Synopsis:

The guys talk about Apple’s impending announcement of their supposed tablet device (which we now know as the Apple iPad) and its supposed killer ebook-reader features, and the ebook industry in general.  Bjorn taps into his experience in the ebook industry for this one.

Note: This show was recorded several days before the announcement by Apple on Jan 27 2010.  Also, this is another episode where we jumped in without introductions at the start.

Show Length: 52:51 mins

Links

• Digital Magazines: Bonnier Mag+ Prototype
• NYT: There’s More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen

Download the show here.

Recorded 9 Nov 2009
Babblers: Bjorn, Marcel, Renee, Donny, François with guest Brian Evenson

Synopsis:

The group is pleased to have Brian Evenson, award-winning literary/horror author of Altmann’s Tongue, Last Days and The Open Curtain, among many others.  We discuss the man and his work in this interview, covering genres, literature, his work as the Chair of the Literary Arts Program at Brown University, translation works, ebooks and prodigious reading input.

Show Length: 1:27:23 mins

Brian Evenson on the Web

• Official Website
• Brian’s Wikipedia entry
• Brown University’s Literary Arts Program
• Brian Evenson: an introduction (pdf)
• Search for Brian Evenson in Amazon

Mentioned

• Éric Chevillard (François’s write-up here)
• Robert Coover
• Keith Waldrop
• John Edgar Wideman
• Carole Maso
• CD Wright
• William Gass
• Gilles Deleuze
• Daniel Alarcon
• Wells Tower
• Tom McCarthy
• Laird Barron
• Shelley Jackson
• Antoine Volodine
• Underland Press

Books

• Aliens: No Exit (Aliens (Dark Horse)), B. K. Evenson
• In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, William Gass
• Understanding Robert Coover, Brian Evenson
• American Plastic, Gore Vidal (NYTimes), collected in here.
• The Throat, Peter Straub
• A Dark Matter, Peter Straub
• Bardo or Not Bardo, Antoine Volodine
• Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity, Thomas Metzinger

Download the show here.

Recorded 6 Sept 2009
Babblers: Lars, Bjorn, Marcel and Donny with fantasy novelist Glenda Larke

Synopsis:
This week, we speak with the delightful and incredibly friendly Glenda Larke, an Australian fantasy novelist living in Malaysia. In addition to talking about her work and interests, Glenda shares her thoughts on genre fiction in general, the Google Book settlement and books made available electronically. Plus, bird-watching, and Bjorn’s band!

If you’ve not checked out Glenda’s work yet, what are you waiting for?

Show Length: 1:18:35 mins

Check out Glenda Larke online:

• Official website
• Glenda’s Blog
• Glenda’s Facebook page
• The Last Stormlord online – from HarperCollins, for a limited time only!
• The Last Stormlord, book one of Watergivers, will be available in Australia in September 2009 from Harper Voyager, and in the USA and UK in March 2010 from Orbit.

Books Mentioned:

• Heart of the Mirage (Book 1 of the Mirage Makers), Glenda Larke (2006 Aurealis Awards for Fantasy and Science Fiction
  Shortlisted – Best Fantasy Novel)
• Berryman’s Henry: Living at the Intersection of Need and Art (Costerus NS 158), Samuel Fisher Dodson
• How to Be Happy Though Married, Tim LaHaye

Links:

• Book and Reader Forum thread – Left Behind (The Series)by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins.
• An author’s guide to the Google Books flap
• Authors Guild: $125 Million Settlement in Authors Guild v. Google – A message from Roy Blount Jr.
• Shigekuni: Gung Ho: Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother”

Download episode here.

If you only go by the tag cloud now, it would seem to those who just tuned in to Bookbabble that we don’t do much but talk about ebooks, Kindle, love Stephen King and probably advocate Amazon as the be-all-end-all book retailer (this last part is probably true, since I’m using their affiliate code for all our book links). 

It’s a good thing Joyce is quite prominent now, not because we want to appear ‘serious’ or hoping having Joyce there lends us some credibility, but just to help convey the sort of diversity we’re really seeing from our discussions.  I suppose the loss of our old posts tended to skew the distribution a little.

I’m just saying…!

I would love to get one – check out the video on the Kindle 2 page if you haven’t already.  Oh so nice…

If you didn’t already know, the Kindle is currently only sold in the States.  But what if you’re staying outside of the country, but have the opportunity to get your grubby hands on one?  Perhaps a relative or friend is willing to ship one over.  Maybe you’re planning a trip to America yourself, and hoping to spread some greenback love for the good of the economy (whatever!).

But before you spend that hard-earned cash on this decidedly sexy and incredibly expensive device, it may be useful to know this: even if you could get the Kindle, you are not able to purchase content for the device (which is, of course, the raison d’etre of the whole thing).  From Amazon’s Help page:

At this time, we are unable to offer the Amazon Kindle 2 and associated digital content from the Kindle Store to our international customers due to import/export laws and other restrictions. When you place your order for an Amazon Kindle, the shipping address for the delivery must be recognized by our systems as valid U.S. addresses.

To successfully purchase digital content from the Amazon Kindle Store, the 1-Click payment method listed on the Manage Your Kindle page must be a credit or debit card issued by a U.S. Bank with a U.S. billing address. We value our international customers and hope to make Kindle available internationally in the future.

Therefore, unless the situation changes, no point getting the Kindle if you’re not living in the US.  Time to look for alternative readers, people.

Ok, this is definitely the last Kindle-related news for at least a couple of weeks.  Promise.

• New slimmer design
• Better display with 16 shades of gray (previously 4)
• 25% better battery life
• 2GB storage space
• Text-to-speech functionality
• Whispersync – allows you to ‘switch devices seamlessly while reading a book – change devices, and the other Kindle knows what page you were on.’

Check out the news in Mashable, and there’s a live blog over at Crave.

The new Kindle is expected to be unveiled on Monday (i.e. tomorrow!)

(Actually, the news about being able to read Kindle ebooks on your cell is pretty *the* news this past week.)

Thanks to Crave for the news and pics.

Synopsis:

The babblers talk about Michael Crichton’s passing and Oprah’s support for Kindle, and we find out that you can’t run away from the Kindle, even if you live in an ashram.

Show Length: 25:20 mins (What? Under 30 mins?)

Books mentioned:

• The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb
• Just After Sunset – Stephen King
• A Mercy – Toni Morrison
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – David Wroblewski
• The Days of Abandonment – Elena Ferrante
• Diary of a Bad Year – J.M. Coetzee
• Don Quixote – Miguel De Cervantes
• The Stone Gods – Jeanette Winterson

Links:

• Fretful booksellers count on name authors for holiday sales

Download the show here.

Synopsis:
The babblers talk poems!  An incredibly well-thought out podcast, filled with deliberate ponderings and critical analysis of the artform this episode is most certainly NOT.  Favourite poems get recited, emotions and thoughts that accompany them are shared.  Tidbits include a syair recital, a cheeky piece by Lars, serious one by Gem, an original by Donny, and a poetry textbook by Stephen Fry.  Also, the guys bring exciting ebook news to diehard ebook fan Gem.

Show Length:  45:24 mins

Special Note: Delicate ears should not listen at 2 points in the podcast, at the 42nd and 44th second mark.

Links:

• P Ramlee’s Syair Panca Delima
• Stephen Fry’s An Ode Less Travelled
• Paulo Coelho’s MySpace Page
• Cybook Gen 3

Download the show here.