I don't know about this book in particular, but here is a site that has downloadible books that may be available to international users that would not be available from a web site based in the U.S. Itt is located in Australia and it will provide books to U.S. residents and other parts of the world. There is an email address there for asking questions about how to get access to them. The URL is http://guidedogswa.org/library/openbiblio/opac/index.php
_ _ _ "As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the world" Virginia Woolf The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html----- Original Message ----- From: "Graham Lewis [gjl]" <gjl@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 10:41 AMSubject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Next Meeting of the Science Fiction Club, Thursday, April 8, 2010
Absolutely. Actually I have just joined the committee of an action group here in the UK , so plan do more than just complain. Well strategic complaining anyway.
I may be able to grab that book from some other source. If so, I will join the disussion anyway. I am a terminal science fiction fan with an attic full of paperbacks that I can no longer read!
Regards Graham From: EVAN REESE [mailto:mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: 12 March 2010 15:30 To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxSubject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Next Meeting of the Science Fiction Club, Thursday, April 8, 2010
Graham, I'm very sorry to hear that you can't access this book, or a lot of others for that matter, simply because you live in a different country. One might be forgiven for hoping that by this time, humanity would have advanced to the point that accessibility to books for the print impaired shouldn't depend on where you live. But one would be overly idealistic apparently.
Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: Graham Lewis [gjl]<mailto:gjl@xxxxxxxxxx> To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 4:17 AMSubject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Next Meeting of the Science Fiction Club, Thursday, April 8, 2010
Not available to non-americans, it seems. This is a shame as I would very much haved liked to have joined this club.
Actually, very little of anu worth is available to non-americans on Bookshare and we are at least a decade behind in accessibility to text here in the UK. Frustratinh yo see all this good stuff so close yet so far.
Graham From: EVAN REESE [mailto:mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: 12 March 2010 03:35To: scifi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Next Meeting of the Science Fiction Club, Thursday, April 8, 2010
Hi All,A great time was had by all at this evening's meeting of the Science Fiction Club.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, April 8, 2010. Time: 9 PM Eastern, 8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific. Place, Book Nook at: http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e This month, we're reading an ambitious first novel called: Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko Available for download from both Bookshare and BARD. The BARD link is: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.68913 The Bookshare link is at: http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/93355?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9rZXl3b3JkPSZxdW90O3Npbmd1bGFyaXR5J3MgcmluZyZxdW90OyY%3D The book is listed as being of Excellent quality. Here are some synopses from Bookshare and Amazon. Bookshare Long Synopsis:The debut novel from an exciting new voice in SF about what happens after ninety percent of humanity leaves Earth. There is an artificial ring around the Earth and it is empty after the Singularity. Either all the millions of inhabitants are dead, or they have been transformed into energy beings beyond human perception. Earth's population was reduced by ninety percent. Human civilization on Earth is now recovering from this trauma and even has a vigorous space program. Apollo Papadopulos is in training to become the captain of the starship Consensus. Apollo is a unique individual in that he/she/it is not an individual at all, but five separate teenagers who form a new entity. Strom, Meda, Quant, Manuel, and Moira are a pod, as these kinds of personalities are called, genetically engineered to work as one and to be able to communicate non-verbally. As a rare quintet, much relies on the successful training of Apollo, but as more accidents occur, the pod members struggle just to survive.
From Publishers WeeklyThis superior debut initially resembles a straightforward YA adventure but abruptly veers into much stranger territory. Various factions struggle for control of the Ring, a colossal space station built around Earth by engineers who turned most of humankind into a group mind called the Community, which promptly figured out how to access other realities and vanished from this one. The few remaining humans genetically engineer their children to form pods of individuals so closely bonded that they function as one person. After stumbling on secret research during a training exercise, the teenage pod called Apollo Papadopulos soon find themselves on the run from shadowy forces who want to seduce or kill them. The setting extends from Earth orbit to the Amazon jungle, and the action ranges from a tense space rescue to an almost idyllic trek through the Rockies with a family of genetically altered bears. Though some loose plot ends dangle a bit, the ingenious character development and startling images
and ideas are deeply satisfying. From BooklistEarth is surrounded by an artificial ring, former home of the human-cybernetic Community, which vanished in the Singularity, years after which multiple person Apollo Popadopulos (a pod of five individuals) is one of several competitively training to captain the starship Consensus to search for the vanished preponderance of humanity. Training is arduous, and returning to Mother Redd's farm to await assignment proves harder. Apollo meets Malcolm Leto, recently removed from stasis, who was once part of the Community. As Apollo falls victim to more and more accidents, and Leto schemes to bring back the Community, harsh truths come to light about Apollo's origins and the bleak reality of the Community's disappearance. Melko's world is a fascinating one, in which single humans are increasingly rare, pods like Apollo are the norm, and the Singularity did not necessarily improve the human condition. This strong first novel boasts engaging characters and tight, fast-paced action sustained through some
acrobatic plot stunts. --Regina SchroederI read a piece of an early part of this novel in Asimov's a couple years ago, and I thought it was excellent. It still sticks in my memory, unlike most of what I read that far back.
There's likely to be plenty of Sense of Wonder in this novel, something the Science Fiction genre is uniquely suited to provide. I hope lots of people will read and enjoy it, and come to talk about it at the next meeting.
EvanTo unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to bookshare-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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