tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6934384.post-73711246138342473652008-07-08T16:59:00.000-07:002008-07-08T17:38:48.127-07:00As I've mentioned before, I read a lot of <a href="http://ondrejka.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-toy-amazon-kindle.html">Baen books</a>.  Partially this is due to my tastes in travel reading aligning nicely with their catalog, but mostly it's because I spend a lot of time reading on the road, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Baen">Jim Baen</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Flint">Eric Flint</a> and others at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baen_Books">Baen</a> were ahead of their time in pushing to release books as non-drm digital downloads.  They've also released tons of books as<a href="http://www.baen.com/library/"> </a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.baen.com/library/">free</a></span><a href="http://www.baen.com/library/"> downloads</a>, so it's easy to sample new authors.  Now that I am <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FKindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device%2Fdp%2FB000FI73MA%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Delectronics%26qid%3D1215563704%26sr%3D8-1&tag=collapsinggeo-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Kindle</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=collapsinggeo-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;"/>-enabled, I'm reading even more books this way, and last night plowed through Eric Flint's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345465687?ie=UTF8&tag=collapsinggeo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345465687">The Rivers of War</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=collapsinggeo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0345465687" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;"/>, an alternate history that begins during the war of 1812.  Good, fun read.  Doesn't eclipse my current high water mark for historical speculative fiction -- Dan Simmon's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316017450?ie=UTF8&tag=collapsinggeo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316017450">The Terror</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=collapsinggeo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0316017450" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;"/> is in a class by itself -- but, like the Belisarius series Flint cowrote with David Drake, Rivers has a wonderful attention to detail, makes one glad to not be on a battlefield, has several laugh-out-loud moments, and was the perfect way to spend a few hours in a hotel far from home.cory ondrejkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922823174521066462noreply@blogger.com