What are you doing here? By Cally Phillips.
In one of those co-incidences that cannot be pre-empted (ain't
that the whole nature of a co-incidence) today sees the start of the 3rd
Edinburgh ebook festival. Oh, and of course the 100th anniversary of Britain
entering the inappropriately named 'War to End All Wars.'
Bring those 'facts' together and what have
you got. The fact that I've gone AWOL from AE and am inviting you all to join
me from today, for a full 31 days, at the 3rd Edinburgh eBook Festival.
Virtually. Before you protest that you
can't possibly spare 31 days, that you live nowhere near Edinburgh and/or that
you never started the war so what's any of it got to do with you... let me
point out that the Edinburgh eBook Festival is THE FESTIVAL THAT COMES TO
YOU.
You do not need to be in Edinburgh. You don't
need to BE there at all in person. None of those of us taking part are (well, I
think Catherine Czerkawska is in Edinburgh at the 'real' book festival some
time - actually probably at the same time as she's 'virtually' there with us.
So. Throw your excuses in the bin. I was
just a soldier following orders. Nothing to do with me. I don't know what to
do/can't understand it/ am washing my hair for the next 31 days.
Why not just try something new (or old if
you've been before) and get down to the virtual festival.
You'll be in good company. Quite a
few of the AE 'crew' are there:. The roll call includes: Mari Biella, Catherine
Czerkawksa, Dennis Hamley, Chris Longmuir, Julia Jones, Bill Kirton, Jan
Needle, Sue Price and myself.
(And here's where I make a belated apology
to Sandra Horn. Your kerning competition was - and still is - a great idea, but
I just couldn't find a way to shoehorn it in. Sorry. Maybe you should set it up on AE blog post? )
So. No Kerning Competition (or was it
kennin') But that's no excuse not to go. (though all those double negatives and brackets and cliches and capitals might be!) What DO we have on offer? Okay. Well on weekdays we have slots
at 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 10pm and on the weekends a bit more leisurely, with 11am
and 7pm slots.
Our Themes are History
and Homecoming (and inevitably, war).There are writer residencies, personal
remembrances (oh, yes, a couple of you reading this are now remembering you were
going to submit!) critical commentary, short stories, serial fiction and a load
of other ebook related things I can’t remember now that my brain has turned to
mush in the pulling together of it all.
I’ve done my bit, both for ebooks and for ‘we will remember.’ Now it’s over to you. Visit the festival AND more than that, tell
other people about it. We have no advertising
budget and no way of people finding it other than through social media. So like
us, follow us, tweet us and most of all SHARE us. Last year we had 13,000 visitors – let’s see
if we can beat that target. You'll be most welcome, each and every one.
Why not make a first visit right now. Check out the programme and
bookmark the site. You might learn something – and you might just enjoy
yourself too. 10/10 ebooks that visited last year (in an indeterminate sample size) said they'd love to go back again this year. So listen to your Kindle/ipad/smartphone/kobo/pc/laptop and haste ye down to virtual Edinburgh.
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