Free Chapter and Other Bits

I've posted the first chapter of my second novel online! Go to my in-progress website and click on "Evergreen Secrets." Be sure to leave a comment and browse around the rest of the site!

Sometime this weekend, Keepin' On will be putting up the July issue, with my review of River Rising by Athol Dickson. Yes, I've finally read the book! And while it didn't make my top favorite books of the year, I still enjoyed the read.

The blog tour for Waking Lazarus is still in progress. Visit T. L. Hines' blog for links to other reviews and interviews.

Brandilyn Collins provided a quick look at the makings of an ISBN number on her blog today:

Starting January 1, 2007, each ISBN (International Standard Book Number) will expand to 13 digits in order to get in step with worldwide publishing. The three extra digits will signify the country in which the book is published.

All the numbers in a bar code mean something, by the way. Example: bar code for Violet Dawn: 0-310-25223-7. 0=English language. 310=Publisher. 25223=Title. 7=Check digit. The new bar codes will place the three country digits at the very beginning, before the language digit. 978=USA.

And now if you’re wondering what the check digit’s all about—it’s a mathematically obtained number to check if the bar code was keyed in or scanned correctly. For ISBNs the check digit is computed by multiplying each digit by its place in the line. (For Violet Dawn, 0x1, 3x2, 1x3, 0x4, etc.), then adding these answers (=173), then dividing that sum by 11 (=15, remainder 7). The remainder is the check digit. If the remainder happens to be 10, an X is used instead.

I'd always wondered about the "X." Am I the only person who thinks this is totally cool?