Free ebooks

[stasia]

I don't know for sure if this has been posted here, but in case it hasn't (or for distracted people like myself!), I'll post.

I found a blog that's all links to free ebooks - not pirated copies, but legit copies.

Books on the Knob

It seems like it's mostly paranormal romance, but I've found a book about B29 bombers, some mysteries... I think the paranormal focus is because that's what's popular right now.

Stasia

Self-righteous censorship: it's the new black

[elf]

The more I look at Mark Coker's announcement about the Smashwords changes to comply with PayPal's demands, the more annoyed I get. The EFF posted their obligatory rant about free speech, but I'm focused on a different aspect: Coker's semi-apologetic, semi-defensive post.

He does a terrific job of implying that these are reasonable, sensible new rules, and that it was just kind of an oversight that he didn't have them in place all along--while *also* implying that he's so, so sorry about how this affects authors and readers, but he just has no choice. I hate this kind of duplicity.

The new rules (or possibly, new enforcement of existing rules; PayPal's always been anti-some-sexual-content, but may not have been so specific in the past) require ebook stores to not carry books that contain "bestiality, rape-for-titillation, incest and underage erotica." Of course, none of those are actually defined; this is another case of "all DECENT people will know it when they see it, and agree that those are Horrible Things that all DECENT people should not want to write or read."

Coker supports this approach to censorship.

( What he says about each of those points )