September 5, 2011
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Xangan Authors on Kindle
Kindle is here to stay.
There’s satisfaction in the feel of a paper book, a permanence and solidity that makes the contents real in a way that the glowing screen cannot, for it has endurance. We own it without any dependence on the uncertainties of the internet or cable, we grasp it by hand and own it intimately, for when we dive into it it describes a private world, even though a million people may have a copy. And with physical ownership comes responsibility, for if we loose it – it’s gone!
When we handle the reality of paper, there’s a relaxation from the tyranny of the screen, a retreat into a easier world where the permanence of ink on paper gives something that the uncertain sophistication of chips and electrons cannot. And there is the concentration that comes from lack of choice, for a book contains only the story that it contains.
None the less, Kindle is here to stay.
It seems that recently a bunch of Xangan authors have acknowledged this, and I’ve listed them below. As the list of Xangans published in paper was in alphabetical order, I’ve shot for reverse order here, in the interestof fairness plus I’m cursed with a W, which has annoyed me all my life.
Liz Zelvin
Graham Worthington
Lynn Voedisch
Smoky Trudeau 
Vila Spiderhawk
Smaranda
Jeff Markowitz 
Jerry J Davis
Melinda Clayton
Comments (26)
I never thought I’d embrace Kindle, but I love it. I especially love the free phone app. Now I have a book with me whenever I find myself waiting – even when it’s unexpected. I’ve been reading a Jane Austen novel on my phone before a movie starts, when I pick up my daughter, when we were stuck in a 100 mile traffic jam recently… I’m not sure how I survived a half-century without a Kindle and a smart phone.
I’ve yet to see one except as a picture. There are issues about getting it into Canada, and the best way is to get a friend in the USA to buy one for you. They have it in the UK though. What many people may not know is that you can buy a kindle edition as a download onto a PC or laptop.
I’m not really a big tech fan, but I like mine, though once the battery craps out on it, I doubt I’ll buy another one because I’m sick of batteries dying. It’s nice especially for long, hefty books and for getting free books with the copyrights ended on a paper-like screen, rather than the computer.
@loner_writer - I’ve heard that the batteries last a long time on these things. Of course, “long time” is relative.
@darkoozeripple - Yeah, they go quite a while on a charge. 20 hrs, maybe with hours to spare.
My brother purchased one this year and I fell in love. I admit, holding a book and flipping the pages will always hold a special place in my heart but the Kindle is incredibly convenient. I love taking it to school with my to read on the bus and during my breaks. It’s definitely easy on the eyes too – it really does look as if you’re reading from a page.
I have yet to upgrade to said Kindle.
@mizz_chan - I’m getting a lot of positive response on the Kindle. I’m surprised at the number of young people who own one – I would have thought they were too broke! I’m going to format “Xangans” for Kindle when I get time. It’ll probably be a long task because of all the pics in it.
@WondersCafe - I don’t even get much time to read, let alone use Kindle.
as are nook, ipad and a number of other readers…
@vexations - yes, it’s getting quite bewildering.
I don’t have time to read either, I guess I just read academic literature these days.
@mizz_chan - I think eventually students will be able to get all their textbooks on an electronic reader, so no more hauling around 50 pounds of books on your back.
@darkoozeripple - It really is a fantastic little gadget. I definitely can’t afford one so long as I’m still in school. Thankfully I have a big brother who can. @saintvi - I’m definitely excited for the day I can shed all my textbooks. At the same time, I’m still a hardcopy kind of girl. I like being able to physically manipulate a text =P.
I love my new Kindle, I got it as a Valentine’s gift from my husband. I have just begun A Game of Thrones. It’s great so far!
And paper burns much brighter than plastic.
I never thought I’d cozy up to eBooks – I’m a paper lover, myself – I even love the smell of a good book! – but I actually find I like reading on my iPad. Who’d of thunk it?
@imTHEmeowMIXcat - we’re smewhat broke. My wife got a Kit-Kat bar.
I got a pony for my birthday! Yay!
another Kindle converter! Awesome. Join the revolution (:
Well, as for the book. In the preview on Amazon the only thing readable is something by John Lindensmith, who is a masturbatory pervert with more than 25 words in his vocabulary. Why should I buy this book? Lindensmith is a fucking wack job. Jeffery Dahmer can write better than John Lindensmith, despite the similarities between the two of them.You’ve got to be fucking joking. What a wasted opportunity. I know lots of people who loathe Lindensmith who will not buy this book despite what looks like a great line up. At least do yourself a favor and put somebody else in the preview on Amazon, Do you think people are going to pay money for it when the only clue they’ve got about what’s between the covers is Looney Lindie?
@Dreckonskyr - patience. I aren’t ignoring you, I’m just busy. But you’ve raised some interesting points. If I was to get into all the ramifications, it would take a long, long time. I’ll ge tbak to you on some of this stuff, but right now I have to make some passable imitation of earning a living.
@nepenthium - Yep. I’m a hitchin’ up the pants and a movin’ with the times.
@Dreckonskyr - As I’m the guy who organised “Xangans,” I have to stand in the middle position. I have to be a flow-through. I wanted to do it for my own reason, which is to somehow give more clout to authors on Xanga, who -, in some cases – are writing better stuff than commercial writers who are making not millions, but tens of millions a year. If you doubt that point, try researching James Patterson, recent income about 30 million, and try reading some of the “Alex Cross” garbage he’s written in the last few years. Then I’ll direct you to a few published Xanga unknowns who are better than this millionaire, who nowadays has his own work ghost-written so that he can turn out about 3 a year. Should I criticise our people while The System ignores us and shovels success down the throats of people like Patterson? I’m not into that.What was the purpose of “Xangans”? To generate clout, and pull authors together. It should be desirable to authors and readers on Xanga that I’m doing this, but is this the case? Authors spend literally hundreds of hours per novel, so obviously they are going to band together to find ways and means to act as a power group, aren’t they? Astoundingly enough, they don’t. One author, who’s old enough to know better than to do the following dumb-ass trick, and who’s got several published – real, touch-the-paper published – posts regularly the same spiel about how unknown, self-published writers are going to sell a few copies to their friends, and that’s all. At any provokation he will repeat this same negative viewpoint in a post, or in a comment. Why? Because that’s all he has the wit to do, I guess. When challenged to say what he thinks we can do to improve this situation, he goes silent. Am I goin to go to his site and rip him a new arsehole? No I’m not. So if JL cooperates by giving me a story, and so do a bunch of other people, I don’t pass judgement either. Those inside the book are those who cooperated by making some effort; those who didn’t aren’t inside.
Thank you for this. Yes, I have been dragged, kicking and screaming all the way, into the wonderful world of Kindle. LOL! But I don’t own one. Yet!
@Dreckonskyr - btw I have little control on how Amazon operates the “Look Inside” feature.