Category: Book Updates

Progress on My Book (I Hope)

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Physical therapy this morning, and waiting for various doctors to schedule me for chemotherapy (not looking forward to that!).

But at least it’s a sunny day, and I took advantage of it to set up outside and crank our four more pages of Ozias, Prince Enthroned. A major battle is shaping up, but I think Maressa’s lost her nerve. She wants a parley; her allies are infuriated.

In case you were wondering where I get this material, I can tell you that I’ve patterned this looming battle after Hannibal’s fight at Lake Trasimene. I’ve even named the terrain “Lake Trasm.”

I’m fast approaching the climax of the book and don’t know what I’ll do with myself once it’s finished. Well, I do have to type it all. And I have to finish editing Ozias, Prince in Peril. It feels like an age since I wrote it.

And Ocean of Time will be coming out any day now–so dream up some gang-busting names for as yet uncreated new characters. Contest winner gets an autographed book.

What’s In a Name?

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(Why won’t it let me post an image?)

Our “Name a Character” contest is off to a slow start. Oh, well.

Sometimes all you’ve got to start with is a name. A new character enters the story, looking for a role in the plot. A catchy name might clinch it for him. Or her. Queen Gurun’s name comes from an Icelandic saga. Ryons, from Arthurian legend. Ozias, from the Bible. And some just come out of the blue–like Uduqu.

God willing, I’ll soon finish Prince Enthroned and move on to King Betrayed. The field’s wide-open for new characters. Who knows? A name you dream up might lead to an epic.

(Now I’ll try one more time to post an image. Good luck with that, Leester.)

[The old laptop let me post an image.]

Today… and Tomorrow

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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.

 

‘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.

Bookstores? Anybody Seen a Bookstore?

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Waldenbooks in 1983 at the Staten Island Mall. From the ...

Back in the 1980s, when I was writing horror novels–and finally getting them published–Patty and I loved to visit bookstores and see my books on the shelves. Waldenbooks, Borders, little independent stores… We’re both avid readers, and kept stocking up on paperbacks for the weekend. Books with the theme of “small town terrorized” were always high on her list. And I was thrilled when Aunt Gertie went on a bus trip to Niagara Falls and found my books in some of the gift shops.

We had two stores right here, downtown. There were bookstores everywhere. But now there’s only one, selling used paperbacks only. Where did the rest of them go? You can imagine how a writer must have felt about disappearing bookstores.

It looks to me like most books, the most by far, can only be bought online. I’m glad we can do that, but I have to say my sales were much better in the bookstores. Writing is the only job I do really well–and a writer has got to have readers.

There’s still a Barnes & Noble in our Menlo Park Mall–the only place I know where you can still buy new books. But as a writer, I’d be sunk without Amazon.com.

You can’t find my books in the stores anymore, you can only buy them online. Heck, you can hardly find the stores. I miss browsing in the bookstores. And I wonder if they’ll ever come back.

Lifeblood

My first published book. Corny? I guess so. But my own.

 

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.

‘Ocean of Time’: Gotta Write the Blurb

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OceanTime

Well! It looks like we’re trying to publish Ocean of Time in time for Christmas; so I have to write a cover blurb.

It feels like I’ve had to wait quite a while to do this: the ol’ Pandemic didn’t do much for our publishing schedule. This is Bell Mountain No. 15. And after that comes a trilogy set two thousand years in Obann’s past, focusing on the life and adventures of King Ozias, King Ryons’ ancestor.

I’ll start tackling that back cover today, although I doubt I’ll finish it until a few days later.

Meanwhile, it’s time for another thrilling episode of Joe Collidge.