New Release: Howl For Me

Out today: Howl For Me, True Destiny Book 3!

By: Dana Marie Bell

Type: eBook

Genre: Shape-shifters, Gay Alternate Worlds

Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

Publication Date: 03-13-2012

Length: Category

ISBN: 978-1-60928-627-9

Series: True Destiny

For a love that will last through the ages, they must fight an evil older than time. 

True Destiny, Book 3 

Jeffrey Grimm’s grandfather, Odin, tortured and nearly killed his twin sister. He’s on a mission to return the favor. To get the job done, he needs the world's oldest living laser-hair-removal candidate: Fenrisùlfr, the werewolf prophecy has decreed will kill Odin at Ragnarrok.  

When he gets to Norway, though, he discovers the wolf can change into a man…a man so sexy that Jeff is blindsided with lust. And, despite his blood ties to Odin, Fen wants him with equal ferocity. 

An attraction to the blood kin of his oldest enemy? Fenris figures he must have been caged far too long. Yet as soon as the magical phrase that frees him leaves Jeff’s lips, Fenris has no choice. He is bound to protect Jeff at all costs, even if it means giving up his hatred of the man who betrayed him—and learning to live with the horrors of toothpaste and the Internet. 

Odin isn’t through with him, though. And when he gets his hands on Jeff, Fen calls upon everything within him to fulfill the prophecy... even if it means his own death. 

Product Warnings 

This book contains explicit male/male sex, graphic language, a redhead with a temper and the ultimate werewolf. Caution, drooling may be an unfortunate side effect. 

I know the book isn't up yet on Barnes and Noble, and a lot of people are disappointed by that. There are a couple of options (and I know which one I'd favor, since I've done it myself):

1. Wait until the book comes out at Barnes and Noble, and purchase it via your Nook.

Yup. That'll happen.

2. Or, if you're like me and have all the patience of a five year old in front of a cookie jar, here's what I do.

     a. Purchase the book directly from Samhain. They sell it in .epub, and you can download it to your computer.

     b. Next, plug your Nook into your computer, open the folder you downloaded Howl For Me to, and copy the book to your Nook like you would copy any file to any hard drive, by opening up the folders and dragging and dropping. A word of caution, though. Your uploaded library folder will be different from the folder that Barnes and Noble uses. For instance, my color Nook has My Stuff/My Documents/Books for the books I manually upload. Older Nooks might have My Library, or simply My Documents. Putting the file in the Barnes and Noble folder might cause it not to open.

     c. When the file transfer is complete, open My Computer on your computer (you'll see all your hard drives, including your Nook). Right click on the Nook drive and select the option that allows you to safely unmount the drive (it might say something like "Safely Remove Hardware" or "Unmount Drive"). Neglecting to do this could cause your Nook or your computer to freeze, so I highly recommend not skipping this step.

     d. Unplug your Nook, press the Refresh or Search For New Content button to make the book show up in your library, and enjoy!

It sounds like a lot of work for option 2, but honestly, it takes me maybe ten to fifteen minutes from purchasing the book to unplugging my Nook. I have to do it a lot for the books I don't want to wait for that take a month or two to hit Barnes and Noble.

Remember, if my directions are confusing, Barnes and Noble has a site that will explain how to upload an .epub that you didn't purchase from them to your Nook. The manuals are available for your particular Nook in .pdf format.

Time for A Little Nookie...

Two days ago I bought a Nook. It arrived the day after I ordered it, surprising the hell out of me (and Dusty, who didn't know I'd ordered one).

I have already changed its name from "My Nook" to "My Precious". Dusty just rolled his eyes, but he can't fool me. I saw his fingers twitching. The minute I pop some Sci Fi books on there that sucker will go missing, I just know it.

Okay, truth is, I want him to take a look at it. I want him to yearn for his own to hug and love and call George. I spent all day with mine yesterday while trying to stave off a migraine and, once I figured out how to change my .pdf's into .epub's (Calibre works wonders and is free!) and "side-load" the books onto it, I had a blast. The battery life was excellent, the books easy to read. Even the flicker when the pages turned couldn't dim my enjoyment, especially when I figured out I could play (softly, the speakers aren't that great) music on the damn thing. I bought the Lyra Light book light from B&N and because it's bendable I was able to aim the light off to the side, saving my aching head while still being able to read.

It's just the thing to soothe the savage bibliophile. Admittedly there is no web browser, but my HTC Hero can handle that just fine, and I don't mark up my books, so that function is unnecessary if it even exists on the Nook. The Nook won out for me over other ebook readers on on a) I can add a microSD card, upping the amount of book storage (and I have a LOT of ebooks) and b) That scrolling color bar at the bottom of the page. That thing rocks. I can open my music player while my book sits pristine and untouched; I can flip through menus, pick what page I want to read from, and all the while the e-ink section remains still and calm.

Can you tell I likey?

And the cover I picked up for it?

See The Future, E-Book Readers

Text books of the future?

Pardon my ramblings, but I read this article and got to thinking, and you all know how dangerous that is. According to an article in ComputerWorld, e-Book readers are gaining in popularity, and while I think that's wonderful I have a few thoughts on it.

E-book shipments are taking off worldwide, says market researcher In-Stat, with worldwide shipments expected to grow from almost 1 million units in 2008 to close to 30 million units in 2013, due in part to the popularity sparked by Amazon's Kindle.

The kids manning a booth at a Taiwanese computer expo had this to say about them:

A group of high school students at Netronix's Computex booth said they all want e-readers this year because they're "cool." When asked if the fact Netronix had comics in their e-readers had anything to do with their enthusiasm, they said, "maybe, but [the e-readers] are just so cool, so light and you can put all your books in them." Many Taiwanese students carry around bags of books so big that some parents buy small suitcases with wheels to ease their burden.

A lot of e-book reader enthusiasts have been saying that e-book readers could be the future for high schools and colleges everywhere (and I agree), but it remains to be seen if the academic world will pick up on it before the students do. It's nice to know, however, that the younger generation is gravitating towards e-books! I've heard rumors of a color e-book reader that would be perfect for things like comic books and graphic novels. Since I love seeing book covers in full color I'd probably love a color e-book reader.

And now for my walk of shame: I have no e-book reader. I read e-books on my laptop and on my Sprint HTC SmartPhone, which looks something like this:

I haven't seen the need to buy an e-book reader since I essentially already have one. The screen is very small (it's a phone, after all) but it's full color and if it needs power I simply plug it in, sit back and continue reading. The page turn rate is fast compared to some of the page turn rates I've seen on e-book readers, and since that slow page turn rate is one of the few things that turns me off of e-readers I'm very happy with what I have.

The only cons to a "phone + e-reader"? It's back-lit, which means I have difficulty reading it in bright sunshine, and the battery power isn't as good as the battery power of an e-reader. Still, I have to wonder: is a $270 device that only reads e-books better than a multi-functional device that has less battery power but has the same price? Add in the fact that I can read in bed without waking my husband or tacking on an outside "booklight" that has about the same battery power as my phone, and all in all I have to stick with the multi-functional device.

The pros to a smartphone? It has it's own OS, which means I can install programs on it like Adobe Reader or Microsoft Reader. My phone reads .html, .pdf, .lit and .doc/.rtf/.txt. I can install Mobipocket if I like so I can read .prc's. Why can't e-book readers do what my phone can do? The only books I can't read on it have DRM, and I don't want to read those books anyway. And since it's a PDA I can make phone calls, put doctor appointments in the calendar, check the weather, read my e-mail...

I guess what all my rambling means is that I think e-book readers should have an OS like my phone does, whether it's Windows or Mac based, so I can install programs on it like I can with my SmartPhone. Why not, Sony? Amazon? How about a back-light you can turn on or off, or a button that puts you in e-ink mode for sunny days and lit mode for dark, midnight readings? I don't really see why it can't be done. After all, if my little phone can pack all that in, why not a dedicated e-reader?