Category: bell mountain series

How’s This For a Contest?

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Bell Mountain Series

Any day now, Ocean of Time–Book No. 15 in the Bell Mountain series–will be released on the market. And I’d like to do something special to mark the occasion.

I’m contemplating a suggestion made two days ago by “Thewhiterabbit.” It’s simple: award a prize to the reader who can come up with the coolest name for a new character.

It doesn’t have to be a major character, but I warn you–minor characters don’t always stay minor, villains turn over new leaves, and sometimes just the name is enough to propel a character onto center stage.

So all right, let’s try it: “Name A New Character.” Just a name should be enough; but it should also be allowed to add a little more information. But stop there! It’ll be up to me to do something with that character. And bear in mind that the next two books (at least) are about King Ozias, who lived some 2,000 years before King Ryons.

A writer can get a lot out of an intriguing name. Moby Dick, you know, began with the sentence, “Call me Ishmael.” I have to say I found that irresistible. Maybe the best opening line ever written: props to Herman Melville.

Contests, Anyone?

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An orange octopus reading a book - Impossible Images ...

What can I do to get readers involved here? I have a new book coming out any day now–Ozias, Prince in Peril–and maybe some kind of contest might help promote it.

And I’d like to have some fun now, in case they pack me off to the hospital later.

Comment contest? Short essay contest? Cool ideas for the next book contest? I don’t know–somebody must have a better idea than I have.

Time for a cigar… and a bit of cogitation (mustn’t waste good weather).

Today… and Tomorrow

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Ancient Battlefield Images – Browse 20,319 Stock Photos ...

Today being so mild, sunny, and beautiful, I bowed out of my physical therapy appointment, set up my chair outside, and cranked out six more pages of Ozias, Prince Enthroned. And now I have to get started editing Prince in Peril. 

Tomorrow I must submit to an MRI so they can decide what to do with me next. I don’t feel sick, but I do feel rather unspeakably menaced.

I put the picture of the horsemen up there because Ozias had to fight a battle. Tomorrow it’s my turn. God was with Ozias. I pray He’s there for me.

Progress Report (Such as It Is)

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Freddy the Pig (Literature) - TV Tropes

(Freddy the pig, as illustrated by Kurt Wiese)

These past few days, about the only time I feel normal is when I’m writing my book, Ozias, Prince Enthroned. The rest of the time, the arthritis in my hip and leg beats up on me non-stop… and the cancer diagnosis is a serious distraction. Next Wednesday they’ll give me a pelvic MRI. I’ve had worse.

Ah! But is it a good book? Well, I’m the last one on the planet who can tell you that. If it were a bad one, it wouldn’t be a comfort to me. I’m now in what I expect to be the final set of chapters. To me it seems so far, so good. But Steve McQueen once said you could say that before you hit the ground after falling out of a third-story window. [Numerous points for knowing in which movie he said that.]

Heading into a battle in which he’ll be outnumbered three to one, King Ozias is distracted by the fleeting presence of a prophet who might not be a man, but an angel. His enemy, Queen Maressa, has also seen it. I already know how this is going to turn out, but that’s all I dare say about it.

Other than that I’m very thankful that God has given me this work. I’ll try to do my very best.

 

‘Ta-Dah! Thank You, Readers’ (2017)

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Bell Mountain (Bell Mountain, 1) See more

Defended by readers! How glad I am of that!

I’ll always cherish this.

Back in 2017 some reader who didn’t like my politics, posted a one-star “This book sucks!” review of my book, Bell Mountain, on the amazon.com customer review page.

Ta-dah! Thank You, Readers

It was obvious the dindle had never read the book and was only trying to make trouble for me.  Imagine how pleased I was when persons who had read the book (including people I didn’t know) came forward with honest reviews and strong objections to the one-star hit piece. And in just a day, Amazon got rid of the hit piece.

Jack and Ellayne couldn’t have done it better.

‘My Fantasy Tool Kit’ (1)

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From the classic BBC production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I’ve been expecting, any day now, word that my Bell Mountain novel No. 15, Ocean of Time, has been printed and is ready to be put on sale.

So let’s push the nooze aside and talk about fantasy.

My Fantasy Tool Kit (1)

(Well, now my computer is acting up. Wanna write a real fantasy that’s going to blow your readers’ minds? Write about a computer that actually works! Grrrr!)

Anyway, you need realistic characters or your fantasy ain’t goin’ nowhere.

How do you achieve realism when you’re writing about non-human characters you just made up?

It took me a very many years to learn this rule, but I’m giving it to you now for free:

Where realism can’t go, consistency will find the way.

Coming Soon: ‘Ocean of Time’

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OceanTime

Permit me a moment of exultation. “Hooray! (There, that takes care of that.)

Bell Mountain No. 15, Ocean of Time, is soon to go to press–which means it’ll be available in time for Christmas.

You’ve got to love that cover by Kirk DouPonce. He’s really outdone himself this time.

So! The Winged Bull, the insatiable conqueror of Western lands across the sea, has launched his fleet at Obann. The city of Durmurot, lovely but defenseless, will be his first target. Can it possibly be saved?

An artifact recovered from the distant past may have power to to save the city–or to destroy it. What are its powers? What will happen if King Ryons’ chieftains try to use it? The fleet is on its way, and Obann is running out of time.

All 14 of my earlier Bell Mountain novels are available from the Chalcedon store, at http://www.chalcedon.edu/resources/books . And of course you can see them all here in this blog. Just click “Books.”

 

I’ll Try, I’ll Try

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45,400+ Frog In Water Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free ...

It’s as hot as Hell’s kitchen today, and my morale is shot; but I will try to do my work. I’ll even try to write satire… but only because I feel there are satires out there that need to be written, and it might as well be by me.

I am asked, “Why a picture of a frog?” Well, why not? I’d like to relax in cool water up to my neck. And there’s something about this picture that whispers to me, “God’s on the job, He hasn’t turned away.”

First a cigar, then Joe Collidge. And I’m told the cover of Ocean of Time is ready to be joined to the book–which will probably be for sale in time for Christmas.

See you in a bit–if I don’t plotz from the heat.

Bonus Hymn, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’

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We have a hymn request from Erlene: What a Friend We Have in Jesus, sung by Alan Jackson.

The colonoscopy looms, with a prep period that strikes me as fiendish, and I find it quite distracting. Still managed another three pages of my book today: Ozias, Prince Enthroned. I’ve never before encountered so many obstacles in writing a book. All I pray is that it’ll be over and done with and our household can return to normalcy. Normalcy is good!

Meanwhile, our Facebook page keeps showing us pictures of mostly naked women with oversized knockers. The picture disappears after a few seconds. I didn’t ask for this and don’t know where it came from. Have any of you had the same experience? I’ve also had unrequested changes imposed on my home page format. What’s WordPress up to?

How Could I Forget the Map?

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General Map of Middle-earth - Tolkien Gateway

One of Tolkien’s maps of Middle-Earth

When I started writing fantasy novels, as a teen in high school, the very first thing I did, every time, was create a map. I’d be writing about imaginary places, after all: so I would need a map.

The other day one of my editors, working on Ozias, Prince in Peril, asked why there wasn’t a map to go with it.

Oh, that’s easy! ‘Cause I forgot! I forgot the freakin’ map! How that could be, I don’t know.

The tricky part: the Obann depicted in this map would be 2,000 years older than the one shown in the published maps. (Yes, all the other books in the series have a map!)  A lot of names can change in 2,000 years. I trust the physical features won’t change too much–although that can happen in real life, and it ain’t too pleasant when it does.

Sit outside, now, and THINK! Map needed! And there’s no one can provide it… but me.