End of Tor free ebooks deal : Jul 20th

[grimo1re]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

<grin>

PM me with an email address...
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Dennis

Thanks Dennis, did actually find the e-mails

[Jowi]

Hi, I'm new to this site. I've been reading for a bit and finally decided on a Kindle, which I ordered on Sunday. Will the mobi version work on the Kindle? I was going to save some to my computer to upload when I get it.
Thanks!

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Jowi

Hi, I'm new to this site. I've been reading for a bit and finally decided on a Kindle, which I ordered on Sunday. Will the mobi version work on the Kindle? I was going to save some to my computer to upload when I get it.

Absotively! And, if you're a SF & Fantasy fan, head on over to www.baen.com and grab some of their free MobiPocket books which you can read on your Kindle.

[Jowi]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Absotively! And, if you're a SF & Fantasy fan, head on over to www.baen.com and grab some of their free MobiPocket books which you can read on your Kindle.

Thanks Any suggestions?

The first book I plan to read is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I have it in hard copy here and I'm trying to resist it until the Kindle comes - very hard.

I just downloaded "Soul" and wow - that was FAST!

[LeisureSuitLarry]

So, I guess this is as good as any place to talk about the new Tor website a bit. For some reason or other, I was able to see the new Tor site earlier today. I don't know why. I did notice that they had a science article by John Scalzi and a short story of his from the Old Man's War series. There was also a community section that I checked out. I think they could have gone better with a forum format for that, but I'm not the one designing the thing so they didn't ask me.

The main thing I didn't see was any kind of free library (ala Baen) or any e-book selling portal (ala Webscription). After reading some of the things that PNH has said about the new site, I didn't really expect them to have anything like that, but I was still a little disappointed. Maybe they're still planning something. I certainly hope so, but I'm not expecting it now.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Jowi

Thanks Any suggestions?

Well, it's worth a look through all the free books at Baen just to see the variety available. I downloaded and read On Basilisk Station, which is the first book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I had never read the books, for whatever reason, but after finishing this one I read the next two in the series. There are at least 10 more, and I plan to read them all eventually. I also downloaded Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon and then bought the complete trilogy (Deeds of Paksanarrion) so I could quickly read the rest of the series. Two other books that are very good are Black on Black and Stars over Stars by K. D. Wentworth.

Honor Harrington is "the Navy in space" type of military science fiction. Fast moving and technical. The Paksanarrion trilogy is fantasy -- swords and sorcery type. The Wentworth books are more space fiction with humans sharing a universe with other sentients. I enjoyed all of them and have been buying others from Baen.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Jowi

Thanks Any suggestions?

Hard to say. What sort of SF/Fantasy do you like?

Baen is a mid-range action/adventure publisher for the most part, so if your tastes run more to the literary end, they may not be the best source.

Bur tell us what you like and we can point you at plausible candidates.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by LeisureSuitLarry

The main thing I didn't see was any kind of free library (ala Baen) or any e-book selling portal (ala Webscription). After reading some of the things that PNH has said about the new site, I didn't really expect them to have anything like that, but I was still a little disappointed. Maybe they're still planning something. I certainly hope so, but I'm not expecting it now.

I'm not surprised. Email I got a while back from Patrick Neilsen-Hayden, Tor's Editorial Director, indicated they were still looking at options, and the free book emails were not intended to be anything like the Free Library, or an indicator of which way they planned to jump. He did mention the possibility of simply partnering with Baen and piggy-backing on their free library. It would make sense: Tor CEO Tom Doherty was Baen Books founder Jim Baen's boss when Tom was Publisher at Ace Books and hired Jim to be editor.

They stayed friends and in touch, and Tom is an investor in Baen. They had put together a deal to offer Tor content through Webscriptions and publicly announced it, only to have the plug pulled by Tor's corporate parent because Webscriptions doesn't use DRM. Holtzbrink has changed its mind on DRM, and the deal is theoretically being reviewed by legal and my restart down the road.

I think the problem for Tor in doing this is that they are a unit of a larger company, including St. Martin's Press and Macmillan among the imprints. My guess is that Holtzbrink is groping for a coherent digital strategy across all imprints, and won't let Tor do something like this independently.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I downloaded and read On Basilisk Station, which is the first book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I had never read the books, for whatever reason, but after finishing this one I read the next two in the series. There are at least 10 more, and I plan to read them all eventually.

They are a lot of fun, and several have made the NYT Best Seller list. the last I knew, there were fairly advanced plans for an Honor Harrington TV series. Various parties were interested, and it was a matter of financing. There were the usual sorts of speculations on who would be cast to play whom, save that Angelina Joile would not be acceptable to Weber for reasons unrelated to acting.

Two other books that are very good are Black on Black and Stars over Stars by K. D. Wentworth.

I'm fond of those myself. I like SF that revolves around cultural differences and the struggles of different species to understand each other, and these qualify.

Honor Harrington is "the Navy in space" type of military science fiction. Fast moving and technical.

And also largely based on the Napoleonic Wars. Honor Harrington's career parallels both the fictional Horatio Hornblower and the real Admiral Lord Nelson, and the Republic of Haven is France both before and after the French Revolution.

David was GoH at a con a while back, and I asked two questions: first, was Treecat communication relativistic, and second, what was the maximum range over which two treecats bonded with humans could communicate? David's response to both was "Tum te tum te tum..." which means "I know, but I'm not telling you. Yet..."

I have a sneaking suspicion about what an important future development might be.
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Dennis

[Prash]

I just registered, yet to get the confirmation mail. Will the links for all the ebooks be sent through email?

Regards

[Gibbo]

Just got the last email from Tor with info ref the new site opening on sunday.

On July 20, 2008, Tor.com will launch. A new kind of SF and fantasy site.

Only a few days way... Original fiction from star authors. Galleries of images from the field’s best artists. News and commentary about not just Tor books, but the SF world overall. Topical coverage of major events like San Diego Comic Con (July 23-27) and the World Science Fiction Convention (August 6-10). Weblog posts and guest appearances by some of the most interesting personalities and thinkers around. And your own feedback and discussions, plus tools to enable you to track the subjects and conversations you care about the most.

Due to server maintenance, the wallpaper page was relocated two days ago. We are reissuing them within this week’s mailing. Below are Rick Berry’s cover art for The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure by Storm Constantine; and Lars Grant-West’s personal painting, Cybordragon.

This week’s free book mailing is Darkness of the Light by Peter David. Once the full Tor.com site opens on Sunday, July 20, we'll be making all the books in this program briefly available one last time, so be sure to stop by for our launch!

Regards

[DixieGal]

Mine didn't arrive yet today. First time it's ever not shown up. I wonder why?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Mine didn't arrive yet today. First time it's ever not shown up. I wonder why?

Email is not 100% reliable technology, and messages can go walkabout. If it doesn't show up tomorrow, PM me your email address and I'll forward the relevant links.
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Mine didn't arrive yet today. First time it's ever not shown up. I wonder why?

if you PM me your email address, I'll use the send this to a friend link to send you a copy of the latest Tor email.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Email is not 100% reliable technology, and messages can go walkabout. If it doesn't show up tomorrow, PM me your email address and I'll forward the relevant links.
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Dennis

Originally Posted by JSWolf

if you PM me your email address, I'll use the send this to a friend link to send you a copy of the latest Tor email.

Thanks guys! I sent the email address to you... then immediately, within 2 or 3 mins my email pinged and the TOR message arrived. Must have just been running late today or something.