A couple of years ago, my sister became addicted to ballroom dancing. Tonight, for her birthday, she had a party, inviting us (her family), co-workers, and dancers. A half-dozen or so of the guests were professional dancers (and one professional country-western singer) and she put them to work giving us demonstrations of the Tango, cha-cha, and other dances. Very sexy and fun. But they worked hard at making it not-too-intimidating for those of us with two left feet. Several of the pros asked my mother to dance which she appreciated a lot. She's not a great dancer but she's enthusiastic. Which, I think, runs in our family. None of us are great dancers (although after a couple of years of pretty much 7 nights a week of dancing, my sister Jane is getting pretty good) but we're all enthusiastic and energetic on the dance floor. I try to figure out what the beat is. Sometimes I even succeed.

My sister is not admitting to her age. I won't spoil the party and tell on her.

Before dancing, two of my sisters (not the birthday girl), and one of my sister's friends came over hand helped us plant stuff in our yard. We now have a dwarf orange, a dwarf avacado, and a dwarf fig. I will be very excited if we can get fruit from our own trees. While they were working in our garden, Karen and I continued our struggle with our kitchen walls. We've got them patched and are now doing the tape and mud thing.

I'm going to make DAMNATION OF THE REALM by Joshua Calkins-Treworgy the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. The warlock Vandross gathers the orbs of Eden's Serpent, each one adding to his already considerable power. He summons a host of demons as well as various orcs and other monsters in his goal to succeed where others have failed and unit the world under his rule. Only a ragged band, led by Vandross's former ally, Byron, stands against Vandross...and Byron is a dread knight, a skeletal being with a skull for a head. Exciting fantasy, only $3.99. Learn more, read the excerpt or buy the book here: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_08/damnation_of_the_realm.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe PDF, Mobipocket, eReader and Microsoft Reader format (ask if you need ePUB)). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

rob

A rainy day in southern California. Because I've fallen behind (again) I really HAD to put some contracts in the mail. I've recently agreed to purchase four books, which will take us past the half-way point for the year. One new author and three books by our current authors. I think I'll put one of my own up as well sometime in this half. I'll play that by ear, though. It's certainly been a while since my last.

Karen and I walked to our neighborhood post office, got soaking wet, and found a nice clerk who slid the contracts through a little cardboard slot. In the future, I'm going to be much more careful about squashing my contracts because fitting through the slot meant I saved about half what I paid last time I mailed a contract. Cool.

I'm working on editing our February publication (and trying to come up with a title. I'm torn between LIZARD AT ARMS AND OTHER TALES and something with DEATH (because the personification of DEATH is a major player in Joshua Calkins-Treworgy's latest). Maybe DEATH'S GAMES. I'm open to votes.

Karen and I are still working on our kitchen, trying to get it ready for our cabinet guy. We've got all of the holes patched (except one huge one in the ceiling I'm still working on) but haven't finished the tape and bedding, let alone the paint. More to do tomorrow.

I'm going to make REDOUBT OF GHOSTS by Janine Bruce the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Explorers from the future are traveling through time collecting DNA samples...and where better to find DNA than battlefields. After a stop at Thermopolae, the action turns to Carthage...where the Carthaginians sacrificed hundreds of their babies in the hope of holding off the Roman invasion. Exciting SF action...only $3.99. (Available in HTML, Adobe PDF, eReader, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket/Kindle formats (ask if you need ePub). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_08/redoubt_of_ghosts.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

Rob

Karen has started a new book but I'm still struggling with how to end the one I wrote most of during NaNoWriMo. (I wrote my 50K words but the book is significantly longer than that). I know where I want to be and I know where I am now, but I'm not sure of the path to getting there. I think I've made my antagonist sufficiently sympathetic that it'll be hard to kill him off. (Hard for me and for the reader, I hope).

After lunch, Karen and I drove (back) to Home Depot and bought some concrete drywall. It's this stuff you put down for tiles, etc. It's heavier and more solid than drywall, and doesn't fall apart when it gets wet. There's semi-waterproof drywall but the Home Depot tile guy recommended this stuff. We have huge holes in our wall where our cabinets used to be and I patched about half of them. If it weren't for things like pipes and electrical connections, it would have been a lot faster. Tomorrow I'll finish (after Tai Chi).

I've been playing a bit of on-line bridge (I'm trying to get the non-gold points I need for my life master). I seem to run in spurts--recently it's been a very bad spurt. I cheated and played three times yesterday (2 is my limit) so I only played once today. Once was enough...I was horrid.

I'm going to make AFTER THE DRAGON by Wendy Palmer the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Trick is the chosen high-priest of the goddess of luck...which is unlucky for him, he hates the job. When he gets drafted to help a dark-elf through a light-elf forest, Trick realizes exactly how bad his luck can get. An intriguing and exciting fantasy. Only $3.99 (available in HTML, Adobe PDF, Mobipocket, eReader and Microsoft Readerformats). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_08/after_the_dragon.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

rob

In the publishing business, the only time you catch up on submissions is when people stop submitting. During my move, however, I had fallen behind. Partly this was because I was often without adequate internet service, busy with move stuff (it's hard to get much reading done while driving across the country in a u-haul truck) or trying to figure out the paperwork I needed to move here. It was also partly because my eBookWise somehow got packed and I had to do all of my submission reading on the computer. This slows things down because I have other things to do during my computer time and because I wasn't able to read submissions during my normal submission-reading down-times.

Which is pretty much the way it is all over the publishing world. Although finding new projects and new authors is the most important thing we do, it's also the most time-consuming and often not fun (I have to write many more rejections than I can acceptances). In New York, editors tend to read submissions on their subway commutes, which is what I used to do in Dallas, taking light rail to my job at the bridge studio. Since I unpacked my eBookWise, I've been pretty much concentrated on getting up to date on my submission stack. I'm now up to December, which means I'm safely within the three month guideline I set myself and promise my authors. I hope to get it down to less than that if I can. Being able to read anywhere is exciting. Which is one reason I believe that reading devices will continue to be important.

The saga of the money-pit house continues tomorrow. Our cabinet guy (Guillermo) is coming over tomorrow to haul out our existing cabinets. We'lll then have a week to patch the walls, paint, etc., and get ready and then he'll come with our new cabinets and hang them. I guess we'll be without a sink for that period, which is not real convenient.

HARD LESSONS by Vanessa Knipe went live on Fictionwise today. They're having a big sale so you can buy it for cheap. If you're interested, follow this link. It's important to have sales early to move to the best-seller's list so if you're thinking about this great book, do us and yourself a favor by buying it now.

Ficbot, a frequent commenter over at the Teleread blog has a new site highlighting good cheap books. I'm happy that BooksForABuck.com books are well represented. Check it out here: http://sites.google.com/site/freecheapbooks/home.

I'm going to make THE CARPATHIAN SHADOWS Vol. One by Lea Schizas (editor) the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. A tourist group visits a castle in Transylvania and discovers more than they dreamed of. Dark and vivid. Only $3.99. Learn more, read the excerpt or buy the book here: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_07/carpatian_shadows_vol1.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe PDF, eReader, Mobipocket and Microsoft Reader formats (ask if you need ePub or Sony LRF). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

Rob

I've always had more interest in reading than money, which is one reason that, when I started a publishing company, I decided I'd concentrate on affordable fiction. In grad school, I remember scouring the shelves at the "Little Professor" bookstore in College Park, Maryland, looking for science fiction and fantasy books that were priced below a dollar. There was a lot of inflation back then but not so much in the pay received by teaching assistants, so when the price went from $0.95 to $1.99 almost overnight, it came as a shock. Today, of course, it's hard to find a paperback listed much under $6.99 with many of them much higher. It's also hard to find eBooks for much less which is where BooksForABuck.com came in.

Anyway, along the lines of finding bargains, I thought I'd pass this one along. For this weekend only (ending midnight Sunday), All Romance eBooks (http://www.allromanceebooks.com/) and their general fiction division, OmniLit (http://www.omnilit.com/) are having a 50% off sale...and they're still paying full royalties to publishers. You'll need to use the special secret code to get the discount though, so, here it is: SBTBARe1. You can buy books from BooksForABuck.com and many other publishers including most of the big-name NY presses. Check it out.

I wanted to talk about the new Apple iPad. I've never understood why the tablet-style computer hasn't taken off. Something bigger than an old-fashioned PDA, capable of running real software, yet lightweight and portable, with a decent battery life, seemed like a natural solution. Give it a bluetooth keyboard and it could be a writing machine. Leave the keyboard packed up and it's a reader. To date, though, tablet-style computers have been overpriced and bloated. I'm intrigued by Apple's approach although I'm not sure it's quite right either. I like the size and form factor. The color screen isn't really necessary for eBook reading, but it doesn't hurt. And ten hours of battery (if it really is...no laptop I've ever owned held a charge worth beans no matter how many hours they claimed) is pretty good. Still, it isn't a full computer, doesn't run Apple's OS but the OS from their phone, can only run one application at a time (what if I'm reading and want to look up something in Google?). The price is twice as high as the Kindle and the data plan, included with the Kindle, is an extra $20 or so a month. I'm not sure if this product is the answer, but I think, five years from now, we'll all finally be using some sort of multipurpose tablets as our primary computers (and primary reading devices).

If I were Amazon, I'd respond by (1) stressing the built-in data capabilities; (2) improving the built-in browser so the Kindle becomes a more effective multi-purpose device; (3) continuing their aggressive price reduction program; (5) making sure I offer a Kindle for iPad ASAP, and (6) adding a Kindle/Color which would compete more directly in the multifunction market. I'd also stress the lower prices. If a million people buy the iPad and most of them shop for books from Amazon, who won that battle?

Then there's the eBookWise. Fictionwise is now offering the eBookWise for only $89.95. (http://www.ebookwise.com/) which is a third the price of the Kindle and a sixth that of the iPad. If you're looking for a good basic reader, it's hard to argue with that kind of number (although you will want to check to see if your favorite books are available for it...not all are). I've run over my USB cable often enough that I had problems getting it to work so I finally fired up the built-in modem. Took a bit longer to download my books than using the USB would have but not that long. Good deal...I've just added another year or so of life to my eBookWise.

I spent Friday and Saturday in Carlsbad, CA playing bridge with my mother. We did not set the world on fire. I hope I was nice.

I'm going to make SWORD OF THE DAJJAL by C. Scott Saylors the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. When the Hegemonydiscovers a new trade route, an backwater planet becomes the hottest destination in space...and the Alliance is intent on making sure that they don't find themselves cut off from the resources they need. Exciting space opera, only $3.99 (HTML, Adobe PDF, Mobipocket/Kindle, eReader and Microsoft Reader formats). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_07/sword_dajjal.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

Rob

More than a month ago, Karen and I went on-line to check on the California DMV and discovered you can make reservations...which we did. We couldn't get in until today so we headed off.

When we got there, we were told that our Texas drivers licenses were insufficient. We needed either passports or birth certificates. So, back home we went (but they let us stand in the apointment line again, at least). It turns out, our appointment only helped for the first line. Once you get through that, you wait in a bullpen (with seats at least) until you can go up and pay your money and take your eye test. Then, you get to go take a test. Karen learned that her birth certicate wasn't good enough because it had her maiden name rather than married name. She didn't change her name after she divorced her first husband so she needed either her old marriage license or a passport with her correct name. I actually got my license but we headed back home and found Karen's passport (expired but that didn't bother them). Anyway, we now have California license plates (smog test yesterday), and temporary CA drivers licenses. For those without appointments, the wait must be horrible. The line stretched way outside the building and parking was impossible. I know CA is having budget problems but you'd think the DMV would be a profit center.

Do you know the blood alcohol level for drunkenness for those under 21? I didn't. It's .08%.

Did you see the info on the new Apple iPad? What do you think? Do we need a $500 tablet computer? I think it looks pretty cool...but where are the portability, ease of holding levels cut in/cut out. Are they surrounding the Kindle with the iPod/Phone on the lower end and iPad on the upper, or are they missing the sweet spot?

I'm still working on submissions, still trying to catch up. Tomorrow, Karen and I head down to Carlsbad. I'm going to play bridge with my mother. I'm getting near 300 master points. When I get there, I won't be able to play in the 299er (fewer than 300 points) games any more and I don't think my mother is really ready for the open games so I'm happy to have this chance to play with her before it's too late.

I'm going to make A FULL DECK OF ZOMBIES by Michael Kechula the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Zombies, aliens, donuts, and more zombies populate this collection of weird stories by master of flash fiction Michael Kechula. Only $3.99 (HTML, Adobe PDF, eReader, Mobipocket/Kindle, Microsoft Reader and ePub). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_07/full_deck_of_zombies.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

rob

I spend a lot of time editing. I edit my own stuff, I edit the books I buy for BooksForABuck.com and I also edit for Karen. Her latest is for Harlequin SuperRomance. It's a romance with a strong mystery/suspense element--something Harlequin SuperRomance doesn't do that much but Harlequin American where Karen has been writing doesn't do at all. So, she's excited about her recent sale and the launch book in her new series. She sent it to me yesterday and I've been working on it ever since.

Karen is a talented writer. Which is absolute proof that a writer should never let a book out of her/his sight without giving it to an editor for review. I haven't found anything glaring...Karen is too talented for that. Still, she's rewritten this story several times, added details, changed other details. Then, too, all writers fall into the habit of picking on certain favorite words. And inadvertent puns (Can I have a beer, I'm bushed) are the bane of writing as they will pull the reader out of the suspension of disbelief faster than anything I can imagine. Finally, after you've read something more than a couple of times, little things like missing words vanish because the words were there once...and your brain fills them in for you. I've read authors who've gotten too big to allow themselves to be edited. All I can say is, I hope I never get that much of a swelled head. If you've got a favorite author who's suddenly gotten messy or long-winded, chances are she/he got too uppity to put up with those cruddy editors any more. Karen isn't that way. She loves to be edited, which is why I drop everything to do it for her.

Karen and I did get out of the house for a bit, hitting the local newspaper (Long Beach Grunion Gazette) for a DBA ad (California requires these) and then depositing a check and worked a little on submissions.

I'm going to make A MATTER IN TIME by Michael Faris the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. The crew of the airship Judy struggles with alien invaders, dimensional passages and the mysterious artifact they were sent out to discover. Intriguing science fiction/fantasy. Only $3.99. (HTML, Adobe PDF, eReader, Mobipocket/Kindle, Microsoft Reader, Sony Reader LRF and ePub formats). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_06/matter_time_dooda2.html. Here's the cover:

rob

Yesterday I had a highly energetic day. The big deal, I completed publication of WHO KILLED MICHAEL DOUGLAS, the first book in a new hardboiled mystery series by Michael Paulson. Putting out a new book always gives me a sense of accomplishment as well as hope that this one will take off, bringing in zillions of dollars and great fame. So far, the fame and zillions haven't materialized, but hope springs eternal.

It was still raining yesterday in California. Karen and I had planned to take the train to visit my sisters who are returning from a couple of weeks in Laos but we were unable to find a park-and-ride so we ended up driving all the way to Koreatown, Los Angeles where my other sister (the one who didn't take the trip) lives. Today all three of my sisters came over, kidnapped Karen, and headed to Home Depot (something of a regular hangout) where they made Karen buy plants which they then planted. In addition to some flowers and things, we now have an orange tree, a fig tree and an avacado tree. I'm especially excited about the fruit trees. I think it would be beyond cool to wander in the back yard and decide what to pick for lunch. I think I'll add some grapes to the assortment at some time although I'm busy enough that I don't think I'll take up winemaking. I went through a period where I was brewing beer but it's a fair amount of work.

I felt a bit of a role reversal as I ended up cooking dinner while my sisters worked their buns off in my yard.

I'm struggling against addiction to on-line bridge. I want to get to life master and I need about 23 more points (as of January 1) including .34 (or thereabouts) gold. I can't get gold on-line but I can get points. I only play at the club once a week and even if I do well, the points aren't exactly great (I came in second in an open game on Monday and earned .6 points). At ten bucks a pop, it's an expensive way to get points. On-line, it only costs a buck--and there's always a new game starting. If I mess up in one game, as soon as it is over I can click into another. I'm limiting myself to two a day. If I do well in the first, I stop. If I don't, I'm allowed to play another but that's all.

I'm going to make WHO KILLED MICHAEL DOUGLAS by Michael Paulson the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. When a priest visits lawyer Chambers Elliot with a story about a 30-year-old murder, a confession and a current scam, Elliot is both intrigued and suspicious. The priest's murder and the apparent involvement of the Portello crime family makes Chambers wish he'd stayed clear but he can't help believing there's more involved than a long-ago murder. Paulson has launched a new hard-boiled mystery series and this is a great start. Although the regular price is a highly affordable $3.99, I'm pricing this complete eNovel at only $1.00 between now and February 23. Here's the URL: http://www.booksforabuck.com/mystery/mys_10/who_killed_michael_douglas.html.

Check out the classy cover Karen put together:

rob

We've had storms all week. Today I rode my bike home from Tai Chi through pools of water at least six inches deep. I got wet. Still, it was a nice class. I like to have an organized exercise activity. I plan on doing workouts on my own but unless I have a firm schedule and people who would notice I was missing, I tend to miss them. This evening, another storm rolled through with rain and maybe hail (sounded like but I didn't see it). Karen was feeling punky so we didn't do our planned grocery shopping trip. Bad news when it comes to tomorrow's breakfast.

Two of my sisters have been in Laos for the past couple of weeks, coming home tomorrow. I'll head over there and visit tomorrow, then have the family to dinner at our place on Saturday. The house is still full of holes. They'll get to see how the other half lives.

I'm busy trying to catch up on submissions. I've got through the end of 2009 loaded on my eBookWise and am working through them. I've also discovered robot bridge on BBO. With robot bridge, your partner and both opponents are robots but everyone else sitting in your (south) seat is a human and their results are what you're playing against. The advantages...you can only blame yourself when something goes wrong. The robots may not be wonderful but they're consistent and predictable. Also, if you play quickly, you don't have to wait for what seems like hours for other people to finish their hands so you can move on to the next one. I generally have one disaster per session (twelve boards). When I have two, I lose. When I have only one, I finish in the top group (this afternoon, I won for the first time in the robot game although I have won partner games on BBO before). Compared to playing at the Long Beach Bridge Center with my nice partner, I finish in the top group more often and get more points for less money. On the other hand, it lacks the social aspect of pridge at a club. My Dallas partner, Therese, turned me on to the robots. She's impatient and loves a game that she can play and be done with.

I'm going to make ANDROMAKHE by Kristina O'Donnelly the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. In a fantasy re-telling of the story of the Trojan Wars, from the female perspective, O'Donnelly lets us see the world through Andromakhe's (Hektor's wife's) eyes. Powerful, emotional and magical. Only $3.99 for volume one or $5.99 for first and second volumes. Learn more here: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_06/andromakhe_vol-I.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader, Aportis Reader and eReader formats). Here's the cover:

rob

Author Michael Paulson sent me back his corrections on my edits. Which, you'd think, should be the end of it. I once read a book called "The Mythical Man Month." (The title is based on the concept of man-months which is used in software development to determine how long it'll take to create a program) Anyway, the book said that writing is anti-enthropic but maintenance (editing) is enthropic. It takes more and more energy to improve and each improvement adds an opportunity to introduce error. As part of my editing, I'd introduced errors. An extra word hadn't been cut from deleted sentence. Two words were repeated, a comma was followed by a period. Which meant, I spent the bulk of the day fixing the fixes I did last week. It is, unfortunately, a part of the process. This evening, I sent Michael back the re-edited (hopefully final) draft. He'll probably find another error or two himself.

I've also been editing my own new-new near future and I'm almost to where I stopped abruptly a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I've written my characters into a real mess and now I need to figure out how to write them back out of it. Right now, I'm not sure it's possible.

Today it rained. Now I know there's a song about it never raining in Southern California and we go for months at a time without a drop. But today, the street outside our house turned into a river. The water was way up on the sidewalk and into our yard and the cars parked in front of our house had water well over the base of their doors. There were even tornado warnings although I don't know that there were any actual tornados (Karen says in Texas you don't get tornado warnings until an actual funnel cloud is spotted. Anyone know?) Anyway, it made for an exciting afternoon.

I'm going to make THE ELDWARVES by Rob Clague the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. They're half-elf and half-dwarf, not really trusted by either race, but when a wizard drops in and claims that two young eldwarves may be key to prophesy, the stage is set for adventure. Only $3.99 (available in HTML, Adobe PDF, Palm Reader and Microsoft Reader formats (if you want Mobipocket/Kindle, ePub or Sony LRF, let me know and I'll add these). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_05/eldwarves.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Jane Graves and Karen Leabo):

Rob