Thursday, December 16, 2010

A revisitation


`World Made by Hand', a novel written by James Howard Kunstler, is where the author unleashes his imagination into the world he so deftly and convincingly explored in his best selling non-fiction book `The Long Emergency'.
In so many ways, Kunstler closes the circle on the speculative conclusions and dire prognostications inherent in `The Long Emergency.'
Kunstler tells a compelling story set `Sometime in the not-distant future . . .' and diagnoses the calamitous result of society's blind pursuit of a stable technologically driven world.
He draws us into a chaotic world after the end of oil. A world without energy, without systems, without laws, without governance and demonstrates how a small community deals with those problems through trial and error. He shows a re-emergence of a benevolent feudalism, a re-appraisal of community and cooperation and the emergence of local governance.
Kunstler's `World Made By Hand' is full of hope, despite the desperate scenario that unfolds in his imagination. It is a world where resourceful humans survive, adapt and flourish in a bountiful natural world that's so abjectly opposite to our present artificial existence.
It is a novel that should be mandatory reading for every citizen concerned about the planet's uncertain future.
This novel was acclaimed on National Public Radio as one of the top novels of 2008. There are numerous positive reviews of this novel on Amazon.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Anti Amazon

Amazon has declared a trade war against Canadian publishers who wish to use Kindle. As a publisher I was impressed when Amazon announced with great fanfare that Kindle readers were now available to Canadians. E-books only account for a small percentage of the book market but it is a growing segment and I wanted to offer my titles. Personally I prefer physical books. I love the layouts, the paper and the designs. I can’t see readers forsaking physical books en masse to use the latest technology, but for transit commuters, airplane passengers etc., I acknowledge that e-books have a place.
The kindle E-books can use Kindle downloads from Amazon. They are cheap compared to a paper and print book but few Canadian titles are available as Kindle downloads, there are even fewer South African titles, or Australian titles because for a publisher to make Kindle e-book formats available through Amazon, they must have a US Bank Account. A US dollar bank account in Canada does not suffice, it has to be a US dollar bank account physically located within the United Sates.I have located another retail platform which not only offers Kindle e-book downloads, but also has formats for the iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader and IRex Iliad. So I’d suggest that you visit http://www.smashwords.com/ and boycott Amazon. I am testing my first title, The Mercedes Variation, on smashwords, you can even sample up to 20% of the book free before you decide to download the entire book.