Brian May Launches '40 Years of Queen' Ebook

LONDON - Brian May, legendary guitarist for rock band Queen, astrophysicist and astronomy book author, rolled up Friday to launch an ebook version of ‘40 Years of Queen’ designed specifically for the ipad.

May personally took an intimate media gathering through the interactive ebook at an event held at the private members' club the Groucho in central London.

Built using Apple iBooks author, publisher Carlton Digital has taken the original hard-back book publication from Goodman Books, released last year, and digitized it adding fresh bells and whistles. It marks publisher Carlton Digital's first foray into ebooks.

It's a fanboy dream billed as a fully interactive enhanced ebook with photogalleries, multi-touch control, Queen’s music and reproductions of memorabilia all a part of the publication.

May said technology was causing people to "rethink once again and rediscover what a book really is and what it has the potential to be."

He described the ebook, which includes fresh audio forwards by May and fellow Queen member Roger Taylor, as "a great advert for what ebooks may be like in the future."

‘40 Years of Queen’ boasts biographies of each band member - May, Tayor, Freddie Mercuryand John Deacon -- including dynamic photo galleries, handwritten lyrics and audio quotes.

Other interactive extras include a solvable electronic jigsaw puzzle, zoomable photographs, multi-image galleries, animations to show off vinyl inside and out, hotlinks for simple navigation, and even photographs of mud-wrestling women.

It retails at £9.99 ($16) and is launched Friday Dec.14.