Playing with MobiPocket Creator

Posted on July 31, 2008

To Glory:

Find a story online to practice on.
Discover that the HTML is horrible, and strip it down and massage code via perl scripts. This is almost always the case.
Install CrossOver Mac because you have an Intel mac, and you really, really don’t want to open the work laptop.
Create a Windows 2k “bottle” (simulated environment) on CrossOver to put software in. Cute.
With CrossOver, install IE6 in the Win2k bottle. For some reason MobiPocket Creator needs it.
Download MobiPocket Creator and install with CrossOver as “advanced” edition.
Import HTML into the Creator a few times until you get it right.
Discover that Stanza (Mac only) is way better than any MobiPocket previewer for your new Mobi file.
Mess around with metadata and get the format for author name wrong for a while.
Not that it mattered, since you didn’t realize you had to hit the Update button allll the way down a long scroll of page, not the convenient “save” button at top. Note to self: GUIs continue to be stupid.
Several uploads over USB to Kindle later, you reach enlightenment.
Search around the web for the key stroke that makes your Kindle take screenshots of itself (it’s Alt-Shift-G). Marvel at lack of feedback Kindle gives you to tell you if the screenshot even worked. And good thing you have an SD card in, since the screenshots will only save to the SD card.
Connect Kindle via USB for the umpteenth time.
Download screenshots.
Post to blog via ScribeFire.
Ta-da! Clicky for full size.
Now you have to figure out ToC, multiple files (or just one gigantic HTML file?), guides, images, and such.

Notes on the Home content list screenshot:

Yes, I keep forgetting to delete my samples even after I buy the books (Dust in this case). It is possible to do so, but the Content Manager is slow, not easy to navigate, and I have a zillion books/samples on it now, so I keep putting it off….
For some reason Farthing‘s metadata doesn’t show Jo’s byline. That needs to be fixed before it goes into real publication, of course.
Flatland is from FeedBooks.
“Green” (by Jay Lake) is an upload via the Kindle email conversion service. Uploads that are converted (HTML for instance) stick your email in as the author. It’s one reason why I wanted to learn MobiPocket—so I could get the metadata right.

Watching the Skies: Tor eBook watch for 7/31, part 2

Posted on July 31, 2008

While we’re all waiting for the various eBook deals for Tor to pass, here’s some Kindle material from the “free e-book bonanza” authors that’s available right now.

Part 1 is here. Part 3 comes tomorrow. Meanwhile, here’s part 2.

David Drake (Lord of the Isles)

Fortress of Glass – First volume of The Crown of the Isles series

Jane Lindskold (Through Wolf’s Eyes)

The Dragon of Despair – Third book of the Firekeeper Saga, which started with Through Wolf’s Eyes
Wolf Captured – Fourth book of the Firekeeper Saga
Child of a Rainless Year – Stand-alone fantasy novel

Harry Turtledove (The Disunited States of America)

In High Places – Part of the Crosstime Traffic series, of which The Disunited States of America is also part
Gunpowder Empire – Part of the Crosstime Traffic series
Curious Notions – Part of the Crosstime Traffic series
and this is Harry Turtledove, so there’s much, much more.

Karl Schroeder (Sun of Suns)

Permanence – Stand-alone science fiction novel
Special: Ventus – free directly from Karl Schroeder’s site

Peter Watts (Starfish)

Maelstrom – sequel to Starfish

John C. Wright (Orphans of Chaos)

Mists of Everness – Book 2 of War of the Dreaming
The Golden Age – Book 1 of The Golden Age

The Aftermath of the Helix Trainwreck: From the Ashes, Transcriptase

Posted on July 31, 2008

An update to the glorious trainwreck that is William Sanders and Helix SF Magazine.

Over at Rachel Swirsky’s That which deranges the senses, the writers whom Sanders has either called “pantiwadulous”, or denied their requests to remove stories from his archive, have banded together. The result is Transcriptase, a mirror of Helix—without the racist lunatic at the wheel, of course.

And yes, this effort is entirely legal—the Helix contract doesn’t disallow stories being placed in other web archives.

So visit Transcriptase and take a peek at the wonderful stories there—and all packaged in a far better website, too.

Goodbye, Sanders. Thanks for playing.

Brain and Brain. What is Brain?

Posted on July 31, 2008

Good thing I’m taking a small break from work tomorrow and Monday.

By the way, this can only mean good for you guys. I have a special surprise coming.

Watching the Skies: Tor eBook Watch for 7/31, part 1

Posted on July 31, 2008

There’s been some excitement and consternation caused by Tor.com‘s free eBook bonanza promotion, now expired. Right now, while deals are in progress, many of the books do not currently have electronic versions of all of the rest of their series.

I’m going to keep watching the skies for all the authors featured in the bonanza and announcing on Spontaneous Derivation when they show up.

In the meantime, here are the currently available Kindle eBooks for the five of the “bonanza” authors (more to follow in parts 2, 3, 4, 5 later), so get reading!

John Scalzi (Old Man’s War)

The Ghost Brigades – Second book in the Old Man’s War series
The Android’s Dream – Standalone humorous science fiction novel

Robert Charles Wilson (Spin)

Blind Lake – Stand-alone science fiction thriller
A Hidden Place – Stand-alone science fiction
The Perseids and Other Stories – Short story collection

Jo Walton (Farthing)

The King’s Name – Actually, the second of two books in her alternate universe King Arthur

Mercedes Lackey (The Outstretched Shadow)

The Fairy Godmother – Book 1 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
One Good Knight – Book 2 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
Fortune’s Fool – Book 3 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
The Snow Queen – Book 4 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
and more

Tobias S. Buckell (Crystal Rain)

Multiple short stories at less than $1 a pop:

Thoughts on the 2008 Hugo Nominees for Best Novel: Halting State

Posted on July 30, 2008

Halting State is about virtual reality, but not so much about the marvel as much as about the societal and cultural implications of working in or playing outside of the real world—or, indeed, walking with one foot in both the real and virtual worlds. In the world of Halting State, virtual reality and reality aren’t just mirrors of one another—they interact and are inseparable (without breaking down into “nothing is really real!” nonsense). When a story starts with a bank robbery in, essentially, World of Warcraft, you know you’re in for a ride down the real and unreal, so to speak.

If I had to name one thing that I love about Charles Stross’s work: he can really speak to the cubicle monkey in all of us. Although the story is told through three different main characters, the heart of Halting State is Jack Reed, a video games programmer who’s just been laid off. The theme of isolation hand-in-hand with virtual reality beats through all three view points, but they circle hardest around Jack.

Which is not to say that Sue Smith, a police officer, and Elaine Barnaby, an insurance lawyer, don’t play important roles; when the former operates in virtual CopSpace with her peers, and the latter engages in medieval re-enactment and spy LARPing as hobbies, there’s no question that the motif of their encounters with the crossings of “real” reality and virtual reality is set up as distinct counterpoint to Jack’s theme most of the plot—and the climax where the motif and the theme collapse into one state is unexpected.

Some people have noted the use of second person and present tense throughout the novel seems weird and even off-putting, but those mechanics fit neatly into the theme of the work—as well as the fact that Stross has the writing chops to carry it off. Stross’s use of second person both seats the reader intimately in the story—and yet he makes it clear that the reader and the point of view character are distinct. Virtual reality, in other words. I like that he started off with Sue’s Scottish accent, because that’s a clear signal that the second person POV and you-the-reader are not to be confused with one another.

The ending of Halting State (which begins and ends with impish emails) felt a bit rushed to me; not enough cleaning up after the climax. Still, the book is brilliant, and very much a contender in the 2008 line-up.

Further links:

Amazon Kindle Store: New Books for 2008 July 29th

Posted on July 29, 2008

Four new science fiction Kindle editions.

Ten new fantasy Kindle editions.