Saltation online novel - Miller and Lee Strike Again!

I first discovered Steve Miller and Sharon Lee when their book, "Agent of Change" hit the shelves back in 1988. Right then and there I fell in love with all things Liad, Val Con, Miri and Edger. (What's not to love about a nine-foot-tall, several hundred-year-old, intelligent, star-faring turtle-being? Especially one who loves gifts wrapped in bright yellow paper with a bold, black ribbon!) As soon as "Conflict of Honors" appeared later that year, I snapped it up and plunged into the lives of Shan Yos'Galan and Priscilla Mendoza, thus expanding my involvement in Clan Korval.

Like so many others, I then waited and waited for further stories - which were not immediately forthcoming, publishers being the fickle, myopic and tasteless creatures we all know them to be. Fast forward to the year 1995, when I ran across their third book, "Carpe Diem", in a used-book store. Oh joy, I thought, my life is now complete. Time passed again, slowly. I found no other stories of Clan Korval and Liad until, one day in 2002, I stumbled across Steve and Sharon's website www.korval.com. There I found not only the original three novels but numerous chapbooks containing shorter stories of the lives, adventures and loves of Korval. And as life went along, back in 2007, after much negotiating, Baen Books picked up the rights to release all these stories as ebooks. You can find them in the Webscriptions store at Baen's Books - just click on the Webscriptions in the navigator bar along the top of the page.

Still, Steve and Sharon weren't satisfied with their success and chose to try their hands at online serial novelization, a process where approximately once per week, they'd post a new chapter in their latest novel. All they asked was that if a reader liked the story, would the reader please donate a bit to support the process. And if a reader donated $25 or more, that reader was sure of getting, once the printed version hit the shelves, a signed copy. Needless to say, I donated $30 as soon as I read the first installment of "Fledgling". While "Fledgling" is complete, Theo Waitley's story is not. And so, Steve and Sharon are starting a new serialized novel called "Saltation". Again, if you go there and you happen to like the story, please feel free to put a bit of money in the pot. As with "Fledgling", I've already kicked in my $30, but even a dollar will help.

Found a new author I like.

Joel Shepherd. I've gotten into the first of his 'Cassandra Kresnov' novels, "Crossover", and I am enjoying the story. Cassandra is a 'synthetic person' who's been created to fight for the League in an interstellar war. Well, she's grown, matured, started to think for herself and has quit the fight.

I won't go any further because I think everyone should have the chance to read her story unspoiled by preconceptions. Go forth and buy this book. If you want to know more about Joel's works and other books, then visit PYR SF's website at: Pyr SF

Roswell, Texas

I'm coming clean. I'm admitting the truth. I'm a big-time fan of Libertarian fiction. I've read tons of the stuff, from Carl Bussjaeger's "Net Assets" to Aaron Zelman & L Neil Smith's "Hope". Just today I finished up the online graphic novel "Roswell, Texas". This is a collaborative effort based upon a story line from L Neil Smith and I think it's the finest 'light' version of the Roswell story we'll ever read. As it's a graphic novel, it covers about 638 or some odd 'pages', each one a panel of graphic art and dialog you just have to read!

They're shopping it around for a dead-tree publisher, so feel free to let your favorite publisher hear about it. And pass the link on to all your friends!

C'est Mort!!

My Cybook is dead. For those who've been keeping track, remember when I accidentally dropped it back in September? As you recall, the only noticeable problem was a column of dead pixels in the display. Well, last Wednesday, as I was clicking the power button to shut it down, the button clicked extra-loud and failed to pop back up. It's broken and can't be user repaired.

This is a bad thing. I'm now deprived of my vast collection of ebooks that I'd stored on the Cybook and I'm cast back out to suffer with my Axim PDA and dead-tree books.

This is a good thing. I'll be getting, as soon as I can FedEx the dead unit back to Bookeen, a new Cybook Gen3. This one will have the complete Not Another E-Book package, including a 1GB SD card and the leather softcover. And it will have a matte finish instead of the glossy finish my engineering sample has.

So long engineering sample buddy, I'll miss you. Hello production model, welcome to your new home!