Excel Saga, Volume 1, Viz Media English Translation

As with most anime, Excel Saga was based on a manga version, but in this case only very loosely. When I first read the Excel Saga manga, I was expecting more of the same, but I was pleased to find that the original source material was quite a bit different than its anime variant. Now mind you I found the anime amusing (as long as I could get around Jessica Calvello’s ear-splitting rendition of Excel in the dub version, which was very hard to do), but the manga is truly a different animal all together.

The basic plot is this: The clandestine organization ACROSS, led by the enigmatic Il Palazzo, pursues their ultimate goal of revealing to the ignorant masses that the world is utterly corrupt, and that it would do well with ACROSS leading the way. However, since world domination is a messy and time consuming process, ACROSS has chosen to start small, and is attempting to take control of the city of Fukuoka, Japan as a jumping-off point (Rikudo Koshi’s home city). To aid him in his mission, his two (later, three) agents, codenamed Excel and Hyatt (later adding Elgala) are sent forth to secure the way for their Lord’s inevitable ascendancy by spreading his message. The major problem with this plan is that the entirety of the organization is made of Il Palazzo, his two-to-three henchwomen, and a small dog, Menchi/Mince kept by Excel as an emergency food supply. While enthusiastic for their mission, the ACROSS girls are also hopelessly incompetent and in the early part of the manga mostly get stuck working a number of menial, low-paying temp jobs to finance their march to conquest while Il Palazzo does… whatever he does.

Municipal Force Daitenzin, Kabapu's pet obsession

Meanwhile, ACROSS is opposed by Dr. Kabapu, the director of the City Environmental Security Agency and his four employees, Watanabe, Iwata, Sumiyoshi, and Matsuya. Unfortunately for these four normal, everyday people simply looking for normal, everyday government work, they are roped into the Super Sentai (super hero group) fantasy of their mentally deranged boss, and are forced to combat this mysterious ACROSS organization, often in rather embarrassing Power Ranger-style costumes.

The focus of the story from the beginning is largely a forum for Rikudo-san to riff on different elements of Japanese society, politics, and culture, as well as the anime/manga industry, by showing what happens when normal people try to act like manga characters in real life. Dan Kanemitsu, a well-known translator and Japanese cultural consultant, once described Excel Saga as if “Michael Moore had directed the Power Rangers.” Yeah, it’s unusual stuff. The series is surprisingly deep in its range of humor, and in addition to being uproariously funny, the reader also has the opportunity to learn a number of things about the culture in which the manga is written.

An annoyed Lord Il Palazzo, about to send Excel on a short trip down a deep hole.

Viz Media editor Carl Horn, Jr. assists the non-Japanese reader with in-depth notes in the back of each volume in a section called the “Oubliette,” named for the pit that Il Palazzo forces Excel down with a pull of his rope whenever she becomes too frantic and screwy during their meetings. It’s very interesting stuff, educational while also being entertaining. But the style of humor in the manga is much more adult-focused than the anime, which focused far more on the slapstick gags rather than socio-political humor, which are both equally represented in the manga. The prime age-range of Excel Saga fans lies in the 18-24 range, but with a fairly even representation of fans in the 14-18 and 25-30+ brackets as well, since its humor appeals to a very large range of readers. It is generally defined as a seinen (young man) manga – one focused on the college-age bracket and above (including businessmen in their 30’s and 40’s), as opposed to shonen (young boy) titles like Bleach and Naruto, or shojo (young girl) titles like Ciao and Nakayoshi.

Vol. 20, featuring Excel, Elgala, and Mince, from left to right.

Admittedly the first three volumes are the weakest of the series and might keep some fans away, as these first steps are on the much sillier side of the humor spectrum. The art style was still rough, compared to Rikudo-san’s far more refined work later in the series, but the first Excel Saga stories were originally nothing more than doujin (independent comics, typically of adult-orientation. This is where “dirty” adult can often be applied, but not always). However, the commercial success of these early volumes encouraged Rikudo-san to more fully develop the plot, which has become a highly satisfying mystery combined with an irreverent sense of humor.

I highly recommend the series, which is still on-going at 21 volumes, and so far is expected to continue for the next couple of years at the least. Speculation on the Excel Saga forums guesstimates the series will be complete at vol. 24-25 based on present trends in the story, but it may exceed even this. English translations, which have been caught-up to their Japanese counterparts for the past several volumes, are published once or twice a year as they are compiled from Excel Saga’s monthly publication in Young King Ours, and translated by Mr. Horn and published through Viz Media. The volumes typically sell for $9.99 MSRP, except for the two rarer volumes, 7 and 8, which have been out of print for a while and the supply of which was much smaller than normal. Getting a hold of vol. 8 in particular is tricky, as Viz downsized their publication run of Excel Saga at that time since it is, admittedly, not their biggest seller. Scans may be available since it does not appear that Viz Media will be republishing it any time soon, and it sells on sites like Ebay for $40-50. An unfortunate situation, since it is such an important volume in the series, as it fully introduces the third ACROSS member, Elgala, who acts as Excel’s foil for much of the series from then on.

Nevertheless, it is a series worth pursuing, as it combines bizzaro humor and socio-political wit in a compelling mix that is rarely seen in any one work, be it a book, comic, or film/TV series. The characters are very engaging, and they grow and develop throughout the series (in often very strange and interesting ways, I might add), and the mystery of the story is genuinely compelling, as fans still speculate on the truth behind the series. Those who wish to learn more should visit Excel Saga’s “unofficially official” English-translation fan site, excelsagaforum.com, and check out the community there. Mr. Horn has directed would-be fans to this privately owned and operated site for years, as there is no official company-bound site for the series. It is a small board, of which I am a member, but it is a great source for information and news concerning the series, and members there are willing to look out for the rarer volumes for new fans who have been unable to find certain volumes. Happy reading, everyone, and I hope you give this series a shot and enjoy it as much as I do, because it is really worth the effort.

The “history” part of the the historical fiction concerns the Dejima port in Japan around the turn of the nineteenth century.  Dejima (literally but roughly translated: “Exit Island”) was the only port where a foreign ship was allowed to dock in Japan for over 200 years while the Japanese refused to have any contact with the outside world following the ban on Christianity in the mid-seventeenth century.  Foreigners were allowed onto the small island (about 0.0035 square miles), and not, as a general rule, onto the “real” Japanese land.  And these foreigners were only allowed onto Dejima if they were employees of the Dutch East India Company.  Dejima was man-made to allow the Japanese to deal in trade with outsiders without letting them into the country.  It was also forbidden for any Japanese person to leave Japan.  Dejima was the only bridge to the rest of the world.  Strange but fascinating times, and the difficulty of a Brit researching this period from the Japanese perspective probably explains the need for the four solid years of research Mitchell devoted to the novel.

The titular protagonist is a young Dutch clerk who, like many of Mitchell’s protagonists, is well-meaning but imperfect and consequently a little unconfident and self-deprecating.  The first act of the story follows DeZoet as he arrives at Dejima and learns to navigate the tender politics of working and living in this small environment where there is no one he can trust completely.  It is through his perspective that we meet the larger cast of characters – the Dutchmen, the various Europeans in the Dutch East India Company’s employ, the servants, the Japanese aristocrats, the doctor, and the doctor’s students.  Mitchell introduces them all nearly simultaneously, but gives each one their due in time.  This style mimics the reality of meeting so many people at once and slowly getting to know each one as circumstances allow.  It’s highly effective at putting the reader squarely in the shoes of someone arriving in a totally foreign place and scrambling to keep up with community that already has its own culture and societal expectations.  After we’ve spent the better part of three months with DeZoet, Mitchell grabs the reader by the shoulders and pulls them back – way back – and broadens the scope of the storytelling and theme masterfully beyond the reader’s expectation.

We then see through so many eyes the fear of the unknown, cultic hubris, the comical but sweet prayers of a Catholic who has never read the bible, the rigid terror of new European firepower – the pistol, accepting what can’t be changed, the value of freedom over another’s life, a tale of a singing skull, and the unexpected and problematic arrival of the British.  Every setting, every character’s every thought, every moment is crafted carefully to show the intense longing we feel in periods of isolation and the ways we try to patch the holes and carry on trying to do right even when we don’t know how or why.  This is why the novel succeeds; it uses the historical setting merely as a backdrop for the real study: the limits to which a human heart can be stretched by loneliness before it tears.  To Mitchell, there may be no better time or place to consider these things than nineteenth century Japan.

While it might be disingenuous to say that his new novel is his best yet, the fact remains that David Mitchell is one of the most talented writers in literature today.  He writes with inimitable perception, grace, and power with neither condescension nor amelioration toward his subject or audience.  His perfect balance of creative prose and practical talent has no contemporary equal.  In last decade since the release of his first novel, he has never disappointed.  In addition to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet, if you haven’t had a chance, I recommend rewinding the clock and reading his previous novels: Ghostwritten (1999), number9dream (2001), Cloud Atlas (2004), and Black Swan Green (2006).  For anyone who has read these, as always, keep your eyes open for recurring characters in the new novel.

The book is available in hardcover and digitally June 29th.

The concern is certainly justifiable.  I often find myself wondering how the transformation of literature through digital means will effect us, the readers.  I still like having a physical copy of a book, turning the pages, feeling the weight of it – literally and by extension thematically.  But I similarly was adamant about collecting DVDs and CDs 10 years ago.  By now, the digitization of audial and visual media is essentially complete.  The digitization of literature is easily achievable, but the fact that digital bookstores didn’t come into existence until well after digital movie and music stores connotes one of two things: either literary audiences are more stubborn than music and movie lovers about staving the evolution of their art, or the cultural relevance of said art is waning.  My love for literature insists it’s the former; my empirical observations as a reading teacher prove it’s the latter.

The battle against the digitization of literature is not a battle.  It’s not even a losing battle.  It is nothing.  While Alexie is fighting for something that I may deem worth fighting for, it’s akin to being an Italian war veteran from WWII who insists that the war is not yet lost and vows to soldier on.  The truth is that the digital literature debate is only a symptom of the fallout of a war long since lost.  It’s an ancient war, and the two struggling factions have gone by many names.  On the one side is subtlety (theme, implication) and on the other is description (moralizing, dictation).  David Mamet calls one “proteins” and the other “carbohydrates” and suggests he’s on an artistic Atkins diet.

Or consider Sterne’s description (while also considering the tendency of his narrator to be melodramatic): “It is a terrible misfortune for this same book of mine, but more so to the Republic of letters; so that my own is quite swallowed up in he consideration of it, that this self-same vile pruriency for fresh adventures in all things, has got so strongly into our habit and humour, and so wholly intent are we on satisfying the impatience of our concupiscence that way, that nothing but the gross and more carnal parts of a composition will go down: The subtle hints and sly communications of science fly off, like spirits upwards, the heavy moral escapes downwards; and both the one and the other are as much lost to the world, as if they were still left in the bottom of the inkhorn.”

As you can see, subtlety was dying a long, slow death even in the 18th century.  I think that by now it is well and truly buried, its remnants distant memories passed down from literature professors to soon-to-be-unemployed literature majors like an oral tradition – seemingly impossible to maintain.  We seem to have no use for and no patience with subtlety.  Our technology has precluded the need for it.  The pace of our information consumption is at a constant sprint.  The amount of information combined with its ease of access makes it possible for us to convey all of our combined humor and wisdom through 140-character platitudes, web comics, animated GIFs, and wiki entries.  Our constant interactivity makes the (American) human experience so easy to share and the (American) human condition so easy to express that the metaphors and allegory of literature and literary movies and music seem bloated and redundant.  Maybe this communicative shift is good, but for readers and writers, it will be an uncomfortable one.

Case in point: music has undergone a similar transformation.  Shostakovich composed some incredible symphonic pieces, a few of which you’ve probably heard before.  But they’re dense and cumbersome to unpack.  Christopher Stewart and Terius Nash, on the other hand, took a one-measure-long drum loop and added some synths and a melody, and inexplicably turned the lyrics, “Baby, baby, baby, oooooo” into a legitimate cultural point of reference.  You can sit around and judge these composers on their artistic merits, but in the end, a larger contemporary audience identified with the pop song, because an instantly recognizable melody can be derived from it.  You can sing the first “Baby,” and by the time you get to the second one, three other people have joined you.  Once you’ve all finished the “oooooo” together, you can all get back to whatever it was that you were doing.  This sort of instantly consumable art is what our culture supports.  It’s uncomplicated, easily shared, and easy to move on from.  These are three characteristics that literature unflinchingly denies.  But everyone knows that if a Shostakovich suite is being performed in the same town as a Justin Bieber concert, Bieber will win every time.

Alexie may believe the value of the book is in danger of disappearing, but what he doesn’t understand is that it’s the value of what’s inside the book that has disappeared.  It doesn’t matter if the pages are physical printed pages or an pixels backlit on an LED panel.  The fact is that, as writers, we either need to accept the transitive nature of information along with the complacency of our culture, or leave our words in the bottom of our inkhorns since they’re likely to fall on deaf ears regardless.  For those of us who love to write, I guess we’ll have to learn to live with the apathy our carefully selected details will be subject to.  A painful feeling.

If the devil is in the details: hallelujah, what holy times we live in.

I am blogging. Yes, yet another random person hurling their random thoughts onto the net in the hopes that someone will care enough to read them. I had the same reaction to joining Facebook a year or so ago, but folded under the constant nagging of a friend of mine.

But do not expect me on Twitter. EVER. There’s a line, dammit.

So, who am I? What do I have to write about, and why should anyone bother reading what I have to say? In short, my name is Elric, and if anyone out there is familiar with the works of Michael Moorcock, yes, that Elric. My father was a fan, otherwise if my mother had her way I would have been Sumner. Thanks, dad, I mean it. I’m a writer (as if that should be any surprise, given the nature of this site), focused mainly on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres, a historian specializing in military history, and a literary scholar with a Master’s degree in English. This means three things: One – I have spent most of my twenties hiding in the halls of academia, learning to analyze literary works that most people don’t give a shit about, and they don’t want to hear anything about it because they’re busy watching American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Two – I am in debt up to my ears and still can’t find decent work because I have an MA in English, which at this moment is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Three – that I am skilled at performing in-depth analyses of media in order to discover what techniques they use to communicate with the public.

That sounds like awesome fun, doesn’t it? No? Don’t worry, I can still enjoy Adam Sandler movies and read old Robert Asprin novels, which allows me to both enjoy the less dramatic things in life while still being able to look inside and see how all the metaphorical bits work. Even “dumb-comedy” has its key techniques, just like dramatic literature, and when it works it works (Airplane, Happy Gilmore, Hot Shots for example)

Bob gets physical with Happy

but when it doesn’t, it doesn’t (Epic Movie, most anything by Will Ferrell).

LOL? No? Me neither.

When I do write a review or analysis for a book, movie, video game, or what have you, know that I do not judge all works based on one set of criteria. I seek to understand what it tries to do within its particular area, and then I break it down to see how it does it and whether or not it failed to meet expectations. My expectations, anyway. Everything with a grain of salt and all that.

Which brings me to what I write about. As you have probably guessed by now you can expect reviews and analyses of books, movies, and whatnot from me. I tend to focus on genre fiction, but I may also pop-up with a piece of non-fiction literature when something catches my attention. I am also an anime/manga geek – but not an otaku. There’s a line there, too. And that line is Man-Faye (look it up – at your own risk). Anyway, look for anime reviews and recommendations from me from time to time, if you care for that sort of thing. Also, I will be tossing up some of my thoughts and techniques when it comes to writing. I do not speak as an expert here, as I haven’t published diddly of any importance, but I do have some ideas that might be useful to others who struggle with certain aspects of the writing process, especially when it comes to characterization and dialogue, my two strongest areas, and I know many writers have trouble with those aspects of the writing process. So, consider this more friendly advice and brainstorming than expert commentary.

My attention tends to drift a lot though, so expect a healthy dose of random crap to come from me, including socio-political commentary, scientific developments, and gluten-free recipes (I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease, and it’s a bloody pain in the ass). I’ll also be shamelessly pimping my own work, too, so look for that, check it out, and give me money. Please. Pretty please?

Oh, I didn’t answer why you should be reading any of this crap from me. Well, I’ll leave that up to you all. Maybe I’ll bring some insights. Maybe I’ll make you laugh. Maybe I’ll point you towards something interesting and off-the-wall. Or maybe you’ll like my recipe for Chicken Curry. Anyway, that’s all for now, look for my first substantive piece of writing, “Constructing Character,” in the next couple of days. Until then.

Anyhow, I don’t want to retread already discussed ground, so let’s get right to the heart of the thing: I believe a hybrid copyright system is needed to address both physical and digital copyright issues. Specifically, the issue involved is money. I believe that copyright should be abolished, at least for text in the digital realm. I think that authors should find new business models for making a living in order to become professionals at their craft.

In the digital realm, releasing work to the public is not the financial burden it once was, since digital distribution is virtually free. However, without a copyright, there is nothing to prevent a corporation from taking a popular online work and sending it to the printing press, printing out copies to sell and make money, and more importantly, stiffing the author from making any money print copies of their works garner.

So here’s a possible solution – copyright should only apply to physical, print copies of works. Let’s walk through a couple of scenarios to see how this might play out:

We have an author named Lisa, and Lisa writes a book called “Happy Times in Hamtown: A Piggy’s Memoir.” She tries to get published via the traditional models, through agent query and all that noise, but gets no bites. Maybe her book is bad, or too niche, or maybe she just can’t write a cover letter to save her life. So after a year of rejection notices (or, that awful crime: no notification at all), Lisa decides that putting her book out to be read is more important than making money from it.
Lisa starts a website to host her book, or she releases it on a few of the document hosting sites: Scribd, Wattpad, etc, and gets her work out there. She isn’t trying to make any money, but puts a Paypal donation button on her site, just in case anyone wants to donate.

Lo and behold, Lisa’s book becomes pretty popular on the net. Even she didn’t foresee how much the story of Larry the pig’s life in Hamtown would pull at people’s heart strings and fly off the digital databases. Since it’s copyright free, Lisa’s book is passed around to whomever wants to read it, first via her website or the mainstream distribution sites, but eventually through newsgroups, bit torrent, email, and news servers.

Not many people use Lisa’s paypal button (She makes a grand totally of $27.13 over six months), but at least her work is being read. Sometimes, that’s enough. For her next book, she’s considering trying to find a sponsor or maybe create a threshold release system on her website – releasing a chapter to the public once a threshold has been reached, say, 5 bucks for the first chapter, 10 bucks for the second, and so on. Once the threshold is reached, she releases the next chapter to everyone. She’s not really sure, but is willing to try it, since she’s got a little bit of a name now and might be able to swing some donations.

Anyway, Dingus McGee Publishing, though woefully behind about what’s cool on the internet, stumbles across Lisa’s book about a year after it’s released. In a world with no copyright, Dingus McGee Publishing nabs the book and prints 10,000 copies to sell at 15 bucks a pop. Since there is no copyright, Dingus McGee is legally able to do this.

Now, here’s the reason behind hybrid copyright – preventing this situation. In order to get unlimited and wide digital distribution of her book, Lisa is happy that there is no copyright on her book. It allows people to pass it to someone else for free, with no legal concerns, and this is one of the reasons her book did so well on the internet. However, it also allows Dingus McGee Publishing to grab it, print it, and make money without compensating her.

Digital works should be copyright-less, since there are no costs save author costs (And Lisa is already looking into business models for her next book). Distribution costs nothing and there are no printing costs. More so, digital copyright should not exist because it is completely unfeasible to track down all the infringers. Since putting up work on the internet costs nothing, there are a potential 7 billion copyright infringers on the planet. How do you track down and sue all the people who infringe the copyright? You can’t. It’s not possible. And why have a law on the books that isn’t enforceable? It’s silly. Better to be well read and release the work copyright free.

However, physical printing costs money. Physical distribution costs money. It requires resources. It requires a company to have connections, a network, an expensive printing press. It requires them to be in the phone book. I’m not an advocate of registration of any kind, but being a physical printer requires a type of “social” registration. People know who you are, because your operation requires resources, and resources require public knowledge. You are sue-abl e because you’re findable. But more importantly: you’re out to make money. And if you make money off an author’s work, you owe the author money.

The reasoning, beyond what I’ve already stated, is simple: no costs = free release, for profit = compensation. Dingus McGee Publishing must pay Lisa to print physical copies of her work and sell them, even if she released the book on the internet for free. This is an enforceable system, since Dingus McGee Publishing is in the phone book, they have assets, whereas Mike from Norway, who passed a digital copy of Lisa’s book to Steve in Germany – he’s not in the phonebook, at least in the sense we’re talking about. Of course, Mike from Norway also isn’t trying to sell the book to Steve – he’s giving it away for free, since it’s digital.

Does this make sense? Now, let’s compile the caveats before anyone freaks out:

As I’ve been saying all along, this is a system for books, text, whatever, not music and films. The reasoning is multifaceted, but stems on text being a “consume once” media, while music and films are a “consume many times” media. More importantly, however, it’s about business. Music and films cost must more to produce, so their business models must be different. Books, separated from printing and distribution costs, take only the author’s time. Time only costs a reasonable lifestyle, which authors should be providing by finding new business models to support themselves.

Why should Lisa just not sell digital copies of her book? This is a tough one, and the best argument against abolishing copyright, so let’s look at it a little deeper.
First of all, there is nothing stopping Lisa from selling digital copies of her book. However, there is nothing stopping Mike from Norway from buying the first digital copy of her book and releasing it for free, whether her books is under copyright or not. Sure, things like DRM will make it more complicated, but the headache and inability to track Mike from Norway down as the guy who first leaked the book is very, very difficult.

Now, some might say that the headache of managing a pay system for digital copies still means more cash in hand for the author. That’s a decent argument, and very possible. It remains to be seen how new authorial business models will work. However, there’s still going to be a lot of piracy, because it’s hard to compete with free. This inability to compete with free is also what would likely prevent companies to try to sell digital copies of Lisa’s book, although some companies do try to get away with selling GPL software, so you never know.

The third major point I see someone raising is that Dingus McGee Publishing wouldn’t try to sell a print copy of the book anyway, if the digital copy was available for free. To this I say two things: 1. Good. Physical print is wasteful and dying. If they can’t sell books, that’s fine – it gives people more money to support authors instead of publishing companies. And, 2: yeah, right. People like to collect stuff and still want physical media for video games and movies. Physical copies aren’t going anywhere for awhile, even if the market diminishes.

The only reason the market for the physical media for music is dying is because of mp3 players, which can’t consume physical media anyway. As long as people use televisions, DVD, and Blueray players to consume films, and PS3’s and Xboxes to consume video games, there will be people who want physical media. Only when the playback device can no longer consume physical media will demand for physical media slow and die. (Sony recently tried it with video games – it was called the PSP Go and it’s a friggin’ failure.) But we’re talking books, anyway. Phyical books need no device to consume them, so it’s unlikely they will ever go out of style completely, despite people like me clamoring for the death of print.

Anyway, this post is already gargantuan, so I’m going to end it here, having accomplished my objective, which was to talk about a hybrid copyright system.

Thoughts? Flames? Ice Cream?

It was watching so much Star Trek that got me interested in the Apple tablet, something I already talked about extensively in a previous post. Characters in Star Trek carry around data pads that are strangely close to what I want out of a tablet.

In the Star Trek future, everyone uses their tablets to read. Books, manifests, technical manuals, whatever, but the fact is: the characters are reading, rather than viewing multimedia content. I know that it’s fiction, but it still surprises me that the show’s writers chose to portray people in the future as readers of plain text. In reality, I doubt plain text will be the outcome of the e-book movement.

It’s not that people don’t read. They do. However, the place for one-way, plain text is dying. The Kindle and other e-reader’s might be doing okay right now, but if other companies come out with something more multimedia friendly in the same form factor, a multimedia device that supports e-books, I’m willing to bet Kindle sales will slow quite a bit.

Physical print is dying, there’s no mistake about that. Newspapers are closing all over the country because they can’t sell enough ads or copies to stay in business, because everything is moving online. And once things move online, they become graphical, pretty, interactive, editable, and comment-able. People have come to expect this, and that’s why a multimedia tablet in an e-reader form factor would do better than the Kindle or the new Barnes and Noble device, because it would support music, movies, and books with interactive features.

It’s about the technology. Right now, companies are focused on taking print books and moving them to an electronic device. But that isn’t enough. Physical books still have many advantages over e-books – they’re light, easy to read, the battery never dies, they are shareable, don’t have DRM, and are free from the public library. Those features are hard to beat, and trying to move books onto a device without offering people advantages over top of what the current technology (books) supports isn’t enough.

All Amazon and Barnes and Noble have done is make books available on a device, with the only enhanced feature being immediate delivery. One good feature and a new list of drawbacks (battery life, DRM, the dangers of owning a 300 dollar device I plan to take to the beach) isn’t enough. The medium demands a new type of content. E-books should be more than print books read on a screen.

E-books need more interactivity. I want to be able to read a book then be instantly able to participate in a discussion about the book, right from my device. I want forums devoted to the book, or the ability to tag comments in the book and share them with my friends. I want to buy (or borrow, preferably) a book and see the comments my friends made about it via a social networking interface built into the device. If my buddy reads a copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm Front and thinks page 57 is awesome enough to comment about it, I want to be able to access his comments right from the reading interface, and be able to respond.

I want to be able to read a classic like Shelley’s Frankenstein and see the annotations by famous literary scholars, if I choose to follow them, almost like the tagging system photo websites use. I want to be able to read a new novel right after it comes out and share my thoughts about that novel with my friends who are reading it too.

I want interactivity built into the book and I want to do it all from the device I’m reading on. The current e-readers don’t come close to that. The e-ink technology, while impressively imitating the experience of reading a print book, can’t support that level of interactivity. The refresh rates just aren’t up to par. A multimedia touch-screen tablet with the choice to optimize the display settings for reading text is probably a better option, unless e-ink vastly improves and can handle more interactivity.

New technology is built on creating a two-way street, and the companies building e-readers need to take advantage of that. Instead, they are focused on making e-reader devices as close to reading a print book as possible, which is the wrong way to go. They need to approach authors about writing for an e-audience. They need to focus on enhancing the reading experience on a device, not just recreating it. Because they won’t win that battle.

Getting people to embrace a new technology is all about the “killer app” concept – the new feature that necessitates a move from the old tech to the new. Social networking, annotation, interactivity built into the text of the book: all these things might not be the “killer app” that makes people switch to e-books on a device, but they are a start.

Interactivity in a book is something humanity has never done very well before – hand written notes in the margins, footnotes that take up the whole page, or separate handouts from professors, none handle interactivity as well as a simple web hyperlink. So if books are moving into the digital, it’s time to update the way this interactivity is handled. Imagine the possibilities for education alone: professors could join a group with their students and comment on aspects of the book they want to draw students’ attention to. Teachers could use book forums to discuss works with their students.

And imagine the possibilities for authors: fast feedback, right from the fans. Right now the music industry is changing, going online, and indie artists are better for it. It’s easier for them to reach their fanbase, connect with them, interact with them, and hear what fans want. I’m sure some authors wouldn’t embrace this type of interaction, but I imagine many would.

Overall, it’s no secret that e-books will eventually win. Instant publishing, over-the-air delivery, and the environmental advantages are all benefits people want to see. But without interactivity and the focus on a more graphical interface, a way of enhancing books with new features, the “killer app” aspects just aren’t there yet. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Sony need to get with the program. Until they do, people probably won’t migrate to e-books or e-readers en masse.

Keep on keepin’ on,

-m.