Sink the Digital Piracy Ship

Naïveté they name is Bill.  DMCA or THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1998, supposedly protects copyrighted works of any type of media.   In my case, I received Google Alerts on some of my books being offered as part of a media service company.   These companies claim to offer unlimited media content for a monthly fee.   They also claim NOT to host pirated media.  This is blatantly false as I have not given permission to anyone "give away" my content.  I guess I should be flattered that my work is successful enough to be pirated but I'm not!

My recourse is to file a DMCA Request for the site to cease and desist offering my books on their site.  On one site it took two weeks of emailing but the link was finally shut down.   The time wasted defending your work, takes away from creating new work.   I am my legal department, I don't have a staff, if someone needs to file a DMCA, the someone is me.   I HATE wasting time.  

My blood, sweat and tears (hmm is that violating a copyright?) go into my work and I try hard to write stories that might help someone.  May I humbly suggest that if you see my work being given away or sold as part of some media service that you boycott that service and express your displeasure over their pirating.  Oh, and let me know too as I will then, sigh, write another DMCA Request. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Spotlight On Laura Bickle

A RISING “STAR” OF SCI-FI/ FANTASY:

With the forthcoming release of Nine of Stars, critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle is first author to transition from Harper Voyager’s digital-original line to traditional print!

New York, NY, June 2016 – Today, Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, is proud to announce a major milestone for its Harper Voyager Impulse e-book original line: on December 27, 2016, critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle will be the first author to transition from Harper Voyager’s digital-original line to the traditional print publishing Harper Voyager program. Her Harper Voyager print debut, Nine of Stars (mass market paperback,12/27/2016, ISBN: 9780062437662; $7.99), will be the start of Wildlands, a Weird West-tinged Contemporary Fantasy series revolving around the adventures of geologist Petra Dee.

As the SFF industry begins to celebrate outstanding works of speculative fiction at the upcoming Locus and Hugo Awards, among others, Harper Voyager feels that Bickle’s books are equally outstanding and worthy of celebration! Says Harper Voyager Executive Editor, David Pomerico: “The critical attention of Laura’s work is what drew us to the books in the first place, and we feel Nine of Stars is a novel that showcases her talent at the highest level. Whether on the print or eBook list, Voyager is committed to publishing the very best speculative fiction, and with Laura’s writing, we felt we had a truly unique project we couldn’t wait to help find an even wider audience.”

Harper Voyager is incredibly proud and excited to be publishing Laura Bickle’s novels; her original contributions to the Harper Voyager Impulse line, Dark Alchemy and Mercury Retrograde, both received multiple starred and top-tiered reviews. Nine of Stars will revolve around many of the same characters that populated these prequel novels, although it will effectively function as the starting point for a great new series.

MORE ABOUT LAURA BICKLE:

Laura Bickle is an award-winning author of multiple works of YA fiction. She grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology - Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs. Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016. More information about Laura’s work can be found at www.laurabickle.com

 

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Black Tide Rising By John Ringo

This is a collection of short stories set up in the world of  To Sail Darkling Sea , zombie post-apocalypse world.   I'm not fond of short stories but these are worth reading.   Note these are not by Ringo but edited by him.

I don't make any attempt to review each story in a collection.   Some were better than others.  They all stuck closely to the theme and some even came close to the irreverent punch out style of Ringo.  

I recommend the book.

Web sites:        http://www.johnringo.net/Home.aspx

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Tales from High Hallack by Andre Norton

This is a volume of short stories from the master, Andre Norton.  As a boy, I made the assumption that Andre was a guy.  In the early 1950's sexism was rampant.   She was one of those figures that helped me realize that women can do everything men can and (gasp) sometimes more.   This is a collection of her short stories put out by her estate. (RIP)

These stories touch upon much of my childhood reading that transported me to locales far from my steel town roots.   They  still do!  The stories abound with courage and hope. 

I am pleased that they are being re-released and hope that another generation can be inspired.

web site: http://www.andre-norton-books.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Spotlight On Rainy Kaye's The Deepest Black

  Today, we're celebrating the release of THE DEEPEST BLACK by USA Today Bestselling author Rainy Kaye. THE DEEPEST BLACK is 99 cents for a limited time! Check it out, then scroll all the way down to enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card!  

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Ember has a little problem...fairies want her dead. Ember spends her Friday nights lurking in the bad parts of town, killing fairies. It’s either that, or become a victim to their flesh-eating hunger. Then she meets Remy, a fae who, despite getting on her nerves, isn’t evil. He tells her that a shadow has been consuming his world, changing its inhabitants and letting destructive beasts into his city. He is searching for his brother who went missing during the catastrophe. When a team of mercenaries come for Ember, she has little choice but to join Remy in his quest. Together, they decide to bait a trap. What they find reveals the destruction of the fae world means the end of the human world, too–and it’s Ember’s fault.  

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      Rainy Kaye writes paranormal novels from her lair somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona. She is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA, and her Summoned series was acquired by Bastei Lübbe. In 2014, she reached the USA Today Bestseller list. Today, she's taking care of her small zoo of furry animals and trying to remember where she left her coffee.
Twitter | Facebook | Website

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Grim Tidings by Caitlin Kittredge

Ava, a lost soul,  is a hellhound.  In Black Dog, Ava is subjected to a cruel reaper of  souls named Gary.   She meets Leo and her life changes.     In this book,  as an unfettered Hellhound, she and Leo become witting and unwitting accomplices of an Angel of the employed rather than fallen persuasion.  They are tasked to stop the Walking Man, a wild card in the pantheon of mystical beings in this series.

I may have mentioned, Ava is a contradiction, she is a merciless killer and yet has a heart.   She is not a shape shifter and yet she shifts her shape.  Her internal conflicts would fuel the furnace of a passel of psychologists and psychiatrists.  Leo, is a grim reaper, perhaps the Grim Reaper.  The interesting thing about these characters is they take lumps, they bleed, belch, sleep and cry.  In other words in spite of their other wordly existence they still suffer as mortals.   

The plot is intricate and sometimes confusing.  It is often difficult to determine who is friend and who is foe.     

I recommend the book.

Web Site: www. caitlinkittredge.com

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey

This ranks up there as one of the stranger books I have read and I have read a lot of books.  This is a bizarre mix of Dresden files and Hitchhiker Guide with a leavening of Stainless Steel Rat humor.   A magically immune crook who is ratted out by a colleague ends up saving the world is the premise of the book.

There is a little bit of something for everyone in this book.  Angels of all types, demons, ancient gods, vampires and assorted paranormal freaks and wackos pop up all over the place.   The humor is satirically over the top!   It is almost but not quite so pushy with the humor to turn you off but the author worked way to hard to make it funny. 

It was still an entertaining book and I recommend it. 

Web site: http://richardkadrey.com/books-2/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.