The Yodeling Dwarf

Kestrels Midnight Song for FOUR DOLLARS!

2011-10-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

This is a blog update to let you know about a deal I am running through the Christmas season. From now until January 1st, you can buy SIGNED a copy of Kestrel's Midnight Song for $4.00! (Free shipping.) In exchange for this low price point, a review must be written and posted to both Amazon.com and BN.com for every copy sold.

I really need to jack up the number of reviews on both sites in anticipation of increased buyers in the coming months. So, if you've read Kestrel's Midnight Song or not, please consider helping me in this endeavor. It doesn't matter who the book goes to, who writes the review, etc, as long as at least one review is written and posted on each site for each one copy sold.

If you have any questions, email me at jrparkerwrites@gmail.com

To join me in this deal for a signed book at a great price, place your order at (EDIT: Deal has ended. Thank you to all who participated!)

Thank you for your time and Merry Christmas!

-J.R. Parker

Loooong Hiatus...

2011-08-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

...and this isn't even really a blog post. SORRY! I'm reposting a blog post from the Nightwing Studios Website regarding a project I'll be directing. Here 'tis:

***

We’re on Kickstarter! Fans of Nightwing Studios and From Darkness Won, here is your chance to join us in this undertaking. Follow the link for more information and be sure to check out the cool rewards! If you are unable to back the project, please spread the word via facebook, twitter and blogs. You all are awesome!

On the page, it also gives a detailed explanation of what the funds go towards. Thank you so much for considering!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2046662100/from-darkness-won-fan-book-trailer

Thank you,

- Nightwing Studios

To Darkness Fled Trailer UNLEASHED!

2010-11-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

It is finally done! Many kudos to Robert Treskillard, Leighton Hajicek, Adele Hajicek, Ness Hajicek, Christian Miles, and the author, Jill Williamson. The trailer is finished after an unbelievable amount of work put forth by the people mentioned above. I played the evil prince in red.

Turn your speakers up and double click to view full size.

My Skin is Blue... And You Can Too! (Hurry)

2010-11-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

My Skin is blue. My hair is green. Why?

To win stuff, of course!

Brock Eastman is putting on a contest to promote his upcoming book, Taken (Coming June 11th.) If you digitally dye your skin blue and your hair green, you'll be entered to win...

$50 GIFT CARD!
SIGNED COPY OF TAKEN!
SPECIAL "OBBIN" T-SHIRT!

Click here for details on how to enter, but HURRY, today's the last day. I lost track of time and entered really late.

(More blog posts coming...)

Moonbeam Awards Finalist!

2010-10-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

I just got word that Kestrel's Midnight Song is a finalist in the 2010 Moonbeam Awards! The category is "Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy-Sci Fi," and four finalists were chosen, instead of the standard three, meaning this category received a particularly large number of entrants, and there will be a tie between two of us.

The gold, silver, and bronze medals will be handed out in mid-October, but honestly I'm just giddy to be a finalist. (Flapping-my-wings-around-the-living-room-giddy.)

For those of you familiar with Curse of the Spider King, by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, it won the silver medal in the same category last year, and the silver seal is now prominently displayed on the cover. I wonder if I can just have the publisher buy copies of the actual medal to melt on there... Just kidding Scott!

Anyway, congrats to all the other finalists. Click here to check out the full list.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the awards ceremony in Traverse City, Michigan. (The Traverse City Children's Book Festival)

Fortunately, I may be doing something that is even cooler...

Yes.

The Costco in Clarkston, Washington has invited me to a booksigning in November. The final date hasn't been nailed down yet, but it looks likely that it will be November 13th, the day of the Book Festival.

This is an opportunity so huge... it has to take place in a Costco Warehouse. And I'm looking forward to it. In my next blog post I'll bring everyone up to speed on what I've been up to (with lots of pictures,) including how the Costco signing came about. But for now, a call to arms!

If you've read Kestrel's Midnight Song, and would like to help, consider posting a review on Amazon.com. Reviews there really, really help. They don't have to be over-the-top, glowing. Just post your honest thoughts. I would really appreciate it!

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scaredykat/2729912657/sizes/o/in/photostream/

In Which I Receive 1,500 Copies of My Book! (Pictures)

2010-09-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I've been a busy beaver.I mounted my $150 canopy on my $1,500 pickup and drove to Spokane, WA to pickup 1,500 long overdue books. (Due to an overrun, I actually picked up 1,594, but saying that would ruin the number scheme.) (That's my dad making a cameo appearance in the picture above, helping me mount the canopy.)I signed books, crisscrossed the county delivering books, packaged books, shipped books, and dreamed of books. If you entered in the HUGE ONLINE PARTY and/or ordered a book from me, expect to receive a package in the mail very soon. And if you don't, let me know.

This morning I walked into the post office to ship out 149 packages.

"Hi! I have roughly 149 packages to ship!"
"...Come again?"

And each and every one had to go through the system. All told it took about an hour. And when it was done, I received what the ladies told me was the longest receipt they'd ever had.

That's right.
I own the record for longest receipt at the post office in my county. I'd like to thank everyone who ordered and the post office ladies for making this dream possible. I couldn't have done it without you. There is no 'i' in 'team.' But there are sure a lot of 'i's on that receipt.

The Nez Perce County Fair starts a week from tomorrow. I am excited about this because it's a much larger fair than my first one. I sent out press releases to all media in the area, and a reporter from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News replied that they'd do a story if I toured nearby Moscow, Idaho. I immediately called the Hastings at the Palouse Mall in Moscow.

And lo and behold, despite the fact that booking anything up to this point has been a real chore involving multiple phone calls, (seriously, the other night I was overjoyed to receive a real-life returned call. Then I woke up) they were happy to book a signing with me literally FOUR DAYS from the date I called.

FOUR DAYS!

My previous bookings have been 1.5 months+ in advance. So I am really excited to sign books this Saturday at the Moscow Hastings, my first official book signing, the day after the story mentioning the event is supposed to release to a metro area of 50,000+.

From there I will continue south to the Nez Perce County Fair. No word yet on if any media will pick up the story there. But stay tuned.

In my next post I want to show you a picture of the seven foot tall banner I ordered, and the hilarious (read: embarrassing) story behind it. Or maybe I'll just take a picture of my setup at the Hastings signing, and you can see it then.

Books Sold to Date? Ummm... 300... or so. (Not counting online or physical bookstore sales.)
Miles Traveled? I really need to be keeping track of this stuff...
Events Total? Does that Post Office record count as an event? Because that was pretty cool.
Jacob's IQ? Hahaha! Wait, what?
Marriage Proposal Success Rate? You know, I think it's time to wrap this post up. ::Clicks "Publish Post" repeatedly::

Western Montana Mini Book Tour

2010-08-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

There's so much to share in this post! I got home last night from quite the five-day road trip.
EurekaI drove to Eureka, Montana for the Lincoln County Fair on Thursday, sold 12 pre-orders on Friday, 22 on Saturday, and left early Sunday because it was pouring rain and I had nothing to cover my booth.

Highlights:
—I was camped out at the Rexford Bench Campground. The first night the wind blew so hard I was afeared a tree would fall on me. I would have escaped to my pickup, but I'm pretty sure the tent would have rolled away.—The Rexford Bench Campground is, in theory, located on Lake Koocanusa [Random Factoid: The name Koocanusa comes from Kootenai (the tribe) plus Canada (the country) plus U.S.A (Unidentified Smoldering Asteroid)]

The campground had no showers, so I jumped in my swimming trunks grabbed shampoo, soap, and a towel, and tore off down the path labeled "The Beach."The sun had set at this point, so I was racing against darkness, which is when spooky things like rabid ninja rabbits come out to devour lonely campers. The plan was to run to the lake, take a quick bath, and run back. But when I mounted the first hill, there was no lake in sight. The second hill revealed more wilderness. At this point, I started muttering "You have got to be kidding me!" over and over again as I ran as fast as I could.Finally, I reached a parking lot, but that only led to another parking lot, which finally descended into the lake. My estimate is a half mile from the campground. I dropped everything (except my shorts) and plowed into the water. It was colder than I expected for August (A local seemed pretty surprised when I later told him that I'd gone swimming in the lake.) But I felled myself and took the fastest bath of my life. Plunge-glunk-scrub-plunge.

Then I ran back, dripping wet with my computer-dust-filled lungs tiring. But I made it before nightfall.—I love it when teachers stop by at the fairs. A teacher from Kalispell, MT ordered a book, and I gave her four signed posters and a ton of bookmarks. She said she likes to read part of a book to the class, enough to get them hooked on the story, and then tell them they'll have to find the book to finish it themselves. How awesome is that?

—It was pretty cold in the mornings. I didn't bring a jacket or coat of any kind, so I invented a new style. Two dress shirts. Be on the lookout next Fall's release of my new clothing line, Parkquoir. (Pronounced like the urban freerunning sport, but with more of a French twist.)
—"The Western News," a newspaper out of Libby, Montana (an hour away) ran a story about me. Several people mentioned that they'd read about me there, and one person said she made the hour drive JUST to order two books, (that made me feel good) so it definitely contributed to sales, but I think it was too far away to have the kind of impact that the newspaper stories did at my local fair.

Kalispell
On Sunday morning I took down my tent in the pouring rain, threw it in the back of my pickup and set off for Kalispell, Montana. My only stop was at the Borders there (pictured at the top of this post.) I talked to a manager, handed her a bunch of materials. Not only did she decide to stock KMS, she wants to use the poster to make a display for it! And, depending on how well it sells, may even contact me about setting up a book signing.

Apparently they like to promote regional authors. I was quite a ways from home at that point, so I didn't think I'd have the "local" advantage. But regional works for me! As I've been telling people, by the time I reach Connecticut, I'll be introducing myself as an American author.

Ronan
I have family in Ronan, so I stopped by for a few hours and participated in a Birthday bash/dinner for my cousin. I also got to meet an online friend in person.

I think now is a good time to introduce... The Mystery. Back at the Eureka Fair, several people not from Libby mentioned that they'd read something about me. Nobody could remember where, and nobody could remember details about the story. They were all from the Kalispell/Missoula area. Some guessed "The Daily Interlake," and some guessed "The Missoulian." Both are newspapers with a large distribution. Getting a story in either would be a tremendous boost. At this birthday dinner, another person said the same thing, and again, she couldn't remember the details or where she'd read it.

The plot thickened when a boy at the dinner said he had one of my bookmarks already. Where had he gotten it? At the local bookstore! I'd never heard of this bookstore, and all bookmarks had to have gone through me since I'm the only one with the ability to order them. Weird, huh? A look through the archives of all newspapers in the area turned up empty. I have yet to talk to that bookstore.

Missoula
I hit Missoula late Sunday night. One of my friends is a student at the University of Montana there, so I crashed on a couch in his apartment. Coolest thing about the apartment? The 3x3 mule deer buck in the parking lot.The next morning I visited five bookstores:
The Bird's Nest
Fact & Fiction
The Book Exchange
Hastings
Barnes & Noble

The Bird's Nest only sells used books, but they told me to cross the street to Fact & Fiction. The lady there told me they get a LOT of authors that come in and do exactly what I do. In fact, she said I was the third person that day. That's an impressive number when you consider that the store had only been open for an hour! What makes this even more curious is that it's a small bookstore located downtown. I was the only non-employee there. None of the other bookstores I've visited mentioned getting a lot of authors who stop in. I noticed that a large percentage of the books are marked "Montana Author." So that might explain some of it. If they have a reputation for stocking Montana authors, that would tend to attract small Montana authors.

But anyway, back to the story. She seemed skeptical at first, but after I poured gifts upon her (more on that later) and she looked through the book, and I told her it was named to the Highlighted Listings in Independent Publisher Magazine and a Book Trailer Pick of the Week in Foreword Reviews Magazine, she decided to stock it.

The Book Exchange is kind of set up where you trade your books in while paying a small fee. This place was recommended to me, but the clerk told me they don't stock new fiction, however, she got the manager, and he seemed really impressed. I mentioned that the clerk said they didn't stock new books, and he said something like, "Well... we used to. It's just... You know, I'm going to show this to the fantasy guy." If they don't end up stocking it, at least they agreed to hand out the stack of free bookmarks I left with them, and I left a signed poster too.

I walked up to the book counter in Hastings and asked to speak with the manager. The guy said, "That's me." Oops. His name tag even said "Books Manager." But he was a nice guy. He ordered copies of KMS to stock, put my booksmarks out to be taken by customers, agreed to hang the poster, and even invited me to call if I ever wanted to set up a book signing.At this point, I realized that this whole getting KMS into stores appears to be easier than I thought. The managers have all been nice people, and excluding Fact & Fiction, I haven't even given much of a sales pitch. The cover grabs them, they look it up on their computer, see that it's returnable and agree to stock it. Those two things appear to be all that they look for: A great-looking product and a fully returnable book through a national distributor. KMS is set at a standard 40% discount for bookstores, but that topic hasn't even come up yet. The retail price, however, I did discuss once. The manager didn't know how I'd managed to get it so low. Further talk revealed that actually "Well... it's an OK price." But he was initially comparing to self-publishing services, where he said they jack up the retail price if you want to get it set up with a national distributor.

From Hastings I drove to Washington Middle School, I was just going to talk to the Librarian and drop of a poster and some bookmarks. But when I got there and saw all the kids running around, I felt this desire to share my story with them. So I signed and left one of my author copies too. The librarian wasn't there, but I left a note.

Then I drove to the biggest Barnes & Noble I have ever set foot in. The manager was, again, nice. And, again, once he saw that it was returnable, he was all for stocking it. He also set the bookmarks out, and would have put the poster up, but it had "solicitation" on it. ("Go to SongLore.com to win yada yada") in small print. So for future B&N visits, I will black that out. I will do so for Borders, too, just in case.

Here is the package I hand to the managers: I plop everything on the table, and explain what each item is as I hand it to them, starting with the info sheet, then the book (just to look at), then I list off the book plate stickers, signed by author stickers, bookmarks, and signed poster. The book plate stickers say "Hastings, Missoula, MT! 08-30-2010 "Signature"

Home
I stopped by the local Borders on the way home. I'd done so a couple times previously, but the manager wasn't there either time. Not so this time! And when he found out it's distributed through Ingram, he agreed to stock it and set me up for a booksigning on a Saturday in mid-October. I had dropped off the standard package I hand to managers over a week before that, and he mentioned that he'd seen it on his desk, but hadn't looked through it. What did I learn from this? It's important to actually speak to the manager. Just dropping stuff off and waiting for the phone to ring won't cut it.

Overall...
I had a great time. My success rate is 100% when I speak to a manager in person. Now if only I can duplicate that success over the phone.

Now, about the ForeWord Reviews Magazine thing. Here's a snippet from their latest newsletter, under the title "Book Trailer Pick of the Week."

Many of you responded to a question I posed last week, and overwhelmingly the response was “Yes!” tell us more about what’s hot (or cool if you’re from an older generation) in Young Adult fiction. So here’s a suspenseful, animated book trailer for Kestrel's Midnight Song, a YA fantasy novel written by teen author, J.R. Parker. Take a look!

How cool—I mean hot—is that??

One last thought. At the fair, several people mistook me for Christopher Paolini. That led me to think about how strange the similarities are between Christopher Paolini and I. We were both homeschooled. We're both teen authors. Our home states, Montana and Idaho, are right next to each other, much like our books will be in the bookstore. No really, P-A-O, P-A-R. The uncanny similarities don't end there, but I can't give any more away without revealing the exact location of my home. Here's hoping these similarities extend to sales figures. :)

Independent Publisher likes KMS!

2010-08-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Independent Publisher is one of the review publications I sent an ARC to. Go to this link, read the top, then scroll about halfway down the list. :)

Also, I just got word that my copies won't be arriving until September 3rd. That's a bummer, especiallly considering I told everyone they would be arriving any day. Sorry to everyone who pre-ordered a copy from me thinking I'd be the quickest source to receive it from. But part of that is it hit the bookstore system much faster than anticipated. You can buy it on BN.com right now for $11.51 and Amazon.com for $15.99, and you can order it from any bookstore.

P.S. Still working on emails, so don't panic if I haven't responded.

Pictures and Video! (The Fair Day 4)

2010-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay on the final post for the fair. I was waiting for a video interview to show up. More on that later...
The cool thing about Saturday is that I sold...
62 books! Then I sold 2 more the next day during clean-up. And thus I passed both my day and week goals. 64 (60), 141 (100) Speaking of numbers, my brain was so tired on Day 3's post that I forgot how to perform addition. AND NONE OF YOU NOTICED IT! Hahahahaha! ;)

The other cool thing about Saturday is that word-of-mouth started to really pay dividends. For example, a grandmother walked in and told me that her grandson's friends had told him about the book, so she had come to buy one for him. It doesn't get much better than that.
Also, I performed a spontaneous video interview. Filming literally started seconds after I knew I was about to be interviewed, which made it that much more fun! My interview skills aren't the greatest. I need to cap off all my sentences, inject some humor, stop moving around, and stop stuttering. But I was grateful for the opportunity, because now I see where I need to improve and I can learn from it. You can watch it HERE. Oh, and I messed up in one of my responses. The "There's a word for a writer..." thing is actually from the bio on J.A. Konrath's blog. It popped into my head, and when I'm at a loss for words I tend to spew whatever's in my brain.

This habit could end up being rather dangerous someday... ("Your wig is shaped like Abraham Lincoln!")

What I learned: This is kind of a combination of what I learned at the fair and in the past few days. It's rather important, so those of you with books coming out in the future, heed my words of wise wisdom. *Drumroll* Fairs are good.

But it's more than that. Sure, the newspapers were the biggest difference-maker. But the fact that I was at the fair was equally important. If the newspaper had advertised a store signing, my numbers wouldn't have been near what they were because people would have had to make a special trip. With the fair, everyone was planning on going anyway. Plus, the traffic is waaaay better than you get at bookstores.

But here's the kicker. My hope was to begin touring in early September, but when I started making the calls to get it scheduled, libraries and bookstores didn't want to talk about it until they could see my book in their system. Now that it's in their system, they are booked for over a month. This means over a month of down time. If I'd known fairs were such great places to sell books, I would have filled the first two months of my book's release with fair events. They don't need to see the book in their system, but as I've learned through many fruitless phone calls over the past few days, the sooner you sign up, the better.

Moral of the story: If you have a small publisher, late July is a good time to release a book. As soon as it releases, call bookstores/libraries and set up your tour. While you're waiting, hit all those fairs you signed up for ages ago.

Notes: Partially to drive my above point home. I just finished a phone call with a librarian in which I scheduled my first booksigning! It will be on... October 27th. That's two months plus four days.

The future: I had hoped to get into a nearby fair, much bigger, where I'm still technically local and could therefore possibly get another story in the newspaper, but I was much too late. This bummed me at first, but now I accept that when God closes one door he opens another. So I'm looking for other doors. I might have managed to sneak into a small fair in Eureka, Montana this weekend. I'm waiting for a call on that. If so, I'll loop through Kalispell and Missoula, meeting managers and sales personnel, and handing out sales sheets and posters.

The nearer future: Catching up on email... Some of my emails came over a month ago, so it is time. I just thought I'd add that for those of you awaiting a response.

Stream of Consciousness (The Fair Day 3)

2010-08-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

I accidentally left my notes at the fairgrounds, and I'm rather tired, so for today's post I'll just mention things as they pop into my head. Invariably I will leave stuff out. I can fill in the blanks on the next post.

48 pre-orders sold today! More than Wednesday and Tuesday's totals combined. Altogether, that's 87. Reaching my goal of 100 total shouldn't be a problem at all. In fact, I expect Saturday to be my best day. Why?
1. Everyone's off work, which means more traffic.
2. The best events are saved for Saturday.
3. In the first three days, many, many people opted to wait until Saturday to purchase a copy in the hopes that the books would arrive by then.
So my goal for Saturday is now 60 pre-orders.

I got some invitations from teachers and school librarians to speak at schools. I'm looking forward to those. Each of them bought at least one book and took signed posters to hang in their library/classroom too.

The girls from post... 1 (I think?) came back and brought another girl. "He's the author of that book. No really, watch this." And she grabbed an ARC and repeated the test that I passed on day 1. This time she kept going, but she held the book too far forward like a novice poker player. So I just read each chapter title when she turned to it. She didn't catch me until chapter six. :)

Those same girls came back later and asked for a dollar to buy a toy. I told them I'd give them a dollar if they took a stack of bookmarks and handed them out to people where the food tents are. (Matt has been busy with 4-H.) They were (predictably) very good at it, and enjoyed it so much that they came back for a second round, free! Not only that, but at least one sale resulted because of it.

The newspaper articles continue to be, by far, the biggest difference maker. Community support also continues to be a huge factor. (Thanks everyone!) In doing a little bit of experimenting, I found that some people passed my booth with nothing but glances up to seven times before walking up and placing a pre-order. I wonder though, if I'd stopped these people the first time by, would they have placed a pre-order? I think the steady build-up of curiosity was in my favor, kind of like how I talked about several small attacks being better than a siege in my last post.

I made friends with the kirby vacuum guy. He has pre-paid for my last ARC, to be given to him at the end of the fair on Saturday. His plan is that if I hit it big, the ARC will be worth a lot more money.

I'm fascinated by human age progression. I love seeing the people you see around town, how they've grown, and to imagine them at previous/future stages of their life. We grow pretty fast. Life's remarkably short.

I met a retired publishing professional today who graciously gave me a list of names I should contact. This could prove very valuable.

I also met quite a few more aspiring authors. One, my neighbor actually, said he started a book three weeks ago, but hit writer's block. Then he saw the article in the paper and thought, "If he can, why can't I?" He promptly wrote three more chapters in his book. This news made me feel good. :) We talked a bit about his story world, which sounds satisfactory detailed. And I can tell he has the required passion for his story.

There are a lot of nice people here. As an example, the mail lady for my neighborhood bought two pre-orders, and since she'd heard the books hadn't arrived yet, offered to go and pick them up right then, at about 7:00 pm! But the books are being delivered truck freight, so although it wouldn't have helped, the gesture is much appreciated.

Hmmm, I just realized Saturday is my last day to get pictures. I'll try to remember to grab the camera on the way out Saturday morning.

Talk of the Town (The Fair Day 2)

2010-08-19T22:32:00.001-07:00

Today was interesting, because it gave me some idea of what it's like to be a celebrity. Stories about KMS and me hit both local papers today, so a TON of people stopped with remarks like, "You're the author!" "I read about you!" "So you're the one!" A popular local hairdresser told me that everyone has been asking her about my book and whether or not she's read it. As I'm sure you know, the barber/hairdresser is a classic hub for news in small communities, so this was good news.

The posters arrived about midday, so in select cases where a sale was made, or someone was strongly considering it, I gave them a signed poster. It's really heartwarming to watch a kid walk away staring wide-eyed into a signed poster. The posters really boosted my sell-through rate. They get people excited almost like the flip of a switch at times.

I sold 17 pre-orders today, bringing my total to 29. I estimate I would have sold 60 or more today if I'd had books on hand. Many, many people chose to stop in Saturday in the hope that the shipment of books will arrive by then. Several others opted to buy a copy from the local bookstore, so they can support a local author and a local business owner at the same time. Which brings me to the first thing I learned.

What I Learned:
-Support. I received some great support today in the form of friends, family, my fourth grade teacher, opting to buy a book. People like to support their locals. "Are you from here?" is the second most question asked to "Are you the author?" The latter would be solved if my banner would get here. Today, I got excited because I got a package from the banner printer. But it was just the banner stand with carrying case.

-My location isn't terrific. Nice people on both sides of the aisle, but everyone is, like me, selling/promoting something. I started off the week by standing in front of my booth, stopping nearly everyone who walked by and offering them a free bookmark, then telling them about my book. But that just caused people to avoid me like the plague. So I tried staying in my booth and waiting for people to pause with interest, and that worked better. The majority still plow through there with only short glances to either side, not wanting to give the salesmen any indication of interest. Today, most of my customers were looking for me because of the stories in the paper. And several mentioned having trouble finding me. Oh well.

-Several small attacks are better than a siege. When I talk to people who have never heard of Kestrel's Midnight Song, even if I hand them bookmarks, posters, newspaper articles, and give them the whole spiel, it's not as effective as if someone handed them a bookmark, then someone mentioned it to them later, then they saw the story in the newspaper, and finally happened upon my booth over the course of a couple days.

-Not many people know what an ARC is. My tongue is getting a bit tired of saying "ARC" and explaining to people that they can't buy the ARC because it's just for display until the books arrive, when really all I want to do is hand them a book so they'll be happy. On the bright side, my hometown could become the most publishing-world-literate in the world by Sunday. :)

Highlights:
-There have been a few special cases where I parted with an ARC, such as an airplane flight that night, or a language barrier where I couldn't explain what the deal was. This morning, a man walked in, handed me ten dollars for a book, no questions asked. Apparently his son had gotten an ARC the day before, and they'd read some together later that night. They really liked it, so he had come to buy one for his nephew.

-As I mentioned before, it's really, really fun to watch small kids walking away staring up into a signed poster half as big as they are with wide eyes.

-Almost before I went home, a couple of ladies walked by rather quickly. One spotted my poster and said, "Oh, that's that movie," to the other. She had a definite prophetic air about her. ;-) Any guesses as to what movie she was thinking of?

-The proof copy arrived today (from the printer.) It's absolutely gorgeous. I kept taking it off the stand to look through it. And just in time. I was down from five ARCs to two.

Long day again tomorrow!

Man Cannot Live on Hot Dogs Alone (The Fair Day 1)

2010-08-18T21:07:00.001-07:00

Today was the first official day of the local fair. I manned a booth all day, selling books and handing out bookmarks. (I hope to post a picture of the booth later, after I have my banner, posters, and uh... hopefully books.) And I ate two hot dogs (lunch and dinner) in the process!

I sold 12 pre-orders, which I think is pretty good for a low traffic setup day in a small community. I handed out a TON of bookmarks, and got many assurances from people that they would come back and buy a copy in the coming days. Tomorrow, stories about KMS will hit the local newspapers, so I expect that to be a big boost, and I think I'm on track to hit my goal of 100 copies sold by Sunday.

I made some new friends with my neighboring booth-mates, as well as a kid named Matt. He wanted a copy of KMS but couldn't afford it, so I told him I'll give him a copy for free if he roams the fairgrounds handing out bookmarks and directing people to my booth. This arrangement has proved quite beneficial thus far. He's really good at it.

Some things I've learned:

-Nothing seems to grab people's interest more than seeing someone else in front of my booth talking to me.

-Some people (more than I would have thought) think all authors are rich and famous. I'm starting to wonder if a joke I made in my acknowledgements will backfire badly.

-There are a lot of aspiring authors out there.

-Eleven hours is a long time. Sixteen will be longer.

Highlights:

-Some teens asked me to sign bookmarks for them. One of them kept coming back for replacements because he kept losing his. I said, "I think you're just stashing them somewhere so you have more to sell on eBay," and handed him a new one. He said, "Yeah, I am. See you tomorrow."

-Some smaller kids didn't believe that I was really the author. I asked how I could prove it to them, and they looked into the ARC and told me to name the first chapter, when I did, they asked me to name the second chapter. When I did that, they believed me.

Calling All Kindle Users

2010-08-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

First, an update...

I think it's safe to say that all editing of Kestrel's Midnight Song is done. In a matter of days, a truckload of books will stop by my house. Very exciting. :) Right now I'm planning out the national book tour, which is coming up fast. If you'd like to help organize an event at your school or homeschool group, send me an email.

Now for the real news...

Kestrel's Midnight Song is available on Kindle RIGHT NOW! So for those kindle users out there, consider buying an e-copy now, and then getting a shiny physical copy in a few weeks! Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tags-on-product/B003ZDOW1C/ref=tag_dpp_cust_edpp_sa

And be sure to post a review when you're done reading!

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43602175@N06/4069260433/

Live Online Party! (Finally)

2010-08-02T22:05:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. For those of you who haven't heard through other outlets, the Live Online Party will be TODAY (Tuesday, August 3rd) at kmsparty.blogspot.com at 4:00 pacific time. Due to the abundance of technical difficulties and ill-timed commercials that the video format caused, this time it will be a simple text chat in which I will announce who won which books. Then you can ask me anything (unless it involves the underwear incident.)

I think it will be a fun time to interact with other fantasy readers/writers/broomstick-jedi-warriors. I hope to see you there! Oh, and Thadior might make an appearance...

Endorsements!

2010-06-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

I am happy to report that, so far, I have received two endorsements for my novel, Kestrel's Midnight Song. The second of which just arrived this morning. (Note: Receiving a novel endorsement is a great way to start your day.)

The first is from Jill Williamson, who recently WON A CHRISTY AWARD!

“Kestrel’s Midnight Song is a solid addition to the fantasy genre. Jacob Parker writes an imaginative tale, filled with adventure, mystery, and unique characters. The storylines intertwine and keep the reader turning the pages, desperate to see how it will all work out. I can’t wait to read the sequel.”
—Jill Williamson, award winning author of By Darkness Hid

The second, the one I just received this morning, is from Wayne Thomas Batson:

"Because of his youth and the genre, people will no doubt compare J.R. Parker to Christopher Paolini. I don't claim to be a prophet, but I think Parker very well could be better. Kestrel's Midnight Song is a wonderful first novel. Parker's language is quite stunning without being wordy. And his opening hook is terrific. Marauders, stolen children, haunting mystery, and ever-present danger make this a book worth reading."—Wayne Thomas Batson, bestselling author of The Door Within Trilogy, Isle of Swords, Isle of Fire, and Curse of the Spider King

Advance Reader Copies have also been sent to various review publications such as Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, etc. Getting a review from one of those is a long shot for a small press, but it's worth a try, right?

In other news, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on the editing front. In a day or two I should receive the suggested edits from the editor and will then apply them to the novel. It won't be long now before it's off to the printer.

Why I Canceled Everyone's Orders

2010-06-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't notice the refund notification in your inbox, I was forced to cancel and refund everyone's Amazon.com orders in full. Why? Well, here's the whole headache—I mean story...

Long before the party and the amazon.com explosion, I sent an email to Amazon support, asking them if I could sell pre-orders with an FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) Merchant Account. The response was, "If a book it posted as pre-order and it Merchant fulfilled, it would work as intended. If you would want to use FBA for the same, it would not work at all."

So I followed that advice. I set up a Merchant Account (in which I fulfill the orders) listed Kestrel's Midnight Song for sale, and sold pre-orders on the party day. (Thanks everyone!)

Amazon.com has a policy for its sellers that states all products must be shipped within two business days of the order.Obviously, since I sold pre-orders, fulfilling that policy was not going to be possible. But I didn't think that was a big deal.

I was wrong.

There's a nice shiny button you get to press that "confirms shipment." I thought the button sends a message to the buyer notifying them that the order had been shipped and sends a green light to the Amazon.com people watching to make sure I don't steal everyone's money. So I figured if I pressed it, and then sent a message to everyone letting them know that the pre-orders would be delivered on schedule—months from then—everything would be fine.

I was wrong.

A couple days later I got an email from Amazon stating my account was being reviewed. My profits were being temporarily withheld.

I sent them an email stating what happened and that it was all a small misunderstanding.

The response was that my account was now being suspended, and that I'd committed a serious offense.

I'll spare you the details of the back and forth. It all concluded with Amazon telling me to refund everyone's orders. So I did.

I'm not sure what the original amazon.com support person was thinking, but I'm at least partially to blame. My biggest mistake was my false presupposition that the deal-making would take place between me and the customers. I saw Amazon Marketplace as resembling a real marketplace. Amazon.com provides the location; I set up shop and sell stuff. As it turns out, it's nothing like that. Amazon closely monitors and surveys and regulates all transactions.

So, I'm very sorry for the hassle and confusion, everyone. I appreciate the support you showed in ordering lots of copies of Kestrel's Midnight Song. However, there is a bright side in all of this!

*Drumroll*

As of today, you can re-pre-order Kestrel's Midnight Song straight from my website (done securely through PayPal.) The good part about that is there's no restrictive Amazon.com shipping policy (in which every copy sold must include a $3.99 shipping charge) or fees. So that means the pre-order is now cheaper! $9.95 with a flat shipping charge of $2.38, no matter how many copies you order. So go re-pre-order your signed copies now! And if any new people want to join in, feel free. ;)

All original transaction deals will be honored. So, for instance, if you ordered five copies the first time, and you order at least 5 copies this second time, you still get all the free stuff you would have gotten before.

Please note that the pre-order price is temporary. The low pre-order price on Amazon was intended to be a short-time thing, and this is too.

And... oh, right. The party reschedule! It will be in July. That much is certain. I'm still waiting to hear from someone who—I just discovered—has been on vacation for a month. If you don't know what party I'm talking about, check this out. Mwahaha.

Interviews Galore

2010-06-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

First of all, Kestrel's Midnight Song is officially the #2 most discussed book of all time on Shelfari.com! Plus, its trailer is the #4 most popular book trailer of all time on Goodreads.com! How cool is that?

Second, I've been interviewed a multitude of times recently...

Want to know my biggest writing pet peeve and hear about my aversion to ballroom dancing? Go to Writing it Out

Want to know my favorite fantasy book? Go to Endurance and Victory

Want to hear the plot for the first story I ever wrote? Go to Write Big

Want to discover the origin of the Aegre Bird (on the cover)? Go to Teen Inklings

Also, that same interview will be posted on Clash Entertainment on Friday.

And... last but not least (there wasn't any rhyme or reason to the order I posted) here's a link to an old interview I did at Storyteller Journey that I realize I neglected to link to.

Oh, and almost forgot, silly me... this is a link to my interview on Oprah.

The Party!

2010-05-27T02:58:00.000-07:00

Well... the party didn't go quite as planned. I got to chat with everyone all day, (which was a ton of fun) but come party time, the internet died. The Amazon.com Sales Rank did hit #1,591, though. :)

And, the party will be rescheduled! In fact, I have a good lead on solid internet. But you can get started on the free books and gift cards now! In fact, if you get your entries in before the end of May, you get an extra entry. So GO HERE right now and see what's going on. And again, get your entries in ASAP!

Thanks to everyone who attended. And to those who couldn't make it, I hope to see you at the reschedule.

http://www.kmsparty.blogspot.com/

Announcing... THE KMS BOOK TRAILER!

2010-05-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's done! A huge thanks to Music Composer Extraordinaire, Jon Maiocco of Jtmlife.blogspot.com and CGI Proffesional Jaw Dropper, Leighton Hajicek of SlyGames.net for their excellent work.

Before I show it to you, I want to talk a bit about a book trailer contest I entered it in. The finalists get played at Book Expo America!!! (The mere mention of which gives me goosebumps.) And it's only open to books published by independent publishers, so I think I have a shot. What I would like you to do, my dear, beloved, awesome, terrific (Did I mention beloved?) readers, is to vote for the KMS Trailer! The video with the highest votes doesn't automatically win, but getting into the top few is definitely a plus.

So... to explain how to vote, I made this handy graphic, depicting each step and in which order.

1. Click on "Join Group"

2. Click on "Recent"

3. Click on "Kestrel's Midnight Song Book Trailer"

4. Click on "I love it"

It's that simple! Here's the link to get to the contest page: youtube.com/group/booktrailercontest

Ok, enough with the commercial, here's the real deal:

(If the sidebar is blocking part of the video, just double click on it)

UPDATE: We've driven the KMS trailer all the way to #5 already! Woohoo!

HUGE ONLINE PARTY - A New Direction

2010-04-23T13:08:00.001-07:00

Thank you for your feedback in the last post, everyone. Your thoughts were heard and applied. I think the new setup will work out nicely. If you've already submitted info, no need to do so again. I still have it.

You guys rock!

Check it out: http://www.TeenFantasyAuthor.com OR http://www.SongLore.com

I Need Your Help

2010-04-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

I'm stumped.

The "Huge Online Party" has not been as popular as I'd anticipated. I'm getting 100+ visitors (vast majority of which are fantasy fans) to the site every day, but for some reason or another, people aren't joining the party. Blogs giving away a single book are getting more participation than this multi-hundred book giveaway. This would seem to indicate that something's wrong with my presentation. The problem is, I don't know where the problem lies. So I'm asking you for help, especially those of you uninterested in the "party." A penny for your thoughts? Feel free to answer anonymously if you want to remain hidden. But I'd really like to hear what you think.

HUGE ONLINE PARTY!!! (Hundreds of giveaways)

2010-04-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Big news: The website for Kestrel's Midnight Song is up at www.TeenFantasyAuthor.com AND www.SongLore.com

Somewhere on the site, you'll find a video of me making a complete and utter fool of myself. So check it out for that at least.

And... a HUGE ONLINE PARTY! On May 18th I'm going to be hosting an online party via live streaming video in which I'll be giving away hundreds of fantasy books, all in brand new condition. More details at the site. And there are a couple hidden surprises for those willing to search them out.

This has been in the works for some time so it's very exciting to finally announce it. I hope to see you all there!

Oh, and if you have a problem with the site, such as loading times, bugs, or bad layout, I'd appreciate it if you let me know in the comments section.

Giveaways

2010-04-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few giveaways going on lately. I'm going to list some at the top of my head. If you guys know of anymore, post them in the comments, and I'll bring them to the top (if I can remember) because I know I will forget some.

Noah over at noahsreads.blogspot.com is going to conduct a giveaway as soon as he hits 30 followers. If he hits 60, he'll give away two books.

Nathan Petrie at whisperedroars.blogspot.com is giving away a copy of Starlighter by Bryan Davis, and from what I hear, there are more giveaways to come.

Cson is giving away two books: Chosen Ones, by Alister McGrath and The Prophecy, by Dawn Miller at his cool new website: www.hornspoon.com

Seth Skogerboe is giving away the ENTIRE Narnia series at www.sjskogerboe.wordpress.com. How cool is that?

Oh boy, I can't remember the others. Obviously I'm forgetting at least some. Help!

To Darkness Fled is out!

2010-04-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

I should have blogged about The Blood of Kings Trilogy a long time ago. I first read By Darkness Hid, by Jill Williamson, on the train ride back from the summer writers' conference. Jill was the person who originally encouraged me to attend a conference, and I ended up going to one that she attended as well!

She's definitely one of the coolest people I know, and I'm proud to say that By Darkness Hid is the first signed book I ever owned. And recently, she even endorsed Kestrel's Midnight Song. But more on that another day. This post is about Jill and her books.

The story is terrific. It drew praise from VOYA and Library Journal, and is Marcher Lord Press's bestseller by a wide margin.

"In this medieval fantasy debut, idealistic servant Achan Cham dreams of becoming a Kingsguard Knight, while Vrell Sparrow disguises herself as a boy to escape an arranged marriage. She has a supernatural gift of being able to communicate to Achan without words. This thoroughly entertaining and smart tale will appeal to fans of Donita K. Paul and J.R.R. Tolkien. Highly recommended for CF and fantasy collections." —Library Journal

And now the sequel, To Darkness Fled, is out. This time, she got the attention of another major review publication, Publisher's Weekly.

"Williamson pens an action-packed, imaginative second installment in the Blood of Kings trilogy. Achan Cham... [spoiler eliminated] rides with a party in Darkness, the unlit half of the Kingdom of Er’Rets, to free two unjustly imprisoned knights. His party includes Vrell Sparrow, who is Lady Averella Amal disguised as a young boy to flee an unwanted marriage to Esek, who has usurped the identity of Prince Gidon Hadar. All the familiar epic elements and emotions are freshly rendered, with Vrell and Achan especially memorable as they grow during their journey... the pace gallops along, leaving readers hungry for the concluding book.” —Publisher's Weekly

If you haven't already, go buy By Darkness Hid! And if you've already read that, go buy To Darkness Fled! I've already ordered my copy. Can't wait to get my hands on it and fall into the Kingdom of Er'Rets again. You don't want to miss out.

Note: The To Darkness Fled image was shamelessly ripped from Christopher Kolmorgen of my-ink-spot.blogspot.com, where it was, in all likelihood, shamelessly ripped from elsewhere. As such, please direct any paperwork-totin' lawyers in that direction. Thank you.

Our Pet Moose, Lucy

2010-02-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

This is pretty indescribable... Good thing I have pictures! :)

A moose has quite literally taken residence in our backyard. Over the past few weeks, we've spotted her from time to time in the driveway, or in the woods. But now she lives in our backyard. She moved in earlier this week. I'm not exaggerating.

Last night she slept directly next to the house outside my bedroom window, a little under eight feet from my bed. She drinks from the water that collects in the tarp covering our firewood (which is stacked up against the house beneath our family room window). She lumbers by, literally inches away from the windows. She even walks up to the windows and peers inside, her head taking up the whole window frame, her nose almost touching the glass (she actually did touch the glass with her nose this morning).

As she peered in at me yesterday, I stood so close that if the windowpane hadn't separated us, I could have reached out and touched her. Easily. (Not that I wasn't prepared to scream and run at her slightest movement)

Here are the pictures, and although they don't do her size or the experience of being so close to such an awesome creature justice, they are definitely worth clicking on to view full size.

View from My Room

Lucy Gazing into the Distance

Lucy Drinking from the Tarp

She's Very Thirsty

And now for some other notes on the matter... We DO NOT feed, pet or approach her in any way. She doesn't seem to fear people, but we haven't tested that theory by actually going outside to her. She's a wild animal, so if she doesn't fear people that's dangerous both to her and any humans she might encounter... Our dog lives mostly outside, but we've had to keep him cooped up inside lately. Last year, when she was younger, Lucy stopped by from time to time (we believe it's the same moose) and during one encounter she seemed to get along with the dog just fine, but we don't want to risk it.

Oh, and so far she doesn't seem to be amused by any of my Rocky & Bullwinkle jokes.

In other news, I'm editing.

And finishing up the tribe-building contest.

Curse of the Spider King Book Trailer

2010-02-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I'm participating in a contest being put on by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper in which tribes of people compete against each other by completing promotional tasks to earn points for lots of cool prizes, like a real sword! (If you'd like to join my tribe, shoot me an email). The point being to promote their new Christian fantasy book, Curse of the Spider King.

Three teen members of the Nightwing Tribe, Christian Miles, Leighton, and Jon M (and many others), have completed a totally awesome book trailer, where everything from the acting to the editing to the special effects to the music was done from scratch! The following is the product of literally hundreds of hours of labor, so turn your speakers up and enjoy. And if you'd rate the movie (5 stars ;)) and leave a comment on the youtube site, that would be much appreciated, since that would draw in more viewers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6h-RfnSRbE

Jon M: Music

Leighton: Special effects

Christian Miles: Filming/editing

Presenting... THE FINAL COVER!

2010-02-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

That was quick, huh? The cover was actually finished minutes after I posted the cover art. But I decided to wait a bit for dramatic effect ;). As such, I'm a bit late to the party. The cover has already been posted in several places over the internet. But for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here it is: (Click to see full view)

I actually ended up doing the cover design myself with GIMP, a free program I downloaded online. I had sent in a preliminary cover with some ideas. The consensus ended up being that my preliminary cover was a better option to go with than the professional cover designer's in this case. So after a few changes to the preliminary, this is what we came up with.

Also, I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but the release date has been moved to September, much sooner than originally anticipated.

FINAL COVER ART!

2010-02-14T21:12:00.000-08:00

It's here! The final, color version of the artwork for Kestrel's Midnight Song has arrived and now I get to share it with everyone: (Click for full view)

Work on the cover design has already begun. In fact, the final cover should be finished shortly. So stay tuned!

I have other news to share, unrelated to KMS...

First, my friend Robert Treskillard has made the first 11,000 words or so of his book, Merlin's Blade, available to read at Authonomy.com. Authonomy is kind of a cool site where a wide variety of books are available to read online. Readers put books they like on their bookshelves, and the books on the most bookshelves rise to the top of the rankings where publishers see them and review them for publication. Are you interested in diving into a story that asks, "What if Merlin was the blind son of a blacksmith, and the stone that held King Arthur's sword... was his greatest enemy?" CLICK HERE. And if you like what you read, consider signing up for a free account and adding his book to your "Bookshelf." His goal is the top five in the Christian genre.

EDIT: As Mr. Treskillard reminded me in the comments, some of the content on Authonomy is very questionable. So be careful, (especially if you're going to explore some of the other books) and involve your parents if you're still at home.

Second, AMG has agreed to a three book publishing deal with Scott Appleton. Swords of the Six will be republished with this large publishing company after nearly a year of promotion and over 2,500 (probably closer to 3,000) copies sold. Very exciting stuff, and hopefully the start of a trend for Flaming Pen Press authors, hehe. For those of you unfamiliar with AMG, it's the publishing house that published Bryan Davis' Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire series. You can read more about how Scott's deal came about and what comes next HERE.

P.S. Thanks everyone for all the comments on the cover sketch post earlier. Seeing all of your enthusiasm is more thrilling than seeing the cover itself. :)

Cover Sketch Revealed!

2010-01-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

A thousand apologies for the gap between posts. My time has been devoured by editing and other things. But what better way to make it up than to reveal the preliminary cover sketch for Kestrel's Midnight Song? Woohoo! (Click to view full size)

Let me get this out of the way: DO NOT COPY, TRANSFER, OR REDISTRIBUTE IN ANY WAY.

For those interested, that's Micah, the main character, on the back of the Aegre Bird, which is a half bird, half dragon.

The cover art is being done by Halil Ural, under the direction of Kerem Beyit. (Halil Ural is Kerem Beyit's apprentice). If you love fantasy art, you must go check out Kerem Beyit's site at http://theartofkerembeyit.com/ The gallery is good for hours of browsing wonder.

Anyhow, what do you guys think? Personally, I'm holding my jaw up with duct tape. I can only imagine what it will look like when it's completed.

Giveaway- The Victor

2009-11-24T10:02:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post to let you know that a copy of The Victor is being given away over at Whispered Roars. I'm trying out some outlining software called Snowflake Pro, and I'll be sure to post my thoughts later.

Curse of the Spider King Winners!

2009-11-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. My apologies for taking so long to post, especially with such a crucial post as the winners announcement for a 3 book giveaway! You've all been waiting long enough, so I'll get right to it. The winners are...

Cson!

RPH!

Madison!

Congratulations, you three! And thanks to everyone for entering. I hope to give you plenty more chances at some cool prizes! If I start to slack on the posting again, just yell at me in the comments section. As it is, I have many ideas for some cool posts ahead. (They've been piling up)

Behold the Dawn Winner!

2009-10-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

The contest for a signed copy of K.M. Weiland's new book, Behold the Dawn, has come to a close. Thanks for entering everyone! And thank you Ms. Weiland for being so active in the comments section. That always makes it more fun.

The lucky winner is... (via Random.org) .... Lynnae! Congratulations Lynnae! To claim your prize, email me at Yodelingdwarf (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address. Thanks again for entering everyone. And remember, you can still get your hands on a copy. Head over to Amazon or kmweiland.com, to name a couple of ways.

(Double click to view trailer in its original format)

Author Interview and Book Giveaway!!! K.M. Weiland's Behold the Dawn

2009-10-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

It is my pleasure to welcome novelist K.M. Weiland to the Yodeling Dwarf. She has agreed to endure an interrogation--er, interview. And if that wasn't kind enough, she's giving away a signed copy of her new book, Behold the Dawn, to one of you lucky Yodeling Dwarf readers! I'm reading it right now and loving both the intriguing plot and the entrancing writing style

I met K.M. Weiland through a mutual friend who told me to add her on Facebook. In fact, this guy, Sterling Woomert, is mentioned in the acknowledgments of Behold the Dawn as a valued critique-er. Pretty cool, huh? And now the interview...

Jacob: First, why don’t you tell us a bit about your latest book. What’s the premise?

K.M.:Behold the Dawn is a medieval epic, set against the backdrop of the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century. It tells the story of Marcus Annan, a renowned competitor in the brutal tourneys—the huge mock battles that remained wildly despite being banned by more than one pope. Annan, haunted by the secrets of his past, is confronted by a mysterious monk who demands that Annan help him seek vengeance for a wrong committed sixteen years earlier. Against his will, Annan is drawn into the conflict, and he journeys to the Crusade in the Holy Land, where he rescues the widow of an old friend and attempts to deliver her to safety in Constantinople. But he soon discovers that the past he’s been running from is finally catching up, and if he hopes to survive, he has no chance but to face it.

Jacob: You live in the sand hills of western Nebraska. What drew your imagination all the way to the Third Crusade?

K.M.: That’s the magnificent thing about imagination: It knows no bounds! I’m really a pretty eclectic person. I’m interested in so many historical eras, and I want to explore them all. But the Middle Ages has always held a special allure for me. I grew up with stories of Robin Hood and William Wallace, Ivanhoe and King Arthur. I’ve always been fascinated by the dichotomy of brutality and romance that the era presents to the historical tableau. So when I read a snippet about William Marshal (“the greatest knight who ever lived”), his conquests on the tourney fields, and his eventual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my imagination immediately grabbed hold of it.

Jacob: How do you view your relationship with your characters? Are they real people that apparently only you can see, a collection of characteristics designed for you story's purposes, or something in between?

K.M.: Something in between, I suppose. They start out as a very wispy idea, with only a few concrete elements, and then slowly solidify as I get to know them better. The progression of the plot and the development of character is inextricable. You can’t have one without the other. So, in a sense, I design my characters specifically to fit my story’s purposes—but the story’s purposes also mold themselves to the characters.

Writing is a strange dance between characters and creator. Of course, my characters are all products of me, of my imagination, but they are also very real, very independent—even rebellious sometimes! However, I’m not one of those writers who complain about their characters not cooperating. It’s their story more than mine, so if they want to take it in a direction that I hadn’t intended, then I just let them fly! That’s what good characters do; they just take over.

Jacob: What’s the coolest bit of information you discovered in your research?

K.M.: The tourneys and the Crusades were, of course, what initially interested me. But I also found myself endlessly fascinated (and sometimes shocked) by the social mores. In many ways, the Middle Ages might just as well have been a different planet. For instance, the legal marriageable ages were ridiculously young, and even that legality was sometimes broken by ambitious noble families, who married their children off at ages as young as seven! The general corruption and ignorance of the church was also a bottomless well of interesting facts. I’d highly recommend the book The Age of Pilgrimage by Jonathan Sumption for hours of absorbing reading on the subject.

Jacob: Tell us about the novels you're cooking up for us next!

K.M.: My fantasy novel Dreamers Come (about a man who discovers that his dreams are really memories of another world) is taking a breather at the moment, waiting for me to revisit it for some more editing. In the meantime, I’m outlining another historical project, The Deepest Breath, this one set in London, Kenya, and France during World War I. And I’m also having fun with a co-writing venture that asks the question, “What if Robin Hood met Sleeping Beauty?”

Jacob: Very cool. Thanks for a great interview. Everyone, you can find out more about K.M. Weiland at her website, kmweiland.com. She also blogs at Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors, and AuthorCulture. Both Behold the Dawn and A Man Called Outlaw, her first book, are available on Amazon.

And now, the giveaway! Simply leave a comment in the comment section to be entered in the drawing for a signed copy of Behold the Dawn. Entries will stop being accepted at 12:00 Midnight PST on Sunday, October 25th. Lord willing, I will announce the winner here on Monday, October 26th.

Signed the Publishing Contract!

2009-10-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Note: If you're looking for the totally awesome 3 book giveaway, either CLICK HERE, or scroll down to the next post.

I'm very pleased to announce that today I signed the publishing contract for Kestrel's Midnight Song and shipped it to the publisher, Flaming Pen Press.

Needless to say, I'm excited! Now comes professional editing, cover design, marketing, etc. Thanks to everyone who has followed my novel publication journey this far, and stay tuned because things are just heating up.

Again, if you're looking for the giveaway, 3 copies of Curse of the Spider King, scroll down or CLICK HERE!

3 BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! CURSE OF THE SPIDER KING

2009-10-03T22:09:00.001-07:00

Heads up! I'm giving away a brand-spanking-new, hardcover copy of Curse of the Spider King to three winners! What's that? It's a new young adult fantasy book coming out very soon by best-selling author Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper. In the vein of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, Inkheart, etc.

What's it about?

The Seven succeeding Elven Lords of Allyra were dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. At least that's what everyone thought until tremors from a distant world known as Earth, revealed strange signs that Elven blood lived among its peoples. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, sentinels are sent to see if the signs are true. But theirs is not a lone errand. The ruling warlord of Allyra, the Spider King, has sent his own scouts to hunt down the Seven and finish the job they failed to complete many ages ago.

Now 13-year-olds on the brink of the Age of Reckoning when their Elven gifts will be manifest, discover the unthinkable truth that their adoptive families are not their only kin. With mysterious Sentinels revealing breathtaking secrets of the past, and dark strangers haunting their every move, will the young Elf Lords find the way back to the home of their birth? Worlds and races collide as the forces of good and evil battle. Will anyone escape the Curse of the Spider King?

Review: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart

2009-10-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Summary:

Sir Dalton, a knight in training, seems to have everything going for him. Young, well-liked, and a natural leader, he has earned the respect and admiration of his fellow knights, and especially the beautiful Lady Brynn.

But something is amiss at the training camp. Their new trainer is popular but lacks the passion to inspire them to true service to the King and the Prince. Besides this, the knights are too busy enjoying a season of good times to be concerned with a disturbing report that many of their fellow Knights have mysteriously vanished.

When Sir Dalton is sent on a mission, he encounters strange attacks, especially when he is alone. As his commitment wanes, the attacks grow in intensity until he is captured by Lord Drox, a massive Shadow Warrior. Bruised and beaten, Dalton refuses to submit to evil and initiates a daring escape with only one of two outcomes—life or death. But what will become of the hundreds of knights he’ll leave behind? In a kingdom of peril, Dalton thinks he is on his own, but two faithful friends have not abandoned him, and neither has a strange old hermit who seems to know much about the Prince. But can Dalton face the evil Shadow Warrior again and survive?

Young adults will be inspired to strengthen their faith along with Sir Dalton, as they follow his exciting and action-packed journey to overcome his doubts and renew his commitment to the King and the Prince in this third installment of Chuck Black’s popular Knights of Arrethtrae series.

Author bio.:

Chuck Black traveled with the Air Force as a communications engineer and F-16 fighter pilot and began a career as a product design engineer. Chuck and his wife, Andrea, homeschool their six children and have a family music ministry that travels throughout the region. He is the author of nine novels, has been published in The Old Schoolhouse e-zine, and has received praise from parents across the country for his unique approach to telling biblical truths. Chuck and his family live in Williston, North Dakota.

My Thoughts:

The book's strongest suit was the allegory. I enjoyed seeing the allegorical elements portrayed throughout the book. The writing, in my opinion, was pretty basic. It was mostly a narrative. "By midmorning of the third day, Dalton arrived home." However, perhaps this simpler style works better for the younger readers the book targets. If I had kids, it's certainly a book I'd like to read aloud to them and then discuss the spiritual truths portrayed.

3 BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! CURSE OF THE SPIDER KING

2009-09-27T23:36:00.001-07:00

Heads up! I'm giving away three brand-spanking-new, hardcover copies of Curse of the Spider King! What's that? It's a new young adult fantasy book coming out very soon by best-selling author Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper. In the vein of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, Inkheart, etc.

What's it about?

Pretty cool, huh? But how do you enter the giveaway? Simple. Just join my email newsletter by entering your email in the box below. (I respect your privacy; I won't share, rent, or sell your email address.) You can earn a second entry for posting about this giveaway on your blog (Be sure to include a link on that post that sends readers here). Also, when you enter I'll send you an email detailing how you can get another entry or few, and win other cool prizes along the way, if you want to.

Cool Contest at The Quest for Truth

2009-09-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I just wanted to quick point you in the direction of thequestfortruthbooks.blogspot.com. Author B.D. Eastman is having a cool contest with awesome prizes and he needs entrants.

Review: North! Or Be Eaten

2009-09-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

This is a review as part of the blog tour of Andrew Peterson's new book: North! Or Be Eaten, book 2 in the Wingfeather Saga.

First off, I tried to start reading this book without having read the first, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. That didn't work. The first page of North! Or Be Eaten is filled with most of the main characters names, seven to be precise, and they were all running around. So I found myself completely lost before even turning the page. To solve this I downloaded the first book and then found myself much better prepared for book 2. The moral of the story: read book one first.

And read them you should. The Wingfeather Saga and, even though I usually prefer audio books, I thought North! Or Be Eaten was an improvement on the first. Andrew Peterson has a humorous style that reminds me somewhat of Lemony Snicket's, "A Series of Unfortunate

Events." But it's definitely original, and the presence of humor doesn't mean the story is lacking in the adventure, imaginative setting, or memorable characters that any good young adult fantasy should have.

As a side note, both books are written in an omniscient viewpoint of sorts. I didn't find it overly distracting, but some people might.

Overall, I recommend North! Or Be Eaten to any readers of the fantasy genre.

Book Title Announcement!

2009-09-15T21:54:00.001-07:00

Greetings. It has been awhile since I've been busy with edits among other things, and I'm not entirely certain what the plans are on the blogging front. But sooner or later I plan to be regularly blogging again (later being a couple months).

Right now I'm in contract negotiations with Flaming Pen Press, and short of something drastic happening I will post the conclusion to that.

Mainly, I just wanted to pop in to post the semi-official title of my book, and then request your thoughts on it. So, without any further ado...

Kestrel's Midnight Song

There it is! Now, tell me your thoughts and be honest!

Second Bryan Davis Interview

2009-09-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Christian Miles has sent me the second Bryan Davis interview as promised. Here it is...

Q1. Izori asks: How do you come up with your book ideas?
Bryan Davis: The idea for Dragons in our Midst came from a dream I had about a boy who could breathe fire. I told my eldest son about it, and we brainstormed until we came up with the concept for the story. My second-born son came up with the basic idea for Echoes from the Edge, and one of my daughters helped me with the idea for Dragons of Starlight, a new series that will come out next year.

Q2. How do you come up with your titles? Do they change when you find a publisher?
Bryan Davis: I base titles on a theme or story element in the book, something that will sound cool rolling off the tongue. Sometimes I labor over them for weeks, and sometimes they pop into my head without a second thought. One publisher accepts whatever title I choose, and another publisher is more strict and works with me until we come up with a title we both like.

Q3. What is the best advice you could give a teen writer?
Bryan Davis: The best advice for a teen writer is to learn the craft. It's not enough to be passionate about a story. You have to know the tools and how to use them. Read books on writing. Got to writing conferences. Get your stories critiqued by experienced writers. Allow the critiques to massage your writing without being offended.

Q4. How many words do you normally write in a day?
Bryan Davis: When I am writing all day, my minimum goal is 3000 words. If I don't get that many done, I consider it a bad day. I feel good if I get 4000, and 5000 is a great day.

Q5. What is your favorite book and why?
Bryan Davis: Probably To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. She did a masterful job building powerful themes into her story without appearing to be preachy. They came across naturally [and] is some of the most skillful prose I have ever seen.

***

I hope everyone enjoyed that interview as much as I did!

Again, you can learn more about Bryan Davis and his books at DavisCrossing.com, and be sure to check out Christian Miles' cool writing e-zine at TeenInklings.blogspot.com

Friday Discussion: What Makes a Great Title?

2009-08-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

First off, thanks for the tags everyone. I'll fill those out and probably post them on Monday, and I'll try to make it entertaining, as always.

Second, I have received two free books in the mail so far from Waterbrook/Multnomah: North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson, and Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart, by Chuck Black. In exchange for these free books, I must post a review for each of them--on September 14-18 for North! Or Be Eaten, and September 28-30 for Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart.

Now, on to the main topic. Right now, with my novel, I'm working on

editing and Flaming Pen Press is working on a contract offer.

Meanwhile, such things are being discussed as what the cover illustrations would be and what the title would be.

Titles, it seems, are trickier than I once thought. We are making headway, but I want to hear your opinions on what makes a good title. What are some of the best titles you've heard? Keep in mind that great books don't necessarily have great titles. I think once we've read a book, (or heard about it enough times) the title fades into a mere name. For instance, it doesn't matter, at this point, whether or not Lord of the Rings is a great title. At the mention of it, our minds skip the step of acknowledging the title and jump to thoughts of adventures of elves, dwarves, ents, etc.

So I think titles serve mainly to attract new readers. But how can a title be made to better attract readers and catch on? What makes a great title?

Guest Post: An Interview with author Bryan Davis

2009-08-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to fellow teen writer, Christian Miles! He has kindly offered to allow me to post an interview he conducted with Bryan Davis, bestselling author of many books, including the Dragons in our Midst series, Oracles of Fire Series, and Echoes from the Edge series. Furthermore, he'll be conducting another interview with Bryan Davis in the future, and he'd like some question ideas. So think up a great question and post it in the comments section! Without any more delay, here's the interview (conducted May 27,2009):

Christian Miles: What is your favorite book that you've written? And what is your favorite scene out of any of your books?

Bryan Davis: I don't answer favorites questions well, because I have multiple choices and any one "favorite" might change from moment to moment. The three books that usually rise to the top are Circles of Seven, Eye of the Oracle, and The Bones of Makaidos. There are many scenes I like, and the two that come immediately to mind are Sapphira dancing with Elohim in Eye of the Oracle and Bonnie becoming an Oracle of Fire in The Bones of Makaidos.

Christian Miles: Are the dragons in your new series of books different than what we've seen in the DIOM and OoF books?

Bryan Davis: The dragons in the new series will be, for the most part, evil, and they will rule the world they inhabit. They won't vary much in appearance from my other series.

Christian Miles: There has been a lot of news circulating about a Rasing Dragons movie, where are things on that?

Bryan Davis: I sold the theatrical rights to Raising Dragons, and a script has been written. We are currently in the long process of raising funds.

Christian Miles: Who is your favorite character to write?

Bryan Davis: Another favorites question! Three come to mind--Bonnie, Walter, and Daryl. I enjoy writing about holy characters as well as funny ones.

Christian MIles: Why do you write what you write?

Bryan Davis: My objective in writing is to create images of warriors for the Light. They possess courage as well as righteousness, and I hope that readers will be inspired to follow the same path. So far, from the emails I have received, it seems to be working.

Great interview, huh? You can find out more about Bryan Davis and his books at DavisCrossing.com. But also be sure to check out the teen writing e-zine Christian has started up at teenwrites-ezine.blogspot.com! Don't miss that!

And again, remember to post your question ideas for Bryan Davis in the comments section.

Scott Appleton: National Book Tour!

2009-08-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

Scott Appleton, author of Swords of the Six, is going on a national book tour starting in December! Right now he's working it out and looking for places to make appearances. If you'd like him to do book signings in your area, e-mail him at spappleton (at) gmail (dot) com. Go to his blog for more info.

Novel Update: Big News!

2009-08-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

I've got some news to share regarding my novel, The Shepherd; Flaming Pen Press has offered to publish it. Some of you may remember the post about Scott Appleton's invitation. No details yet. I have some guesses as to advantages and disadvantages to publishing with them, and I've sent them a list of questions in order to help inform my decision to accept or not. Seeing as that decision has not been made yet, please don't celebrate. But I'll keep everyone posted, as usual. Please pray that I make the right decision!

Meanwhile, Waterbrook Press / Multnomah Books has accepted this blog to receive a free book to review! North! Or Be Eaten, by Andrew Peterson, should arrive in the mail any day now, and I'll post the review for that book sometime between September 14th and 18th. They asked if I'd be interested in invitations to receive more free books to review and I thought abou -- OF COURSE!

Okay, now back to editing. Though By Darkness Hid is calling me from my bookshelf...

Oregon Writers Conference & Back Again: A Dwarf's Video Journal

2009-07-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm back! And oh so glad I went. I've learned so much, and I'm itching to apply it. My manuscript is lacking right now, but I feel that I now have the knowledge to make it publish-worthy. I've also developed a stronger appreciation for the potential power of the written word, and how much of that I have yet to tap.

Here is the video as predicted. I got so caught up in the conference I didn't get a lot of footage of live events, but I did give some recaps and such. Talking to a camera is harder than I thought it would be. I was aiming for an amateurish look, but I think I leapfrogged that step and accomplished my goal in the previous post in making a fool of myself.

It was great to be in fellowship with so many like-minded Christians. Here is a sample of the exceptionally awesome people I got the chance to meet.

Miriam Cheney: Miriam was the manuscript coordinator for the conference; she received the conferee's mini-proposals, distributed them to editors and agents, then handed them back out to the conferees. When I walked up to the counter she said something like, "You're Jacob Parker?" (I was wearing a name tag) "You're awfully young to be writing such tight stuff." She went on to say that she didn't read all the proposals, but she likes fantasy/sci-fi and got sucked into mine. I got to talk quite a bit with her throughout the conference, and I enjoyed it. Look for a novel to be coming out with her name on it in the future.

Jeff Gerke: Among many other things, Jeff is the founder of wherethemapends.com, the home of Christian speculative fiction, as well as Marcher Lord Press, a publishing company dedicated to Christian speculative fiction. I sent him a mini-proposal for his feedback and I elected to sign up for his morning coaching sessions, and I'm extremely glad I did both. What I've learned from his coaching class and his feedback on my mini-proposal is going to make my novel a lot better. Plus he's just a cool guy.

Randy Ingermanson: Randy is the award-winning author of several novels. He read my mini-proposal and gave me great feedback as well. And I attended one of his "Writing the Perfect Scene" classes. Great stuff. One single piece of his insight has really stuck with me; he told me that the fantasy genre is probably the worst violator of the "show don't tell rule." Even great fantasy novels violate that rule, but it's a weakness, not a strength. In the past it has always thrown me when I see "show don't tell" in the writing books and then pick up some of my favorite fantasy novels and see what looks like violations of that rule. Now I understand that it was their mistake, and not one I should copy. Overall, Randy's entertaining and enlightening to listen to. One of the highlights of the conference for me was eating the last dinner at a table with all the teenagers (all four of us), Randy, and Jill Williamson. Which brings us to another ultra cool conference person...

Jill Williamson: Author of By Darkness Hid, a fantasy novel published by Marcher Lord Press. Jill is the person who convinced me to attend a writer's conference. I e-mailed her my prologue and first chapter. She told me I write well and that I should attend a writer's conference. The nearest conference happened to be one she served on the staff for. It was great getting to know her over the course of the conference. I bought a copy of her book (you should too) and she signed it for me--my first ever signed book.

Sue (don't remember her last name) offered me a ride to the transit center, which saved me a mile walk and afforded me the chance to get something to eat before the bus left. Right as we pulled into a parking spot her phone rang; it was her son, announcing the birth of her grandbaby! Imagine that :)

Overall, an unforgettable experience. Now I have to save up my money for next year, so I can see all these people and more again.

And I'm Off to Chase the Rainbow

2009-07-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

In two days (this Sunday) I board the train for what could potentially be the biggest week of my life; I'm going to Canby, Oregon for the Oregon Christian Writer's Conference where I'll learn about writing, meet editors, agents, and both published and fellow aspiring authors. As part of the conference I got to send out three mini-proposals to agents and editors. At some point at the conference I'll get those back and if the recipient likes the proposal they will schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with me.

The cool thing is I'm taking a video camera! I'll record my whole experience, from leaving my house to arriving home again, and then I'll make it into a video to share with you, Yodeling Dwarf readers.

Anyway, my goals for the conference are to

1) Get a full manuscript request from at least one person.

2) Be brave enough to approach and talk to people out of the blue.

3) Grow spiritually in the fellowship of other Christians

4) Make a fool of myself a few times.

Number 4 might sound strange, but I think it will help with number 2; if I'm able to make a fool of myself then reputation-preservation will be of less concern and I'll be able to approach people with more confidence. Plus I heard that the coach I selected, Jeff Gerke, likes to conduct skits in his sessions, so that represents the perfect opportunity, heheh.

The main reason I tell you all this is to request your prayers. As I said, this is a big time for me, and I would be daunted by facing my boldest adventure to date alone. I really desire for it to be a journey presided over and lead by God, with prayer warriors backing me up. My prayer is for this to be a huge step toward publication, a time for Him to train me to lean on and grow in Him, but most of all for everything to happen in God's way, with his timing, and according to his will. I would greatly appreciate it if you'd join me in that prayer.

I'll see everyone on Friday the 31st, or shortly thereafter, with the video, God willing.

picture by: David Masters

Interview: Teenage Author, Nathan Petrie

2009-07-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

On behalf of The Yodeling Dwarf, I’d like to offer a warm welcome to Nathan Petrie, 14 years old and published! Nathan has agreed to endure an interview about his debut book, Whispers Out of the Darkness, a collection of short stories which I regrettably haven’t read yet.

Nathan: Thanks for having me Jacob! I’ll see if I can endure ;)

Jacob: First off, tell us a little bit about Whispers Out of the Darkness.

Nathan: Well Whispers Out of the Darkness is a collection of fourteen short stories, mainly fantasy and mainly Christian themed tales. The stories have no collaboration with each other aside from the fact that they contain a common theme.

This theme is deliverance therefore giving WOOTD its subtitle, Fourteen Tales of Deliverance.

A little interesting tid-bit about the book is that all save two or three were written for school. They’re all homework assignments. And I find that a little bit funny.

Jacob: Now that’s how you make lemonade! We’re dying to know; how did your collection of short stories get into print?

Nathan: Haha, yeah. I think it’s some pretty delicious lemonade if you ask me ;)

To answer your question, I never sought out publication, per say. Let me try to explain, getting this book published was really a major God thing.

There’s a bunch of groups on Facebook for writing, and for Christian Fantasy in specific. I posted the beginning of a series of novels for tweens that I’ve been wanting to write and suggested that others post their stories as well. I received many an encouraging comment as well as one from the editor of a small publishing company, Jeremiah Press (JP).

The note was not directed to me personally, rather to the whole group. He had some kind things to say about my writing, yes, but he basically gave the contact information for JP. He said that if anyone had something that they’d like to see published to send it in to them for consideration. I hopped on board.

Long story short, I sent in every single short story that I had typed up. I receive an email in a few days asking me for more of my writing and telling me that they wanted to publish a collection of my stories.

So that’s that. From there JP worked extensively with me on editing the stories and made them much better than I ever could have on my own.

Jacob: Let this be a lesson to all of us: Work hard on your homework!

Nathan: Hmmm let’s not go that far yet lol

Jacob: What are some of the biggest influences on your writing?

Nathan: Well, I get asked this a lot, and I’m never sure how to answer.

My dad got me into writing; we’d spend hours discussing the processes of outlining and dissecting tales such as the Lord of the Rings. I remember these times very well.

The LOTR was probably the biggest literary influence on my writing, it’s what got be started. I sort of copied off of it to begin. The LOTR still remains my favorite series and Tolkien’s mind in general has always fascinated me. But if you want living influences I’d have to say that Bryan Davis, Wayne Batson, and many others of that genre have influence me very much.

Jacob: What project is next on your horizon?

Nathan: What’s funny is that the “next” project has been my main one all along. I am currently working on what I hope to be a four or more book series entitled "Redemption’s Journey". I started seriously writing it in the fourth grade. My dad was telling me about a novel he’d always wanted to write and so I figured I’d try my hand at it.

I sat down, and started writing. I based my story off the LOTR and started creating characters and scenes just like those of the trilogy. Over the next four years those stories have been shaped, molded, and transformed into a much more original idea.

The first one, The Sword of Fire, has been in the works since and I’ve been rewriting all this time.

Hopefully we’ll see it soon ;)

I hope to see it finished early fall and published late spring or early summer. High hopes, but stranger things have happened, right?

Jacob: What advice do you have for other teenagers and young people aspiring to publish a book?

Nathan: Interesting question.

The best I can do is pass on the information that has been given to me. What’s the number one thing?

READ!

The more you read the better your writing will get. Read something difficult, like the Siliamarillion which will make you better. Or read something similar to what you’d like to write. Dissect it. Discover what makes it so good.

For example, I think my current writing style is a cross between Bryan Davis and JRR Tolkien (major differences there right? But that’s who I see myself as). So I am constantly rereading their works.

And just don’t give up. Work furiously on one project at a time. If you’d like to work on many, like I’ve always done lol, at least set one as your main focus.

If it’s what God wants for your life, He’ll make it happen.

Jacob: Very wise. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for your time, Nathan, and may God use your books to reach the wide world of fantasy for His glory.

Nathan: That’s the plan Jacob, that’s the plan. Take care! And God-bless!

Jacob: You can learn more about Nathan and his work at NathanPetrie.com.

To get your own copy of Whispers Out of the Darkness from Amazon, click here.

Latest Sample of My Book

2009-07-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

The site my prologue has been hosted on up to this point is going to expire in the near future, so I'm posting it here, and then I'll link the button on the sidebar to this post. It's the prologue and first chapter of my book, and it's undergone quite a few changes since I first posted it on the blog, let alone first wrote it. I'd appreciate any feedback! (The cover is only a temporary one, by the way. Click on it for the full view, and click here to read about how I made it)

PROLOGUE

Only a sliver of the moon peeked through the cloudy darkness of the night sky, as if the orb couldn’t bear to watch below. Deep shadows shrouded the mountain cliffs and valleys. No owls hooted, no crickets chirped, and no monsters stirred—only an eerie silence, as though nature itself was in a somber mood. Mystery hung in the air like a subtle, foreboding mist. Something terrible had happened, and the moon knew it.

The craggy mountain pass held only stillness save for one figure; Isaac Ganthorn hastily climbed and scurried his way up the slope. He held a package against his body, hidden by the flap of his cloak.

He wheezed and gasped as he fled up the slope, cursing the thin mountain air. In the dim light he stumbled over tree roots, rocks and bushes. His staccato breaths and hurried steps intruded on the night’s stillness like an impudent funeral guest, making him feel like the only living being on Earth. But he knew he wasn’t alone.

With an anxious backward glance he ran harder. The extra speed, however, only caused him to stumble more. He knew that his black cloak, the standard Marauder garb, would not hide him even in the night. Not from the thing that hunted him.

A splash sounded up to him as his legs plunged into deepening water. He stopped. Cold water seeped into his boots and bit at his legs. A flash of lightning cracked up the night sky behind him. For a single second he found himself staring down at his rippling reflection in the lake. It shocked him to see fear—the emotion that always masked his victim’s faces — now on his own pale face, framed by his long nose and the two narrow streaks of silvery hair.

So this was what fear felt like.

The terrifying realization poured a burst of fuel on his fear. He turned and ran from the image, but a tree root snared his foot and sent him rolling. With a final thud he lay sprawled on the dew-covered ground. The parcel bounced out of his grasp. It let out a short, distressed cry with each bump.

“Hush!” Isaac pleaded, crawling frantically forward with another glance at the unrevealing blackness behind him. He looked down at the blanket wrapped infant before him, and felt the urge to leave it as it lay, to be rid of the burden it had proven to be. But even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew he couldn’t. The consequences would be too terrible.

A second strike of lightning flushed out the darkness. And Isaac saw it. The flood of light revealed its curved, murderous beak and outstretched wings as it prepared to swoop down on him.

“NO!” he screamed. He curled up, his heart beating what he knew were its final beats. But only another rumble of thunder came. He lifted his head and looked cautiously into the darkness. A third flash, the final of the night, illuminated nothing but a twisted branch at the top of the tree.

Pull yourself together, Ganthorn!

Breathing heavily, he picked up the infant and rose again into a run.Deliver it, and this will all be over.

At the top of the next hill, he caught a whiff of sulfur and felt the warm mists of a nearby hot spring waft over him. He stopped and breathed in deep bouts of it. His muscles slackened, as though the smell had a calming effect. Safety. He wanted to remain in that cloud of steam forever, occupying himself only with soaking up its warmth.

But he saw his destination ahead, and though his instincts screamed otherwise, he knew the protection extended there as well.

He snuck into the village, nestled in an obscure crevice between two mountains, just as described. Slowing down as much as he could, he crept between the houses and huts. None of the windows were illuminated by the glow of a light; it was much too late for honest folk to be awake.

Feeling his way along the buildings, he arrived at a particularly rich, if unkempt house at the far end of the village. Unlike the other houses, this one did have a faint glow of light revealing the window frames, waiting for him like a lighthouse beacon after a long voyage. A black curtain hanging in one of the windows confirmed this house as the one he sought.

Stepping as silently as possible, he placed the baby on the doorstep. For a brief moment his eyes met those of the child; they stared up at him with curiosity. The sincerity in the child’s eyes was chilling, and in that instant the image was etched into Isaac’s mind forever. Turning his head away abruptly, he stole away into the darkness. The night swallowed him as seamlessly as a serene lake absorbing a raindrop.

* * *

Not an instant passed before the door of the house opened a crack, and a glaring eye peered at the bundle on the steps. The door creaked fully open, releasing a flood of light and revealing the wide figure of Grixxler. The shadowy light highlighted his hairy upper lip, his balding dome, and his sneering countenance. Grixxler looked at the patch of blackness through which Isaac had disappeared, scanned the surroundings suspiciously, and then snatched the baby up and closed the door.

Inside, the house was lavishly furnished, the works of true craftsmen on display. Exotic rugs lined the wooden floors, books filled the numerous shelves, and slate inlayed the table. The light glowing from Grixxler’s lantern saturated the room with a warm, golden touch.

He held the loaf-sized child an awkward distance away, studying it. “Why did I ever get involved with those confounded Marauders?” He snatched a small piece of crumpled paper stashed inside the baby’s blanket. After setting him down on the table, Grixxler unfolded the message.

“Ganthorn,” he breathed, his eyes scanning.

Grixxler looked up again at the baby boy. “Well, Micah,” he said with a crooked grin, putting a pointed emphasis on the name, “it looks like I have myself a new shepherd boy.” He stuffed the parchment into his lantern and turned as the cackling flame consumed it. A brief flood of bright light filled the room. When the light mellowed, the flame left behind a shrunken, charcoaled fragment that shortly disintegrated. And with that scrap of paper died any chance Micah had at a normal life.

CHAPTER 1

YEARS LATER AND MILES AWAY . . .

An unblemished sky smiled down on the day of the inn’s obliteration. In fact, nearly every aspect of that fateful day mirrored normalcy, which made the explosion that marked its end all the more sudden.

The Inn—as it was called—stood on the corner of Heather Bay, looking out upon the vast Kepled Sea like a lonely maiden waiting for her sailor to sail home. Being so far from any port, or civilization for that matter, one wouldn’t think The Inn would attract enough visitors to stay in business. But travelers seemed to find it at such a time that they were weary from their voyage and ready for a warm bed that didn’t rock and a warm meal or two among new company.

In the late spring and summer, when the surrounding trees were filled out in vibrant greens, and various songbirds danced and whistled about, the place had a quaint, busy mood. Then visitors would leisurely stroll the stepping stone walkways through the gardens and along the nearby Otter Creek, where the soothing sound of the rippling stream could be heard over the subtle roar of the distant Spring River. But now, in early spring, the dull browns from winter hadn’t yet given way. And the budding life evident in traces of green sprouting from the ground and the tree limbs wasn’t enough to offset the stagnant feel and look of the place.

An abandoned boat yard neighbored The Inn, where various tools and scraps of lumber lay scattered about, rusting and rotting away. Amidst it, like a set of wale ribs, lay the half-finished wooden skeleton of a ship’s hull. Winter had rotted its once fresh color to a shade of brown similar to the one that dominated the surroundings.

On the water immediately past the beach sat a maze of wooden docking. The left side was reserved for 12 identical virgin ships that had been constructed in the nearby boat yard. With cabins designed to house four, these ships were built primarily for agility and maneuverability, according to the haggled old sailors that frequented The Inn.

The right side of the dock was allotted for the ships of The Inn’s visitors. On this chilly morning it was full, which was unusual for early spring.

* * *

Inside The Inn, Robbyn, the young innkeeper, lay next to the humming woodstove upon the warm cobblestone kitchen floor. As she lay, a few pioneering strands of light peered through the pot-sized kitchen window. Wrapped in a wool blanket, she watched the emerging sun for a few precious moments.

“Another beautiful morning,” she said aloud, as she had every fair-weathered morning for the past seven years. Rising to her knees, she rubbed the fatigue from her eyes. A lock of her long, wavy copper hair swung into view before falling behind her shoulders as she gathered her hair with a band. She completed the next step of her morning routine with a prayer. And then began another long day nearly identical to all the ones before it.

Or so she thought.

She grabbed the cream-colored apron from a nearby peg and tied it deftly around her waist. Working with the efficiency and precision that only years of repetition could produce, Robbyn stoked the fire up to a hearty rumble, retrieved an assortment of cast iron pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. The reflection of one of her river pool green eyes flashed back at her off one of the shinier pans. She set to work cooking breakfast. The food supplies were running low, she noted. But the supply ship would arrive tomorrow.

Taking a spare moment while she waited for the eggs to cook, Robbyn peeked through the kitchen doorway and into the main room. A few of the guests had already wakened and were groggily seated amongst the wooden tables.

“Good morning!” Robbyn said, an oil soaked spatula in hand. The room seemed to brighten at her entrance. The guests sat up and each gave her a warm greeting.

She turned back to the kitchen and, beginning to hum, put the leftover coffee on the stove to warm. She grabbed the straw broom and worked her way around the kitchen, pulling the dust out of the crevices. The coffee heated shortly and Robbyn bustled out into the main room, now much fuller, with the coffee and platter of mugs in hand.

“Nobody wants any coffee, do they?” She asked the room with a playful grin. This was met with roars of mock disapproval by the seamen.

“I thought not.” Robbyn laughed. She made her way around the table, leaving a steaming mug of coffee at each hand. She had to make two rounds, as each cup was greedily downed behind her.

“Captain Will must be starving you men!” She said as she poured the last cup.

“You have no idea, Robbyn,” one sailor said before disappearing behind his cup.

“Have you ever been to sea?” another asked as his hands hovered over the steam curling from his mug.

“Only once,” Robbyn said before moving on to the other guests. “I definitely prefer dry land.” This launched the sailors into a discussion about the life of a sailor, and its many advantages and disadvantages. A steady chatter arose in her wake, and she left the room a livelier place than when she’d entered it. That’s more like it, she thought.

The day wore on as usual. Robbyn served breakfast, cleaned the rooms, and prepared the midday meal. Some of the guests filtered out through the day. But at noon most of them remained, including Captain Will’s sailors. After Robbyn served the meal, she seized the first opportunity of the day to rest. She plopped gratefully into one of few empty chairs in the room, adjacent to Will’s table. The room buzzed with chatter. Talk hovered, as it had for the months, around the infamous Marauder, James Kestrel, and his upcoming execution. Robbyn tuned into a nearby conversation.

“My cousin’s going to his hanging,” bragged a younger man.

“Him and all of Gable,” Will laughed.

“What’s this I hear,” Robbyn inquired, “about the Marauders coming out of hiding?”

This caught the attention of the people at Robbyn’s table.

“It’s true,” agreed a plump, finely dressed woman. “We’ve always known they wouldn’t remain dormant forever, and now I think it’s only a matter of days.”

“I don’t think so,” argued an older man with a sparse beard. “After being gone for fourteen years—”

“—Seven,” Will said. “They came out of hiding for one raid, seven years ago.”

The old man frowned. “Are you sure about that?”

Robbyn cut in. “Yes, there was definitely a raid. I distinctly remember it.”

“Fine then.” The old man waved his hands irritably. “After being gone forseven years I think it’s safe to say they’ve left for good. Most likely they’re lounging in paradise on some faraway tropical island.”

“Paradise?” Will snorted. “I’ve gotten into scrapes with the Marauders myself, and so have many of the men here,” he waved his arm toward his nodding crew, “and let me just say this: the Marauders aren’t the pesky, disorganized looters they used to be. They’re not after riches anymore. They’re after power. You know as well as I do they had the Caelum Flute just before they disappeared. If it was treasure they were after, they could have traded it for all the gold they could ever want. But they kept it, tapped its secrets. I think they planned to use it for something terrible.”

“Which is . . .” the older man said, his arms folded and his eyebrows arched skeptically.

“Say what you will,” Will said, “but I think they planned to take over Gable . . . still do.”

Now it was the old man’s turn to snort. “You seem to know a lot about them for an innocent civilian.” Before Will could respond, the old man continued. “Tell me this: Why now? Why would the Marauders attack now and not five years ago, or in the next decade for that matter?

“Because,” the plump woman answered for Will, “James Kestrel’s hanging is next month.”

“You people and your conspiracies,” the old man said. “So now the Marauders are going to break into the castle dungeon as well?”

“Why not?” said a sailor on the other side of Will. “He was their Head Captain and master plotter. Freeing him seems like a good move to me.”

“Not when he’s held in the most secure dungeon in the world,” said the old man. “No visitors, guards round the clock, cells in the tallest tower right in the heart of the greatest castle in the world. There’s a reason no one’s ever escaped from it.”

This was met with a defeated silence. Robbyn was about to point out that this was a very good thing when Will spoke again, in a low voice. “It helps when you have seven years to plot.”

“They’ve plotted seven years to free one man? I don’t care if he’s their Head Captain or not, that’s ridiculous,” a younger man said.

“Not for one man,” Will said, his eyes wide, “for the power to rule the world. James Kestrel had the flute last. Only he knows where he buried it before he was captured.”

“Nothing but a legend,” the old man grumbled under his breath.

Several sailors opened their mouths to object when darkness covered the room. The chatter died as people looked around in confusion. Robbyn looked toward the door, which had been propped open to let light in. A humongous, bear-like mass eclipsed the doorway. With a booted step through the threshold, it ducked and entered The Inn.

The light rippled back, revealing a giant man. He stretched up to his full height, his head inches from the wooden beams of the ceiling. He had wild, dark brown hair that grew down into a tangled beard and was tied into a bushy bundle down his back. His rolled up sleeves revealed what looked like matted fur along his arm. But even through the fur the sinewy muscles in his arms strained against his sleeves. His clothing looked like various scraps of dark cloth sewn together. The crooked, untidy stitch suggested that he’d fashioned it himself. About his shoulders hung an enormous, dark gray cloak that could have been cut from a sail . . . with a dull knife. His wild, stark blue eyes, nearly lost beneath his overgrown-hedge-like eyebrows, squinted about the silent room as if searching for a threat, before calmly coming back to the table before him.

“Hello, Drift,” Robbyn said, springing from her chair. She willed the people behind her to quit staring and get back to their conversations. But the room remained quiet. “How can I help you?” She asked, offering an inviting smile.

“Could you spare me a room for one night, Robbyn?” he said in a deep rumble of a voice.

“Always.” She swung her open hand to lead inside. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything to eat?”

He shook his head. “No, but thanks.” He found a seat in the corner, nodding his bushy head courteously as he sat down.

“Hey, could yeh top me off over here?” called the old man from Robbyn’s table. He raised his mug. As if on cue, the rest of the room trickled back into chatter.

“One moment,” Robbyn said. She flitted into the kitchen, retrieved the pitcher and refilled his mug beside him.

As she poured, his eyes wandered to the white stripping wrapped around her left forearm. “Say, Robbyn,” he said, “have you ever mentioned what’s underneath that bandage you always wear? It can’t be an injury, can it? You’ve worn it for too long.”

Robbyn felt her smile waver, like a candlelight suddenly struck by a breath of air. She stopped pouring and her right hand instinctively closed around her left forearm, around the bandage that hid her darkest secret. All at once, her throat felt dry. With a quick look around at the attentive, curious eyes, she regained her smile.

“A map,” She said. All those watching leaned in collectively in anticipation.

“A map?” The old man raised one eyebrow. “Of what?”

Robbyn waited for effect before responding, still smiling. “That’s between me and James Kestrel,” she said with a wink.

The immediate area, especially the sailors’ table, exploded in hearty roars of laughter. Robbyn turned and left the room still buzzing. But once she entered the kitchen her smile faded. Feeling dizzy, she staggered against the wall, sank to the stone floor, and burst into tears. For several minutes she sat, with her hands covering her face, and let the tears shudder out. When she finished, she wiped her eyes and slowly unraveled the bandage with shaking fingers.

The strip of cloth fell away and revealed a black ink design etched into her skin; an “S” bearing a horizontal rod with a bucket at each end. Countless hours of scrubbing hadn’t done anything to this cursed emblem that would forever mark her as a slave, remind her of her past and cloud her future. Keeping The Inn was supposed to keep her mind off of the terrible situation she was in. But lately it only made matters worse. And more and more frequently Robbyn was taken back to the haunting days of her childhood.

At seven years of age she had been a happy, simple youngster with two parents, living on the coast far to the south of The Inn. But that all changed one windy fall evening when black clad, dagger wielding Marauders ransacked their village, killed her parents, and captured her and other villagers. They were sold into slavery; each of their left forearms inked with the cursed mark. Ryefield Carpenter, the wealthy owner of The Inn who had made his fortune building ships, bought Robbyn. The first thing he did was wrap her wrist with cloth, tell her never to take it off in public, and tell no one that she was a slave. Then he put her to work under Martha, his aging wife.

The years wore by, Martha died of old age, and Robbyn was put in charge of The Inn. Meanwhile Ryefield grew less and less able bodied. Robbyn, over time, grew accustomed to her role and came to think of Ryefield, a kind old man once you got to know him, as more of a father than a master. Ryefield, likewise, came to think of Robbyn as a daughter.

At the arrival of winter, Ryefield dismissed the boat builders, as he did every winter, until spring. Going into The Inn, he refused dinner, only saying, “I’m very tired,” and went upstairs to bed. He passed away in the night, left no will, and had no family that Robbyn knew of. Thus, under the law of Gable, all of Ryefield’s possessions, including The Inn and Robbyn herself, would fall into the possession of the next person to claim them.

Frightened by this prospect, Robbyn told no one of Ryefield’s death. So, as a young girl still mourning, Robbyn was left completely alone with no idea what to do.

But the guests kept coming, and Robbyn kept doing what she knew and loved to do; she ran an inn. Busy days were her happiest. She almost completely forgot about her plight on those days. But when The Inn was quiet she was left with no veil between her and the question she had no answer to: How long could her secret remain undiscovered? Worse still were the times when a new guest would ask for the owner. Armed only with an unconvincing, “I’m her,” Robbyn hated the responses that inevitably followed: “You?! But you’re not even a full grown woman! Why, you’re just a girl!”

Ryefield took a yearly trip north during the winter, so nobody had suspected anything yet. But with the temperatures warming fast, people would undoubtedly start asking about him. In late spring the boat builders would be back, searching for work.

Robbyn sighed. She kept trying to convince herself that she was free to go. But she just couldn’t bring herself to leave The Inn. It was her home. What would she do when she left?

Robbyn sighed again, sniffed and rose to her feet. “Have faith.” She said aloud before a silent prayer. She blinked herself back into composure and took a deep breath. Just as she was about to head back out into the main room a commotion erupted from it.

“Hey!”

“Grab him!”

A scuffle ensued, followed by three inn-shaking crashes. Robbyn burst through the door to find quite a scene. Drift was holding the old man by the collar high up in the air. The old man’s aghast, white face could be seen between the rafters. His legs swung freely beneath him. The sailors surrounded the two, posed as if ready for a fight. A trail of toppled tables and chairs marked where the chase had occurred.

“Pay the good innkeeper!” Drift growled through bared teeth, glaring up at the man. He shook him slightly, causing his head to bump against one of the rafters.

The old man dove a shaking hand into his pocket and pulled it back out with a collection of coins that jingled to the floor.

Drift lowered him slowly to the ground and he scampered out the door like a freed rabbit as soon as Drift unclenched his massive hand.

“Ungrateful whelp!” one of the sailors called after him.

“He tried to run away without paying,” Will explained upon noticing Robbyn at the kitchen entrance.

Drift bent over and, with difficulty due to his thick fingers, pulled the coins from the floor. “At least he left you a tip,” Drift grunted as he offered his calloused fist. Robbyn held out her cupped hands and received the money.

“Well,” she said, hoping her eyes weren’t red and puffy from her tears, “it’s a good thing I have such good men around. Thank you.”

In truth, The Inn was frequented by such “regulars” who stayed at least once a year, friends of Robbyn’s from previous visits. Robbyn never had to worry about a fight breaking out, or someone taking advantage of her with these people around.

“We’ll take care of this mess,” Will said. The sailors quickly propped up the chairs and tables and mopped up the spilt food.

“And now,” Will said when everything had been set back up, “we must be off.” The sailors formed a line and each gave Robbyn a hug on their way out. She couldn’t suppress a smile at the sheepishness of these haggard, sea tempered men as they stepped forward and wrapped her in their wiry arms. Will was last. “Our stay has been, as always, nothing short of the best.” He said as they embraced. He proffered a sack of coins.

Robbyn accepted the payment. “You guys have a safe voyage.” She said as they filed out the door.

“I’ll be in my ship,” Drift said, his deep, rumbling voice stopping several nearby conversations mid-sentence. He cast an accusing eye around the room before cracking his knotted knuckles. “Let me know if another one breaks for it.”

Robbyn glanced at the other guests, many of them looking at Drift out of the corner of his or her eye. “I really don’t think it’s going to be a problem, Drift.”

Drift grunted, turned and passed back through the door. In his wake, a blanket of shadow was cast over the room and then torn away as he passed through the doorway. He walked up the dock to his ship, The Wooden Swan, a tiny vessel with a sail that wouldn’t have provided enough fabric for his cloak. Oversized oars hung out either side of the boat. Drift planted one booted foot in the boat, sending it veering slightly. As it steadied he placed the other foot in and carefully, steadily balanced his way down into the cramped cabin made smaller by the large amount of space Drift’s body consumed. He eased into his chair, preparing for a long day of studying his charts.

Into the afternoon, the guests gradually filtered out and set sail. The day wore into evening, and Robbyn witnessed the golden orb of the sun dip toward the sea, and rest on the downy bedding of a pink-saturated cloud cluster. As she set to work washing the dishes, she hummed with enthusiasm, feeling much better as a direct result, she was sure, of the hugs from the sailors. She tapped into a rhythm and before long was drying the last dish.

Suddenly, she jolted in surprise. Her song cut off mid-note. The dish in her hand slipped, plunged, and shattered. She leaned against the washbasin and peered through the window, almost afraid to look. Something flashed into view and then disappeared—something black. Like a deer alarmed at a snapped twig, she froze, her eyes trained on the window. She pleaded inwardly for a crow or a blackbird to hop into view. But after several agonizing seconds nothing appeared.

It’s happening all over again, she thought helplessly, her heart now thumping in panic. Fear clogged her mind, blurring her thoughts. Looking down, she saw that her arms were frozen in time, still holding an imaginary plate. She loosened them and grabbed the cast iron rod used to stoke the fire, using both quivering hands to hold it upright. Then she leaned against the wall beside the doorway, monitoring her breathing and listening to her heart race. She took a deep, shaky breath, and with faltering steps made her cautious way into the main hall. Long forgotten memories poured vividly through her mind, burning like reopened scar tissue.

Another swish of black—the trailing edge of a cloak disappeared up the flight of stairs. For a brief moment, perhaps the most terrifying one, Robbyn wondered if she was imagining things. Was she losing her mind? But as she turned the corner all uncertainties were instantly quelled. For bearing over her, with a couple dozen men behind him, stood a smug, black cloaked man. The shine of his golden tooth detracted her attention only momentarily from the shadowy, black eyes that sent a tingling chill down her spine. The cold indifference was striking; it was like looking into the eyes of a mountain lion. Atop his dark head sat a crooked crown, copiously jeweled with brightly colored gems. Robbyn stood inches away, she knew, from the Marauder King. It was nothing short of a nightmare spilled into the real world.

“Robbyn,” he said playfully. Robbyn’s heart fluttered. She felt herself plunged into a new level of terror at hearing her name uttered so casually by those evil lips. Something triggered, and the full force of her pent up, anxious energy snapped forth in the form of an upward swinging fire rod. With a resounding clang, the iron made contact. Robbyn gasped, taken aback at what she’d done.

But the swing missed high, and sent the King’s crown sailing across the room. It bounced off the far wall, and rolled slowly before the legion of waiting Marauders, depositing a single red ruby on the wooden floor before their transfixed eyes.

“I—” Robbyn started apologetically, as though she’d just spilled a cup of wine over a guest.

Shaking with outrage, The King’s ring and bracelet covered hands flew to his tangled mess of thin, black hair.

“YOU—INSOLENT—YOU . . .” His words fumbled over one another in their attempt to attack her. His glittering fingers shot forward, hovering inches from Robbyn’s face. But he stopped short, as though repelled by some invisible force. A twisted grimace contorted his face; an involuntary symptom of the turmoil brewing behind it.

After a few tense moments, the storm broke. The angry waves of his visage smoothed. With a meek jangling of jewelry, his hand fell away, unblocking Robbyn’s view of the Marauder King.

Robbyn let out a breath, but too soon.

The hand shot to Robbyn’s left wrist, closing around the bandage. Robbyn yanked back in reflex, but the hand only ratcheted tighter until she dropped to her knees in pain. With a flick of the wrist, her arm was laid bare. The mark of the slave, now hazed with a red, hand-shaped imprint, was open for others to see for the first time in years. The King looked disappointedly down at Robbyn, as though he’d just uncovered a stash of goods she’d stolen.

“Tie her to that chair!” he ordered, whirling around with a sweeping murderous glance at his crew. The assortment of grizzled assassins and thieves widened their eyes in fear—an almost comical spectacle. They flew to his bidding.

“NOW!” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth, even though the task was nearly complete when he said it. Falling into a rhythm, the King bellowed a string of orders. The mass of black erupted forth in a wave, nimbly obeying his commands—raiding the supplies, filling the ships, and spreading straw. They gave the crown a wide berth, but kept glancing at it out of the corners of their eyes.

The King then spoke quietly. “We’re going to burn this place to the ground.” He whirled around, pointing a quivering finger at Robbyn as a team of Marauders bound to a chair with thick, seaman’s rope, “and you’re going to burn with it.”

Robbyn took the death sentence wordlessly as mounds of straw were spread around her. She felt distant, as though she were only a spectator to the terrible event happening to her, only the witness of some legend that her guests might argue about in the future. Nothing she did, it seemed, would affect the outcome of what was happening.

She watched the King as he, satisfied that every man was busy, walked casually over to his crown. He snatched it up, and then the loose ruby. A feeling of renewal seemed to pass over the King with the familiar headpiece in place.

As the mountains of straw grew, Robbyn was cut off from the collection of smug-faced, torch-wielding Marauders that surrounded her. The tightly wrapped rope cut into her skin, leaving no room to even wiggle. Reality was beginning to set in. She took a deep breath and exhaled in an attempt to still her pumping heart and stared up at the rough-hewn wooden beams of the ceiling. The last piece of the world left for her to observe, she realized with a pang. She tried to think about the good memories that these beams had witnessed over the years, the friends she’d made and the good news that had been delivered. Despite the panic and fear that her second encounter with the Marauders had evoked, she rummaged through her mind for some way to escape, an endeavor for which the twisting grains of the ceiling, however map-like, offered no enlightenment.

But she continued to study those lines leading to nowhere even as they were obscured by an ever-thickening layer of smoke. A cackling rose to a deafening pitch as the fire greedily dug into the straw. But Robbyn refused to give up hope, despite how frustratingly helpless she felt. She had the feeling that it wasn’t her time. She clung desperately to that fragment of optimism even as the cloud of smoke stung her eyes and throat, harvesting tears and inducing retches.

Everything around her, even the growing, voracious flames, faded through a veil of gray. Robbyn felt hopelessly trapped. The heat was unbearable, pressing in from all sides. She painfully looked down and saw fire climbing its way up her apron. Her breath became labored as she inhaled a fresh batch of bitter, staccato smoke. Even as she shut her eyes tight, she could still see fire. Finally, surrendering herself to her fate, Robbyn prayed to God, and passed out. Her chin fell limp.

Outside The Inn, still poring over logs and charts, Drift heard a commotion and was summoned from the numbness of technical thought. Curious, he lifted the lantern from his desk and turned to investigate, but stopped cold. Someone was sneaking onto his ship. The harsh stench of an assailant filled his nostrils. Clenching his fists, but keeping his back turned, he waited as the intruder crept noiselessly over the deck. Each silent step, however expertly placed, shifted the balance of the ship an almost undetectable amount. Drift felt each subtle vibration like a spider feels a wriggling fly caught in its web. The intruder stopped. The boat steadied. Several seconds passed in complete stillness.

Then, without notice, the cabin door flew open, revealing a dagger-armed Marauder barely visible against the dark night behind him. But Drift was way ahead of him. Before the cabin door even hit the wall, the giant sprang into action. He lifted himself by the short cabin rafters, and crashed down hard, ramming his shoulder into the wall. The Wooden Swan pitched violently, knocking the Marauder off his feet and causing his dagger to sink into the door post. Without a moment’s hesitation, Drift dashed the short distance to his prone foe, navigating the wildly rocking boat with an agility and precision that only years spent at sea could create.

With a massive hand he grabbed the struggling Marauder by the cloak, stepped out into the cool night air and flung him like a spear. The Marauder sailed over an adjacent ship, flailing like a panicked fish, before shattering the water’s surface.

Quickly, Drift surveyed his surroundings. The Inn was on fire, with flames licking out the windows and clouds of smoke spilling into the sky. His survey, at that point, stopped. He didn’t notice the area was crawling with black cloaks as they loaded Ryefield’s ships with supplies from The Inn and patrolled the neighboring woods. Nor did he notice that at the far end of the dock sat The Marauder’s infamous vessel, Lady Midnight, the enormous, black-hulled, black-sailed ship that transported the Marauders to their crimes. He didn’t see that at that moment a cluster of Marauders were loading some sort of contraption from Lady Midnight onto one of Ryefield’s ships.

As soon as he spotted the flames, he breathed one word: “Robbyn.” Then all the other aspects of his surroundings came into focus.

Fighting against his every instinct to charge the enemy with swinging fists, Drift racked his brain for some sort of plan. Some incoherent pieces of a strategy came into focus, and he resolved to fill in the foggy areas later.

Jumping to action, Drift tore the dagger from his door post, flooded into his cabin, and grabbed his fire-starting box from the desk. He fumbled with them as he rushed back out into the pale moonlight, resenting his slow fingers. Finally, Drift had the flint, steel, and dried cedar bark in hand. With a downward strike that grinded half the flint away, a shower of sparks ignited the cedar bark. The thin strands of the bark crumbled and smoked, glowing faintly at Drift’s encouraging breaths. Eyeing the growing flame of The Inn anxiously, he ripped a patch from his dark cloak, wrapped the smoking cedar and hurled the package into a nearby ship, the farthest of Reyfield’s from The Inn.

“What’s that?!” a Marauder, the first among several investigating the splash to notice Drift, called from the bank.

“Is that a bear?” a second said, straining to see in the meager light.

“No, it’s a . . . it’s a human!”

“You three, after it!”

The three appointed Marauders drew their daggers and melted into the shadows, their eyes locked on their large target.

Drift didn’t wait for them. With a roar that sounded far from human, he charged The Inn. Careening around the corner of the docks, Drift shoved each of his three pursuers into the water with a meaty forearm, not even slowing down. His rage built with his momentum. Any black cloak that stood in his way as he powered up the beach was flattened. One brave Marauder sped straight toward the stampeding giant, and bounced off him like a skipping stone.

“Seize him! Seize him!” the King cried. But it was too late.

Drift barreled through the smoking inn door at the crest of his momentum. Not bothering to narrow himself, his huge build took a substantial chunk of the surrounding door frame with him. As the broken door fell away, flame rushed at him from around its edges. Surrounded, Drift covered his head and didn’t break stride.

The giant’s legs crunched into what felt like a dining table, and he toppled forward, landing on the floor with an earth-rumbling crash. But he found himself in a world separate from the scrambling Marauders, a world surrounded by fire. He stood in an area clear of flame, however scorching it felt. The clouds of smoke gnawed at Drift’s eyes as he looked urgently around for Robbyn. But through his watery eyes he could only see flame everywhere.

“Robbyn!” he roared, choking on the insidious smoke.

And there she was: a small, wilted form, with flame closing around her. Her hair looked like a much duller version of the flames that surrounded her and her skin was charred and sodden. With a rush of fury at the evil that could so mercilessly do such a thing to this girl, Drift yanked the Marauder’s dagger from his belt, rushed forward, and sliced through her bonds. He lifted her from the hungry mouth of fire. A few small flames feeding on Robbyn’s clothing were extinguished with the pressing of a massive hand. Robbyn coughed through her unconsciousness.

“She’s alive,” Drift breathed with relief.

With the flame dead, Drift pressed Robbyn’s body to himself and whirled about for his escape. But, surrounded by identical walls of flame, there was no way to discern which way the door was.

With a rumble, a large chunk from the burning rafters dislodged itself and crash-landed at Drift’s feet. The building leaned several inches from this loss of support.

Sensing his shortness of time, Drift was forced to guess. He steeled himself and thundered in the direction he happened to be pointing at. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and cradled Robbyn in his colossal arms as they breeched the wall of pure inferno. Ignoring the searing pain, his powerful legs pumped, oblivious to whatever they found traction on. A series of dining tables splintered into kindling beneath him. Breaking free, he put on a burst of speed. He saw the inn wall in front of him appear milliseconds before he crashed through it in a cascade of burning, fragmented wood. They appeared only feet away from the door Drift had originally entered through. The giant gratefully gulped in the fresh, cool air. Never before had anything tasted so sweet, though it was slightly tainted by the bitter taste of residual smoke.

The Marauders were still scrambling, crowding the doorways a safe distance from the flame to The King’s screamed orders.

“Get in there! Kill him!”

Drift didn’t slow down; he simply lowered his shoulder and kept his legs churning. He shot past the Marauders before they could react to his bursting through the wall. His booted feet thundered back up the dock and Drift leapt into his ship. A shockwave spread from the bobbing boat as Drift cut The Wooden Swan from the dock and unfurled the sail with a slice of the Marauder’s dagger. He set Robbyn gently on the deck. Seeing her frail, sooty face summoned a new gush of energy.

He leapt into his rowing seat, stashed the knife in his belt, and grabbed the two familiar handles. The sinew in his arms bulged as he heaved on the paddles, separating The Wooden Swan from the dock. In the darkness he could just make out his pursuers pouring into one of Ryefield’s ships.He heaved again on the oars, spurting the ship seaward, feeding on the momentum of the first heave.

“Bring them back dead!” the King wailed. “Your heads are on the line! All of you!”

The Marauders had the ship in motion, and were navigating the maze of docks. Drift cast a backward glance. Nothing stood between him and the Ocean. The Wooden Swan slowly distanced itself from the imminent Marauder ships as Drift’s gigantic arms fell into a rhythm, carving away at the water.

A cool breeze wafted over the perspiration already collecting on his skin and filled the sail, lending The Wooden Swan extra power, but lending the larger sail of his pursuers more. He dug harder, grunting with each pull.

The Inn was shrinking fast, the Marauder ship more slowly.

Hot and sweat-soaked, Drift somehow reached into himself and found the power to pull harder. The guttural noises grew louder with the effort. The Inn was steadily growing brighter, outlining the pursuing ship sharply.

As soon as those ships were a satisfactory distance behind, Drift dropped the oars. He sprang to his feet and lashed the wheel in place. With a final glance at their hunters, he gathered Robbyn in his arms and crossed to the opposite side of his ship where they were hidden from view by his cabin. As noiselessly as his frame would allow, he slipped over the edge and plunged into the sea.

Totally submerged, the cool water felt soothing around his hot, sweaty body for an instant. Then the water turned frigid. Ignoring this sensation, Drift squeezed Robbyn to himself and kicked hard for The Inn, hovering a safe distance below the surface to avoid detection. He waited for the ships to pass, itching to take Robbyn to the surface. He could almost feel the water pouring into her lungs. The wait seemed to go on forever, and Drift nearly decided to bring her up regardless of whether the Marauders would see them or not.

Then the hull of a ship glided over him, its ridge missing him by inches. As it rode over them, they were pulled backward by its wake.

Scrambling furiously to break free, Drift powered for the surface. Upon breaching the sky he held Robbyn’s head above the surface for several moments as the water came spluttering out. Then he remembered to take a breath himself. Once her coughing stopped and his cavernous lungs had been filled, he flipped over onto his back, holding Robbyn to his chest, and doggedly backstroked for shore. He watched as the ships continued their pursuit of the unmanned vessel, completely fooled.

Within minutes he was dragging himself and Robbyn up the sandy beach in a shower of salt water and sand. They were adjacent to The Inn, which now had angry flames pouring from every window, releasing thick billows of smoke into the night sky. The bold, shimmering light that shot from the mass of flame cast long, animated shadows past every, rock, plant, and toiling Marauder. The King was standing only feet from the flame, arms spread wide and eyes closed peacefully, a satisfied grin on his face, as if he were enjoying a refreshing spring breeze.

From the shadows, Drift shot a glance at the ship he’d set fire to on the far side of The Inn. Smoke was snaking up unnoticed from the cabin windows, but there was no visible flame.

“Come on!” Drift breathed.

He crept through the undergrowth noiselessly. At the edge of his cover he crouched and waited, his muscles ready to spring, with Robbyn cradled in his arms.

BANG! An earsplitting explosion rocked the beach. A menacing rumble followed, like a roll of thunder. Everyone whipped around to see the ship farthest from The Inn fully ablaze; a miniature version of The Inn itself. The fire was eating at the sails of two neighboring ships as well.

“Put it out!” screamed the King. “You pelicans! Put it out!” The Marauders scrambled for a means of dousing the flame.

Drift sprinted behind a series of turned backs unnoticed.

But time was short now. The burning ship could only hold their attention for so long.

Not slowing, he tip-toed up the dock with long, bounding strides, as if he were clearing several hurdles with each step. He risked a brief glance that revealed the Marauders were still distracted by the burning ship. A ring of them were scooping buckets of water on as the King cursed and harassed everyone in sight. Just as Drift and Robbyn disappeared behind the black hull of Lady Midnight, The Inn collapsed into a broken, smoldering pile, sending up a shower of red ash and embers. This drew the attention of a few of the Marauders, including the King, but they quickly returned their focus to the burning ship.

Drift crept around the giant hull of the black ship. Somehow the shadow it cast seemed darker than it should have been. And as Drift passed into this darkness, an unsettling feeling washed over him. Robbyn, though still unconscious, shivered.

But within this shadow sat their escape: one of Ryefield’s ships. Drift boarded the deck of the vessel, opened the cabin door and placed Robbyn gently in the hammock. He then slashed the rope binding the ship to the dock and unfurled the sail. As the ship lurched forward, Drift steered the wheel away from open sea. Using Lady Midnight to hide their getaway from the Marauders, he hugged the shoreline until they faded to safety, The Inn nothing but a shrinking bright streak on the dark horizon.

In Case You Haven't Noticed... (Video)

2009-07-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

If you're as clueless as I am, you never fully got the chance to recognize and celebrate that it's...

Enjoy it! But don't waste it.

I leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis...

Question: Materialists and some astronomers suggest that the solar planetary system and life as we know it was brought about by an accidental stellar collision. What is the Christian view of this theory?

Lewis: If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents--the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else's. But if their thoughts--i.e., of Materialism and Astronomy--are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It's like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.

A Comic Strip and Enough Tags to Host a Yard Sale

2009-07-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

First, the Skeeter & Skunkbeard Comic Strip (Click on it to see the full image):

And now, lots and lots of tags. I've been accumulating them, saving up for a festival. My policy with tags, I've decided, is to answer only the questions for which I can provide an answer that is of some value. The rest I will kill with my backspace button, no offense to their creators. So keep in mind that I've left out a lot of questions.

Anyway, with thanks to Earwen, JT Norlander, Eruanna, and Gabrielle (I don't know which tag is which, sorry) here I go:

Do you like to write?

Hmm, kinda. Not enough to write a book or anything, though.

What genre?
Anything with at least some element of Fantasy.

Favorite books?
I'm the kind of person--whenever I read a good book or watch a good movie, I'm overcome with the desire to and belief that I can do better (even though in most cases it's probably not even close to true). That said, some books I've really enjoyed include The Hobbit, Holes, Keys to the Kingdom, THE SHEPHERD :) [never actually read that last one, but it sure was fun writing it!]

Do you compose music/write songs?
I have Garage Band now, so I'd like to get into composing and writing music in my free time.

Do you like poetry?
I've never liked poetry enough to try my hand

Though a creative soul such as mine doth land

In realms of writing he never dreamed

In same such way as Scottie once "beamed"

Though poetry of mine would have simple rhyme scheme,

And lack meter, rhythm, beat, and strawberry creme,

The depths of mankind would pour forth in a glittering flow,

such eternal questions answered as "How big are potatoes in Idaho?"

Love someone so much who made you cry?
Most definitely.

Broken a bone?
I broke my pinkie toe and my pinkie finger (these breaks, however painful, will NOT gain you any sympathy) Both were broken playing basketball and both in the past year. My pinkie finger is still crooked, and I'm pretty sure it will always be that way.

Been in a police car?

I'm not at liberty to say. The judge ruled that details of "The Underwear Incident" not be released to the public. Plus, my lawyer begged me to keep quiet.

Been on a boat?

Yes! In fact my dad and I built a boat... seven feet long. It was a dinghy, and the kit manufacturer had dubbed it the (very fitting) dingy. But we called it The Great White Whale. It makes some appearances in Skeeter & Skunkbeard.

Fallen asleep in school?

Public school: absolutely not. Home school: ...guilty

Who did you last yell at?

You blog readers, for being so awesome you make me feel inferior. (Every once in a while I cough up something very shameless)

Did you sing today?

I made an attempt to emit sound that was stimulating to listen to. Whether or not that qualified as "singing" is for the listener to decide. Simon, unfortunately, turned out to be one of the naysayers... as did the audience... and America.

KFC, Popeyes, or Church's?

'Round these parts, we don't have Popeye's or Church's.

Chick-fil-a or What-a-burger?

We don't have either of these around here.

Starbucks of McCafe?

I don't drink coffee. I don't drink coffee here, I don't drink coffee there...

What's your favorite time of year?

Fishing season

Do you ever talk to yourself?

Whoa! Who said that?... Was that you, Bocaj?

Do you have a favorite treat you like to buy on occasion?

Yes, Little Debbies of nearly any kind.

Do you believe the Bible is the literal word of God and is infallible?

Most definitely.

What's your favorite sport?

Fishing, basketball

What color is your ipod?

I don't have an ipod. I don't have an ipod in a box, I don't have an ipod with a fox...

Okay, now it's my turn to throw this armful of tags at someone else. I tag Ivorydancer, Tinydancer, and Christopher Kolmorgen. But don't feel obligated. I know that some people hate tags...

The Recession Proof Stock

2009-07-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

It's easy to get caught up with all the fear and worry about the economy today, and lose sight of the fact that there is one investment immune to the ups and downs of the world.

Matthew 10:28-31:

But don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows--one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

When one's faith is placed in Jesus Christ, there's no need to worry about what happens to our physical bodies--which are dying anyway. His protection transcends this world and covers our souls--our eternity.

So I've created a button of sorts in the hope of reminding some Christians, including myself, not to fear, as well as to point to a truly recession proof investment.

If you want to put the button on your site, (or feel free to make a better one) here's the html code:

If you want to here more about Jesus, and what He did, CLICK HERE.

original pic

Friday Discussion: Do Ideas Strike Twice in the Same Place?

2009-07-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm curious to know, how do your ideas hit you? Which situations are most conducive to clear thinking?

Personally, my best thinking is done with some form of mild brain stimulation. For instance, I've gotten a lot of my ideas while riding a lawnmower--just enough of a task to keep the wheels turning without absorbing too much brain power. I also find that some mild exercise helps the inspiration flow. Enough exercise to enable the blood to circulate through the ole' cranium, but not so much that my lungs steal all my oxygen. (that's my theory, anyway) I've discovered that when I'm deep in thought I start to pace without even noticing it, especially if my thoughts are exciting. So now, if I need to work out a problem, or come up with an outline, or develop a method to increase the nation's energy efficiency, I just pace, often with something in my hand to fumble with (brain stimulation) such as my keys.

Wow, that was long-winded. Now, how about you guys?

photo by: collinedwards99

Another Chance to Win Swords of the Six!

2009-07-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

This time two copies of the book will be given away! The format is similar to the giveaway I hosted, but this one will be given straight through the publisher's blog. Go check it out at flamingpen.blogspot.com. Also, as stated in the post below, there's another cool giveaway going on at thequestfortruthbooks.blogspot.com.

Another Giveaway!!!

2009-06-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

This giveaway is for Darien's Rise, by Paul McCusker. This time it's a points based giveaway, and I'm not hosting it. Up-and-coming author and current Focus on the Family Product Marketing Manager, B.D. Eastman, is. Follow THIS LINK to his blog for details. Remember that you heard about it here first, as this fact will potentially earn me points! (Cue evil laugh) Let the games begin again!

What I've Been Up To

2009-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

A week without blog posts due to the recent giveaway means I have some catching up to do...

Publishing Update: As stated earlier, I've signed up for the Oregon Christian Writers' Conference. My "mini-proposals" have been shipped off, and now a month-long wait for the conference. I hope to take a video camera and document the week. It should be fun. In the meantime I need to practice introducing myself and sliding manuscripts under bathroom stalls.

I also won a short story contest of sorts. Christian fantasy author, Christopher Hopper, hosted a contest on his blog. My entry was very sloppy, but I think this contest was based more on content than craft. For some good laughs, you can check out my story and others HERE.

Last thing: I've posted links to my facebook, twitter, and myspace accounts on the sidebar. If you're on any or all of those, I'd love to connect through them.

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

2009-06-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

The week is finally over and, personally, it's been a blast. Thank you very much to everyone who entered. This giveaway totaled 35 entrants and 51 entries, which I consider a great success by all accounts. The name has been drawn through a random integer generator I found online. So, without any more delay, the winner is...

Earwen!

Congratulations Earwen! Please e-mail me at yodeling dwarf [at] gmail [dot] com (no spaces) with your full name and mailing address in order to receive your prize.

To everyone else, thanks again. And don't forget that Swords of the Six is still available to buy. I hope to do more things like this in the future, so keep checking in. And, if you are a publisher or author who would like to donate a book to giveaway through The Yodeling Dwarf, let me know!

Book Giveaway!!! (Swords of the Six)

2009-06-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: WINNER ANNOUNCED ABOVE (OR CLICK HERE)

Great news! Flaming Pen Press has been so kind as to donate a signed copy of Swords of the Six (with a collector’s “Specter” bookmark) to be given away on this blog! A person will be chosen at random to receive the prize. Here’s how to get your name thrown in the hat:

1) Leave a comment on this post. Anonymous comments will not be counted, so be sure to either sign into an account, or click the Name/URL option and type something to identify you by.

2) To double your chances with a second entry, write a post about this giveaway with a link to this blog post. You can post on your blog, or any social networking site (Facebook, Twitter, Shoutlife, etc…). Then be sure to leave another comment here with a link to where you posted. Please note that it must be a separate comment from the original in order to get two bids.

Friday, June 26^th, at Noon Pacific time will be the deadline. Shortly thereafter I will announce the winner.

See the post below this one for more information on Swords of the Six. Let the games begin!

UPDATE: WINNER ANNOUNCED IN THE POST ABOVE (OR CLICK HERE)

Swords of the Six Book Review

2009-06-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

His black scales shimmering with the blood of a thousand warriors, the dragon Valorian spread his wings and drew back his long neck.

This is the first sentence of Scott Appleton’s debut novel, Swords of the Six—a book filled with dragons, swords, fairies, a host of other imaginative creatures, and endorsements from Wayne Thomas Batson and Bryan Davis to boot. As the above sample implies, Swords of the Six contains a great deal of action. But romance and suspense also find substantial roles within its pages.

General Appearance: This is a book of high quality construction. The cover is very appealing, good paper is used, and the pictures at the beginning of each chapter are beautiful as well. Overall one of the best I’ve held.

The Opening: The prelude was perhaps my least favorite part of the story. I felt somewhat disoriented, though not exceedingly so. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book from the first chapter on.

Characterization: A great cast of lovable characters, unique and clearly defined. The characterization was terrific. One in particular, Specter, I found totally awesome, and hope to read more about him in future books.

The Story: There are actually two story arcs in this book, clearly separated into two parts. The first is a story of six sisters with special powers as they grow up and then embark on a quest to find and bring to justice a traitor. The second is a love story between one of the sisters and a warrior. I enjoyed the first story, and could hardly put the book down through the second story.

Warning: Some serious topics are discussed, and the effects of the battle scenes aren’t glazed over or omitted. So younger readers and parents be warned.

In conclusion, Swords of the Six is a great addition to the fantasy genre and recommended to anyone with at least a favorable disposition toward the genre. I should note that my little sister adored this book, declaring it one of her favorite books ever despite being reluctant to pick favorites in the past. I think it would have reached The Favorite status if she wasn’t a bit young to be into romance.

Find out more at www.theswordofthedragon.com or at Scott Appleton’s blog: www.flamingpen.blogspot.com. Or, if you’ve heard enough, the book is for sale at the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites.

See the post above this one for a chance to win a copy of this book!

God Willing, Let's Free Gao!

2009-06-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

A serious issue has come to my attention. From freegao.com:

Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, disappeared February 4, and was last seen being taken away by a dozen police officers. Gao Zhisheng has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities, because he has defended the persecuted and has been an unyielding voice for justice in the Chinese courts.

A Christian brother is in trouble. We need to respond with prayers, and action as well. As James 3:14-16 says, "What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, 'Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well'--but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?"

Please go to freegao.com, and sign an online petition for Gao's release, and then send an e-mail to top Chinese government officials. Western pressure has worked in the past and can work now. Gao has been missing for 131 days, and only 93,737 people have signed the petition. We have to do better. Tell people you know, and blog about it.

Oregon Coast Photographed

2009-06-14T22:00:00.001-07:00

Here are the Oregon photos from the recent trip as promised, with color(ful) commentary.

The Spruce Goose. Humongous airplane designed and built by Howard Hughes, whom was portrayed by Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Aviatior."

You already saw the Spruce Goose, and this is the spruce-lots of spruces actually. The Spruce Goose was constructed of plywood made from mostly birch and some other woods, including spruce.

"You done me wrong, Ralph. That was my nut, and now you gonna pay."

"Philistines."

Beautiful, isn't it? That far rock is called "Frog Rock."

This cart does not, in fact, make a very good getaway vehicle for three distinct reasons. 1) It's freeway merging capabilities are dismal. 2) In off-road situations the lack of suspension results in the loss of a lot of cargo, including Jimmy. 3) That fancy rocket booster on the back is misleading; it's kind of a downer when you propel yourself off a tow truck with the ramp down only to discover that there is no red button in sight.

There was actually a peregrine falcon nested on this cliff with a nest full of hatchlings. But they could only be seen via telescope.

Well garsh, I'll be dadgummed if ole' Bessie don' look glad ter see meh th'smornin!

Tillamook cheese. Lots and lots of Tillamook cheese.

Stay tuned. Something I've wanted to do since starting this blog is in the works. My only clue: "Book Giveaway." (Yeah, that's not real subtle...) I'm not going to say what the title of the book is, though.

Skeeter & Skunkbeard - June 10th

2009-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

I'm Back! (Video)

2009-06-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a family vacation to the Oregon coast. It was a lot of fun, and included such highlights as a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory and standing inside the Spruce Goose. (For those of you whom've seen The Aviator, it's that big, huge, airplane Howard Hughes surprised the reporters with by taking off unexpectedly) I'll post some pictures soon.

Anyhow, I think the saltwater may be addicting, because I've decided to, God willing, attend the Oregon Christian Writers Summer Coaching Conference on July 27th-30th. It should be a great opportunity to network, meet some agents and editors, get some great tips from pros, and, again God willing, further me on my quest to get The Shepherd in print. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Prayers much appreciated.

And now for the video promised in the title. This is a kind of spoof I made for video production class last semester. Enjoy...

Thanks for all the comments on the post below. I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

Skeeter & Skunkbeard - June 3rd

2009-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Here's another strip from the Skeeter & Skunkbeard files. (Click to enlarge)

I am no Mechanic...

2009-06-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

The disastrous events of last week serve as a testament to that. The object was simple; change the oil in my pickup. It's the most basic and common of mechanical tasks, performed every three months or 3,000 miles, as nearly every car owner knows. But I still managed to fail miserably.

This is the picture of my oil pan. The red dot on the left is my oil filter, and the red dot on the right marks the oil plug (notice how shiny and new it is...)

I started with a brand new oil filter (oil filter has to be replaced with every oil change) several quarts of oil, and what I thought was enough knowledge to get it done.

I was wrong.

I slid an old plastic sled underneath the pickup to catch the old, dirty oil, and unscrewed the used oil filter. The filter came off and the thick, dirty liquid came streaming out, collecting in the sled. The stream dwindled to a drip and then to a stop, but long before enough oil had collected in the sled to resemble the five quarts I'd put in a little over three months ago.

You'd think I would take pause upon noticing this. But like a kid who, upon discovering a french fry covered in grime and hair, shrugs and pops it into his mouth, I went ahead and screwed the new oil filter on. Little did I know that I had forgotten to pull off the oil plug (it wasn't as shiny and noticeable at the time, but more on that later).

I started pouring the new oil in. It came as a bit of a shock when, after pouring in two quarts, the oil level indicator indicated I was way above full.

I started the engine so the oil could become dispersed and give me a more accurate reading. I don't recall a shiver passing through me, but perhaps somewhere in the county, some seasoned mechanic cringed as the old, dirty oil poured into my brand new filter.

Upon looking underneath again, I spotted the oil drain plug, slapped myself in the forehead, stopped the engine, and unscrewed the oil plug. This time a deluge of the dirty stuff poured forth, nearly filling the sled. And I had to remove the new oil filter and drain that as well.

Problem solved, right? Wrong! When I went to put the oil plug back in, I put it in crooked and stripped the threads, ruining the bolt. That wasn't so frightening as the google search that revealed that I might have to replace the WHOLE OIL PAN!

Fortunately--and I think Ford deserves some praise for this--the threads on the pan remained unharmed. I got a new bolt and my dad screwed it in without a problem.

But the trouble wasn't over yet.

I slid the oil filter back on with surprising ease--too much ease. The rubber seal had fallen off without my permission which resulted in a tight, metal-to-metal grip and, although it would have been extremely resistant to bumps, rattles, and attempts by superman to pull it off, it also would have leaked oil all over the road. It took a special tool to remove the filter, but I did, in fact, finish the job with a working pickup and a shinier bolt to boot.

However, I wasn't prepared for the task of oil disposal. It might be hard to imagine, but a long, narrow sled filled with seven quarts of oil is kind of tricky to lift up high enough to dump into a bucket. It wobbles around a lot and...

KERSPLOOSH!!!

I don't think there are any of you left to disagree with the assertion in the title of this post. But I'm very glad that I know someone who is a mechanic, and a great one at that. He doesn't work on cars. In fact cars hadn't yet been invented during his brief time on Earth. But I can attest to the fact that no one gives a better, more complete oil change than He does. Nothing can come close to the feeling of being emptied of every last drop of dirty oil and filled with newness itself--the service that He alone provides.

1 Corinthians 6:11- And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Blog Awards

2009-05-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

I've received a few awards in the past couple weeks, and although I appreciate them, I haven't gotten the chance to blog about them until now. If you gave me an award and I don't include it here, let me know and I'll tack it on.

I think The Writer's Award was the first one granted to me.

Thanks Hannah! This award has made the rounds, I think, so I don't believe there's anyone I could award that hasn't already received it. If not, consider yourself awarded.

And on to number two:

Thanks Joraiem! There are all kinds of people I know who deserve this award, but it has my name on it...

And finally, published author Katie Weiland awarded me as well.

"I get the pleasure of passing the award on to 15 of the loveliest blogs I follow. They are, in no particular order: ... #8 The Yodeling Dwarf—Home of up and coming fantasy author Jacob Parker’s thoughts and illustrations of the writing life."

I suppose it depends on the demographics of the readers of this blog, but I'm guessing that right now half of you approve and the other half are resolving never to let me live this down.

In fact, Katie said to me in a later message that the above picture might not be something a guy would want on his blog, and suggested a photoshopped version with hunting rifles, skateboards, and footballs entitled "One Grungy Blog Award." And while I'm certainly glad that Katie thinks this is a lovely blog, I think perhaps I should take her joking advice literally, especially since I've already posted pictures of myself in a dress this week.

So, with many, many apologies to the talented creator of the beautiful graphic above, here it is:

Again, so very, very sorry.

Now that I've rendered this award gender neutral, I can award anyone I want! Recipients can simply choose one or the other (or both) to display. The problem is, I now stand here with an erected tent on one hand and the sack it belongs to in the other (don't believe the manufacturers! It does. not. fit!) See, there are more deserving blogs that I read than there is time in the day to nominate.) I'm going to put five down here that are not necessarily my favorites, but that I suspect haven't received this award before, and just happen to spring to mind (no particular order).

5) Caliko Zak

And, Katie, since it was your idea, you're welcome to put the Grungy Award on your blog too ;)

Images:

mikebaird - football

joeshlabotnik - skateboard

salsaboy - rifle

I was on TV!

2009-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. Since my graduation last night was actually kind of the first of its kind (see post below this one), a local news station covered it. I'm the guy speaking at the beginning, and the one they show when they're talking about avoiding social pressures (can't stop laughing about that).

Watch the video by clicking here: KREM2NEWSCLIP
Or by copying and pasting this: http://www.krem.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=365662&shu=1

Now that you've seen my 15 min- er 10 seconds- of fame, I'm interested to hear from you. Let's hear your story about when you were publicly recognized by a television station, newspaper, etc, or even if you were just the person doing silly faces in the background as the reporter talked about the coming storm.

Yes, I'm Man Enough to Wear a Dress

2009-05-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that, because I’ve worn a dress, society sees me as nearing manhood? I’d be the first one to argue that these are ROBES, but really? Silver and purple? Who would I be fooling? All kidding aside, Tuesday was the official graduation ceremony. I got to be the lucky person who presented the class before the audience, and I got my diploma. I still have a barbecue celebration later this week, but I won’t bore you with a post about it here because I think it’s safe to assume that you readers have heard enough about my completion of my schoolwork and everything that comes with that.

The manuscript is printed and after I write up the cover letter it will be sent to Scott Appleton, most likely today. So after that, armed only with a completed manuscript, my faith, and the prayers and support of you, Yodeling Dwarf readers, I step out into the vast and treacherous darkness that is the world of agents. Perhaps I shouldn't have written this so late at night... On second thought, maybe I’ll embark on that journey in the morning… and get a flashlight… or a sword.

Note to Internet Explorer Users

2009-05-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

Up until this point, if you use an Internet Explorer browser, when you clicked on the "My Book" button it took you to an empty page. But not anymore! The problem is fixed and now everybody can read the prologue and first chapter.

Also, I've changed the comment format to a pop-up window to see if it's easier to use and therefore encourages more comments, particularly from non blogger account users. Let me know which format you prefer.

Brief-State-of-Affairs-Address

2009-05-20T11:03:00.001-07:00

Right now I feel like I'm in the lull between two lives, that brief pause where the clutch is pressed and the stick is getting ready to shift gears. But I know it won't be quiet for long. It rarely is. So I've got to take advantage of this time that I have. Here are some brief items of note:

-JT Norlander at Proeliator of Lux Lucis has some polls he'd like answered and more importantly a serious prayer request. I'm praying, JT.

-I remember when I first started this blog the blogger tips thingamajig said that it's a good idea to point out the sidebar every once in awhile. On mine you'll find, from the top down, a link to an excerpt from my book (prologue and first chapter), a link to my profile (more accurately a giant puff of hot air ;), my e-mail address, followers, twitter updater, video bar, blogroll, and archive.

-My finals are over, meaning no more school. In just a few days I'll be wearing a dress for the very first time (honest!).

-Right now I'm working away at my manuscript, getting it ready for submission.

Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."

(Image by JohnMarchan)

Skeeter & Skunkbeard Comics

2009-05-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

I talked in an earlier post about a comic strip my friend and I create for a small newspaper in Montana. It's called Skeeter & Skunkbeard and it's about two clueless teenage outdoorsmen and their escapades in the outdoors, cotillion class, and the daunting realm of girlfriends. I'll post a strip here from time to time (read: when I have no idea what else to post). Enjoy! (click for full size)

Copyright 2008 by T. Wilcox & J. Parker

Friday Discussion: The Reality of Morality

2009-05-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

I found something interesting on the internet recently. It was a blog post on a blog entitled “Matt’s Notepad.” The title of the post was “Same Old, Same Old: Creationist Arguments.” As the title implies, the subject I’m about to talk about has probably been worn through countless times. But I want to discuss it anyway.

See, in the post Matt examined a creationist argument on another blog and argued against it on a point by point basis. Here’s the part that specifically got me thinking:

Another reason that we know that there is a God is the existence of morality.

This argument is so incredibly old and been shot down so many times, that it is simply tiresome to even deal with it. Morality is subjective, it changes over time and from culture to culture. There are certain fundamentals that run through nearly all cultures but those are perfectly explained by a little field of study called evolutionary ethics and morality. Basically it boils down to the fact that to survive certain species (including humans) needed each other to survive. To maintain group cohesion, they quickly had to invent/learn certain social norms (like not killing each other) since the alternative would be to have the group dissolve and get killed by nearby physically superior animals intent on eating their collective livers.

To me, this viewpoint, which is essentially that morality does not exist, represents a sad outlook on life. How depressing would it be to see love as nothing more than a means for reproduction, happiness, joy, and excitement as nothing more than an exploitation of some chemicals designed to keep us alive. Friendship would be seen as a bond created for a better chance at survival. Slavery, theft, torture, murder. That curling in our gut when we think about such things—that would just be our survival instincts kicking in. According to this perspective, there’s no difference between an innocent person and a guilty person who gets away with his or her crimes. If murder was made legal there would no longer be anything wrong with it. That misery that we feel when a cherished person dies, so intense that at first it feels like it can’t possibly be real, that would just be a reinforcement of our survival instincts, our body’s way of reminding us not to let our clan die off.

How can someone who has experienced these emotions, felt the struggle that it sometimes is to do the right thing, and witnessed the wondrousness and inexplicableness of life, strip it down to such a pointless existence? Because, really, what’s the motivation for living when the only goal is survival, an aspiration that, in the end, is both pointless and impossible. The argument could be made that all we can do is enjoy the time we have, but without the existence of love, joy, friendship etc. making the most of life is reduced to manipulating our bodies to release the most high-inducing chemicals that we can with the time we’re given. The way I see it, without the existence of God life is a barren wasteland. Wouldn’t that then mean that, since life is more than a barren wasteland, God does exist? I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. How do you define those things that some atheists would call survival instincts? And I’d love to hear from some atheist readers. What’s your outlook on life? How do you explain morality?

(Images by: sbhland)

Video: My Graduation Speech

2009-05-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

Friday was the homeschool graduation ceremony for my area. I still have finals left and another graduation in which I'll get my real diploma. But I had a blast! I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while, watch slideshows of good memories, and when I got home I was reminded of just how much I'm loved by opening a mind-boggling amount of cards, letters, and money (see photo). And yes, I gave a speech, which I tried to make as humorous as possible. I'm not very good at estimating that kind of thing, but I'd say the audience was about 2,000 in size... okay, maybe closer to 100.

Here it is:

Tagged!

2009-05-11T08:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been tagged by Elrania Peredhil, Earwen, and Lyceria. I realize that there a lot of you out there who absolutely detest tags, and others who absolutely love them. So, in an effort to please a majority, I'll complete the tag but make it as humorous/interesting as possible. Here goes:

~16 Things you would never guess~

1. I just may be the finickiest eater known to man. It's not a matter of preferring certain foods over others, or simply disliking the taste of some foods. I honestly could not choke down a large variety of foods. For instance, I'm not exaggerating when I say I'd probably rather eat a wriggling worm than a salad. In general I prefer packaged, sterile foods to homemade as well. I know, weird, huh? The whole thing makes for some awkward social situations.

2. Jacob Parker is actually my mild-mannered alter-ego. If you ever see me running for a phone booth, chances are someone's in danger.

3. I've never finished even the first of the Lord of the Rings books. Okay, we can put the pitchforks and torches down everyone ... did I mention I loved the Hobbit?

4. I've never done any jail time, but my lawyers were sweating it with the underwear incident.

5. I was public schooled through 7th grade. From then on I've done my school at home, through an online virtual academy. I'm getting my diploma in a couple weeks.

6. I've wanted to be an author since 5th grade. That's also when I made my first attempt and failure at completing a novel.

7. My friend and I draw a weekly comic strip called "Skeeter & Skunkbeard." It's published in a small newspaper in Montana and we hope to get it out to more newspapers this year. I'll post some of the strips on this blog in the future.

8. At one time I was a respectable member of society... but that was before the underwear incident.

9. I randomly do impersonations throughout my day... bad ones.

10. When I was little, my family went on vacation, and my dad had me on his shoulders. I don't know where we were, but a giraffe leaned down and literally started eating my hair.

11. I love fishing so much that when I was younger my dad and I built a seven foot fiberglass boat.

12. Ever since the underwear incident, 28.6% more of the population of my town wears belts.

Sorry, that's all I've got. And now onto part 2 of the tag epic.

Is this your first tag? Yes

Have you ever moved? Yes

What is your favorite animal? Otter

Who are your favorite Lord of the Rings characters? Frodo and Sam. That relationship and journey is beautifally portrayed, in the movies anyway.

Do you get a lot of homework? Not anymore; I finished my last assignment a few days ago.

Do you think tagging is awesome? The jury's still out.

Do you like blogging? Yes, definitely.

Do people think you're strange? Ever since the underwear incident...

Do you like getting comments on your blog? Who doesn't?!

Do you like getting new followers on your blog? Again, who doesn't?!

Do you have an awesome blog? I'm pretty happy with it.

How many followers do you have? Check the sidebar.

Are you a good actress? Ok, for the last time people, just because I played Cinderella for ONE scene!!!

Do you like taking personality quizzes? I had a lot of fun with them in psychology class last year.

Do you like long or short posts? Length doesn't matter so much as content.

Are you going to tag someone else? Yes

Okay, as for part 3, the Narnia tag, I've got to be honest; the last time I read the Narnia books was probably 3rd grade... I only read them once, and though I recall enjoying them, I remember little about the actual content. But I do remember A Horse and His Boy was my favorite.

And now to pass on the torch. I'm going to tag my good friend JT Norlander at Proeliator of Lux Lucis. I skipped a lot of questions, JT, so you can go to the blogs of the people who tagged me to get the full version.

Friday Discussion: What Makes You Read On?

2009-05-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Personally, when I read a book, not only do I gauge my enjoyment, I study it to determine what's causing this enjoyment or lack thereof. But I'm interested to know your thoughts on the matter. What, to you, makes a great book? Do you need strong and unique characters, a heart pounding pace, twists and turns, a high concept, subtle conflict among the characters? Or is it the smaller things that make a great book, such as smooth prose, or the right amount of description? The list could go on forever. Also, what makes a popular book? What makes one book, say Harry Potter, so much more popular than the other books in the same genre? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
(Image by Bunnyrel)

Novel Update

2009-05-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well, you may have missed it because the comment was on an older post, [The Making of a Cover (Part 2)] but an author stopped by on Monday. Here's what he said:

Hi J.R. this is author Scott Appleton. I've seen your comments on my blog and this is my third visit to your site. I own the publishing company Flaming Pen Press and I am most intrigued by your work. Next year my company will grow to publish one other author. I am not promising acceptance, but I like your cover and the sample I read of your story. Flaming Pen Press is only accepting submissions by invitation. I would like to extend an invitation to you to contact me via email. My publishing house is small, but we hold high standards for the writing and art. Anyway, the invitation is there if you are interested.

Scott Appleton is the author of the fantasy book Swords of the Six, which is available to buy now. From the teaser and reviews it sounds like a good book which I plan on reading as soon as I recover from my upcoming car insurance payment. I encourage you to check out his website and find out more about his book at flamingpen.blogspot.com.

I sent him an e-mail saying I hadn't yet explored my publishing options but would send him what he needed in order for him to get a better idea as to whether or not The Shepherd is something he might be willing to publish. He's going to let me know what to send here in the coming days.

Thanks, Scott!

House Pictures!

2009-05-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Over the last three years or so, my family has been building a house, the six of us. We did nearly everything ourselves, though we did hire out some help here and there. And just a couple weeks ago we started the process of moving in, even though it isn't quite completed. Some of the furniture and stuff isn't quite in place, but here it is:

Here's the kitchen...

...and the living room...
...and finally my bedroom.

And now for a game. Can you find... a ceiling fan, a brown seated stool, a caricature of Jacob, (gotta love talking about yourself in third person) a pair of basketball shoes, Wayne Thomas Batson's "The Final Storm," and a bear and her cub... (You'll probably have to click on the images to enlarge)

The Wandering Jet Pilot

2009-05-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a jet fighter. The message just came in that your country is under attack, and you’re shattering the speed of sound several times over in your rush to get to the enemy. And then you see it—a huge, flying weapon of the likes no one has ever seen before, wreaking havoc on your country with an endless spray of bomb after bomb. But you orders were specific: take out those enemy jets flying around “The Mothership.” Still, you think you can see a flaw in the design, a chink in the beast's armor. Perhaps you’re the only one who knows about it. Perhaps it’s up to you to save everyone. Images flash through your head—the captain hanging a medal over your neck before endless crowds cheering their heads off. Would it be moral for you to abandon the enemy jets and take out the mothership? The answer, of course, is no. But I still caught myself, in a sense, yanking on the yoke and bursting toward that mothership.

If this jet fighter did exist, the obvious question to ask him/her would be “What’s your motivation?” If the motivator was fame and glory, he would have abandoned his mission and tore off for the mothership. If the motivator was the betterment of his country, he would have stuck to his orders.

What sparked me to write on this topic was a recent post at the rebelution blog. The post talked about doing the little things for God as well as the big things. It’s good to do big things for God, but it’s also vital to be faithful with the charges he’s already given us—seek righteousness, feed your spirit with God’s word, take up your cross daily… If we abandon these smaller jets in order to go after the mothership, (write a book) our motivation is no longer to glorify God, but ourselves. We need to seek the accomplishment of our Father, nothing more and nothing less, whether that eventually leads to big or small things by a worldly measure.

In the well known parable of the talents, (Matthew 25:14-28) the servant who is faithful with what he is given, is given more, but not before he proves himself to be trustworthy with what he’s trusted with. He focuses on being faithful with the small amount of responsibility he’s given, and therefore is rewarded with a larger amount of responsibility.

I confess, blog friends, that in the past few days I haven’t been faithful with what I’ve been given. I ditched my mission and headed for the mothership; I dropped my talents and headed for the gambling table, fooling myself that it was for God. But no more. Now it’s time to rededicate myself to serving God and God alone. If my book is published, then it’s because God decided to trust me with that responsibility, and He might; I certainly couldn’t have gotten this far without Him, and feel that He has called me in that direction. In the meantime I have some fighter jets to tend to.

The Making of a Cover (Part 2)

2009-04-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

In the coloring stage I wanted the focus to be on the shepherd and the bird, so I faded out the castle to the background, and made the bird the only object on the cover with warm colors. As a result, the viewer's gaze should go from the bird to the shepherd to the sheep to the castle. Let me know what most attracts your eye.

I also faded the edges and put an old parchment background in place behind it.

For the letters I used "Papyrus" again but I stacked three of each letter together to give it a thicker look.

Then I shaded them in.

And, here it is, the final temporary cover for "The Shepherd." Click on it for the full view.

The Making of a Cover (Part 1)

2009-04-27T11:12:00.001-07:00

I have a couple three ring binders that contain copies of my manuscript. They are what I used to edit and what I handed out for other people to critique. But I wanted to create a more accurate sense of reading a book, so I set about making a temporary cover.

Now, realistic artwork isn't my strong suit. I just don't have any experience with it. But I have done some cartoon work, and ended up playing to my strengths. And now I have a blog series for you, detailing the process, complete with pictures!

I started with a #2 pencil and a regular white sheet of letter paper and sketched out what I wanted.

Then I used my trusty uni-ball deluxe fine pen to trace the pencil marks.

I then erased the pencil marks and scanned it into my computer. I use Corel Photo-Paint for digital image editing, but Photoshop seems to be the industry standard. With Photo-paint I fixed some blemishes and added a little bit of texture and some lettering in the font, "Papyrus." I also shrank the main characters head because it made him look too young, and rearranged his arms. The hand sticking out was supposed to be him telling his sheep to stay back. But my feedback team told me it just made him look feminine. Anyway, this is what resulted; a black and white cover that actually covered the manuscript for awhile.
Tune in on Wednesday to see the finished product in full color.

UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO SEE PART TWO OF THE COVER MAKING PROCESS

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