Tag: my books

Encore: ‘The Wind from Heaven’ Cover Art

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WindHeaven

If you missed it the first time I posted it, here’s Kirk DouPonce’s wonderful cover for Bell Mountain No. 13, The Wind from Heaven. I need to write a cover blurb, so I’m re-reading it. Summing up the whole thing in 150 words, without spoiling the plot, is trickier than you might think.

For lots more information on all my books–which you can order from this blog’s home page–just proceed to the home page and click “Books.” If you’re already there, that’s a plus.

Please stay tuned for Byron the Quokka’s TV listings.

By Request: from ‘The Theologian and the Assassin’ (Bell Mountain Chapter 13)

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Image result for images of bell mountain by lee duigon

Requested by Joshua, an excerpt from my award-winning novel, Bell Mountain.

“[I]n a very nicely appointed private study with thick rugs and rich hangings on the walls, the First Prester, Lord Reesh, angrily rattled a sheet of paper in his hand.

“Do you know what this is?” he said. “It’s a letter from the burned fool who’s the prester at the new chamber house in a place called Ninneburky. It’s almost all the way up the river.”

“I know the town, my lord,” said the other man in the room–an unremarkable-looking fellow with a sad face and a little pointed beard.

“Good. Because you’re going there,” Lord Reesh said. “As soon as I explain this.

“Two children from Ninneburky have run away to climb Bell Mountain. You are to find them. If they are still on their way to the mountain when you overtake them, don’t interfere. Follow them. See to it that they get there. I want to know every single thing that happens to them, Martis. If they climb the mountain, climb after them. If they get to the top and find a bell, you are to prevent them from touching it, and no one is ever to see or hear from them again.”

The people of Ninneburky, even the prester himself, would have been appalled to learn that the First Prester had a confidential servant whose duties included killing people. For that is what Martis did, in addition to ferreting out secrets, spying, stealing, and arranging for certain persons to be accused of and punished for crimes they hadn’t committed. Not even the other oligarchs knew about Martis. To everyone in the city, he was only a clerk in the Temple. He even looked like a clerk.

But to Lord Reesh–who considered himself the first oligarch as well as the First Prester–he was a very necessary tool. And because he had served Lord Reesh for years, and never failed him, Martis enjoyed a certain liberty in speaking to his master.

“Do you think a pair of children might actually climb the mountain, my lord?” he said…

To find out how Martis the assassin fared in his mission, read Bell Mountain, the first book in the series, with 11 titles in print–so far. No. 12, His Mercy Endureth Forever, is currently being prepared for publication.

To order any of them, visit the blog’s home page and click “Books,” or visit http://www.chalcedon.edu and The Chalcedon Store.

 

My Book’s in ‘Middle English’?

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Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote/ The drought of March hath perced to the roote/

And bathed evry veyne in swich licour/ Of which vertu engendred is the flour…

–Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Checking the amazon.com page for my new book, The Temptation, to see if I’ve been selling any, I was rather shocked to read “Language: Middle English.”

Huh? Middle English is the language Geoffrey Chaucer spoke in the 14th century, scarcely intelligible to modern English speakers. Forsooth. I mean, it sounds really cool if you know how to read it, but forget about most people understanding you.

I couldn’t find any other definition of “Middle English” on Wikipedia. I like “Zephyrus with his swete breethe” as much as the next guy, but c’mon, now.

On the bright side, I couldn’t find any sample pages that looked like that page from The Canterbury Tales, pictured above.

I hope Geoffrey Chaucer has a big fan base, nowadays. I might be in trouble if he doesn’t.

‘The Temptation’ Update

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Bell Mountain No. 11, The Temptation, is now available from amazon.com in paperback as well as Kindle. It looks like no one’s bought it yet, so one of you can make literary history by being the first to order it. The book is also waiting (if I may use a personification) for its first customer review.

Meanwhile, I have received the first little whisper of a Book No. 13–just the tiniest of hints, I don’t have a title. But it’s a good, solid hint–thank you, Lord.

But for the time being, The Temptation is where it’s at. If you want to catch up with Jack and Ellayne, Wytt and Martis, Lord Orth, Ysbott the Snake, and all the rest of the characters–and believe me, they’ve all been quite busy, hair-raising adventures and all that–the best way to do it is to read the book!

My Newswithviews Column, April 18 (‘My New Book is Out’)

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Giant Ice Age hyenas–yeah, we’ve got them, too.

I hope you don’t mind me using this opportunity to talk up my book. Until I get invited to do it as a guest on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, this is about the most I can do in terms of publicity.

My New Book Is Out

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know there are times when writing up the nooze just grinds me down. I mean, really–the names of politicians’ lawyers? I believe in being well-informed, but that’s ridiculous.

If this is the first you’ve heard of any books of mine, or my Bell Mountain series of fantasy/adventure novels, and you want to know more–well, you’re already in the right place. Just click “Books” and find out everything you want to know.

Here It Is!

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At last! Kirk DouPonce’s wonderful cover for Bell Mountain No. 11, The Temptation–which goes on sale today (see yesterday’s post, https://leeduigon.com/2019/04/11/wahoo-the-temptation-goes-on-sale-tomorrow/).

If you’re up to speed with the story, you’ve probably wondered about what’s going to happen with all that gold they brought down from the mountain, all the political intrigue going on in Obann City, and what Jack and Ellayne and Wytt are getting up to now. Actually, it’s been so long since I wrote this book, and I’ve written No. 12 in the interim, that I can’t remember what’s in it! I’ll have to read it, too.

I hope, this time, I run out of fingers to count on before I run out of sales to count.

Anyhow, it ought to be up there on amazon.com before the day is done, allowing for time differences and all that. So keep your eyes peeled for it!

Almost Published! ‘The Temptation’

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If that cat climbed up the shelf looking for my newest Bell Mountain novel, The Temptation (No. 12 in the series), he was doomed to disappointment.

The Temptation was supposed to be published this week, but the job done by the printer “had some problems with it,” I’ve been told, so those have to be corrected. If you own any of these books, you know Chalcedon has very high production standards.

Anyway, when the book finally is published, which should be soon, you can trust me not to keep the news to myself. And then it’s got to be put on amazon.com so more of you can buy it (heh-heh).

It was warm enough to ride my bike this morning, which tells me that soon it’ll be nice enough weather for me to start writing another book. The Lord knows (yes, He knows, but I don’t) where that story’s going to go next. I can’t wait to find out.

Absolutely Your Last Chance to Buy My Books!

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Yes–this is indeed your last chance to buy my books in the year 2018! If you wait till tomorrow, it’ll be 2019.

So get onto amazon.com and order a couple of ’em, or click “Books” and then the little shopping cart icon and order direct from the publisher. It’s easy! Even I could do it, and I stink at computers.

The saga begins with Bell Mountain and now consists of ten books, with No. 11, The Temptation, just about ready to come off the press. Thrill to wars, miracles, treachery, conversions, really strange and menacing beasts, weird barbaric customs, love, friendship, faithfulness, barbarian invasions, an avalanche–everything that makes life worth living! It’s all in here.

Buy ’em for your kids, and by the time they reach No. 10, The Silver Trumpet, they’ll be old enough to read ’em all over again.

And I have heard, but cannot confirm, that every time anybody buys one of my books, somewhere in the world, a leftid cries “Ouch!”

Cavall Lives!

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Image result for images of large dogs

If you’ve been reading my Bell Mountain books, you know that Ryons, the boy king who was born a slave, has a guardian who never leaves his side: Cavall, the hound.

This is a picture of a dog who looks enough like Cavall to be him.

In The Thunder King, the hermit, Merry Mary, knowing that she will die soon, commands her dog to stay with the boy and protect him. A child wandering all alone in Lintum Forest needs a wise and valiant dog. Cavall has been with him ever since–to the rescue of the city of Obann, and all the way out to King Thunder’s fortress and back.

At this point I don’t know where they’ll be going next; but wherever it may be, they’ll go together.

Progress Report: ‘The Silver Trumpet’

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Don’t ask me how, but I got my latest set of The Silver Trumpet chapters typed up and sent off to my editor yesterday, printed them this morning, and have now begun writing the next set.

The story’s moving fast now, although I still don’t know where it will end up. The Lord gives it to me piece by piece. But Lord Chutt is learning that people don’t always do what you want them to to, even when you’ve bought them off, I now know why the people of Obann dread the sea, and a fully-equipped army is on the move in the dead of winter, heading straight for Ninneburky. Also, Wytt has been quite busy.

I just love watching these stories unfold. I hope you will, too.