Brian’s Comments (group member since Apr 05, 2013)

Brian’s comments from the Q & A with Brian Francis Heffron - Colorado Mandala group.

Dear Heart:
It's truly rare we get the chance to change someone else's life for the better. YOU have that chance this week. Please join this website (Select GENERAL CATEGORY, but you MUST be logged into vote. To create an account click this link: http://indtale.com/user/register) and THEN PLEASE click on COLORADO MANDALA to VOTE FOR my novel HERE: http://indtale.com/2014-rone-awards-w...
Thank you!
with respect,
Brian Francis Brian Heffron

Please take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqk25v...

To Kill A Mockingbird is just an example of what I am asking here:

Can a single book bring people together who previously held opposing views?

What is the power of a book to create actual change within a society?

What book has changed the path you have personally taken in your life?

Please tell us about the books that have been life's trail markers for you.

this is luck and light from

brian

Have enough books focused on the lives of baby-boomers? Isn't there a paucity of books set within the sixties and seventies? Don't we need a baby-boomer lit?

Dianne Harman proposes just such an idea in her wonderful blog: NEXT BIG GENRE #ASMSG

http://dianneharman.com/blog/

I agree with her, and its personal, my new novel Colorado Mandala fits right into this new category of boomer-lit.

For research, I went from bookstore to bookstore looking for novels that told any story from this tumultuous period of American life, this period of a "generation gap". And found nothing. Nothing, or nearly nothing. Drop City and a few others.

Colorado Mandala could be a beach head book for boomer-lit! What do you think?

Hi Ellen:

Sorry it took so long to get back to you! My self and my wonderful proofreader and copy editor, Ms. Wrexie Bardaglio (You'd love her), have been doing the final proofing of Colorado Mandala. This time based on the first hard copy proof of Colorado Mandala (instead of an electronic file copy) that we got about a week ago. We did our job and just re-submitted the "Specification Manuscript" back to the publisher for printing of the (hopefully) last proof. So now we are now within 10 days of publication! Yeah Team! :)

Anyway, on to you question: It seems we are in the middle of a shift to more and more e-books being more and more convenient for more and more book readers of all ilks. Why? For various reasons, ease of storage, type of content more suitable to electronic reading (i.e. Manuals), electronic features of an e-book such as quoting, place holding, etc.

So the e-book is clearly here to stay, but there also remains a much larger space still being filled for readers by hard copy books. The texture and feel, the sense of a book object becoming a precious object as you absorb its contents, and just the shear romance of crying on the pages before you as characters break your heart :(...these experiences can only be found between paper covers.

So, like most things in life, the answer in a conundrum: Which is better hard copy book or e-book? Answer: BOTH.

Hi Laura:

I, too, am currently split between collecting antique books from the 1800s and the Kindle Fire! An odd mix yes, but I also collect art and found that many antique book sellers were having to drop their prices as the old tomes that academia needs to study went up on line.Professors stopped buying the antique books so they were suddenly within my price range. I have a book of Poetry published in 1834 and hand signed by JMW Turner, who did the illustrations. It was one of the first books with text and illustration mixed on the same page and required two plates to print each page.

So how can a Kindle compete with that?!?

But on my Kindle I have several books on art conservation that are purely manuals and perfect for the Kindle. So each one has its place.

Hi Donna Rae: Well, we will have to send you a personal note with your copy of Colorado Mandala. I actually believe that in this new world of publishing it is up to the author to build a relationship with the reader. So hand signed books, bookmarks, postcards biz cards etc should all be part of an author's tools to reach out to his audience of readers and make a friend.

Hi C.l.: What is the average price of an ebook, and I do agree that if it is the same as a paperback, a paperback is better. But some of the features of an ebook, like "quoting" from it as a tweet, or FB post, are pretty cool.

Thanks, Conrad. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. I am calling it a day. Good night for now.

Yes,Conrad! Our future seems to be arriving quicker and quicker each morning! They can now "print out" three dimensional objects in plastic. Very Jetsons! That is also another reason to collect old books, there are less and less of them around every year...so this growing scarcity will breed value! I love my kindle for somethings, especially exploring a book to see if I want to purchase the hard copy, but a real book on a rainy night can be a true, warm comfort. (Although the Kindle Fire warms up a bit too :)

Hi Bonita: Could not agree more. I collect old art books from the 1800s and the smell of the old high quality paper is like perfume for me...and I am afraid that if all books become electrons instead of letters on paper what will happen if the electricity runs out? No power no literature?

"Daysailers" have really made a come back! So much fun to just get out on the water for a few hours with out all the fuss of a giant "yacht" (like finding crew:). I envy you!

Hi Conrad: Always a pleasure to chat with another person who has been to sea! I agree that e-books are moving to center stage because of their afford-ability and the ease of transporting a library in one device. But I also love and collect antique books so this change is a tiny bit disheartening overall. But, I'm no Luddite, so I do have a maxim about it: "In our future, anything that can be delivered to the customer digitally, WILL be delivered to the customer digitally!" Do you ever go on to buy the hard copy of an e-book you especially enjoyed?

When you purchase a new novel, will you typically buy an e-book or a hard copy?