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Book & Print News

Lightspeed SF Magazine Launches

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 11:20am

Lightspeed, a new science fiction magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, has launched. Published by Prime Books, it will feature four short stories a month, the first of which is "I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno" by Vylar Kaftan. New short stories will be released weekly, but you can buy the entire issue at one time as a download in Kindle, iBook, and ePub formats.

I'm happy to see this -- short fiction hasn't fared all that well on the web in the last decade, with magazines like Event Horizon and SciFiction coming and going, but recently we've seen an uptick with Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show and Tor's fiction offerings. The world could definitely use more SF short fiction, it's the format that helped launch the genre, and I think it's one that needs to be nourished.

The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 10:42am

Super powers have been spawned by almost every element known to man (and plenty that aren't) so it only makes sense that they should be transformed into a periodic table of their own. The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers is a handy chart that breaks down superhero backgrounds by origin, physical powers, and mental powers. It's a fun, quick read for anyone who loves comic books.

$1.99 for a digital comic? I'll pass

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sat, 04/03/2010 - 5:30am

The Marvel Comics app for the iPad is out, offering 500 titles at $1.99 a pop. Reading comics is one of the reasons I'd like to get an iPad but speaking abstractly (I have neither the app nor the iPad), $1.99 is too expensive.

Cover price for a comic these days is $2.99, which occasional spikes to $3.99 for super-sized issues. I'd consider paying $1.50-$1.99 for a current-run title -- that'd save me $0.50 to $1 a comic, which isn't bad.

Unfortunately, that's not what Marvel's selling online. The books they're selling through the Marvel app appear to be back issues -- in some cases, 4-5 year old back issues. I'm interested in buying older digital comics -- in fact it could be a great way to read those titles I skipped because they were tangential to my collection -- but I'm not going to spend $1.99 for the privilege. The price descripency becomes even more glaring when you realize that the Marvel Comics Unlimited subscription service for digital back issues gives you full access to 5,000 comics for $9.99 a month (or $4.99/month with an annual subscription).

Paizo Launches Pathfinder Novel Line

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 7:30am

Paizo Publishing is launching a fiction line to support the Pathfinder RPG and Pathfinder Campaign Setting. TSR/Wizards of the Coast had good luck with this strategy, and it only makes sense that Paizo would give it a try.

The first two books on the schedule are:

  • Winter Witch by Elaine Cunningham (September 2010)
  • Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross by Dave Gross (October 2010)

These will be "300-page mass market paperback novels", to be sold through hobby shops and book stores for $9.99, but you'll also be able to subscribe through Paizo.com. As is the case with the Pathfinder adventure paths, those who subscribe will get free digital copies of the books.

Aside from Dragonlance, I've never been one for game-related fiction and I'm still on a big science fiction kick right now. As such, I'm more likely to want to pick up one of Paizo's Planet Stories books, but I am curious to see how this new fantasy line shakes out.

FollowFriday: Comic Book Publishers on Twitter

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 2:00pm

Here are my Follow Friday picks for 2/12/2010; inspired by Dark Horse Comic's Knights of the Old Republic giveaway (in which you had a chance to win a complete set of KOTOR books) I decided to do a round up of the major comic book companies on Twitter.

  • @darkhorsecomics Because they publish Star Wars: Legacy, gave Star Wars: KOTOR a great run & are launching a new SW title #followfriday
  • (also because @DarkHorseComics is giving away Volumes 1-8 of the KOTOR comic ... which is a fantastic read) http://bit.ly/9syXk3
  • @marvel and @agent_m because they got the value of Twitter from the beginning and are amusing reads #followfriday
  • @Dc_Nation Follow for a steady stream of DC Comics news, but don't expect the robot to talk back. #followfriday
  • @Wildstorm The feed for the DC line that does Twitter better than its parent company. #followfriday

Why I want an Apple iPad

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Thu, 01/28/2010 - 12:01am

I want an iPad. It’s not because I’m a raving Apple fan boy or obsessed with the latest gadget – it’s because it fits the way I want to use technology, and addresses frustrations I’ve had with contemporary form factors. There are three specific products that I want to use with a tablet:

  • Pen-and-paper role-playing game PDFs.
  • Comic books and magazines
  • Ebooks

They’re all print-based, and they share characteristics that don’t easily translate to a laptops, netbooks, or PDAs. I’ll preface all of this by saying these are my opinions; you may find reading an eBook on an iPod Touch to be liberating, love Marvel’s pan-and-scan tools for comic books on your Windows 7 desktop computer, and have no problem paging through PDFs on your netbook. If so, more power to you … but I find these options less than optimal.

Smaug the Magnificent ... in candy

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 6:17am

The good folks at Miss(ed) Manners have done it again: they've recreated one of J.R.R. Tolkien's most epic scenes ... in candy. This time around, it's the conclusion to The Hobbit, featuring the Battle of the Five Armies and the assault on Lake Town by the dragon Smaug.

As with their previous creations -- The Battle of Helm’s Deep, The Battle of Pelennor Fields, The Mines of Moria, the diorama is truly a sight to behold. A red licorice Smaug rises from a frosted Lonely Mountain to ravage a gingerbread Lake Town. Gummi bear armies of goblins, orcs, humans, dwarves and elves battle for the treasure under the mountain, while overhead eagles and giant bats fight for ariel supremacy.