Self-Publishing Finds Commercial Niche In Digital Age
22/05/09 13:07 Filed in: Independent
Publishing
Here is a VERY
interesting article on self-publishing finding a niche
as the traditional publishers fall on hard times.
Self-Publishing Finds Commercial Niche In Digital Age
Kelly Jane Torrance writing for The Washington Times
Self-Publishing Finds Commercial Niche In Digital Age
Kelly Jane Torrance writing for The Washington Times
The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson
02/05/09 19:00 Filed in: Fiction
289 pages, Lulu. $18.00
Review by Stephanie Attebery
Our latest review tackles the #1 fiction title published through Lulu.
“Tom’s head ached as he thought that Megan was killed because he went back in time…but he only went back in time because Megan had been killed!”
This is the kind of mind-bending twist readers encounter throughout Jeremy Robinson’s novel, The Didymus Contingency.
The story starts with a sweeping rush, in the remote African brush. We are introduced to Tom, the protagonist, who witnesses his wife’s murder by a band of lawless Zambian men because of her religious convictions. Then we quickly flash forward 20 years to present-day Tom, never-remarried, bitter and fiercely agnostic. His longtime research partner is David, a Christian who shares Toms’ Jewish-Isreali upbringing, but not his lack of belief in God. The two men are scientists who work on a top-secret project at the high-tech research company LightTech in an underground lab beneath the Arizona desert. And they have just secretly cracked the code to time-travel.
David and Tom take advantage of their discovery by orchestrating a controlled event which will enable their future selves to send high tech devices back in time... to themselves, thereby allowing their earlier selves to use devices they have perfected since their current research breakthrough. Those devices are watches that can dial the wearer (plus one carry-on item) back to virtually any time and location with just a few easy button taps.
Shortly after their discovery, and during a drunken rage-filled discussion about Megan’s murder, Tom impulsively decides to disprove the notion of Jesus, son of God, and jumps back in time to witness the death of Jesus, believing that Jesus will not rise after a few days as the story goes. Actually, Tom arrives in the past, around 2 years before the persecution of Christ, in order to befriend him and his disciples and travel with him to observe his “trickery”. Following close on Tom’s heels into the distant past is David, who fears that Tom’s poor choice will cause the very fabric of humanity to unravel.
What makes this story so interesting is the fact that David knows the Bible in and out, and Tom knows virtually nothing of the story, so while David sits back and observes the events that occur through a spoiler’s eyes, Tom is constantly unsure of what will happen next. The differing but parallel vantage points allow both Bible-buffs and the Bible-ignorant to be engaged readers.
At least one of the characters in every time period in this story is troubled by the same band of demons, know as “Legion,” who jumps from one victim to the next. Legion weaves in and out of the story, at various times possessing a role in the actions of the characters, from the lawless Zambian men who “murder” Megan, to the biblical troubles of Samuel, a man who is sentenced to death by the Romans for some recent strange behavior, to the bootlicking toady researcher, Spencer, who attempts to turn the scientists’ urgent travels into a ladder-stepping career move for himself. Robinson illustrates Legion creatively by writing Legion’s dialog as that of a gaggle of arguing demons competing for speaking-time in whatever body they are possessing at the moment.
The romance between David and Sally, his hard-ass boss, could have been cut out of the story all together. It would have been nice to get to know more about Megan, Tom’s first wife, and the catalyst for all adventure travels in this book, but Robinson is interested in keeping the reader’s heart rate up and there just is no time for that kind of “warm-up” development.
Some nice touches: Robinson’s descriptions of the un-potable water in ancient times and the citizens’ obvious preference for wine. The health of a diet without preservatives, along with plenty of walking, eventually finds the two middle-aged men in the best shape of their lives! But the characters still crave their modern American diet, and make occasional trips back to their present time to consume American beer and BBQ at their favorite desert haunt.
Didymus is an entertaining, thought provoking work that encourages the reader to think about the affect that some individuals have on the world, and the importance of religion, whether you possess faith in it or not, on every life and culture. The writing is exciting, though there are a few mistakes in the text (This was Robinson’s first published book.), but overall, this is an entertaining, enlightening read, one that readers will no doubt compare quite favorably to Michael Crichton’s classic tech-thrillers.
The book is also available in a variety of others editions on Amazon.
Jack Rabbit Moon by Dorraine Darden
12/04/09 01:00 Filed in: Fiction
284 pages, Cold Tree Press. $23.95
Review by Stephanie Attebery
Jack Rabbit Moon tells the story of Marnie Evans, a young, destitute Texas girl on summer break in the squalid home she shares with her negligent momma. Marnie frequently escapes to the nearby state park, in search of a home amongst nature-loving people like herself, hoping that they will give her the care and attention that she craves. She thinks that she has found this in the middle-aged childless couple she befriends, Claire and “Ranger Rick” Carpenter, who live a simple and well-nourished life within the boundaries of the park.
Without some exploration into the book, one might dismiss this as a happy-go-lucky story, a too neatly tied-up tale of the little red riding-hood variety. What saves it from that fate is an assortment of characters whose good and horrible tendencies blur in delightfully real and complicated ways.
On the surface, each character possesses some overwhelming good or bad trait. Marnie is a relentless dreamer. She embellishes every event that she witnesses, believing her father’s predictions about the jack rabbits that ominously swirl by before something bad occurs. Claire is a tireless Samaritan, baking and cooking for what seems like the entire town, taking care of an elderly and lonely woman when no one else will. Ranger Rick is a guitar-playing, singing, historian who holds a weekly campfire story and sing-along with all the kiddies, parents in tow. Some possess darker characteristics. Marnie’s ne’er do good mother Jeanie, for instance, and the abusive drunk, Vaughn, who she calls her boyfriend. Marnie’s father, Charlie, fresh back into town for shady, unexplained reasons. Aunt Shelby, who insists she is the protector of Marnie’s sinner soul. And of course, there is Buddy, the un-likeable busy body, always stirring some pot in the supermarket or flower shop.
Darden allows the reader into the private thoughts of each character, enough that it prevents the book from simply becoming a story of good triumphing over bad. She keeps the protagonists from being too perfect and the antagonists too unlikable to bother with. Marnie thinks little kids at the ranger’s nature hour are stupid and wimpy. She knows she can manipulate the heart of Claire, who wants Marnie as her own child right off the bat. Despite being a drunk more concerned with applying her makeup than caring for her offspring, Jeanie is still able to laugh with her daughter when they are home alone together. Marnie’s father Charlie, fresh out of prison (or so she is lead to believe by her mamma), takes Marnie on a trip for ice cream. He is drunk and twitching as she eats her treat, but she is still pleased by him for the simple fact that he is her father. Rick loves his wife and his job as a park ranger, but he begrudgingly welcomes Marnie into the home he shares with Claire, keeping his guard up all the time, and always expecting trouble from the little girl. Claire sometimes tires of the old woman she cares for, and argues with her despite knowing that her senility makes it futile. We all do these things after all, don’t we?
Darden’s pacing is in real-time and the narrative moves in the slightly free-associative way that people’s minds tend to work, especially concerning young Marnie, who while wandering through the woods, could drift from thoughts of the Ranger’s moustache, to an anthill, to wishing her mom’s awful boyfriend Vaughn bodily harm, (a wish that justice ultimately grants).
Living in an urban environment, I always have to judge a book for readability on the bus, and this one is well within compliance of my guidelines. The print is overall very readable, with the exception of a few localized areas of blurred text. The weight of the book and font are pleasant for commute reading.
The cover artwork is very pleasing, showing the stripped, impoverished home of Marnie as a minor part of a big wild landscape, brown-eyed susans in the foreground, a misty twilight full moon in the background. In fact the cover simply complements the spirit of the book and the characters within it, who thrive and sink in this terrible, wonderful world. The park, in all its beauty, is a great location for this kind of tale, and Darden describes it beautifully. Without spoiling anything, there is plenty of action to boot, showcasing the Texas wilderness in all its beauty and deadliness.
I look forward to more Garner Park Stories in the future!
Buy Your Copy Here!
Coming Soon
01/03/09 18:00 Filed in: Fiction
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Gaining readers for the writer's who really deserve them!
If you would like to have your book reviewed by Digital Dust Jacket, please send an email to
crypticbindings at gmail dot com
with the subject line "DIGITAL DUST JACKET TITLE SUBMISSION" and we'll contact you for further information on your book and directions on where to mail a reader's copy. We can't guarantee that a submitted book will be reviewed, but we'll do our best to highlight the titles that grab our interest.