Losertown Library
In 2002, I participated in the annual NanoWriMo event. It was a grueling process--much harder than I anticipated, but it was well worth it. Anybody can throw out crap in a few minutes, but there is a strange satisfaction in putting in a lot of effort to throw out crap.
In the end, I didn't want my literary baby to die a slow, obscure death on my PC, so I decided to edit it, compile it into an eBook (or is it e-book?) in both Palm Reader and Microsoft Reader format, and put it out on the web, where it can die a slow, obscure death on the Internet. But hey, it's free! I hope to upload other free eBooks in the future.
Losertown Stories is basically a series of loosely tied stories centered around three main characters dealing with the crapfest called LIFE. Is it any good? You decide. It's a free download. Download the free eBook and put it on your PDA of choice and read it on the subway! You'll laugh! You'll cry!
Losertown Stories
Warning! This novel contains profanity, adult situations and sexual themes. Nothing too bad, really, but it's there.
- Palm Reader format
- Microsoft Reader format
Note: Dan writes Nina a song in chapter 20. Download the mp3.
You can download a PC desktop version of the Microsoft Reader here. For my money, it's the best looking e-book reader software around.
Songbooks
- I Live in Losertown songbook in Microsoft Reader format | Palm Reader format.
- Six Feet Under songbook in Microsoft Reader | Palm Reader format.
eBook Readers
If you're not too keen on reading on your computer, I recommend getting an eBook reader. Right now, there seems to be a price war going on with the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and Border's Kobo. There's also the Sony Reader and many other brands. I'm not including the iPad because that's not a pure eReader. I don't think an LCD screen can compete with the readability of e-Ink.
It's really a matter of personal preference. I don't think you can go wrong if you went with either the Kindle or the Nook. I have the Nook myself, and I think it's great. What's really cool is that you can use software like Calibre to convert many different eBook formats (as long as they do not have DRM) into ePub format and load them onto the Nook. I test converted the Losertown Stories Microsoft Reader .lit file and it did a pretty good job converting it to ePub. Oh, by the way, I did put Losertown Stories up on the Amazon Kindle store for one dollar even though you can get it for free here--just for kicks.
Anyway, with prices coming down fast, eReaders are a great gadget to have if you love to read, and if you don't read much, you'll probably start reading a lot more.