Mushroom eBooks Blog

The fifth novel in Alan Burt Akers popular Dray Prescot series, Prince of Scorpio, is now available from Mobipocket.com, and will soon be available from Fictionwise.com and eReader.com. You can find out more here.

Here is the blurb…

Dray Prescot had fought long and hard through perilous lands to claim the hand of the heiress of the mighty Vallia. Yet, when finally he set foot in that long-sought empire, it was not as hero or noble… It was as an unknown, a mendicant, and finally as a condemned slave. For the combatant fates that had interfered continually with his quest on the planet of the twin suns of Antares had yet more tests for the man they had selected as their agent. But for Dray there was only one goal — already in sight — and he would not be turned aside any longer no matter what dangers Vallian intrigues and quasi-human mysteries may have in store for him. This edition contains maps and a glossary.

I got my new laptop yesterday, but I wasn’t happy with the font display. I turned on ClearType, but it wasn’t much better. So I did a search on Google, and found a ClearType Tuner provided by Microsoft to make your fonts look great. This is highly recommended, especially for reading ebooks on a PC or Laptop. It only appears to work with Windows XP, but there may be similar features or utilities for other platforms. Here is a snippet from the first step of the process (there are only three easy steps):

ClearType Tuner Step 1: Turn on Windows XP ClearType

With Windows XP, ClearType delivers improved font display quality over traditional forms of font smoothing or anti-aliasing. ClearType improves readability on color LCD displays with a digital interface, such as those in laptops and high-quality flat panel displays. Readability on CRT screens can also be somewhat improved.

Technorati Tags: cleartype, ebooks, e-books, xp, readability

If your favourite eBook retailer is eBooks.com, I am sure you will be very pleased to hear that most of Mushroom eBooks’ titles are now available directly from them. Any missing titles will be added over the next few days.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Ken Bulmer (aka Alan Burt Akers, among many other pseudonyms). He passed away peacefully in his sleep on 16th December 2005. He had been suffering from a series of strokes which had robbed him of his speech and his ability to write. He was 84. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends.

I am sorry to say that I never met Ken in the flesh, but I feel that I knew him to some extent through his written words, and through which, I hope, his memory will live on.

And there’s more… Swordships of Scorpio, the fourth ebook telling the exploits of everyone’s hero, Dray Prescot, is published today by Mushroom eBooks. You can buy it and download it from mobipocket.com immediately, and from other online retailers over the next few days.

Here is the blurb:

What does a man do when fate makes him the protector of the royal head of the land of his enemies? If it is Dray Prescot, Earthman on Antares, he sets aside his quest to do his duty. His duty was to reach Vallia and his princess Delia and help her claim her throne. His duty was to defend Vallia’s ancient foe and place its rightful heir on its throne — sworn to attack Vallia. So when the third force, the pirate fleets known as the swordships came between the two contending demands, Dray sees that only by following his own personal star could the contradiction be resolved.

Warriors of Scorpio, the third book in the Saga of Dray Prescot of Antares, by Alan Burt Akers, is now published and available from mobipocket.com. It will be available from other retailers over the next couple of weeks.

Here is the blurb:

Once again in the grip of the Star Lords of the Constellation Scorpio, Dray Prescot finds himself torn from the battles of the Inner Sea for a mission in the air. For it was now his mission to carry his beloved Delia by airboat to that far kingdom, Vallia, from whence she had come. But the route lay across the gaunt mountains and the shadowy jungles of the Hostile Territories — and there Dray was to be plunged among stranger peoples and more fantastic challenges than even his Kregen princess had known.

Fictionwise have discounted The Call of the Sword by Roger Taylor by 60%, so it is available for $2 (or even less if you are a Buywise member). This is another golden opportunity for anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading a Roger Taylor novel to give it a try.

Just a quick note to let you know that the eBookwise 1150 Reading Device offer has been extended to 15 December.

After writing yesterday’s post I noticed on the Fictionwise site that Mushroom eBooks titles are marked “Printing Disabled”. I have made enquiries and will report back as soon as I get an answer. In the meantime, it seems that you are limited to eBookAd.com or Cyberread.com for printable PDFs.

We are often asked how to print an eBook. Well here is my attempt at an answer:

You are normally only able to print a PDF file, assuming that printing is not disabled (see below). All the other eBook formats cannot be printed. If you buy your book from somewhere like Fictionwise or eBookAd, you buy the title rather than the format (there is no DRM), which means that you can download any or all of the formats you want at any time. So for one price you can download, say, the Mobipocket to read on your PDA, and the Adobe PDF version to print. If you then decide to buy a new ebook reading device, even years later, you should be able to download the correct files for it from your bookshelf. Fictionwise, especially, will almost certainly support new formats as they are introduced (although the desire is to have less formats rather than more, so roll on the ubiquitous, non-proprietary, universal ebook format).

However, if the PDF file has any kind of DRM (Digital Rights Management) it is likely that printing is disallowed or limited in some way (for example, you can only print 10 pages per day). So if you buy one of our PDFs from Amazon, eBooks.com, or other eBook retailers that sell DRM’d books, it is unlikely that you will be able to print it.

It is worth pointing out that an eBook is meant to be read on a screen of some description, and not printed. It kind of defeats many of the reasons for eBooks, such as saving paper (and trees and forests), or searchability, or adjustable fonts…