An Old Soldier Takes on a New Technology to Publish His Books

Sept. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Two military adventure stories, one set during the Malayan Emergency in the rain forests of Malaya and the other in Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. Both from a period before personal computers were even considered to be viable.

The Voice of the Tiger is an examination of different cultures and beliefs that uses a fictitious war romance as the medium through which it is discussed. The lead character spends time living amongst the indigenous people of the rain forests and adopts their belief in animism to find out how he can save his first true love from the brink of the abyss. He talks to the spirit of a man that has taken on the form of a tiger and enlists the help of the Orang Asli and their 'Halak' (spiritual leader) to guide him. See http://www.amazon.com/Romance-During-Malayan-Emergency-ebook/dp/B008JCJII6 for details.

Cages of Smoke is the second of the two military adventure stories, the lead character is a bit of a reluctant hero who has very little go right for him. Initially repatriated out of the Kiwi army to Auckland, he is forced back into military service and sent on an espionage mission to Hong Kong, his objective to keep New Zealand out of the Vietnam conflict. History dictates that he will fail in that mission, but what he does succeed in establishing is that he wants to live the adventurous life of an expat. So, when he once more enters civilian life, he finds a job in Papua New Guinea, but at a time of great unrest and during the country's struggle for independence. See http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Story-Expat-Living-ebook/d... for details.

Amazon is the leading distributor of eBooks which are sold in their proprietary formats for  reading on a Kindle electronic reading device or one of their free Kindle apps. But, since the onset of many different personal mobile devices with electronic reading functionality, they now face stiff competition from several other on-line distribution companies. Smashwords is another on-line company that puts authors and publishers in full control over the pricing, sampling and distribution of their works. Smashwords has distribution relationships with leading online retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony and Diesel eBooks, plus leading mobile e-reading apps including Aldiko, Stanza, Kobo, FBReader and Word-Player, spanning all major mobile platforms including Android, Blackberry and iPhone.

Markham Turner, born in 1932 and a third generation New Zealander, has long nurtured a desire to be a published author and has enjoyed some success in the printed medium. But the digital medium is where he is now focussing his efforts and he already has three novels published through Amazon and Smashwords, the third, rather ironically,  has a science fiction theme. Something that Mr Turner may have considered electronic publishing to be when he first conceived of the notion to put pen to paper.