Monday, September 13, 2010

Book Drum Grows with Book Lovers



Book Drum is becoming ever more popular among book lovers as the following testimonies by some of the most celebrated authors of our times.


It's an exciting new way to review a book, and I am honored that you did it.
– Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire

Book Drum is the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music.

I'm very pleased by this wonderful and enthusiastic response to my book.
– John Banville, author of The Sea

Whether it’s video of the Rockettes in The Catcher in the Rye, the Italian opera tracks that accompany Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the historical context and maps of The Odyssey, stunning South American photography for In Patagonia, or video of Kabul kite fighting for The Kite Runner, we take readers beyond the page to enjoy interactive content alongside their favourite books.

Great, and great idea. Thank you.
– Paulo Coelho author of The Alchemist

With the next generation of e-readers in mind, we’re building the biggest library of multimedia companion content for books on the Internet. Designed using Wiki principles, anyone can contribute to it, adding to and refining each others’ work, making Book Drum one of the liveliest online communities for booklovers worldwide.

Thanks so much for putting Mukiwa on Book Drum. It looks great.
– Peter Godwin, author of Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

Book Drum’s remarkable range of interactive content is particularly valuable to students and teachers, with over twenty A-level/GCSE set texts already profiled. Each book Profile consists of:

Bookmarks: page-by-page commentary and illustration of the text
Setting: description and illustration of the main places or themes of the book
Glossary: foreign, invented and tricky words deciphered
Summary: objective synopsis of the book
Review: subjective analysis and evaluation of the book
Author: biographical information, interview videos, links and photos


Book Drum was founded by:

• Mark Negus – Book Drum’s webmaster and software designer is a freelance consultant who has worked on projects as diverse as the London Stock Exchange and Big Brother voting.

• Hector Macdonald – Book Drum’s editor is the author of bestseller The Mind Game, The Storm Prophet and The Hummingbird Saint. He grew up on the coast of Kenya, and has worked as an English teacher, wildlife reserve gofer and business strategist.

• George Pennock – Book Drum’s business director has spent most of his career helping entrepreneurs fund and develop their ideas. He is a financial advisor with Barclays Wealth and a founding partner of Beamreach Capital.


Visit Book Drum today at http://www.bookdrum.com/.

Contact:

Chris McCafferty/Kaper: (chris@kaper.uk.com)

Hector Macdonald: (editor@bookdrum.com)


I am both impressed and grateful--in fact amazed and honoured is nearer the mark!
– Robin McKinley, author of Beauty

Sunday, April 11, 2010

World Audience Publishers

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

In the Footsteps of Dracula


The follwoing review of In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide by Steven P. Unger was posted at Book Pleasures by reviewer Lois Henderson.

Author: Steven P. Unger
Publisher: World Audience
Edited by M. Stefan Strozier.
ISBN: 978-1-935444-53-4


The Introduction to Unger’s travelogue describes the work as follows: ‘In part, In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journal and Travel Guide is a memoir for the armchair traveler, with pictures and descriptions of every site that is closely related to either Bram Stoker's fictional Count Dracula or his real historical counterpart, Prince Vlad the Impaler. The memoir is divided into sections that first follow in the footsteps of the fictional Count Dracula, and then in the footsteps of Vlad the Impaler from his birth to his death and burial, Part V, titled "Nuts and Bolts: A Practical Guide to the Dracula Trail". "Nuts and Bolts" includes an itinerary for the entire Dracula Trail, with recommended lodging and restaurants; as well as detailed transportation directions and the cost for traveling from one location to the next in sequence. The Dracula Trail begins and ends in London for the English portion and in Bucharest for traveling in Romania.’

Clearly, this book is extremely well organized and logical in its presentation. It is also extremely well written – the reader is swept along for the ride through the relatively unspoiled Romanian countryside, while the exploration of English sites takes place at a slightly more leisurely pace, in keeping with Bram Stoker’s research orientation. Steven describes his intention with this work as that of ‘stripping away the layers of myth about Count Dracula and Prince Vlad the Impaler to find the reality within’.

Steven’s close familiarity with the text of Dracula enables him to compare elements of the novel that are incongruous with the Transylvanian reality, due to Bram Stoker never having visited the area of which he wrote in such glowing mythical terms. Throughout this guide, he quotes relevant parts of the novel that tie in with his personal observations of the unfolding landscape – definitely enough to entice the avid reader back to savor the original source once more.

The detailed description of Vlad Dracula’s rule on the Wallachian throne serves, in blood-drenched style (accompanied by appropriate authorial warnings of the graphic nature of such text), to contextualize the legend of Dracula. Though the references to graveyards, churches and historic ruins abound, due account is also taken of the exploitation of the Dracula legend by the tourism industry in both England and Romania. Not that the author himself does not benefit from such enterprise, as he avails himself of the hospitality of numerous hotels and bed and breakfast establishments. Though giving full praise where such is due, as with the Bed & Breakfast Coula in Sighişoara, which he rates as ‘hands down my favorite place to stay in my favorite town in Romania’, he also does not hesitate to advise about those that he finds to be not so appealing.

In the Footsteps of Dracula is filled with full color photographs of the people and places that Unger encounters on his travels. From the quaint fishing village of Whitby, where the novel Dracula was conceived and partly written, to the rugged Carpathian montane landscape surrounding the Borgo Pass, the site of Count Dracula’s ‘vast ruined castle’, Steven captures the essence of his environs. By identifying key components of the photos, which he relates to Bram Stoker’s text, their contents take on special significance and meaning for the reader. In his depiction of multiple Romanian street scenes, Steven encapsulates the medieval other-worldly feel of such towns as Tărgovişte and Sighişoara through which he travels. His inclusion of numerous photographs of young people garbed in Gothic attire, most of whom were captured while attending Whitby’s annual Gothic Festival, will no doubt also appeal to the younger reader.



About the Reviewer

Lois has a MA General Linguistics, BA (English) Honors, Higher Education Diploma, Higher Diploma in Library and Information Science - indexer of more than 130 books; editor of dozens of theses and study manuals at university and college.