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Vijaya Schartz

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Vijaya Schartz
Award-winning Sci-Fi, Guns, Swords, Romance With a Kick
e-Books (electronic books)

What's an e-book?     How to buy an e-book?     How to read an e-book?     e-book devices

RED LEOPARD - Chronicles of Kassouk Book Two
Desert Breeze Publishing - April 1, 2010

In charge of the fortress of Kassouk in the King's absence, what is Terek to do when a Goddian spacecraft lands in his medieval backyard, and the striking woman leading the galactic party insists on colonization?
Galya, the Goddian Princess commanding the geological vessel, is bent on finding a crystal with unusual hyperconductor properties. And the futile resistance of the local population isn’t going to stop her. Not even that defiant tribal chief nicknamed Red Leopard, like the infernal feline that follows him everywhere.
Terek and his band of swordsmen and felines must defend their people’s freedom, no matter the cost. But with this unexpected arrival, an old prophecy surfaces, taking new meaning and carrying a new threat...
When political intrigues, greed, murder and betrayal tip the scales, whom can Galya really trust? Her fellow Goddians? the Mutants bred to serve her race? or her primitive Human enemy?

Buy it from the publisher HERE, or from Amazon KINDLE HERE

COYOTE GORGEOUS
Sapphire Blue Publishing - January 3, 2010

Arizona Game Ranger Madison Huntley, investigating a wild animal attack on a ranch in Cave Creek, discovers disturbing details. If she didn't know better, she'd say the legends frightening the ranch hand might be true. But Madison isn't just a wilderness cop. As a biologist and a wild life expert, she believes in facts and science, not scary tales.
Kaletaka, a Hopi Native, enjoys fame among the white man, forging haunting sculptures of half gods, half humans. When he awakens bloody, with no recollection of what he did the night before, he remembers the legends of his tribe, and the meaning of his name. But as hard as he tries, can he escape his destiny?
Can Madison solve the mystery killings and insure the safety of the town? Let alone her own safety? For each step closer to the truth and to Kaletaka, unleashes an unspeakable evil, and no one is safe...

Download from the publisher  HERE
Also in Kindle from Amazon HERE

 

WHITE TIGER - CHRONICLES OF KASSOUK - Book One
ISBN 978-1-936000-31-9 - Desert Breeze Publishing

On the frozen plains of Kassouk, where a few aliens rule a medieval Human world, Tora, Human warrior trained by tigers, seeks her father’s murderer. But what she finds at the point of her sword confuses her. How dare Dragomir, the handsome Mutant, question her bloodline and her loyalties? And could a new enemy control the savage hordes of the fringe?

Dragomir offers to help, but Humans and Mutants are forbidden to fraternize under penalty of death... Should Tora trust her mind, her instincts, or her heart?

In the vortex of war, treason and intrigue, among blizzards, avalanches and ambushes, will Tora solve the mystery of her father’s death and unveil the secret of her birth? Can she and Dragomir escape persecutions long enough to save their planet from the invaders and fulfill their destiny?

Buy it from the publisher HERE, or from Amazon KINDLE HERE

A DESPERADO FOR CHRISTMAS
ISBN
978-1-934657-09-3 - Sapphire Blue Publishing

Rookie Border Patrol Agent Kaitlin Harrington hates Christmas and all men, since her lover jilted her and she lost her unborn child on Christmas Eve. This year, as she guards the Mexican border in southern Arizona, she encounters more than she can handle. No amount of training prepared Kaitlin to arrest the gorgeous desperado who challenges her. His name is Miguel, a human smuggler fascinated by the green eyes of the feisty auburn-haired beauty bent on impeding his important work.  But Miguel is a man of many secrets.  On this dangerous adventure through the Arizona desert, anything can and will happen.

Buy it from the publisher HERE
Buy it from Amazon Kindle HERE

 

 

WHAT'S AN E-BOOK?

An e-book is a book without the paper.   Authors write on computer and each book is a file. After editing, instead of formatting for print, the file is translated into an electronic format easy to read on any screen. The book even has a "cover" like any other book. The inside of the book looks just like a print book, except that you read it on a screen.

As an added advantage, on most e-book readers, you can adjust the size of the font to make it easy on your eyes.  Some devices have a back-lit screen so you can read in the dark without interfering with someone's driving, waiting for the movie to start, or without waking a sleeping bed fellow. A device can also store up to several hundred books, so you can carry a whole library on a business trip or on vacation and never run out.

 

HOW TO BUY AN E-BOOK:

Go to the publisher site, or any site selling the e-book you want, click on the buy button, pay online with a card or a Paypal account, and follow the directions.  E-books are cheaper than paperbacks, there is no shipping, no tax, and no waiting to receive the book. Most sites have instantaneous download, or send you the file attached to an email within minutes of your purchase. Some e-book reading devices can also download directly from a site with which you have a preset account.

 

HOW  TO  READ  AN  E-BOOK:

Anyone can read an ebook on a computer in HTML or PDF format:

HTML is a versatile format that can be read from your computer using your current browser. Just click on the file to open it and start reading. This format can also be used with any hardware that accepts html documents, such as ipods. 

The software to read a PDF file is a free program called Adobe Acrobat. If you don't already have it on your computer or PDA, you can download it for free from adobe.com.

Mobipocket (.prc) is a format designed specifically for PDAs such as a Palm or Pocket PC.  You can download the Mobipocket Reader for free at mobipocket.com.

E-book publishers offer many formats to accommodate the many devices on the market that can be used to read e-books (i-phones, palm pilot, e-readers, kindle, etc.). If using one of these reading devices, just purchase the file format of the book compatible with your device. The Kindle format only fits the Kindle reader and is only available from Amazon.com.

Some devices can download directly from the web, others use a USB port  to transfer the books from your computer to the device and vice-versa.

 

 

E-BOOK  READING  DEVICES:

 

The Sony Reader:

$269 to $299 - free shipping
Currently available (in stock) from Amazon.com
(click on image at right for more information and/or to buy it on Amazon.com)

The new Reader (model PRS-505) features a svelte body design. Re-styled controls more closely mimic paper page turns and allow for quick, intuitive navigation. A next-generation electronic paper display delivers faster response and a higher contrast ratio for easy reading even in bright sunshine. Eight levels of gray scale provide for crisp and clear text, images, and graphics. This device is designed for people on the go, this device is compelling because it allows them to carry a wide variety of reading materials whether they are on a cross-country flight, in a doctor's office waiting room, or at a beach resort. The Reader can handle a stack of books and other documents that people would rather not carry, yet offers a 'book-like' reading experience unavailable with other electronic devices. With the capacity to store up to 160 typical eBooks, the Reader can act as a mobile library. Expansion slots for Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards make the device's library potential practically limitless. More advanced users will appreciate the USB-based mass storage capability that allows them to use the device as a portable drive for the direct transfer of documents, images and other files to the Reader. A new auto sync feature also lets users set up folders with books and documents that can be automatically synchronized when the device is connected to a PC.

 

The Kindle:

$359,00 - free shipping
click on picture at right for more information and/or to buy it on Amazon.com

Sold by Amazon, the Kindle is one of the newest and most popular ebook readers on the market. Made famous by Oprah Winfrey in November 2008, it sold out over the holiday season. If you wanted one, you had to wait until February 2009 when the new version cames out.

 

The Nook:

$259.00

Choose an eBook using the beautiful color touch screen, then watch it appear instantly on the E InkŪ display, where text appears as crisp as a printed page. The 16-level gray scale display offers great contrast with no glare or backlight. Choose from five font sizes so you can read with ease.
Store as many as 1,500 eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines on your nook’s 2 GB of internal storage, so you'll never be without your favorites. Need more space? Just add a Micro SD card.

 

The ebookwise 1150:

$115.85 to $135.95

This device contains 64 Megabytes of internal memory, dramatically increasing the storage capability of your eBookwise-1150

Also available: under $100 with 8 Megabytes memory

About the size of a paperback book, weighing about a pound, and with its backlit screen, the eBookwise-1150 gives new meaning to the term "light reading." The device also includes powerful electronic features that offer you a reading experience beyond that of a traditional book. You can turn pages and change the text orientation just by pushing a button. By simply touching the screen, you can enlarge the text size, bookmark pages, highlight passages, make notes, search for key words and hyperlink to other parts of the book.
 

Other devices:
To peruse various other e-book reading devices and compare prices (new and used)
click
HERE

 

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