You want to talk about how to make the gift recipient feel like you went out of your way to find the trashiest present in town?

Right! ...NOT!

So what CAN you give someone that doesn't cost a lot, but will be appreciated for years to come?

How about a gift that keeps on giving because it can be kept forever, given to somebody else, or shared with friends?

What is it?

A book!

What a concept!

FOR CHILDREN: Limited Edition Children's Christmas Books

from Marva Dasef, Children's/YA author/editor

Ssshhhh! Keep this a secret. I decided to make a couple of Limited Editions of my books that are great for kids.

The Seven Adventures of Cadida: This book for the 6-12 crowd will be coming out soon from Sam’s Dot Publishing. Since I hate waiting (a congenital disorder), I created my own version of this set of seven Aladdinesque tales of a girl and her recalcitrant genie. The SDP version is illustrated and will retail at about $11.00 plus $4.00 S/H. I don’t like that price, so I made my own. Send me an email, and I’ll send you a sample few pages in PDF format. If you’re interested, drop me a line and I’ll send you the book (100 pages) without illos (I don’t have the copyright) for a mere $7.00 plus $3.00 S/H.

The Witches of Galdorheim: This is even more secret and it’s a giveaway book. The 243-page volume contains the first two books in this series about a girl witch who has to find her mojo. READ MORE ABOUT THIS LIMITED OFFER DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR

ARTICLES PUBLISHED THIS WEEK AT THE DEEPENING

A Woman’s Place - The Anti-Lily Bart
by Celia Hayes, author of The Adelsverein Trilogy

I have always had the sneaking feeling that circumstances peculiar to the Western frontier significantly enabled the successful American struggle for female suffrage. The strangling hand of Victorian standards for feminine conduct and propriety, which firmly insisted that “ladieswere not supposed to be interested in such vulgar doings as business and politics” was just not able to reach as far or grip so firmly. There was simply no earthly way for a woman traveling in a wagon along the Platte River, pushing a hand-cart to Salt Lake City, living in a California gold-rush tent city, or a log house on the Texas frontier to achieve the same degree of sheltered helplessness thought appropriate by the standard-bearers of High Victorian culture. It was impossible to be exclusively the angel of the home and hearth, when the hearth was a campfire on the prairie and anything from a stampeding buffalo herd, a plague of locusts or a Comanche war party could wander in at any time.

Life on the frontier was too close to a struggle for bare survival at the best of times. There was no place for passengers, no room for the passive and trimly corseted lady to sit with her hands folded and abide by the standards of Boston and Eaton Place. The frontier was a hard... . READ THE REST OF THE STORY

To the Ends of the Earth by Francis Hunter
a book review by Celia Hayes, author of The Adelsverein Trilogy

It was once explained to me by a literary agent that the perfect recipe for a best-selling historical novel was to write about an unknown aspect of an event or person that everyone had heard about. He gave as an example “Cold Mountain” - everyone has heard about the Civil War, right? But the distinct un-enthusiasm of many nominally Confederate soldiers for the Southern cause was the perfect unknown aspect. By this principle, “To the Ends of the Earth” is a striking example of this axiom. Everyone has heard of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; that daring, two-year long mapping and scientific exploration of the then-newly-acquired Louisiana Territory. That acquisition expanded American possessions from a bare coastal toehold plus mountain range  country to most of a continent, from sea to sea, but at the time it was very much a pig in a poke. It was the challenge of two daring young Army officers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to go and see what Thomas Jefferson had wrought, or at least purchased.

And so they did, and to great acclaim, popular, political and scientific… but this book is a speculative account of what happened afterwards; primarily an exploration of the mystery surrounding the death of Meriwether Lewis... . READ THE REST OF THE STORY

ALSO THIS WEEK

Science Fiction from Dorchester Press

Highlighting Dorchester Press’s Science Fiction HERE

The CSM’s Best Books of 2008

These are the novels which The Christian Science Monitor considers The Best of 2008.  I’ve read a handful of them, and so I would be inclined to trust the rest of their picks, too. SEE ALL 25 HERE

Why Authors Self-Publish, 1 - Death is Faster than Big Publishing

Finding Good Books to Read

Who Are “The Major Book Publishers,” Really?

BOOKS DOWN THE TUBES? NOPE. NOT IN MY BOOK.

There's a lot of "bad news" in book publishing, especially among the "Big Six" as they are called. Macmillan, Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflen Harcourt.... Cutbacks. Editors out of a job. Consolidating imprints, and more.

It's got the literary agents in a bit of a dither. It has authors in a dither. A lot of folks are wondering about the fate of books.

I'm not.

I know that books will be around at least as long as there are book lovers, which is a lot of us out here. There are just too many folks like me who, if the book is printed on non-tree-destroying paper, I'll buy it. In fact, I even buy some books which aren't printed on tree-friendly paper.

You see, a lot of us love books -- the feel, the smell, the act of holding them in our hands to read them. We're a market. We are the ones who pay $26 for a new hardbound...and more. In our family, we like library bound, which usually cost a lot more than $26.

So will books keep being sold? Yes. It may ultimately be Print-On-Demand only, but books will still be printed. They could get more expensive, though.

DLKeur, owner, The Deepening

_____________________

OWNER & PUBLISHER: D. L. Keur (dlkeur.com, zentao.com, nakedgenius.com)  

MANAGING EDITOR: Author P.D.R. Lindsay (Her blog is HERE) (Genres: Historical, Literary, Mainstream, Mystery/Thrillers, Paranormal, Short Stories, Anthologies)

SITE ADMINISTRATOR & EDITOR: Author Bosley Gravel (his blog is HERE) (Genres: Literary, Literary Anthologies)

EDITOR: Author Marva Dasef (Her blog is HERE) (Genres: Childrens’, YA, MG)

EDITOR: Author Elizabeth Bonecher-Brenaman (Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Chick Lit, Mom Lit)

EDITOR: Author Celia Hayes (Genres: Historical, Americana, Westerns)

DEPARTMENTS AT THE DEEPENING and we're still getting posts sorted, so bear with us, please, if something isn't in the right spot. ...Plus, there are some other categories available right now, like FOR SALE: GOOD READING, but it's haphazard at best. We're getting to it all, but these things take time with editors in a learning phase and owner juggling projects. =)

• "THUNK"

• FOR SALE: GOOD READING

  • HED & DEK (Title & Book Blurb)
  • A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME (sample chapters)
  • THE REST OF THE STORY (what the story is about)
    
    

• YOUR SHORTS & PETTICOATS (Short Stories & Their Publishers)

• MEGO ("My Eyes Glaze Over") (Not Populated Yet)

• NUTS, BOLTS, & SOME RUSTY SCREWS (Anything & Everything Good or Bad about Fiction Publishing)

• HE SAYS, SHE SAYS (Novel & Short Story Reviews)

• THE WORLD OF FICTION (Features, Articles, & Interviews)

See this week's issue, and get a peek at next week's issue. See the most recent content submitted to the deepening on the inside.

POLICIES:

We believe in free speech and a free press...with certain limitations:

• Yes, you may speak your mind...within the bounds of good taste, good conscience, honesty, integrity, and fair play.

• No, you may NOT defame, libel, or slander someone, their business, their product, or their creation.

• You MAY state your opinion, criticize, object.

• You MAY accuse IF you support your assertions with documented and referenced facts, those documentations and references provided to us via FAX.

• You may NOT produce materials which encourage and/or promote cruelty, bigotry, hate, pernicious, obscene behavior and language, debauchery, or anything else I, DLKeur, my editors, and/or staff consider immoral, unethical, or in bad taste.

These policies are always subject to change and/or amendment without notice.

DLKeur, owner, The Deepening