Another author we know is releasing e-books. Andrew Klavan says several of his out-of-print titles are now going to be available digitally, including Agnes Mallory, “the only non-mystery among them,” which was released in the U.K. but never printed in the U.S.
I feel stronger already
How was it that I’ve been on the internet all these years now, and never really noticed Neatorama until today? Where else can you learn vital information like, “How much heavier is your e-book reader after downloading a book?”
Using Einstein’s E=mc² formula, which states that energy and mass are directly related, Prof Kubiatowicz calculated that filling a 4GB Kindle to its storage limit would increase its weight by a billionth of a billionth of a gram, or 0.000000000000000001g.
That’s the basis for my new fitness regimen, right there.
This is supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so I guess I’d better make the most of it. Got some yard work I need to do, and I’m pretty sure there are fewer nice weekends left in 2011 that I care to contemplate. Ideally I should stay in bed again, to kill off this chest thing, but autumn dallies for no man.
Have a good one!
Have You Ever Cheated Death?
Tony’s son asked him if he or his brothers had ever “cheated death” without any embarrassment at the possibility that few people used that phrase. Tony reflects on this and the time he has seen death denied its claims.
It reminds me a time recently when I walked around the neighborhood with my daughters, pulling one or two in a wagon and following the others on their bicycles. One of the bikes had poor brakes, so I worried a little about the hills, but not enough. Even now if I dwell on it, I can work up my fear and self-condemnation, thinking of my daughter speeding down a hill, right in front of a truck, and crashing into the grass beyond. How could I be so naive and nonchalant? She couldn’t slow down on that hill, and if she’d crossed the street a second later, she would have hit the truck. That’s one of many ways I could convince myself that I’m a totally fool.
But the Lord has had mercy on me.
Linus the Reader
Will the Foxes spoil the vineyard?
I feel strange tonight (not because of my bronchial infection, which seems to be clearing up, thank you), but because James Lileks is on Hugh Hewitt’s show, at a blogging convention, joking back and forth with him and various guests, some of them fairly prominent people. And I flash back to the fact that less than a year ago I sat in a radio studio with Lileks myself, joking with him on a lower plane. It somehow doesn’t compute. Something is wrong with this picture, and it’s clearly me.
Big news in Christian publishing this week. Harper Collins, which already owns Zondervan, has acquired Thomas Nelson, creating a sudden behemoth in the world of Christian letters—or perhaps a camel we have to figure out how to maneuver through the eye of a needle. Continue reading Will the Foxes spoil the vineyard?
Disliking Reading
“And so the barriers fell: now nearly everyone in the developed world is literate, there is plenty to read, and reading material is dirt cheap. But still people don’t read. Why? The obvious answer—though one that is difficult for us to admit—is that most people don’t like to read.”
Patrick Kurp agrees with Marshall Poe’s conclusion, quoted above, but disagrees with his rationale. He suggests that if we want more people to read, we should share our own joy of reading.
Cover story
Here, for the first time on any stage, is the draft of the cover for my upcoming e-book, Troll Valley. Our own Phil Wade is the artist responsible for this work of wonder (though I took the picture of the house). And the tag line, of course, was provided by commenter Adam.
What do you think? We’re still taking suggestions, but I think it’ll look very much like this.
Writing Poems for Charity
Jen Campbell will be writing 100 poems this weekend in an effort to raise money for EEC International, which is researching a cure for Ectodermal dysplasia. Read about it, watch the video, and consider buying one of her poems on a postcard.
High Price of Fighting Evil
Here’s a personal letter from Richard Helms, who later become director of the CIA, to his three-year-old son, written on Hitler’s stationary.
Mody Dick in Pictures
Tin House has an illustrated edition of Moby Dick and a video to promote it.