Spontaneous Derivation

To Glory:

1. Find a story online to practice on.
2. Discover that the HTML is horrible, and strip it down and massage code via perl scripts. This is almost always the case.
3. Install CrossOver Mac because you have an Intel mac, and you really, really don’t want to open the work laptop.
4. Create a Windows 2k “bottle” (simulated environment) on CrossOver to put software in. Cute.
5. With CrossOver, install IE6 in the Win2k bottle. For some reason MobiPocket Creator needs it.
6. Download MobiPocket Creator and install with CrossOver as “advanced” edition.
7. Import HTML into the Creator a few times until you get it right.
8. Discover that Stanza (Mac only) is way better than any MobiPocket previewer for your new Mobi file.
9. Mess around with metadata and get the format for author name wrong for a while.
10. Not that it mattered, since you didn’t realize you had to hit the Update button allll the way down a long scroll of page, not the convenient “save” button at top. Note to self: GUIs continue to be stupid.
11. Several uploads over USB to Kindle later, you reach enlightenment.
12. Search around the web for the key stroke that makes your Kindle take screenshots of itself (it’s Alt-Shift-G). Marvel at lack of feedback Kindle gives you to tell you if the screenshot even worked. And good thing you have an SD card in, since the screenshots will only save to the SD card.
13. Connect Kindle via USB for the umpteenth time.
14. Download screenshots.
15. Post to blog via ScribeFire.

    Ta-da! Clicky for full size.

    
16. Now you have to figure out ToC, multiple files (or just one gigantic HTML file?), guides, images, and such.

Notes on the Home content list screenshot:

• Yes, I keep forgetting to delete my samples even after I buy the books (Dust in this case). It is possible to do so, but the Content Manager is slow, not easy to navigate, and I have a zillion books/samples on it now, so I keep putting it off….
• For some reason Farthing’s metadata doesn’t show Jo’s byline. That needs to be fixed before it goes into real publication, of course.
• Flatland is from FeedBooks.
• “Green” (by Jay Lake) is an upload via the Kindle email conversion service. Uploads that are converted (HTML for instance) stick your email in as the author. It’s one reason why I wanted to learn MobiPocket—so I could get the metadata right.

While we’re all waiting for the various eBook deals for Tor to pass, here’s some Kindle material from the “free e-book bonanza” authors that’s available right now.

Part 1 is here. Part 3 comes tomorrow. Meanwhile, here’s part 2.

David Drake (Lord of the Isles)

• Fortress of Glass - First volume of The Crown of the Isles series

Jane Lindskold (Through Wolf’s Eyes)

• The Dragon of Despair - Third book of the Firekeeper Saga, which started with Through Wolf’s Eyes
• Wolf Captured - Fourth book of the Firekeeper Saga
• Child of a Rainless Year - Stand-alone fantasy novel

Harry Turtledove (The Disunited States of America)

• In High Places - Part of the Crosstime Traffic series, of which The Disunited States of America is also part
• Gunpowder Empire - Part of the Crosstime Traffic series
• Curious Notions - Part of the Crosstime Traffic series
• and this is Harry Turtledove, so there’s much, much more.

Karl Schroeder (Sun of Suns)

• Permanence - Stand-alone science fiction novel
• Special: Ventus - free directly from Karl Schroeder’s site

Peter Watts (Starfish)

• Maelstrom - sequel to Starfish

John C. Wright (Orphans of Chaos)

• Mists of Everness - Book 2 of War of the Dreaming
• The Golden Age - Book 1 of The Golden Age

An update to the glorious trainwreck that is William Sanders and Helix SF Magazine.

Over at Rachel Swirsky’s That which deranges the senses, the writers whom Sanders has either called “pantiwadulous”, or denied their requests to remove stories from his archive, have banded together. The result is Transcriptase, a mirror of Helix—without the racist lunatic at the wheel, of course.

And yes, this effort is entirely legal—the Helix contract doesn’t disallow stories being placed in other web archives.

So visit Transcriptase and take a peek at the wonderful stories there—and all packaged in a far better website, too.

Goodbye, Sanders. Thanks for playing.

There’s been some excitement and consternation caused by Tor.com’s free eBook bonanza promotion, now expired. Right now, while deals are in progress, many of the books do not currently have electronic versions of all of the rest of their series.

I’m going to keep watching the skies for all the authors featured in the bonanza and announcing on Spontaneous Derivation when they show up.

In the meantime, here are the currently available Kindle eBooks for the five of the “bonanza” authors (more to follow in parts 2, 3, 4, 5 later), so get reading!

John Scalzi (Old Man’s War)

• The Ghost Brigades - Second book in the Old Man’s War series
• The Android’s Dream - Standalone humorous science fiction novel

Robert Charles Wilson (Spin)

• Blind Lake - Stand-alone science fiction thriller
• A Hidden Place - Stand-alone science fiction
• The Perseids and Other Stories - Short story collection

Jo Walton (Farthing)

• The King’s Name - Actually, the second of two books in her alternate universe King Arthur

Mercedes Lackey (The Outstretched Shadow)

• The Fairy Godmother - Book 1 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
• One Good Knight - Book 2 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
• Fortune’s Fool - Book 3 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
• The Snow Queen - Book 4 of A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
• and more

Tobias S. Buckell (Crystal Rain)

Multiple short stories at less than $1 a pop:

• Nord’s Gambit
• The Fish Merchant
• A Green Thumb
• All Her Children Fought…
• and more