Eric writes:

I now have the first chapter of Decipher on my iPhone..

hehe

Kindle app for iPhone..

Now I just need to get an iphone.

more

This month’s eBook in the, “What on Earth inspired Stel to pick up a pen?” series, is H. Rider Haggard’s “King Solomon’s Mines.”

For what it’s worth I did and still do read fiction published a little more recently, but none of it’s in the public domain just yet.

Now and again I read a review of one of my stories where the reviewer remarks that I obviously read such and such a story or was influenced by such and such a writer. I guess they want to seem knowledgeable. The irony is that although it’s true, like any creative type, I am influenced by other writers and their work, the ones I see listed as my influences are rarely the books or writers I have actually read. No one seems to have thought to ask me who my real influences are. Still, I do now have a nice list of things I should get around to reading. H. P. Lovecraft seems to be one that comes up most often. Never read him. I’ll let you know when I do.

So let me share with you the books that have been an influence in one way or another. Oh, and they’re free.

The texts are in the public domain from Project Gutenberg. But if you’re anything like me, the fact that they’re not in book format drives me bats. So I’ve had them put into the proper format for this site.

Today’s book is A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

First published as a serial in 1912, and then as a novel in 1917, it’s the first in a series about the exploits of John Carter, a US Civil War veteran who ends up on Mars after prospecting in Arizona. I have a theory that this story was influenced by a camping trip and copious amounts of Peyote, but I have no evidence for that.

Enjoy.