Free Books!

I've been an avid eBook reader for well over eighteen months. I treated myself to the Sony Pocket eBook reader but, since Christmas, have moved onto the Amazon Kindle, which I prefer. Although I do buy eBooks, I also read a lot more classic and other out of copyright literature than I ever did in paper form. Partly it's because some of the larger novels are an inconvenience to carry about as 'real' books but also because the Internet has given us access to thousands of  neglected works that have been out of print for many years.

Amazon do a nice line in free eBooks, some are public domain, others are offered by budding writers either as a promotion or as an inducement for you to buy their other works. Many out of copyright books are available on Amazon for a small charge. There are also publishers who offer the complete works of a particular author for a few pounds and these might seem like good deals. However, many of these files are poorly proofread and formatted. Indeed, a good number don't even offer a useable table of contents, so that it becomes difficult to locate the work you want within a volume containing thousands of pages. Fortunately most, if not all, of these books are available for free somewhere on the web.

So here's my list, with comments, on the best eBook sites dealing with public domain and other free electronic literature.

AddAll

This is my first port of call when searching for eBooks, free or otherwise. This meta search site will tell you in seconds if the book you're looking for is available, legitimately, for free online as well as any chargeable versions that may be on sale from a variety of eBook suppliers. For example, a search for the Henry James novel Daisy Miller brings up a number of free etexts from a variety of sources. However there's also an edition, published by Penguin, which will set you back £4.99. Presumably this version will contain a scholarly introduction and notes on the text. It's your choice if you think it's worth paying just under a fiver for the added content.

MobileRead

This is a great site which has some of  the best formatted eBooks available on the web. Run by a group of enthusiasts, the eBook library contains thousands of well-designed volumes  on a wide range of subjects. You don't even have to be a member to download material.  Some of the ebooks are truly stunning (There's a great Epub illustrated Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome)  The site is updated daily and, as it's based around an Internet forum, it's very easy to search for a particular book.  If you want to, you can join in and upload your own formatted eBooks (tutorials provided). Highly recommended.

Munseys

This site boasts that they have "Over 20,000 rare and hard to find title in 10 formats". I might disagree about how rare some of the titles are, but for shear diversity, this site is pretty hard to beat. The website is updated daily and has a good search engine. I especially like the 'pulp' category. It was where I first came across such great 1950's hard-boiled crime writers as David Goodis, Charles Willeford and Ed Lacy (I was mainly attracted by the lurid covers which are also posted at the site). Munseys also has a pretty good horror and ghost fiction section, as well as a lot of  Science-fiction taken from such magazines as Thrilling Wonder Stories. Formatting is sound  but does tend to fall on the generic side. Books seem, for the most part, to be typo and error free but I've yet to come across an illustrated volume.

Project Gutenberg

The original eBooks site, created in 1971 by Michael Hart, now offers over 33,000 public domain eBooks. The website has moved with the times and now produces eBooks in a variety of different formats.  Many other websites create their own eBooks from texts supplied by PG.  I've found books here that are not available anywhere else for free. The formatting is very basic but they are all readable and are checked for spelling and other errors by an army of volunteers. There is also a PG Australia and a PG Canada which offer books not available from the main PG website. Remember that you are not allowed to download books if you live in a country where they are still in copyright.

Manybooks

Offers Project Gutenberg etexts in over 20 formats. Slightly easier to search than PG, each entry is accompanied by basic bibliographical information. One of the nicest things about this site is that it offers the chance for readers to post reviews of books they have read. Updates on Manybooks have been suspended whilst the site migrates to a new server. The last new book was uploaded at the beginning of April 2011.

Baen Free Library

If you're looking for something more up to date and your tastes turn towards hard/military science-fiction and fantasy, you could do worse than downloading a few novels from the Baen Free Library. Baen books run a subscription eBook service and this free library is a way of enticing you to subscribe.  Selection is limited but does include such names as Murray Leinster, David Drake and Fred Saberhagan. As a teenager, I would have probably loved these books but they don't do much for me now.

Trailers from Hell

I've always had a soft spot for a well-made trailer. In the early 1980's when home video first took off, one of the pleasures of hiring a film was to watch the trailers before the main feature. I'm not talking here about the glossy mainstream fare put out by such studios as Paramount or MGM but the scuzzy exploitation b-movies released by labels such as VTC or Hokushin (is that Patrick Allen's voice?).  These trailers were often better than the films they were promoting. I've never seen Dolemite but nothing could be better than this Rudy Ray Moore rapping preview  (Warning: Not Safe For Work).

Trailers from Hell is a site dedicated to this lost art. Exploring the fertile ground of  horror and exploitation film  the website is updated with a new trailer three times a week. Each mini-movie is accompanied by an optional commentary from a filmmmaker associated with the field.

The site was co-founded by director Joe Dante (Gremlins) and he, along with John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), provide most of the commentaries. However you can also hear the likes of Stuart Gordon (Re-animator) on The Thing with Two Heads or Guillermo del Toro on Dead and Buried.

It's a great way to while away an hour or so on a Sunday afternoon, (I was going to do the ironing). Surely you can't resist seeing the first screen appearance of Nicole Kidman in the classic teen-pic, BMX Bandits?

Only me then?

The Clinic (2010)

Australasia has produced many great horror films over the last thirty-five or so years. They range from the lyrical terrors of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) to the more graphic splatter of Braindead (1992) or Black Sheep (2006). Actually, Black Sheep isn't that good but it's silly and fun and much better than the film under review here.

Set in 1979 ("before DNA testing"), The Clinic tells the story of heavily pregnant Beth (Tabrett Bethell) who is travelling across Australia with her fiancé, Cameron (Andy Whitfield) to see her parents just before Christmas. After the couple are run off the road by a dangerous driver they decide to stay in a seedy motel for the night. As Cameron can't sleep he goes into town in search of something to eat. When he returns he finds that Beth has gone missing and it seems that the motel owner knows more than he's letting on. 

Beth wakes up in a bath filled with ice and finds that she has had a caesarean-section and her baby is missing. Trying to escape the facility she comes across three other women in the same situation. It soon becomes clear that there's a fourth woman on the loose who is intent on killing Beth and her new companions. The race is on for the women to try and find their babies and escape before they all end up dead. There's also the mystery of the couple who watch every move of the mothers on CCTV and who seem to have a keen interest in who will live and who will die. 

The director, James Rabbitts, makes good use of the New South Wales landscape and sets up an air of suspense with the scenes at the motel. However once we get inside the clinic (which looks like an abattoir in the middle of nowhere) plausibility gets thrown to the wind as we are asked to accept that five women consistently make bad choices for themselves and for their newborn children. 

The Clinic is an uneasy mix of medical, slasher and backwoods horror, cutting from scenes of women in peril at the facility to Cameron's investigation into his girlfriend's disappearance. Plotting is all over the place, with one major character disappearing abruptly with a third of the picture to go. The film culminates with a huge info dump as the child-snatchers plans are revealed. You'll gasp, but not in a good way. There's also the obligatory nightmare sequence that's kind-of explained in the end, but just confuses the issue even further. 

There's not much more to be said without giving the plot away for anyone who wants to actually watch the damn thing. Suffice it to say that, as usual in contemporary horror films, there's a twist in the tale. But this one relies so heavily on coincidence that credulity is stretched to breaking point. At least the acting is OK.

Not recommended.

Gosh, has it been that long?

I must apologise for the delay in updating my blog. Soon after my epic post about the Folk Against Fascism concert I went on holiday and, for some reason, never got around to blogging when I returned home. However, things have changed.

I have suddenly found myself with more time on my hands and a renewed interest in writing about films, books and music. So, I'm starting this blog up again. I hope to post at least twice a week, if not more often. I know I have friends who will nag me if I don't keep to a regular timetable. Wish me luck.

Now, what shall I start with. I know...