Link-Mad Wednesday: Comics, ebooks, and a semi-hiatus

Blogging has been, and is likely to remain, sparse... as Greenlight Bookstore prep ramps up, the rest of life ain't going anywhere, and your friendly neighborhood Book Nerd is feeling a bit under the gun. I'll try to get up here once a week or so, but forgive me my semi-absence, okay?

Still, there's time for a few links.

In e-reader news:

The IndieBound iPhone app makes me long even more for that lovely little piece of hardware. Props to the ABA for rolling this out so fast! The IndieBound app means that you can use the iPhone to find bookstores and other indie shops, search books, buy books online -- along with reading books and emailing and making calls (and, as I learned at a delicious early summer barbecue this weekend, mapping the stars... )

In the meantime, not only does your Kindle become a brick if you lose your Amazon account, but rumors persist that Apple is coming out with a more book-friendly device. E-reader enthusiasts, start your engines!


In comics news:

This Saturday, May 2, is Free Comic Book Day! Find yourself a local comic shop (there's a great locator tool on the FCBD website) and get yourself some free comics action. And buy something while you're there, why don't ya? (When, by the way, are bookstores going to instigate Free Galley Day? How about it, book industry?)

If you happen to be in my part of the world, you've got some pretty awesome options: Rocketship is hosting a signing by Wolverine writer Fred Van Lente (along with giving away a new comic about the spiky-knuckled guy), and Bergen Street Comics is hosting a showing of original art from act_i_vate.com ("where every day is free comics day!")

And, while I'm hoping to have time to stop in to one or both of these stores, I'll be spending most of my day at another venue for comics love: the PEN World Voices Festival. At Cooper Union on Saturday, McNally Jackson will be selling books for events with Neil Gaiman, Emmanuel Guibert, David Polonsky, Shaun Tan, Jonathan Ames, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and Adrian Tomine. And of course, the Festival hosts wonderful literary events happening all week long.

It's a good week for books! Happy reading!

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