The Interwebs are ablaze with a disagreement between book publisher Macmillan and bookseller Amazon about the price of eBooks.

In short: Macmillan (who doesn’t want to undermine their print book business) allegedly wants Amazon to raise their Macmillan eBook prices from $10 to $15. In retaliation, Amazon (who wishes to promote their Kindle reading device, even if it means selling eBooks at a loss) stopped selling Macmillan titles altogether (except through 3rd parties).

[1/30/10 UPDATE: Amazon Concedes to Macmillan on E-Book pricing]

[2/4/10 UPDATE: Or did they?]

[2/4/10 UPDATE: New Message from Macmillan CEO John Sargent]

Interesting links abound:

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We asked this week’s panelists:

Read on to see their responses…

I don’t read e-books. As a writer, I do a lot of reading on screen. I compose my own stories; I workshop my colleagues’ stories; I research online; I conduct my correspondence online; I hold virtual office hours online; I waste time reading online blogs. Being an editor for a magazine that accepts e-submissions makes the situation worse. Consequently, one of the things I’m looking for in a novel, anthology, or collection that I’m reading for pleasure is its non-electronic, paper form. I want to be able to sit down with a traditional book.

If I were neither a writer nor an editor, I think I’d be an ideal candidate for e-book reading. I like gadgets and I like reading. If onscreen fiction reading weren’t such an integral part of my work, I’d be better able to appreciate it for recreation.

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Barnes & Noble unveiled their new eBook reader called “Nook“.

Some of the features and specs of the $259 device include:

• The ability to download eBooks, magazines and newspapers over AT&T’s 3G network or via any B&N store’s free Wi-Fi connectivity.
• Read any eBook for free in a Barnes & Noble store
• An E Ink reading screen
• Navigation via a color touchscreen (separate from the book display from what I can see in the video, which also shows some slow page-turning and screen flashes)
• Sync your eBooks to your iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Mac or PC
• Lend eBooks to friends for up to 14 days.
• Based on the Android Operating System
• 2GB Internal memory/storage (up to 1,500 eBooks) with additional storage via its SD Expansion slot (for books and pictures)
• Try before you buy with free book samples

See also: How it compares with Amazon’s Kindle 2. From a B&N perspective, of course!

• Talking with Tim interviews Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Diving into the Wreck).
• Editor Ellen Datlow has posted the start of the Honorable Mentions for Best Horror of the Year volume one. The bigger list is here.
• Visions of Paradise: Hugo Award observations: “I think two factors led to Gaiman’s surprisingly easy win: his novel is considerably more accessible to the typical reader, and his personality makes him a more popular person than Stephenson.”
• Scott Marlowe offers an eBook Format Primer.
• In honor of the The Wizard of Oz anniversary, a reminder of the always cool artwork being showcased at Avalanche Blog: “Follow the Yellow Brick Road Work“.
• Lists:
  • Point: Screen Rant’s list of Top 5 Movies That Scared the Hell Out of Me (2 of which are based on Stephen King novels).
  • Counterpoint: SCI FI Wire lists 10 scariest Stephen King novels.

From last May, Here’s a fascinating interview from Q-TV with book designer Chip Kidd, who talks about book design and the ever-impending death of books.

[via Bookninja]

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @The Dragon Page: Jane Lindskold (Nine Gates).
  • Bibliophile Stalker interviews Marc Gascoigne, Publishing Director of Angry Robot books.
  • Rick Riordan Discusses Labyrinth and Lightning Thief at B&N Video. [via Missions Unknown]
  • Mary Robinette Kowal-bits:
    • @Writing Excuses podcast-interviews Mary Robinette Kowal.
    • Locus Online has interview excerpts with Mary Robinette Kowal.
• For those who wish to follow the latest Genre vs. Literary debate, follow this trail:
  • @WSJ: Good Novels Don’t Have to Be Hard Work by Lev Grossman. And subsequent responses from:
    • Cheryl Morgan
    • Ellen Datlow
    • Matt Cheney
    • Patrick Nielson Hayden
    • Jeff VanderMeer
    • Edward Champion
  • Guardian: Why Kelman’s rage at the genrefication of Scottish literature concerns us all. And responses from
    • Cheryl Morgan
    • Seanachie
• @Guardian: Ursula K. Le Guin reviews Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood. [via Locus Online]
• Author Philip Palmer has a thoughtful essay on George Orwell’s sf masterpiece, 1984.
• BookViewCafe.com to Publish Steampunk Anthology.
• Free Excerpt: Chapter One of The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham (whose website just got a face lift). [via Suvudu]
• Jonathan Strahan on eBooks vs. printed books.
• Oh Noes! “e-Books Will Be Our Downfall!” says publisher.
• @The World in the Satin Bag, S.M. Duke talks about Punking the begeezus out of Everything in SF/F.
• Spike TV Announces Nominees for ‘SCREAM 2009′ – Star Trek Tops List With 17 Nominations.
• Bored: here’s How to Create a SciFi Space Helmet for less then $20.
• Old news by now: Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. [Insert your own joke here.]
• Lists:
  • Fandomania is undertaking an ambitious project to name The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters of All Time.
  • Make Use Of has tips on How To Find A Book Without Knowing The Title Or Author.
  • @Wired.com: Wired‘s Favorite Sci-Fi Flicks of All Time.
  • Damien G. Walter lists 3 ways to help Support Our ‘Zines Day (October 1, 2009).

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Fantasy Book Critic interviews Gary Gibson (Nova War).
  • The Future Awaits interviews Tobias Buckell.
  • Tor Editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden on ebooks, Star Trek fanfic, and the future of publishing. [via Tor.com]
  • In the Australian paper The Age, Scott Westerfeld and China Miéville are quoted on the public image of science fiction. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • @Paraoddity: Catherine Asaro. [via Saving my Sanity]
  • SF Universe interviews Wil Wheaton.
• Art:
  • Meanwhile, Wil Wheaton shows off the cover of his upcoming book Memories of the Future, Volume One.
  • Louise Marley talks about book cover art, too.
  • And speaking of fantastic art, the Spectrum Exhibit Opens September 1st & Honors Dave Stevens.
• Authors reviewing authors:
  • Nancy Kress recommends Elizabeth Moon’s 2004 Nebula winner, The Speed of Dark.
  • Jo Walton likes Roger Zelazny’s Doorways in the Sand.
• Jeff VanderMeer presents an overview of Steampunk at FilmFocus.
• @SF Gospel, Gabriel McKee is wondering Where’s the love for Defying Gravity? So, where is it, huh?
• Jason Sanford asks: Is the term SciFi still derogatory?
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers another installment of her Freelancer’s Survival Guide with Patience.
• From LifeHacker: Owners of Sony eReaders, users of the Stanza iPhone book reader, and anyone else with a device that reads the ePub format can now grab more than 1 million works from Google Books’ archives.
• Here’s a mesmerizing visualization of time travel plots in various films and TV programs. [via Information Is Beautiful]
• More chart fun: Here’s a nice poster of Jocks vs. Nerds at the Box Office by the folks over at MovieFill. Short version; Nerds rule the box office. [via Screen Rant]
• The Stargate Universe trailer hits theaters today before Halloween II and The Final Destination 3D. Hands up if you’re tempted to leave after the trailer…
• Howard Waldrop & Lawrence Person Review District 9.
• The Prisoner is coming out in a sexy Blu-ray edition.
• Rob Zombie will remake The Blob.
• Real Science: Suicidal planet seems on death spiral into star. [via BBT Magazine]
• Website: Moonbase Central is an offbeat chronicle of the past, present and future of lunar exploration.
• Lists:
  • Here’s 20 Outstanding Examples of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Origami. Is it me, or does the Jedi look the Scarecrow from the Batman comics?
  • James Long lists his own 7 Essential Second-Step Fantasies.
  • Cinematical lists The 10 Greatest Sci-Fi Deaths Ever.
  • Mary Robinette Kowal lists Fantasy’s Ten Best Treks.

• Here’s an update on the production of Hater, the film based on David Moody‘s book that’s being produced by Mark Johnson and Guillermo Del Toro.
• Patrick at Stomping on Yeti follows up his Eclipse Three TOC rant with an apology to Editor Jonathan Strahan.
• John Ottinger III at Grasping for the Wind has the 2nd Edition of the SF/F/H Reviewer Linkup Meme.
• The Frozen Sand Glass is a new subscription-based serial fiction website that lets members earn points for participating in the website’s social community.
• CroSF is a website devoted to Croatian Speculative Fiction. The site looks like it’s just been launched, but already some of the cool content includes the following (Thanks, Irena!):
  The article
  • Science Fiction in Croatia, a complete and revised history of sf in Croatia from the 1920s to the present day.
  • A lists of Online stories (in English) written by Croatian authors
• SFX has a follow-up post about the price of eBooks.
• Karl Johanson (Editor of Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine) has posted videos of the Aurora Awards ceremonies at WorldCon.
• Bookstove lists Top 10 Science Fiction Authors of All Time.
• Influx lists 5 Awesome facts about Moon you didn’t know.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • io9 talks with Hugo-Winner Ellen Datlow (editor of the upcoming Lovecraft Unbound) on the art of editing short fiction.
  • Omnivoracious talks with Hugo-Winner Ann VanderMeer, editor of Weird Tales.
  • The LA Times talks with Michael Moorcock.
• @CNet: Why does this e-book cost $14? “Dear e-book publishers: stop gouging us.”
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her Freelancer’s Survival Guide series talking about time.
• Heather Massey’s been busy. First she Defines Science Fiction Romance, then she asks: Does Science Fiction Romance Need More Alpha Heroes?
• There are some nice, fantastical art pieces from Patri Balanovsky at Gorilla Artfare.
• Orbit Publisher Tim Holman offers up an illuminating Chart of Fantasy Art Cover Elements.
• Holy Copyright Caper, Batman! Warner Brothers and DC Lose Certain Superman Rights.
• Superhero Nation explains How to Avoid Info-Dumping.
• Here’s a Star Wars collectible that, at first glance, looks dirty, but really isn’t.
• These Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks work great with the General Grievous’ Chicken! http://bit.ly/15foNZ [via Derryl Murphy]
• Jen at Multi-Genre fan will not be watching Stargate Universe.
• Den of Geek looks at The Costumes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Real Science: “Two recent scientific discoveries mark the latest steps toward the ultimate medical-diagnosis technology: the tricorder.” [via Duderina]
• Lists:
  • 100 Best Comic Book Covers
  • Geek Dad lists 10 Sci-Fi Movies We’d Like to Throw Into a Black Hole.
  • @VideoHound: The Ten All-Time Best Years for Sci-Fi Movies

• Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast-interviews Kay Kenyon (City Without End).
• Blogging the Muse interviews Patricia Bray.
• The Willamette Writers honored Phyllis Irene Radford with a lifetime achievement award.
• Jayme Lynn Blaschke has the scoop on SFWA’s statement regarding the proposed Google book settlement.
• Authors reviewing books: Paul Di Filippo reviews Karl Schroeder’s The Sunless Countries.
• Jason Heller is Fantasy Magazine‘s new Book Editor.
• Cherie Priest’s thoughts on steampunk.
• Bibliophile Stalker on The Difficulty of Pricing eBooks (Part II).
• io9 lists Top 10 Silliest Alien Prosthetics.
• Star Wars Tidbits:
  • Boing Boing showcases these nerdy-but-cool Star Wars trash compactor bookends.
  • I watched this dozens of times, but I couldn’t find anything sexist in this video of Girls in Bikinis Reading Lines from Star Wars.
  • Star Wars Zombies. How did nobody think of this before?

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Fantasy Book Critic: Liz Williams (Shadow Pavilion).
  • Book Banter podcast-interviews Robert J. Sawyer, author of WWW: Wake, and Christopher Golden, author of The Map of Moments.
  • Sci-Fi Fan Letter interviews Tony Ballantyne (Twisted Metal).
• Adam Roberts’ Hugo rant to fandom is making waves. Check out these responses from artist John Picacio, author John Scalzi…and web comic My Elves are Different.
• Jim C. Hines is not happy with Realms of Fantasy covers and says “Sexism is Not About Your Ego“
• At the Washington Post: Kim Stanley Robinson has the essay Return to the Heavens, for the Sake of Earth: “Does the notion of sending humans to space still make sense in the age of climate change?” [via Locus Online]
• It’s Brent Weeks vs. Joe Abercrombie at Borders SciFi blog.
• Barnes & Noble Plans an Extensive E-Bookstore: “Barnes & Noble said that it would offer more than 700,000 books that could be read on a wide range of devices, including Apple’s iPhone, the BlackBerry and various laptop or desktop computers. When Barnes & Noble acquired Fictionwise in March, that online retailer had about 60,000 books in its catalog.”
• Orbit Books has whittled down the enormous outpouring of responses received from their Worst Book Cover Contest and came up with the Top 5 Worst Book Covers. Head on over and vote for your favorite!
• Entertainment Weekly’s new book blog, Shelf Life, asks Why aren’t there more bookish types on TV? But the even cooler item in that post is the mock-trailer for the PBS soap opera about well-read youngsters called ‘llectuals.
• BBC Film Network has a short film called Pop Art which is based on a short story by Joe Hill. [via Charles Tan, who listed this very story in today's Mind Meld of favorite short stories.]
• At Avalanche Software Art Blog, Adam Ford presents this cool Space Cowboy.
• Lists:
  • @Total Film: 20 Movie Worlds That Could Make Great Holidays.
  • Bibliophile Stalker Charles Tan (Him again?) lists 5 Quick Points on Print vs eBooks
  • Matt Staggs points us to this list of 61 essential post-modern reads on which you’ll find several genre-ish titles.
  • Joseph Mallozzi’s favorite Movie Twists.