Freebies: Arthur C. Clarke short story, plus books on the cults of the Mac and iPod
Death and the Senator, a short story by the late Arthur C. Clarke, is the third-most popular among the fiction downloads at the ad-supported Wowio. Here’s the plot, a little didactic but still intriguing. A U.S. senator may die without experimental treatment—aboard a Russian space station—for his cardiac condition. But should he risk being called a hypocrite, having voted against a similar station for the U.S.? And what about displacing other people in line? Alas, for now, Wowio is only for people in the States.
NonWowio freebies of possible interest: The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod, both from No Starch Press and written by Leander Kahney, Wired News managing editor. The idea is to get you to buy the p-books if you like the e-books. Oh, and guess which P2P outfit NSP is using? None other than The Pirate Bay. Here’s to publishers and P2P sites working out synergistic relationships, although I think it would be cool if the files were also available to net e-stores (well, maybe they are—I don’t know)!
Related: Time for e-publishers and pirate sites to make peace—via authorized samples and ad rev cuts?
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 am
[...]  But I was pleasantly surprised to read via Teleread that No Starch Press is using P2P sites to distribute a couple of their titles.  They then hope that people who like will buy the pbook. Teleread also has an article suggesting [...]