I'd recommend just about anything written by Thomas Disch, Robert Sheckley, or Jack Womack. Sadly, you'll have to root through used bins to find them these days.

Disch wrote the children's story _The Brave Little Toaster_, but is best known in SF circles for _Camp Concentration_, and was firmly located in the more literary-minded '70s New Wave; heavy subject matter, but worth the investment. He was a published poet, and it shows in his evocative, beautiful prose style. If you can, also track down any of his short story collections, as he was master of the form.

Sheckley wrote in more traditional SF areas than Disch, and was more of an absurdist satirist. _Immortality, Inc._ and _The 10th Victim_ are good starting points. Pro-tip: Douglas Adams was quite the fan of his.

Womack wrote the "Ambient" series (_Ambient_, _Terraplane_, _Heathern_, _Elvissey_, _Random Acts of Senseless Violence_, _Going, Going, Gone_), a loosely-connected set of novels concerning an alternate near-future America. They are bleak, bitter, blacker-than-black satires that will leave you emotionally scarred, but I love them, God help me.

Good golly yes, read Mervyn Peake! _Gormenghast_ is certainly the best, but the others are well worth a read as well. His fantasy novels inspired Michael "Elric" Moorcock to write _Gloriana_, which is also an exquisitely written alternate English history fantasy (if you don't mind occasional kinky sex [in the novel]).

Heh, have you been watching the textbook approval circus in Texas lately? There are plenty of influential groups doing that _right now_ with paper books. Digital versions just mean the additions/subtractions will appear faster. The censorship issues won't change, they'll just be more efficient ;) .

As far as I can tell looking at the information provided by Apple, there's no legal requirement that free iBooks _must_ be distributed solely through the iTunes store. You can export in the native .iba format to the desktop or email the same file to anyone, which can then be loaded onto any iPad for viewing. Of course, the same can be done with a .pdf of the same work. You're only tied to the iTunes store if you want to make a buck off your book. If you have specifics indicating differently, please provide them.