This week will be all about Grit City Emotobooks!

I have three very special guest bloggers scheduled.

Later this week I’ll be featuring an editor, Rebecca Hoffman, and an illustrator, Zach Revale, from Grit City. Rebecca and Zach will talk a little bit about what they do for GCP. I’ll also have a post from the Emotobook creator and Grit City Publisher himself, Ron Gavalik.

Come by to see what these folks do to turn a text manuscript into an Emotobook, a new medium of fiction that simultaneously engages multiple parts of your brain for a saturating reading experience.

You’re at the grocery store, there are two types of Earl Grey tea that you like and they are both in stock today. Which will you pick? You know you like both. You know you will enjoy either one. But… Indecision… 

You’re in the bookstore and you are looking at two books but you can get only one. You flip through each yet you cannot find a thing that sets one over the other. Which one is it going to be? Indecision strikes again.

Maybe it’s time to try something new? Maybe some Lapsang Souchong tea? It’s a Chinese black tea dried over smoldering pine needles (Twinings has it for the same price as Earl Grey).

For some time now, at least a few generations, paper books have been the “thing.” Corporations tried to start using electronic books in the 80’s to make carrying manuals easier and more efficient. It didn’t catch on very well. But in 2007 Amazon released the Kindle. I heard a lot of “that’s never going to take off,” or “who would buy one of those” type comments. And just look at what happened. The ebook world has been blown open. You shopped in stores and compared reviews online and you bought this newfangled technology. (Maybe you even left a review online—your experience will help someone else.)

Now you are sitting at your computer, or on your couch with your ereader of choice and you are looking at two ebooks. They are both by great authors, excellently written and only cost five or so dollars. No matter which one you get, they will read the same on your ereader. Still the indecision.

Maybe it’s time to try something new (do you see the pattern here?)

Not long after the ebook craze gathered steam, Grit City Publications was born. GCP has a new spin on reading electronically, and offers we who seek entertainment something new.

From the Publisher: Emotobooks have a unique style and structure, unlike any other entertainment form. Abstract, emotionally provocative illustrations are tied into each story to depict what characters feel during peak moments of tension. These expressionistic elements provide both a cerebral and visual stimulation, which enhance the impact of the experience.

From a Reader (Me): I am a very visual person. Colors and pictures have powerful effects on me. So, when I heard what GCP was doing, I was instantly enamored with the idea. EmotoBooks simultaneously engage multiple parts of the brain with abstract art that doesn’t tell you what to see in the story, and excellent writing for a saturating and transporting reading experience.

It might be time to try an EmotoBook.

I got tagged by Rachel Sasseen  to do the Lucky7.

The rules are as follows:

*Open the document for your current MS/WIP

*Go to page 7 or to page 77

*Go to line 7

*Copy the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them exactly as they are written. No changing or cheating!

*Tag 7 authors and let them know.

So, page 7 lines 7-14 from the WiP:

Where’d they all go? Tolek’s heart raced. The dust. One moment he’d been standing behind his friends in the overgrown entryway to the Labyrinth and now, he stood in the middle of a flagged path, well-kept and level. The Labyrinth had done this, separated them so it could devour them alone, thwarting all their carefully laid plans. He was sure of it, this place was evil. He’d had a bad feeling since they’d seen it.

It was too late to back out now. They were here. He had no other choice but to find the others so they could ask their nine wishes.

Be it Known!

I found this story to be a great one. Filled with action and surprises it’s the perfect book to spend an evening with.  It also had a moral to the story if you will. Be strong and face your fears.  I think the writer captured the scene in perfect detail and made me want to keep turning pages to the end.  I believe you will be as excited by this one as I am and be waiting for more books like this from the author.

I gave this one 5 out of 5 books because the  detail placed you in the story so easily.

–Have you Heard Book Review

In a world of dark, Finnish-inflected magic, Ravinski conjures up a story of persistent evil and of grim duties. Some of those duties are evaded while others are bravely met, but either way, the consequences endure. And the story, too, has a way of staying with you after you’ve finished it.

–Rudi Dornemann Book Reviewer and Author

Lingering in the Woods EmotoSingle cover sharing Tuesday, March 6 at 8 PM 

See it here.

Check out the Read An Ebook Week promotion at Smashwords.com. From March 4th through the 10th you can purchase any Lost Luggage Studios book, including Scribings Vol 1, through Smashwords at 50% off!

View our catalog at Smashwords

And just enter code REW50 during checkout.

Last week I went to Boskone 49 in Boston and this are the things I saw.

We got to the Westin early, which is unusual for me. So we were able to relax before registration even opened. A good way to start the con.

After registering I ran into an old friend from college who I haven’t seen in almost a decade. @stellamortis.

Then we went to the “Winter is Here: How Game of Thrones Plays on TV” panel with Myke Cole, Teresa Nielsen Hayden and Joshua Bilmes among others.

I couldn’t hold out any more, after that we bee-lined to the dealers room. I scored a Miskatonic U tee shirt Knowledge is Power! A pop up book about castles and the 2nd Prester John book by Catherynne M. Valente.

Adventures!

Then I ran to the panel about how to read aloud. Bob Kuhn moderated Bruce Coville, Justine Graykin among others and Greer Gilman (she was in the audience, but you can’t miss her). Voice lessons may be in my future.

I regret not going to more readings this time, but all the ones I wanted to see were during panels I wanted to go to. I did see all the speakers I wanted at panels though.

The Survive and Thrive in the New World of Publishing wasn’t as informational as I hoped.

I spent a lot more time than usual in the art show too. There was some really good stuff there this year from artists like David Lee Pancake, Kelly Kotulak, Carol Salemi. I even bought a print of Gary Lippincott’s “Roost.”

We actually left the hotel for Saturday night dinner. If you ever go to Boston and want seafood, I recommend the No Name Restaurant on fish pier 1. Delicious!

The best panels I did go to were How to Wreck your Career with Social Media. I knew most of the material discussed but it was a good reminder for the finer points, for lo and behold I had to use those skills shortly after returning. The panel on book covers mostly covered importance of layout and alternative methods for publishers who cannot afford to commission all cover art.

Next time there will be more pictures, I promise!