The Lens & The Looker

Okay, I confess. One of my secret, guilty pleasures is Young Adult fiction (YA). And YA mixed with history? Excellent! The Lens & The Looker: Book #1 of the Verona Trilogy sounds like a fascinating story.

From the Product Description:

It's the 24th century and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences, (A.I.s) have finally created the perfect society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps, full-sized recreations of cities from Earth’s distant pasts. Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiences the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die.

But not everything goes to plan. Like in all groups of youth, there are those who rebel, “hard cases” who just don’t get it. In this first installment of a trilogy, three spoiled teens from the year 2347 are kidnapped back in time to 1347 Verona, Italy. There they are abandoned and left with only two choices: adapt to the harsh medieval ways, or die.

Hansum, almost 17, is good looking, athletic and, as his A.I. teacher says, he can charm the fuzz off a peach. Shamira is 15. She has green eyes, auburn hair, and a Caucasian complexion. That's something people don't see that much of in the 24th century. She's sassy, independent and has an artistic genius for drawing. Lincoln, 14, is the smart-aleck. But you don't have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find his insecurities.

There are two types of artificial intelligences (A.I.s) in the 24th-century. The first are authorized by society and very conservative. Then there are ‘genies’. Made by black-market hackers, or blackers, these rascals are the bi-polar opposite of their unadventurous cousins. A genie’s aim in life is to help rebellious youth make mischief. Pan, is a very mischievous genie. A curious mix of past and future, he’s an eccentric, all-knowing, holographic artificial intelligence in the cartoon shape of the vaunted Greek god. Pan's antics and insights get the kids both into and out of trouble.

Our three teen protagonists meet at a History Camp where everything and everybody must act like it is 14th-century Verona, Italy. Society’s plan is to put trouble-making kids into situations where they are “scared straight.” But Hansum knows better. He’s aware that behind the scenes there are armies of humans and A.I.’s making sure they are safe. Using Pan, the teens devise a plan to drive the History Camp enactors crazy, and they succeed.

But what they’re not prepared for is that a History Camp elder from the 31st century, (where time-travel is possible) kidnaps them back to the real medieval Verona. Here they are indentured to an alcoholic lens maker. Now, unquestionably, the dangers are real.

All of this is hardly the ideal environment to fall in love – but, for Hansum, that’s exactly what happens. Guilietta is the beautiful daughter of the master the teens are working for. She becomes the star-crossed and time-crossed lover of our story’s Romeo - Hansum. In fact, the novel is peppered with lots of fun allusions to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In an attempt to survive, the teenage trio, with Pan’s help, risks introducing technology from the future. It could save them – or it could change history.

This interesting-looking book is free as of May 24, 2011.

My First eReader

At the end of April, 2008, I got my first Kindle. It cost $400.00 and it totally changed my life.

I had been a avid reader since childhood, but my vision was starting to deteriorate. I had seriously minimized my reading due to the headaches and discomfort that it caused.

People who hear me talk about eReaders now would be very surprised to learn how I struggled with the decision to buy that first device. Like many avid readers, I too loved the physicality of the reading experience, the touch and the feel of a book. But, at the end of the day, it all boiled down to the fact that I was just tired of not being able to read.

I was also worried about the technology quickly becoming obsolete. I have been an early adopter of various tech devices before and know how quickly that it can change. I lived on Amazon's Kindle forums for a while, and listened to the experiences and the stories that users told. (As I recall, at that time, the first wave of Kindles had sold out and the second wave was ready for shipping.)

I really was like a kid in a candy store in the first days with my new Kindle. It only took a few minutes to get the operations down. I then started loading up the device with many of my favorite books. I bought digital versions of all of Anne McCafferty's books. I re-read Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Artur's Court and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. I discovered horror writer Scott Sigler. In short, I was in heaven because I could read again! And I haven't really looked back.

I am currently the proud owner of two Kindle 1 readers and my K3, the graphite latest generation 3G Kindle. I also read on a Sharper Image Literati and on a Kindle for Android app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi. 

Nowadays, when I have to pick up a Dead Tree Book (DTB), it is almost a foreign experience to me. It's like going back to a typewriter after using a computer. Definitely feels odd to me. Even though it has only been three years since I started using an eReader, I just cannot imagine living without one.