So, Amazon has announced a host of new products—$79 Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch, $149 Kindle Touch 3G—but the absolute highlight of the press conference was to unveil the Kindle Fire, a $199(!) media tablet. Lots and lots of press coverage… but two funny things, for fans of GRRM, and for fans of some loosely related work as well.
First, in this video from Endgaget, the tablet’s carousel feature is demonstrated… and at the 10 second mark or so, check out what book cover pops up!
(Do click through to Endgaget’s coverage—another excellent video shows off the Amazon Silk browser, which looks pretty amazing)
Secondly, as CEO Jeff Bezos presented the various Kindles to the press, a large screen behind him displayed images related to each product. At one point, this image cropped up, featuring what looks like the text of a book being shown on the e-ink display of one of the new devices… and that just happens to be Leviathan Wakes, a noirish space opera by James S.A. Corey.
How does that relate to GRRM? James S.A. Corey is the pen name for a writing duo: Daniel Abraham (aka scripter for Dynamite‘s George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones comic book) and Ty Franck (aka George R.R. Martin’s assistant. To borrow from Casablanca: of all the books in all the genres in all the world… A strange coincidence, but fun!
ETA: Just noticed that A Dance with Dragons‘s cover is also prominently displayed on the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G product page. Nice. And we’ve just been told that a Tyrion chapter was briefly displayed during the Bezos’ keynote speech, too!
