Goodreads 2010: My Favorite Books
I'm not a big bestseller, hardcover or literary fiction reader, though, and have only started to embrace ebooks recently, so most of what I read is unlikely to appear on any mainstream "Best of 2010" lists.
Reviews of books, comics, movies, and other random stuff.
The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
Brook's worldbuilding skills are impressive, her Iron Seas setting rivaling Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century for potential stories, and I daresay its backstory is actually a bit more compelling, despite my general preference for American-flavored steampunk.
Fragmented Marketing: Making Mickey a Transmedia Epic
While Epic Mickey can certainly be used as an example of transmedia development, I'd argue that the process only got it half right since there doesn't appear to be an integrated marketing plan in effect.
Fragmented Marketing: Making Owls Appealing
"From the Director of 300 and Watchmen" isn't an ideal tagline for a PG-rated movie aimed at kids.
Review: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers My rating: 5 of 5 stars In ZEITOUN, Dave Eggers does an excellent job of weaving Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun's compelling backstories and Katrina experiences together, shaded by post-9/11 xenophobia, and delivers a powerful documentary of what will most likely be looked back upon by history as one of this country's most tragic eras/errors. In its final pages, I was most struck by the proverbial banality of evil and the limited resiliency of the human spirit. When I first heard about this book, I fully expected to be infuriated after reading it, but it simply left…
Reading Is Fun(damental)
“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints”
Wilfred Peterson (via dhammza)
At the beginning of the year I made several resolutions, one of which I was reasonably sure I’d be able to stick to since it simply involved reading and I’ve always been an avid reader. It was resolution-worthy, though, because I haven’t been reading nearly as much as I used to over the past few years, for a number of reasons, mostly work-related.
My intention was to go both genre- and format-hopping — one print, one eBook — and write reviews for whatever I read, but to-date I’ve only read one eBook, the entertaining steampunk anthology, The Shadow Conspiracy, and despite having downloaded several free eBooks and samples on the iPad’s major ereading apps, I’ve yet to read another.
Despite the inexplicable lure of the $149 WiFi-only Nook, for now, when it comes to long-form reading, I’m still a hardcore print guy.
Killer iPad Apps: ComiXology
It's been two weeks since Steve Jobs' "magical and revolutionary" device officially went from fascinating Rorschach test to tangible consumer appliance, and while some of the hype around it being the savior of book, magazine and newspaper publishing has thankfully died down, there's no debating that Apple's App Store has had a significant impact on how we value and consume digital content. That impact will likely increase with the introduction of the iPad, and it's especially noteworthy for publishers who are looking to iBooks and the "agency model" to counter Amazon's pegging $9.99 as the benchmark for eBooks. Savvy…