2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The G

Hard to top all the excellent gift ideas my fellow nerds of a feather have already suggested, but in case you need some last-minute ideas, here goes...

-The G 

1. Kindle Voyage/Paperwhite or Kobo Aura

At $99, the Paperwhite is an incredible value. The Voyage, meanwhile, is arguably just a dressed up Paperwhite at twice the price. However, the higher resolution and better backlighting do make a difference to those who, like me, suffer from chronic headaches/migraines. I mean, that’s why I bought a dedicated e-reader in the first place—to be easier on the eyes—so if that’s a priority, and you plan to use the thing a lot, it makes sense to spend a little more to get the one that best fits your needs. For those wary of getting sucked into the Amazon ecosystem, the Kobo Aura also has a great reputation. 

Buy: Kindle Voyage; Kindle Paperwhite; Kobo Aura.

2. True Detective: Season One Blu-Ray

The Best Show Ever, says two random guys you should definitely listen to. And at under $20, the DVD edition is practically a steal (you'll spend a bit more for the blu-ray). Sit back, relax and mainline the secret truth of the universe.

Buy: True Detective: Season One Blu-ray or DVD.

3. LEGO Bricks & More Creative Bucket (607 pieces)

Have kids? Don’t have kids but wish you could recapture the creative wonder of childhood? Well, look no further than this big ol’ bucket of Legos! Note these are just the colored blocks—no themes, no branding, just your imagination and 607 pieces to build whatever you can think of.

Buy: LEGO Bricks & More Creative Bucket

Summer Reading List - Vance

One of the great things about writing for this blog is getting reading recommendations from my awesome co-conspirators, er...co-contributors. Way more than I can ever hope to keep up with, certainly, but this year a few have made my annual Summer Reading List.

That means that this year's list includes some works I've missed by a couple of legendary writers, and some brand new works by folks that may one day become legendary authors. We can hope, right?

1. Discovering Aberration, by S.C. Barrus

S.C. Barrus contributed a guest post to Nerds of a Feather awhile back on Isometric Role-Playing Games. At the time, he was readying his steampunk novel Discovering Aberration for publication. The summary reads like a Victorian-era Indiana Jones adventure, and to me that sounds awesome. It's a big book, and I'm a man with an unreasonable number of demands on my time, but this is at the top of my to-read list this summer.

2. Zero Echo Shadow Prime, by Peter Samet
 
A friend of mine, comic book writer Mark Landry (bloodthirstycomic.com) did the cover art for this, and showed it to me awhile back. I thought it was awesome, and Mark told me I should read the book. He'd read it multiple times throughout his time involved on the project, and spoke very highly of it, so I was happy to get my little e-inkstained fingers on it. With a female-centric story about the singularity, robots, consciousness, and immortality-through-technology, it's got my expectations high. And check out that cover!

3. Planks, by S.C. Harrison

Our intrepid monthly Adventures in Indie Publishing columnist D.E.S. Richard interviewed S.C. Harrison for this site and subsequently reviewed her horror collection Planks. After reading the review, I immediately bought the Kindle edition...and then didn't read it. But I intend to do so now! Usually I do a lot of horror reading in the fall, not just because of Halloween, but because I love fall and horror and the grey days and long nights have always made the two feel compatible for me. But this year I'm bloodying up my summer, and I've been promised in Planks a collection of interrelated short stories that do a masterful job of world-building.

4. Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

When I read Lolita years ago, I had the annotated edition. Not only did I love the book, but I found myself loving it all the more since I had the ability through those annotations to see so much more of what laid beyond the surface than I would have been able to grasp without them. Nabokov had an unmatched gift for prose that continues to astonish me. So how I have not managed to read Pale Fire — in which a fictional scholar introduces, includes, and fully annotates the final poem of a fictional poet — escapes me. That's three levels of Nabokov. I just hope I can keep up.

5. The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick

I have read probably a half-dozen of Philip K. Dick's novels and a handful of short stories, but never this one. To be honest, beyond knowing that it's an alternate history where the Axis won WWII, I'm not even really sure what it's about, and I don't care to investigate since I'm willing to let myself be surprised by the journey he wants to take me on. After all, V.A.L.I.S. isn't really about whatever the summary of the plot says it's about, anyway, and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said starts off being about one thing and winds up being about something else entirely, so I'm just excited for the journey.

6. Science Fair Season, by Judy Dutton
 
This is the only non-fiction book on my list this year, and another entry in my bought-it-on-Kindle-didn't-read-it-yet file. Judy Dutton spent time immersed in the competitive world of serious science fair competitors (not me — I tried to make an automatic dog-walker like on The Jetsons with some leftover carpet scraps), and these days I would so much rather read about kids getting bent out of shape through science competition and aspiration than out of sports competition and aspiration. The book's a couple of years old now, but the kids are probably still in their late-teens, and I for one am looking forward to reading about those that may one day make all the wacky sci-fi shit in lots of these other books I'm reading come true. 

Posted by: Vance K — cult film aficionado, unapologetic lover of bad movies, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.

AiIP: Support Your Local Bookstore (even if you buy digitally)

Last month, I reviewed Planks by S.C. Harrison, and the tagline for the book fits this post- surely we have done more good than we will do evil- fits this post nicely. Before I dig into what I mean by that, let me give you a little background.

If you've been following my musing in this space for any amount of time, you know that I am frequently vexed by- I will try to say this politely- a significant lack of quality from the self-publishing community. This is to say, un- or poorly edited works, cover art that is only art in the loosest sense and generally stories that are just plain bad. I won't rehash my first post here, aside from saying this is due to a lack of traditional gatekeepers (which I have also touched on).

But, on the plus side, there are a lot of fine works out there, including a lot of unique stuff that traditional publishers would be unwilling to take a chance on. This, I feel (and I'm sure you agree), is a good thing. Amazon was the first to really make this a viable option, and certainly remains the mainstay for self-publishers.

This is where the opening quote comes into play- how much good has Amazon done? Obviously ebooks were inevitable- no one will even bother to debate that, not even the most hardened I-only-wanna-read-physical-books traditionalist. But the harm is obvious- indie bookstores are the most glaring case. Many have adapted (I've mentioned my local hangout, Village Books, several times as a case-in-point of a bookstore that has adapted). But Amazon certainly hasn't done them any favors.

Compare that to Kobo (if you're Canadian, you are already rolling your eyes- "catch up, Dean, we've been using them for years"), who really goes out of their way to work, even in a small way, dollar-wise, with indie bookstores. They make themselves much more open and accessible to authors and publishers than Amazon does.

Why does this matter, to you as a reader or even to the authors?  For one thing, I see a lot of authors buying into the Amazon-or-nothing thinking. Amazon has anointed Hugh Howey as the king of self-publishing for his Wool series, including his comments in such places as their GoodReads acquisition press release, wherein he compares Amazon to 'the cool guy next door marrying your mom'. And look at the comments on that post- people follow him because he's Mister Self Publishing Success Story (and good for him). But why at the exclusion of everything else? What possible benefit does that have for the author, the reader or the literary community?

Nook is, for all intents and purposes, dead (and B&N probably not far behind). Kobo is on the rise, and certainly has my support over Amazon at this point. This article is spot-on for authors- why are we even linking to Amazon at all (if you click one link in this post, click that one)? Bookstores provide a lot more value to the community than simply being a place to buy books. They should get the support of authors and readers alike.

Odds & Ends:

 Speaking of the literary community, I did a reading the other day with S.C. Barrus at his Kickstarter launch party. He is funding for his upcoming Steampunk novel, Discovering Aberration. It is equal parts adventure and witty.

Joining us was Zachary Bonelli, who has written a really cool series called Voyage, with some elements of Sliders, what with all manner of alternate Earths. I enjoyed what he read, and am digging into the rest now.

Prime books now has a digital imprint, called Masque Books. E.C. Tobler has her Rings of Anubis series coming out through them, and I am about halfway through the first book, Gold & Glass, and if you enjoy steampunk adventure, you'll like this (I am not really much of a steampunk guy, so don't ask me why it's in here twice now).

I took last week off from blogging, but interviewed both E.C. Tobler and S.C. Barrus on my blog, so if you want to know more about them & their work, head over there.

In conclusion, my own book, 3024AD: Short Stories Series One is $2.99 for the month of July, so if you don't have it yet, now is the time to grab it! It's out for Kindle, Kobo and Nook