Kindle Bargain: The Koran/Quran

Since there have been several Bibles highlighted today, I thought I would also point out that there is a translation of the Koran/Quran at a bargain price as well. The Quran - A Pure and Literal Translation ($0.95) translated by The Monotheist Group, claims to be an unbiased, non-denominational, literal translation. Of course, literal translations often fail to convey the intended meaning, as even in the same culture there are cultural drifts and round-about ways of describing things can change (after all, how many of us have heard dozens of, often hilarious, guesses as to what ails those with "the vapors" in recent classical literature?). Nonetheless, the few reviews of this translation are mostly positive: one complained of the classification in Amazon's store, nothing to do with the book at all, which had not even been purchased or read by the "reviewer", while the only two-star review wanted to see the original arabic as well, while the remaining reviews are all five stars. If you just are curious as to the text of the Koran (after all, we see references in news stories daily) or want a translation for daily use, this one seems to fit the bill.

Synopsis
Over the course of centuries, Islam has undergone a process of sub-categorization into numerous denominations. As such, nearly all translators have belonged to one school of thought or another, allowing the influence of such denominations to come across in their interpretation of specific words or verses, and how they choose to translate them.
The Quran - A Pure and Literal Translation is the result of a group effort by people who do not belong to any denomination, and for the first time in many centuries, are simply proud to call themselves Muslims as God had named us centuries ago.
The Quran - A Pure and Literal Translation is also unique in the fact that it uses neither footnotes nor comments, letting the text speak for itself and delivering to the reader as close a rendition of the pure message of the Quran as physically possible.

About the Translators
The Monotheist Group is a pen name used by the Free-Minds Organization which is an Islamic reform movement that began in 1997, dedicated to the promotion of God alone. The movement seeks the abandonment of all sectarian innovations through a return to the principles of the Qur'an. The Free-Minds Organization has attracted the attention of a number of think tanks (namely the Rand Corporation in its Building Moderate Muslim Network report) as well as some noted authors in the field of Islamic Reform.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Afraid by Jack Kilborn has been marked down from the $5.59 initial price to $1.99.

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? YOU WILL BE . . .

Welcome to Safe Haven, Wisconsin. Miles from everything, with one road in and out, this peaceful town has never needed a full-time police force. Until now . . .

A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven's only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. And each will have this harrowing thought: Maybe death hasn't come to their town by accident . . .

April Orbit Dollar Book: Winterbirth

Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

Synopsis
An uneasy truce exists between the thanes of the True Bloods.

Now, as another winter approaches, the armies of the Black Road march south, from their exile beyond the Vale of Stones. For some, war will bring a swift and violent death. Others will not hear the clash of swords or see the corpses strewn over the fields. They instead will see an opportunity to advance their own ambitions. But all, soon, will fall under the shadow that is descending.

For, while the storm of battle rages, one man is following a path that will awaken a terrible power in him -- and his legacy will be written in blood.

So far, the pricing has come down at Booksonboard (Adobe Digital Edition only) and Sony. It should drop soon also at Fictionwise (ereader) and Amazon. Amazon has been the latest with this promotion every month, so far. They've already announced the bargain pricing on their deals page, but the listing itself hasn't caught up, so just keep checking it.

Update: Amazon now has this listed at $1, so one-click away.

April Kindle News

This really seems to be the month for Kindle and book news. First up, some exciting news about the Kindle itself:

Amazon Kindle coming to Walmart by the end of the month

and a related announcement from Amazon on the new scope of their Cloud computing (which is where all your Kindle books live, when they say they are archived): Up, Up, and Away - Cloud Computing Reaches for the Sky.

It seems that other attorneys are watching the Kindle with interest (and not just in connection with any TTS or DMCA lawsuits). All 800 attorneys and 200 Paralegals at an undisclosed BigLaw firm are to receive Kindle 2's, preloaded with the entire National Reporter Sets, US Code, CFR and Federal Register. No official word on whether they'll be able to download fiction as well (or will have to have a second, personal Kindle for that purpose), but the firm looks to pay for the Kindle's just in personnel reductions in the mail room, while getting more space to use for trial prep instead of storing musty old books.

A major announcement that Kenyon Review Acquires Random House will be sure to please Kindle fans who have been boycotting their books due to the TTS (text-to-speech) controversy. Let's hope the new guys will let Tom read to us anytime we want.

The financial crisis continues to pressure the publishing industry, this time driving a nearly two century old newspaper online: Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink. Not only will their costs be lowered, but the 140 character limitation of the new format is hoped to be responsible for getting people to read the news once again. All those paragraph or two articles, full of pesky details apparently detracted from the headlines, so only headlines will be retained. This also eliminates the personnel costs of those reporters, copy editors and fact checkers, leaving only the headline writer's as a major obstacle to a cost-free edition in the future.

Harper Studio is also making a major move to Twitter and has announced a new ebook pricing policy for twitter reviewers. Other reviewers are feeling the pressure to print only glowing reviews, as evidenced by the newly revised Mrs. Giggles review site, features lots of fluffy bunnies. Those who fail to comply or reveal secrets of the publishing trade risk being shut down, as evidenced by the takedown notice at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

In a stunning victory for an indie/self-publishing press, comes this news:

J.K. Rowling Publishes Harry Potter Ebooks on Smashwords

Best of all are the prices, almost as low as a paperback, but which let's JK pocket even more profit per book, which was the main reason she considered the move.

Another author has finally released a long awaited book, but as a series of novelletes rather than in a single tome: George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons to release later this month

Lastly, if you are tired of all your bibliophile and librarian friends complaining that your ereader (Kindle, Sony or whatever) lacks that book smell, be sure to check out the new and improved Smell of Books. Frankly, I don't see the appeal of those volatiles from the ink (like new car smell and new house smell, no doubt these cause cancer and many other illnesses that we haven't discovered yet), but at least most don't say they prefer Old Book Smell as that seems to be a blend of mold, stale tobacco and random spoiled food (at least from what you find in used bookstores and the library) or Eau de Cat. If your friends are smelling that on their books all the time, I can see why they prefer the smell of new books (but suggest they buy some flowers or step outside now and then). It seems I'm not alone in being tired of this argument, as these articles also take on the issue: Enough With The Smell of Books, Okay? and Smell of Books Fails the Sniff Test.

Well, that wraps up today's news coverage - be sure to tune back in next April Fool's Day for an update...

Free Ebook: Beekeeper's Apprentice

An Agatha Award Best Novel Nominee, and named One of the Century's Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association, The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or On the Segregation of the Queen/A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King is available as a free download (PDF only) today (April 1st) only and that's no Fool's Joke. Visit the author's site for the PDF download (the link was updated from earlier and should now work). You'll have to convert the PDF to read it on your Kindle -- it isn't available yet in the Kindle Store.

Update: I have my copy of the book. Since it's the printer's markup version of a PDF, it will be nearly impossible to convert for reading on the Kindle. There are four PDF's in total and you'd have to cut/paste every page into a document (word would work) and then convert that into a mobi formatted book (or email to your Kindle). Way too much effort, in my opinion. So, either read it on your computer (even on a Sony Reader, which supports PDF, it's going to look just as bad) or wait until they get proper ebooks released for this series. It's a shame that they didn't take the tiny bit of effort that would have been needed to at least produce a PDF ebook for their giveaway, as this would have brought them thousands of readers to get hooked on a new series, which would have increased their sales (as has happened with nearly every author that has done this in the last year at Amazon and even on their own web sites). Instead, everyone gets a hard to read (and bloated in size) series of PDF's and will probably give up before getting thru the book.