San Diego: A Wild Time at Camp Pendleton!

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My son Demetri (DT) is 15 and has been talking about the Marines lately. My good friend, decorated Marine (Silver Star, Purple  Heart) and author Nick Popaditch (Once a Marine) accommodated my request for a favor by pulling strings and getting us onto Camp Pendleton this past weekend. His son Nick Jr. went with us.  


The day before we went to the Recruit Depot and watched recruits learning to jump off towers and rappel, learn various maneuvers, and others who were now official Marines in their dress uniforms with moms proudly hanging on their arms. It was inspiring.

The next morning we drove 30 or so miles to Camp Pendleton, and then to a small area where a group of of reserve M1A1 battle tanks (six or eight) were parked and being worked on. We watched as mechanics and others cleaned, repaired, and otherwise maintained them and the support vehicles needed to keep them moving. We spent some time inside a tank learning the basics about each position, how the gun worked, where the shells were stored, and so forth. Each tank carries four people (Commanding officer, gunner, loader, and driver).

Gunnery Sergeant Pittsley (left) and Gunny Pop (right).

Gunny Sgt. Pittsley arranged for a ride, and it took quite some time and effort to prepare a tank to move. They didn't have to do it, but really did it for Gunny Pop. He is well known and a legend in the Corps--as more than one Marine told me without any prompting from Pop's proud publisher.

A very tired and aging publisher up in the Loader's hatch, taken by DT from his position in the Gunner's seat.

DT in Gunner's position with Com helmet and flak jacket on, thermal and regular sights next to his head, and gun and turret controller to his front. He is flashing the V for Victory sign after being complimented by Corporal Bath.

The view outside the tank from my position in the Loader's hatch.
In a word: wow.

Once all was ready, the tank fired up (they are incredibly quiet) and moved about 30 yards to a gate, where DT and I climbed aboard. Corporal Bath served as the Commander, and took a position in the Commander's hatch next to the 50-caliber machine gun mount. I assumed the Loader's position to his left, and instead of remaining inside, stood up through the open hatch to see outside. DT sat down in the right front of the tank to serve as the Gunner. He got to traverse the turret at speed, move the gun up and down, use various sites (thermal, etc.) and more. The driver is in the front of the tank and out of site, locked up tight in a small area that would have driven me crazy.



Corporal Bath giving orders to his 15-year-old Gunner.



The ride was about 40 minutes, up and down hilly terrain, through high weeds, etc. It was scary, exhilarating, and like a massive shot of adrenalin all at the same time. To show how the gun optics work, we sited on a truck on a freeway maybe 2 miles distant, tracking the vehicle with a laser that kept the tube locked on target even as we moved. It was incredible.



I tried the gun position for five minutes and could barely operate the thing. I also got very nauseous because everything is right in front of you and bouncing around like crazy. When I moved back to the Loader's position, Corporal Bath laughed and said that when that happens in the field, we hand them an MRE bag and spin the tank until new gunners puke, and puke again. And again. "Eventually they get over it," he laughed. "Can't have a sick gunner."

We had communication helmets on, and could easily speak back and forth. Video games have their place, I guess. Corporal Bath gave orders to DT (center the gun over the front, etc.) or "Fix on XYZ target." DT did it easily and quickly. Corporal Bath complimented him and said he was very surprised he could do it so easily and quickly. "You would make a great gunner," he told my son. DT looked up at me and flashed the V for victory sign. (see photo).

The final day (Saturday) we spent on the water. First, we spent an hour packing care packages for troops at Veteran's Memorial Hall in Balboa Park. That was a great experience as well. Every young American should try it. My niece Alyssa, who lives in San Diego, joined us for this part of the trip.

DT boxing it up. When all was said and done, he filled 10 boxes and taped up dozens more.

DT and Gunny Pop on Pop's boat getting ready to tube out on the ocean. Priceless.

DT holding on for dear life. Somehow he held on despite Pop's best efforts to throw him. Eventually he pitched headlong into the sea.

Ted Savas and Gunny Pop at "Club Pop" (read his book to understand that), enjoying steaks, cigars, and great beer.

Our day included fishing, tubing, and general sightseeing. It was a grand day all the way around. The night before we had a great dinner at the Popaditch house (thanks April!).

Thanks Popaditch's and USMC for a great visit to San Diego. It is one we will never forget.

-- tps

Borders Calls Off Auction, Plans to Liquidate

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A sad day in the publishing industry. Thankfully, Savas Beatie is well diversified. Other publishers, however . . .

Click here to read the full story. Book lover? Grab some Kleenex first.

QUESTION: Who if anyone will fill the void?

tps

Borders Heading for Liquidation?

This is not good news. Worth reading:

--tps
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Uncertainty over exactly what Najafi Companies intended to do with Borders if they bought it led to the collapse of their purchase offer by the end of Wednesday, and now the chain is headed to liquidation unless another bidder comes forward or Najafi prevails during the actual auction. The bid from liquidators that Borders had submitted to the court at the same time as the Najafi offer has been made the "stalking horse bid" for the July 19 auction, which just received Judge Martin Glenn's approval this morning in court, pending filing of revised papers. Glenn, whose patience was wearing thin in the hearing, said, "Right now all we have is one bid, which is a liquidation bid. I have a busy calendar." The judge postponed the deadline for any objections from 4:00 today to 4:00 Monday, thus deferring any ruling on the myriad of objections. If a going-concern bid is put forth, revised notice will need to be filed with the court.

Borders attorney Andrew Glenn told the court there are currently no other bidders, but he indicated that there are "some inquiries" in which interested third parties might team up with the liquidators. He also mentioned that Barnes & Noble has offered for "certain assets." (Earlier in the process Bloomsberg said that BN had bid to buy Borders' web site, customer databases and about 10 store locations.) Najafi's representatives indicated they may still participate in the auction itself. Meanwhile, the representatives for the creditors' committee told Judge Glenn that they support the liquidators' stalking horse bid, saying they "got what we wanted."

Also in court this morning, Judge Glenn showed little tolerance for the landlord's many conditional laments. "I'm very unsympathetic to many of the objections made by landlords," Judge Glenn said, particularly since the situation remains fluid. He appears more inclined to not address the landlords' objections until the final path for Borders is clear--and indicates that issues related to going-out-of-business sales tend to be negotiated outside of court anyway. Borders has asked for the currently-scheduled July 21 hearing to approve a sale to be split in two, asking for a second hearing on Saturday, July 23 in the event that any "going concern" bids come forward, but there is no resolution on this yet. (These updates have been relayed live from the courtroom via Sarah Weinman, and the hearing was just adjourned.)

The strong hand of the creditors committee was a driving force in much of the drama of the past 24 hours. In Wednesday's day's preamble, the creditors filed an objection in bankruptcy court to Najafi's offer, which was so open-ended as to allow the possibility that he would still cancel leases and liquidate the chain while keeping "valuable intellectual property (i.e., the Borders name and related intellectual property rights) and other assets for less consideration" than the current bid from liquidators would yield. (As we pointed out previously, the liquidation bid provides more cash up-front, and still leaves the intellectual property and other assets to be sold separately.)

What the creditors wanted was for Najafi to make "a firm commitment" to keep operating the chain as a going concern, which the creditors said they "in fact would welcome." But Najafi used that demand to put forward the same request that Borders management had failed with multiple times--asking major publishers to resume normal trade terms, once again providing the real operational financing for the bookstores. (As we also pointed out previously, Najafi's offer was closer to "taking" the chain rather than "buying" it.) As the WSJ reported, "Najafi was willing to drop his liquidation option if publishers agreed to grant him normal trade terms, according to people familiar with the matter. Some major publishers agreed, but by late Wednesday afternoon a couple hadn't, the people said. At that point, Mr. Najafi signaled he wouldn't alter his terms."

In their filing, the creditors committee also presented some slightly revised estimates of Borders' current situation. They owe the DIP lenders $211 million, and are estimated to have $417.5 million in inventory, with the liquidation bid worth "no less than between $252 million and $284 million."

So the contingent bid from liquidators was made the sole and official stalking horse bid, setting the floor for the auction on July 19. In a note to employees yesterday evening from Borders ceo Mike Edwards, he wrote: "Late this afternoon, Najafi informed us that they have decided to withdraw as the stalking horse proposal and therefore we will submit the Hilco and Gordon Brothers proposal to the Court for the purposes of serving as the Stalking Horse bidder at the auction next week. While we regret Najafi's withdrawal as the Stalking Horse bidder, we remain hopeful that they or other potential bidders who are interested in operating Borders as a going concern will choose to participate in the auction process on July 19. "

In their own statement, Najafi Companies said that their "proposed agreement to keep Borders operating is no longer supported by the deciding parties. The deciding parties' legal team and financial advisors have elected another option which is in contrast to what we had envisioned for the future of Borders. However, we remain willing, ready and able to move forward should the deciding parties instead choose to work with us and our existing offer. From day one, our intention had been to keep Borders intact and to provide the best long-term outcome for Borders' loyal customers, publishers, employees and the entire book industry. We are disappointed with today’s decision." In court Thursday, it became clear that Najafi is no longer seeking approval of the $6.45 million break-up fee that was provided for when they were set for approval as the stalking horse bidder.

Digital Books Sales Continue Apace . . .

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Although the numbers are not in the same universe (yet), here are two disparate bits of information that have a nexus of commonality.

First, bestselling author Michael Connelly has now sold more than 1,000,000 Amazon's Kindle books. That is quite impressive. Click here to read more. He is just the 7th author to join this elite club.

Just yesterday I received a quick-hit email from one of our editors. Let's call him Robert. Here is what he wrote:

Ted --

Thought you might be interested to know the following, given the tenor of some of the recent posts on your blog: I just finished reading Hans Gobeler's Steel Boat, Iron Hearts, about U-505; am now reading Hunt and Kill, edited by some guy named Savas; and next intend to read Gary Moore's Playing with the Enemy. All on Kindle.

I never intended to get one. But when I retired from the CG, that's the gift my group of neighbors decided to give me, along with some Amazon credit. I didn't use it for the first couple of months, but then I found that for commuting back and forth to work on the train, it was more convenient than a print book. Often I have both a Kindle and print book (because I still have a lot of those...) going at the same time, and I read one or the other depending on the circumstances. Anyway, I thought you'd like to know, as an individual case study . . .
--Robert

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eBooks are here to stay.

--tps

Amazon Sells More Kindle Books than Hardcovers.**

This came sooner than I was expecting, but I was expecting it.

We are seeing a real spike in e-sales over the past three months--very strong and broad. What is more interesting to me than the steady uptick in e-sales is that we are not experiencing a concurrent drop in print sales. Many people in the industry were sure a rise on one side of the ledger meant a drop on the other. I wasn't convinced, and the data thus far suggest solid or increased print sales might be a beneficiary of the e-sale future. One indicator is that our strongest seller in both categories (print and e-book) for the past two months is the same title. The future looks bright for those ahead of the tidal wave. And we are ahead of that wave and riding it nicely.

For those of you who noticed the asterisks in the main title, there is a small "however" in that shout line. Amazon didn't disclose how Kindle e-book sales compare to its entire bookstore sales. With most Kindle books priced at $9.99, those e-books are often less expensive than the same title in hardcover, especially for popular new releases. But less-expensive paperbacks make up the vast majority of Amazon's book sales.

Hmm.

Click here to read the full article in Money Magazine.

--tps

JAXX--WINNER of 2011 Sacramento Jammies!!!

 

Jaxx playing the Crest Theater with a Jumbo-tron behind them.

 

(SCROLL DOWN FOR SOME GREAT PHOTOS)

JAXX, in which my nephew and God son Nikkos shares lead guitar duties, placed first out of 30 or so acts from the greater Sacramento region last night in front of a packed Crest Theater in downtown Sac.

After weeks of competition, the grand evening featured the final ten bands. Jaxx played second. The competition was fierce, and frankly I was worried after hearing the last four bands.

JAXX was tight and as on the money last night as I have ever seen them--especially considering the large audience and pressure-filled performance. Nikkos pulled out his bright yellow Ibanez and shredded on their final original "Tongues" before meeting guitarist Alan in the middle to finish with a dual lead. Alan played one of his leads behind his back while bassist Kyle Maxwell ran the stage and often jammed next to the drum kit being hammered by Alan's younger brother John Bonham--sorry, Jack Petterle.

Another big step in the progression of a great band and wonderful group of young men.

Alan Petterle ("I am so glad I gave up football.") Lead guitar. Age 16.

Jack Petterle ("Don't let me near a microphone. Ever") Drums. Age 14.

Kyle Maxwell ("This Ampeg stack sounds awesome.") Bass. Age 15.

Nikkos Savas ("I could do this forever.") Lead guitar. Age 16.

Nikkos shredding on "Tongues."

Nikkos on the opening song--Mean Machine.

Finale: Nikkos and Alan performing a dual guitar lead while Kyle rocks on. Jack (not in the photo) was busy eyeing a young groupie hanging off stage left.

Here are a few more earlier posts on JAXX.

JAXX at the Legendary Rock Club Boardwalk in Orangevale

JAXX at Blacksheep: Back-to-Back Gigs

Sunday Jam Session

For more photos and information on the band jump over to their Facebook page.

Congrats, guys. Like anything in life, you make your own luck through hard work.

-- Uncle Sugar Pops

Jacket Design: Five Tips for What an Author Can do to Help . . .

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I can't recall where I got these from (sorry), but here are a handful of tips authors can do to help sell their book (and by extension and implication, HURT their book sales). It centers around the jacket/cover design. At Savas Beatie, we almost always bring in the author for assistance, comment, opinion, and do our best to make him or her happy with the final product.

However . . .  Do you know what a camel is? It's a quarter horse put together by a committee. We don't want camels here. And with so many people stirring the pot, the actual book jacket may suffer from the compromises of consensus. (It doesn't here, but it does in some houses.) So if you are an author trying to influence the jacket design for your book, here are five tips:

1. Try not to assume that you know what’s best for the book, even if it’s true. Cultivate good relations with everyone at the company and maintain a position of modesty, humility, and cooperation.

2. Don’t bring in your 9-year-old child’s cute little pencil drawing of her horse for the cover, even if the book is about how to ride bareback Western Style. The only exceptions to this rule are genius-level kids with their own TV show.

3. Muster empathy for the sales and publicity people who may seem to be marching to a different drummer but have mutual interests to share. Keep in mind that they have to sell your book, and without their enthusiastic efforts, you’ll be severely handicapped.

4. Remember that in the end, this isn’t a science and we don’t always know what ultimately sells a book. Books with less than fabulous jacket designs have become huge sellers anyway. Take a book I published, The Scarlatti Inheritance, by Robert Ludlum. I thought the cover was boring and that it didn’t say anything about the book itself. Nevertheless the historical thriller was such a hit that the design was used again for subsequent titles.

5. Once the jacket is designed and chosen, put aside any regrets and do everything you can to help sell the book, including your own strenuous on-line web marketing, blogging, twittering, and other brilliant new techniques that emerge in these rapidly changing times.

--tps