I'm combining this week and last's Tor Free E-book Giveaway cause I was fairly underwhelmed with last week's offering and never got to posting about it.

In any case, let's get to it.

Battlestar Galactica, by Jeffrey Carver

Tor gave us Battlestar Galactica by Jeffrey Carver last week. Ordinarily, I might have been excited about this, but the book is an adaptation of the show's pilot which I'd seen at least twice already. Once we get past the initial 'human gets greeted by the cylons and blown up" sequence, we're shown Starbuck running through Galactica's corridors shouting "Make a hole!" to ordinary citizens come to tour the battlestar before it's decommissioned.

Huh, how's that for deja vu? Just like the pilot episode.

I can only assume the book continues to follow the storyline as dictated by the pilot (it is an adaptation, after all). Sorry, that just doesn't do it for me. Book closed, didn't even bother saving this one.

As an aside, I've developed quite a love/hate relationship with the show. Sometimes, it's the best sci-fi I've ever seen. Other times (usually when they're dealing exclusively with Gaius Baltar), I'm bored to tears and my wife gets to listen to me swear off the show again and again. But I'm always back the next week hoping to see the show's true potential. Sometimes, I'm rewarded, and that's what keeps me coming back for more. Right now, I'm swearing off the show again cause they're making us wait until 2009 for the remainder of the episodes. I'm sure I'll change my tune by then.

Flash, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Next up, and this week's giveaway, is Flash, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Cool cover, and you have to love a book that throws you into the action from the very first sentence:

Cracckk!
“Down!” Down! At the sound of the ancient slug-thrower,
I dropped flat onto the squashed soyl plants at the edge of
the field.

Similar to Tobias Buckell's Sly Mongoose, where the opening begins with the lead character hurtling through the atmosphere on a collision course with a floating city, this sort of opening promises a lot of fast-paced plotting, kick-butt action, and some general edge of your seat escapades.

Let's see what Amazon readers thought.

Not bad. 4 1/2 stars out of 5. As one would expect with a rating that high, most reviews are favorable, though one reviewer who gave it 4 stars notes that the book "ultimately falls short as the world doesn't quite support the plot".

Guess I'll have to read the book to see for myself.

Modesitt has an extensive list of books to his name, so if you like this one you've got plenty of others to keep going with.

If you're using BlogEngine (like me), then you'll be pleased to know that version 1.4 has been released.

Al Nyveldt has come up with an upgrade guide to ease the transition.

Last, if you need a few reasons to upgrade, here's a taste of what's new:

• Universal database provider (MySQL, SQL Server, VistaDB, Oracle etc.)
• Drag ‘n drop widget framework (prototype video)
• Author profiles using ASP.NET profile provider
• Subcategories
• Password encryption
• Better performance
• Tag selector in control panel
• Semantic formats (FOAF, SIOC and APML)

I'm planning my migration strategy, the first step of which entails finding time to do it. Remember to backup EVERYTHING before you get started. Better safe than sorry.

Here's this weekend links of interest, out a day early since tomorrow is a holiday for us U.S. folks.

I plan to spend the weekend in reflection, grateful for living in one of the best countries on the face of the planet. This is, of course, the celebration of our Independence Day, so such reflections are both timely and appropriate.

When I'm done with that, I'll be writing, reading, swimming, drinking, biking, and getting some work done around the house. Blogging will likely remain suspended this weekend as I really want to spend my writing time working on my book, the progress of which is going well. Blogging is important, of course, but the key is finding a happy medium between it and "real" work.

Have a good one!

Bald People Rule The Scifi World
Here's the first picture of Richard Woolsey wearing his new uniform on Stargate Atlantis. The nature of the medical emergency is our flutters of excitement at seeing Robert Picardo in his snappy new threads. But Woolsey has some serious shoes to fill — bald authority figures (both good and evil) have reigned over science fiction forever. And Jean-Luc Picard isn't even the coolest bald leader in science fiction. Click through for a gallery of our favorite baldies.

Literary Agent Sues Sites for Ruining Her Reputation
Literary agent Barbara Bauer is suing 19 bloggers and websites, including Wikipedia, YouTube and AbsoluteWrite.com, claiming they are ruining her reputation, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported yesterday. Online critics call Bauer one of publishing’s “20 Worst Literary Agents,” claiming she charges clients high fees for little work, and is a “scam agent.”  Bauer did not return PW’s calls for comment.

The Truth About Microscopic Black Holes and the Utter Destruction of Earth
Science fiction is rife with tales of experiments that run out of control and blow up the planet or exterminate all life or something. Maybe that's why two U.S. researchers sued the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), trying to get an injunction that would prevent them from building their Large Hadron Collider. Their reason? Concern that it would create an apocalyptic mini-black hole here on Earth.

Streamlined Cars Blaze at 120 mph in 1930s Future City
Here's a brief, animated glimpse of a future city where torpedo cars rocket along on elevated highways.

Tentacles and Cosmic SF: The Art of Lovecraft
Tentacular horrors, unnamable evils, and quests to the edges of alien-landscapes-on-earth like Antarctica were just some of the beautifully bizarre features of H.P. Lovecraft’s weird fiction.

Terry Goodkind Moves to Putnam for Three-Book Deal
After a long career with Tor, bestselling fantasy writer Terry Goodkind is moving to Putnam. Ivan Held, president of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, acquired U.S. hardcover and paperback rights in a joint venture with Berkley Books. Putnam will publish the novels—which will be mainstream fiction, not fantasy—in hardcover; Berkley will publish the paperbacks.

The Book Review’s Booty
Every once in a while, when we’re pulling the endless books and press releases from publishers out of envelopes, out plops a little item of some sort. In fact, of every sort. From tennis balls to whoopee cushions, we’ve seen it all.

As I write this, Twitter is dead. Not just down with the usual overusage whale or twittery bird, but completely dead as in their home page won't even come up.

This begs the question of how useful the service really is when it seems to spend so much time being down instead of up. Over on Men with Pens, there's a lengthy discussion going on about just that subject.

I've been using Twitter since my initial post about how I didn't get it. I like it well enough now. I don't use it all the time or even every day, but it was recently #2 on my list of driving traffic to my site (it only recently fell to #3 behind StumbleUpon), so in that respect it's been a boon. I also like the quick interaction it provides with others. However, when it's down, it's down, and not of much use to anyone.

One solution for when Twitter is down and you still want to twit is Twiddict. Think of Twiddict as an offline version of Twitter. Ahhh, maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but Twiddict queues your twits for you until the Twitter service comes back up. Then, when Twitter decides to come back up, it shoots them over. I've just tried using the service, so I can't attest to it's reliability, but it's a good idea and certainly interesting how niche apps crop up to fill gaps created by other applications or services.

Just a short list this time. Have a good one.

Online collaboration lands young authors book deal
Two 21-year-old women have landed a book deal after writing a book together online in only 18 days. Danielle Bennett, from Victoria, and Jaida Jones, from New York, managed to attract the attention of a major publishing house with a fantasy novel featuring flying metal dragons, magicians and an all-out battle between warring rivals.

Twelve Books You Should Read at the Beach This Summer
It's boiling hot up here in the Earth's northern hemisphere, so hopefully at some point you'll find yourself vacationing at a beach — or at least lounging near a large body of water. And when that happens, you'll need a really awesome scifi adventure to read while you sip a cold drink and pretend you never have to go back to your desk at the Ministry of Information.

Tor's latest free e-book giveaway is In the Midnight Hour by Patti O'Shea.

Ms. O'Shea has an impressive list of books to her name with a definite slant towards the romantic.

From the author's web site:

Ryne is a magical troubleshooter, sworn to protect the innocent from being harmed by magic—and she's been chasing Anise, her former mentor, for six years.

Deke is a private investigator who knows something key to defeating Anise.  But Anise cast a dark spell over him, and even though Ryne has managed to temporarily lift the curse, Deke can't remember what it is that he knows.

Ryne has sworn to never get involved with a human, but Deke is sexy, charming, brave and irresistible—and as Ryne and Deke are pulled further into Anise's evil schemes, it's harder and harder for Ryne to resist the attraction.

But dark magic has its own attraction, and in order to defeat Anise and lift Deke's curse permanently, Ryne will have to risk following in Anise's footsteps and succumbing to the lure of the darkness...

Hmmm… sounds like romance and paranormal all wrapped into one. Not my usual thing, but what the heck. It's free.