Here’s one of those moments where two lines of background thought converged into bizarre coincidence. (Fate or apophenia in action, I’ll let you decide which.)

Yesterday, on a whim, I started looking into the Kindle, Amazon’s flawed but promising ebook reader. I’ve always wanted some sort of useable ebook reader, something light, portable, easy-to-use and with a screen bigger than my old Palm’s (ugh, the scrolling!). The Kindle is all of these things plus it includes free EVDO (you can browse the web — imagine, never having another phone call asking you to settle a bet between me and Aly), but I have also decided that it is ugly, ergonomically-challenged and expensive.

What I should have done is bought an OLPC when I had a chance, they apparently make an excellent ebook reader (link goes to demo on youtube) with a screen resolution that some say is on par with e-ink. For the price of one Kindle, you get two OLPCs — well, some lucky kid gets the second one — a tax deduction and a nifty travel computer. (Of course, either of these scenarios imply that I have some sort of discretionary income that I could spend on $400 toys.)

A third option might be something like the lower end of these vaguely announced Netronix devices. The 6″ EB-100 may or may not have wifi web surfing or a touch screen, depending on how you interpret the PDF. The 9.7″ EB-300 intimidates me a bit (yes, I’m more comfortable handling the 6-incher…oh dear…), but looks promising. The EB-100 is supposedly due in June and has the advantage of not running WinCE, like its bigger sibling. Price? Yes, I’m sure it has one.

Just now, I had a Buddy Holly song stuck in my head (Rave On, if you must know).

Of course, that led me to look up Bradley Denton, author of Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede, a book I once read the summer after high school graduation while on the bus back from the Jersey shore. Much nostalgia.

Here’s the weird coinkydink part…turns out Denton is joining the ranks of science fiction writers offering their older titles free online in one form or another. This April. In time for my birthday (not a hint…but I wouldn’t refuse a Kindle).

If my budget holds, this could be the year I finally get the datapad I’ve always wanted.