Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion

Conn Iggulden's next instalment of his excellent "Mongol Saga", Conqueror, is apparently available for sale ... in some countries. I just ordered my copy on amazon.ca, where only a few copies of the hardcover are still available, with the paperback due out on October 11 of this year.

This is in stark contrast to US availability, where the hardcover is not expected until December 27, 11! In UK, this title will be released on October 27, 2011.

Yay, Canada! >8)

ib.

Oh darn. I didn't realise the next book was out yet.
I just spent my hard earned moneys on preordering Bernard Cornwell's new book in his Saxon series, Death Of Kings.

Now I will have to seek out Conqueror by Iggulden. I like the large paperbacks. They feel good in my hand...and I own all the other Khan books in large paperback. The new one will have to match. :)

Well, hard earned cash it may be...but I just bought it now off The Book Depository. :D

$16, thankyou very much TBD! If I had preordered it from an Australian online bookstore it would have cost me $34. (I am an Aussie).

We get so gouged over here on book prices.

Thanks for letting me know about the new book's release, Ireney.

$34 does seem a little steep, but in all honesty, I have no real idea what purchasing power the $34 wields in Australia >8)

Huge majority of my reading is done on an electronic device now. I began collecting Iggulden's series in hardcover before the move to e-books, and so I feel compelled to complete it in that format. Have you considered a Kindle or a Nook perhaps ... books will probably be cheaper for you?

ib.

Hi Ireney,
Actually e-books are not too much cheaper over here. :)
$34 in Australian dollars is about the same as $34 US. If that helps (I know you're Canadian, but that's all I got..:)..)

I have thought about an e-Reader, but I do love my paper books. I am with a very good library. They don't have everything I could ever want, but they come close.
I only do the occasional purchase when I am really hard up for something that my library won't get in...or, as in the case with Cornwell and Iggulden...I have the series and need (and want) to keep adding to it. :0)

You could buy Kindle books from amazon.com ... a simple "procedure" exists that will enable you to do so. Conqueror, for example, would set you back $13.99. This is actually quite expensive as most Kindle books cost less than $10 ... USD, of course.

ib.

Ahh, now but see, the large paperback costs me $16 with free postage. ;)
$14 for the digital version????? $16 for the dead tree version???? hmmmmm. Dead tree please.
And $200 and over for an eReader.

The Book Depository rocks. Most of the time I pay approx $10 for books from them...with free postage.
Nope, no electronic version for me, kind sir. :)
Maybe one day I will get an eReader, because I hear of so many free and cheap 'on sale' books. That is tempting.
I have an Aussie friend that has a Kindle 3 and he picks up 99cent ebooks all the time. I get jealous of that.

Yes, tons of 0.99 and <$6 books are available. I was initially a bit apprehensive about the e-reader revolution, but once I tried the Kindle, there was no looking back for me. The convenience, portability, organization, searchability, and reduction of clutter are just the few benefits that sold me on it. The fact that I have a book delivered to the device in a few seconds from the time of purchase has been quite nice >8) Also, I can resume reading on a number of devices, should the actual Kindle reader not be under hand, including my phone.

ib.

So, what are you saying? You love your kindle? :) lol

I have waited all this time for .
I pre ordered it (as mentioned earlier in this thread) from The Book Depository and it was apparently 'shipped/dispatched' on 26 October.

19 days later, when it usually takes 10, and it is still not here.
I don't know what The Book Depository's policy is on undelivered orders.
I am hoping they have a good policy that will make me happy. :(

Terri wrote: "I have waited all this time for .
I pre ordered it (as mentioned earlier in this thread) from The Book Depository and it was apparently 'shipped/dispatched' on 26 Octo..."

That sucks ... have I mentioned the Kindle yet ... ?

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Yes, I do believe you have....and no thankyou. I prefer dead trees. :) And an electronic copy won't slot in with the dead tree series of Khan books lined up nicely on my bookshelves.

Good news. It arrived today. What a relief! :)
This always happens. Just as you decide to send an email about something, it turns up.

And it is a beauty too. Gorgeous cover and thick too. Joy of joys. *does happy dance*

Awesome .... although, I suppose I should be disappointed that I did not convert you to a Kindle user ... Amazon Crusade fail >8P

Waiting for your review! My hardcover copy will sit on the shelf until the series is completed ... I'll have plenty to occupy me until then >8)

ib.

But mate, by not reading a series until it is complete you miss the amazing thrill you get when you know the next one is coming out.
The bated breath, the anticipation, the announcement of date, the thrill of the chase, the pre order, the checking the mail everyday. And most of all, the getting excited with other Goodreads members about its arrival and subsequent first opening.
That is a buzz all book nerds should experience. The next in a series buzz. Its a natural high. :)

p.s and no...I will never become a Kindler. :D

Hah hah ... believe it or not, I still experience the same thrill and anticipation! I was giddy with excitement upon learning that I could order this particular release >8) Sometimes I wonder if it is the reader in me that gets excited, the collector, or worse, the pack rat!

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Or the hoarder???? Maybe there is a hoarder lurking within. lol :)

Here's an article for your dead tree argument Terri...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/lo...

Awesome article! :D
Thankyou very much for posting the link dawn.

Article quote:
E-book readers are a fine product for book readers. They don't work so well for book lovers. Their bells and whistles get in the way. To a true bibliophile, instantaneous delivery is a shortcoming, not a virtue. A hunter doesn't yearn to shoot at paper targets in a carnival booth. His passion is sitting for hours in a duck blind waiting for a fleeting chance of hitting one on the wing.


Perfecto!!

I do see the benefits of ebooks for some people, they just aren't for me. I would like to own one mainly because I am a gadget person and I like to own all the modern gadgets and there are a lot of free books out there.
But, alas, I am a book lover. Picking up a book, smelling it and turning pages is half the joy in reading for me.
Picking up a hard eReader would take half my reading joy away. I'd just be reading then. :(
I'd still like to own one though. To play with it as a gadget.

I actually bought an ereader this year, after always saying I wouldn't. The experience has done nothing to convince me that they will replace books, but it does serve me well for reading pdfs of academic papers (which is mainly what I bought it for) and also for travelling. Books are a very tactile thing. I think there was an episode of Buffy (many years, ago, obviously) where Anthony Head's character said that the smell and the feel of books was important (in comparison to the internet then, not ereaders, but there you go).

I guess I'm saying that I finally see the point of ereaders, and that point isn't to replace books, as many would have us believe.

I read the comments at the bottom of that article and one person was talking about sitting on a train to work and how the eReader is good for that.
There would definitely be a lot of uses for an eReader. I can't see a lot for me. Although, you raise a good point there Lee. It would be good for reading work related pdf files, especially the large ones. I could have done with an eReader for that, up until a few years ago.
Now I think on it...gee they would have made life a lot easier back then. :\

I enjoy both book and ereader. Not so much paperbacks. One point as Lee mentioned, being a motorcyclist and having taken week long trips, space is a premium and having an ereader is tops.
I'm not nostalgic, I have been going to the library for years. I don't want my books to smell. I have a dog and cats for that! LOL!

LOL! Yes, I have dogs for that too.
Mind you, when I say smell, unlike the guy that wrote the article, I mean new books. I am not with him on the old book thing.
Cracking a new book and smelling them is one of the first things I do when I open that new book.

As for library books....????...ah...pass on that smell. There are smells that come off library books, and stains too, that I don't even want to think about where they come from. *blerk*

Oh and P.S I like the large paperbacks the best. :) I'm not a hardcover lover. Too inflexible.
I'll buy them if they are on offer for a similar price to large paperbacks though.

"Cracking a new book and smelling them is one of the first things I do when I open that new book".

Kinky! LOL! I know what you mean.

LOL! It may explain my 'sometimes' quirkiness. I am high on printer ink. :\

Update: It is a woman's right to change her mind isn't it??? OKay, now we have straightened that out...I asked hubby for a Kindle for Christmas.

He had no idea what to get me and I was looking through a catalogue and saw that they aren't very expensive anymore.
Also seeing some books on that Guttenberg site that I couldn't get from the library. And I thought, blow it!, I should have one of these modern gadgets.
I won't use it lots, but at least I will have one and I can use it for free books.
I would never buy a book for it unless it was super cheap, a dollar or two.

So there you all go. :)
In my defence, I did say a few times that I wouldn't mind one for all the free books out there, and then Lee mentioned how good they are for more formal files, which I quite regularly need to read, but I didn't know when I'd ever get one.

Terri wrote: "ow good they are for more formal files, which I quite regularly need to read, but I didn't know when I'd ever get one. "

Welcome to the dark side!

Check what formats kindles open. I know when I got mine (a Sony) they couldn't handle pdfs or word documents, that's why I got the one I did, but they may have changed now.

Oh, that would suck. I better check into that.....thanks Lee....checking now.

The two I am choosing between are this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005...

and this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002...

It has this in the eReaders details:
PDF Reader
Now with new dictionary lookup, notes and highlights, and support for password protected PDFs. Easily carry all of your documents on the go.

Ohhh, that new kindle without keyboard looks good. It's so small and those new screens are supposed to be so good.
Damn, now I want one......lol

Did you see the Kindle fire though? Colour touch screen? Plays movies and such? Short battery life though. And not cheap yet.

Might as well get a ipad and get all the features for that price.
I like the size of the other one.

I would LOVE an iPad. Too expensive over here.

Personally, I don't see the point of the colour screens on ereaders. Sure. they're a lot more flashy, but isn't the point of an ereader that they're easier on the eyes than staring at a computer screen all day? Colour screens are backlit, so there's no difference to doing just that.

I'm sure one day they'll develop colour e-ink screens, which will probably wind up on everything, but we're not there yet.

I agree. For eReaders I think colour screens are excessive (for now I do anyway). The Kindle Fire looks cool and I feel urges to want it because it is the latest gizmo, however, even if it was in my budget, I still believe I would choose the non colour.

I may change my mind one day...right now..that's where I'm at. :)

As Lee mentioned, it's best to see what formats it includes. Checking the tech specs, it still seems that epub is not included and that would be restrictive with me.

I can't believe Terri buckled so quickly!

Colour screens make sense if you are also using the device to read content such as magazines, or comic books, for instance, where colour is more important, and sometimes necessary to convey some idea. I have an iPad also, and ever since I purchased it, I now use it for most of my reading. The Kindle app allows me to read my Amazon purchases. I use the actual Kindle device also, but mostly outdoors and when I travel.

Terri, I suggest that you consider the keyboard version over the other $79 one you are looking at. That particular model features a very cumbersome input method, where you have to use the directional pad to navigate a virtual keyboard. If you prefer the earlier model over the Kindle Keyboard, you should seriously look at the Kindle Touch instead, otherwise you will be up in a world of hurt whenever you want to browse the internet, make notes, or search the book.

Kindle does not support ePub ... if you absolutely need to read ePub files for some reason, a ton of converters exist that will take care of that. The process takes mere seconds ... here is a guide that uses one of them: http://techsupport.foreverwarm.com/ho...

ib.

Thanks, Ireney for the advice,
Unfortunately, unless I buy direct from the Amazon U.K or U.S, I have only 3 to choose from. Those two I linked to below and the keyboard with 3G.

I had already made up my mind that I wanted the keyboard over the navigator. I just don't want to have to deal with the navigator button. And I can't see any reason for us to pay all that extra for the keyboard with 3G. So, I'll be asking for the keyboard one from hubby.

I really had no idea what to ask for Chrissy from hubby, so, seeing the Kindle for $159 (for the keyboard one...it is more expensive over here than in the U.S, but to buy from the U.S means postage and that makes it the same) saved me too much thinking. :)

Has anyone looked in the Kobo?? Better or Worse?

I'm going to set up an eReader thread. lol. Cause there must be people who aren't buying into the discussion because they think we're down here talking about Conqueror on sale in Canada. LOL! We're pretty excited about Iggulden on sale in Canada. hehe!

Terri wrote: "I'm going to set up an eReader thread. lol. Cause there must be people who aren't buying into the discussion because they think we're down here talking about Conqueror on sale in Canada. LOL! We're..."

Yep. Confused me for a bit.

Lee wrote: "Yep. Confused me for a bit. .."

Is that hard? (just teasin', mate..;)..)

Terri wrote: "Lee wrote: "Yep. Confused me for a bit. .."

Is that hard? (just teasin', mate..;)..)"

Nope.

;)
lol

Just finished reading Birth of an Empire. 4 stars.
Conn Iggulden Really enjoyed it. You guys are super with the recommendations. Am now half way with Lords of the Bow
and there is no letting up! Love it so far!

Terrific! Crossing my fingers that Lords of The Bow gets your blood pumping fast. The battle scenes...phew..I was breathless.

Book three now in my paws! I often wonder how I would have fared living in some of the time periods that I have read. In this, the Khan dynasty, I think I'd rather stay where I am. Man, those people needed to get a motorcycle and chilax! Conn Iggulden

Pretty hardcore. :)

Bernie wrote: "Book three now in my paws! I often wonder how I would have fared living in some of the time periods that I have read. In this, the Khan dynasty, I think I'd rather stay where I am."

Heh heh ... I've often wondered that myself. Considering my current skills which are ill matched to any previous era, I imagine not well at all. However, had I been born and raised in that time period, who's to say? >8)

ib.