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Read an E-book week!

All I can say is that without my Kindle I would not be as far into Anathem as I am now.
 
So if anyone wants to read excellent sf to dip your toe in ebook, or simply an excuse to discover an excellent author, then check out Lois M Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, which Baen has decided to put up in its entirety for free*. I have accidentally finished a few novels by making the mistake of attempting to read "just a few pages".

Get it from: The Cryoburn Index Page

* actually, one book is missing: Memory. Long story.
 
Also, here's another author you may want to try, and he's giving his work away for free in ebook format. He is Cory Doctorow, and his site is craphound.com.

Be adventurous, people!

Now if only someone can tell me a good non-sf/fantasy author whose work is up for me to get a taste.
 
beer good said:
He has better ideas than writing chops, but a good idea and just the right amount of crazy will go far. I linked to my review of it.
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Ah, ok. I thought it weird that you'd link to Amazon or something for a book brief. I shoulda checked where the link went.

abecedarian said:
I liked the first three or four books in the series; after that he started having other people co-write the books and my interest level dropped.
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Ah, he pulled a Tom Clancy, eh? Hate it when that happens. :)

I have Flint's Mother of Demons, and while I didn't finish it, I remembered it didn't tweak my buttons.

(And those Baen covers really have got to go - it exudes this sense of B-gradedness that makes me wanna look away - hey, I sound elitist now! :)).
 
direstraits said:
Ah, he pulled a Tom Clancy, eh? Hate it when that happens. :)
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Actually, it's pretty interesting - from what I recall he didn't hire other writers, he simply made the whole story open source and basically let people's fanfiction become part of the "proper" story. Sort of like what people did with the Cthulhu mythos, except with blunderbusses. But I can imagine that the actual results are a bit so-so...
 
beer good said:
Actually, it's pretty interesting - from what I recall he didn't hire other writers, he simply made the whole story open source and basically let people's fanfiction become part of the "proper" story. Sort of like what people did with the Cthulhu mythos, except with blunderbusses. But I can imagine that the actual results are a bit so-so...
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There are several volumes of The Grantville Gazette, with stories written by various authors, all centered in the Ring of Fire universe. Some are fun while others are just wasted ink.
 
direstraits said:
Also, here's another author you may want to try, and he's giving his work away for free in ebook format. He is Cory Doctorow, and his site is craphound.com.

Be adventurous, people!

Now if only someone can tell me a good non-sf/fantasy author whose work is up for me to get a taste.
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BTW, what's a good Doctorow book to start with if you've never read him?
 
beer good said:
BTW, what's a good Doctorow book to start with if you've never read him?
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I've only read some of his short fiction but I heard this interview with him which explains his philosophy of giving away his work for free. It's a fascinating and progressive discussion on publishing, copyrights, Internet freedom, technology and the media. There's also a short story at the beginning of this podcast the interview begins around 4:34. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is probably going to be the first novel of his I read (whenever I get around to it). It's short, his first novel and generally received good reviews, I think.
 
beer good said:
BTW, what's a good Doctorow book to start with if you've never read him?
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His newer books are a little more activist-like, and I think a little more matured. His earlier works a little scattershot, more concerned with carving a niche for himself and generally coming across as trying too hard to be different (when you consider what he does now, that is). Just read the synopsis for his earlier works.

But Doctorow is an ideas guy.

His Little Brother is YA, and won the Hugo. Interesting ideas, but while some liked it lots, I found it ok. Lots of politics, about freedom of speech and the general evils of 1982-type oversight. Not a bad place to start, since I know YA doesn't turn you off, and gives you a good sense of his style.

I'm in the middle of his For The Win, which centres around children in poorer countries who work online playing the tedious parts of online games for rich kids so they (rich kids) get gold (gold farming). They form a union! This has plenty of potential and the premise is damn interesting.

If you wanna take in a little at a time, his Overclocked collection contains some award-winning shorts, and his Makers collection is currently getting praised.
 
joderu95 said:
I've only read some of his short fiction but I heard this interview with him which explains his philosophy of giving away his work for free. It's a fascinating and progressive discussion on publishing, copyrights, Internet freedom, technology and the media. There's also a short story at the beginning of this podcast the interview begins around 4:34. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is probably going to be the first novel of his I read (whenever I get around to it). It's short, his first novel and generally received good reviews, I think.
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For a counter argument, please Google for the Doctorow-Scribd-Jerry Pournelle in Pournelle's blog. Pournelle recounts a scenario where Doctorow's ideals may not directly jive with other writer's worldview, especially one not as clever at making a name for himself online, and what it means to their livelihood.

I don't have the link now, and if I do find it I'll post it here.
 
direstraits said:
For a counter argument, please Google for the Doctorow-Scribd-Jerry Pournelle in Pournelle's blog. Pournelle recounts a scenario where Doctorow's ideals may not directly jive with other writer's worldview, especially one not as clever at making a name for himself online, and what it means to their livelihood.

I don't have the link now, and if I do find it I'll post it here.
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I wonder if Pournelle has even considered he might make more money by doing the same thing Doctorow does. Not that he necessarily would, but he might. Of course, he'd have to get one of his ever-present, author partners to agree I suppose.

Cory Doctorow quoting Tim O'Reilly:
The problem for most authors isn't piracy it's obscurity.
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From Jerry Pournelle:
But I do predict that within your lifetimes if not mine the paperback book will essentially go away, and what people now read on paperback will instead be read on an electronic reader.

And when that happens, epiracy may be much more serious than it is now.

It may not be. Eric Flint, a Baen editor, argues that giving away free electronic copies of books doesn't harm the sales of the book in paper. My experience with Fallen Angels echoes that.
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He has evidence contrary to his argument but he's got a position and he's sticking to it.
 
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