Bits and pieces

Today I'm flying flat out and seriously doubt I'll have the time to review a book, so it's going to be news and trivia.

The big news is that THE LORDS OF HARBENDANE is launching today -- as an ebook. If you're waiting for the paperback you have to wait a while longer, and then you'll be able to order it from Amazon direct. This will be better for everyone because of the postage rates and printing quality. (Seems like Lulu has done something with its postage rates and things are expensive there -- I don't know the whole story, but I do know Amazon looks like a better deal now.)

The HARBENDANDE ebook is available from Mel Keegan's blog. Go right here:
http://mel-keegan.blogspot.com/2008/12/lords-of-harbendane-ebook-online-and.html

I'll be reviewing this book very soon ... I was one of ITS proofreaders, so I have a vested interest in it! Also, if you find typos (and you shouldn't!! It was proofread a total of 12 times by three readers plus the computer) you know who to blame!

I love the book ... don't miss it!

Terrific news on the blogging front here: this blog is starting to win Google searches, so people are finding it in places like France, New Zealand, Turkey, the USA, Scotland, Ireland. This is great. Looks like we're on our way.

I actually had two people asking if I would consider reviewing a certain book. The answer is -- sure; but I have to have READ it first! Unfortunately, I haven't read either of the two books that were suggested, but one of these days someone will ask for something I HAVE read, and then -- sure.

Right now, the list of books I have in my stack to review in the days and weeks to come include, The Buccaneer, Hold Tight, The Hustler, Street Lavender, Fortunes of War, Arson!, Edward, Edward, Lords of Harbendane, Gaveston, The Persian Boy, Windrage, China Mountain Zhang, The Charioteer, and ... a whole lot more. The stack's about two foot deep. Also, I want to look at some new(ish) books too.

In these times of economic distress, who isn't looking to get more for less? It doesn't get much better than free ebooks from good writers. Check this out: http://sharrow.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/free-christmas-goodness/

...and for those folks who -- like me -- haven't gotten into ebooks yet because we haven't bought a screen reader ... well, I followed links off the above page and got here:

http://www.ebookwise.com/ebookwise/ebookwise1150.htm

This gizmo -- the eBookwise -- doesn't have the brains to open a PDF, but here's the info from the manufacturer's page:

The eBookwise-1150 can display premium content from eBookwise.com, including best-sellers from major publishers, with more signing on all the time. See our home page for major best-selling authors and titles, or browse our extensive catalog for details. In addition, the eBookwise-1150 can display your own personal content in the following file formats: plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), Microsoft Word documents (.doc), HTML (.htm or .html), and Rocket eBook Editions (.rb). There are several ways to transfer personal content onto the device; for more information click here.



And a lot of the ebook stores are selling html versions lately. This will be why. (In fact, if you've been keeping up with Mel Keegan lately (http://mel-keegan.blogspot.com/) you probably know MK is getting into the digital novel idea next year. The idea seems to be -- and I'm quoting here, so don't blame me! -- you give the fiction away and make your money on the advertising. MK has crunched a lot of numbers, and it looks like being an ultra-viable alternative.

The thing that worried me was, how the %@*! do you read a huge novel on the PC screen? And I can't afford one of the fancy schmancy ebook readers. The price is my groceries for three months!!! But I could probably take a look at the eBookwise without going belly-up financially.

Now I have to run off and take care of STUFF that must be done today, which is the whole reason I'm sure a book review will have to wait till tomorrow!

PS: did you get the DreamCraft newsletter? I know Dave was sending it out this morning (Aussie time). You can actually subscribe off MK's blog page ... I'm thrilled because I have a really nice "plug" in this newsletter!

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Credit where it's due...

Credit where it's due, first: the blog LOOKS amazing. You'd almost never guess it for a plain old Blogger blog -- and I want to thank Jade for rewriting the template.

Before anybody asks: don't ask. I have no idea whatever what was done or how you do it. The folks at DreamCraft are way out there when it comes to computers. I'm still a bit of an Internet moron.

But I want to thank Jade from DreamCraft for all the work that was done to get this blog looking like this. Also for giving permission to use artwork to doll it up. Like this...

I need to scan a lot of book covers to illustrate the editions and novels I'll be talking about. I also need to pick a place to start ... and I think it's probably going to me Aricia's Number One Favorite, the NARC books. Sorry, guys, but I just love these books, and you'll have to put up with me talking about them now and then. I'll try not to ramble too much too far.

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Hello World ... as they say

Aricia's online at last ... and not before time. I've been getting flak from all sides for languishing, but doing a whole webpage is huge work for which I don't have the time. The solution was to blog -- but I've never had much luck with blogs because I couldn't get the templates to work. You know the ones: they look fantabulous, but when you try to get them to install in Blogger, the cough up some weird-ass error message, or else they won't "parse" or some other such drivel. On other words, nothing works, even though the professional programmers who wrote the templates swear blue in the face that they do.

Then I thought, "Hang on, why shouldn't I ask somebody at DreamCraft for an assist?"

You see, I'm a proofreader for Mel Keegan, so I swing by DreamCraft once or twice a week, and sometimes get to use their computers (which are a whole lot more powerful than mine).

So I talked to Jade about it, and she said, "Sure, I'll take a look."

And here we are. It turns out, it's not all that difficult to rig a new design for an existing blogger template ... and all the "parsing" rubbish you get when you try to install the fancy new templates from the design studios don't seem to happen when you do it yourself.

So here I am, saying "Hello World," and the next thing I'll do is explain what this blog is supposed to be about -- and where it's going!

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