Astonishing Adventures Magazine #8 - FREE Online Reading
As 2009 winds down (by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!), we received a release for Astonishing Adventure Magazine’s 8th and it looks like ‘final’ issue. I’ve had a look and it’s a HUGE gathering of exciting stories and excellent illustrations arriving just in time to ring in the New Year. So take the link to your holiday weekend read online or as downloadable PDF. We talked about their last Issue ‘7′ here in an interview with editor Katherine Tomlinson.
The Press Release for the new issue follows. Enjoy!
Issue #8 of Astonishing Adventures Magazine is now available for FREE download at two online locations: Issuu and [as a PDF] MediaFire. A print edition will be available at Amazon.com early in January at a price still to be determined.
At 172 pages, the magazine is jam-packed with pulptastic content from contributors living in five different countries. “I am particularly pleased by the international flavor of this issue,” said editor Katherine Tomlinson. “We have writers from the US, UK, Canada and Tenerife and artists from the US, the UK and Greece. There’s literally something for everyone in issue #8—from the wackiness of Tony Thorne’s “Teething Pain” to the poignant sea story “A Coral Pillow” offered by G. Wells Taylor.”
The mix of content includes new stories in Michael Patrick Sullivan’s long-running Auslander series and a new entry in Roger Alford’s adventures of the Black Spectre. Novelist Brian Trent is back with his two-fisted adventurer Rylan Mathis. Frequent contributor Christian Dabnor provided the cover story, a cat-and-mouse tale about a fox and a bear. AAM’s mainstay Cormac Brown offers up a noir homage to Dashiell Hammett in “The Tsar’s Treasure” and also interviews writer Kelli Stanley. The multi-talented Sarah Vaughn and Joanne Renaud both contributed stories and illustrations for this issue with Joanne Renaud doing double duty as the cover artist.
In addition to the usual suspects (Christine Pope, Kat Parrish, Blue Jackson, Peter Mark May, Ron Capshaw, Mark Caldwell), several promising new writers made their debut in Issue #8—J. Jasper’s politically charged “Fair and Balanced” led the way, with brothers V.J. and Justin Boyd contributing a dark fairy tale, Berkeley Hunt offering up a story of sibling hostility and R.C. Barnes providing a tale based on the legend of La Llorona, the weeping woman. All that plus editor Tomlinson’s usual “I Want to Sleep With” feature, starring Yul Brynner.
Issue #8 is a special double-issue to mark the magazine’s second anniversary. Publisher John Donald Carlucci has also announced that it will be the quarterly periodical’s last issue. The founder of Darke Media, Carlucci is currently producing a web series called “Fierce Cravings” now available on YouTube.
TWO Full-Color eBook Readers in the Pipeline…
Many thanks to our intrepid Jorgen who continues to scour the net for interesting eBook Rumors and information. Here we’re offered a link to a story at Twice.com where we’re told that next month Paradigm Shift Sourcing and Manufacturing will introduce full-color eBook readers with 5-inch and 7-inch screens at the International CES .
Paradigm Shift’s 5-inch model, No. EER-051 runs ANSI, UNICODE TXT, DOC, PDF, HTML, FB2, PDB and EPUB (non-DRM) eBook formats with MP3 player and photo viewer functions. With 1GB of onboard memory plus an SD card expansion slot the EER-051 is very tempting for early adopters, especially with its suggested retail of $150.
Its 7-inch sister-ship, No. EER-071WF, has a full touch-screen interface and Wi-Fi, with optional DRM encryption to format compatibility. The unit is comparable to ”a full ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) or tablet PC” with support for Word, Excel and PDF files. The eReader functions as a photo viewer, plays Flash video, MP3 and MP4 files. More specs in the article here. All that with 2GB of internal memory, a Flash expansion slot and $200 suggested retail makes the EER-071WF a guaranteed market-shaker as the eBook Revolution expands into a crowded 2010.
Not everyone’s going to want color. In fact, there is a consistent round of voices that are very happy READING on their eBook Readers in good old shades of gray; but, something like these with their relatively low price tags and multi-functions might make it a hit with the curious, the early adopter and the gadget crazy.
An eReader Overview
This eReader Overview by Oliver Masciarotte in the Blogcritics Sci/Tech section is a must-read for any curious, early or late adopter in the eBook Revolution. Well written and covering all the basics, this article is the most comprehensive I’ve read yet.
The eBook phenomena, marketplace and cultural shift is going to explode in 2010, so arm yourself with knowledge, yah?
Piracy as Growing Pain
Our friend Jorgen dropped off a link to a story at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) about what I think is going to be one of the biggest topics of conversation for the eBook Revolution in 2010.
As we all learned from the music industry’s struggle with piracy and illegal file sharing, it is something that exists because it’s so easy to reproduce digital content. It exists. It’s impossible to eradicate.
However, it only becomes a problem when digital content providers and producers charge too much for their titles and attempt to control their use by locking the files or making the formats proprietary.
It’s going to get worse with new eBook readers entering the market every other month, and as eBook reading is adopted by the mainstream. It will only get bad if the publishers and eBook distributors continue to charge too much money, lock their files and limit their usage.
It’s as simple as that, yah?
Will the Apple Tablet Launch January 26?
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Affordable eBooks, Rumors, Uncategorized, eBook Readers, eBook Software, eBook Stores, eReaders 
CNNMoney seems to think January 26 is the launch date of the much-anticipated touch-screen tablet from Apple. In a timely leak of information, Apple’s Steve Jobs is said to be extremely happy with the device. Its original design was supposedly cannibalized for use in the iPhone. Read a list of new rumors here.
It would be an exciting way for the eBook Revolution to start the New Year, yah?
Happy Holidays!
We at eBook Rumors wish you all the best for the holiday season!
Sony’s Super Reader Ships…
Thanks Jorgen for pointing us to this story at Electronista about the Sony Reader Daily Edition starting to ship. The device offers a seven-inch touchscreen configured for newspaper and magazine display delivered wirelessly through a 3G connection. Designed for office and business the large-platform, $400 eReader is optimized for professional adoption. Read the full article here.
It’s a beauty, yah?
Nook buyers offered a deal!
Barnes and Noble is offering frustrated Nook buyers in the US a $100 coupon if they do not receive the popular eBook reading devices in time for Christmas.
Read the full story at TechRadar.com. Now cut to the festivities at Amazon.com where the Kindle eBook Reader continues to dominate the market this Christmas for no other reason than that it is available.
eBook Privacy Addressed…
Jorgen gave us this fantastic link to An eBook Buyer’s Guide to Privacy by Ed Bayley at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Here’s a quote from the article to capture your interest: “E-readers possess the ability to report back substantial information about their users’ reading habits and locations to the corporations that sell them. And yet none of the major e-reader manufacturers have explained to consumers in clear unequivocal language what data is being collected about them and why.”
This is something we knew that some eReader manufacturers could do, but never thought they would. On the surface, we’re worried about junk mail and directed advertising clogging up our inboxes. But what else can they do with the personal information they collect from your eBook reader?
Read the article. Bonus too! There’s a chart that separates the secure eBook Readers from the known offenders.
Have You Got a Minute?
Amber Johnson popped in to offer a link they posted at OnlineCourses.org called “101 Tips for All Your eBook Reader Needs.” An excellent checklist for the would-be adopter, and probably the most comprehensive list I’ve seen a long time.
Now the question: Does anyone have 102 Tips?
