Looking for Librarians
Feb - 06 - 2010Filed in: Reading
If you are a librarian or a teacher I’d like to send you a free copy of The Fiddler’s Gun to consider for a recommendation to the Accelerated Reader program. You can contact me by clicking here. Please include the school’s shipping address so I can mail it to you there.
If you’ve already read The Fiddler’s Gun, you can follow this link to enter your recommendation for inclusion in the AR list.
If you’d like to set up an author visit to discuss the book at your school, I’d love to work with you. Contact me so we can work out a date, schedule, and format that works best for you and your students.
The Long Road Ahead
Jan - 30 - 2010Filed in: Writing
With the arrival of February, there’s an end in sight. I’ll be back home in Nashville soon and hope to have a few weeks, if not a month or so, to really buckle down get some work done. Fiddler’s Green, currently at around 50,000 words, is about half-written. With my typical writing goal of 1000-1500 words a day that means I’ve still got well-over a month of non-stop, butt-in-chair work to do just to get it all down and ready for rewrites, revisions, and edits. My hope is to put it in your hands by Christmas so I really need to get busy and I might have to bump that word goal up into the 2000 neighborhood.
Experience has taught me that the absolute enemy of a writer is inconsistency. Writing, and more accurately, long form prose, requires a schedule. It’s a labor that relies on a well-exercised muscle and when that muscle falls into atrophy it’s no quick task to bring it back up to operating level. For the past months, I’ve rarely put the writing muscles to use and now that I’m sitting here trying to flex them again, it shows.
The words you are reading right now are, in some ways, little more than procrastination. In other ways, however, they are the stretch before the marathon.
When I get back to Nashville, I intend to run. Time to write. And I’m looking forward to it. The road leads through some dark and beautiful country and the miles ahead may leave my feet blistered and swollen. Wish me well, Fin’s gone far astray and I’m anxious to bring her home.
Delivering Letters
Jan - 30 - 2010Filed in: Publishing | Promotional
If you followed the “Letters to Peter” feature on the site, some of this material will be familiar to you but it has now been edited, expanded, and bound in one volume. Who is Wilberforce Octavian Albemarle III? What is the mystery of the Boot Snuffler? And what is the Baker’s Grail? These letters hold the answers.
Also, included is a sneak peek at an excerpt from Fiddler’s Green.
This special companion to The Fiddler’s Gun is being printed in a limited run of 100 signed and numbered copies. Each of my Tier 2 Patrons will receive their copy in the mail, free of charge. The remainder will be for sale, exclusively at the Rabbit Room store and when they’re gone, they are gone forever (though I do hope to make a digital version available at a later date.)
Here’s a look at the introduction...Read the entire post
The Puckerbrush Book Club
Jan - 25 - 2010Filed in: Book Clubs
I’m looking forward to engaging with the club once they’ve finished the book.
Click here to join.
Book Club Package
Jan - 17 - 2010
Here’s the rest of the package I’ve put together:
- Discount pricing - Book Club Bundles in quantities of 5 ($10 ea.) and 10 ($8 ea.) are already available from the Rabbit Room Store but if you have members that aren’t local we can set up a specially discounted purchasing plan just for your club so that each member can order the book individually at the discounted price.
- The Fiddler’s Gun: Letters - This special companion to the novel is being printed in a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered copies. But book clubs reading The Fiddler’s Gun will receive the digital version for free to distribute to their members.
- Custom Bookmarks - Once the books have been purchased for your club, you’ll also receive a package of The Fiddler’s Gun bookmarks specially printed with the name of your club.
- Discussion Guide - Once you’ve read the book, the discussion guide is available for download by clicking here.
- Author Participation - Interested in a Q&A chat session, an interview, or participation on your website? Just contact me by clicking here and let me know what works best for you. I’ll do my best to accommodate whatever will serve your club the best.
If you’re part of a club and have any other ideas, I’m all ears. Just drop me a line and I’ll be happy to consider your suggestions.Read the entire post
Now Available
Jan - 13 - 2010Filed in: Promotional
But wait! There’s more: Amazon.com also has the book available in Kindle format for you e-reader types (like me). You can now own The Fiddler’s Gun for your Kindle for a meager $8.99 and start reading it in less than a minute. Unfortunately, Kindle owners won’t be privy to the fine glossary of nautical terms in the printed book, nor the finely textures pages with deckled edges, nor the beautiful cover artwork by Evie Coates, nor the expertly designed interior layout. Those special touches are reserved for the real book geeks (also like me).
If you’ve already read the book, I’d be eternally grateful if you would take a minute of your time to visit the book’s Amazon.com pages and leave a customer review to let the vast internet masses know what you thought of it and why they also ought to read it without delay. Of course, if you thought it was rubbish I’d be more grateful if you lied and said otherwise. I’m not condoning lying, mind you, just nudging you toward a looser interpretation of the rating system.
Click here to post your review in the Kindle Store.
Click here to post your review in the Amazon Store.
OTEOTDSOD: Audio Book
Jan - 05 - 2010Filed in: Promotional
Allow me to enlighten. On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness--possibly one of the greatest book titles of our time and certainly one of the longest and most hilariously redundant. This first book of my brother’s Wingfeather Saga is now available in audiobook version on iTunes for the ridiculously low price of $3.95. Yup, that’s eight hours of British-accented Wingfeather goodness for just four bucks!
What are you waiting for? Get ye to this link and find out why children all over America are drawing Toothy Cows, fearing Fangs of Dang, and dreaming of Booger Gruel.
Pubcast Interview
Jan - 04 - 2010Filed in: Promotional
In the pubcast we talk a bit about the origins, publication, and future of The Fiddler’s Gun. Follow this link to listen.
New Review
Dec - 30 - 2009Filed in: Reviews
“What did I enjoy about this one? So very much! I love historical fiction. Usually. And this was no exception. A bit violent at times, yes, but what else would you expect in a sea-adventure filled with pirates?! It was exciting, compelling, hard to put down. It's anything but boring! I cared about Fin from the start. And her companions--especially Jack, Knut, and Tan--became important to me as well. The characters definitely felt human--felt flawed--which is a good thing. I would definitely recommend this one. (Especially if you enjoyed The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.)”
Check out the entire review.
Fin Button Needs Your Help
Dec - 20 - 2009Filed in: Promotional
Then email the file to thefiddlersgun@gmail.com, or upload it somewhere that I can download it from (you cannot download video from YouTube,btw), or you can send it to me on a CD if you need to (email me for the address). Once I’ve got enough reviews I’ll add some music and Read the entire post