2015 The Year of the Book

It’s 2015 and I’m sitting here wondering where 2014 went so quickly. Also where is my hoverboard? Maybe I’ll get that later, but right now I’m reflecting on my New Year’s resolutions.

I’m not going to make any promises to go on a diet, start jogging in the mornings or stay away from chocolate. (That’s just insane! Chocolate and Lattes make the world go round.) No, I’m going to make 2015 the year of the book.

This year I’m pledging to read more. I’ve taken up three reading challenges this year. I’ve pledged to read 50 books for the Goodreads 2015 reading challenge, 36 books for the Library Reading challenge, and 12 books for the Historical Romance Reading Challenge.

It does seem like a lot of books doesn’t it? Thank goodness the challenges kind of cross over each other! :-)

Why sign up for a reading challenge at all? A reading challenge can introduce you to a new genre, a new author and inspire you to pick up a book instead of play couch potato. You can meet new people who have the same passions as you and most of all… It’s FUN! 

So I challenge you to find a reading challenge that fits you or even create one of your own and sign up. There are challenges for all genres and types of literature. So discover awesome books this year and join me in the Year of the Book!

The first book I’m reading this year is The City by Dean Koontz. What are you reading? Have you joined any reading challenges?

Want to join in on one of the ones I have? Just click here My 2015 Reading Challenges or click on the tab at the top of the page. You will find the links to those challenges. 

Filmbook the ebook’s granddaddy Read an Ebook Week 2014

This week we celebrate the ebook. The last few years have seen a drastic change in the publishing industry thanks to the growing popularity and convenience of this simple invention.

1923 Optigraph 

But ebooks aren’t something new fangled. They’ve been around for a very long time. In 1923 the International Filmbook Corporation patented an early microfilm reader, the Optigraph Reading Machine. Books were photographed onto microfilm and wound into cartridges that were inserted into the machine and the image mirrored and reflected onto the reading glass. Readers moved through the pages turning a crank on the side of the machine. 

In 1936 ‘canned libraries’ were introduced in the form of a microfilm reader called the Teledex. Books and other media were put into cartridges the size of a 12-gauge shotgun shell that was inserted into the machine and the ‘filmbook’ projected onto a screen for reading. The idea of this canned library was to save space for schools and smaller community libraries. 

1936 Teledex

In 1945 scientist Vannevar Bush introduced the world to his idea for condensing entire libraries into one machine called a Memex. In his Atlantic Monthly article, As We May Think, he describes the method in which books and other media are compressed onto microfilm. Bush says, “Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of a mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, “memex” will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

 Bush’s idea differed in that individuals, such as authors could write directly into the machine to save their work onto microfilm. (Anyone else getting a Steampunk vibe here?) This device wasn’t very portable, though. The machine and all of the content were constructed into a desk. Instead of the filmbook cartridge, the Memex stored all the volumes in the body of the machine. Like a computer and hard drive today.

 

1945 Bush's Memex machine

As computers developed into more efficient storage devices inventions such as the 1968 DynaBook. The DynaBook looked like a giant Kindle with a grayscale screen and keyboard. Books or documents stored on the 2lb device could be read. Later, Toshiba would use this design to create one of the first laptops.

I’m sure early librarians, authors, and readers went through the same emotions and conflicts over their precious volumes being squished into these shotgun shell cartridges that we have felt in recent years with the explosion of the ebook market.

1968 DynaBook

Filmbooks and ebooks will never be able to fully take the place of a print book. After all the elevator hasn’t taken out the necessity of stairs. Even in Star Trek they still collected and coveted their printed volumes. The ebooks and ereaders are just another way of enjoying the timeless stories we’ve always loved. Aren't you glad you can sit on the beach and relax with your Kindle or Nook instead of pulling out your Optigraph or Telex? 

In celebration of Read an Ebook Week, my books Don’t Touch and Half will be 50% off on Smashwords March 3^rd - 8^th. Just use the code REW50 at checkout to get your discount off my and other fantastic reads this week.

2014 Kindle Paper White

My ebook reading this week will be finishing up the Numbers Game by John Stanley then Dark Murders Collection by Carolyn McCray and Ben Hopkins. So what ebook are you reading? Do you prefer ebook or print book? How do you read your ebooks? 

Noir Reading Challenge 2014 Are you ready to slip into the darker side of fiction?

Welcome to the first reading challenge sponsored by Gladiator’s Pen.

 Noir: crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings

I have had a love of this dark genre for a long time. Noir is the underbelly of fiction, the place where darker themes are explored. I can sit and devour hours watching The Maltese Falcon, The Long Goodbye, Casablanca, Detour, City That Never Sleeps and so many more. (Thank you God for Netflix!) Though, Noir is much more than film.

There are some fantastic books with hardboiled detectives, grifters, sexy molls, tragic cops and femme fatales that will fuel your imagination and make you crave more. So I’m going to challenge you to grab a book and step into the shadows just out of the streetlamp’s reach and join me in reading as many of these fantastic stories as we can in 2014.

How it works:

The Challenge begins January 6, 2014 and runs through December 31, 2014. You can join the challenge at any time between those dates.

1. Sign up with the Inlinkz tool below with a link to your acceptance/announcement post. Stating the challenge and what goal level (listed below) you are going for.

2. There will be a new inlinkz tool posted on the challenge page of Gladiator’s Pen once a week (hopefully up by each Monday) so you can add the url to the post with your progress, book review, or talk about something Noirish. Post at least once a month and link back to the challenge page so we can help each other gain new readers/followers as well.  Even better, if you would like to embed the linky list onto your post there will be a link available so you can pick up the code.

If you don’t have a blog, that’s okay too. Just post to your Facebook, G+ or Twitter with a link back to the challenge page for others to join in and find some great new books and authors too.

Challenge Levels

Read 1-5 books Grifter

Read 5-10 books Cool Cop

Read 11-15 books Hard Boiled Detective.

Read 16-20 books Femme Fatale

Read  20+ books Sam Spade

Here are a few suggestions for some great Noir reads to get you started

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

The Black Dahlia (#1 in the L.A. Quartet series) by James Ellroy

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Joyland by Stephen King

Gold Coast by Elmore Leonard

Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher

If you can, try to post your reviews to Amazon or Goodreads also or even give the books you enjoy some stars to support a great author. Thanks for being a part of our first reading challenge here on Gladiator’s Pen and I hope you enjoy your journey into the darker side of the streets. :)

Do you have a favorite Noir film or book?

Click here to get the InLinkz code to embed the list on your blog. 

Grab the button!

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Be a book rebel read banned books!

Banning books is not a thing of the past. Every day books are challenged, or removed from libraries or schools. No book is safe from the possibility. At one point the children’s fairytale, Alice in Wonderland was on the banned list.

For a while, my own county libraries banned the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy from their shelves. Library patrons wouldn’t hear of it, they continued to request, and demand their right to read about Christian and his red room. Now the books are available on library shelves and ereaders.

What would the world be like if readers didn’t rebel and just let someone choose what books were suitable for the public. What if the words of To Kill a Mockingbird, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, or even Harry Potter had never touched our lives?

If there weren’t book rebels we wouldn’t have seen Vivian Lee as Scarlet O’Hara in her curtain dress. Get to be frightened of  saint bernards named Cujo, or see Leonardo DiCaprio become Gatsby. The stories these memorable characters all came from books that were challenged or banned at some point.

What’s the difference between banned or challenged books? According to the ALA a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of challenged materials from public or school libraries, possibly bookstore shelves.

Books could be challenged for various reasons. The top three are explicit sexual content, offensive language, or ‘unsuited’ to any age group. The last meaning any theme or topic deemed unsuitable for viewing. Books that fell into this category were The Hunger Games, The Catcher in the Rye, and Blood and Chocolate. Thanks to awesome librarians, teachers, students, and concerned citizens most challenges are unsuccessful.

What makes the list from year to year can be surprising. Tomes of every genre and age range can be found there. Chances are you’ve got a few of them on your bookshelf or to be read pile already. You can find out more on ALA or Band Books Week websites. To see this years list go to Books Challenged or Banned  2012-2013.

Don’t let someone tell you your books are ‘unsuited’. Be a book rebel read some banned books this week.

This week I’m reading Blood and Chocolate and my son is reading The Hunger Games We’re book rebels, how about you? What are you reading? Do you have a favorite banned book?

Celebrating National Read a Book Day 2012

I am a writer. I am also a reader. I have had a life long love of books, thanks to my mom. She always had a stack of  books by her side. I mostly read graphic novels or comics until I was about eight or nine, then I found Conan the Barbarian.

The novels were written by Robert E Howard, the first, The Phoenix on the Sword, was published in 1932. Conan is a timeless character that has inspired several comic book series and films, most importantly these tales of the lone Cimmerian sparked my hunger for reading adventures.

I still go back occasionally to my old childhood friend and reread his battles and loves lost. Yes, there is a bit of romance even for barbarians.

Since my treks through Cimmeria, my library has grown vast in genre and subjects. I found a love for paranormal, history, and mysteries. Reading is more than taking in words on a page.

Opening a book is a chance to unchain your imagination and go on an adventure. So today I’m challenging you to pick up a book and find your Conan. No, not your own barbarian. Find a book or book series that inspires your imagination, one that makes you excited to open the next one.

Now that I’m all grown up (Not really I’m a Toys R’ Us kid :o) I’ve found several books and authors that keep me running to the library and book store to dive back into their worlds.

What I’m reading now? First Coast Steamboat Days by Edward Muller and Touch by Elmore Leonard

To celebrate Read a Book Day 2012 get your copy of HALF a paranormal thriller for half off! Pun fully intended :o) Just go to HALF on Smashwords and enter the coupon code JY29J when you check out. The offer is good today Sept. 6th thru 10th 2012

What are you waiting for… go get a book and read!

Reading Makes Better Writers

The most important thing a writer must do is write. The second most important is read. Reading is what inspired us to do what we do. By reading we gain knowledge but we also learn skills.

We can learn by example. Most people do this little trick and don’t even realize it. Writer’s can learn from each other’s style and verbiage as much as we can from taking classes. It’s all there in our favorite books.

As we get lost in a tale our minds are picking out things that we can use and apply to our own skill set. We might recognize it when it happens but most often not. We’re not learning to imitate our favorite authors as we did when we first began putting pen to paper.

We are loading our tool box up with different styles and techniques that will help us as our own style and technique grows. So it is vastly important to read as much as we write.

Find a cozy spot to mark as your reading room. Even if it’s just the end of the couch, make it your reading space with good light and favorite books. Maybe even a note pad just in case there is something you find you want to make note of.

Or an idea blooming from a scene or phrase that you’ve just read. We are a unique profession in which we feed off of each others ideas. No, no we don’t steal ideas or plagiarize. Our imaginations are sparked by the visions words create.

Sure other things bring inspiration but nothing like the right turn of phrase. So find the perfect place to curl up with a good book. Even if you don’t have a special room for reading, make sure to give your writing some reading room. 

*This post is part of the August Fellow Writers Blog Hop (I'm only a week late tee hee) The hop takes place the 2nd Tuesday of every month. If you would like to join us for September just click HERE or on the Fellow Writer's Blog Hop tab at the top of the blog to sign up and get next months topic.