Los Gatos, California – Venice Under Glass ushers in a new era in literary fiction with a book created on Apple’s iBooks Author multimedia publishing platform and represents a singular achievement in contemporary fantasy destined to sit alongside Alice In Wonderland and Gulliver’s Travels.

“That’s the shelf I was aiming for,” says Stephan J Harper, the book’s author and illustrator.

The MultiTouch enhancements in Venice Under Glass are true innovations in storytelling – not merely ‘bells and whistles’ – that work with the text and structure of the novel.

“”It is a remarkable book – am I allowed to say that? I owe a big debt of gratitude to Apple for creating iBooks Author. It’s such a wonderful new tool for writers and Illustrators.”

Venice Under Glass is a suspenseful detective story that’s part crime drama and police procedural, as well as historical travelogue, romance, comedic tour de force, and for one bear at least, a tragedy. Venice Under Glass is also a fantasy-dressed morality play with the insight and satire of Swift and the social commentary and finely-observed detail of Dickens. The intricately-patterned story is also layered throughout with several thematic threads dealing with art, music, history, culture, politics and the environment.

“I wanted to write something new,” says the author, whose literary influences are Fitzgerald, Orwell and the modern English novelist, David Mitchell. “I also knew that Art was not about the What but the How,” Harper continues. “I believe readers will be delighted with the unique approach to story and character in Venice Under Glass.”

The author is currently on a social media campaign to promote his new work and the MultiTouch revolution he sees coming.

“We live in a visual-entertainment society; but opinion never varies when it comes to the fulfillment readers experience from a great book of fiction,” says Harper. “I believe MultiTouch books will become a preferred reading experience for millions of iPad owners as talented writers, illustrators, animators and musicians around the world create new fictional works with iBooks Author. This is an entirely new genre of literature that will expand readership among the general public.”

Book Summary:
Living in stylish retirement in Venice, Italy is apparently not without its problems. Private sleuth Basil Baker has been called to Venice by his Uncle Clive to discover who’s been stealing priceless antique Venetian glass from palazzi and museo throughout the City. The local police are baffled: there are no clues or suspects. The local press has declared the crime spree Il Maladora di Venezia. Uncle Clive is convinced his nephew will bring fresh eyes to Venice and all will turn out well. However, it is uncertain if Capo Inspectore Loredan Marcello of Polizia Venezia will be eager to accept the assistance of an outsider. It isn’t encouraging for our hero that all this is happening at the high point of Carnevale di Venezia and everyone is wearing a disguise of one kind or another.

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Venice Under Glass 1.0
Author: Stephan J Harper
Publisher: Stephan J Harper
Publication Date: March 16, 2014
Genre: Literary Fiction/Contemporary Fantasy
Format: MultiTouch for the iPad
Enhanced: Illustrations, Interactive Galleries, 3D Animations – and Vivaldi!
Design: Created with Apple’s iBooks Author
Page count: 168 double-pages; landscape orientation
Word count: 58,816
Download size: 136 MB
Audience: All Ages

Pricing and Availability:
Venice Under Glass 1.0 is $2.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available in 51 countries, exclusively through the App Store in the Contemporary category. Preview download is also available.

Venice Under Glass 1.0
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Book Cover

Stephan J Harper was born in Baltimore and has been writing stories and poems for many years. He is the author of two hardcover children’s picture books, One Christmas Story (2003) and The Black Sheep (2005). He is also the author and illustrator of two MultiTouch books for the iPad: In His Image (2012) for older readers; and Venice Under Glass (2014), an illustrated and animated modern fantasy novel for all ages. Mr. Harper is the creator of Basilbaker, “a literate site for bear lovers” on the Web since 1998. He occasionally writes poems using the pseudonyms Ernest Fitzgerald, Jr and The Rational Romantic. They all live in California. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2014 Stephan J Harper. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.