Movie Books: A Princess of Mars (John Carter)

There are about a thousand different paper editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter series and there are almost as many ebook editions.  Probably the best was put together with loving care by ebook lover HarryT at Mobile Read Forums.  He has painstaikingly crafted a single volume with all eleven Barsoom novels together.  You don’t have to be a Mobile Read member to get it, but Mobile Read is definitely worth your time.  Here is a link to the ebook:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=34895&d=1251219101

The Voyage of the Minotaur Nominated for MobileRead Book Club

Mobile Read Forums is THE place for ebook fanatics.  They have everything– help on every device made, news and info, free custom formatted ebooks.  They also have a Book Club and each month they nominate books and vote to see which one they will read.  This month, they have nominated, alond with such great books as Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Game of Thrones, my own Voyage of the Minotaur.  If you are a mobile read user, get over and vote for me.  If not, check out this great resource for ebooks.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140566

Great Sites for New Kindle Owners: Mobile Read Forums

Mobile Read is a great forum to find out information about your Kindle or other reader.  They have a section for every ereader ever made.  Plus they have a great library of free books which, unlike those found elsewhere, have been put together by hand, with loving care and with careful attention to font size and layout.  I visit Mobile Read everyday, just to touch base with other ebook readers.

You can find Mobile Read Forums here.

Mobile Read Forums

It’s time to plug Mobile Read Forums again.  With more and more of us using ebooks and ebook readers, this site becomes increasingly important.  This is your go-to site for information about those ebooks and the hardware that goes with them.  It’s a thriving comunity of ebibliophiles who are very helpful, very enthusiastic, and sometimes wise.  Visit http://www.mobileread.com/.

Random House on Amazon

Random House comments on Amazon Pricing

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The American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute meeting was held today, and for the most part it wasn’t good news for Amazon. When the representative from Macmillan stood up he received a standing ovation from the crowd (mostly independent booksellers). David Young, chief executive of Hachette USA, also spoke and said he “saw only a bleak future at $9.99”. He also indicated that Hatchette would be adopting the agency model.

The only bright spot for Amazon, and Kindle owners, came from Madeline McIntosh, the President of Sales, Operations, and Digital for Random House. She pointed out that publishers “have no real experience at setting retail prices.” She also revelaed that one of the reasons Random House had not been party to the iBook Store at launch was because of the pricing issues.

In regards to delayed releasing of ebooks, McIntosh said, “Our current policy is we release e-books at the same time as physical books,” followed by “I haven’t been convinced that it’s good for the author or consumer to delay the release. My fear is that the consumer who has fully embraced the technology will buy another e-book that is available or lose interest altogether. What if I train the consumer that the best scenario is to get it free?”

Reprinted from Mobile Read Forums.

Bob Russell’s Report on the Ipad


The iPad has my interest, even though I’m not a fan of closed systems, and I never thought I’d consider a device without at least one USB port and a memory card slot. What follows is my reasons for interest, and the things I wish it had. I.e., if I could have provided input, this is what Apple might have included on an iPad developed just for me.

Why I Am Interested
Good battery life. Hopefully, real world usage matches 10-12hrs.
Great form factor – light, slim and nicely sized screen
Zippy performance – should be much faster than e-ink devices
Capacitive touch screen
Lots of developer support, and huge iPhone consumer base
External keyboard via BT or dock. Eventually wired keyboards will probably be available via the connector.
Should be a good e-book reader, even for PDFs in landscape. (I don’t mind reading on an LCD screen.)
Price is not much more than an e-ink device, so I can potentially make this as an e-book reader purchase that gets me some additional functionality and a more responsive device as well.

If you go to a full O/S like Win7, then you lose battery life and the lightweight advantage. I.e. In that case, I may as well use my convertible tablet, or get a netbook (still a possibility). The extra weight and shorter battery life is a critical factor for me.

It will be interesting to see what Android tablets come out with 7-10″ screens, 8+hr battery life,

Originally posted on Mobile Read Forums.

MobileRead Book Club Selection

I was blown away when I logged onto MobileRead forums and saw their choices for Bookclub selections:

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Sometimes only remembered for the epic motion picture and “Frankly … I don’t give a damn,” Gone with the Wind was initially a compelling and entertaining novel. It was the sweeping story of tangled passions and the rare courage of a group of people in Atlanta during the time of Civil War that brought those cinematic scenes to life. The reason the movie became so popular was the strength of its characters–Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and Ashley Wilkes–all created here by the deft hand of Margaret Mitchell, in this, her first novel.

The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler
Scarred by grief after their 12-year-old son’s senseless murder (he was shot by a holdup man in a Burger Bonanza), Macon and Sarah Leary are losing their marriage too. Macon is unable to cope when she leaves him, so he settles down “safe among the people he’d started out with,” moving back home with two divorced brothers and spinster sister Rose. Author of a series of guidebooks called “Accidental Tourist” for businessmen who hate to travel, Macon is Tyler’s focus here, as she gently chronicles his journey from lonely self-absorption to an “accidental” new life with brassy Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow Bow Animal Hospital, who renews and claims his heart.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Published a year before her death at the age of thirty, Emily Brontë’s only novel is set in the wild, bleak Yorkshire Moors. Depicting the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights creates a world of its own, conceived with an instinct for poetry and for the dark depths of human psychology.

Shadow Game by Christine Feehan
The classified experiment is the brainchild of renowned scientist Peter Whitney and his brilliant daughter, Lily. Created to enhance the psychic abilities of an elite squadron, it can transform their natural mental powers into a unique military weapon. But something goes wrong. In the isolated underground labs, the men have been dying-victims of bizarre accidents. Captain Ryland Miller knows he is next. When Dr. Whitney himself is murdered, Ryland has only one person left to trust: the beautiful Lily. Possessed of an uncanny sixth sense herself, Lily shares Ryland’s every new fear, every betrayal, every growing suspicion, and every passionate beat of the heart. Together, they will be drawn deeper into the labyrinth of her father’s past…and closer to a secret that someone would kill to keep hidden.

It Happened In Egypt by Charles Norris Williamson (1859-1920) and Alice Muriel Williamson (1869-1933)
Lord Ernest Borrow and Captain Anthony Fenton think they know a secret – a secret that could make them both rich. En route, they are sidetracked by Sir Marcus Antonius Lark, a woman who thinks she’s Cleopatra reincarnate, a Gilded Rose of an American Heiress, and Mrs. Jones, a mysterious Irish woman with a past. Will they find the secret? Or will the trip up the Nile on the Enchantress Isis net them another discovery altogether? (summary by Sibella Denton)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Dead Until Dark is the first book in Charlaine Harris’s series The Southern Vampire Mysteries / Sookie Stackhouse novels. In this first installment, the author introduces the character of Sookie Stackhouse, a young telepathic waitress from the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, and her world, an alternate history where vampires, shapeshifters and other supernatual beings coexist with humans. In Dead Until Dark Sookie begins a romantic entanglement with her vampire neighbor and is faced with a series of murders in town.
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. It’s a romantic mystery / urban fantasy. It’s actually written by married couple. It has an e-book version.

His Robot Girlfriend by Wesley Allison (HistoryWes)
Mike Smith’s life was crap, living all alone, years after his wife had died and his children had grown up and moved away. Then he saw the commercial for the Daffodil. Far more than other robots, the Daffodil could become anything and everything he wanted it to be. Mike’s life is about to change.

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
In a sleepy little New England village stands a dark, weather-beaten, many-gabled house. This brooding mansion is haunted by a centuries-old curse that casts the shadow of ancestral sin upon the last four members of the distinctive Pyncheon family. Mysterious deaths threaten the living. Musty documents nestle behind hidden panels carrying the secret of the family’s salvation—or its downfall.

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Tough minded Jessica Trent’s sole intention is to free her nitwit brother from the destructive influence of Sebastian ballister, the notorious Marquess of Diain. She never expects to desire the arrogant, amoral cad. And When Daines reciprical passion places them in a scandously compromising, and public, position, Jessica is left with no choice but to seek satisfaction…
Damn the minx for tempting him, kissing him…and then for forcing him to salvage reputation! Lord Dain can’t wait to put the infuriating bluestocking in her place — and in some amorous position. And if this means marriage, so be it — though sebastian is less than certain he can continue to remian aloof…and stell his heart to the sensuous, head strong lady’s considerable charms.

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Penelope Featherington fell madly, hopelessly in love with Colin Bridgerton two days before her 16th birthday. Unfortunately, Colin has always seen Penelope as the plump, shy best friend of his younger sister. By the time Penelope is 28 and a seasoned member of the English ton, she’s accepted that her love for Colin is destined to remain unrequited and she shall be a spinster forever. Fate, however, has other plans. When Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers announce that Colin has returned from his nearly nonstop travels, Penelope is blissfully unaware that her life is about to change dramatically. Colin is equally unaware of the turn his life is about to take. He’s not surprised that his beloved mother is determined to marry him off, but he’s rather astonished to find himself inexplicably drawn to Penelope. Her dry wit and intelligent mind are delightful, and Colin soon finds himself joining forces with her to deflect his matchmaking mama’s good intentions. Together, the two will thwart their mothers’ iron wills, face the formidable Lady Danbury, confront the gossips of London society, and resolve the lovely dilemma of falling in love. And, oh yes, there is that matter of the true identity of Lady Whistledown. Will the twosome unmask the elusive journalist? Or will their efforts be doomed to failure like so many others’ before?

You can check out the original post here.

Mobile Read Forums

If you want to find out more about ebooks and ebook readers of all types, there just simply is no better place than Mobile Read Forums. There are many people there who read the forums on a daily basis and are glad to help out anyone with questions. You can also download the BEST ebooks, hand-made if you will, in many different formats.
Also notice, this blog is going out at 9AM on 9-9-09! SPOOKY!

My eBook Library Reaches 1500

My ever-expanding eBook library has reached 1500 volumes and continues to grow. Fictionwise, my secondary source to purchase eBooks has had a 50% rebate special, so I’ve bought several new books about publishing. In addition I’ve added quite a few public domain offerings from Manybooks, Feedbooks, Munsey’s, and MobileRead Forums.

Some of my most recent titles are: An Egyptian Princess by Georg Ebers, The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy, and Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Mobile Read Forums

Mobile Read Forums is a great place for information about eBooks and eBook readers of all varieties. It is also a great place to find free eBooks. If the book you want is in their vast library, it is the BEST place to get it. Unlike Manybooks.net or Feedbooks.com, where the books are laid out by computer program, the books at Mobile Read Forums have been lovingly crafted by people.