Free E-Book: The Big Rusty Lie by Ryan Speck

ryanspeck · 10-08-2008, 07:53 AM

For the time being, I'm giving my novel away online for free.

Around 200 pgs. (and 70,000 words), The Big Rusty Lie is an absurdist detective satire for lovers of Douglas Adams and Max Barry, as well as lovers of absurd and vulgar comedy. While often a bit dry, the story is largely silly and revolves around an eccentric detective and his Asian chauffeur searching for a seemingly-kidnapped heiress. Along the way, they involve themselves in just about everything other than that particular case.

Some have compared my style to Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce, while others have seen some sort of link with the dark humor of Chuck Palahniuk. Personally, I think it's like the Marx Brothers meets "It's Always Sunny In Philidelphia".

My novel can be found at the following location: The Big Rusty Lie

You can also find a few pdf's of short stories for free download on my site, some of which have slight connections to the events of the novel. Others, not so much.

Hope some of you enjoy the read. Heaping praise is always welcome (especially on Amazon or to all your friends).

Richard Herley · 10-08-2008, 08:28 AM

Good luck -- as an author, you'll need it, especially in today's publishing climate.

I see you've already gone down the Kindle route, but, now that your text is in the wild, have you considered releasing it under a Creative Commons licence? You retain the copyright and can license print editions, but gain a large readership you otherwise wouldn't have. This strategy has certainly worked for Cory Doctorow.

Your book could then be posted, provided the proprietors agreed, at Feedbooks and manybooks.net, and of course you could let readers download it from your own site. Here's my take on this approach.

Just a thought. Anyway, I've given you a link in my fledgling blog gadget.

ryanspeck · 10-08-2008, 08:53 AM

Truthfully, I've never really understood or cared about Creative Commons, so perhaps I need a better, more thorough explanation. (At very least, I need to go to bed.) Perhaps that'd be a way to go about it. I'm not sure.

I've heard Cory Doctorow's name (and I'm not much of a reader, funny enough), so I guess there's something to be said for his methods.

I guess the way things are going, giving it away for free doesn't have much of a downside. So I'll have to look at that after I'm lucid again.

kacir · 10-08-2008, 09:43 AM

I went to your site to download the book.

I am looking forward to reading it on my reader.
The problem is, the book is in the pdf format, and as such, it is practically unreadable on my 6 inch e-ink screen without further processing.
I tried copy and paste of text to a text editor, so I could format the book for my device. No luck here, because pdf file is locked.

If you wish to find readers here on mobileread, please consider formatting the pdf file for the 6" screen or providing other formats, directly readable by our reading devices.

If you wish to create pdf file for reading on Sony Reader and other 6 inch e-ink devices, I recommand formatting it for the page size 90mm x 120 mm with a very narow margins (a couple of milimeters is enough) so we can use the entire screen for displaying the text.

mores · 10-08-2008, 01:27 PM

Great, thank you.

The PDF is not locked, I can copy/paste text sans problemes. Just have to fiddle with the line-breaks a bit.

Is this the place where we post our reviews?

MickeyC · 10-08-2008, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mores

Great, thank you.

The PDF is not locked, I can copy/paste text sans problemes. Just have to fiddle with the line-breaks a bit.

Is this the place where we post our reviews?

How do you cut and paste it? I tried but the PDF won't let me. I expect I'm probably doing something wrong.

mores · 10-08-2008, 02:22 PM

I open it with "preview" on my Mac.
If it's allright I can paste the text to a text file and up it here ?

MickeyC · 10-08-2008, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mores

I open it with "preview" on my Mac.
If it's allright I can paste the text to a text file and up it here ?

Hmm, I'm running Windows XP. Don't know if there is a 'Preview' feature available.

Richard Herley · 10-08-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassidym

Hmm, I'm running Windows XP. Don't know if there is a 'Preview' feature available.

You can probably do it by Ctrl-A, Ctrl-V from Adobe Reader, but you'd be better off with a proper PDF conversion program. Have a peek in the Wiki.

ryanspeck · 10-08-2008, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kacir

If you wish to find readers here on mobileread, please consider formatting the pdf file for the 6" screen or providing other formats, directly readable by our reading devices.

Yeah, that's the same file I put up on BitTorrent, so I wanted it locked so that general yahoos on BT couldn't print the thing out or change it, really. Well, at least not without trouble.

Perhaps in the future I could format the thing for specific readers, though that's quite a bit of work for me at the moment.

Do most book readers handle pictures well or do those need to be stripped out, leaving text?

Patricia · 10-08-2008, 05:04 PM

Most can cope with pictures. I've included pictures in LRF, PRC, IMP and LIT formats with no trouble.

MickeyC · 10-08-2008, 07:28 PM

And, to read my version, I just raise the font to 'm'. It come out a bit large but reads fine

grooks · 10-09-2008, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassidym

And, to read my version, I just raise the font to 'm'. It come out a bit large but reads fine

I also noticed the font size on the medium setting was larger than other pdf's I've downloaded. The reflow isn't perfect but definitely readable.

Mitchll · 10-09-2008, 03:03 PM

I find that if I can open a book in Stanza, I can export from there to html and go from there to whatever format I need.

badgoodDeb · 10-09-2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchll

I find that if I can open a book in Stanza, I can export from there to html and go from there to whatever format I need.

THANK YOU --- a marvelous tip. I'd forgotten about that capability. Now I can take this book and peruse it on my Kindle. It sounds like an interesting read!

10-08-2008, 07:53 AM	#1
ryanspeck Author of stuff Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Device: none	Free E-Book: The Big Rusty Lie by Ryan Speck For the time being, I'm giving my novel away online for free. Around 200 pgs. (and 70,000 words), The Big Rusty Lie is an absurdist detective satire for lovers of Douglas Adams and Max Barry, as well as lovers of absurd and vulgar comedy. While often a bit dry, the story is largely silly and revolves around an eccentric detective and his Asian chauffeur searching for a seemingly-kidnapped heiress. Along the way, they involve themselves in just about everything other than that particular case. Some have compared my style to Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce, while others have seen some sort of link with the dark humor of Chuck Palahniuk. Personally, I think it's like the Marx Brothers meets "It's Always Sunny In Philidelphia". My novel can be found at the following location: The Big Rusty Lie You can also find a few pdf's of short stories for free download on my site, some of which have slight connections to the events of the novel. Others, not so much. Hope some of you enjoy the read. Heaping praise is always welcome (especially on Amazon or to all your friends). Last edited by ryanspeck; 10-08-2008 at 08:19 AM.

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10-08-2008, 08:28 AM	#2
Richard Herley Author Posts: 203 Karma: 1164907 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Good luck -- as an author, you'll need it, especially in today's publishing climate. I see you've already gone down the Kindle route, but, now that your text is in the wild, have you considered releasing it under a Creative Commons licence? You retain the copyright and can license print editions, but gain a large readership you otherwise wouldn't have. This strategy has certainly worked for Cory Doctorow. Your book could then be posted, provided the proprietors agreed, at Feedbooks and manybooks.net, and of course you could let readers download it from your own site. Here's my take on this approach. Just a thought. Anyway, I've given you a link in my fledgling blog gadget.

10-08-2008, 08:53 AM	#3
ryanspeck Author of stuff Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Device: none	Truthfully, I've never really understood or cared about Creative Commons, so perhaps I need a better, more thorough explanation. (At very least, I need to go to bed.) Perhaps that'd be a way to go about it. I'm not sure. I've heard Cory Doctorow's name (and I'm not much of a reader, funny enough), so I guess there's something to be said for his methods. I guess the way things are going, giving it away for free doesn't have much of a downside. So I'll have to look at that after I'm lucid again.

10-08-2008, 09:43 AM	#4
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,450 Karma: 10484861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	I went to your site to download the book. I am looking forward to reading it on my reader. The problem is, the book is in the pdf format, and as such, it is practically unreadable on my 6 inch e-ink screen without further processing. I tried copy and paste of text to a text editor, so I could format the book for my device. No luck here, because pdf file is locked. If you wish to find readers here on mobileread, please consider formatting the pdf file for the 6" screen or providing other formats, directly readable by our reading devices. If you wish to create pdf file for reading on Sony Reader and other 6 inch e-ink devices, I recommand formatting it for the page size 90mm x 120 mm with a very narow margins (a couple of milimeters is enough) so we can use the entire screen for displaying the text.

10-08-2008, 01:27 PM	#5
mores Guru Posts: 834 Karma: 102419 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Device: iPhone	Great, thank you. The PDF is not locked, I can copy/paste text sans problemes. Just have to fiddle with the line-breaks a bit. Is this the place where we post our reviews?

10-08-2008, 02:22 PM	#7
mores Guru Posts: 834 Karma: 102419 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Device: iPhone	I open it with "preview" on my Mac. If it's allright I can paste the text to a text file and up it here ?

10-08-2008, 05:04 PM	#11
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Most can cope with pictures. I've included pictures in LRF, PRC, IMP and LIT formats with no trouble.

10-08-2008, 07:28 PM	#12
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,732 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	And, to read my version, I just raise the font to 'm'. It come out a bit large but reads fine

10-09-2008, 03:03 PM	#14
Mitchll Cave Dweller Posts: 220 Karma: 1986 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Ipad Sony reader prs-505 prs-900	I find that if I can open a book in Stanza, I can export from there to html and go from there to whatever format I need.

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