Tag: bell mountain by lee duigon

A Prehistoric Lollapalooza

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I’ve been trying to find you a video of one of my all-time favorite prehistoric animals, Uintatherium, and the best I can do is this old soup commercial. Actually, this Uintatherium looks pretty good, although its size is, shall we say, greatly exaggerated–unless it’s the mob of hungry humans who’ve been downsized.

This is the critter, the sight of which causes Lord Orth to lose his mind in The Last Banquet. It also caused me to lose track of 17 or 18 Temple servants, but my editor fixed that before the book was published.

Uintatherium was about the size of a full-grown rhinoceros, with a huge rectangular head full of horns, knobs, and tusks. I’ve always enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too.

My Books Make Swell Christmas Presents

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Sorry, but I couldn’t think of any way to write this without it sounding like a commercial. I guess that’s because it is a commercial.

But I’m the only advertising I’ve got, so please bear with me.

Heroic fantasy and adventure, written from a Biblical worldview–that’s what my books are about. Starting with Bell Mountain, then The Cellar Beneath the Cellar, there are now eight books in the series. The newest, The Temple, came out just in time for Christmas.

To see the covers, and read blurbs and sample chapters, just click “Books” at the top of this page. You can order them either through amazon.com or directly from the publisher (shopping cart logo). You might also want to check out the amazon Customer Reviews, most of which have given these books five stars.

All right, commercial’s over. I have fulfilled the original mission of this blog.

My New Book–Finished!

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(Here’s Jack climbing the wall of the Palace in Obann, in Book No. 6. Artwork by Kirk DouPonce)

The Throne (Book No. 9 in the Bell Mountain Series) is done. I’ve just typed up and polished the last few chapters and sent them on to my editor.

Now what’ll I do?

You work on a book practically every day for six months, hours at a sitting, and thinking about it when you’re not actually writing about it, and suddenly it’s over. Someday you’ll have to start the formal proof-reading, write the cover blurb, and see the artwork for a brand-new cover; but that’s not quite the same as writing it.

No, I can’t just sit down and start writing the next one. Months will go by before I can even begin to do that.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, go to the top of the page and click “Books.” See the covers, read the blurbs and sample chapters. And the blog archives are full of reviews, to say nothing of the Customer Reviews on amazon.com.

We will try to put The Temple (That’s Book No. 8) on the market in time for Christmas. But if we can’t make it–well, look, there are still seven of them out there, and they’ll make great presents.

While You’re Here…

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Just skimming the headlines this morning reminded me of that old Car 54 theme song, from 1961–only worse, of course. Great Scott, what a mess!

But as long as you’re here, why not help this blog fulfill its purpose, and take a look at my books? Just click “Books” and you’re there.

True, in my Bell Mountain series you will search in vain for any mention of Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, Obama, the Republican Party, Democrats, homosexuals, exciting new forms of “marriage” endorsed by Satan himself, or special martial arts that enable 9-year-old girls to annihilate able-bodied grown men. I have purposely left them all out. You’ll just have to read about a world in which none of those things has even been thought of.

Liberals and progressives will be unhappy if a lot of people read my books. They will even be unhappy if just some of you read my books.

There are seven in print, with No. 8, The Temple, in pre-production and No. 9, The Throne, still being written.

Read the amazon.com Customer Reviews.

You know what? I wish I was you, so I could read these books without already knowing what’s in them.

 

The Books That THEY Don’t Want You to Read!

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Didja ever notice how Big Fanta, or Big Fantasy, tries to keep you from reading books by little guys like me?

They don’t want you reading any of my Bell Mountain books (just click “books” at the top of the page, to see them). Why not? Because They are They, that’s why. They’re the same They who want to stop you buying a decent pillow, who try to stop you from investing your money in certain sure-fire schemes that are just bound to work.

Big Fanta keeps Bell Mountain down because They don’t want you reading anything but what They think you should read…

[And here I have to stop, because I’m still not sure I’ve captured the exact tone of this genre of commercial. It must be successful, or you wouldn’t hear and read so many of them. I will have to keep working at it. So far, I’m afraid most people just don’t respond to the Big Fanta boogieman.]

And Suddenly It Hits Me…

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So there I am, plugging away at my new book, The Throne (No. 9 in the Bell Mountain series), without the foggiest idea how the story’s going to end.  I’m used to this by now.

For years I wrote very differently. I had detailed biographies for every character. I had color-coded index cards, each subplot assigned its own color, so I could lay them out on the table and move them around and around until I found the best arrangements. I would be months and months at these preparations before I wrote a single word of the manuscript.

I’ve been writing The Throne since April. Each day I sit down with my pen and paper and say a prayer, asking the Lord to give me the story He wishes me to tell, and to make my work fruitful in His service. And He always gives me the story. This has been my method for each and every one of these books.

I’ve also been asking Him, lately, to show me how to end The Throne.

I was going upstairs yesterday afterno0n when, in just the time it took to climb the last two steps–whoom! I had the ending. Like a whole picture being flashed into my head. The whole thing.

Now all I have to do is write my way to it.

Sometimes I start with the ending and have to wait for the beginning. Or I start with a few key scenes in the middle of the story. Maybe even just one scene.

It’s a cool way to write, and I enjoy it. Thank you, Father.

 

An Interview With One of My Characters

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I’ve seen other authors do this, so I thought I might try it myself. So I wangled this interview with Fnaa, a supporting actor in my Bell Mountain series. Fnaa is only ten years old when he first appears in The Fugitive Prince, so cut him some slack. (Note: I have never before interviewed a fictitious character, but I am told it’s a nice skill to have if you want to work for The New York Times.)

Q: Fnaa, mostly what you do is impersonate King Ryons. In fact, you’re a dead ringer for him–even I can hardly tell the two of you apart.

Fnaa: Well, you should learn how. We don’t want to get stuck because you forgot who’s who.

Q: What’s it like to have a whole city full of people thinking you’re the king–when you aren’t? [long pause] Do you want to stop fidgeting and answer my question?

Fnaa: The little girl who’s a prophet or something, she said I could do it. She said God wouldn’t mind.

Q: But all those people cheering you–isn’t it kind of overwhelming?

Fnaa: What’s ‘overwhelming’?

Q: It means ‘too much to take in all at once,’ overpowering, awesome–

Fnaa: [Rude noise] I know what it means! It’s fun to take the tax money and throw it back to the people on the street. They really go for that! And it’s fun to call those high-and-mighty big shots names like ‘Fatty’ and ‘Baldy.’ Yes, I love all that–but it’s not like I want to do it all the time. Let King Ryons be king for a while.

Q: Didn’t you feel a bit guilty, allowing that good man, Prester Jod, to go on thinking you were King Ryons?

Fnaa: I’ve got to go now.

Q: But we’ve only just started the interview–

[Fnaa ducks back into the book and disappears. He makes one last comment: “If people want to know about this stuff, they ought to read the books! Why don’t you sell them some of your books, dummy? And that was that for the interview. ]

Progress Report: ‘The Temple’

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I just don’t feel like writing about current events today. Backed up by half a billion dollars of American taxpayers’ money, Planned Parenthood has been caught on videotape bragging about all the money they make by selling parts of babies slaughtered in the womb. And those moral imbeciles on Capitol Hill are beating their breasts and wondering what has gone haywire with our culture.

You, you numbskulls! You are what has gone wrong with our culture.

“Oh! But couldn’t we just have the gay marriage and the trans-women and the drugs and the rap music, and leave out the sale of baby parts?”

Uh-uh, sugar-plums–it’s a package deal, like cable TV: and you’ve bought the whole damned package.

But enough of this. Supposedly, this blog exists to drum up interest in my books and hopefully sell a few of them. So let’s try to do that.

Bell Mountain #8, The Temple, is getting its final edit before typesetting. We’re also waiting for another glorious cover by Kirk DuoPonce, and I need to draw a map and dash off some cover copy, and hopefully the book will be ready for release in time for Christmas.

What’s it about?

Well, King Ryons’ puny little army has invaded the vast dominions of the Thunder King, Lord Orth is converting the barbaric Abnaks to belief in God, and, in the city of Obann, under cover of law, Lord Chutt is trying to steal the boy king’s kingdom out from under him. And I don’t dare even hint what Ysbott the Snake is up to.

In other words, I’m continuing the story from the first seven books, and meanwhile I’ve written some 25 chapters of #9, The Throne. By God’s grace I’ll have it done by winter-time and it’ll be just as good as all the others.

As for #7, The Glass Bridge, a Customer Review on amazon.com the other day considerably raised my spirits. “The best series since Chronicles of Narnia,” the reader said.

Well, I don’t know about that. But it’s nice to know that somebody out there thinks so highly of it.

Good News for ‘Bell Mountain’ (and for Me)

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On Thursday this blog went wild with 260 views–and that was good for my Bell Mountain.

For the first time ever, the Bell Mountain paperback made the amazon.com Top 100 list for Science Fiction and Fantasy. It was ranked #43 when I discovered it there, so it may have done even better earlier.

To order a copy of Bell Mountain for yourself, or any of its sequels, all you gotta do is click “Books” and then click either the amazon.com logo or the little shopping cart.

You could also browse the archives of this blog and read various reviews of my books; and I invite you to check out the amazon.com Customer Reviews. Honest, folks–people do enjoy these books! Give yourself a treat, why don’t you?

You will also be helping this blog live up to the purpose for its existence.