• I stumbled across http://www.thetatteredscroll.com this week. There you can find many current fantasy ebook deals, including two RA Salvatore ebooks currently priced at $4.99 (that’s $3 off the usual digital price). It’s nice to have someone willing to go through what’s out there and find the cream of the crop.
• http://www.starwarsuncut.com/ has released a remake of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, comprised entirely of 15-second fan clips. I watched a few minutes and have to shake my head at the originality of some of the submissions.
• I love beautiful artwork. Naomi Novik has posted a beautiful piece of fan art by Daniel Govar, a dragon based on her Temeraire series.
• MIT unveiled In Europe the Hiriko electric car, a windshield mounted car that folds up to take up one-third the parking space of an average size car. A pilot program for the little sci-fi looking buggy is set to begin next year.
• I see Steven Spielberg is considering creating a Moses epic for Warner Bros. Will it going to be more fantasy or faith? I guess we’ll see.
• Last year, Tor Forge gave away copies of Templar One (EVE, #2) by Tony Gonzales. Well, they’re at it again. Five copies are available on Goodreads. Deadline is February 24, 2012. (The book is based on the MMORPG game, http://www.eveonline.com/) For a peek at the action-packed trailer for the game see the publisher’s book page.
• Here’s one that cracked me up: The 10 most undignified deaths in SFF, according to the Facebook followers of io9.com.
• Care to contribute to one man’s attempt to list the family tree of every character in Lord of the Rings? http://www.lotrproject.com/. I wish him luck.
• Giveaway: To kick off the Year of the Dragon, Tor is giving away four copies of the Wheel of Time prequel, New Spring: The Graphic Novel by Robert Jordan, Chuck Dixon, and Mike S. Miller. Speaking of WOT, the publisher is also offering 10 copies of the first book in the series, The Eye of the World. The deadline for both is February 24, 2012.
• Giveaway: Another offering by Tor on Goodreads — The Stolen Throne by David Gaider, the prequel to Dragon Age: Origins, the role-playing video game from Bioware. Deadline is February 24, 2012.
• Here’s some geek news: University of Washington researchers have created a game, Foldit, where players can decode and create protein shapes to help scientists learn how proteins work and help with drug research for HIV and Alzheimer’s cures. Gamers, go forth and save the world! More on this story on CNET.
• Minecraft and Zelda unite! Here’s a video showing the Hyrule Temple built in Minecraft. Now that must have taken quite some time.
• Want to up your geek-cred points a tiny bit? Tell people you know where to find the video showing the Lego Man in Space, footage shot by 17-year-olds Matthew Ho and Asad Muhammad using a weather balloon and makeshift Styrofoam spacecraft to send a Lego man 15 miles up into the stratosphere. To make it easy, here you go:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think that’ll do it for now. Have a great weekend, everyone! If I missed any good links, leave a note in the comments. I love to hear from you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I just became aware today that you can download free from Amazon Karen Hancock’s Light of Eidon, Book 1 in her Legends of the Guardian King series. This book is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Amazon reader reviews–a rating it surely deserves.

I read this sometime back and enjoyed it so much I had to run out and buy the second volume, which was the only other volume available at the time. Then I snapped up the next two volumes when they were published as well. Light of Eidon was published in 2003 and won a Christy award that same year. If you’re a fantasy of Christian fantasy, I strongly encourage you to read this first volume of the series and then pick up the next three volumes as well. I think you’ll like it.

Ok. Enough about me. Here’s the official blurb with a link to the Amazon store where you can download the e-book to read on you Mac, PC, Kindle and Nook (or any smartphone that will accept those applications, such as Blackberry and iPhone). You can also click on the image of the cover above to get to the Amazon Kindle store.

Eldrin has devoted the last eight years of his life toward making himself worthy to touch and tend the Sacred Flames of Eidon, and he expects to be blessed for his sacrifices. However, on the eve of taking the vows that will irrevocably separate him from his previous life as Abramm Kalladorne, fifth son of the king of Kiriath, he is betrayed by his spiritual mentor and sold into slavery by his own family.

Soon Abramm is swept along by the winds of a new destiny as his successes in the gladiatorial games transform him into a hero around whom the oppressed masses can rally, and he discovers his suffering has molded him into something greater than he ever thought possible–to serve a purpose he never imagined.

You can get more info from the Amazon Kindle store here.
The author’s website: Karen Hancock

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Beyond the Summerland

Here’s the Amazon link: Beyond the Summerland
A link to the author’s blog: http://www.lbgraham.com
A link to the series’ website: The Binding of the Blade
And the official blurb:

Joraiem and the young Novaana train in the Summerland to rule Kirthanin and to defend it against the evil schemes of Malek.

The Binding of the Blade is an original fantasy series based in part on prophecy from the book of Isaiah. Book 1, Beyond the Summerland, is where the adventure begins for a band of young Novaana, eager to serve and rule the four regions of the world of Kirthanin. Kirthanin is enjoying a time of peace, though Malek, Master of the Forge, and the betrayer of old, controls Agia Muldonai, the Holy Mountain. Malek’s servants are growing bolder and venturing further from their mountain stronghold, and the fragility of Kirthanin’s peace is growing ever clearer. Join this adventure of friendship, love, and betrayal. Ride through majestic forests and sail the forgotten waters. Rest a while in a summer paradise and walk the streets of an ancient and forbidden city. It will be the greatest challenge of their lives, but it is only the beginning.

The Binding of the Blade Series has the world-building of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, the heroic tone of Lawhead’s Pendragon Cycle, and thematic richness and depth of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. While The Binding of the Blade is distinct from each of these series, these are authors whose works are similar in nature to Graham’s series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=2223323011&ref_=pe_1130_13167180

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

- The Changelings: Book One of the Twins of Petaybee, By Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

They are Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili. Twin brother and sister. Children of Yana and Sean. Children of Petaybee. As such, theirs is a destiny deeply intertwined with the sentient planet that is their home. For Ronan and Murel are more than human. Like their father, each can transform into a seal and converse telepathically with the planet’s creatures–such as the friendly otter whose life they save one day from a pack of ravenous wolves.

But the twins’ bravery has unforeseen results when a visiting scientist witnesses their startling metamorphosis and becomes obsessed with their capture. To protect their children, Sean and Yana send them to stay with a powerful family friend on an orbiting space station. But no one realizes that Ronan and Murel hunger to discover the origins of their shape-shifting talent-and that their search for knowledge will place them squarely in the path of peril.

Meanwhile, Petaybee is changing–and much faster than an ordinary planet’s natural evolution. It appears that portions of the sea are heating up and a landmass is suddenly rising from the depths. To investigate the startling occurrence, Sean heads out to the open water in his seal form. But the newly unstable region holds untold mysteries–and the potential for disaster.

- Full Moon Rising: A Riley Jensen Guardian Novel, By Keri Arthur

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races-and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker–until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming…

Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother…Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful–and delectably naked–vamp who raises her temperature like never before.

In matters carnal, Riley has met her match. But in matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior–by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind–and just how much it needs her.

- Perdido Street Station, By China Mieville

Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia. The air and rivers are thick with factory pollutants and the strange effluents of alchemy, and the ghettos contain a vast mix of workers, artists, spies, junkies, and whores. In New Crobuzon, the unsavory deal is stranger to none–not even to Isaac, a brilliant scientist with a penchant for Crisis Theory.

Isaac has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before fathomed. Though the Garuda’s request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger.

While Isaac’s experiments for the Garuda turn into an obsession, one of his lab specimens demands attention: a brilliantly colored caterpillar that feeds on nothing but a hallucinatory drug and grows larger–and more consuming–by the day. What finally emerges from the silken cocoon will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon–and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it invokes…

Here’s the link: Suvudu Free Library

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A few days ago, I posted B&N’s announcement that they had launched their e-book store. However, there’s no way I can compete with David Pogue’s comprehensive review. So I’m posting here a link to Pogue’s column that came out in today’s NY Times. Don’t miss the related video on the bottom left of the page. Pogue’s videos are a real treat. Here’s the blurb and the link. (You might need to register with the NY Times to read the article, but don’t worry, it’s free.)

New Entry in E-Books Is a Paper Tiger
By DAVID POGUE, Aug. 6, 2009
Barnes & Noble’s e-book store has a lot of promise, but is saddled with filler, missing some top books and has some awkward details.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

In addition, B&N has made its corresponding eReader application available for free for the iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry, Mac and PC devices. In addition, PC users and iPhone/iPod Touch users can get six books free when they download the software and set up or access their B&N online account. I’m not sure why, but Blackberry users only get four free books. Meanwhile, as a Mac user, I feel gypped–we don’t get any free books. In the long run, I suppose it’s not that big a deal for me personally because I’m not really wild about reading e-books on my laptop, but an iPhone…now that’s a different story.

True, the free books are all public domain titles. It seems B&N has partnered with Google Books to provide many such titles for free. Newer books still under copyright protection seem to be available for $9.99 or less. At least I couldn’t find any in the B&N online store for more than that.

Two features that I find appealing with the B&N eReader are the ability to access a dictionary and thesaurus while reading (I think the Kindle can do this too, though) and the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) feature, which automatically displays the words of the book so you can read without using a mouse or keyboard. When RSVP is turned on, eReader displays a single word or small groups of words for a short time, followed automatically by the next word or words.

For more information on B&N’s e-book store and eReader, click here or click on the box in the right sidebar.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”