‘Next Month, My Next Book: The Glass Bridge’ (2014)

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I have a special fondness for this book. Maybe it’s because cover artist Kirk DouPonce depicted Gurun exactly as I imagined her. I don’t know how he does that; and it wasn’t the first time, either. Ellayne on the cover of The Cellar Beneath the Cellar is better than a photograph.

Anyway, the point of all my Bell Mountain books is to serve God by writing, I hope, what He gives me.

https://leeduigon.com/2014/12/09/next-month-my-next-book-the-glass-bridge/

And yes, I’m still waiting for The Silver Trumpet to be printed.

‘The Cellar Beneath the Cellar Review by Steve Wilson’ (2011)

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Wow! Has it really been seven years since this book came out?

The Cellar Beneath the Cellar is Book No. 2 in my Bell Mountain series; and when I started it, I had no idea of what I was getting into. I thought it was merely the sequel to Bell Mountain–goes to show how much I know!

https://leeduigon.com/2011/07/11/the-cellar-beneath-the-cellar-review-by-steve-wilson/

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

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Hi, there! I’m Lord Reesh, the villain in the first four Bell Mountain books–and, if I do say so myself, a jolly good one! Oh, boy, wait’ll you see me get what’s coming to me!

Ah, but you can’t see that unless you read the books. And it’s only nine days till Christmas. Do you catch my drift?

These books, especially the ones with me in them, make fantastic presents for friends and family. And they’re so easy to get, even those simpletons on the Obann High Council could do it. Just click “Books” at the top of the page, and you can order any title either directly from the publisher or via amazon.com. Whatever that is. We don’t have it, where I come from.

If we were all in Obann, I could simply order you all to buy the books and sic Judge Tombo on you if you didn’t. You don’t want anything like that to happen!

Good News, Bad News

Image result for images of the cellar beneath the cellar by lee duigon

My neighbor, Harlem, for whose recovery from cancer many of us prayed, tells me his experience had been written up in one of the medical journals. He’s feeling stronger by the day, putting back on some of the weight he lost, and wants to play some hoops when the weather gets a little warmer. I gave him a copy of The Cellar Beneath the Cellar to celebrate. Now we’ve got to find a basketball.

Meanwhile, this blog is giving me fits today.

Thursday’s usually my best day because that’s when my Newswithviews column is published, and it generates a lot of referrals to the blog. But not today. Not even one. Everything seems to be in working order, so I’m at a loss to understand the problem.

Ditto Facebook. As an experiment, my friend Susan generated two referrals this morning. They worked–which leaves me unable to explain why there are only those two and no more. The more I try to understand how social media work, the less I understand about the whole business.

And they say they want to merge our minds with computers??? That just may be the stupidest idea ever conceived by smart people.

My Books Are Being Trolled

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From time to time I like to check amazon.com to see how my books are doing.

I got a nasty surprise last night, and again this morning, when I discovered one-star ratings among my customer reviews: Bell Mountain first, and now The Cellar Beneath the Cellar. I would rather not give the name of the malicious little nit that posted them.

See if you can follow his logic. Lee Duigon is “a follower” of R. J. Rushdoony. [I am employed, and my books are published, by The Chalcedon Foundation, the ministry founded by Rushdoony. I am not aware of being “a follower” of anyone.] Rushdoony was “a religious huckster” [no, he wasn’t] and “a christofascist,” whatever that is. Therefore, “persons of good character” will avoid my books.

Having read thousands of pages of Rushdoony’s published works, I can truly say this person is talking through his hat. But because Rushdoony was a faithful man of God, libs and other louses have always attacked him viciously.

Thing is, I have few reviews, not many readers know that I exist: so a single one-star rating easily drives down a book’s overall rating. By the time this insect gets around to trolling the later books in my series, it will look like half the readers hated them.

That “christofascist” tag is genuinely offensive. In all probability, the reviewer is some left-wing loon from the Southern Poverty Loon Center, or someplace like that, who thinks everybody to the right of where he is, out on the far-left fringe of the galaxy, is a fascist, a knotsy, and a biggit who should be beaten senseless, etc. That’s the Loving Left all over.

All right, well, I’ve taken one for the team. An inner voice keeps whispering, “It’s about time they’ve come after you! I was beginning to think you were doing something wrong.”

But my books are my babies, and when somebody maliciously attacks them, I do admit I find it hard to laugh it off. It’s a lesson I’d better learn, I guess. I don’t want God to be ashamed of me for yelping about a bug-bite.

Sneak Preview: ‘The Throne’

No. 8, The Temple

Okay, I have permission; so here’s the cover blurb for The Throne, Book No. 9 of my Bell Mountain series. Most of the editing is finished, we’re waiting for the cover art by Kirk DouPonce, and I hope we can get it published in time for Christmas. But first, the blurb:

The Thunder King has been destroyed–or has he actually reappeared in Obann’s greatest city, to claim it as his prey?

In city and in forest, the boy king’s loyal servants struggle to preserve his throne. But it will be a long journey home for King Ryons and his army, while ambitious and unfaithful men scheme to take away his kingdom.

Nothing in the city of Obann is what it seems to be. Evil masquerades as good, while good must hide behind a semblance of evil. The king’s chief spy poses as the usurper’s trusted adviser–but will he be able to find the help he needs to mount a successful resistance?

For God has chosen Ryons to be king, and Ryons’ people must find friends in unexpected places.

Join the heroes of Bell Mountain as they fight for Ryons’ kingdom!

So there you have it, and I hope it makes you want to read the book when it comes out. And if you’re interested, but haven’t read any of these books yet, start with No. 1, Bell Mountain.

 

5,000 Hits in a Month?

The famous “surgeon’s photograph” of the Loch Ness monster: posted here solely for your enjoyment.

No, not this month. Ran out of gas today, and won’t quite reach 4,800–although that does set a new monthly high for this blog.

Six months ago I would’ve thought 4,000 hits a month just about impossible. So the next plateau is 5,000, and I’ve come close.

This blog is just about the only advertising I’ve got for my books.

Please, if you haven’t heard about my books, take a moment to click “Books” at the top of the page and have a look. No harm in looking!

How One of My Characters Grew: Old Uduqu

One of the delights of writing fiction is, when you introduce a character, you really don’t know where he’s going to wind up.

Uduqu, the old Abnak sub-chief with a scar from a stone axe on his forehead, walked onto the stage early in Book No. 2, The Cellar Beneath the Cellar, and is still here, seven books later. He was just a walk-on, but soon began to fill a major role in the stories.

Once or twice the story put him in such peril that both my wife and my editor were convinced I’d killed him off–and were they mad at me for that! But I’ve come to have such an affection for this hard-fisted old man that I don’t see how I can carry on the tale without him.

He befriends King Ryons and comes to look on him as a kind of grandson. He discovers God and comes to love Him, always striving to know Him better. He rescues Helki from a charging army, and wins a giant’s sword as a trophy, becoming the king’s personal champion. And as his overworked legs begin to fail him, Uduqu discovers reading and writing–the very first Abnak ever to make a serious go of literacy.

He has been within sight of the great sea in the West, crossed the mountains in the East, and marched all the way out to the Thunder King’s fortress in Kara Karram. Along the way he fights a desperate duel that avoids a bloody battle and makes peace between enemies.

What he’ll do next, I have no idea.

But I can hardly wait to find out!

Not bad for a walk-on character.

My Interview (Maybe)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/by-the-fireplace/2016/03/10/interview-with-author-lee-duigon

If this link works, you’ll be able to listen to my interview with Grant Warren on By the Fireplace.

If it doesn’t–well, I never said I know what I’m doing when it comes to computers.

Maybe I’ll let my cats try it.

P.S.–How do you like that? It worked!

Another Contest for My Readers

book cover of  Bell Mountain Series

Let’s face it–this little blog, and you, my readers, are all the advertising that I’ve got.

When it comes to Customer Reviews on amazon.com, the lowest rating I’ve ever received for any of my books is three stars; but mostly it’s five stars, with a few fours thrown in. My sales figures, though–well, the less said about them, the better.

So how about this? Another contest.

The first reader to persuade five other readers to buy one of my books will earn my undying gratitude, plus an autographed copy of one of my books, your choice. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a much harder job than I expected. Gotta try it, though–word-of-mouth advertising can sometimes do a lot.

We’ll have another comment contest coming up soon, too, as we close in on 5,000 comments. But for the time being, hey, I need more readers.

Will this work? Search me. Only one way to find out, and that’s to try it. Tally-ho!

P.S., How to Enter–Why, that’s easy. Just leave a comment to let me know when you’ve recruited five new readers.

P.P.S.–My wife says, “Five? Isn’t that a bit much?” So all right, I’ll change it to three. The first to find three new readers wins the contest.