A friend of mine in Puerto Vallarta, my alternative residence, has recently produced just such a “book.” Artish/musician Geoff Watkinson recently visited his native England and was captivated by his discovery about the tin miners of Cornwall. A surge of research fueled his interest, especially when he learned that some Cornish “tinners” settled in the 19th century in Mexico to set up tin mines there.

The result of his interest? A multi-media “book” titled “The Tinners” issued in a 3-CD package featuring his own graphics. Geoff narrated the book, displaying a talent I had not previously seen. He also sprinkled throughout the book music that he composed and recorded on his home studio [powered by a MacIntosh, by the way], mostly as chapter openings, closings and appropriate interludes. He also added, very judiciously and at low volume, sound effects that would enrich the tale. Especially haunting was the recurrent tapping noise of a tinner chipping away in the mine, the core of the story’s unravelling mystery. Also, somehow, Geoff managed to pace the book so that each CD closed on a cliff-hanger. Amazing production! Now he’s trying to figure out just what to do with it. {Ah, the ever-present challenge of marketing…]

Now, Jay, I’ll be awaiting your venture into this territory.

There is a multmedia aspect to the site that fascinates me, at least. I have begun making spontaneous jazz compositions, some of which “describe” large oil paintings of tropical reef fish I have produced over the years.

I haven’t seriously searched the web to see whether others are working on such combinations. But I foresee uploading a book or story with embedded links to pictures (or videos) and original (jazz) music by the same author.

The thrust of this writers’ website is “putting words on paper.” But the web makes it possible, even desirable, for perhaps a small team–writer, artist, composer–to make future e-books; a converse of the direction of movies and cinematography over the years in which the lead actor gets the top award and special effects are almost de rigeur; a move to make the screen and audio secondary but nevertheless present, enhancing the role of the lead person–of course, the writer!

I am just embarking in this venture and would love some sailing directions.