps be a little hypocritical at times. Nothing is clear cut.

The whole Light and Dark thing isn’t a new concept. One of my favorite series of books when I was a child (and still to this day) are Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising books. In those books the Light is clearly very good. It’s a simple thing. The Light is good and does good things and the Dark is bad and does bad things. Sometimes people in the Light make mistakes, but they’re rare and for the most part it’s all very easy to tell one from the other. The world of this movie has much fuzzier lines. Yes, there is one team and there is another, and they have different general directions they’re pointing in. But it’s harder to draw clean lines between them at times. It’s a lot dirtier and grittier, as befits a more realistic world. I don’t find it at all difficult to imagine why someone would choose to go with the Dark in this world. After all, the Light isn’t necessarily so appealing all the time.

The specific plot of the movie is kind of complex. It’s not that it’s this intricate spiderweb of a story, but it relies heavily on the world it takes place in and on things that I’d have to make asides to explain. Suffice it to say, there’s a big climactic battle between the Light and the Dark coming, and Anton is closely connected to a key figure in that battle. But Anton himself is a flawed figure, and so his actions can have devastating consequences. And the movie handles him in a wonderfully close way. He’s far from perfect. His apartment is filthy, he’s a mess much of the time, he sort of seems to have fallen into the job he has. There’s the blood issue. The vortex plot and the vampire plot run together for much of the movie, back and forth. But in the end it’s a good vs. evil plot. I know I heard this in a creative writing class – that there are two stories: good vs. evil and a stranger comes to town – but who said it? I have no idea. Still, it holds true here. Good vs. evil. But here it’s a messy battle with a messy hero and a messy visual presentation.

I mean that in a good way. The visuals are frantic in places, with awkward camera angles and quick pans and zooms and things frozen in time. The world Anton and his fellows (the Others, both Light and Dark) inhabit is one where the rules that apply to the rest of us don’t always exist. So the visual style seems to seek to capture that, and in my opinion it works. It’s disorienting and scattered, but it fits both the world and Anton himself. The one thing I’d criticize visually is the whole medieval knight theme that gets pulled out from the opening prologue and superimposed over the big battle at the end. It felt a little forced to me in a movie where the odd visuals didn’t otherwise feel out of place.

Brought to you as part of Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza

Other than that and the frustrating glossing over of Olga, I really felt the movie did a good job with the world of the story and then placing the story into it. It’s not an easy thing to take a dense and well-built background and put it on film in a concise manner that still feels rich, but this movie does it. I’m looking forward to the sequel now, and I’m definitely going to go finish the book.

Visit their great blog anytime at aandamovieaday.wordpress.com.

Guest Post: A&A's Movie A Day Presents NIGHT WATCH

The following review was written by my good friend Andy, who reviews movies with his wife Amanda at the great blog A&A's Movie A Day. The movie "Night Watch" is based on the first of a series of modern-vampire novels by Sergei Lukyanenko, also called Night Watch. It's been too long since I read Night Watch to write a proper review, but let it suffice to say it's fun, light and enjoyable urban fantasy without too much gore. 

But that's the book. Here's the movie:

Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)
Our good friend over at The Boston Bibliophile has decided that for the month of November she will be reviewing Russian books, so in a show of solidarity we decided to watch a Russian movie today. We have relatively few Russian films to choose from and this is a movie I’ve been looking forward to re-watching and reviewing for the blog for a while.

Before we put this in Amanda commented that she was surprised that it was not really that long of a movie. She’s right – it comes in at under two hours. Which is odd because in my memory it was at least four hours long. I think that must be because it is so dense. There’s a lot of world-building going on there – a whole mythos that needs to be established with its own rules and prophesies. I’m not altogether sure that it works for me, even on the second viewing, but that could be the result of the translation or some cultural divide as much as anything else.

There are some deep themes being explored here. Ideas about what is good and what is evil and what is the nature of choice. Do we chose our own destinies or are they chosen for us even when we are supposedly free? These are questions I enjoy being asked, but although they are central to the plot of this movie I feel as though they are somewhat glossed over. This movie is a jet-powered steamroller that rumbles inevitably over everything in its path, and by the end I’m feeling flattened and drained.
The background for the movie is established Lord of the Rings style with an epic battle between forces of good and evil sometime in the dark ages. Only in this movie neither side is victorious – instead there is a perfect stalemate and so the two sides establish an uneasy Truce that has lasted up to the present day. For the most part the action of this movie follows a hapless average Joe named Anton Gorodetsky. As the movie starts we are in a flash back to twelve years ago. Anton visits a woman in an attempt to win back his wife, who has left him. This woman, a witch, tells him that he can bring back his wife, but to do so he must consent in the casting of a spell to kill the unborn child that his wife is bearing. He consents to the spell, but has second thoughts, at which point all hell breaks loose. A trio of mysterious people appear out of thin air and restrain the witch, arresting her for attempting black magic in violation of the Truce. She accuses them of entrapment in their use of Anton to draw her out. And all of them are surprised that Anton himself can see them – an indication that he is not really Human, but is Other – like they are. He is a seer – with the ability to see the future in some way. This means that Anton must choose a side – he must freely choose if he is to be a part of the Night Watch or the Day Watch. The Night Watch monitor the activities of the forces of darkness, just as the Day Watch keep an eye on the forces of light.

Flash forward to present day Moscow. Anton has chosen to join the Night Watch, so he’s sent by his superiors to find a boy who is being summoned by a vampire. The vampire girl is using the Call and Anton should be able to tune in on that call and hopefully catch her before she feeds. The problem is that Anton is clearly unsuited to this work from the very beginning. He’s a bleary-eyed blunderer drunk on pig’s blood who can barely stand, much less act any kind of hero. The way that the movie is put together does a wonderful job of making you feel Anton’s disorientation. We are thrown into this situation along with him and I get the sense that were are meant to understand that his transition into a larger and darker world has not been a smooth one.

As he tracks the boy who’s being Called he encounters a mysterious woman caught ins a metaphysical vortex. It transpires that this vortex is more than just an incorporeal phenomenon – this woman is some kind of indicator of the start of an apocalypse. She is an innocent under a curse that presages the coming of the Great Other and the end of the Truce that has bound all supernatural beings for centuries.

Although this movie borrows a whole lot from other vampire films and such it really is building a whole new universe here. There are witches and vampires and seers and shape-shifters and all kinds of strange people among the Others. It’s a grimy, sad kind of underground existence for both sides of the truce. The Night Watch are operated using a power company for a front, tooling around in souped up company trucks. The Day Watch rule from the streets, from the alley ways and from the shadows. There are some fun tweaks on the vampire standards (such as a great action scene where Anton is doing battle with a vampire who is in the Gloom, and therefor invisible and can ONLY be seen in mirrors.) The Gloom is a great concept too – it’s a sort of dark dimension that the Others can go into that allows them to travel invisibly or through looking glasses. It’s a dangerous place to venture into and can destroy somebody who is ill prepared or untrained.
Where the movie begins to lose me though is in its depiction of good and evil. I think it’s intentionally ambiguous on this point. Part of the whole point of the movie (and what I’m imagining would really resonate in the Russian psyche) is that the forces of light are bureaucratic, unforgiving and officious. Yes, the forces of dark are constantly trying to break the rules, which means killing innocents and such, but it’s pretty much stated that it’s only really evil because the Night Watch have decreed it to be so. The vampires blame their sins on the oppressive regime of the Night Watch. This is kind of where I lose track of things. I can sympathise with a downtrodden group kept in check by an iron-fisted regime but at the same time the vampires that Anton does battle with are pretty clearly not nice people. He has some neighbours who are basically good folk – law abiding vampires who obey the truce and are his friends, and they’re the most sympathetic people in the movie.

I suppose that it’s kind of part of the morally ambiguous nature of the movie that nobody is really right or wrong. I can go with that. But if that’s the kind of world you’re trying to depict then perhaps you shouldn’t use terms like Good and Evil. In my mind absolutes like that don’t really apply. Are the forces of light meant to be corrupt and evil? Are the some of the forces of darkness basically good people? I think that’s what is supposed to be going on here but it’s all very muddy and confusing. As I said, it could be to do with the translation.

The visual presentation of the movie is bewildering as well, but in a good way. Director Timur Bekmambetov has a flare for edgy effects laden action and this was the film that really brought him onto the international stage. There are recurring motifs throughout the movie (the branching of blood vessels for example are echoed in the tines of lightning.) There’s a lengthy special effects shot depicting the travels of a screw torn loose from a disabled passenger jet that reminded me very much of City of Lost Children. The disorienting feel of the Gloom is marvelously captured through a variety of digital effects and camera trickery. I would hazard a guess that this movie is one of those crazy accomplishments where there is not a single shot in the whole production that doesn’t have some form of visual effect or other. No wonder this movie was hailed as Russia’s response to The Matrix.

Presented as part of Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza

I also appreciate the effort taken to make this adaptation special for non-Russian audiences. This movie does something with the subtitles which I have never seen before. They are integrated right into the film. The voice of the Call is blood red and dissolves into the screen like blood in water. The text on the screen often wipes behind characters in the foreground or fades at different rates so that key words linger just a little longer. It drops down off the bottom of the screen as the camera pans up. It’s as though an effort has been made to make the subtitles almost part of the movie. I’m used to subtitles being a passive thing added in post, more an obstruction than anything else, so it took some time for me to get used to this new concept. In the end however I felt like it added to the whole viewing experience.


Come back next Saturday for Amanda's review and visit their blog anytime here!

GUEST POST: Mr. Boston Bibliophile Reviews The Passage

Dear Readers of Boston Bibliophile.com,

The BB has asked that I provide a “counter-review” of sorts for The Passage from the perspective of a genre reader familiar with tropes in post-apocalyptic stories. So, here goes.

On one level, The Passage explores ground that has been well-trodden in the past by countless hordes of shambling zombies. It is difficult to provide a review of this novel without giving spoilers; however, suffice it to say that when reading a novel set in a certain type of post-apocalyptic future, there are things that a genre-savvy audience might expect to see, including:

1) An ill-considered and unethical government experiment gone wrong

2) A sweeping biological cataclysm that defies the efforts of the military to contain it

3) A rampaging army of improbably durable and infectious undead

4) A tight-knit colony of human survivors scraping out a bare and depressing existence against the threat of inevitable extinction

5) The sometimes-sad, sometimes-humorous misinterpretation of our own culture by people on the other side of the apocalyptic divide

6) A bold quest through the wasteland in response to a gleaming light of hope

7) Encounters along the way with other survivors who might not have maintained quite the same level of civilization as our heroes

8) A discovery that the past is not quite as dead as believed

9) An ending replete with last-minute plot twists

Sure, the undead aren’t quite zombies, vampires, or other easily-identifiable undead from the Monster Manual. Nevertheless, there were many moments where I felt like I was ticking boxes in my head, or where I was able to predict what would happen next in the book simply by following the narrative conventions. To his credit, the author is plainly aware of the debt he owes to genre, and gives nods in that direction throughout the book; I appreciated a certain appearance of a shopping mall in the story (on the other hand, there is one movie reference late in the book where it seemed to me that the author was trying a little too cutely to point up the differences between his creations and a more familiar monster).

Okay, so the plot is derivative. Then why did I enjoy this book so much? Very simply, it is excellently written. The Passage is a fast-paced novel with gripping action sequences that nevertheless manages to depict realistic (if often disturbing) people. There were few if any main characters that seemed like thumbnail sketches (except for one character who appeared to have been added as a convenient love interest). Moreover, the author creates vivid and minutely-detailed depictions of the world at different times in its future history; the two main eras shown in the book are distinct from one another and from our own, but the differences are presented in a subtle and skillful way that creates almost photographic images of the world in its various phases rather than smacking the reader over the head with the message, “This is not the world you know.” And while the broad strokes of the plot were very familiar, the originality in the scene-by-scene details is striking, and kept me interested. With writing of this caliber, I was able to let the general plot fade into the background of my mind as sort of a reliable frame for the story, and focus instead on the characters and the action.

The story itself is told in an intriguing variety of voices and methods: third-person limited perspective dominates, but we are also treated to sweeping passages in third-person omniscient and narrative through the device of “archival evidence” recovered by a civilization at some point in the distant future (the identity and nature of this future civilization is one of the many mysteries of the book). As a student of ancient history myself, I enjoyed deducing the details of the cultures depicted from source documents.

There were some drawbacks to this approach, however. The author’s use of broad overviews and archival materials distances the reader from the grittiness of the story at times; on occasion, the use of an abstracted perspective led me to detach emotionally from the story. The Passage is epic in scope and it was clearly necessary to fast forward at times to keep things moving, but this was not just an issue in the places where the story skipped between eras. Instead, I felt like the author had a bit of a tendency to pull his punches rather than go into uncomfortable or emotionally intense detail. The convenient love interest mentioned above seems to have been inserted into the story for little reason other than to let a love triangle dissipate amiably without an emotionally-rending conclusion. Certain climactic scenes are narrated retrospectively, and the after-the-fact summary prevents the reader from experiencing the events as they unfold and feeling first-hand the level of terror that the characters would have. There is also arguably a little villain decay later in the book, where a threat that was presented as immediate and omnipresent appears to have been scaled back slightly to allow for the survival of the main characters in more dangerous situations. There is a legitimate plot-coherent explanation of this, but there is nevertheless a drop in the tension at certain points.

There is also, and let me be clear that this is not necessarily a complaint, very little gore in the book. The Passage will inevitably be compared by genre fans to Stephen King’s seminal work The Stand, given that The Passage ticks many of the same trope boxes as The Stand, echoes The Stand’s themes of scientific horror and spiritual hope, and sees its characters trekking across very similar geography. (I cannot quite decide whether the author’s choice to have Colorado and Las Vegas feature prominently in The Passage is an homage too far.) However, readers who are turned off by the kind of grisly detail that King does so well will have little to fear from The Passage. The Passage discreetly cuts away from certain kinds of violence where a horror novel would linger. In other words, The Passage is a thriller, not a horror novel. There are disturbing moments and revelations, but the author was clearly trying to inspire an adrenaline rush, not fear. On the whole, he succeeds remarkably.

-- Mr. Boston Bibliophile

You can read Marie's review here.

Guest Post: FTC FAQ For Book Bloggers

  Today I'm featuring a guest post by Boston internet and media attorney Jeffrey Hermes, of the firm Hermes, Netburn, O'Connor and Spearing, P.C., who will answer some frequently-asked questions about the FTC regulations governing reviews and endorsements. Please see the comments for more discussion on this issue and feel free to ask questions!
FAQ for Review Bloggers:
The Federal Trade Commission’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

1. What is this FAQ? What is it not?

This FAQ represents a general analysis of, and commentary on, the Federal Trade Commission’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This document is limited to an analysis of United States law, and does not purport to address the laws of any other country or how U.S. law might apply to residents of other countries.

THIS FAQ DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE FOR ANY SPECIFIC INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY OR FOR ANY SPECIFIC SITUATION. NO ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP IS CREATED BY THIS FAQ. CONSULT AN ATTORNEY IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO YOUR SPECIFIC SITUATION.

2. What is the Federal Trade Commission?

The Federal Trade Commission (better known as the “FTC”) is an agency of the United States government. The FTC is responsible for protecting consumers in the U.S. from unfair competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce.

3. What powers does the FTC have?

The FTC was created by, and receives its powers from, federal statute; specifically, an Act of the U.S. Congress popularly known (simply enough) as the “Federal Trade Commission Act” or “FTC Act.” The text of the FTC Act may be found at 15 U.S.C. §§ 41-58 (that’s Title 15 of the United States Code, at Sections 41 through 58, for those unfamiliar with legal citation formats).

The most important section of the FTC Act is 15 U.S.C. § 45 (also known somewhat confusingly as “Section 5” of the FTC Act, because it is the fifth of the bundle of sections making up the Act). Section 5 states that “Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.” Basically, all of the powers entrusted to the FTC are intended to assist the agency in rooting out and preventing the types of practices declared wrongful under Section 5.

These powers include, among others:

· Conducting investigations into whether a certain business’s or individual’s business practices are unfair or deceptive;

· Issuing cease and desist letters directing businesses or individuals to stop any practices found by the FTC to violate Section 5;

· Filing a federal lawsuit against a business or individual that has violated Section 5 or failed to comply with a cease and desist letter, including seeking monetary penalties against the business or individual;

· Issuing regulations and guidance informing the public how the FTC interprets Section 5 in specific circumstances and advising businesses and individuals how to voluntarily comply with Section 5.

If the FTC declares a particular business practice to be unlawful under Section 5, that determination will be given significant deference in any lawsuit that the FTC files in a federal court. Similarly, if the FTC issues regulations or guidance about what it considers to be an unfair or deceptive trade practice under Section 5, a federal court may later declare that the FTC has misinterpreted Section 5, but ordinarily a federal court will defer to the FTC’s interpretation.

4. What are the “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”?

The “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” (which from now on I’ll simply call the “Guides”) are guidance issued by the FTC under the rulemaking authority granted to the FTC under the FTC Act. They are part of the Code of Federal Regulations, which collects regulations issued by U.S. federal agencies, and may be found at 16 CFR Part 255.

Specifically, the Guides are intended to inform the public about how the FTC interprets and intends to apply Section 5 of the FTC Act to endorsements and testimonials used in advertising. The Guides deal with manufacturers, advertisers, and endorsers of goods or services.

The Guides provide advice and examples of how Section 5 would apply to a variety of sample situations. However, while the Guides are phrased as advice, it is important to remember that they are backed up with the FTC’s enforcement authority under the FTC Act. If an individual or business engages in conduct that the Guides suggest is unlawful, the FTC may file a federal lawsuit against the individual or business for a violation of Section 5.

The Guides become effective as FTC policy as of December 1, 2009.

5. What do the Guides say?

The primary focus of the Guides is ensuring that endorsements of products by consumers, celebrities, or experts are not unfair or deceptive. To that end, the Guides indicate (among other things) that any endorsement must represent the endorser’s own honest findings, opinions and experience with the product. In the case of an endorser that is represented to be an expert, the endorser must in fact have the relevant expertise and that expertise must be applicable to the endorsed product or service. If a product or service is represented as being endorsed by an organization, the endorsement must in fact represent the judgment of the organization as a body.

Furthermore, the Guides indicate that most endorsements will be considered a representation that the product or service endorsed is “effective for the purpose depicted in the advertisement” and typical of what consumers will experience when using the product. For example, if an advertisement includes a customer’s testimonial about their experience with a particular brand of refrigerator, that testimonial may be considered to be not merely a subjective statement, but a representation that the refrigerator works as promised and that other consumers will have similar experiences with that brand. Use of such an endorsement by an advertiser may be considered false advertising in violation of Section 5 if the endorsement is not backed up by adequate evidence possessed by the advertiser.

However, a review of an artistic work (for example, a book or a movie) will probably not be considered a statement that the work is “effective for the purpose depicted,” because readers of the review will know that the review represents one person’s subjective judgment rather than a promise of typical results.

Finally, the Guides are concerned with bias among endorsers. For example, if someone who endorses a product is compensated for that endorsement by the manufacturer or advertiser of the product, the FTC is concerned that the endorser will be biased toward a favorable review. Similar concerns might arise where the endorser is related to or otherwise connected with the manufacturer. Accordingly, the Guides state that where readers of a review might not expect there to be a compensation arrangement, failing to disclose such an arrangement or other “material connection” may violate Section 5 because readers may be misled into thinking that a review is unbiased.

6. Why do the Guides matter to bloggers?

Bloggers who review products and services may be considered “endorsers” under the Guides. Accordingly, the FTC may find that a blogger violates Section 5 if the blogger (1) posts a positive review that does not represent their honest experience with the product or service; (2) makes misrepresentations about key features of the product or service; or (3) fails to disclose a “material connection” or compensation arrangement related to the review.

As discussed above, blogs that review artistic works are unlikely to be found to be making representations as to how others will experience a book, movie, et cetera, as opposed to providing subjective opinions. However, such a blog may still be found to violate Section 5 if the blogger posts a positive review that is not their own honest opinion (for example, if a book blogger has not read enough of a reviewed book to provide an honest opinion but suggests that they have), or if the blogger fails to disclose a “material connection” or compensation arrangement related to the review.

Critically, the Guides suggest that a blogger’s receipt of a sample of a product, or a copy of a work for review, might be considered compensation for a review and a “material connection” to the advertiser or manufacturer (at least if the blogger is permitted to keep the product/copy after the review is completed). Similarly, if a blogger receives free services (including free tickets to a movie) in exchange for a review, that might constitute a “material connection.” Accordingly, the Guides indicate that bloggers should conspicuously disclose when they receive free services, or review copies or sample products that they are allowed to keep, in expectation of a review.

7. Do these Guides apply to professional reviewers who write for media outlets?

Yes. However, the FTC has separately suggested that it will not generally consider professional reviewers to be compensated by a manufacturer or publisher, since they are separately compensated by the publication for which they write. Thus, the FTC will presume that professional reviewers are unbiased (or, at least, less biased) than non-professional bloggers.

8. Do the Guides prohibit bloggers from accepting ARCs/galleys/review copies of books or other media, or participating in blog tours?

No. However, if the publisher has given the blogger a copy of a book, etc., that they can keep in expectation that the blogger will provide a review, that fact should be disclosed. For the purposes of the Guides, the fact that a review copy is an unedited advanced review copy (“ARC”) is not relevant.

The Guides do not provide clear guidance as to when a copy is provided in exchange for a review. Remember that the FTC's primary focus is on preventing unfair and deceptive advertising, and so the agency will concentrate on distribution of free copies by publishers or advertisers where a review is clearly expected (even if the book was not solicited by the blogger, and even if the publisher states that the blogger is not required to review the book). However, publishers also distribute books for free in situations where no review is solicited or even expected; for example, at library conferences publishers may give away galleys, not for the purpose of obtaining reviews, but in order to encourage librarians to buy the final books for their collections. Arguably, therefore, the fact that a book is obtained at such a conference would not need to be disclosed. The FTC will review such situations on a case-by-case basis.

Alternatively, the blogger may return or dispose of the review copy, provided that the blogger receives no compensation for disposing of the copy (for example, by selling it at a used bookstore).

9. Do the Guides prohibit bloggers from including advertising or “click here to purchase” links on their blogs?

No. However, if a blogger includes advertising or a purchase link for a product (such as a book) reviewed on the blog, and the blogger receives compensation for purchases of the product through the blog, the blogger should disclose that fact. 

10. The Guides say that a “material connection” or other compensation arrangement only needs to be disclosed if readers/viewers wouldn’t expect such an arrangement to exist. Doesn’t everyone know that blog reviewers get review copies and get compensated for purchases through links?

According to the FTC, no. If you were sued, you might be able to present a court with evidence to the contrary, but the FTC’s judgment on that issue would receive deference.

11. What about my First Amendment rights?

Section 5, and the Guides which interpret it, prohibit false and deceptive endorsements and advertising. False advertising has been held to be outside the protection of the First Amendment, which generally only protects true speech or speech that cannot be proven true or false (for example, artistic expression or statements of opinion).

Thus, while a blogger cannot be penalized for presenting their honest opinion, they might be penalized for an explicit false statement of fact (e.g., that a product does something that it cannot), or an implied false statement of fact (e.g., that the reviewer has seen a reviewed movie when in fact they have not seen it, or that there was no compensation for the review).

12. Will the FTC come after bloggers personally if they don’t comply?

Possibly. The FTC has stated that enforcement of Section 5 against individual bloggers is unlikely to be an efficient way to pursue the goals of the Guides. Rather, the FTC is more likely to focus on the manufacturers and advertisers who reach out to bloggers, to make sure that those companies fully inform bloggers about their responsibility to disclose compensation arrangements and material connections.

However, the FTC has not restricted itself from pursuing individual bloggers (including issuing cease and desist letters or filing a lawsuit) if it decides that this would be an effective way to prevent misleading endorsements.

13. Can a blogger be sued by anyone other than the FTC for violation of the Guides?

Possibly. Although the FTC Act does not permit lawsuits by anyone but the FTC, most states have their own laws (known as “Little FTC Acts”) granting private parties and/or the state Attorney General the ability to file lawsuits seeking damages for unfair or deceptive trade practices. Such “Little FTC Acts” are typically interpreted by state courts in accordance with the FTC’s interpretation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. Therefore, a state court might hold that the Guides, which interpret the FTC Act, also provide a basis for private parties to sue under a “Little FTC Act.”

14. If the FTC considers ARCs/galleys/review copies to be compensation, does that mean they represent taxable income if I keep them? We’re not supposed to resell ARCs, so how can they have cash value?

Maybe; this question is not addressed by the Guides. Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and not the FTC, would be the agency responsible for determining what constitutes taxable income. If this is an issue of concern to you, you should consult a tax attorney. NOTE: This FAQ does not provide tax advice and is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of: (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code; or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

Books, Awards, Oprah, etc., and Genre- Part Two

Last week's post on genre and literary awards garnered some great comments, a great response and even some attention elsewhere, so I want to revisit the issue with a guest post from Mr. Boston Bibliophile, a devoted reader of science fiction, to give a somewhat different point of view.

Sci-fi authors are, I think, justifiably upset about the lack of respect they are given. A lot of work goes into writing some very fine books that have to overcome a substantial stigma with readers; many sci-fi books are worthy of a larger audience but are never seen because they're stuck on the shelves next to gaudy covers showing badly drawn wizards and dragons. It's enough to fry anyone's fritters.

That said, the fact that there are excellent sci-fi books worthy of greater recognition does not mean that those same books qualify for "literary fiction" awards. I think sometimes the sci-fi community confuses books that are excellently written sci-fi with books that transcend genre. In fact, I think that those sci-fi books which transcend genre do get fair consideration -- the works of authors such as Atwood and Lessing being examples.

But why shouldn't excellent sci-fi be considered for literary awards on its own merits, regardless of whether it "transcends genre"? Isn't "genre" just a way to give short shrift to a huge category of work without due consideration? Well, whether you believe in "genre" or not, I think it is undeniable that what most of us think about as sci-fi appeals to some people and not to others. Over time I have come to believe that this is not an issue of "not having been exposed to the good stuff" -- I have given what I consider excellent sci-fi to people in the past, and they simply don't get it or appreciate it. Is this a problem with sci-fi? No. Is it a problem with the reader? Hard to accept, I know, but no. Sci-fi just isn't some people's cup of tea. They are simply looking for something different in their reading (let's call it Quality X) than what sci-fi readers look for (Quality Y). Unless a sci-fi book also contains Quality X -- thereby "transcending genre" -- it will never meet the standards of a non-sci-fi reader.

But what are Quality X and Quality Y? If you can't define them, are they really a basis for excluding certain works for consideration? I think, as frustrating as it may be, the answer is yes -- even if you can't define these qualities in anything but the most vague and subjective terms, there is nevertheless an objective difference in whether someone appreciates one category versus another.

Thus, if you have a panel giving an award for the novel that best encapsulates Quality X, there's no point in complaining that they've failed to consider your book as being the world's best example of Quality Y. It's like complaining that a dog show won't let you enter your prize-winning Siamese. If they did let your cat into the show, how on earth would they judge between them? It would boil down into whether you appreciate Quality X or Quality Y more, which is such a subjective standard that it's not worthy of a merit-based competition -- it's simply a popularity contest.

What I think truly and justifiably galls many sci-fi readers and authors is that literary fiction awards are often portrayed and marketed as being competitions for the "best book," full stop. The very title of "literary fiction" suggests that the category subsumes the whole of the written word. (Which begs the question of what the rest of us are using to write with; hieroglyphics, maybe? What I'd really like to see is someone start to call science fiction "published fiction" and give "pubfic" awards, to illustrate the absurdity.) To use the metaphor above, it's like a dog show promoting itself as being a competition to find the "best animal." Of course that's going to tick off cat lovers if they're not even allowed in the door -- but it's still just a dog show. The proper response is not to demand entry, but call out the competition for what it is: a contest that's just as limited and genre-specific as any other.

As for the issue of media coverage and the size of the award -- well, your cat is never going to win that prize, so why does it matter? Promote your own awards, find better sponsors if you want more money on the table, but don't look for validation from the dog crowd. Ultimately, Quality Y has to be popular (or not) on its own merits.

Guest Post!

Tomorrow I will be doing a guest post over at My Friend Amy's Blog. The topic is indie bookstores- why I love them and support them. She is running a series on different perspectives on book-buying; I'm not sure if she's running all of the essays tomorrow or just mine. I'll have to go over there to find out too!

I will re-run the essay over here on Wednesday if you don't get over there tomorrow but I just wanted to let you know to look for me over there on Tuesday.

Guest Post: Kathryn Maughan

As part of her blog tour, author Kathryn Maughan, writer of Did I Expect Angels, is doing a guest post today.

The blog tour is headquartered here at TLC Book Tours. You can find links to the other participants as well.

Now for Kathryn's post.

Much has been made of the death of Paul Newman over the weekend. Rightly so, I would say; the man was not only a film legend, a great actor, and a darn good-looking man, but he was also a class act off screen. He had a stable, loving, long-term marriage (elusive even outside Hollywood), he eschewed offscreen drama, and he oozed that aura that said, “This is one of the good guys.”

Now, all of these things in themselves are remarkable. But what made (makes!) Paul Newman truly remarkable is that he went above and beyond all these things and founded a mini-empire of various edibles, and that all of the profit went to charity. $175 million and counting, 25 years strong. Mr. Newman, with his strong sense of humor intact even when dealing with such an extraordinary deed, referred to the mission of Newman’s Own as “Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good.” (Look it up. It’s on their website.) But even with his tongue firmly in his cheek, Paul Newman’s good deeds affected thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. Paul Newman, you might say, even while alive was a bit of an angel.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m suddenly looking, but lately I’ve seen many, many people stepping into that kind of role in their everyday lives. They’re not movie stars, and the people they’re helping aren’t high-profile headliners, but they are decent, hardworking people making a difference in people’s lives. I am going to highlight three cases that I have been following for a while, to celebrate the goodness of people’s hearts and encourage you to contribute. If you can’t contribute money (and many of us can’t), contribute thoughts and prayers and deeds. If you can’t help these particular people (and yes, logistics get in the way) find someone else to help. Be an angel yourself.

The first person is a four-year-old boy with a rare kind of cancer, neuroblastoma. Read about this scary, deadly disease here. (http://www.acor.org/ped-onc/diseases/neuro.html –in case the link doesn’t work.) This cancer has a 30% survival rate. And then picture the terror of having your two-year-old child diagnosed with it. Picture being a child with it. Honestly, what do you remember about being four years old? I remember running and playing and learning to tie my shoes and read and starting kindergarten. Cancer had no place in my life, and shouldn’t have a place in any child’s life. Particularly for neuroblastoma, the survival rate is low; the treatments are excruciating. The blog I have followed is written by the parents of Liam Witt, found at: http://princeliamthebrave.blogspot.com . Liam is an active four-year-old who has been battling neuroblastoma for a year and a half, since before he turned three. He is brave, he is smart, and he knows a side of life no one ever should. Liam’s parents, Gretchen and Larry, write heartrending posts about the treatments, the crises, the ups and downs. They have formed a “Band of Parents” to try to get more money funneled into pediatric cancer (http://www.bandofparents.org), and they have begun a 501(c)3 of their own, Cookies for Kids Cancer, which has raised more than $400,000 for pediatric cancer research. You can find out how to get involved with that at https://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org.

Liam’s parents’ posts contain a lot of grim news, it is true. But they don’t hesitate to talk about the angels who have come into their own lives. Friends who occasionally bring dinner. The amazing nurses at the hospital, the local firemen who have befriended their son and sometimes stop in to cheer him up. Other parents in their same situation who offer invaluable support and friendship; other patients who buoy them, despite their own grim prognoses. It is inspiring to read about these people who have realized how important it is to play that role, the role of angel.

The second case is one that is out of immediate crisis, at least for the time being. A woman in Seattle named Carole Decker unexpectedly had a bout of sepsis in her 7^th month of pregnancy and nearly died. They did a C-section and the baby is doing well, but Carole has been left with permanent damage: she lost both feet, her left hand, a finger on her right hand, and she is blind. Her husband Scott writes about this on his blog and gives updates on her physical condition. Now Carole needs prosthetics, rehab, and more time to heal. This story touches my heart for many reasons, and is personal because I had sepsis when I was two years old. I remember very little of the hospital stay (just memory flashes: my mom looking extremely tired and holding a Mr. Pibb; my dad walking into my room and holding up a little squeaky toy he’d brought for me; my sister running alongside my wheelchair when I was released) and for years didn’t understand the severity of what had happened. I am genuinely lucky (blessed) to be alive and whole. Another reason that this story affects me so deeply is that Scott has also written about the many angels who have stepped in to help him and his family. They have taken care of his children, and they have raised a great deal of money for the extra medical bills. A golf tournament was held that raised $18,000; a separate fundraiser netted them $60,000. A portrait photographer is going to donate 100% of her profits on November 1 to Carole’s medical bills. A silent auction fundraiser will be held at an art show. The list goes on. Amazing people are seeing a need and addressing it, saying, “My abilities are limited, but this is what I can do.” Angels, all of them.

The third case I originally heard about through the Today Show, of all places. A blogger named Stephanie Nielson was involved in a light-airplane crash with her husband and a flight instructor. The flight instructor was killed, and Stephanie and Christian were both severely wounded and hospitalized. Stephanie was burned over 80% of her body and has already undergone numerous skin graft surgeries, with many more to come. Both were in comas; Christian has come out of his, and his recovery is a little ahead of his wife’s. They are parents to four small children.

Stephanie too had a blog. She blogged about being a wife and mother to four rambunctious children and her daily joys. The big difference between this blog and other so-called “mommy blogs” is that she has celebrated the joys of her life. She focused exclusively on the positives of being a wife and mother. She actively tried to make life fun and wonderful and magical for her family and enjoyed doing it, and blogged about the results. She posted pictures of the little parties she held for her kids; of the dress-up games they all played together; of “acting crazy” for her daughter to take the shots. And her love for her life oozed through every word.

Stephanie got about a thousand hits a day when she was blogging. After the accident happened, and local media publicized it, the hits increased to about 20,000. Her sister Jane has taken Stephanie’s children home with her, to care for in addition to her own infant son. Jane has her own blog, in which she is now detailing how she has taken on angel duty for her sister, and others have also stepped in. On their fundraising site, www.nierecovery.com, Jane and others have listed various things people have been doing to raise money for Stephanie and Christian Nielson, whose hospital bills will exceed the lifetime maximum on their insurance, perhaps by a million dollars or more. You will see a dance night, auctions, a ski day, concerts, a race. Angels know what they can offer and are offering it, and making a difference in the lives of one family that stands in desperate need.

Perhaps angels have been on my mind lately because of my book. In Did I Expect Angels?, which I published a year ago, a young mother named Jennifer loses her husband and doesn’t deal very well. She has angels in her life, people willing to help her out, and she ignores them because all she can focus on is her own pain. On the night the book takes place, she has made a devastating decision and is en route to carrying it out, when a Costa Rican man, a passing acquaintance, named Henry decides that tonight is his night to help her—to be her angel. Henry tells Jennifer his life’s story, and the reader can contrast her inability to deal with Henry’s life, which has been a hundred times harder than Jennifer’s. But Henry has recognized his angels and his blessings and been grateful for them, and his intervention just might help Jennifer get to the same place.

I believe in angels, both literal and the kind I’ve been talking about with this entry. I’ve had my share, and they have helped me more than I can say—and certainly more than they know. I want to pay it forward, and to that end, I’ve decided to donate my own little bit to the Nielson fund, and am giving 40% of the profits of Did I Expect Angels? for the months of October and November to their hospital bills. I feel strongly that people need to give what they can, when they can, to whomever they sense might be in need. Now, my sales aren’t on the level of, say, Stephenie Meyer, but hopefully no one will begrudge me this widow’s mite. I find it interesting that in my book, my character absolutely doesn’t deal with her lot very well, not until it’s almost too late—and I’m donating the money from this book to people who have risen to their challenges and then some, and that the world is full of those people. I admire and respect them and hope to be more like them. In honor of the passing of a legend, Paul Newman, and in honor of these amazing everyday people, I hope you will be, too.

What a generous offer. It's so kind of you to be an angel for Stephanie and her family.

Click here to buy Did I Expect Angels from your local IndieBound-affiliated independent bookseller.