Monday Musings: Shadows, E-books and Entrepeneurs

I have always been a bibliophile.  I love the smell of a book, the feel of the page between my fingers.  Waking up on the couch with a novel splayed across my chest (dare I say bosom—how Jane Austen).  But I have recently discovered, along with throngs of others, the benefits of portable reads.  I dipped my toe in with the Kindle for PC.  It’s on my Android but my over-40 eyes, rebel against the screen.  I mean, how will I read the Large Print Version on a screen that will hold four words at a time.  I haven’t made the plunge into actually buying a Kindle, but my birthday is coming up….

Then there is the issue of book signings.  That’s for another time.  I have an idea.

I previously talked about a paper book I read that I liked called “Paul is Undead”.  For those who have read it, it shed a whole new perspective on Mick Jagger’s Grammy performance.  This time I want to share my thoughts on “Into the Shadows” by Karly Kirkpatrick.  I purchased the e-book from Amazon.  Karly and Darkside Publishing represent an interesting aspect on the changing landscape of book publishing and selling.

Her story is a well conceived YA story of difference and persecution and the paranormal.  As a former teacher, I think it could have an appeal to the reluctant reader.  It is the story of high school students and their families some of whom possess unique abilities and the government that would declare them Enemies of the State.  For struggling readers who need high interest text,  that could segway them to such required novels as The Crucible or history topics like McCarthyism, Nazism, Japanese American after Pearl Harbor, this might be a way in.

In “Into the Shadows’ we meet, for the first time, Paivi Anderson who is not like other teenagers.  Since she was a child she has seen things that will happen, a good grade, a fall in the playground and things more horrible than she can tell.  One day Paivi, her family and others are rounded up and told that they must wear special badges and that their movement is restricted.  They are now Enemies of the State.  It is modern and paranormal, a genre very popular with the YA reader.  Lots of potential here.

What is also interesting is Darkside Publishing, a consortium of writers who are trying you combine their markets and through mutual promotion and support create a combined momentum for their work.  It is this kind of entrepreneurship that we can expect to see in a fluid industry.  It is part of a trend worth watching. Follow them on Facebook and Blogspot.

What good e-books have you read lately?  Are you an e-book author?  Why did you choose that route?