Digital Books

When you have an experience that frightens you, how do you process that fear? Do you have nightmares? Try not to think about it? Probe at it constantly? Curse? Pray?

Maine journalist Mark LaFlamme has his own way of processing life -- writing. He took a real-life experience on the Mt. Washington auto road and mixmastered it into this creepy Amazon Short. "Honey" draws its chilling atmosphere from fear and guilt. These are emotions known to everyone, and how many of us can say we've never felt ourselves too close to the edge of a cliff with those feelings? LaFlamme takes the reader over the edge.

"Honey" is about newlyweds and tragedy; it's a story, he writes, "that belongs in hell." The unnamed narrator is the husband. I won't spoil the story for you, though I can safely say that it involves a honeymoon drive up the precipitous Mt. Washington road -- and the terrible way it goes wrong.

In fact LaFlamme handled the constraints of a short format by keeping the plot simple and the prose full of undercurrent. Think of the madness and despair in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (though not the evil) and you'll get the idea.

If you haven't read LaFlamme's novels and short stories, then this Amazon Short would be a great introduction to his talent. One click! and it will be yours -- a fine little story. You won't be sorry.

Linda Bulger, 2008

HONEY is the third short story that I have read by this author, and I've read his two full-length novels with equal fascination. Page-turners all!

Every time I read a Mark LaFlamme horror story--whether a novel or in short form--I marvel at his skill in this genre. Each one I read makes me hold my breath in anticipation of what new horror might greet me in the next sentence.

HONEY grabbed me from the beginning sentence and wouldn't let go. How's this for a hook as the author imagines shaking hands with his reader?: << There is something strange about the clasp of my hand, is there not? The fingers do not cross over the back of your hand as you would expect. ... A quick glimpse of our clasped hands will reveal to you that the tips of my fingers are gone. >> Isn't that a gripping beginning?

Honey is the bride of the person telling this story, and what happens to this very-much-in-love couple would best be told in The Twilight Zone. What, indeed, does happen to them in the foothills of Mount Washington as they set off for their New Hampshire honeymoon? What endangers his beloved Honey? How does he try to save her? At what expense to his body? His sanity?

I wouldn't dream of spoiling this story for you. Mark LaFlamme will tell you in his own carefully chosen words, his own powerful style of writing. I warn you, though, if you're a horror fan this story will chill your blood and leave you panting for more!

LaFlamme's style has impressed me over and over, to the extent I go out on limbs constantly, telling everyone he's a combination of the greats: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul, with a little of Shirley Jackson tossed in for good measure. I risk the wrath of the legions of fans of these beloved horror writers by saying this, but I truly believe he has the potential to join them in their hallowed places in literature. With a little more seasoning and exposure, he will make it.

"Mark" my words.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008
V.O.

Reading this, I could not help but be reminded of Poe and yet I felt that Laflamme was not a mere imitation but had taken a certain writing style and put his own mark on it. Sheer genius.

The plot? It involves newlyweds, a road trip and a treacherous section of that road. A man passionate about his love named Honey. The author describes the passion and the events of a moment in time extremely well, the drive up a mountainous road, danger, etc.

I won't reveal more. What I WILL add is that any reader or budding writer should buy this, enjoy the story and then look closely at how well-written it is. I actually learned quite a bit from reading this one, after I finished the actual story. Then I sat back in admiration.

It isn't easy to write with such suspense and yet to create a story that is written so tightly. I can't say this about many works but I honestly couldn't find a wasted word here. I wouldn't edit or cut a thing. I am so tempted to include excerpts form the story itself here but I don't want them to be read alone and out of context. It would be an injustice.

So I'll do my best to give you some sense of the writer's unique style.
Sentences are brief and the plot seems to unfold effortlessly. As a writer, I know that the illusion of a work so well-written does not come easily. Perhaps it did for this writer. If so, I can only add that I'm even more awe-struck. This work contains love, passion, suspense and...a certain heart-stopping moment. Read this one. For the price, it is quite a bargain!

If you don't like the Dell DJ, that's fine, but please don't arbitrarily give one star to our *book* about the device. It's really quite good. :)

i have had my dell dj for over a year and have never had any problems with it!! I love the Dell DJ....it is a quality piece of electronics....the book sounds great too!

How about some reviews about the book? The reviews here have nothing to do with this product. Go over to the Dell forums and complain if you want. This section is for a BOOK.

BY THE AUTHOR OFBullets and Bandages COMES A NEW SHORT STORY- IN FREEDOM'S LIGHT- THIS IS A NICE LITTLE FAMILY STORY THAT WILL LEAVE YOU THINKING ABOUT IT LONG AFTER YOU READ IT.

My husband gave me this book to read after he loved it and I am so happy he did! "In Freedom's Light," puts the idea of family first. It was wonderfully written and terrific to read a tale with such a positive message.

This was a great, uplifting story. Robert Saniscalchi's work, "In Freedom's Light," provides a light-hearted escapist story. He is particularly skilled at describing the scenery and drawing you into the character's lives.

[Note: My review also appears under the Editorial Reviews]

Every performance artist wants to knock his/her audience dead, and Penny was no exception - until, that is, she literally knocked several members of the audience at her big recital dead as doornail. She's no Yoko Ono, though; it wasn't the musical performance that was awful. Penny's specialty, you see, was the use of extremely low frequency (ELF) waves. These things have been known to influence a person's mood and feelings, but the last thing Penny expected was to find her career all but ruined by a string of deaths in her ELF music wake. She has been studying her music ever since, living an isolated life of self-imposed exile, trying to unlock the secrets of her unique art form. Her life changes again after one of her neighbors disappears, and Penny finds herself in Europe trying to find the missing woman. Strangely enough, though, everything that happens seems to relate back in some way to her ELF wave music and research.

In Over Her Head definitely has the makings of a good suspense novel full of intrigue and mystery. The subject of ELF waves is actually quite relevant, as the military has conducted its own research into the possibility of using ELF waves on the battlefield to incapacitate the enemy. The story also calls to mind Lovecraft's story The Music of Erich Zann, especially in terms of the strange power certain pieces of music seem to unleash from within themselves. As long as the search for Penny's missing neighbor doesn't devolve into something silly or tiresome, I have to believe that In Over Her Head is a novel quite deserving of an audience.

In this excerpt we meet Penny, a young woman who seems to have a rare, unusual talent. She is a musician, one who composed a piece featuring mysterious extremely low frequency waves. While performing several people died at the concert. Not a good thing! Now Penny is hiding out because of interest from those that may only be trouble.
During this time a neighbor's studio is broken into and Penny finds herself being the helpful neighbor, but it appears trouble is coming.
This was definitely a different story, one whose subject is rich and deep, but highly captivating to the reader. Penny is very likeable and the setting is perfect for a mystery to evolve. How her music and her neighbor fit in it all I'm not sure of yet, but it certainly seems to have the potential of being a very good read.

I loved this book. It's a bit of a genre-bender, combining elements of a technology-thriller with those of a dramatic novel. Usually when a writer tries to cross over genres like this, the result is less than the sum of its parts. Not in this case. Russell has produced a work that combines the page-turning excitement and mystery you expect from a top-notch thriller with the fully-realized characters, rich language, and compelling settings that I find are always missing from the cookie-cutter supposed-thrill rides that seem to occupy 90% of shelf space in book stores today.

There's an immediacy to the delivery here, a seemingly-encyclopedic knowledge of the arts fine and pop, and an international feel that can come only from someone who has lived in multiple countries and speaks several languages.

I highly recommend it!

I read this book, and it totaly helped me! I started my film, and learned so much from this book.

The author must be some sort of g-d! He anwered nearly everyone of my questions. It actually changed the way i've been shooting.

Thanks! If only you'll write some more books!

I found Mr Garon's book to be direct, informative and easy to read without losing any of the details. This had all the information of a definitive text while being an easy read. I was eagerly awaiting his book, it did not disappoint.

Filmmaking is a leap of faith. A lot of people assume someone else will solve all the paperwork problems when distributions is locked. Unfortunately, if your paperwork is not in order and you can't furnish deliverables, you run the risk of losing the distro deal. Deliverables- what you provide to a distributor so they can do their job of marketing your movie- begin at the screenwriting stage.

If you are totally do it yourself and willing to make investments on yourself, why would you leave legalities to the VERY end when you have no choice (at least at the start you have the option of NOT hiring someone if they won't sign an actors release, avoiding a location if the owner won't sign. There's no "getting away" with anything.) This is stuff you hear about in film school, but it doesn't sink in until you experience the limitations caused by putting off the paperwork.

Author Jon Garon provides a legal book that is inclusive of all filmmakers, including no budget guerilla filmmakers. Even books that deal with guerilla filmmaking tend to gloss over the pertinent details that relate to Do-it-yourself-ers. He has some beautiful words of respect for guerilla filmmakers, too. That this is a law and business guide makes it a must have for anyone thinking about making a movie, be it for no money or millions.

This is the first book I've read that goes indepth as to the protections of a sole-proprietor vs. sole-Proprietor LLC (if your state allows it). I set up the LLC today, following his instructions. Took 10 minutes, online. Even went to the irs.gov for the employer id Number. He explains the risks of partnerships, and how you can unwittingly enter a partnership if you and your pals don't set forth an agreement at the start.

Financing is everyone's biggest complaint. This book explores the conventional and alternative financing models (investors vs. disposable income vs. debt financing/credit cards), and goes one better as to compare the risks and rewards of each. The golden quote is "I have never heard of anyone who has gambled her house on a film and won."

He even breaks down setting up your company and chain of command, running your company, working out deferrals and how those are paid back, and all sorts of issues you need to know but otherwise wouldn't think of. This book also includes info on contracts, actor and location releases, and music permissions.

Granted, this doesn't include a lot of boiler plate. But Mark Litwak has books for that. However, this book bests Litwak in the realm of detail and why certain provisions really matter. This book empowers the filmmaker to understand business and contracts, what to ask for, what to avoid, and so much more. This is a critical book to own. Particularly if you're broke. So get it!

A day or so ago, Author Robert A. Meacham showed those of us who frequent a particular forum the first line of a novel he was writing. It was riveting. I'm looking forward to the book.

On the product page of The Indiscretion, he gives the first line of this Amazon Short. I knew I had to buy it.

The really great news is that the first line is but one of many that will have you in the middle of the action from start to finish. The events of this tale pass in sequence through outstanding dialogue. Authentic, sensitive, heart-rending are among the words that come to mind describing this story.

As the first line you see on the product page tells you, this is a story of betrayal... probably begun in a moment of indiscretion fueled by alcohol. From the beginning of this beknighted relationship, events progress until the unfaithful wife becomes pregnant. With that shock came a realization that she had done wrong...a terrible wrong...to the husband that was devoted to her.

It's not my desire to rehash the plot. The real enjoyment of that experience can be found within the pages of Robert Meacham's story. I gave you just enough to tip you to the fact that this is a story of the deepest of emotions, and the author handles them in a way that leaves you feeling you were there... that you felt the pain...the blame...the agonizing over what would come next.

For authenticity, descriptive clarity, character identification and depth of human emotion, Robert A. Meacham's "The Indiscretion" is a worthwhile reading experience. Five Stars John W. Cassell

John W. Cassell is the author of five novels of the American Counterculture of the 1960's and 1970's and two in the law enforcement and political-military fiction category, all in the action-adventure genre. Among his titles are Soldier of Aquarius: 1969-1970 and HELL'S QUEST: 1971 (N/A). He is a frequent contributor to the Amazon-Connect Blog and has published three guest editorials in Israel National News.

THE INDISCRETION is another fine short story by Robert A. Meacham. I was introduced to his work in the captivating Daimons Disguise, and he has another winner with this haunting tale of a love affair gone wrong. It describes the heartbreaking saga of a married woman who has a short dalliance with a dashing co-worker, and pays a horrible price. She and her loving husband must face the consequences, and try to bring their lives back together.

This short story is part of the Amazon Shorts program which allows downloading of digital versions to a private digital library. At the modest price of only forty-nine cents, this is truly a bargain.

Charlie Maze
March 26, 2008

Robert Meacham has crafted a powerful story with "The Indiscretion." This story of betrayed love and trust is told in a straight forward manner with strong emotions showing the way. Jeff, the betrayed husband, is hurt beyond measure, but shows his true character in this story. Emotions run strong throughout this story and it was a pleasure to read. I recommend it with 5 stars. Great writing, Mr. Meacham.

Reviewed by Charlie Moore

If you are like me and can't help but lurk in the true crime section of the bookstore, or love a CSI story involving a psychic's help, or are intrigued by serial killers and their psychotic minds, then I highly suggest "Into the Red" to you! Rick Reed has a definite craft when it comes to story telling. The main character, Cass, is one who the reader can get in touch with and you will find yourself caring about her and wanting to know what happens next. You believe her point of view. And any story that might make you want to research more about its theme, or leave you wanting more from this author, is a must-read! I have been a Reed fan for many years, and I sincerely appreciate his new genre of subject matter that he is giving to his readers these days. I am writing this after the 2nd and 3rd parts of this story have been released, and I have read all 3. I highly suggest you to do the same if you enjoy suspense and intrigue. Check out Reed's blog at www.rickrreed.com (yes, that's rick r reed) to learn more about the future of Cass and where Reed is taking her...into the red.

This was the first Amazon Short I've read (I happened to see it when browsing and noticed it as an Editor's Pick) and I have to say if the quality of other Amazon Shorts is as good as INTO THE RED, I'll be buying more. INTO THE RED is extremely suspenseful and swiftly paced and keeps you turning the electronic pages. Cass is a reluctant heroine and Rick Reed really makes you care about her: she's just a single mom raising a small boy alone with little help. Reed's portrait of the killers in the first chapter is chilling. Ian and Myra (Google the names to discover where Reed got his inspiration) are real people, which makes their inherent evil even more terrifying. You won't get more value for 49 cents than right here. I can't wait for part two!

...and in just the right proportions, to boot!

Author Rick R. Reed's INTO THE RED -- PART ONE is sufficient enough of an incentive to cause you to want to get to your paws on its other sections as well. I'm convinced of it, and you'll be too.

Funny, you know. During my read through, it was as if I could hear this steady low-fidelity dreambeat percussing in the back of my head. Why? Well each move, each beat of this story is tailor-made to draw you deeper in its narrative embrace, pulling you in inexorably. Done up in the classical style, you just KNOW that we're building up to something big. Probably something bad, too.

It's exciting in the same way that a traffic accident is. You don't really want to look, but you somehow can't seem to help yourself from rubbernecking as your vehicle passes it by.

Have I mentioned that this was perfectly written?

After twenty-pages of well-tuned prose (to wit, check out one of Reed's stock phrases: "...sluicing its magenta alarm away from her face" <-- and there's heaps more where this came from, folks!), one is fully engaged in his story without knowing exactly where you're going to end up.

Reed inserts enough bone-chilling details without the characteristic overkill of the genre. Characters in this story are readily identifiable Everypeople. Cass, Max, Sam, and especially *Lucy* will almost make you want to reach through the pixellated brightness of your LCD and do what you possibly can to help these addled souls; and as you'll soon read for yourself, there is much that these characters presently require.

I'll admit I only purchased this story without knowing much about the author beforehand (go Amazon Shorts promotional material, go!), though as I complete my short review of INTO THE RED, I'm off to get my hands on the very next installment.

"R to the power of three" -- Rick R. Reed -- knows his craft well. In my neck of the woods, it's always a pleasure to be in the presence of such consummate professionalism.

RED's about as "five stars" as you can get, ladies and gentlemen. So I can't do anything BUT recommend this story to you.

-- ADM in Prague

I have designed digital signal processing algorithms for twenty years. Having studied classic texts such as the Oppenheim and Schafer "Digital Signal Processing," I had a fairly good "technician's" understanding of how to use FFTs and design digital filters, or so I thought.

However, the underlying visual concepts eluded me. How do the signal analyzer outputs and Matlab plots really map to the complicated mathematics forming their foundation? Far too much was "left up to the reader," so forget the proofs and move on.

Then I encountered the Stanford University CCRMA resource created by Dr. Smith. I began to study the bite-sized chunks of core-course education on the DFT...a few chapters later, I was ready to add the hardcopies to my library.

As "Fretboard Logics" unlock the mysteries of guitar playing, so does this resource unlock the mathematics in terms that can be easily understood. Dr. Smith's instruction is revolutionary, a reformation in dissimenating knowledge all too carefully guarded by an academic elite. Is it a shame that a music department has to educate engineers in basic mathematical principles? No complaining...just buy the books!

I've got to hand it to two particular authors for bringing the subject of digital filters to musicians and the subject of music to engineers and computer scientists - Perry Cook and the author of this book, Julius O. Smith. Until recently only Mr. Cook's books have been in print. Mr. Smith's books have been purely in the online realm unless you are an actual student of his. Now two of his online publications are available for those of us interested in the practical details of musical signal processing. There is this book, of course, and also the excellent "Mathematics of the Discrete Fourier Transform".

I've already read the two books in print - and skimmed through the dozens more Mr. Smith has on his website. The online access gives you a good idea of whether or not you want to purchase these books, but to get access to the problem sets you need the print version of the book. For the low price compared to other signal processing books, believe me it's worth it. By working through both the math and the practical applications of filter design in processing audio, the author gives the reader a real intuition for the subject. You might want to have Oppenheim and Schafer's book on the subject, "Discrete Time Signal Processing", on hand for the rigorous mathematics part of signal processing. Keep this one on hand if you want to see signal processing in action and explained carefully. I find both books to be essential depending on what I'm doing. The following is a list of topics covered in the book:

The Simplest Lowpass Filter
Matlab Filter Analysis
Analysis of A Digital Comb Filter
Linear Time-Invariant FIlters
Time Domain Representations
Transfer Function Analysis
Frequency Response Analysis
Pole-Zero Analysis
Implementation Structures
Filters Preserving Phase
Minimum Phase Filters
Background Fundamentals
Elementary Audio Digital Filters
Allpass Filters
Laplace Transform Analysis
Analog Filters
Matrix Filter Representations
State Space Filters
Linear Time Varying Filters
Recursive Digital Filter Design
Matlab Utilities
Digital Filtering in Faust and Pure Data (PD)

To find Julius Smith's online publications just type "Julius O. Smith" into Google. That will take you to his homepage and from there you can easily find his many online publications, including most of this book.

This is a great book. I've only worked my way about 1/2 way through it so far, but it gives a perfect balance of practical and theoretical background so real engineers can get real work done. For the areas it covers, this book is much more understandable than Oppenheim And Schafer. For the areas it doesn't cover, it's still more understandable though a little less informative. :-)

The great thing about this book is that it gives you pointers to real tools and real implementations for getting work done (i.e. lots of matlab examples, c examples, etc).

It's a bargain at twice the price.

Having used this book to develop actual applications in the real world, I can heartily recommend it with some authority. Most books that cover this subject either skip over the math entirely, leaving you with a vague concept but no useable skills, or dive head-deep into pages of math, giving the impression that the subject is hopelessly complex. Even when the math is adequately covered, there are often "understood" but unexplained conventions in the notation that can lead you very astray. With the MathCad examples you can work with actual useable systems (in simulated form) as you study, making it possible to crack this hard-shelled nut more easily. And the use of MathCad keeps the author honest - everything has to be explicitly defined using well-known MathCad conventions to work. So if you see it in the book, you can do it in the real world. It is also easy to extend or customize the examples, making it possible to develop actual systems with the examples as a starting point. It is not, however, possible to save this work with the supplied "reader" edition of MathCad.

Caveats? It helps to have a working knowledge of MathCad or a similar tool, but this is not absolutely necessary. A tutorial is supplied. If you are serious about using DSP you should have MathCad, MatLab or a similar tool available. To do all the transformations and algebra by hand would take forever and you would miss some of the most useful tools. You definitely need a PC to get the most from this book.

Overall, highly recommended.

Great book, it's worth twice as much as quoted.

Great book giving a realistic description of how the maths work in real dsp applications. Necessary for every student in either DSP or comms to essentially understand and feel what is described in theory.

This was the first book I read in Formal Verification when I started my Ph.D. research in this area in 2001. The book was of great value to me and helped me a lot in coming up to speed in the field of Formal Verification. It is concise, well explained, and comprehensive. It covers formal hardware models, equivalence checking, model checking, symbolic model checking, and theorem proving. Although a lot of advances have happened in formal verification since the publication of this book, I still think it is the best place to start if you want to learn this area.

This book presents each major area in Formal Hardware Verification in a chapter. The treatment is detailed and is based on clear mathematical foundations. I especially like the reachability analysis treatment in Chapter 3. However, I think that one of the weak points of this book is the lack of discussion on different "combinational equivalence checking" techniques.

The book contains the concepts of the most recently researches in the area of formal hardware verification .I read a lot of journal publications, and I couldn't get the expected benefit from most of them, because they assume a high background in formal techniques. This book offers me the basic knowledge, that enable to get complete benefit from the other publications in this topic. The book also contains a lot of illustrative examples, and Figures that follow each section, and this make it easier to the reader.