One of the projects I have been working on is creating cover illustration art work for classic novels. My shtick here is to use today’s digital culture references in the illustrations. My other shtick is to package them with the classic novels themselves and offer them as free ebooks. Since they are in the public domain, why not? :)
The first ebook, which needs no introduction, is Moby Dick. Naturally, I paid homage to the Twitter Fail Whale. It is available in epub format viewable on iOS devices and many ebook readers and desktop applications including Stanza and Calibre. I also have a version available for the Kindle.
The second ebook is a lesser known novel called Wired Love. It’s subtitle will give you a hint of what the book is about; A Romance in Dots and Dashes. Yup, two telegraph workers fall in love over the telegraph wire. It’s Victorian chicklit that’s still relevant for the Internet Age.
I went for a steampunk look for the cover. Like Moby Dick above, it’s available in epub and Kindle formats.
The third ebook is my hommage to my stuttering community with 1950s sci-fi, The Stutterer. It’s about a stuttering robot with a message for Earthlings. I went for the Saul Bass look for the cover. Can you find all the modern day digital tech references? Available in epub and Kindle format.
Please note that the explanation of the causes of stuttering in this story is extremely inaccurate. See Stuttering Facts and Information for an accurate explanation. The Stuttering Homepage also provides loads of goodies about stuttering as well as being host to the International Stuttering Awareness Day online conference. Speaking of which, the release of this ebook coincides with this year’s International Stuttering Awareness Day, October 22, 2011.
I thoroughly enjoyed creating these and I am working on more ebooks to come! Up next are a few releases for Hallowe’en.