Once, while I was working at a mortgage company back in college (this was before the industry destroyed America–we actually verified incomes), I was forced to participate in a Secret Santa office party. I drew the name of an older man who still typed his loan applications on a manual typewriter, and since I had no idea what to give him, I donated money to the Red Cross and bought him a copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

This was a mistake. I didn’t get fired or ostracized, but as soon as he unwrapped the little paperback and looked at it like a dog hearing a far off noise, all of my older coworkers fell silent, more out of embarrassment for me than for him, and I realized that you do not give books as gifts. At least, not without first making sure the recipient is a reader.

Oh, I just remembered another one! I gave my mom a book of Carl Sandburg poems when I was a teen. I think I’d just graduated high school, and I was obsessed with Sandburg and T.S. Eliot. For her birthday, I gave her a used volume of Sandburg’s poems as if that were a perfectly sane thing to do. To her credit, she was very gracious about it, and I never saw the book again.

Update: For the record, I like books as gifts, unless the book is by C.S. Lewis.

If you want to haunt your fellow man with reminders of what snowy hell awaits the frugal environmentalist bachelor, why not put these classic illustrations of “A Christmas Carol” on your Kindle? They were etched by John Leech, a British caricaturist who’s probably most famous for his work with Punch magazine.

They look great on the Kindle 3′s Pearl screen. They might be a little less readable on the K2 and K1 screens.

Download the .zip file (seven images, 1.3 MB).

If you want more free screensaver images–including Christmas-themed pics that aren’t so Victorian–check out the Free Screens section of the blog.

I want the cheapest overall book prices: Kindle
Publishers have forced price increases across the board at all ebook retailers, so for many new releases you’ll see the same price everywhere. Amazon, however, also uses its marketplace power to prevent publishers from offering lower prices at other retailers, and it otherwise steeply discounts a wide variety of titles to keep sales going strong. On average, you’ll find the lowest prices there–which is good, because with a Kindle you can’t buy ebooks from any other retailer.

I want to be able to read ebooks that I check out from my local library: Nook or Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950
Almost every library uses a service called OverDrive to lend out ebook titles, and the Kindle won’t work with OverDrive. It’s likely that the Kindle will never support library loans, at least not as long as Amazon refuses to support the EPUB format.

I want to be able to go online and check email, use Wikipedia, read news, etc. on my device: Kindle or Nook
For Internet connectivity no matter where you go, you need a device with 3G wireless. The three big brands–Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader–all offer a 3G version, but the Sony Reader Daily Edition restricts web browsing to Wi-Fi even though it costs $70 more. That leaves the Kindle 3G+Wi-Fi and the Nook 3G+Wi-Fi as your best buys.

I want to spend less than $150: Kindle Wi-Fi
There’s a Wi-Fi Nook under this price point as well, but it’s $10 more than the Kindle model, so unless you want access to local library ebooks the Kindle is the better value.

I want the latest technology: It depends
You can’t have it all at the moment, but you can maximize a particular feature. For the best E Ink (grayscale) screen, choose Kindle. If you want a color screen (to view children’s picture books or magazines, for example), go with Nook Color. If you want to be able to use your finger to “swipe” through pages and a stylus to make notes directly on the screen, choose the Sony Reader (it ties the Kindle for the best E Ink screen, but since it costs much more, you should stick with the Kindle unless you want the touchscreen feature).

I can spend more than $500: iPad
Think of it as a Swiss Army Knife of readers–it will give you access to Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and (coming soon) Sony ebooks, plus so much more.

If you go this route, however, don’t buy your ebooks from the Apple iBookstore–the copy protection Apple is using is difficult to work with. There are free Nook and Kindle apps for the iPad, and Sony has announced it will release its own ebook app for the device next month. For public domain ebooks, there’s a free app called Stanza, and for library books there’s a free app called Bluefire.

If after a few months you decide the iPad is too heavy to be a dedicated ebook reader, supplement it with a lightweight and much more portable Kindle or Nook (depending on where you’ve been buying your ebooks); after all, you’re Captain Moneybags, you can afford it.

I want the one that’s the most recommended and the best reviewed: Kindle
The Kindle remains the one to beat in most mainstream media reviews, and Consumer Reports has given the two most recent Kindle models top rankings.

I want the one that’s easiest to use: Kindle
Amazon has put all of its customer service and online retail experience into creating a seamless browsing, buying, and reading experience.

I want a color screen: Nook Color or iPod Touch
Nook Color is being praised by early reviewers for its screen, size and underlying software. Despite its small size, the iPod Touch also makes for a great full-color choice (make sure you check out the screen on a Touch before dismissing it–it might surprise you).

I want to read comics: iPad, iPod Touch or Nook Color
The iPad screen is perfect for comic books, but if you need to stay within an ereader budget you might want to consider an iPod Touch–the screen is naturally much smaller, but Apple’s touch technology makes it easy to flick between panels and pages. You may also want to check out the new Nook Color. However, I haven’t found any reliable information on whether Barnes & Noble plans to actively support comic books on the device, so it’s a risky bet this early in the game unless you’re technologically savvy enough to make it work on your own.

Here’s a final one suggested by Nate at The Digital Reader. Thanks!

I already own ebooks from a bunch of different ebookstores, and I want to be able to read them on one device: iPad or iPod Touch
As I mention above in my “I can spend $500″ scenario, iOS devices are great in that they give you a way to access ebooks from all the major ebook retailers–Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and soon Sony.

Not recommended, and why:

• Kobo (Borders) – It’s more expensive than the Kindle with fewer features. It’s the same price as the Nook but doesn’t have access to B&N’s larger ebook store or accessory line. There’s no 3G model.
• All Sony Reader models other than the $250 model listed above – They lack wireless connectivity and cost more than a Kindle or Nook.
• Anything else – When it comes to electronics that rely on software to function, you want a company big enough and dedicated enough to provide decent support. As Teleread notes, cheaper models look and function okay on the surface, “but you will find that their software is abysmal. Stick to a name brand.”

(Photo: Jane Rahman)

There’s nothing you have to do to enable the feature on your end–just look for the “Give as a Gift” button in the purchase options box on each book’s page.

Update: Here’s a nice touch: a gifted Kindle ebook is essentially just a customized Amazon Gift Card, so if the recipient doesn’t like the ebook you chose, he can convert it into a regular Amazon Gift Card balance and use it for something else on Amazon.

Their children’s book list has 89 suggestions, while the teen list has 44. You can visit the site to see them all, where they’re arranged in subcategories like “historical fiction” and “arts” to make browsing easier.

When it comes to ebook editions, a lot of the children’s picks are picture books and therefore aren’t available on the Kindle. Here are six titles I found on the list that are, along with six Kindle titles from the teen list.

(Note: several of the titles on the two lists are priced above $9.99 on the Kindle store. Remember, if you want to track Kindle titles so you can wait until the price comes down, eReaderIQ.com is free and easy to use.)

Kirkus 2010 Best Children’s Books

Selected Kindle-friendly titles — see the full list here

“Zora and Me”
by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon
 
Kirkus review

“Crunch”
by Leslie Connor
 
Kirkus review

“Alchemy and Meggy Swann”
by Karen Cushman
 
Kirkus review

“Out of My Mind”
by Sharon M. Draper
 
Kirkus Review

“The Fantastic Secret Life of Owen Jester”
by Barbara O’Connor
 
Kirkus review

“The Water Seeker”
by Kimberly Willis Holt
 
Kirkus review

Kirkus 2010 Best Teen Books

Selected Kindle-friendly titles — see the full list here

“The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin”
by Josh Berk
 
Kirkus review

“White Cat”
by Holly Black and Michael Frost
 
Kirkus review

“Around the World in 100 Days”
by Gary Blackwood
 
Kirkus review

“Revolution”
by Jennifer Donnelly
 
Kirkus review

“Will Grayson, Will Grayson”
by John Green and David Levithan
 
Kirkus review

“Sweet, Hereafter”
by Angela Johnson and Chad Hunt
 
Kirkus review

“2010 Best Books for Children and Teens” [Kirkus Reviews] ]]> http://booksprung.com/kirkus-picks-best-teen-and-childrens-books-for-2010/feed 0 http://booksprung.com/i-wrote-a-halloween-story http://booksprung.com/i-wrote-a-halloween-story#comments Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:21:19 +0000 Chris Walters http://booksprung.com/?p=3382

To celebrate Halloween and the sort of horror fiction that I like to read, I wrote a short story. It’s about growing up, trick-or-treating, and death. It’s also got death in it. And more death. Did I mention it’s a horror story? Good.

It’s on Amazon for 99 cents (or 71 pence for you UK Kindlers).

Update, November 2010: If you can’t afford it or don’t want to spend money on it, just contact me and I’ll send you a free review copy. The review copy is in the .mobi format, so it’s Kindle-ready. Remember that if you want to convert it to other formats, try the free Calibre software.

As for the subject matter, here’s a description and the first few pages. Please note that the story isn’t for kids. It gets pretty ridiculously over-the-top at a couple of points, and–just in case I wasn’t clear above–it deals explicitly with the subject of death.

HORROR EDITION

Publishers and authors are always looking for new readers, and one way they find them is by giving away content for free. Sometimes the freebies are terrific, and sometimes they’re free for a reason. But hey, that’s the fun of exploring new writers.

In honor of Halloween, all of the free books I found this week are in the horror genre.

Horror Story and Other Horror Stories by Roberty Boyczuk
Collection of 19 horror short stories, 14 of which have been previously published.

The Blood That Bonds by Christopher Buecheler
A heroin addict is rescued from her addiction by a vampire, but that brings with it an entirely new set of problems and danger.

Scarecrow by Darren G. Burton
I have no idea, because the author didn’t include a description.

Blood of a Marionette by Timothy Sparklin
“Step into Lazarus’s world as he struggles to figure out what’s really happening at his law school, which is turning out crack lawyers to work for a firm shrouded in a hidden but undeniablely powerful past where rumors of blood are never far from its name.”

Sunset also by Timothy Sparklin
“With the awakening of a vampire, the lives of a few unassuming human beings are thrown into chaos as they struggle to deal with this new evil in their lives while learning that everything is not as it seems.”

Catharsis by Skyla Dawn Cameron
“In an attempt to escape mysterious forces that may ultimately destroy her, Eve Shelby packs up her little sister, Dez, and embarks on a journey with a group of fellow telepaths. After a car accident leaves one person dead and Dez missing, Eve finds she must come to terms with her unique abilities and personal demons if she’s going to survive and find her sister.”

YOUNG ADULTS

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
A teenager has panic-attacks and begins to see dark shadows gathering around the people around her.

The Demon Awakens by R. A. Salvatore (warning: no text-to-speech!)
Actually a fantasy novel, but it includes a “demon dactyl” who controls armies of goblins. That sounds Halloweeny, right?

BONUS

5 free short stories by Neil Gaiman. All five aren’t suitable for reading on the Kindle, but if you’re at a computer you might want to spend some time with them.

MORE

If you’re looking for classics of horror, try a search for “horror” on Project Gutenberg or Feedbooks. Some great classic horror writer names to start with are Sheridan Le Fanu, M. R. James, Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and H. P. Lovecraft.

Note that for most free ebooks that aren’t on the Kindle store, the default file format is often PDF. However, you can convert it to a Kindle friendly format either by emailing the file to Amazon or by using a free desktop program like Calibre

Find more free ebooks at finding-free-ebooks.blogspot.com
(Photo: darkpatator)