Child of the Hive – extract reading
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Child of the Hive, Original fiction
This is a short video of me reading an extract from near the start of Child of the Hive. In this piece, Alex is pulled from her normal life into an unexpected adventure.
Tags: Child of the Hive, novels, Original fiction, reading, video
Tech Tuesday: Nook
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Tech Tuesday
Yesterday, I went out for a meal with a colleague who, like me, is a keen reader. He was enthusiastically showing off his new purchase, a Nook e-book reader. I’ve been after an e-book reader for a while now but have stayed away mainly due to the cost. However, after playing with his for a little while and watching him rave about the quality of illustrations and crispness of the text, I couldn’t resist.
After the meal, we went down to Barnes and Noble and I bought one. Including tax and a very smart leather case for it, the device cost less than $200. I haven’t worked out the exact conversion into pounds, but that’s better than I’ve seen. As well as the advantage of price, this device using a standard format. Other vendors lock you in to using a precise format so you have to use their systems to buy your e-books. Because I don’t live in America and don’t have an American credit card, I can’t use Barnes and Noble’s system. Fortunately, the nook uses epub and pdf formats, which are common. I can buy e-books of Amazon and other sites.
My colleague also pointed out Project Gutenberg. This is a group of people dedicated to converting out-of-copyright texts into e-books. Because these books are out of copyright, the site can offer them for free. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of e-books that you can legally download without paying a penny. I’ve had a browse of their site and found a Scarlet Pimpernel book that I’ve been wanting for ages.
I’ve owned my e-book for less than 24 hours but I can definitely recommend it. It’s easy to use. I don’t accidentally turn pages when reading. The screen quality is excellent. It’s fantastically easy to put books onto it; you just drag and drop into a folder. It’s nice and compact and not too heavy. It even comes with a games section that includes sudoku.
Most importantly, it has a flight-safe mode.
I’m a book-lover. There will always be a place in my life for physical books. That place is usually overflowing my bookshelves. But for business trips and journeys, it’s brilliant. Never again will I be sitting on a long train ride, finish a book and wonder what on earth I’m going to do for the rest of the journey.
As a tech geek and lover of reading, an e-book reader is a wonderful combination.
Tags: e-book reader, e-books, novels, reading, technology
