Thursday, May 22, 2014
A Picture is Worth...
Tell us more in 100 to 1000 words (drabbles are fine, really) and send your news along too. See How Thousand Word Thursday Works for details.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Sideloading Your Kindle for the Tech Impaired Like Me
Because I get books from a variety of sources, they have to be loaded onto my Kindle somehow. I’m not the techiest person on the planet [that hollow sound is my webmistress laughing], and for some reason, drop and drag frustrates me because I can never see how to have everything on the screen at once. When I get files by email, or buy them from vendors that aren't Amazon, I have a couple of choices.
One way is to use the “Send to Kindle” feature. You can download the app from Amazon onto your computer. This page has step by step instructions. Once you set this up, all you have to do is right click on a saved file, which doesn’t have to be an ebook, and click “send to kindle.” Basically you email the file to your kindle’s email address, which is usually whateveryouremailassociatedwithyourAmazonaccountis@kindle.com . The help page linked above will show you how to verify your kindle email.
Two of my favorite vendors, Dreamspinner and All Romance eBooks, now have “Send to Kindle” as part of their service. Yes, buying from Amazon is easy, but it’s not the only easy vendor. Both sites will walk you through the set-up process, which goes like so. You tell Amazon that the vendor is an approved source by going to Your Account > Manage Your Content and Devices > Personal Document Settings. There you add the vendor’s addy, which Dreamspinner and Are give you as part of the setup process. The addies look funny, but copy and paste them. Do it up once and never worry about it again. Worry about your book budget maybe, but not how to get stories on your reader.
You can do this with all books you bought before the Send To Kindle at time of purchase option existed. You can even load PDFs, but they will look kind of choppy, and it's not the ebook's fault, that's just how PDFs look when they've been converted. PDFs are fixed format, Kindle does reflowable text, and they don't play nice together, but it is possible.
Another way is to sideload. This sounds scary when you’re like me and secretly fear all technology exists only to zap your brains out, but it turned out to be pretty simple. (My operating system is Windows 7. Maybe we can hear from someone else using Windows 8 or Mac.)
For sideloading, your Kindle is really an external hard drive. So, just like your backup drive or a thumb drive, plug the turned-on Kindle into your computer with the USB cable that you use for charging your device. The computer will beep and boop and tell you it’s detected the Kindle. You can minimize the window that opens up.
On your computer, open your Library pane (bottom left corner of your screen, looks like a manila folder) and find the book you want to sideload. Select it, right click on it, and then click on “copy”. Still in your Library pane, select the Kindle, which is probably showing as your E drive, or possibly your F drive, depending on which port you used and what else you have attached. The Kindle files expand into the next row. Select the Documents folder (one click, you don’t have to open it) and then right-click, and then choose “Paste.”
Your book is now on your Kindle! You can load a PDF file this way, and it will look nice but not have all the features a mobi file has.
Disconnect your Kindle properly to avoid possible damage to the files, which you do by “ejecting device.” On the lower right corner of your computer screen, there is an icon to eject, which may be hidden in a group behind a triangle. Click the triangle and choose the icon of a USB plug with a green circle and check mark. A window opens with the choice of Eject Kindle. Click that, and it will give you another message that it’s safe to disconnect.
You just sideloaded your book. Go read!
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Temper Sanguine by Lou Harper
Author: Lou Harper
Purchase at: Samhain. Available now for preorder
Purchase at All Romance eBooks : Soon
Cover Artist: Angela Waters
Genre: paranormal
Length: 30k estimated
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf,
One bite won’t kill you. Unless it does.
Sanguine, Book 2
Gabe Vadas’s slayer ancestors would be spinning in their graves if they knew that not only is his boss a vampire, so is his lover. But that lover, Harvey Feng, is cooking something up in his lab that he seems reluctant to disclose.
The secrets they keep from each other and the nightmares they share are driving a wedge between them. Harvey fell off the vegetarian wagon with one taste of his lover’s blood. Except recently it’s been having some unusual—and disturbing—side effects. And he fears their connection has awakened something dark and dangerous.
Sent to New York City to help the new top vamp clean up the mess the old one left behind, Gabe finds more than a few stray feral vampires. A doctor with a dubious history is hell-bent on creating a new race of unkillable bloodsuckers.
The investigation takes Gabe and Harvey across an ocean, and deep into the past. Where they discover demons that have the power to reach across the centuries to destroy them both.
Product Warnings
Contains a tasty Hungarian goulash of dirty boys doing dirty things, bilingual dirty talk, evil scientists, shifty-eyed lab assistants, fun with lab rats, and smexy times in romantic Old Europe. Jó étvágyat!
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Yay, another helping of Harvey and Gabe! My favorite vampire and vampire slayer couple are back for more narrow escapes and near death experiences. Plus some hot loving.
Apologies for any spoilers to the first book: series make reviewing a challenge.
Harvey was a vegetarian before he was turned, which makes his current nutritional needs a problem. He’s been working on a blood substitute with less than perfect results. Some of his experiments are this side of disastrous. Harvey is tenacious, a good chemist, and as a former nurse, he’s unusually well equipped to understand why unscrupulous (yes, there is another sort) vampires would prowl hospices and nursing homes.
Gabe, who comes from a long line of slayers, has seen his skills improve with time, exposure, and experience. Echoes of the first book in this series are scattered here and there, so coming in here wouldn’t leave you lost, but both Gabe and Harvey are better understood if you read the first in the series. Gabe has an unusual employer with some astonishing contacts and a very clear worldview—this sends the pair around the world on various adventures. They need to get their sightseeing done early, because being welcome to come back: NOT.
This volume is structured as two short but related sections, and I’m not sure why they’re divided up, but okay, the adventures take them from the US to Hungary, where Gabe has roots and can speak the language. Their quarry has evil plans, but both Gabe and Harvey have some unusual skills.
The relationship here is established, but has lots of room for solidification. Gabe and Harvey may love each other deeply and smex each other frequently, but they don’t understand each other very well, and the gap between their prospective timelines isn’t helping. Nor are Harvey’s fears and doubts about himself, rekindled after a bloody encounter and a too-delicious snack on Gabe.
I especially enjoyed the section in Budapest. The author knows this city and the language, weaving details into the story. History, twentieth century and from hundreds of years ago, reverberates through this ancient place and current adventure. Vampire lore is both used and debunked on the very doorstep of Transylvania. Very satisfying!
Also satisfying is who the relationship and the external plot weave together and how one affects the other. One couldn’t have worked out without the other, so good storytelling.
There are also some ongoing story threads that continue from book one, reviewed here, that lead me to believe we haven’t heard the last of Gabe and Harvey. Which makes me happy! 4 marbles
Friday, May 16, 2014
A Sanguine Flashfic from Lou Harper
“Angel, you’re doing it wrong.” Harvey stretched sleepily and the sheets slipped to his waist.
Gabe looked down at his lover still in bed. “Doing what wrong?”
“Your jeans—you’re putting them on. They’re supposed to stay off.”
“The sun’s setting. It’s time for you to rise and shine.”
“Oh, I’m rising all right.” Harvey slipped a hand under the sheets. “But don’t expect me to shine. I’m not that kind of vampire.” His lips parted in a wicked smile and he swept the tip of his tongue along his teeth, from one exposed eyetooth to the other.
Anticipation stirred inside Gabe—Harvey’s frisky mood was pulling him in. He sat at the edge of the bed. “What sharp teeth you have.” The words came from old memories and Gabe recognized their familiarity only as he spoke them.
Harvey picked on them right away. “The better to bite you with, my scrumptious.”
Harvey loved role-playing and Gabe was always happy to go along, but now he was confused. “Wait, are we doing Little Red Riding Hood? Who’s who? Don’t tell me you’re grandma.”
“Grandma moved to Florida. I’m a very hungry and horny Little Red and you’re the Big Bad…Naughty Wolf here to eat me out.” Harvey’s nostrils flared and he reached for Gabe. “Now, about those jeans…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hee, that picture inspired Lou Harper to give us a little taste of Harvey and Gabe from her Sanguine books. Temper Sanguine is available for preorder at Samhain now, and will be available at all retailers in early June. It's the second novel in the series. I reviewed the first book, Spirit Sanguine, a story I enjoyed. And because Lou loves us, there's a free Sanguine story to get you all excited for more Gabe and Harvey. (Barnes & Noble +++ Smashwords +++ All Romance Ebooks +++ Amazon +++ Amazon UK)
Gabe Vadas’s slayer ancestors would be spinning in their graves if they knew that not only is his boss a vampire, so is his lover. But that lover, Harvey Feng, is cooking something up in his lab that he seems reluctant to disclose.
The secrets they keep from each other and the nightmares they share are driving a wedge between them.
Harvey fell off the vegetarian wagon with one taste of his lover’s blood. Except recently it’s been having some unusual—and disturbing—side effects. And he fears their connection has awakened something dark and dangerous.
Sent to New York City to help the new top vamp clean up the mess the old one left behind, Gabe finds more than a few stray feral vampires. A doctor with a dubious history is hell-bent on creating a new race of unkillable bloodsuckers.
The investigation takes Gabe and Harvey across an ocean, and deep into the past. Where they discover demons that have the power to reach across the centuries to destroy them both.
Product Warnings
Contains a tasty Hungarian goulash of dirty boys doing dirty things, bilingual dirty talk, evil scientists, shifty-eyed lab assistants, fun with lab rats, and smexy times in romantic Old Europe. Jó étvágyat!Preorder at Samhain
Thursday, May 15, 2014
A picture is worth
"Lust for a Vampire" is the perfect title for this shot, done by AdroVonCrow (access to gallery here). I can hardly wait for the the ficlet Lou has to go with it. Check out Lou's news and tidbits at her website.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
A White Coat Is My Closet by Jake Wells
Author: Jake Wells
Purchase at Dreamspinner
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Leah Kaye Suttle
Genre: contemporary, medical
Length:344 pages, 139k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, ziphtml, paperback
Blurb: Zack Sheldon doesn’t have time to be lonely. He’s in his last year as a pediatric resident, almost married to the job, and busy with the joys and sorrows that come with providing medical care to children. Professionally, he’s confident, accomplished, and respected. But personally he’s too insecure to approach a sexy man like Sergio Quartulli, or even to imagine that Sergio might be attracted to him.
Zack spots Sergio from across the gym, and then a chance meeting poolside somehow turns into a date. Before Zack knows it, they’ve become a couple, but Zack’s white coat is his closet at the hospital, and committing to a relationship with Sergio makes it difficult for Zack to continue hiding behind it. On the other hand, he grew up in a small town where being gay was shameful, and he works in an environment that can sometimes be homophobic, so it’s hard for him to open up about who he really is. Before Zack can make a choice on his own terms, circumstances force him to make a decision. He can continue to hide, or he can step out from behind his white coat and risk everything for love.
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I really, really wanted to like this book. I love medical themes and conflicted heroes, and the proceeds going to a good cause was a nice touch. As it turned out, there was a great plot in search of writing to do it justice.
Jake, our first person POV protag, is in the closet at work and intends to stay there since he’s subordinate to people who may well make his life hell if they know. Living a double life is working his nerves, especially after he meets Sergio, a hot Italian waiter with confidence to spare. More a coming out story than a romance, we’re still rooting for Jake and Sergio to make it work. Jake’s confident at work, but really insecure in his private life. We don’t often see the actual male jitters, and what Jake worries about is probably a lot commoner than we’re offered in books
We follow Jake working on self acceptance and in his relationship growth, and in his growth as a healer, where he has to learn to balance his caring with enough detachment to survive practicing medicine. Everything comes together for a bang-up ending. It’s a good arc.
The writing, alas… Or possibly the editing should have been done with a scalpel rather than a pen. As Elmore Leonard advised: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip. That would have slimmed this book down by around 30%. From long, scatological, and ultimately irrelevant stories told over a drink to enough directions in medical procedures to coach the reader through doing them cold, everything was treated in so much detail that the actual story drowned in the sea of text.
Much of the dialog sounds more like textbooks: it's mostly the rotten people who sound real. Sergio has only been in this country for seven years and learned English on the fly, but his speech has the same rhythm, structure, and word choice as his well-educated, native speaker lover. That makes Sergio more background than part of the story: we’re not hearing Sergio as a person, we’re hearing him filtered through Jake’s head and memories.
While I am glad I ultimately finished this book, I wish the execution had matched the concept. 2.75 marbles
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Coming this week
Coming this week, we have reviews on A White Coat Is My Closet by Jake Wells, and Temper Sanguine from Lou Harper. Lou also found me a hunka hunka gorgeous vampire for Thursday's story prompt, and she promised a nice little flash fic to go with it. Do join me for the fun!
Keep reading!
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