Tag: Ice Age hyena

Wahoo! Here Comes the Book

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

His Mercy Endureth Forever

Huzzah! (Can’t say “wahoo” twice.) I’ve just received my author’s copies of Bell Mountain No. 12, His Mercy Endureth Forever. Now I can mail Watchman and Ina their comment contest prizes.

Dig that cover by Kirk DouPonce! Is that cool, or what? That’s Ellayne being attacked by the giant Ice Age hyena–and if you want to know what happens, you’ve got to read the book. The prehistoric hyena was an awesome predator that mostly ate rhinos. The horse is Dulayl, who’s been with us since Book 1.

I haven’t yet gotten the sign to start writing Book No. 14, and meanwhile No. 13, The Wind from Heaven, has to be edited; and we have to dream up a cover for it. Busy, busy, busy! But it’s the kind of busy I like.

Soon (I hope) His Mercy will be available via amazon.com and other outlets; but for the time being, you can order it from The Chalcedon Foundation/Storehouse Books at http://www.chalcedon.edu/store/ . Support award-winning Christian fantasy! Support me. End of commercial.

And now I’ve got to go see what Joe Collidge has gotten up to.

Hot Off the Press! ‘His Mercy Endureth Forever’

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Well, it took long enough to get printed, but it’s finally ready to go–the 12th book of my Bell Mountain series, His Mercy Endureth Forever.

It’s not on amazon or Barnes & Noble yet, but you can order it directly from the publisher at https://chalcedon.edu/store/ . I admit the paperback costs $18. But heck, how much does a movie cost, that turns out to be a real turkey? And as long as we’re all under The Great Quarantine, what better time to catch up on your reading?

Please, don’t be like the guy who said, when I told him one of my books had just been published, “So when’s it gonna be a TV movie?” Cheap, cheap, cheap! And it probably won’t ever be turned into a video game, either. Although that could be kind of cool… Certainly way cooler than a TV movie.

(Stop it, Lee! You’re starting to sound like Byron the Quokka.)

Come on, now–how many books have you seen with an Ice Age hyena on the cover, attacking a girl on horseback? Yeah, that incident is in the book–along with plenty more excitement where that came from. (Now I sound like I’m trying to sell a book.)

And if you really, really like this book… Well, there are a dozen more in the series!

Surprise! My New Book Cover

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

HisMercy

It was only a few days ago that Kirk DouPonce was asking me for whatever details I’d like to go into the cover art for Bell Mountain No. 12, His Mercy Endureth Forever. And then he emailed me this, just yesterday evening.

Wow! I don’t know how he did it so fast! He asked me how I liked it, and I told him, “It’s perfect–don’t even thing about changing anything!” That’s Ellayne, a little older than she is on the cover of The Cellar Beneath the Cellar, and Martis’ reliable Wallekki horse, Dulayl, who’s been in all the books so far, and this is his first appearance on a cover.

Well, now I have to write a cover blurb. It’s only 150 words or so, but I always find these among the most difficult things I have to write. Just naturally long-winded, I guess–needing to write a whole book  to tell the story that the cover tells in just 150 words.

Has Anybody Seen the Nandi Bear?

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See the source image

It’s hard to write this up as Mr. Nature, because the Nandi Bear might not exist. But it’s been a staple of East African folklore for a very long time, and I am told there are people in Kenya who are absolutely sure the beast is real–and very much to be avoided.

It is described as something between an oversized hyena and an undersized bear. As far as scientists can tell, bears have never lived in Africa south of the Sahara. Ice Age hyenas were much bigger and stronger than today’s hyenas, and they ate mammoths and rhinos. Eating a human wouldn’t pose much of a challenge.

Is it possible that an incredibly rare, powerful, nasty relative of the hyena prowls the forests of Kenya? People do sometimes attribute unidentified, fatal animal attacks on humans to the Nandi Bear. Hard to study an animal when no one who ever sees it lives to tell the tale.

And then there’s the basic problem of cryptozoology: no specimens. Because if you do come up with a specimen–like when fishermen first caught a coelacanth–it immediately ceases to be cryptozoological and becomes just plain zoological! What’s a poor cryptozoologist to do? His situation is impossible.