What I think of e-readers after actually using one.

This is using Cal's Kindle, the normal, cheap-o one--not a touch screen, with the screen about the size of a mass market paperback's pages. I recognize that different e-readers have different features, so if you read something below and can advise that a different e-reader doesn't compare with something I've said, please do so!

THINGS I AM OKAY WITH:

1. The screen. The screen did not hurt my eyes like I thought it would. There WAS sometimes a glare when reading by lamplight, which was annoying, but not a big enough issue for me with this book to complain about it. I was reading mostly during the day, and natural light was fine.

2. Insta-delivery of books is pretty cool. I enjoy that.

3. Carrying ALL the books with you wherever you go. This would have been pretty convenient if I'd had one before I left home and somehow managed to afford an e-copy of all the books in my library. I've been missing some of them. This would also be good for when Cal and I go to Europe and can't afford to have space in our backpacks taken up by however many books I can read in a month.

THINGS I HATE:

1. The buttons on the side to "turn" the pages. On the kindle, there is a big button on either side with a little button on top of it. The big button is to go forward, the little button is to go back. My problem with this is in two parts. a) I kept accidentally clicking the buttons when, say, turning it on, or simply just sitting there. And woops, there goes my page. b) When such a thing happens you could click one of the buttons to make it go whichever way, right? Easy as. But for some reason it's hardwired into my brain that clicking the RIGHT buttons makes it go forward, while clicking the LEFT buttons makes it go back. None of this big button/little button stuff. So I'd accidentally go forward a page and then click the left big button a few times trying to find where I was supposed to be, only to realize that I was going forward even more.

2. The above wouldn't such a huge issue if there were any gosh-darned page numbers on the thing! Particularly those times when I turned it on and accidentally clicked the button, I often had no idea where I was and had to ruffle through trying to figure out where I left off. You can't put a bookmark in it, it just remembers where you were--whether you got there accidentally or not! (Not that I use bookmarks in books, anyway--because I have a great memory for page numbers -- which this doesn't have!)

3. There is no way that I discovered to find out how close you are to the end of a chapter, unless you click through the pages a bunch of times and click back. I prefer ending my reading session at the end of a chapter (this would ALSO make it a lot easier to figure out where I needed to start when I accidentally click the buttons turning it on). I suppose you could say you have to rifle through pages in a real book too, but when you're done rifling through 20 pages trying to find the end of the chapter, then you just flip 'em back into place and continue reading. I mean, I would consider it pretty dim not to keep a finger/bookmark/cat on the page you were reading while you're doing that, anyway.

4. Having to recharge a "book" seems pretty stupid to me.

5. It does not smell of book.

6. It does not feel of book.

7. There is no pretty cover for people to exclaim, "What's that you're reading??" and strike up an interesting conversation with people. Normally I hate it when people ask me what's that you're reading?? But when they do it with books it's because the cover looks like something they'd like to read and you can tell them about it. When they do it with Kindle they have nothing to go off of, so when you answer and they find out that it isn't Hemingway's Complete Works and get all disappointed, you're left in some social awkwardness hoping he gets off the bus really soon.

8. The pricing of a large number of the e-books that I looked up was roughly that of a paperback, but you don't get the physical book. As a writer, I think I would demand that of my own books if they go digital. However, as a reader, it seems silly to me to pay the same price for something that you can't hold and display on a shelf. I do see quite a few deals, so I suppose you just have to hit it at the right time.

9. You can't just browse e-books as you might books--I don't mean in a bookstore, but even online, it isn't the same. Not with Amazon's "everyone and their brother can get published, here you go" scheme. No offense to anyone who self-publishes, but you have to admit it's a dangerous thing to give people free reign of the industry. I found several interesting looking e-books which I was smart enough to take a peek at before buying. Absolutely riddled with typos, the first pages looking like something I wrote when I was twelve... it was awful. So instead, I had to look through my Goodreads "to-read" list and see if there was a kindle edition available. (Note: mostly, there wasn't.)

REASONS I WOULD CONTINUE USING AN E-READER:

1. Travel, as stated above. I'll actually buy my own before Europe (or we might get a bigger tablet of some description so that we don't have to bring our laptops and can Skype with that). It's a lot smaller than a bunch of books and therefore more convenient to people living out of a single backpack for a month or more.

2. Those times few and far between when I've run out of new books and various bookstores and libraries are closed and I don't feel like rereading what's on my shelves. Assuming I can find an e-edition of various titles, this seems like it will be convenient.

However, this will NOT be an all the time thing. I was going absolutely mad. Perhaps you get used to the buttons. But if I can't get used to them after reading an entire book (nearly 500 print-pages long!), I really don't know that I'll ever get used to them. Perhaps other e-readers don't have such stupidly placed buttons. Others can advise me on that below.

Book Review: A Stranger to Command by Sherwood Smith

Okay, hold up--an entire book about Vidanric Renselaeus, Marquis of Shevraeth? How had I not read this before now? I admit, I knew it existed--I must have just forgotten how much I adore this character or something. Maybe my brain has grown fuzzy with age. Whatever--finally, the deed is done, and it was quite enjoyable. (WARNING: Crown Duel and Court Duel spoilers!)

Fifteen-year-old Vidanric Renselaeus has been sent away by his father to Marloven to learn the fighting arts. In part, because Vidanric was a prime target for a convenient, tragic accident at the hands of Galdran's cronies. And in part because, as he learns later, he needs to learn how to command an army if there is any hope he'll take down Galdran and become king himself. The book covers three and a half years, during which Vidanric goes from a learner, to a teacher, to a commander, making friends and enemies and mistakes along the way, smoothing his path to becoming a king.

Lame plot summary--I shouldn't be doing this late at night. But the idea is there. The character development in this book is amazing. The Vidanric we meet at the start is not the one who becomes king in Court Duel, nor even, really, the "court-bred fop" imagined by Meliara in Crown Duel. He is a teenage boy fresh from his father's pocket with no idea of the destiny in store for him. He doesn't want to be in Marloven learning the sword, he doesn't understand why he must learn to ride like a Marloven, he doesn't really care to think like a commander because he doesn't want to be one--but he does it all because daddy told him to, and there must be a reason.

By the end, he's everything we see in Crown and Court Duel, and more importantly, we see why. When reading C&C, I always thought it a bit odd that he knew so much about commanding and killing and wondered how he'd learned so much. Here, you can see how each decision formed him into who he becomes--and there are so many parallels with Meliara's story, I was laughing out loud. Those parallels explained their relationship to me, too; the attraction he felt for her, while I didn't really question it, did seem a bit off. It doesn't anymore. He IS Meliara, just a bit further along.

As you can imagine, a Shevraeth-who-is-Meliara is insanely amusing. But somehow, it all works.

It was interesting, too, to discover a new part of Sartor. Marloven is just as rich as Remalna, perhaps more so, and largely military-based. Thus, the book was packed with military strategy and knife throwing practice and politics and what have you, which I quite enjoy in my reading, but which probably weren't as action-packed as they sound. As with other books I've reviewed, I can see some readers losing interest, but for me it was everything I expected.

I do have complaints with this book that I didn't in C&C. Most prevalent was the constant switch in perspective. This wasn't just Vidanric's story--it was also Senrid's and Senelac's and a few others. But it wasn't that these characters were offered a chapter of their own. It was like it was third person omniscient in some places, which I haven't encountered often and I didn't really like the way it was executed here. It almost seemed like the easy way out--the reader learns things that maybe the reader doesn't really need to know. For instance, at the height of action, we're told "they couldn't know there wasn't really any danger" and I was like, well, that's a let down--why not build up the suspense until it's all certain? There were several moments like that. I didn't feel like the omniscience added anything to the story, but rather took away from it.

There were also a lot of instances where I was completely thrown off and confused--largely because this, rather been being a prequel to C&C, also acts as a sequel/bridge to a lot of other books in the same world, with characters popping in who didn't seem to have much of a purpose in the plot line other than to appear for hardcore fans' sake. Sort of like if JK Rowling wrote a book about Harry's children and Neville and Luna got their own side-plot that only kind of had anything to do with what the children were doing, and probably didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

I mean, it was great that the king was there--he was necessary, but I wasn't so sure that his background, or the fact that he cast some hither-to-unknown-to-me-stopping-his-aging-spell on himself, was that integral. "Sartora" served absolutely no purpose that I could see. Little details kept popping up, which I assume had been explained previously, which hindered rather than helped.

And speaking of characters and plotlines, I felt like the romance aspect of this was a bit forced, but then, maybe I was just glowering with rage because... Meliara, dangit!

And while I'm picking on plotlines, I admit I didn't entirely understand the ending, which felt rushed. It was a long book, but I wouldn't have minded it being longer. I was left with so many questions--does Shevraeth ever see his friends again? What happened in Colend, exactly?

I feel like I'm complaining a lot more than I usually do, but that's probably because Vidanric is my absolute favorite character in literature, hands down. Wait... Numair. Okay, Shevraeth is tied as my favorite character in literature ever. I'm critical of things I love, I'm pretty sure I read that in my birthday book.

Anyway. Despite my complaints, I recommend this to anyone who loved Crown Duel and Court Duel, especially if you were as in love with Vidanric as I was. On that account, this book doesn't disappoint. It's worth it to see how he grows and changes and becomes who he was meant to be--and like I said, the parallels are so funny, but they aren't forced. Go out and get it now and let me know what you think!

**Oh! And I did notice a handful of typos, more than is normal to run across in a book. I read it on the Kindle, so I thought maybe they had a tendency toward more typos or something. Just thought I'd mention it.

***Also, OH MY GOD how it needs a new cover! One that looks like the Vidanric in my head, for a start.

An Update on Writing, In Two Parts

First: I received the "Letter of Doom" from HarperVoyager yesterday. I didn't get in, needless to say (would you call it a Letter of Doom if you did? I suppose it could go both ways).

This was the contest that opened last October and was open to all fantasy/sci-fi authors, promising digital publication for a select few. They said they wanted to publish at least one book a month (but would undoubtedly take more of there were more than twelve awesome books). So, already the chances were higher than ABNA, though I didn't have a whole lot of hope for myself. I do like entering these contests as an exercise in pitch-writing, which I think I need to get better at. Are there classes for such things?

Anyway. I'm glad to finally know, and no worries, I'm not disappointed. Now I'm free to enter more contests! (Or send it off to agents... actually, how about I start that editing process soon, hmm?)

Second, and more uplifting: a little while ago I sent off some applications to write for various blogs and magazines and websites. Almost all of these were on a "paid with experience" basis, which I am perfectly okay with. I just need something to fill my otherwise unemployed time, and having publications out there with something legitimate never hurts, either!

So, a few days ago in my inbox there was an e-mail offering a spot as a regular columnist with an online magazine. I won't go into too much detail yet as I don't have all the details yet myself, but... I'm excited!

AND THEN this morning there was another e-mail in my inbox from one I'd applied to a while ago and thought had probably overlooked me. It's really nice when an e-mail is like "sorry this took so long" but "by the way, you're on the shortlist!" And for this one, there's money involved. I had to quote a price per article in my application. Having absolutely no idea, I did a bit of research and erred on the cheap side from that research--$20/article.

So: I'm writing a trial article for them (todayifoundout.com if you want to look 'em up!), and if they like that enough (and I don't have competition that's too fierce!) I might be invited to write for them regularly (and get paid, too!).

Obviously this isn't "quit my day job" money, but it's money for writing! This is what I've wanted since I was a kid. And I get to learn random facts along the way--what could be better?

The E-Reader Experiment and a plea for books

I don't own an e-reader and generally I think about them as a lesser entity, not worthy of bearing the words of perfectly legitimate books. I know my opinion is pretty extreme, and I'm sure there are plenty of reasons for e-readers (travel being one of them). But, other than reading a few pages of a book I didn't like on Cal's e-reader, I decided I should probably attempt a full book so that my opinion can be justified (or, I mean, refuted. That could happen too. Maybe).

Thus: A Stranger to Command by Sherwood Smith.

Crown Duel is one of my favorite books, largely because of Vidanric, so a book all about Vidanric is going to be awesome, right? What better way to attempt to like e-readers than this?

Firstly, it was really hard to find a book. Mostly I've just been having book-finding problems all around--books I want to read, availability at the library/in this country, and then books that were actually available in e-book format. But I've wanted to read this one for a long time.

The point being, I will update you all on this experiment over the next few days. I hope to emerge with a better opinion, but right now I just don't see the point of not having a book in my hand. Please feel free to list reasons why I should like e-readers below.

ALSO, if you could PLEASE give me some book recommendations, I would love you forever! As you can probably see from reviews, my very favorite books are YA fantasy--usually historical, "sword and sorcery" in nature. However, I would be open to anything if you think it's awesome.

Book Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Days before the dragon Ardmagar is due to arrive to celebrate 40 years of peace, the prince's headless body is found, and the people suspect a dragon did it. With humans already on edge around dragonkind--even those in their saarantras, or human, state--the death of Prince Rufus creates more problems for the guards whose duty it is to keep the Ardmagar and dragonkind safe. Plots and rumors of assassination attempts abound, quietly dragging Music Mistress Seraphina into the foray.

A young woman wrapped in her own secrets, Seraphina together with Prince Lucian and Princess Glisselda work together to preserve the peace. Facing down dragons, a steely dagger, dancing, and a gossip-hungry governess, Seraphina stumbles through her history, her mind, and the mystery, to come to one conclusion: love is not a disease.

Perhaps one of my more cryptic summaries, but accurate nonetheless. I barely remember reading the back of the book when I found it in a discount bookstore--I picked it up after recognizing the title as something I marked "to-read" on Goodreads--and I loved the reveal of Seraphina's secret after those first few chapters, not seeing it coming at all.

On my copy of the book, there are two recommendations from authors. One from Christopher Paolini, recommending it as well-written with interesting dragons--an opinion which, my apologies to any fans, I took with a grain of salt given my personal opinion of his books, which isn't very high. The second was a simple one from Tamora Pierce stating simply, "I love this book!" which is enough for me to purchase any book at all, supposing it's written in past tense.

Seraphina did not disappoint. I've picked up so many books recently that I haven't had the concentration or will to finish, and this was like a breath of fresh air. Beautifully written with gorgeous descriptions of a wintry, magical castle scene. Sentences about music I could hear as if it played in my ear; luscious gowns, playful balls, the grit and grime of the exiled knights' cave--all of which I could see quite clearly in my mind's eye.

I was astounded by the characters' ability to grow--particularly Princess Glisselda who I hated the first time I met her, and adored by the last page. Lucian and Seraphina herself change, too, but more subtly. I think several of the dragons in their saarantras form were always the same, but they allow a deeper view into their suppressed emotions by the end of the book.

As for plot--the author had me fooled. At least, pretty much. I followed the characters' every thought, which is probably a pretty silly thing to do, but both Seraphina and Lucian were so rational and so correct for so long that--well, why wouldn't I believe their hunches? I did have the perpetrator pegged as an accessory rather than a mere annoyance by the latter half of the novel, but still. I'm usually spot on and it excites me when I'm not.

My only real complaint is an issue of what may have been edited-out continuity. I'm not entirely sure Seraphina ever divulged certain information in her teacher, Orma. I'll leave out the information in question as it's the result of another sub-plot I think would be more interesting to find out on your own. But I felt this information should have been divulged. At any rate, the secret is out by the end and is mentioned to Orma, who--heavily sedated he might be--didn't seem to blink an eyelash. Part of me wonders if I missed the revelation somehow--I was interrupted quite a bit around the section where Seraphina makes the discovery--but I thought it needed to be in there a bit more prominently if that was the case. Long, drawn out conversation. If any of you have read it and know what I'm talking about, please leave a comment and let me know if I need to go back and reread.

Realistically, though, that isn't really part of the main plot, which I felt carried on smoothly, and, like I said, I was surprised by the end of it. This book ranks right up there with Bitterblue and The False Prince for me right now, and I'd recommend it to anyone who'd like something new to read. Luckily, the end is left wide open for a sequel, which I will have my eager hands on the moment it hits the shelves.

Travel Review: Shorncliffe Beach

We were going absolutely stir-crazy in this house. No internet, constant stream of rain, I was at work when it wasn't raining--we've barely had a chance to think about doing something fun, let alone get out and do it. And more to the point, with Emily, Sarah, and me all unemployed, it's hard to find something that's cheap and fun to do. So--to the mobile interwebs I went, looking for something new and exciting.

I found Shorncliffe Beach a few pages in on Trip Advisor. It wasn't a top attraction, but it was a beach, all we had to pay was $8 total transportation to get there and back, and the reviews said it was "lined with fish and chip places and coffee shops."

Well... I can say that it was not lined with fish and chip places and coffee shops, at least none that we saw.

It took just over an hour on public transport to get to the beach, taking a train from Roma Street station to Shorncliffe Station, and the beach was just a short walk from there. It isn't the prettiest of beaches, but I was expecting that, and I'm not sure if I would have wanted to swim in the water. It reminded me more of a big lake than an ocean--there weren't any waves, the sand was brown, and the water a bit mucky. But Cal had said that the beaches right off the coast of Brisbane weren't great. We're obviously going to go to the Gold Coast at some point, so they can get their fill of pretty beaches then!

Anyway. We walked down to the beach, which was at the very bottom of a hill. Maybe the fish and chip places were lining the street above, or something, but we didn't go up to check. First we went to the pier, but it was closed off, so we walked down the beach to another pier-like-thing that probably wasn't meant to be walked on and we climbed on it and walked to the edge.

The beach area was pretty tiny, but it was an awesome place for shell collecting. While there were a lot of ground-up shells, there were also tons of whole ones without any crabs or anything living in them. We found lots of cool ones. Sarah even found some sea glass. Also, tons of jellyfish--the big, proper, these-look-like-they-fell-out-of-Finding-Nemo jellyfish, not the bluebottles that wash up on the Gold Coast.

Then, of course, because they decided to go to the beach with an Upton--that is, me--it started raining. Which wasn't such a bad thing, because once we left the beach area the wind died down and when it wasn't raining, it was hot and humid.

We took shelter in the playground, which was AWESOME. I mean, I'm almost two-three and I thought it was awesome. Kids would love this thing. Lots of secret hideaways and staircases and ropes and slides. There were only a few kids there, all a bit too young to play on the "big kid" equipment (there's a place for little guys too)--probably because it was raining. Though, I did read in the reviews that Shorncliffe is usually a bit quiet, so it might be a good idea to visit if you don't want crowds.

After, we walked back to Sandgate--one train stop before Shorncliffe--along a nice walkway that would be excellent for running if people are into that sort of thing. It was lined with covered areas complete with barbecue facilities and drinking fountains--perfect places for family get-togethers or something. When we reached the end of the walkway the rain just started coming down, so we briefly took shelter under a pavilion and left Cal to look up where the nearest food place was while we ran out and conquered the rain (as we do).

Turns out, we were mere feet from a fish and chip place, whose name I regrettably cannot remember. We all only ordered chips. Cal and I probably had gotten a few too many, but I was dying for something salty at that point so I was okay with that. We went back to sit at a picnic table by the water, and that's when a reenactment of The Birds took place.

Seagulls everywhere. Not even kidding. One of them didn't have a foot (he was very mean). Cal and Sarah started throwing chips at them, which only encouraged more to surround us, and when we got up to leave they followed us. I'm not sure how we shook them.

From there, we had a short walk to Sandgate Station and hopped on a train back to the city.

Overall, I don't think it was the most fun we could have had in a day, but it was cheap and enjoyable, and we got some pretty cool pictures with a stormy-sky backdrop. I wouldn't call it a top attraction, but if I had more guests who were coming to stay for an extended period of time, I'd take them there, too.

Things I Haven't Done

This blog is about reading, writing, and blogging--and over the last two internetless weeks, I've barely done anything of the sort. That's pretty sad really, given that the lack of internet distraction should have provided ample time to get all of those things done. Alas, I did play a lot of board games, worked extra hours, and rolled about on the floor attempting to make amusing my internetless existence.

I DIDN'T READ, at least not very efficiently, largely because every book I pulled off the shelf turned out to be rather boring, actually. I keep having problems with this: I get a book from the library/bookfest/wherever and think it's going to be awesome, and then I start reading and I want to fall asleep. If I can struggle through one of them I'll put a review up, but it's hard to put my finger on exactly what I don't like about them... I guess the action isn't moving fast enough, or I just don't like the characters. Either way, I was never excited to start reading, with the result that my biggest reading time--right before bed--was mostly spent sleeping instead.

However, we did just stop at a discount bookstore in the city, which didn't have a lot of selection but DID have a book called Seraphina, which caught my eye because I was pretty sure I'd added it as "to-read" on Goodreads some time before (I was right). Slipping into this book was like breathing for the first time after all those duds, so I can happily report that there will be a review--and quite a favorable one, if the first 50 pages are any indication--quite soon.

I DIDN'T WRITE because, in terms of blog posts, I had so little to write about and no Google to find some topics (that is the lamest thing that has ever come out of my mouth--er, fingertips?). In terms of story, I did do a bit more planning on my new project, through chapter five. I'd love to start writing it but I'm trying to make myself wait until I have a middle and an end planned out or this one will go the way of just about every other story I've started--the recycling bin. I did ad a stunning number of mini-conversations between characters to OneNote, but I'm not sure if that counts.

I DIDN'T TRAVEL nearly as much as I wanted to with Emily and Sarah here and all--it was raining, again we were internetless so once we reached the bounds of my knowledge we were without travel sites telling us where to go (so why didn't you just go to the tourist information centre like a normal person, you ask. Not entirely sure.) We did get out and about a few days, going to Shorncliffe on Wednesday, which I suppose I could write up a post about and probably will if I don't come up with anything else that's interesting.

So--there you have it. My confessions. And from this day forward, as long as I have internet, I solemnly swear to return to my writing of blog posts every day, so help me spatulas.