The Official Bryan W. Alaspa Website

It’s big news for e-reader fans, especially fans of the Kobo e-reader.  Kobo is right up there in the top 5 of best-selling e-readers.  I am not sure exactly where they rank, but if you were to tell me that they were the third most popular behind the Kindle and Nook, I would not be surprised.

For me, it has always been frustrating not being able to easily reach Kobo fans.  There are a lot of them.  Kobo has been smart in not trying to really out-do the Kindle or Nook.  They just keep their simple and inexpensive.  You can find Kobos for under $70.  They also come pre-loaded with a bunch of books, which is pretty cool.

I have been making my books available for Kobo fans via Google’s eBookstore and Smashwords.  Now, word has come down that Kobo is developing a self-publishing tool.  That is great news.  It will be similar to Amazon’s KDP platform or the Nook’s PubIt!

See, how it works with those is that the interface is very simple.  You upload your book in Word format and it then transforms it into a condition that can be read on the e-reader.  You then upload a cover image, enter a description, determine the price, and voila!  Your book is now for sale.

Prior to this, I tried to get my books available for Kobo readers, but their method of publishing was insanely complicated.  It involves Excel spreadsheets and more complicated twists and turns than the plots of my books.  In fact, I would bet it would take me longer to publish the darn things for the Kobo e-bookstore than writing the book.

Anyway, this new self-publishing platform will change all of that.  I will be better able to get to you Kobo fans, without having to send you to a third party store.  It’s a good thing!

I have a new book coming out in June. It is entitled Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash. I became fascinated about this case when I was doing research for an entirely different book and decided this one needed its own. What follows is not an excerpt from the book. These series of articles is just to educate people about the crash.

Smith showed up at the airport with a small bag.  He asked if he could carry the whole bag into the plane, but was told he could not.  He then removed a bottle of liquor from the bag, took a sip, and replaced it in his bag.  He was told by the porter he could not board the plane drunk and that he could not drink on the plane.  He then removed a small brown-paper-wrapped package from the bag and carried that onto the plane.  His bag was then put in the nose-section baggage compartment.

He carried this package with him onto the plane, despite the fact it would be just as safe in baggage storage.  When the plane landed in Cleveland he asked if he could stay on the plane.  He was told he could not and that he should wait in the airport.  He removed his package and carried it with him in the airport.  He waited to re-board the plane and did so as soon as the plane was ready, carefully carrying his package.

When the plane exploded and the tail section fell off, he was thrown out of the back of the plane.  When he body was found, the eardrums were burst and he had died from impact wounds when he hit the ground.

The FBI investigated Smith, trying to figure out if he had carried explosives in his package, but they were never able to determine.  Ultimately, the ruled him out as a suspect and their reports state he was a model citizen.  Still, it was strange…

I have a new book coming out in June. It is entitled Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash. I became fascinated about this case when I was doing research for an entirely different book and decided this one needed its own. What follows is not an excerpt from the book. These series of articles is just to educate people about the crash.

One of the passengers was a man named Emil Smith.  Smith was from the Chicago area.  He and his mother had run a very successful general store in the Oak Park area.  They had eventually sold the store and Smith had been living comfortably on the money earned from that.  His favorite hobby was duck hunting and it was confirmed that he often packed his own shotgun shells (although that is hardly uncommon among avid hunters).

He had gone to New York alone.  He told his family he was going to see a few games of the World Series.  While in New York, he was a quiet guest in the hotel, tried to set up a date with a woman he met on the street, and attended a couple of games.  He then sent a telegram the night before the crash that he was headed home on a flight the next day.  Strangely, according to the cabbie, he was waiting on the sidewalk for the taxi rather than inside in the waiting area.

There was nothing about his past that indicated he was involved in anything illegal.  Apparently he liked to drink, and this was the time of Prohibition, but most adult men had found ways around that law and continued to drink.  His family kept hoping that he would find a new job and new purpose to his life, but he seemed content to hunt and enjoy watching sports.

Still, some of his behavior the afternoon and night of the explosion and crash was a little odd…

Yeah, so, sometimes I am really stupid.  I didn’t realize that Smashwords, the site where you can buy and download all of my books in ANY format, created a profile page for me.  Yeah, kind of makes it much easier to find my books there than doing a search and worrying that the adult filter is on.

Smashwords is an interesting site.  I like it.  They filter to all of the major ebook sites, and help me get into the iBookstore.  They also strive hard to make us indie publishers as successful as possible.  Finally, they also offer more percentage of the royalties than anyone else.

So, check out my profile there.  Want to read my books on a laptop?  Smartphone?  Tablet?  PC?  Mac? iPad?  Kobo reader?  Sony reader?  Yep, you can do that here.

I have a new book coming out in June. It is entitled Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash. I became fascinated about this case when I was doing research for an entirely different book and decided this one needed its own. What follows is not an excerpt from the book. These series of articles is just to educate people about the crash.

When it was determined that the plane was brought down on the heads of Chesterton, Indiana, residents the FBI was brought in.  Since the plane had been on its way from Cleveland to Chicago (its final destination was Oakland, California), the Chicago FBI office was brought in.  That could mean only one man: Melvin Purvis.

Purvis was the anti-G-Man.  He was nothing like the FBI agent that J. Edgar Hoover had in mind when he took over the department.  He was short, skinny, had ears that stuck out like taxicab doors.  He dressed like a dandy, at least as far as Chicago was concerned.  He drove a fancy car and even had a butler.

He was also dedicated.  He would become the man famous for bringing down John Dillinger and “Pretty Boy” Floyd.  He seemed like just the man to handle the Chesterton disaster.  They had a bomber to catch and he set his agents on the case.

What no one knew, however, was that trouble was brewing behind the stoic exterior of the FBI.  Trouble was brewing between Purvis and the man he considered his mentor, J. Edgar Hoover.  A showdown was in the making, and only one man would come out the winner…

I have a new book coming out in June. It is entitled Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash. I became fascinated about this case when I was doing research for an entirely different book and decided this one needed its own. What follows is not an excerpt from the book. These series of articles is just to educate people about the crash.

On the night of October 10, 1933 something happened that shattered the peaceful night over Chesterton, Indiana.  Above the heads of the small community, comprised mostly of farmers and small-town people, something happened that had never happened before.  A Boeing 247 airliner exploded and crashed to the ground.  It was heard and seen by dozens in and around the community of Chesterton.  Inside the plane were seven people, all of whom were killed.  Two of them were flung from the plane when it split in two as the explosion ripped the plane apart near the tail.  The rest died when the plane hit the ground and burst into flames.

It was not the first airplane accident.  Far from it.  Planes had been in the air for quite some time by then.  What would set this one apart, however, was the investigation into the crash.  At that time there was no NTSB, so it was local law enforcement that stepped in.  Then, since the plane was traveling across the country, the FBI was brought in.  As they began studying the crash site and the pieces of the plane, they made a startling discover, a discovery that would shock many.

The plane had been brought down by a bomb…

My latest ebook for Nook, Kindle and any PC, laptop, tablet, iPad, smartphone or other ereader is now out and ready for purchase today! Yes, today!

It’s called Flashpoint: A Collection of Curious Beginnings and Endings and is a collection of strange flash fiction stories. That means each story is under 1,000 words! I made it especially for you fans who have helped make so much of my writing and publishing dreams come true.

For KINDLE!

For NOOK!

For any other PC, laptop, iPad, tablet or ereader visit SMASHWORDS!

Very funny parody ad that Saturday Night Live did on May 5, 2012 about the Amazon Kindle.

So, you don’t have a Kindle or a Nook or a Kobo reader or any kind of ereader. Maybe you have an iPad or tablet or just a laptop. Heck, maybe you just have a PC and don’t mind reading books on that computer screen. You’d love to read my books, but without an ereader, you just don’t think it’s possible.

Hold on there, soldier, you are not correct.

You see, thanks to websites like Smashwords, you can download my books in formats that let you read them right there on your laptop. So, if you are the type who brings his or her laptop to bed with you to check Facebook and emails and, whatever, you can go to Smashwords and buy a copy of my novels there in formats such as .RTF and .PDF and even HTML. Yeah, it’s all there.

If you go to Smashwords and see nothing, or do a search and cannot find my books, that means your “Adult Filter” is on. Since I write books for adults, I have to label them as such. Just set that filter to “off” and you’ll find my books just fine.

Plus, thanks again to Smashwords and another website called Lulu, you can also find my books for your iPad or iPhone in the iBookstore. Yeah, that cool bookshelf-looking thing on your iPad? That thing you probably skim past on your way to playing Angry Birds? Yeah, I am in there as well.

I have tried very hard to make sure as many people can read my books as possible. I know, to really reach everyone, I should make them all available in print. Well, that ends up costing a lot of money. Maybe, someday, I will be able to afford print editions for everything. Until then, I am deeply in the world of ebooks and I have tried hard to make sure as many of you out there can read them as possible.

So, check out Smashwords and flip that iPad over to the iBookstore. Check me out!

Thanks,
B.W.A.

So, next week I will be releasing a new collection of stories.  The collection is called Flashpoint: A Collection of Curious Beginnings and Endings.  Sounds intriguing, but how the heck do I describe it?  As you may be able to tell, I have yet to write the synopsis that you will see on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.  I will try to do that this weekend.

It started as an experiment.  I had finished two works in the first quarter of 2012.  One was fiction (hard-boiled detective story) and one a collection of non-fiction stories for Schiffer Publishing (Chicago’s Unsolved Mysteries).  I decided to “take a break”, but I can never really stop working.  While also working on edits and rewrites for another work (due out in June), I started writing little stories of under 1,000 words.  For those of you who know, that is sometimes called “flash fiction.” [Read more →]