New Books, and a Big Announcement Coming
This blog post is taken from a recent Patreon update
I’m excited to share four new ebooks now available on the platform, and share a big announcement.
The first is The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. If you are not familiar with it, this is a short novel about a boy who runs off to fight in the American Civil War. Crane had been a journalist before writing fiction, and the realism he pours into this novel is powerful. I am thrilled to include a Librivox audiobook with this edition, narrated by Purple Heart veteran Mike Vendetti from Canon City, Colorado. I can honestly say it is one of the best audiobooks I have heard in my life. I implore you to listen to this one.
The second is The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. This was a favorite of mine when I was a boy, and I loved reading it again a few years ago. Grahame created one of the great modern fantasy stories. Pink Floyd’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, comes from Chapter Seven of this novel. I have included a delightful Librivox audiobook, narrated by Adrian Praetzellis. Rat, Mole, Badger, and the irrepressible Toad are characters that you never forget, and Praetzellis does them justice with his voices.
Both Red Badge of Courage and Wind in the Willows were included in The Guardian’s list of the 100 best English-language novels. You can expect to find many more from the list on the platform in the coming months.
The next book is Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow. This was one of the first novels to be published with a Creative Commons license: readers could download and share the book for free, so long as they didn’t sell it, and gave proper credit.
The novel is set in a distant future where poverty and hunger have been eliminated, and humanity has achieved immortality. Currency has been replaced with a kind of social-credit: wealth is measured in popularity. The novel focuses on a group of people who live in Disney World, which has been turned into a residential community.
It’s like no cyberpunk novel I’ve ever read. I have uploaded it as part of my goal to bring great science-fiction to the platform, and for its significance to the free-culture movement.
Lastly, I have uploaded Doctorow’s essay Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books, as a kind of companion piece to Down and Out. It’s based on a talk Doctorow gave at an O’Reilly Media conference in 2004, about the value of e-books. I found his words quite prescient, I’ve been saying some of the same things about e-books this whole time.
You can find these new titles and more at nantucketebooks.com/ebooks
Now, my announcement: readers might be familiar with Riley Duffield, his short stories have been a regular feature on the platform. True Love’s Kiss, one of his stories, was a launch title for Version 2 of my software. He is a terrific writer, the kind of writer that makes me aim high when developing the platform.
Now, Riley Duffield has outdone himself. Next month, Nantucket E-Books will be publishing a new novel from Riley Duffield. I think it’s the best fantasy novel you’ll read this year. It’s got it all: a fantasy world like you’ve never seen before, captivating characters, and what’s so cool is that it’s actually about something.
Next week, you can expect an update where I’ll go into detail about Riley Duffield’s new novel: the title, the story, and the release date. We’re even selling paperback copies!
In the meantime, some of Duffield’s stories on the platform include Operation Firestorm, The Last Bridge, Cocoon, and True Love’s Kiss.
Please e-mail me a comment about what books you are enjoying and/or looking forward to.
Talk to you again real soon!
SHOW/HIDE COMMENTS
WANT TO COMMENT?
SEND AN E-MAIL TO NJB@NANTUCKETEBOOKS.COM WITH THIS SUBJECT LINE: