E-Books

Samandal Comics Magazine – taking comics to a whole new level

Samandal is a Lebanese, French and English comics slash magazine that caters to a variety of styles, themes and interests. It is also available in all three languages. Samandal magazine is released quarterly and the group that puts together the comics accepts contributions from almost artists and writers almost anywhere in the world. Moreover, the publication contains a creative commons license. Samandal Comics "aims to lift the stature of comics to that of mature art form capable of tackling more than superheroes and their baffling hairdos."

Practical Open Source Software Exploration – Free Open Source Textbook

“Can Professors Teach Open Source?” The answer is a resounding yes. In fact, TeachingOpenSource.org has written a book that work pretty much in the same way as any other open source software project – improvements, technically known as patches, are very much welcome. The textbook has a foreword by Greg DeKoenigsberg, a Senior Community Architect at Red Hat. He was the founder and first chairman of the Fedora Project Board, the governance body for the Fedora Project, an open source software project.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is one of the most famous books in Canadian literature, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery and published it in 1908. It’s a story Anne Shirley, an imaginative and chatty freckled 11-year-old girl who was mistakenly given for adoption to two unmarried siblings (Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert) who wanted to adopt a young boy to help them in their farm.

Robin Sloan’s “Annabel Scheme” – free novella download licensed under Creative Commons

Robin Sloan, a San Fransisco-based writer best known for his short stories and writing at culture blog Snarkmarket, recently completed work on his first novella, Annabel Scheme. Sloan used Kickstarter, a social fundraising platform, to garner patrons for Annabel Scheme prior to publishing. By offering a number of incentive levels with varying amenities, Sloan was able to raise just shy of $14,000 for the project – over $10,000 more than he had originally asked.

L. Frank Baum “American Fairytales” (author of The Wizard of Oz)

American Fairytales is a collection of 12 fantasy stories written by L.Frank Baum. This book is not as well-known as Baum's Wizard of Oz or Father Goose but it is just as enduring as the two for its satire and dry wit, two startling elements for a fairy tale book. Baum abandons his trademark high fantasy for a nonsensical but wildly imaginative book about curious little girls, majestic polar bears, enchanted candies, and treacherous butterflies.

Eyes Are For Sleeping: Stories of People Who Do What They Can – Photobook by Giuseppe Saudoni

Eyes are said to be the windows to our souls. They say you can tell a person's sincerity by looking at his or her eyes. These are the same eyes that we use to see the reality in front of us; the world that we are living in now. 'Eyes Are For Sleeping: Stories of People Who Do What They Can' is a coffee table photo book which features a collection of short stories told through text and images. Giuseppe Suadoni originally wrote the short stories in Italian, but translated it into English, Spanish and German with the help of his family and friends.

Therefore Repent! – a best-selling graphic novel by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam

"Therefore Repent!" is a best-selling graphic novel written by Jim Munroe and illustrated by Salgood Sam. It tells of a world post-Rapture, when the righteous have all gone to Heaven as predicted by the Christian Bible. All that's left is a society split between those who believe that they will also eventually ascend to heaven if they do enough good deeds (Splitters) and those who think that a Christian-less society is as good as any. The world slowly spirals into madness as dogs talk, machine gun-toting angels murder the sinful, and humans gain magical powers and forms.

Alan Macmillan Orr: The Natural Mind – Waking Up

"The Natural Mind- Waking Up" is Alan Macmillan Orr's 250-topic, 2-volume magnum opus into what it truly means to be human. The massive book took five years to write and covers diverse topics, from love to gambling, zoos, prostitution, supermarkets, banks, desire and so on. Orr drew from his personal experiences as he traveled the world searching for meaning, observing, and formulating opinions on the dire human condition. He shares what he learned through "The Natural Mind" and also encourages you, the readers, to contribute to the book's evolution.

Old French Fairy Tales – a public domain novel written by the Comtesse de Ségur and illustrated by Virginia Sterrett

If you're a fan of good triumphing over evil, of love conquering all and happily afters then you will love this charming little book written by the Comtesse de Ségur and illustrated by Virginia Sterrett called Old French Fairy Tales. It was published in 1920 and is now part of public domain. In it are five timeless fairy tales and eight breathtaking full page color illustrations dotted with smaller (but no less dramatic) black and white drawings for children of all ages - or even just children at heart.