the glass bridge – Page 3

Has Anybody Seen My Sanity?

leeduigon(patty)March 25, 2016

We bought a blood pressure monitor this week, and it tells us that my pressure is through the roof, be prepared to pop a gasket… So I’ll be going back to the doctor for that.

Phone rings. It’s the nursing home. My aunt has been packed off to the hospital. Just a precaution.

Other family members, heard from today, are not much better off.

At some point this afternoon I will withdraw to my bedroom and read five chapters of the Bible. Not a bad idea for anyone.

In the meantime, I’ll get outside with the birds and continue reading Bell Mountain No. 7, The Glass Bridge. It’s how I make myself ready to receive the next book, if God will give me one.

I read a bit last night–I can’t tell you what it was because that would be a spoiler and I would really, truly appreciate it if more of you would buy these books–that struck me as very fine indeed. I don’t mean that to sound like I’m boasting, because I’m not. I know the good stuff never came from me. I just write down what the Lord gives me, and to Him be the glory. If I deserve any credit, it’s for working hard over many years to learn how to write it down.

One more sanity saver, by far the most important of them all:

Christ the Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.

How ‘The Last Banquet’ Was Born

leeduigon(patty)March 16, 2016

As I try to prepare myself to write another book, once the Lord provides me with a beginning of some kind, by re-reading all the previous books in my Bell Mountain series, I’ve just about finished Book No. 4, The Last Banquet.

That book had its genesis in a most unusual and vivid dream that I had, one night.

I dreamed of a teenage girl living in Iceland, a thousand years ago, who one fine morning had a desire to go fishing. She took her father’s boat and went out on the water. She caught a couple of nice cod, but then something very big and very strong bit down on her hook and made a fight of it. She needed all her strength and all her skill just to keep it on the line, and was concentrating so hard on doing it that she never noticed the sky filling up with storm clouds.

Finally her line broke, and so did the storm. Darkness and heavy rain blinded her. Ferocious winds seized the boat and made it race across the waves. There was nothing she could do to turn it. At any moment she expected to be sunk and drowned.

How long the storm held her, I couldn’t say. But just when it seemed it was going to go on forever, it stopped. The sea grew still as glass. Thick fog covered everything. The boat was full of water, having sprung several leaks. She fought to bail out the water, but it was a losing battle.

And then the fog was whisked away, and the sun came out.

And the girl stood up in her boat and looked on wonders that she never could have imagined–great, towering buildings all along the shore.

Modern buildings.

***

And that dream, with very few details of it modified, became the first chapter of The Last Banquet; and the girl, Gurun, is featured on the cover of Book No. 7, The Glass Bridge.

I just absolutely love this aspect of my work!

Another Contest for My Readers

leeduigon(patty)January 29, 2016

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.

Your Absolute Last Chance!

leeduigon(patty)December 31, 2015

Today is your absolute last chance to buy one of my books in 2015. Sorry, I’d change it if I could, but them’s the rules. After midnight today, it just can’t be done.

So… if you want fantasy and adventure based on a Biblical worldview, suitable reading for the whole family, especially for ages 12 and up, with eight books in the series, so that it’ll be a nice long time before you run out of stuff to read–

Well, if that’s what you want, folks, I’ve got it. And I’ve got it right here. Just click “Books” at the top of the page.

And now, I think, I’ll rest–punctuated by compulsive peeks at my Stats Board to see if I can get those 4,000 hits this month.

Just 50 more to go…

Progress Report: ‘The Temple’

leeduigon(patty)July 22, 2015

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.

Comment Contest: 54 to Go, and Counting

leeduigon(patty)May 12, 2015

Only 54 more to go, and someone will win a signed copy of one of my books (your choice) as the prize for posting the 3,000th comment on this blog.

Not qualified are any sales pitches posing as comments (you know who you are), any message containing an f-bomb or any other profanity, blasphemy, or personal abuse of me or any other commenter.

I am not Reddit or the Los Angeles Times, so I have not banned Climate Change Denial Denial comments, however inane and wrong I know them to be. Actually, though, I can ban anything I want. But in most cases I let the comment slide.

If you want to win a book, but can’t decide which one, just click “Books” and look them over.

P.S.–Yes, there have been some problems posting comments here, which WordPress has been unable to rectify because the difficulty has a variety of causes. But some readers have told me that, after they were rebuffed once, the comment went up when they tried again, even though they did nothing different the second time. Go figure. It’s computer stuff, way beyond me.

(P.P.S–Don’t those little girls have amazingly infectious smiles?)

I’ve Begun My Next Book: ‘The Throne’

leeduigon(patty)April 28, 2015

Yesterday I began writing the ninth book of my Bell Mountain series, tentatively titled The Throne.

I must confess to a little stage fright. I do know how the story starts; but where it’ll take me from there, only God knows. And having just finished reading No. 7, The Glass Bridge, and proof-reading No. 8, The Temple, I found myself wondering, “Can I do this again? Really? Is there more of this magic in me?” Only it’s not magic. It’s the gift of God. I’m not smart enough to create this stuff without Him.

I’d tell you what the book’s about, except I don’t know but the very first part of the story yet, and I wouldn’t want to throw out spoilers, and if you haven’t read any of the other books in the series, what sense would it make to you?

Meanwhile, the weather’s right, the birds are busy, the bees have arrived, and I just couldn’t stay away from the work any longer.

Tally-ho and away we go!

P.S.–Ignore the sign. I don’t write myself into the story, and I have no plans to write any of you in, either.

Another Contest for Readers

leeduigon(patty)April 6, 2015

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518K2jLcIUL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-64,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Some lucky reader will post the 3,000th comment on this blog; and whoever does it will receive a signed copy of one of my books–which one, your choice.

It’s easy to post a comment here. Just click “Leave a Comment,” located below the article in excruciatingly small grey type, and you’re in business.

Bear in mind that I will delete any comments that are blasphemous, or containing the f-bomb or other cuss words, or that are personally abusive to me or to another commenter on this site. You’ve got the whole rest of the Internet for garbage like that; please don’t track it into my virtual living room.

Other than that, pretty much anything goes.

Volume 7: The Glass Bridge NOW AVAILABLE!

leeduigon(patty)January 27, 2015

Now available!

The Glass Bridge (Bell Mountain Vol. 7)

In the seventh installment of the Bell Mountain Series, can faith do what pride and power can’t? In obedience to God, the boy king, Ryons, with only half his tiny army, crosses the mountains to invade the Thunder King’s domains.

The new First Prester, Lord Orth, a man of peace, is called to lead a savage nation in a war for freedom and survival—and to deliver God’s word to Heathen peoples who have never known it.

At the top of Golden Pass, wealth beyond calculation lies waiting for whoever can take it.

Will it be the king’s man, Baron Roshay Bault, or an unscrupulous lord with a renegade army behind him?

Confronted by perils they can barely understand, with no safe choices set before them, the heroes of Obann must risk their lives on the glass bridge that can only be crossed by faith.