Friday quick updates, February 1
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Friday quick updates, February 1
Posted on 2013-02-01 at 17:08 by montsamu
Some quick updates this Friday, including two events tomorrow (Saturday February 2 — yes, today is February, and tomorrow is too), some fun local author news, and, hey, some local bookstore friendly e-reader news which is highly applicable to that fun local author news. (And now a bonus update!)
First, the events:
2 (Saturday) 3 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts NY Times bestselling urban fantasy author and NC native Kim Harrison for Ever After, the latest in her Hollows series. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/276517015784912/
2 (Saturday) 5 to 7 pm — Chapel Hill Comics hosts Jared Axelrod, author of the Tor graphic novel The Battle of Blood & Ink: A Fable of the Flying City. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/418137048267731/
Second, the fun local author news:
Leading with the news that Raleigh author JL Hilton’s Stellarnet Rebel was awarded the SFR Galaxy Award for Best Non-Traditional Romance: “Stellarnet Rebel covers a lot of science fiction ground, but what really makes it unique is the non-traditional romance. I love that the story took the romance in an unexpected direction. The author layers interesting social commentary about romance, marriage, and family through the lens of an alien culture. The experience prompted me to question my assumptions about how we define romance both in this subgenre and also in real life. In that regard, Stellarnet Rebel stimulates both the mind and the heart.”
And also that, as has been the case all week at least and so I don’t know for how much longer, Hillsborough author James Maxey’s Bitterwood is still free on Kobo, at Smashwords, and on Kindle.
Lastly, the local bookstore friendly e-reader news, applicable to the above:
For those who, like me, have been waiting and waiting on joining the ebook revolution until the DRM nonsense was a bit more sorted, and until the e-readers and e-bookstores figured out how to include the local bookstores in their machinations of the destruction of all that comes in dead tree pages, it looks like it's finally time to take the plunge. Late last year, the IndieBound stores and e-reader and e-bookstore Kobo announced a new partnership, and the readers have been slowly showing up in the local bookstores, who have also started updating their websites for browsing and shopping for these titles. Now through February 14, at least Quail Ridge Books and Flyleaf Books (couldn't confirm The Regulator Bookshop by phone this morning) are running a $59 sale on the Kobo Mini:
You can fondle and buy these devices in person at your local IndieBound store, and Quail Ridge Books has it available for online ordering as well. What to do with it? Why, load up on local author ebooks, whether the free variety such as Maxey’s Bitterwood or, and set up your local bookstore affiliate links first, Hilton’s Stellarnet Rebel., or anyplace else you come up with ePub files (from the Baen Ebooks store to Smashwords, to your latest Kickstarter backer reward copy from that book you helped crowd-fund, to wherever). I don’t see the Baen titles in Kobo directly yet, hopefully that’s sorted out soon.
UPDATE: There’s also a great News & Observer interview with local author, editor, and blogger Natania Barron:
http://www.trianglemom2mom.com/2013/02/01/2633467/meet-natania-barron.html