Category Books

Articles about books I’ve read

e-Books!

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That title alone is probably polarizing to people. There are those who’ve embraced e-books, and those who prefer holding a physical book when they read. I used to be one of the later. The living room of my first apartment had four bookcases filed top to bottom, some shelves two books deep and when I moved into my house, I had room for more bookcases.

Then, one day, I bought some books at a book fair that was set up in Marché de l’Ouest and one of those books was The Honor of the Queen by David Weber. It’s the second book in his Honor Harrington series, and I loved it. I hadn’t realized when I made the purchase that it was a sequel and I hadn’t read the first in the series, but that didn’t turn out to be a problem because at the back of the book was a CD that contained On Basilisk Station, the first in the series.

Not just that, it also contained the third book in the series, and the fourth, the fifth, books from several of David Weber’s other series, books from other authors, the CD was filled with books that the publisher had just given away. Their philosophy being that giving away older books in a series would entice people to buy the newer ones. I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my case it worked. Big time. I bought all the books in the Honorverse, as well as David Weber’s War God series, his Belisarius series, Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire novels, John Ringo’s Legacy of the Aldenata, books by Mercedes Lackey, David Drake, Dave Freer (a lot of Dave’s seem to publish with Baen) so many books and it all started with just that one purchase that included a CD with free e-books.

There are a lot of advantages that e-books have over paper novels, but listing them would make this article longer than it really needs to be and I’m not here to convert people, my main goal was to share where you can get

Free and cheap e-Books!

I’ll begin with the one that started it for me. The Baen Free Library. Not all of the books I received on that first CD are still there, but new ones have been added since and there are about twelve pages of free books available, and a quick Google search (or Duck Duck Go if you are more privacy minded) will show you places where people have hosted the original CDs.

They aren’t the only publisher that has deals. Not quite as good as free, Simon and Shuster has a mailing list you can subscribe to that will regularly update you on deals to be had. The one I got this week has Stephen King’s Fairy Tale for $4.99 and two Kathy Reichs novels, Bare Bones and Break no Bones for $1.99 each. If you have a favorite author, I’d suggest checking to see if their publisher has a newsletter or mailing list you can sub to. I know that both Tor and Penguin do.

Another mailing list that is publisher agnostic is BookBub. They regularly send out deals on discounted, and sometimes free, e-books. I don’t think they sell the books themselves, it’s more that they monitor the e-book vendors and compile the deals together in a huge list. Regardless, it saves me money, so I don’t care that they get a referral fee, they deserve it.

I mentioned Humble Bundle in my article about Murderbot. They are a charity driven organization. The way it works is, they have bundles (it’s right in the name) of books, games and software that they organize with publishers for a limited time. You pay what you want for them and the cost is split between the author, a charity that changes every month and the humble organization. If you pay MORE than a specific amount, you get MORE books, games, software or whatever is in the bundle. The price is usually worth it. I paid $32.09 Canadian for the Martha Wells bundle and got 14 books. I checked the “jungle” website just now and the Kindle editions of JUST the Murderbot Diaries collection is $84.99. That’s a pretty good savings and I can be happy knowing the author got a portion of the fee, which brings me to a warning

Beware of Facebook scams

Facebook probably isn’t the only place this happens, but it’s where I’ve seen it. First time was one day I was scrolling on my phone and a post came by with an offer for a Robin Hobb bundle. I’ve read her Farseer trilogy and really enjoyed it, so thinking I could get more of her novels for a good price, I clicked the link. The website was very professional and authentic looking, but something about it triggered my Spidey-sense. I think it was the fact that there was no link to information about the company itself anywhere. No links to present or past deals for other authors, no biographic information about the author herself, the entire site was all just one self contained page who’s only purpose was to sell this single bundle. I did a web search on the domain name and quickly found out it was a scam. It wasn’t me they were trying to scam though, it was the author. If I had followed through, I would have gotten the books, but Robin Hobb wouldn’t have seen any of the profits. These people were selling pirated copies of the books, so instead of buying, I went back to Facebook, made a comment on the post to warn others and then reported it. I don’t know if it did any good, but at least I tried. How can you tell in the future if a deal is too good to be true?

Ask the author

Authors freaking LOVE social media. I think it’s because it distracts them when they need a break from work and also… well, they just like to talk, it’s why they became writers in the first place. Follow them on the social media platform of your choice (they’re probably on most of them) and ask. If someone is offering a deal on their work and it is not legit, I guarantee they, or one of the other people following, will let you know. Also, when there’s a real deal to be had, the author will often announce it themselves. Diane Duane, one of my all time favorite writers, sells her books directly to the public DRM free. Not the franchise books like her Star Trek or Spider-Man novels, she doesn’t own the copyright, but at least once a year she will announce a sale of her Young Wizards series that you can purchase on her website Ebooks Direct.

There’s always the library

I don’t mean this facetiously, I’m being quite literal. Not everyone is aware that many public libraries lend out e-books in addition to physical ones, and not just books, graphic novels, music, movies, TV shows, all available to borrow for the low, low price of having a library card. The public library in my area uses a service called Hoopla and it works the same way as borrowing anything. There is a limited quantity of each item and they get checked out by the borrower. If something you want is currently in the “possession” of another library member, you put yourself on the wait list for it. The biggest advantage this has over paper books is that you don’t need to wait for the person to remember to return the book, the system automatically pulls it back when their rental period has expired. I found out about the service when the TV show Outcast got cancelled. The story was unresolved, but I knew it was based on a comic book series. While looking to see how much a trade paperback was, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread that talked about borrowing comics from the library and someone then mentioned the digital e-book platforms that libraries use. I suggest you check if yours offers this service. In addition to Hoopla, there are others like Libby, OverDrive, Kanopy and PressReader.

If you don’t like sharing, but still want free, there is Project Gutenberg a donation driven site that hosts over 75,000 public domain works available in DRM free epub and Kindle formats. Yes the works are older, they have to be for the copyright to have expired, but Mary Shelley, Lewis Carol, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Dickens, Dostoyevsky… these authors will never go out of style. Loved seeing Wicked recently and always wondered what the original OZ books are like? It’s there. Can’t wait for Wake up Deadman to come out and want a mystery NOW? How about Sherlock Holmes?

This is all just the ones I use most often, I’m sure there are plenty of others, you can share your favorites in the comments, I just ask that people keep them legal. I may be incredibly cheap, but I also believe that writers should be compensated for their work. It’s selfish, but I want them to be able to afford to live, so they can keep writing stories for me to read.

Murderbot (the show) & All Systems Red (the book)

jasonmorrison 1 Comment
Murderbot (2025)

I don’t think Apple did a great job of marketing this show. I don’t mean they didn’t do enough to promote it, I certainly saw enough ads for it when it first came out, I mean the campaign itself didn’t entice me to watch. I certainly saw ads for it, but despite the fact that I really like Alexander Skarsgård, it didn’t look interesting to me, I thought it was about… well, a murdering robot, like Dexter set in the future I guess. I heard a lot of positive buzz, but still nothing that really made me think this was for me.

In August I got an e-mail from Humble Bundle that they had a Martha Wells e-book package they were selling called “Murderbot & more” and the only thing I love more than cheap books, is free books (I once called the number on an LDS tv commercial because they said they’d send me a free book). I also love the fact that Humble Bundle lets you choose what percentages of the price you donate goes to the author, the charity and the HB organization. So of course I bought it.

I didn’t read any of the books right away though, because I had other media I was in the process of consuming, then I found myself at the garage a couple weeks ago waiting for them to put my snow tires on and do the required maintenance, so to kill the time, I opened All Systems Red on my phone and started reading. It was sooooo good and not at all what I was expecting. The novel is told from the point of view of a security robot (he only calls himself a Murderbot), who is contracted to protect a group of scientists on a remote planet, but would rather be spending his time watching cheesy soap operas. The story is told via his almost constant internal monologue that has this dry, almost sarcastic tone to it. He reminds me of Commander Data, if you added the personality of Marvin The Paranoid Android from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and put them in the body of a T-800. I absolutely loved the book and am about a quarter of the way through the second one now.

Given that I had heard the show was well received, I took a chance and convinced my wife to watch it with me. She too likes the wry, dark comedy style of humour in the vein of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, so if the show captured the feeling of the book, I thought we would both enjoy it. Spoiler warning, we did.

Now, the book is fairly short, it’s only about 170 pages, so to convert it to a ten episode tv season, even at only about thirty minutes per episode, they had to stretch things out a bit. We still have the great narration, this time provided by mister Skarsgård, in a wonderfully flat, almost bored tone that perfectly matches how I imagined SecUnit to sound when I was reading the book. It doesn’t stick to just the robot’s POV though, the other characters in the story are given a lot more to do and fleshed out considerably. It doesn’t slow anything down though, and it doesn’t change the story. All the main beats are still there, nothing was really changed, they just add a lot more colour and flesh to everything.

When I look at some of my recent favorite shows, a lot of them come from Apple. Silo, Foundation, Shrinking, Severence, Mythic Quest all are absolutely fantastic and some of the best TV I’ve seen in a long time, but I think their marketing needs to do a better job of explaining the tone of them to potential viewers, or they might overlook something they might enjoy, like I almost did with Murderbot.

NaNoWriMo 2019 starts now!

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It’s November 1st and that means National Novel Writing Month begins today. If you have already signed up, awesome! Now quit procrastinating and go write.

For everyone else, it’s not too late. Challenge yourself mentally. Let that story you have locked away in your imagination out into the wild. I started almost a week late last time, but still managed to get out 50,311 words. Some things I’ve learned from past years that may help.

Write more. Sounds trite and simple, but what I mean is, if your goal is to write 1,666 words a day to meet the goal, don’t stop simply because you’ve met your target on a given day. There will be occasions where things happen and you just don’t have the time to write. The pressure of feeling behind the eight ball can stifle the creative juices and having a buffer will alleviate that stress.

Write often. If you can schedule a block of time each day to devote to writing, that’s great! I can’t. I usually have a couple of hours at night, but weekends are totally unpredictable, so I write wherever I can, whenever I have a few free minutes. I use a PC at home, but keep my tablet on me at all other times and use a writing app that syncs between the two.

If you get stuck, skip to the next part. You don’t have to write a story in the order it will be read. You can write the sections you have already seen in your mind, and then stitch them together later. If you are point D and want to get to G, but don’t yet know the steps in between, that’s okay, just move ahead and you can come back to fill in the gaps when inspiration strikes later on.

The most important part is to try. I’ve attempted the challenge five times now and only succeeded twice. You know what? Nothing bad happened to me when I failed and I learned a lot. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain by making the attempt

Free Comic Book Day!

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The first Saturday in May is upon us! That means tomorrow most (and I have yet to encounter one that did not) comic book shops will be giving away, absolutely free, a huge selection of books that the major publishers have made available. Marvel, DC, Valiant, Dark Horse, Titan, Image, IDW, BOOM!, Archie, VIZ and more are all participating. There’s a list here of the issues being made available. Personally I really want copies of the Captain Canuck and the Stranger Things books.

It’s not just about free stuff though. Each time I’ve been to one of these events, the shops have had big discounts and sales going on, often with artist meet and greets, as well as contests. The store I usually go to has always had cosplayer show up as well, and with it falling on May 4th this year (unofficial Star Wars day), I fully expect the 501st Legion to make an appearance.

Don’t know where to go? They’ve got a shop locator to help you find a participating store close to you.

Show up early before all the books you want are gone! Also, harder to find parking on Decarie later in the day 😀

So You Want to be a Wizard?

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Long before Harry Potter became a household name (about thirteen years or so), one of my favorite authors on the planet started a series about a teenage wizard. It’s a Young Adult series, but written in a manner and with language that won’t turn off adults. The characters may be children, but the author never treats the readers like kids.

Diane Duane is the author of my absolute favorite book, “Spocks World”. I know I use the words favorite and love a lot when talking about books and authors, but when people ask “If you were stranded on a desert island…” this is the book I would never get tired of reading. I read it in high school and while looking for other books to read, I found another by the same author, “So You Want To Be A Wizard?” and loved it.

When I read the first book in the series, I was around the same age as the main character and unlike some other books I had read, the people who populated these pages felt real. What I mean by that is they behaved and reacted to things in the way you would expect real people to. That’s not always the case in books, and unfortunately even rarer in YA fiction.

One of the best things about the series is the epic scope of some of the stories. Also, as the novels progress, it gets more fantastical (wizard cats and wizard whales!), but thanks to Diane Duanes skill at telling a tale, stays believable. Suspension of disbelief is super easy when the author is this good.

There are currently nine novels in the series, and I’m writing this article not just because the books are great, and anyone who is a fan of fantasy literature should read them (they should) but because right now, the author has a sale going on where you can buy the e-book versions for $19.99 US for ALL NINE BOOKS! Not $19.99 each, the entire collection for twenty bucks.

You can purchase them here. You won’t regret it.

A hero from Jersey City – the other Ms. Marvel

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When Carol Danvers used to fight bad guys in a black bathing suit and thigh high boots as Ms. Marvel, I never really paid much attention to her. I mean she looked great, but she always seemed to be defined by things that happened to her, and not by anything she ever actually did in the Marvel Comics universe. She went through several changes of wardrobe, names and powers, and in 2012 she took on the mantle of Captain Marvel. Kelly Sue DeConnick focused more on Carol Danvers military career and abilities as a leader, and far more interesting in the process.

So, the Captain Marvel movie opens in just a few weeks and with all the hype surrounding it’s release I thought I’d draw some attention to Kamala Khan, the teenage girl who picked up the name Carol Danvers left behind. Ms. Marvel.

Continue reading “A hero from Jersey City – the other Ms. Marvel” →

The problem with Hawkeye

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Anyone wishing that Marvel would announce plans for a Hawkeye movie? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Yeah, I didn’t think so. It’s not that people dismiss him as “just a regular guy with a bow”, Black Widow has no super powers, but people like her, and Phil Coulson’s a normal guy who didn’t exist before the movies, but people LOVE him and he got his own TV show.

So, why do people dislike Hawkeye, or at best just don’t care about him? My theory is he’s just not “Hawkeye” enough.

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How do you define “literature”?

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I had a difficult time coming up with a title for this article. “Bill Maher is a Tool” and “Irrelevant TV host Seeks Attention” seemed too aggressive.

Around the time of Stan Lee’s death Bill Maher made some disparaging remarks about the mans contributions to literary entertainment and popular culture. Recently he doubled down and attacked the people who buy and read comic books, and enjoy the movies they are based on. Stating that comic books were not literature and the people who enjoyed them were eternal children who refused to grow up.

Continue reading “How do you define “literature”?” →