Okay, all right, no more fatzing around–The Silver Trumpet really is on sale, at the Chalcedon Store,
https://chalcedon.edu/store/492333-silver-trumpet-bell-mountain-10-the
What, “fatzing”? It’s an Obannese expression, I picked it up from Jack and Ellayne.
This is Book No. 10 in my Bell Mountain series. It’s not on amazon.com yet, so give it another week or two for that. Or you can order it right now from Chalcedon.
Well, at least I know now that the book exists: Bell Mountain No. 10, The Silver Trumpet.
I received a copy in the mail today, to be autographed and sent on to one of Chalcedon’s faithful supporters, and I’m told my own copies are on their way to me–and that the book will go on sale later this week. It’s not there yet, so don’t give up if you look for it and don’t find it. It’s coming: this time it’s really coming.
Meanwhile, May thinks it’s April and it rained every day last week, and more rain is forecast for this week, and I haven’t had much time to work on His Mercy Endureth Forever. We were freezing here yesterday, and today it’s hot. So I’d better finish this iced tea, and one more post, and then get back to work on the book.
As Jackie Gleason used to say, “And away we go!”
I’m still waiting for The Silver Trumpet to be published; but meanwhile, today I’ve started writing the first chapter of a new book. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the go-ahead!
This will be Book No. 12 in my Bell Mountain series: Silver Trumpet’s No. 10, with The Temptation waiting in the wings as No. 11. Do I know what No. 12 will be about? Nah! I never know. In fact, I don’t even have a title for it yet–although the one that keeps popping into my head is His Mercy Endureth Forever, the anthem of King Ryons’ army when it’s on the march. Looking at some of the story threads that must be picked up from The Temptation, there’s going to be a pressing need for mercy.
Anyway, I’m off to the races. I don’t know where this horse is going to take me, but I expect a wild ride.
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The Ice Age Cave Hyena–bigger, meaner, and just watch out…
I’m still waiting for the Lord to give me the spark that gets my next Bell Mountain book started. Sometimes it’s a dream: that’s where Gurun, the Queen of Obann, came from, and the great beast that scattered the Heathen army from the city walls. Or it might be a title, a particular scene, or an intriguing new character.
I don’t have any of those things yet, the weather has finally decided to turn the page to Spring, and I’m eager to get started. But I can’t begin until God gives me the go-ahead; and I’m also still waiting for Book No. 10, The Silver Trumpet, to be published.
Meanwhile, based on certain events described in No. 11, The Temptation, I’m pretty sure I’m going to need giant Cave Hyenas from the Ice Age. These were awesome beasts. They preyed on rhinoceroses (!) and baby mammoths: scientists deduce this from the bones which the hyenas strewed about their lairs. Can I ask the Lord to give me a vivid dream of Cave Hyenas?
Sometimes waiting for the book is harder than writing it.
Still waiting for The Silver Trumpet to be published, I’m also waiting for the spark of an idea that will start me on my next book. I can’t do anything until God gives me that. And anyway, it’s been too cold for me to sit outside and write.
Between the two projects is The Temptation, Book No. 11 in the Bell Mountain series, all written but still being edited. I purposely left some loose ends in The Temptation to be taken up in the next book–an invasion by a particularly fierce and unpleasant nation from the south, and a project by Lord Orth that could easily get him killed–but I have yet to be given that spark, that scene, that title, or that new character that’ll get the ball rolling.
It’s hard to wait. Once I have a book started, it’ll soothe me, it’ll occupy my mind, and it’s the work that I love best. But there’s no alternative: I just have to wait until the Lord says “Go.” I’ve relied on Him this far: no stopping now.
Spring is coming, unless those pesky bankers stop it, and I want to be ready to write when it gets here. But before I can do that, I have to revisit the books I’ve already written.
So first I read The Temptation, which will be No. 11 in the Bell Mountain series when it gets published sometime next year, and assuaged my fears that there might be something wrong with it. It’s a writer thing: we all get cold feet, somewhere along the way to publication.
Having done that, it’s time to get back with Jack and Ellayne and follow them, once again, up Bell Mountain. And maybe soon we’ll have The Silver Trumpet, I have no idea what’s taking it so long to get printed. After that, the other eight books in the series.
I do this to immerse myself in the fantasy world depicted in the books. Before I can write about it any more, I have to see it, hear it, feel it, smell it: because if I can’t, the reader won’t be able to, either.
So why is No. 6, The Palace, serving to illustrate this post?
Mostly because it has only three customer reviews on amazon and has lagged way behind the others. I can’t imagine why. Artist Kirk DouPonce used a real kid to model for Jack climbing up the extremely high wall of the Palace in Obann, and I wouldn’t like that boy to think he did it for nothing. What boy–Jack or the model? Both of ’em, of course. Jack’s human fly act deserves your support!
This, by Bob Knight, was one of the nicer reviews I’ve ever received. 2011–Wow! Has it really been that long since The Thunder King was published?
Still waiting for word on The Silver Trumpet. I hope they haven’t decided to publish it on clay tablets, in cuneiform. That would take a while.
https://leeduigon.com/2011/11/28/book-guide-the-thunder-king-movie-guide/
Rejoice, “Unknowable,” for you have won the comment contest! By posting Comment No. 25,000 on this blog, you have won an autographed copy of The Silver Trumpet.
What? What’s that? The confounded thing’s still at the printer’s? Well, that’s embarrassing!
Okay, look, tell you what I’ll do. You can either wait for The Silver Trumpet, which should’ve been ready by now, or you can choose one of the earlier books in the series. Can’t say fairer than that, can I? Let me know via email.
The comments keep coming, and we are approaching the fantastically exciting climax of our latest comment contest. Whoever posts Comment No. 25,000 wins an autographed copy of The Silver Trumpet, if we can ever get it printed–and there are fewer than 300 comments to go.
Everyone can play, and just about any comment is eligible, except for: comments abusive to another reader, blasphemy, profanity, ads disguised as comments, or remarks simply too inane to bother with.
I don’t know how long it will take to reach No. 25,000, but at the rate we’re going, it won’t be long at all.
The winner will probably become rich and famous, although I can’t quite guarantee that.
It’s been cold today, and we have a major snowstorm forecast for tomorrow, but warmer weather’s coming; and when it gets here, I want to be in trim to write my next Bell Mountain book. All I need is a plot, a title, and about 70,000 words of story.
First, though, I’ve got to read The Temptation–because I don’t remember what’s in it! You work very intensely on a book, and when you finally finish it, you hear a loud “Whoooosh!” as it all rushes out of your head. A few months later, it’s like you never wrote it: speaking only for myself, of course. I did leave several story lines that will have to be picked up. That’s somewhere to start, until the Lord gives me more to work with.
Yes, I know The Silver Trumpet (No. 10 in the series) comes before The Temptation, but I’m still waiting to get it from the printers. So for the time being I’ll devote my full attention to The Temptation. Ever since I lost 18 members of Lord Reesh’s personal staff between The Thunder King (No. 3) and The Last Banquet, I have had a dread of making an even bigger error. We do have Cathy, our great copy editor, to catch the ones that get away from me; but I’d rather not muff it in the first place.
“Why,” I pretend I hear you ask, “have you illustrated this post with a picture of The Palace? That’s Book No. 6. It doesn’t fit in here.”
Well, it’s only because The Palace, for some unfathomable reason, continues to lag behind the rest of the series and I would love to drum up some readership for it. And some customer reviews on amazon.com. Trust me: you don’t want to miss King Ryons’ hunt for the white doe, or Coronation Day in Obann.
Anyhow, I’ve started reading The Temptation and have already assuaged my fear that it might not measure up. I think it does.
But first we gotta get The Silver Trumpet printed!