OpenBooks.com

A Valentine's Day post... "You had me at 'I love reading' "

We started the OpenBooks.com Classics initiative because we were fed up with poor quality eBooks of classic pieces that could be downloaded easily but were disappointing in terms of their visual quality on mobile devices and had no interesting art to compliment their beauty. We thought that it would be really amazing to cooperate with some talented freelance designers and create new, interesting covers for the classic pieces readers most love.

NDZW - OpenBooks.com’s first collaboration with NDZW was a huge one. He was responsible for drawing our “How it works” video, which was created in one night. The whole production involved a film crew with a director, producer, master gaffer, and voice, visual effects and sound mastering specialists. It was held in our founder - Michał Kiciński’s - 19th-century fort, bought by him a few years back. His is responsible with original covers for Alice's adventures by Lewis Carroll. Read more...

Weronika Kolinska - lives and develops her career as a freelance artist in Budapest. She works with paper as well as digital painting. She also designs graphic materials for Open Cages - a Polish association that aims to end factory farming (fur, meat and dairy) and promotes veganism. We’re very happy that she’s been able to find time in her schedule to design such great pieces, like the cover of Jane Austen novels or classic horrors. Read more...

All eBooks in Classics section are created by OpenBooks.com team members and independent artists that collaborate with us. By paying what you want you allow us to bring back more pearls of literature to life and reward talented illustrators.

Rest in Peace, Alan Rickman.

For you Professor Snape, the "bravest man I ever knew."

"After all this time?"

"Always."

#AlanRickman

Readers adore crime novels by Stanley Laine. Each book in the series is rated averagely 5 to 5 stars! And now our brilliant Indie Author pleased us with the 3rd book of Philippa K. Dick investigations.

Recent reviews of "Wolf Cave":

"Stanley Laine is at his best again, providing us with another mystery novel full of suspense and walking on a thin line. I’m enamored with Philippa’s character. I admire her" - Natalia

"This time the plot is even more full of surprises. It's so easy to get involved in their world of puzzles, mysteries and constant danger. And I am glad that the story can be read by teenagers as well as adults because it's modestly written - it does not need violence or perverse sex scenes to make you read it in one sitting. I hope extremly much that it won't be the last part in the series." - Ula

Download "Wolf Cave" here. Pay what YOU want!

Graham Masterton is an international bestselling author, beloved by horror fans, most well-known for his “Manitou” series, as well as his new Katie Maguire thrillers. His “Beholder” is a Christmas gift for OpenBooks.com readers! You can now ask our Santa about his terrifying short-story, writing process or simply anything!

YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION NOW >> TO BE FIRST IN LINE!

Do you love gripping crime and detective stories? Great characters? Dark atmosphere? We have a mustread for you: two books about Philippa K. Dick investigations by brilliant indie author Stanley Laine: “The Limit Club” and “Strawman”. As all books at OpenBooks.com, you may read them first, and pay later what you want.

“The Limit Club”: Two years ago Rebecca Leary vanished into thin air on the night of a blood moon.  Many in the quaint village of Hammelburg believe she was the victim of a legendary banshee that haunts their historic valley.  Secrets run deep in this picturesque Ohio River destination but no one is fully prepared for the chaos that infamous mystery-hunter Philippa K. Dick is about to unleash on their doorstep or what she reveals about their town.

The story has a strong Twin-Peaks'esque vibe

Released this autumn, the novel was instantly adored by readers:

“The Limit Club is a super exciting novel that combines detective, crime and youth literature. It creates an atmosphere that keeps us in constant tension, while not being too frightening. The suspense is really great and the vibe of adventure really makes you rush through the pages.”

“The story has a strong Twin-Peaks'esque vibe”, “Intriguing from the very beginning, absorbing, engaging and doesn't leave you indifferent until the end”.

“Numerous shout-outs to other works and finding them should bring a lot of fun to an attentive reader”.

“Stanley Laine is incredibly talented author and I am very happy that he has tried his hand in writing detective novel, because it is so GREAT, that I hope it will transform into a series of volumes. It just has to!”

“I hope we will be able to see Philippa in other works as well” “I couldn't stop reading and I really crave for next part (if the author will do us the honor of writing it).”

I really crave for next part

Stanley Laine is a great person and didn’t make the avid readers wait long for the second book and after few months we could enjoy “Strawman”. Philippa K. Dick is back on the hunt, this time following the trail of a mythical scarecrow that terrorizes the cornfields around Strawtown. A mystery unlike any of her others, Philippa pursues this case down paths she never expected as she tries to stay one step ahead of the Limit Club and races against the clock before the Strawman takes his next victim.

Readers were enchanted again:
“Just as a fascinating journey as reading the first one.”

“The book is scary, thrilling, full of surprising twists and turns. Stanley Laine's writing made it easy for me to feel as if I were the main character of the book, Philippa. Really interesting and somehow addictive. I highly recommend the book – you will read it through before you know it. The author appears to be one of the younger generation most promising horror book writers.”

“I will just keep waiting for the next volume in the series. Big "thank you" to the author for sharing this book with us!”

And for the desert

Character of Philippa appears also in "The Iceman Now Comes for Me" one of horror short stories collected in book “Night Friends”, reviewed by readers as “masterpiece”, “best short story collection I’ve recently read”.  

Read, enjoy, love, share and pay, what you want.

Time for a shelfie. The best thing is that I do have room for more books. Another thing is that there are more books on the other side...

When fall covers lands with darkness, the darkness in our minds also comes out. Who's brave enough to face it? We’ve prepared a special Halloween party for booklovers, combining tradition with progress.

Like almost everyone heavily addicted to books, we love the classics, which have inspired the imagination of generations of readers. That's why OpenBooks.com special Halloween menu contains two classic books: “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”.

For dessert we propose the collection of short stories by our beloved brilliant indie author Stanley Laine. Stanley, known for deep character portrayals and building a beautiful atmosphere, has proven his mastery in various genres, like drama, romance and crime/detective novels. He’s recently delighted us with "Night Friends", which has already received 5 out of 5 stars ratings. "Best short stories I have recently read", "Stanley Laine is the master of spooky, surrealistic forms", “makes a reader crave to know more”, “virtuoso performed, because just in a couple of pages” - to quote just a couple of reviews.

Sarah Jane Butfield is an international best-selling author of three travel memoirs set in Australia and France. We are proud to sell and promote Sarah's books, especially "Glass Half Full" where she describes her (not easy) Australian adventure.

Now at OpenBooks.com you can ask Sarah about her residency in Australia, amazing road-trips she took, moving to France with her amazing husband - Nigel or her writing process.


If you have not read Sarah's books yet, you can start with her blog post: Behind the scenes of Glass Half Full: Our Australia Adventure.
Enjoy our first "Ask Me Anything" session!

Sarah Jane and Nigel Butfield, photo by Clair Victoria Butfield

I was feeling very down, wondering whether it was worth writing anymore. Then a review like this comes along and I end up in tears...

Psychological research says people are thirty times more likely to express dissatisfaction than contentment. About movies, dinners or car shops which have given us joy we speak rarely or never, but if we’re upset we inform the whole world. Dear reader, if you liked a book, reward the author with a few minutes of your time ...you never know if you’re changing somebody's life. Read more in "Literature, Life and Tears".

Image by okalinichenko

Welcome to OpenBooks.com Guide for Authors. We believe that the message is the most important part of the book - whether it’s knowledge, feelings or perfectly crafted thoughts you want to put out there. If you’re pretty sure that you have something important, beautiful, interesting,exciting or even life-changing to tell, we’re here to help you reach passionate readers that believe true talents should be supported and poor quality work should perish...

Image by: iconka.com

Reading in public, book as tram ticket, and eBook as ersatz... 

What do you think?

Read more: Free tram ride-read and the enslaved minds of tax authorities…

Agatha Christie, C.S. Lewis, Jack London or Robert Pirsig... today we write about talented authors rejected by publishers!

Check: 10 History-Making Classics Initially Rejected by Publishers
 

Bookish things...