Reminder: National Kindle & Koffee Day

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the "official" Kindle and Koffee Day, to be celebrated by taking your Kindle to a local Starbucks or other coffee shop and reading or trying to read your book while showing off your Kindle to those who happen by. See my earlier post for some suggestions of books that are suitable for the occasion (or just read the latest bargains you've picked up for free).

The people over on the Amazon Kindle forums, where the idea originated, have a list of confirmed locations (Kindle & Koffee Locations), but it is by no means an exhaustive list. I've seen messages all over the internet this week and people are meeting up at Starbucks, Pete's, Caribou, various bookstores with coffee shops (Barnes & Noble and Borders both use Starbucks Coffee) and local coffee shops. So head on down tomorrow morning and have a cup of coffee while you read. You might end up showing off your Kindle; if not, it's a relaxing hour to start off your weekend.

Free Romance: Uncovered Passion

Who couldn't use a little more romance in their weekend? Especially when it is free. Christopher and Melissa Golliday have released Uncovered Passion ($0.80), the prequel to Uncovered Thoughts ($4.79) as a free read on their website.

Sasha Verochka is an FSB agent assigned to her first mission. Her mission? Uncovering the motives for why a handsome, former Marine is in Moscow. Being telepathic, she never thought it would be so hard to reveal the truth about Garrick Caldwell. But then again, she'd never experienced desire like this.

Now time is running out as her superiors want answers she can't make herself find. For in doing so, she just might lose her one chance at passion.

Their story continues in Uncovered Thoughts:

Six years after her explosive introduction into passion, Sasha Verochka is still haunted by what could have been and will never be. But right now, she can’t linger on that, because her little sister, Nadia has fallen prey to sex slave traffickers masquerading as a modeling agency. Now Sasha must move Heaven and Earth to save her. Garrick Caldwell is a tall, sexy, shape shifting CIA agent, what’s wrong? He’s getting bored with it all. Suddenly, the mysterious beauty he once intimately explored is back in his life. A rash decision to help the telepathic Russian recover her sister throws them together in the most delicious of ways.Together again by coincidence, neither understands the fierce attraction they have for one another. But will they decide whether to risk it all to ever find true, lasting happiness?

Download your free copy of Uncovered passion in PRC (Kindle), DOC (Word) or PDF format HERE.

Fantasy Friday

First, from Jeff Inlo, the entire Delver Magic series (Sanctum's Breach, Throne of Vengeance and Balance of Fate) is available as a free download (and in 8 different formats; get the Mobipocket version for your Kindle), as well as one outside the series, Alien Cradle (which is technically Science fiction).

A rolling tremor passes through the land of Uton signaling a return of long absent magic as well as an ancient evil that accompanies it. Ryson Acumen, purebred delver, senses the changes throughout the land. In his investigations, he learns that legends he considered fables hold more truth than fantasy. The delver encounters elves and learns the Sphere of Ingar, a talisman that captured all magical energies long ago, is free from its tomb in Sanctum Mountain. As violent, evil creatures return to shred the very fabric of reality, the sphere gains awareness and chooses to spew corrupted magical energies to obliterate all life.

The sphere must be destroyed, but it rests within Sanctum, a hollow mountain with a single path to its center. The way to the sphere remains defended by devices created long ago, forged by members of each race to thwart entry to the mountain's core. Those that wish to defeat the sphere must not only overcome these barriers, they must conquer the mistrust which has flourished during the long period of separation. Human, elf, dwarf, algor and delver must reunite to defeat the obstacles that now protect the sphere. Magic, though corrupt, is harnessed to fight off strange beasts of evil that once again walk this land. Once inside Sanctum, representatives of each race face the secrets of the ages that once undone will change their lives forever.

The Children of Odin - The Book of Northern Myths ($0.99) by Padraic Colum

Master storyteller Padraic Colum's rich, musical voice captures all the magic and majesty of the Norse sagas in his retellings of the adventures of the gods and goddesses who lived in the Northern paradise of Asgard before the dawn of history.

Here are the matchless tales of All-Father Odin, who crosses the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard and sacrifices his right eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom; of Thor, whose mighty hammer defends Asgard; of Loki, whose mischievous cunning leads him to treachery against the gods; of giants, ragons, dwarfs and Valkyries; and of the terrible last battle that destroyed their world.

Blood Will Tell ($3.99) by Jean Lorrah

The change in Brandy Mather's life begins when a corpse of a very old man is discovered on the campus of Jackson Purchase State University. There is no sign of foul play. On the body is the identification of Professor Everett Land, but Land is a young man. Dental records show that the body found on campus is that of Everett Land. It doesn't make sense; Land was a healthy man in his forties, seen by faculty and students looking perfectly normal just hours before his death. The corpse is of a man over 90, maybe over 100, who died of multiple systemic failure due to advanced age. Brandy enlists the help of Dan Martin from the Computer Science department to search records of Everett Land's past. They discover that about thirty years ago he assumed a new identity, and that under his old name he had reached his sixties. Despite the continuing mystery of the age discrepancy -- how could a man actually in his sixties, seventies and eighties possibly pass for a man in his twenties, thirties and forties? -- the police chief declares the case closed and tells Brandy to get on with her other cases. Brandy can't let go of it, though. Other cases require her time and energy, but when she can, she continues to work on the Land case. Meanwhile, she becomes more and more involved with Dan Martin. Soon she falls in love. Martin, though, has his own mysteries -- the most important one to Brandy being why he does not make love to her. Sometimes he seems to have supernatural powers, but she doesn't believe in such nonsense. Besides, nothing he does cannot be accounted for as his being especially strong and healthy, particularly intuitive and persuasive ... can it? Dan Martin is not who he says he is. Blood Will Tell is not just your standard good-guy variation on the worn-out vampire story. This book asks the question: what if the vampire is not at the top of the food chain?

Drops of Crimson is an online fantasy magazine. It's a shame that you can't get a little bit better format to read on tke Kindle (the site uses HTML and each story/article is on it's own page), especially now that the editor has started using a Kindle 2.

Book Review: The Truth About You

Thomas Nelson provided me a review copy of The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success, by Marcus Buckingham. I'm not sure how well this one will translate to the digital world (but it is available on Kindle), as there is both a DVD and a memo pad included in the book. The first thing you are instructed to do is to watch the film (22 minutes). At various points, you use the two-sided memo pad to record activities that you love (that made you feel strong) and those you loathed (you felt weak, bored, etc). Any memo pad could be used for the exercise, of course, but you will miss a third or so of the content without the DVD. The book itself is quite short, at 110 pages, so it isn't one you'll be reading for hours each day. Instead, there are short sections that require to think, reflect and act. Rather than trying to work on your weaknesses and eliminate them, this program has you work on your strengths, find jobs that use them and then carve out that job over time to match you, rather than trying to mold yourself to the job.

One thing I didn't like about the book was the binding. The DVD holder and memo pad holder are the front and back covers of the book, so you are stuck holding the fairly awkward result when reading the book, which also won't lay flat. I think with a bit of coaxing, you could separate the book from the outer hard cover (but, you'll want to be careful not to tear it up doing so), but it still isn't likely to lie flat). You can blow thru the book in an hour, but working the exercises with the memo pad will take you longer; anywhere from a few hours, to the rest of your career/life.

Book Description
An Experience to Revolutionize Your Life from Marcus Buckingham - the World's Leading Expert on Career Success!

Want to know what you are supposed to do with your life? The Truth About You is an experience to unlock life's toughest questions. The process this revolutionary toolkit teaches will create higher satisfaction and performance in life and work. This cutting-edge product includes:

Enhanced DVD. A high-energy film reveals how and why you must discover and prioritize your strengths and includes access to a wealth of downloadable resources, including five bonus Strength Tip videos.

Interactive Book. With insightful exercises and tried-and-true life wisdom no one else will tell you, the book takes you to the location of your most powerful and unchanging talents.

ReMemo Pad. Designed for a life on-the-go, the ReMemo Pad becomes your companion to complete the task of revealing your strengths using your everyday experiences.

Perfect for high school and college students, young professionals, and people simply wanting to revitalize their career, The Truth About You helps you develop the kind of clarity and passion that drives a successful and satisfying future. Marcus Buckingham will help you discover the real truth, the truth about you . . . it will be your secret to success.

Optimized for KindleDX

I've started seeing this tag attached to books in the Amazon Kindle store, Optimized for KindleDX and there is even a page set up where Amazon is advertising books that are supposed to be specifically for the KindleDX: Featured Books for Kindle DX. Here's an example of the list for one such book:


The question is, what does it really mean for a book to be Optimized for KindleDX? It may mean that there are a lot of pictures in the book, as the one above has, but I have a number of books in my library with a lot of figures and they don't have this tag. The official explanation is that the book "has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on Kindle DX's larger screen, but can still be viewed on other devices." Fair enough.

The Featured Books for Kindle DX page says that "cookbooks, travel guides and computer books" will be optimized for the KindleDX, but many of the page's links are for the regular Kindle book sections (books featured on the page are all "optimized", it appears); you have to click on each book to see if the tag has been applied to it's description. The link for "computer books", for example has two versions of WordPress For Dummies; the newer one is Optimized for KindleDX and is marked down to $9.99, while the older edition is both higher priced and presumably would not look as good (as well as being 18 months out of date, which is a lifetime in the computer industry).

I wondered if any of my books were optimized? I checked on The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life, a book with one of the most complicated layouts of those I've purchased and one that, although readable on the K1 and K2, could benefit from the larger screen of the KindleDX. Alas, it doesn't have the tag, so is not "optimized". The version I have also has no table of contents or links to figures, which the current version has, as I cannot download the latest version of the book, even though that's what new purchasers would receive.

I checked a few cookbooks, thinking perhaps their layout might be complicated enough to benefit: Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back, Selections from Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library, Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice: A Management View and Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpacking and Paddling. None of them sport the Optimized for KindleDX tag.


In fact, out of 361 Kindle Books, I found exactly four that are Optimized for KindleDX:

Kindle Shortcuts and Kindle-friendly Websites. This concise Kindle user guide describes keyboard shortcuts and hidden Kindle features for both Kindle 2 and Kindle 1. Updated 04/28/2009

How To Do Your Own Dentistry

Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods

Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond

Of these, note that the first is about how to use the Kindle 2 and Kindle 1, but has been updated fairly recently, the last is a free public domain book that lists a number of illustrations, but actually has none (is it possible that those with a DX will get the illustrations?) and has practically no formatting, the second is a short comic strip (the one most likely to benefit from the large screen). Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods is one I'd expect to benefit from an overhaul (it really isn't very usable on the K1 or even the K2), but I really could not identify any particular feature that distinguishes it from many other complex layout books I've purchased. It is a fairly large book (the others are not), but not as large as many that don't have the tag.

The KindleDX starts shipping in a week. We'll have to wait until them to confirm how these books differ on the various Kindle devices (I do know that some books in the Kindle store have color and appear differently on the iPhone, for example). Will those who use a KindleDX get the same book and just have more screen real-estate for viewing pictures and charts (and if so, why is Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond marked with this tag, but The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life is not?). Or will those with a KindleDX get an entirely different book, with pictures, tables and other layout features omitted from the basic reader device versions?