Category Archives: Reviews of My Books

April 12, 2017

A Boost for My Books

By leeduigon

The Palace (Bell Mountain Series #6) by [Duigon, Lee]

I’ve been re-reading my Bell Mountain books, trying to prepare myself for writing the next one. I have to read them, lest I forget some important detail.

So I’m in the middle of The Palace (No. 6 in the series), and I’ve just read the chapter, “The White Doe.” Please don’t think I’m boasting when I say this, but I think it’s among the best things I’ve ever written. It’s not boasting because I was moved when I read it and very much surprised that anything like it could have come from me. Give God the glory: I pray for His guidance as I write, and He gives it. It didn’t really come from me. I just wrote it down.

And this evening Patty discovered the Vintage Novels blog, and a wonderfully complimentary review of the first four books in my series. This is by Suzannah Rountree, a blogger in Australia, and she has my thanks. Let me see if I can link to her piece for you. Ah, here it is: http://www.vintagenovels.com/2017/04/the-bell-mountain-series-1-4-by-lee.html

If you haven’t read any of these, I hope Suzannah’s review will persuade you to give them a whirl. For more information (if you’re new to this blog), just go to the top of this page and click “Books.”

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy Criticism, Reviews of My Books, The Palace

April 9, 2017

Who’s Your Favorite Character?

By leeduigon

As I wait for the go-ahead to start writing my next book–and I never know what the “Hi” sign is going to be, the Lord always surprises me–I found myself wondering which characters in my books are the most popular. I also got onto that subject by showing my wife Travis Rodgers’ essay on “Obst the Missionary” (http://travisrodg.com/obst-bell-mountain/)–the only one of my characters who’s ever been written about by someone else, outside of a book review.

If you ask me which are my favorite characters, I can only answer, “Whoever I happen to be writing about at the time.” I think it has to be that way, if I want to make the characters come alive for the reader.

But which characters really are the readers’ favorites? Which are yours?

My youngest readers seem to like Jack and Ellayne the best, and everybody loves Wytt, the little hairy creature with the sharp stick and no capacity for fear. The old rat under the Baroness’ back porch has his contingent of fans, as does Cavall, the king’s big dog.

I know someone who liked Lord Reesh, the arch-villain, best; and I’m sure Helki the Rod, the wild man of Lintum Forest, has his cheering section. As for the old Abnak sub-chief, Uduqu–my wife and my editor were both ready to scalp me when they thought I’d killed him off.

Anyhow, I’ve got lots and lots of characters in my Bell Mountain books, and I’m intensely curious to know how readers feel about them. Besides, this discussion will be a lot of fun if everybody takes part in it.

And somewhere in one of your comments may be the seed of the next book. I never know where that’s going to turn up.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy Criticism, Just for Fun, Reviews of My Books

March 28, 2017

Now That’s a Question!

By leeduigon

Image result for images of man asking silly question

This just popped back into my head after many years’ absence: the most annoying question I’ve ever been asked as a writer.

No, it’s not “How long did it take you to write it?” Everybody asks that. I don’t know why, but they do.

When, after much difficulty, my very first novel was published in 1986, one of my next-door neighbors, with a happy smile on his face, asked me this:

“So when’s it going to be a TV movie?”

Perish the thought that he would buy the book and read it, or even go to see the movie if they made a movie of it. He wanted it on TV. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

One thing I’ve learned over the years: people who see you every day, and talk to you, hardly ever want to read your books. And I don’t know why.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Reviews of My Books

March 20, 2017

Now Available in Kindle: ‘The Throne’

By leeduigon

Well, here it is–The Throne in Kindle format. So much for shipping costs!

In fact, I think it’s free if you’ve got Kindle Unlimited. I don’t, so please don’t ask me how that works. I still can’t even get back my Facebook referrals.

Anyway, all the Bell Mountain characters, except for the few I’ve had to kill off in earlier books, are present and accounted for–Jack and Ellayne, King Ryons, Wytt, Helki the Rod, Ysbott the Snake, Lord Chutt, Martis, Fnaa and all the rest–along with some new ones whom I hope you’ll enjoy reading about. I enjoyed writing about them. Yergen, the toughest man in Obann City. Bassas, commanding Lord Chutt’s Wallekki bodyguard while trying to salvage his honor. You get the idea.

And…who’s going to be the first to submit an amazon.com Customer Review for this baby? I hope it’s a good one!

8 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Book Updates, Reviews of My Books

January 24, 2017

A Brilliant Stroke of the Pen–by Accident

By leeduigon

Laurel and Hardy only pretended to be chuckleheads; but they did it so convincingly, they got rich.

Even so, the finest specimens of chuckleheadedness are only unearthed  by accident. And some of them are gems.

Just this morning I read an amazon.com Customer Review of my Bell Mountain–five stars, so I’m certainly not complaining–which featured a rare and valuable typo that has since been corrected. And please don’t think I’m making fun of the writer, because I know well that anyone can take a prat fall, big-time. You should see some of the whoppers my editors have saved me from committing to publication.

So this reviewer wrote of Bell Mountain as “the battle of goof vs. evil.”

Think about that!

Can goof actually defeat evil? You know something–I’m pretty sure it can. I’m pretty sure it has, all throughout history. How many fiendishly evil plans have been scuttled by pure incompetence?

This has the makings of a story. Maybe even a whole novel. Certainly a chapter, here and there. Most certainly, a chapter.

Inspiration comes when you least expect it, and from the least-expected direction, too. Don’t waste it when you’ve got it.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Fantasy Criticism, Reviews of My Books

January 23, 2017

Reader Kayos Troll

By leeduigon

In case you missed it in the comments, our esteemed colleague “Weavingword” got rid of the one-star bashings that some malicious little left-wing nit posted on my books on amazon.com. And here’s how she did it.

Step One: “See all reviews.” 2. Scroll down to the review in question. 3. Find “Was this review helpful to you?” 4. Click “Report abuse” button, and when they ask, give them a reason why. In this case, it was because the reviews were not reviews of any books but merely personal attacks on the writer.

Weavingword wins by knockout in the first round. As for the troll, let him contemplate the following message:

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Reviews of My Books, Video

October 26, 2016

Here’s the Webinar! ‘Thoughts on Being a Writer’

By leeduigon

Wow, here it is already–the “webinar” I did just the other day, organized, moderated, and edited by Andrea Schwartz, my esteemed colleague at The Chalcedon Foundation. She is amazingly efficient.

So here it is, if you can stand listening to my voice for 55 minutes (I’m not sure I can). (  https://thekingdomdrivenfamily.com/2016/10/26/thoughts-on-being-a-writer-webinar-discussion-with-lee-duigon/ )

It was a lot of fun being questioned by people who had actually read my books: in fact, it was the first time that’s happened. I hope the advice I gave these kids and teens was good advice.

thethrone

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Interviews, Podcast, Reviews of My Books

July 24, 2016

And We Have a Contest Winner!

By leeduigon

Image result for images of happy contest winner

Laura, you are the lucky reader who has posted Comment No. 8,000, and you’ve won an autographed copy of one of my books. All I need is your address so I can send it. You can either provide it in a comment, which I’ll delete after I write it down, or you can email it to me at leeduigon@verizon.net

The next winner will be whoever posts No. 9,000. I wonder how long that will take.

Meanwhile, Laura, I hope you enjoy your winnings.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just for Fun, Reviews of My Books

April 22, 2016

100,000 Views Today?

By leeduigon

It’s possible that today the total number of views of this blog, since its inception, will hit 100,000. Not being social media savvy, I can’t tell you what that means. How many blogs go under before they get anywhere near 100,000 hits? How many have passed me like I was standing still? I just don’t know.

Anyhow, as of today I’ve already got as many hits this year as I did for all of 2013, and in another month or two I’ll pass my total for 2014–with half a year left to go.

And so, thanks to you, the readers, this blog grows and continues to grow. If it might someday spur sales of my Bell Mountain books, that would be cause for rejoicing.

Meanwhile, if there is more of something–or less of something–that you’d like to see on this blog, I’d be interested to read your comments.

And remember–you can always request a hymn.

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Reviews of My Books, Uncategorized

March 12, 2016

The Great Beast from ‘The Thunder King’

By leeduigon

As long as I’m reading The Thunder King, I thought I’d treat you to this video clip from Walking With Prehistoric Beasts, featuring the mountain-sized animal that rescued Ryons from the “death dog,” aka hyaenodon.

Don’t mind them calling it “Indricotherium.” They’re always changing the name. I stick with the old name that it had when I was a boy, “Baluchitherium.” Whatever we call it, this baby was the largest land mammal that ever lived–and the one that Ryons met was the biggest of them all.

Marvel at the work of God’s hands, and rejoice in it.

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in nature, Reviews of My Books, Video

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