Around the Web

Steampunk adventure-mystery anyone?  I came across this link to a free short story “The Shattered Teacup” (PDF) by George Mann via Tor.com (follow the link for a bit more background about the detective team of Newbury & Hobbes in steampunk London).  The author has been picked up by Tor in the States, and the first book “The Affinity Bridge” will be released in 2009 in US.

I liked the short story very much, and am definitely going to get “The Affinity Bridge” when I’m next in a bookstore.  Or online, if it’s not in store.

While we’re on the subject of Tor.com, can I just say how much I love it?  Not just because of the periodic free (e)book offers, but because they have some interesting posts by some excellent contributors (authors, editors, etc).  In particular, I’ve been enjoying posts by Jo Walton on SF/F hidden gems (see this one for Fantasy of Manners recs)and Jane Lindskold’s on all things author-ly, including thoughts on some of her book covers.

More Web Links

If you’re in the mood for fantasy, Eos is offering Sara Douglas‘ “The Serpent Bride” as its free ebook for May/June.  I’ve never read any of her books before, though I have heard of her.

Anne Bishop has posted the cover blurb for her upcoming Black Jewels novel “The Shadow Queen” (March 2009).  I’m thinking this one sounds promising!

Ebooks, etc

Tor’s giveaway of the week was Jo Walton‘s “Farthing”.  Am pleased with this one as it’s a book that I’ve been meaning to check out.  Next week’s book is Tobias Bucknell‘s “Crystal Rain” – again, he’s an author I’ve been curious about, so yay!

Oh, in case you were wondering why they were giving away ebooks, all is explained here.

And on ebook readers - I saw this Times article on “The £99 laptop” (manufactured by Elonex).  And the first thing I thought was hmm… potential ebook reader.  Apparently you can detach the screen from the keyboard, sort of tablet-style, but unfortunately the screen isn’t touchscreen as that was too expensive.  There’s wifi included (and Bluetooth as well if you upgrade to the £119 version). 

Possible downside?  The operating system is Linux, which I’m not hugely familiar with - hmm… remind me to check what ebook reader software is available on Linux. 

But all in all, very interesting possibilities here.  It launches in June, but to reserve one, they’re asking for a £10 deposit.

This and that

Minor panic attack last night as my ebook reader just restarted randomly while I was reading.  I sat there barely daring to breathe until it had restarted properly and displayed all my books.  All 63 books/novellas appeared so I’m completely relieved and don’t even quite mind that the Collections on my memory card have vanished.  If all I have to do is re-organise my books, I’m happy.

Speaking of ebooks, this week’s Tor giveaway is Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory‘s “The Outstretched Shadow”.  I’ve read this one – so out of the four books so far, I’ve read three.  LOL.  Not doing too well there.  On the other hand, it’s nice to have e-versions of the books to carry around.

Once my reader started behaving itself, I continued reading JD Robb‘s “Innocent in Death”.  I was wrong in thinking this was where I left off in the “In Death” series, btw – I missed the previous one where Mavis had her baby.  I get confused with the titles in this series.  Instead, I keep them straight by using “this is the one where the chambermaid got murdered”.  Or “this is the one where the guy leaped from his flat”.  You know, for a series with 20-something books, it’s pretty amazing that the murder/mystery is unique for each book.  So this is the one with the history teacher murder.

I really really liked it.  More than I thought I would.  This series is sort of a comfort read for me – it’s reliable and I know what I’m going to get when I read an Eve/Roarke book.  Which is good, but well, a bit boring. 

But in this book, a lady from Roarke’s past makes an appearance.  And she’s everything Eve isn’t – glamorous and polished, with a shared history with Roarke.  And for once, Roarke’s famed cool and street smarts desert him. I didn’t think there would ever be a time when Roarke wouldn’t “get” Eve.  So yeah, I really enjoyed the relationship angle in this book.  Seeing Eve and Roarke struggle to re-connect and the pay-off at the end.  Oh, and the solution to the murder?  Very neat.  And a bit chilling.  A very strong B+ for me.

Around the Web

It feels as though every single publishing house is giving away free ebooks – not complaining though!  As part of their 10th anniversary celebrations, Eos is giving away “Flight of the Night Hawks” by Raymond Feist.  I can’t remember the last time I read a Feist book, though I distinctly remember being completely obsessed by the “Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire” trilogy in school. 

Jacqueline Carey has posted an except of “Kushiel’s Mercy” on her website.  Three more months to go!

Suzanne Brockmann has put up the cover of her upcoming book “Into the Fire” (July 2007).  Ummm… now that Jules has his HEA, I’m less excited about the Troubleshooter series.  From her newsletter:

The book features former Troubleshooter Vinh Murphy, who’s been down and out since his wife, Angelina, was shot and killed in 2004′s HOT TARGET.

I’m not going to tell you too much about the book just yet — I’ll have the cover blurb for you in my April enewsletter — but the heroine is a new character — an old friend of Murphy’s named Hannah Whitfield. (In fact, Hannah introduced Murphy to Angelina, way back when…)

INTO THE FIRE also includes a subplot with Navy SEAL Izzy Zanella, as well an in-depth look at how Angelina’s death impacted Murphy’s fellow operatives at Troubleshooters Incorporated — particularly team leader Lawrence Decker.

Other point of view characters include Troubleshooters Sophia Ghaffari and Dave Malkoff. And of course, Izzy’s posse — Jenk, Lopez and Gillman — are major secondary characters in the book, too.

Tor Listens

I mentioned the Tor ebook giveaway last week, and had a bit of a grumble that they were using PDF format (non-DRM’d admittedly, but still…).  Well, I wasn’t the only one – and this week’s free book (John Scalzi‘s “Old Man’s War” – good book, btw) is provided in PDF, HTML, and Mobipocket.  Nice.

Next week’s book is “Spin” by Robert Charles Wilson – I haven’t read this one, so looking forward to it!

Also, based on the slideshow on their MySpace page (isn’t MySpace so err… 2006??), some of the remaining book giveaways are:

• Jane Lindskold‘s “Through Wolf’s Eyes” – I have this and liked it very much, though the later books in the series have lacked something
• Jo Walton‘s “Farthing” – Haven’t read this, but there was rather good buzz around it, and it’s been on my “I should really go out and have a look at it” list for ages
• Charles Stross‘ “The Family Trade” – No idea, but I like the title 
• David Drake‘s “Lord of the Isles”
• Cherie Priest‘s “Four and Twenty Blackbirds”

Around the Web

Tor is offering free ebooks if you sign up for a mysterious online project (via SF Signal).  First up is “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson (a B+ for me), while next week’s will be ”Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi (I gave this a B – ah, the days when I actually wrote reviews!).  Anyway, I received the link for “Mistborn” today – rather annoyingly, it’s a PDF file, though no DRM, so I should be able to get it onto my Sony Reader relatively easily. 

The email also hinted that there will be eleven more free ebooks (well, ten after OMW) – hopefully books I haven’t yet read already!  Am quite pleased that I will have ebook versions of these books to carry around though – both are worth re-reads, IMO.  I just have to get the PDF conversion sorted – it’s one of the formats I have the most trouble with.  Sigh.

Also around the web, Keishon’s blog is back up and she has a post with the TBR Wednesday specifics.  First one will be the third Wed of March – by my calculations, that’s 19 March.  Time to choose a book from my TBR pile…

Finally, Nath, Ames and Chantal have started a new blog, Breezing Through – they have an excellent chatty review on Nalini Singh’s “Mine to Possess” to kick things off.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for their books!

Here’s an interesting new imprint: Juno Books.

Looks as though they’re going after the same market as Luna, i.e. female-focused fantasy / paranormal books.  I’ve come across their name as they’ve picked up Gail Dayton’s third book in her Rose trilogy (first two books published by Luna) - which is great news, because I read the first two and really want to know how it all ends!

Their covers look really good – I’d definitely take a second look if I saw them in a bookstore.  Hmmm… I like Luna covers too, so obviously both these lines know how to appeal to their target market (err… that’d be me, seeing I’m a huge fan of sci-fi / fantasy and romance)!

Looking forward to seeing these books hit the bookshelves!