First, the ereader’s genius is portability.  Your library travels with you while you wait for the subway, or in the parking lot for the kids.  But that also means that the best novels for ereaders are digestible even when taken in McNugget-sized bites.  Long chapters, complex theses, and vast multicharacter sagas may be difficult to bite off and chew.  War and Peace is best absorbed a couple of uninterrupted hours at a time.  And a bit of contemporary humor helps. I don’t know about you, but John Milton’s never made me snort milk out of my nose.

A second consideration is cost.  Whatever tangible sizzle a doorstop-thick, autographed, dust-jacketed hardcover offers compared to a pocket-sized paperback vanishes on an ereader.  Booksellers do make some hot titles and authors available as ebooks at mass market paperback prices.  But an ebook that is, or was originally, released as a $30 hardback often lists for two or three times the price of a book that is, or especially was originally, released as a $7.99 mass market paperback, even though both are popular.

Another thing about price.  Much of the world’s greatest fiction is in the public domain, and available free or nearly free for ereader.  Sadly, few of us care to digest Milton in the Bounce House parking lot, at any price.  And today virtually anyone can list his/her “novel” on Amazon, so free or $.99 download books often deliver what you pay for.  Milton John’s Zombie Santa may prove less artistically satisfying than John Milton’s Paradise Lost, even if the title and first page sample are cute, and Milt’s mom, writing as “Knowledgeable Critic,” gave his book five Amazon stars.  Indicators that a book is worth downloading: best-selling history, of the book or of its author; good reviews from credible sources, the fact that editors at a major publisher found it worth printing, and, yes, an actual price tag.

Another consideration: For ereaders, the next book in the series, or the next book by the author, is a click away.  So, if you love the first book, is there more where that came from?  Or was the novelist a one hit wonder?

Specific suggestions?  Sure.  Unsurprisingly, the works of the author of this post just happen to be great choices for ereader downloads, if you or someone on your list likes science fiction, dark humor, or just a good, fast story with engaging characters and relevance to current events.

Orphanage, my first novel, for example, races along in three-page chapters, and is told in the accessible voice of a reluctant enlistee in a near-future war.  My kids and my friends think he’s way funnier than I am, but they have company.  Orphanage made Barnes & Nobles’ paperback top 50 in its first two weeks of release, garnered compliments from the likes of the Washington Post and Denver Post, and earned a Quill Award nomination as best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel of the year.  It’s publisher’s other authors include Poe, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stephanie Meyer, and James Patterson.  Orphanage was released in paperback, and so sells in ebook for a paperbacky $7.99. And its story and style soldier on for six more books if you like it.  The newest, Undercurrents, is even cheaper in ebook, six bucks through its publisher, Baen distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Happy holiday reading.

My (biased) advice?

Witness the Dino rumble with Bob Sawyer, me and others (Thursday 2pm room A10), also known as Creating Believable Paleontology.

Sip a mocha with me and other fans at my  Kaffeeklatsch (Friday 10am in the Registration Lobby – it’s free, sign up or walk-up).

Preview Sticks and Stones, my short story for the 2012 anthology,  Armored, learn about the maybe movie, or whatever else you always wanted to know (Friday, 1pm, room A14).

Discover Why the Left Still Loves Military Science Fiction with SFWA Grand Master Joe Haldeman, Eric Flint, Baen publisher Toni Weisskopf, Taylor Anderson, and me (Friday 5pm, room A05).

Win free books (including my latest, Undercurrents) and learn what’s new from Baen Books at Baen’s multi-media fest (Saturday noon, room A11. Come early -it’s always jammed.  Free stuff will do that.)

Score an autograph and/or a visit with me (SFWA table in the Dealer’s Room, Saturday, 4 pm-6pm, or the Main Hall autograph tables, Sunday, noon-1pm)

Learn why the legendary Robert Heinlein continues to impact science fiction, with his biographer, Hugo-nominated Bill Patterson, Harry Turtledove, Jim Frenkel, Lee Martindale, and me (Sunday, 1pm, room A10).

Or you could spend a week playing the nickel slots.

Sci-Fi channel called Orphan’s Destiny “positvely prophetic” when the book, depicting abysmal government response to disasters, appeared contemporaneous with the Hurricane Katrina debacle.

America was going to elect an African-American President, but not for another thirty years or so.

When Orphanage’s manuscript was sold back in the dark ages of early 2002, I thought that a miniature “personal assistant” carried on the wrist or in a pocket from which one could email, access the Internet, and be tracked by GPS so well that privacy concerns would arise, was decades away.  Say hello to my smartphone.  Hybrid cars?  ditto.  The demise of paper books?  Yep.

As for the predicted continued atrophy of manned spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit, however, I’ll stick to my guns.

The premise that some kind of victory in the amorphous war on terror would lead to reduced defense spending may be upon us, if recent headlines in the wake of Osama’s demise prove true.

So it should come as no surprise that Undercurrents , which officially hits the shelves July 5, 2011 features a free fall parachute jump from the edge of space, just as this article runs: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/02/daredevil-plunge-from-outer-space-back-on/

Alien invasion, not so much, but we still have a few decades to go.

FAQs about Mole Hunt:

What is it?  Mole Hunt is a short story that takes place in the “universe” created in the five book Orphanage series and two (so far) book Orphan’s Legacy series.

How do I buy it?  You don’t.  It’s free.  Go to www.Baen.com and there it is, beginning on the home page and available to read in its entirety.  After it’s headline run on the homepage, Mole Hunt will continue to be available in the Baen Free Library online.  Eventually, it, and other such short stories by Baen authors may be assembled into a tree-killer physical anthology.  That, however, won’t be free.

Chronologically, where does Mole Hunt fit?  Mole Hunt takes place just after the end of Undercurrents, the just-released second book in the Orphan’s Legacy series, and thus just after the end of the seventh overall “Orphan” book.

Eeeww.  I have to read seven books or I won’t understand this story?  Nope.  It’s a stand-alone story.  If I didn’t just tell you, you’d never need to know anything went before Mole Hunt.  On the other hand, if you have read the prior parts of the series, you will recognize and enjoy revisiting plenty that you will find in Mole Hunt.

The intro says the story is Shakespeare.  That doesn’t sound like the Jason Wander – Jazen Parker Orphan books.  If you get the Shakespeare connection, cool.  If you don’t, you’ll never miss it.

Most of you have read all the books.  But some of you have read the Jason Wander series, but not Overkill, and some of you have read only Overkill.

The Solution:  We at RobertBuettner.com are encouraging readers to review Overkill.  In this we are motivated wholly by a spirit of public service, rather than any desire to increase readership.  And the Himalayas are made of fudge ripple.

The Bribes:  We here at www.RobertBuettner.com are fresh out of Carribean vacations for two (you’ll have to read Overkill).  But we do have signed copies (physical books, not ebooks or audio books, because those are hard to sign) of any and all of the books, including forthcoming Undercurrents, when it comes out in a little over a month.  We even have SWAG promotional items like signed posters, and signed Orphanage camo flashlights.

We will be giving away four “first prizes,” winners-choice, from the bottomless authorial treasure chest.  We reserve the right to award additional  prizes if we feel like it.  Why would we feel like it?  If you are serving on active duty in the US or allied armed services, odds are good.

How to Enter:

1.  Post a review (preferably but not neccessarily gushingly favorable) of Overkill online, then send the link to author@RobertBuettner.com   Do note whether you are on active duty, or tell us who the prize would go to who is serving. If you are entering to WIN Overkill and have not read it, feel free to substitute a review or reviews of any of the other five Robert Buettner books.

2.  Where might you post?  On the reviewed book’s page on Amazon.com, for example, or the book’s pages at Borders, Barnes & Noble, or Waterstone’s in the UK.  On your own ‘blog or webpage.  On a ‘blog or webpage you visit.  In an e’zine.  Reviews in hard copy publications are fine, too, but an electronic or hard copy of the review would have to reach us (P.O. Box 9, Lebanon, GA 30146) before the entry deadline.  Yes, school newspapers, Battalion newsletters, etc. count.  No length requirements or restrictions.

3.  Entry deadline?  Working links or hard copy received at Author@RobertBuettner.com by midnight, US Eastern Standard Time June 30, 2011 will be eligible.

4.  Four winners will be selected at random from eligible entries.  Additonal winners, if any, will be selected from among the remaining entries based upon the caprice, whim, and hubris of the panel of judges.

5.  Winners will be notified by return email, along with detailed information on available prizes.

6.  Other Stuff:  Winners don’t pay shipping, the bottomless authorial treasure chest does.   If you are Ayman al Zawahiri, please include return address or current GPS coordinates. Taxes are the responsibility of the winner, but the books retail for between US$7.99 and US$15.00, for crying out loud.  By entering, reviewers agree that their reviews or excerpts from them may be republished (real names/email addresses will be excluded on prior request) without further notice or obligation.   

If you’ve read all of Overkill you also know that fitting an Abrams into a story set  light years in distance and a hundred years in time from here and now, and doing it accurately, requires more than an author’s vivid imagination.

So, I want to say thanks, again, to all the soldiers of 3^rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3^rd Infantry Division, the Sledgehammer of the Rock of the Marne, who took time out from preparation for deployment to the Republic of Iraq, to bring this last-century intel puke and tanker’s son up to date on what makes a modern tank, like the 3rd HBCT Abrams shown below right, thundering across the red clay of Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Even more special thanks to my host, 3^rd HBCT’s Cpt. Charlie Barrett, at left (looking even spiffier in his Class A uniform than in pixillated camo).



Also thanks to SFC. Stephen Burden (above) and Staff Sgt. Joseph Maughon who showed me how an Abrams gets prepped for a long journey.  Although Iraq is closer – a lot closer – than where Overkill’s Abrams winds up.

Thanks also to Harry Sarles and Brenda Donnell of the Department of the Army Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, and to MAJ Lon Widdicombe, USA, for making it all possible.

Any errors regarding tanks and tankers are mine, not any of theirs.

But I, and all Americans, owe 3^rd HBCT, and all those who serve, thanks for far more than that. Not just for their courage in navigating the fog of war, though certainly for that.

But also for the way they represent our better nature to the world, like this 3^rd HBCT soldier.

Today, though, readers post comments online instantly.  Reader reviews of Overkill have been, well, as shamelessly squibbed below:

“a great book…one of the most imaginative pieces of science fiction I have read in a while”

“Brilliant, I couldn’t put it down. Actually I bought it to go on my kindle but didnt even wait long enough to transfer it and read it all on a laptop screen in one sitting!”

“Spellbinding”

“Robert Buettner’s first novel, Orphanage, will forever be one of my all time favorite military science fiction novels…Overkill…gave me a close approximation of the joy I felt while reading Orphanage.”

That last comment addresses my sole concern to date.  Some new Overkill /Buettner fans don’t know that there are five books out there, beginning with Orphanage, that set the stage for Overkill.  Most of those newbies seem to be getting that pleasant surprise when they read the Afterword at the end of Overkill.  But Overkill was designed as, and appears to be working as, a stand-alone novel.

It’s a pleasant problem for an author to have.

Eclipse also asked me to create a “Chinese Portrait,” a brief interview format popular with French readers.  In English, it read like this:

If you were a flaw?  Stubbornness (what my wife calls it)  

Most Americans know C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia.  Fewer know that in the late 1930s he wrote science fiction set on Mars and Venus.

More to the point, on this Veterans Day, C.S. Lewis served as an infantry officer wounded at the Battle of Arras in 1917.

I am indebted to Baen books’ publisher Toni Weisskopf for recently pointing me to Lewis’ 1946 essay, Talking about Bicycles, which, as you may suspect, talks not so much about bicycles as about the four ways in which authors think – and write – about war.

“The Unenchanted man sees (quite correctly) the waste and cruelty and sees nothing else…the Enchanted man  – he’s thinking of glory and battle-poetry and forlorn hopes and last stands and chivalry.  Then comes the Disenchanted Age…But there is also a fourth stage, though few people in modern [1946] England dare to talk about it.  You know quite well what I mean.  One is not in the least deceived:  we remember the trenches too well.  We know how much of the reality the romantic view left out.  But we also know that heroism is a real thing, that all the plumes and flags and trumpets of the tradition were not there for nothing.  They were an attempt to honour what is truly honourable: what was first perceived to be honourable precisely because everyone knew how horrible war is.

“The war poetry of Homer…for example, is Re-Enchantment.  You see in every line that the poet knows, quite as well as any modern, the horrible thing he is writing about.  He celebrates heroism but he has paid the proper price for doing so.

“You read an author in whom love is treated as lust and all war as murder – and so forth.  But are you reading a Disenchanted man or only an Unenchanted man?  Has the writer been through the Enchantment and come out on to the bleak highlands, or is he simply a subman who is free from love mirage as a dog is free, and free from the heroic mirage as a coward is free?  If Disenchanted, he may have something worth hearing to say, though less than a Re-enchanted man.  If Unenchanted, into the fire with his book.  He is talking of what he doesn’t understand.  But the great danger we have to guard against in this age is the Unenchanted man, mistaking himself for, and mistaken by others for, the Disenchanted man.”

To serve is to leave forever the ranks of the Unenchanted, and of the Enchanted.  Whether you have emerged Disenchanted or Re-enchanted, thanks.