I ordinarily avoid hyping the various products that clamour for attention and links on this pervasively-commercialised internet (remember way back when, when we used to argue about the ethics of blogging for money, or accepting ad links on one’s pages?). Today, though, I do want to call attention to two books by webby authors with whom I’ve been in digital conversation for nigh on to ten years, now.
Monday, the estimable Steve Himmer’s novel The Bee-Loud Glade was officially published; I bought a digital copy right away, and will be pestering bookshops in Glasgow to obtain a printed copy. Steve is not only a dear friend (and former Glasgow resident), but also a subtle and fine observer, and an excellent writer; I’m only a short way into the novel, but I’m enjoying it immensely and am eager to read further.
And David Weinberger — a true hero of Web wisdom — wrote a young adult novel a few years ago, about a boy who unexpectedly wins a lottery that he entered illicitly, and how he deals with the secret. I plugged it when he first published it (and kept on plugging), bought about a quarter of the total copies he’s sold and gave them to friends, and to this day I have a copy on my office bookshelf. It’s a well-written kid book, but is especially useful for dealing with moral quandaries in a narrative mode. People who rattle on about teaching ethics to children (or even “who teach undergraduate ethics”) could almost surely improve their programmes by adopting My 100 Million Dollar Secret as a text. Anyway, David has made a Kindle version of the book available for $.99, a real bargain!
I hope that a great many readers young and old buy these books and support these authors. These are fine works, written not by the legendary dyspeptic alcoholic misanthrope but by genuinely gracious, gentle, wise authors.
(Woohoo! I blogged two days in a row! And I have a feeling I may blog again tomorrow!)
Every post of yours is well worth reading, and two days in a row seem like a gift…thank you! (Another fan of yours in Chicago.)