'Interactive' novels link e-readers to real-world settings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Have you ever read a novel and felt immersed in its settings, as if you were walking its streets, browsing shops, exploring museums and historic sites or grabbing lunch at cafes that, when you think about it, are essentially just words on pages?

This is where technology has taken us: Now with just a click, you can be there within seconds.

At least virtually.

But if the book moves readers enough, and they're armed with information about things to do and places to see, they're likely to hit the road and actually go there.

Physically.

That's the vision of Montgomery writer Patrick Brian Miller, creator of the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative, who has just jumped on the electronic publishing train and added an innovation of his own: an interactive travel guide within a book.

With the introduction of Kindle editions of the two novels, Blind Fate by Miller and Dixie Noir by noted Montgomery author Kirk Curnutt, the concept of "literary tourism" has, like pretty much everything else in our lives, gone high-tech.

"Once this catches on, it's going to become huge," he said. "People just have to be introduced to it first. My hope is that when they hear about it first, they hear about it through Montgomery. The first always gets a lot of attention."

If you are among the two or three people not familiar with Amazon's Kindle, it's an e-reader (similar to Barnes & Nobles Nook and other models) that allows a shopper to buy an electronic version of a book from Amazon.com and have it appear within one minute on an electronic reading device (prices start at $79).

Miller said he has been surprised by the number of people who respond to this innovation with, "Well, I don't own a Kindle."

What a lot of them don't know is that books downloaded from Amazon's Kindle store can be delivered to personal computers, smart phones and tablets such as the iPad.

In short, just about anyone can Kindle, which makes this new initiative nearly limitless, Miller said.

How does it work? At the conclusion of these e-books, "tourism guides" appear to provide links to the websites of many of the places where the action within the novels has taken place, providing an immediate "you are there" gratification for readers. They can visit websites of locations they're curious about, either on a whim or via a click-through of all the site links listed.

Miller hopes this extra knowledge and insight will lead readers to put down their e-books and get on the road to visit the real-life destinations to which they have just been introduced.

After all, his mission has always been about promoting tourism. Well, literature and promoting tourism. Hence, literary tourism, which is not a brand-new idea. In fact, Miller gratefully acknowledges the work of the Southern Literary Trail which celebrates and guides readers through the hometowns of noted writers from Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Electronic tours

Since 2009, when Miller created the SELTI website, he has made it a priority to include supplemental online information about places to visit, such as local attractions, historic sites — even dives and restaurants — that appear in his and other books from authors throughout the Southeast.

SELTI's aim, after all, is to promote literary tourism by introducing readers to a historic area via a compelling short story or poem, which in turn might compel them to visit that place.