Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

This debut novel by Jeffrey Overstreet is a stunning blend of a unique fantasy world, evocative descriptions, and quirky characters. What's not to love?

In many ways Auralia's Colors reads like a literary novel. Here's the opening sequence:

Auralia lay still as death, like a discarded doll, in a burgundy tangle of rushes and spineweed on the bank of a bend in the River Throanscall, when she was discovered by an old man who did not know her name.

She bore no scars, no broken bones, just the stain of inkblack soil. Contentedly, she cooed, whispered, and babbled, learning the river's language, and focused her gaze on the stormy dance of evening sky--roiling purple clouds edged with blood red. The old man surmised she was waiting and listening for whoever, or whatever, had forsaken her there.

Those fevered moments of his discovery burnt into the old man's memory. In the years that followed, he would hold and turn them in his mind the way an explorer ponders relics he has found in the midst of ruin. But the mystery remained stubbornly opaque. No matter how often he exaggerated the story to impress his fireside listeners--"I dove into that ragin' river and caught her by the toe!" "I fought off that hungry river wyrm with my picker-staff just in time!"-- he found no clue to her origins, no answers to questions of why or how.

The Gatherers, House Abascar, the Expanse--the whole world might have been different had he left her there with riverwater running from her hair. "The River Girl"--that was what the Gatherers came to call her until she grew old enough to set them straight. Without the River Girl, the four houses of the Expanse might have perished in their troubles. But then again, some say that without the River Girl those troubles might never have come at all.

Notice the colors in the description. Overstreet describes many vivid hues throughout the novel. They're particularly memorable because the former queen of House Abascar declared that color was only for royalty, and the common folk had to do without. Auralia does more than reject this commonly held system. Colors are created in her very hands. Where did she come from? Who left her in the river as a baby? And what will happen when the king discovers that she is flaunting his rules? (Hint: quite a lot, and it isn't nice.)

Auralia's Colors is a poetic story of generosity in the face of greed. I highly recommend this novel. You'll be hearing more about it--greater detail--in January, but for now, if you have anyone on your gift list that you would like to introduce to the fantasy genre, consider this novel.

Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead --Day 3

To my way of thinking, Stephen Lawhead used a unique set of tools in writing the second book of the King Raven Trilogy, Scarlet.

Here's the opening, first:

So, now. One day soon they hang me for a rogue. Fair enough. I have earned it a hundred times over, I reckon, and that's leaving a lot of acreage unexplored. The jest of it is, the crime for which I swing is the one offence I never did do. The sheriff will have it that I raised rebellion against the king.

I didn't.

Oh, there's much I've done that some would as soon count treason. For a fact, I et more of the king's venison than the king has et bread, and good men have lost their heads to royal pikes for far less; but in all my frolics I never breathed a disloyal word against the crown, nor tried to convince any man, boy, horse, or dog to match his deeds to mine. Ah, but dainties such as these are of no concern when princes have their tender feelings ruffled. It is a traitor they want to punish, not a thief. The eatin' o' Red William's game is a matter too trifling—more insult than crime—and it's a red-handed rebel they need. Too much has happened in the forests of the March and too much princely pride hangs in the balance to be mincing fair about a rascal poaching a few soft-eyed deer.

Until that ill-fated night, Will Scarlet ran with King Raven and his band of merry thieves. Ran fast and far, I did, let me tell you. Faster and farther than all the rest, and that's saying something. Here's the gist: it's the Raven Hood they want and cannot get. So, ol' Will is for the jump.

Poor luck, that. No less, no more.

They caught me crest and colours. My own bloody fault. There's none to blame but the hunter when he's caught in his own snare. I ask no pardon. A willing soul, I flew field and forest with King Raven and his flock. Fine fun it was, too, until they nabbed me in the pinch. Even so, if it hadn't a' been for a spear through my leg bone they would not a' got me either.

So, here we sit, my leg and me, in a dank pit beneath Count de Braose's keep. I have a cell—four walls of stone and a damp dirt floor covered with rotting straw and rancid rushes. I have a warden named Guibert, or Gulbert or some such, who brings me food and water when he can be bothered to remember, and unchains me from time to time so I can stretch the cramps a bit and wash my wound. I also have my very own priest, a young laggard of a scribe who comes to catch my wild tales and pin them to the pages of a book to doom us all.

So...a good portion of the story is told like this, in Will's first-person point-of-view as he tells his tale to Odo, his scribe. As long as Will has more to say that might interest the Count, he gets to live. And so he talks. And Odo interrupts often enough that the reader doesn't forget that this is the main frame for the novel. Other parts are told in third-person, parts of the story that Will apparently doesn't know at the time.

I think it's a risky way to bounce about in a story, but somehow Lawhead pulls it off. It took me quite awhile to get into this novel, though. If I hadn't enjoyed Hood so much...and wasn't committed to reading Scarlet for this book tour, I'm not sure I would have stayed with the story long enough to get immersed. As it turns out, the story was well worth it. And I'm looking forward to reading Tuck when it is released.

Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead -- Day 2

The opening scene of Hood is, sadly a prologue, showing the main character, Bran (not Robin Hood!) as a child:

The pig was young and wary, a yearling boar timidly testing the wind for strange scents as it ventured out into the honey-coloured light of a fast-fading day. Bran ap Brychan, Prince of Elfael, had spent the entire day stalking the greenwood for a suitable prize, and he meant to have this one.

Eight years old and the king's sole heir, he knew well enough that he would never be allowed to go out into the forest alone. So rather than seek permission, he had simply taken his bow and four arrows early that morning and stolen from the caer unnoticed. This hunt, like the young boar, was dedicated to his mother, the queen.

She loved the hunt and gloried in the wild beauty and visceral excitement of the chase. Even when she did not ride herself, she would ready a welcome for the hunters with a saddle cup and music, leading the women in song. "Don't be afraid," she told Bran when, as a toddling boy, he had been dazzled and a little frightened by the noise and revelry. "We belong to the land. Look, Bran!" She lifted a slender hand toward the hills and the forest rising like a living rampart beyond. "All that you see is the work of our Lord's hand. We rejoice in his provision."

Stricken with a wasting fever, Queen Rhian had been sick most of the summer, and in his childish imaginings, Bran had determined that if he could present her with a stag or a boar that he had brought down all by himself, she would laugh and sing as she always did, and she would feel better. She would be well again.

All it would take was a little more patience and . . .

This is a short prologue (You can read the rest of it, along with part of the first chapter here. It begins to set the scene of a headstrong child bent on a treat for his ill mother. I'm curious, what do you think of this as an opener? Does it make you want to click the link and read a bit more?

Stephen Lawhead is by far not the only established author to use prologues, even while I hear a lot against them in writing circles. What do you think? Do you tend to read them or skip them?

For the record, Lawhead does not use the same device in writing Scarlet. The books are quite different, while continuing the main story. We'll have a look at the second book tomorrow.

Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead

Is it possible to have too much Robin Hood?

Some might think so, but Stephen Lawhead is not one of their number.

He envisioned an entire trilogy devoted to the subject--the King Raven Trilogy: Hood came out in 2006, Scarlet was released this September, while Tuck is due out in 2009 (the gap due to a serious illness).

So what can be said about Robin Hood that is new and different--three books worth, no less? Stephen Lawhead wondered what era would best support the legends as we know them, and searched through history to find a time period and political structure for that purpose.

He uncovered the England and Wales of the eleventh century under the reign of William the Red, and tossed aside Sherwood Forest for the march lands of Elfael in Wales. In Lawhead's words:

New rulers of the realm (the Normans) meant strange new laws in the land. One of the most hated was known as Forest Law--a set of highly questionable legal codes designed solely for the benefit of the crown-wearer and his cronies, and not at all confined to "forests" as we understand the word (areas of dense woodland), but could encompass large tracts of grassland, marsh, and moorland. Entire villages were razed and burned to the ground, sometimes because the settlement occupied land that the king, or members of his court, had identified as prime real estate for hunting. Other times destruction was inflicted as punishment for an infraction--such as rebellion or treason--by the local lord....

All of a sudden it was a serious crime to trespass on royal land, and the hapless victim caught within the royal forest precinct faced losing a hand or an eye at best, or if worse came to worst, death by hanging.

Does that begin to sound like the backdrop for the Robin Hood story that we know? Backdrop, yes. But the story takes some serious turns from the Walt Disney version my kids had memorized in the 80s. For one thing, there are no talking foxes. (Who knew?)

In research I'm doing for my own work-in-progress, Sebastian, I've been studying castles. Sites like this one teach not only a lot about historical castles but about the time period Lawhead writes about: William the Conqueror. Truly this was a volatile period in the history of the British Isles and I can appreciate anew his choice to play Robin Hood upon that stage.

Tomorrow we'll have a look at the first book, Hood and on Wednesday we'll talk a bit about Scarlet, the story of Will Scatlocke, also known as Will Scarlet.

To see what other bloggers are saying, check out some of these links: Trish Anderson, Brandon Barr, Wayne Thomas Batson, Jim Black, Justin Boyer, Grace Bridges, Amy Browning, Jackie Castle, CSFF Blog Tour, D. G. D. Davidson, Chris Deanne, Jeff Draper, April Erwin, Linda Gilmore, Beth Goddard, Marcus Goodyear, Andrea Graham, Jill Hart, Katie Hart, Sherrie Hibbs, Timothy Hicks, Christopher Hopper, Becca Johnson, Jason Joyner, Kait, Karen, Dawn King, Tina Kulesa, Mike Lynch, Margaret, Karen McSpadden, Melissa Meeks, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Mirtika or Mir's Here, Eve Nielsen, John W. Otte, John Ottinger, Lyn Perry, Deena Peterson, Rachelle, Cheryl Russel, Ashley Rutherford, Hanna Sandvig, Chawna Schroeder, James Somers, Rachelle Sperling, Steve Trower, Speculative Faith, Robert Treskillard, Jason Waguespac, Daniel I. Weaver, Laura Williams, Timothy Wise

Marks pass pretty much done!

I've done the read-through of Marks of Repentance and the spell check and all that fun stuff, and discovered one little scene missing, which I'll write and tuck in within the next couple of days. I've promised a few people they could read this version and I'm not sure who. Er...sorry. If it was you, please email me and I'll get it off to you by mid-week.

I completed another big project today, the crit of Selkie for Mar. Much as I like both her novel and mine, I'm very excited to leave those files closed and open different ones.

Jean's a bad influence on me. She was sharing bits of her Nano-novel with me the other day and we were chatting about how bad a house could get if ignored. Well, for Nano '05 I wrote an inspirational romance that I've been gleefully ignoring ever since, remembering all the issues with the story. But because I thought I remembered some fun scenes where the male mc, Dean, deals with his house and his 12-year old twins, I opened the file.

Why?

So now it's in Jean's hot little hands, and she is ZIPPING at the Nano finish line. Not just so she can read this unnamed, unedited, very rough novel, I'm sure. But now I've read the darn thing through myself from beginning to end and I'm curious what she thinks. I have the next two revision projects lined up already. As well as a writing one. I don't really want my apple cart upset. It would be nice if I could revise a novel in less than ten months, I guess. And being as these two (three? :P ) are pre-critique revisions, they will go faster. Next round, after somebody besides me has actually looked at them in the cold light of day--THAT round goes much slower.

But still, do I really want to write romances? Do I have ideas for more of them?

Help.

Sebastian has friends!

I've recommended Holly Lisle's writing clinics a time or two I think. I've loaded them onto my Palm and have been reading through them a bit at a time in the evenings (I get to spend half an hour a day flat on my back on the floor, and the Palm is easy to hold and read from in that position, easier than a book!) I've read the Character Clinic twice in the past couple months, planning to use it to *build* Sebastian.

Sebastian doesn't want to be built that way. Bits of the clinic are stuck in the back of my head and will no doubt be useful, or the whole thing might be useful on a different character, but not Sebastian.

Mind you, he didn't really want to talk today anyway. Maybe he's in a huff because I've been putting him off? However, I learned some very interesting things today about the two people who will join him on his adventure, Curtis and Evelyn. Evelyn's life has been so lousy I'm almost guilt-ridden as I figure out how to make it worse. Does it count that I expect an HEA ending? (happily ever after)

I'm sure you're wondering if this means that Marks is done. Well, define done! I'm still doing read-through, I'm about a third done that. I know I'll have to tidy up stuff in the last chapter for sure as that is rough draft. But I got the proposal off a couple days ago and so the pressure is lowered just a little. I know there have been times in this past year that this process has been beyond tedious, but as I'm reading through, I still love the story. I've worked on it on and off for three years now--including most of 2007--so that's saying something. I hope I like some of my other stories as well when I'm that immersed. Need to get there to find out.

Onward.

The Restorer's Son by Sharon Hinck

I've become a devoted fan of Sharon Hinck. I've recently finished her fourth novel, which is second in a fantasy series called Swords of Lyric. The Restorer's Son picks up the tale from Kieran's point-of-view, shortly after the close of The Restorer:

"Hills of Hazor take you," I swore for at least the tenth time since first light. My sword hacked at thick underbrush, but when I shouldered my way forward, a twig snapped back to hit my face. I cursed the day I'd met the last Restorer. It was because of her that I was battling through this forsaken forest below Cauldron Falls. My blade deserved a more substantial enemy.

A squint-eyed badger rambled out from a thornbush and paused to sniff the air. It bristled and ducked back under cover. Wise plan. I was hungry. Stinging beetles landed on me from the low-hanging branches overhead. I swatted them away and stalked onward.

Why hadn't I convinced Tristan to leave her in Shamgar when she first turned up? A witness to his crime, and he had brought her to our refuge in the deserted city. Typical. He was a naïve idiot sometimes.

She hadn't looked very threatening that day--rain-soaked, bloody, and unconscious. If only I'd known then how much trouble she was capable of causing. What was that old saying? Don't judge a rizzid's menace until you see its teeth.

The trouble had started when a deep scrape on her face healed. Instantly. Hairs on my neck pricked as if I'd touched a misaligned magchip. I'd heard the old stories but I'd never seen it happen. It had been years since our people had chased after a mythic Restorer, but I knew the signs.

Exactly the kind of problem we hadn't needed. We would have been in enough danger if she were just a Council spy or some other enemy. But as I had watched her wounds vanish, I knew that if she also had Restorer powers, things were going to get very complicated.

And they did.

As you can see, he didn't much like the woman who had been the last Restorer, Susan Mitchell. And he doesn't like the situation now any better. Sometimes a reluctant hero makes it difficult to get into a story (I know some folks enjoy books like that but I generally avoid them!) but I didn't find it so with Kieran. Perhaps it was because I'd already met him in the previous novel where he was one of the supporting cast.

I can't say too much about this sequel without giving away too much of either book one or book two except that it didn't disappoint. Sharon Hinck has a way of tossing at least one real surprise into each novel and the twist in The Restorer's Son was a doozy.

This series is a must-read for lovers of clean fantasy. Best of all, the third book, The Restorer's Journey will be out in January, so it's not that long to wait. Good thing, because, while one arc of the story is obviously finished, a new door has opened to introduce the final installment.

Photos

I'd actually forgotten to upload these photos from my camera last week after our visit to Hanna and Craig's. Must be that we looked at them on their computer and somehow my brain figured I was done? Dunno. At any rate:

We went for a drive and came across a flock of bighorn sheep along a narrow road. Hubby took a few photos out the truck window; this was the best one.


A little further up the road, hubby found the trail head for Tulip Creek Falls, all covered with autumn leaves just waiting to be kicked around!



As we approached the falls, we came across this mushroom covered rock!



Typical autumn picture along the creek, with so many leaves fallen in:




Definitely worth the short hike in to see these falls!



This weekend we've spent a lot of time working on the kitchen cabinetry. About half of my upper cabinets are now installed and looking oh-so-good :D I'll do photos of the kitchen again after the next phase...getting close.

Sebastian came out to play today!

Today I let Sebastian out of the box for an hour or two. Now the lid is back on, but he keeps thumping on it. He wants out. He wants to run rampant in his little world and show it to me. He wants to play and do what Sebastians do best...program computers.

What I want to know is how a genius teenage boy got into my brain? Cause really, it's not like we have a lot in common. Other than wanting to create our own worlds, I suppose.

In other news, I'm sick and tired of going over blurbs and synopsiseseses and opening scenes with a fine-tooth comb. Just saying.

I want to go play with Sebastian. I'm sure it would be great fun.

I'm sitting on the lid. But I don't want to.

Still grinding along

I've started getting critiques back on both the synopsis and the opening scenes of Marks of Repentance. I've spent some time buffing the synopsis in the past few days--and writing *the pitch*. Think of that as back cover copy. Something short, just a few sentences to intrigue the reader. Kristin, an agent with Nelson who blogs at Pub Rants, has been doing a series of posts on writing the pitch. She's dissected nine from various genres in the past week or two and it's helped me to cement what I'm looking for in writing my own pitch.

Hope Nano is going well for all participants. Guess you folk are too busy to stop by and say hello!

Coming together

Now the new first chapter is completed, three scenes each of about a thousand words. These incorporate bits of what used to be chapters three and four with a lot of new material--and lots of the former first chapter got tossed--so I'm reading through (again) making the changes to keep the story flowing through this section. Don't need the characters having the same conversation twice!

I'm currently through chapter eight with this continuity check, and I expect to discover a hiccup or two in the ending chapters anyway that will require real editing. And then there's the spell-check round.

I have a specific goal date and agent in mind for a proposal package, so I'm working through the synopsis one more time, plus the query letter and all that good stuff. I'm getting nervous. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Meanwhile, the main character from my newest idea keeps drifting through my mind, wondering if I'm ready to play yet.

Not yet, Sebastian. A little more patience. Another week, perhaps.

Marks opening scene # 83

Or something.

But I think I've found it! I really really think I've found the right spot to enter this story. The right setting, the right confrontation, the right characters in place. I'm LOVING it. It has a HOOK!!!!

What I'm not loving is the fact that the second scene doesn't follow the first scene. And I could have nightmares about trying to find the right place for the story to rejoin the path of its being. Tomorrow may be soon enough for that.

Book Tour - Illuminated by Matt Bronleewe

When the blog tour book list for October came out way back a few months ago, I said to my husband, "Here, this sounds like your kind of book." So I read him the little blurb thingy and he agreed. I told him I'd get it for him if he promised to read it and review it for the tour this week.

What's the book about? Well, Illuminated sounds like some sort of cross between National Treasure, the Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones, the Knights Templar...and a bunch of stuff out of Matt Bronleewe's head.

From the back cover:

August Adams has failed his family before. He's sacrificed relationships in pursuit of adventure, fame, and money. Now the very lives of those he loves depends on his ability to decipher a centuries-old puzzle encrypted in the colorful hand-pained illuminations that adorn three rare Gutenberg Bibles.

It's a secret that could yield unimaginable wealth, undermine two major religions, and change the course of Western civilization. Two ruthless, ancient organizations are willing to do anything to get their hands on it. And August has the span of one transatlantic flight to figure it out.

If he fails, those he holds most dear will die. If he succeeds, he'll destroy a national treasure.

The clock ticks, the suspense mounts, and the body count rises as August pits his knowledge and his love for his family against the clock, secret societies, and even Johannes Gutenberg himself

So we've had the novel for about a week now, but hubby (DH) has been working out of town quite a bit of that time. I've noticed him reading it though, so it's time to interview him for this report.

VRC: How far into the novel are you?

DH: Three quarters or so...and I read the last chapter!

VRC: Are you going to read the pages in between?

DH: Yep.

VRC: What do you think of it so far?

DH: I enjoyed it; it's a tight book with lots of twists and turns.

VRC: What have you liked best?

DH: The characters and the initial premise, how he gets trapped and figures out what is going on, with two opposing sides working against each other. And he's caught in the middle.

VRC: What would you say is the book's weakness?

DH: Nothing, I've enjoyed the book so far.

VRC: Who would you recommend this novel to?

DH: Anyone who likes thinking books with a twist, action adventure books, suspense.

NaNoWriMo

November is almost upon us and with that comes NaNoWriMo, more commonly known as Nano and actually short for National Novel Writing Month. Never mind that it's international, not national, and that the actual goal is to write 50,000 words of a brand-new novel in the month of November. Which doesn't usually complete a novel unless it is Young Adult or an unfleshed-out draft.

Nano is great fun. Zillions of people sign up and egg each other on. Lots of people don't make it to 50K. But then again, a lot of them do. I have, three times. In 2004 I got 50K into the first draft of a fantasy spoof, Quest to be Queen, which I completed in March of '05. That's the next novel I'm planning to revise because I'm needing lots of good laughs, and Quest will provide those.

In 2005 I decided to try my hand at writing an inspirational romance, which is still unnamed though I did make it through 54K. It has a few really good scenes in it and, I suppose, some potential. If I ever decide to seriously aim for a career in writing romance I'll certainly dust this one off. However, in the meanwhile, I'm not feelin' it calling to me.

In 2006 I wrote a 57K YA fantasy dubbed The Girl Who Cried Squid. I had a great time with this novel, also, and it's on the list for revision right behind Quest.

So, 2007...and I'm not doing Nano this year. Why not? Three of my seven first drafts were written during Nano! It seems as though the process works! Well, it does and it doesn't. I was going stir crazy this summer and wrote a bunch of words on a contemporary women's novel, Connect the Dot. I totally did this just for fun and because I really really needed to be creating something. The revision of Marks of Repentance was taking waaaaay too long.

So what have I learned? I think I need to have a writing project on the go: something I can work on a little at a time and that it's okay if it takes a year to finish a draft instead of a month. Because every novel I write needs at least two more full passes, maybe more. So truly, my first drafting should be taking up (approximately) a quarter to a third of my writing time. Jamming that into one month in the fall, with overflow, isn't cutting it for me. It makes it too long between creative times. If I could write one, revise one it would probably work, but then the first drafts would start building up and it would take forever to get something ready for market.

So this is my new plan. Not sure if it will work or not, but I need to try something new. I'm one of those people that, upon proving to myself that I can accomplish something difficult--and 50,000 words in a month is not a walk in the park--doesn't feel compelled to keep proving that I can do it.

Lots of my writing pals are signed up and raring to go: Mar, Jean, Bonnie, Erin...maybe others. I'm happy to cheer them on! But I'm sitting out this one.

Book Tour - The Bark of the Bog Owl -- Day 3

Besides the very popular Wilderking series for children, Jonathon Rogers is also the author of The World According to Narnia - Christian Meaning in C.S. Lewis' Beloved Chronicles. He is in a unique position to write such a book being as he holds a Ph.D. in seventeenth-century English literature from Vanderbilt University.

Some of the highlights of the tour include:
Brandon Barr talks about the way fantasy can help us look at Bible stories with a fresh eye. Grace Bridges has a great review; she also noticed the connection to the wildness aspect that I referred to in yesterday's post. Janey DeMeo, who accepts the fact that she is a LOTR fan, interviewed Jonathan Rogers to ask about the influences Tolkein may have had on his work.

Andrea Graham questions the validity of a fantasy story that borrow heavily for setting (Georgia), plot (the biblical story of David), and an old-fashioned story telling style. What can I say? It seems to work! Mike Lynch has a thoughtful review. Robert Treskillard complains that he had a hard time getting into the stories, but only because his teenagers made him wait in line for his opportunity to start. Eve Nielsen breaks down the stats for the story in a fun-filled way.

Deena Peterson is having a give-away...but you have to scroll waaaaaaaay down on her blog to find the post. And on the flip side of that coin, Cheryl Russel says she gives away lots of books, and this will NOT be one of them. It's a keeper!

Hanna Sandvig looks at the website with the eye of an artist. James Somers has reviews, not only of The Bark of the Bog Owl but the other stories in the trilogy. Steve Trower contemplates that so many fantasy novels are about a boy named Aidan (spellings variable, but still...)

Whew! Lots of interesting stuff for the Christian Science Fiction Fantasy Blog Tour this month! Did I miss anything unique?

Book Tour -- The Bark of the Bog Owl -- Day 2

Jonathan Rogers is the father of six kids. As such, he first of all wrote The Bark of the Bog Owl (and the remainder of the Wilderking Trilogy) for his children.

At DayStar E-store, Rogers' bio reads like this:

Rising author Jonathan Rogers' takes biblical fiction to a new level in imaginative fantasy.

Inspired by Tolkien and Lewis Georgia-born author Jonathan Rogers will thrill faith fiction readers of all ages. Desiring to teach his own boys about moral excellence, and encouraged by recent John Eldredge and James Dobson blockbusters, Rogers explains:

"Books like WILD AT HEART and BRINGING UP BOYS remind us that to raise a God-fearing boy is not to domesticate him, but rather to harness and direct his sense of adventure - his God-given wildness. But parents inspired by these books still face the challenge of finding books that will inspire their boys. The Bark of the Bog Owl grows out of my desire to write that kind of book."

Jonathan Rogers grew up in Georgia, where he spent many happy hours in the swamps and riverbottoms on which the wild places of The Wilderking are based. He received his undergraduate degree from Furman University in South Carolina and holds a Ph.D. in seventeenth-century English literature from Vanderbilt University. The Bark of the Bog Owl has already found a receptive audience among Jonathan’s own six children. The Rogers clan lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where Jonathan makes a living as a freelance writer. The Bark of the Bog Owl is his first novel.

Rogers' characters have as much in common with Huck Finn as they do with Frodo Baggins. The author himself says the swampy settings of the novel are rooted in his native Georgia, and those places lend a freshness to the story not found in many other modern fantasies.

What was it I noticed?

It's been less than a year since John Eldredge's book Wild at Heart has come to my attention. Honestly, it's something I wish had been around when we were raising our son (now an adult) because it resonated so deeply with both my husband and I when we read it. Eldredge examines what has happened to manhood in our society and what it really means to be masculine in today's world.

Now I am thinking back to Rogers' novels with a new understanding. He didn't write the *feechiefolk* and their rough and tumble lifestyle (complete with great insults and mocking poetry) just for the fun of having wild people in his novels. He wanted to show the wildness that is in a boy's heart, wanted to respond to it, wanted to nurture it.

If you have ever wondered how to raise a boy effectively, read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. But if you want your son to RESONATE (that's today's word in case you missed it: resonate) with who his heart longs to be, give him The Bark of the Bog Owl to read.

Mind you, the feechies are a great invention any which way you look at them, even if they're not precisely role-models. And while the stories are admittedly aimed straight at boys, girls are not immune to the charms of the feechies either. Though they might not consider them charming.

Book Tour -- The Bark of the Bog Owl

I discovered Jonathan Rogers in the summer of 2006 and posted a review here of my delight in his first fantasy novel for children, The Bark of the Bog Owl.

Now as life sometimes goes, my copy for this blog tour didn't arrive so I'm especially thankful that I've had a chance to read the first two books previously, though I don't have them on hand. Really--if you have kids, especially boys ages 8-12 or so, pick up the Wilderking Trilogy.

Here's how Rogers describes The Bark of the Bog Owl:

"The trilogy tells the story of Aidan Errolson, a shepherd boy who finds out that it is his destiny to be the Wilderking, the long-prophesied wild man who will come from the forests and swamps to set things right in the island kingdom of Corenwald. Along the way he falls in with the feechiefolk, a tribe of semi-civilized swamp people who fight too much, cry too easily, laugh at jokes they’ve heard a hundred times, and smell terrible. I like to call the Wilderking Trilogy a “fantasy-adventure story told in an American accent.”

Ah, that's good but it doesn't give a FEEL for the story itself. I think we need the opening paragraphs to do that--you knew I couldn't resist, even though I apparently was already into copying the first paragraphs as long ago as that previous post:

His Majesty, King Darrow of Corenwald,
Protector of the People,
Defender of the Faith,
Keeper of the Island
Tambluff Castle
West Bank of the River Tam
Tambluff, Corenwald

My Dearest King--
You will be glad to learn that I am still available for any quest, adventure, or dangerous mission for which you might need a champion or knight-errant. I specialize in dragon-slaying, but would be happy to fight pirates or invading barbarians if circumstances require. I would even be willing to rescue a fair maiden imprisoned by evil relatives. That would not be my first choice, since I am not of marrying age. Still, in peaceful and prosperous times like these, an adventurer takes whatever work he can find. As always, I am at your service and eagerly await your reply.

Yours very sincerely,
Aidan Errolson of Longleaf Manor

P.S. I have not yet received an answer to my last letter - or to my fourteen letters before that. Mail service being what it is on the frontier, I assume your replies were lost. I hope you don’t mind that I have taken the liberty of writing again.

Holding the stiff palmetto paper between ink-stained fingers, Aidan admired his letter one more time before rolling it and putting it back in his side pouch. The mail wagon wouldn’t be by for another couple of days, and he thought it best to keep the letter on hand, in case another postscript came to him. Besides being an avid letter-writer, Aidan Errolson was a warrior and an adventurer. He lived to ride with King Darrow’s armies. He thrilled to hear the clank of plate armor, the bright ring of a sword unsheathed. He would rather sleep on a bedroll in a battle camp than in the finest bed in the finest castle in all of Corenwald.

At least, that’s who he was on the inside.

If you want to read the rest of the first chapter, go here.

One of the most unique bits about these books is the feechiefolk. In an interview here, the Q&A goes like this:

In Bark of the Bog Owl, we are introduced to Dobro and the Feechies. How did you come up with the idea for the Feechie people—their distinct culture?

Believe it or not, there's a person out there who inspired Dobro! I came back to my hometown for a couple of summers, while I was in the PhD program at Vanderbilt, to work for a remodeling crew. I worked with a fellow named Jake, who lived way out in the woods somewhere. Most nights he went out hunting wild boar in the riverbottom forests. He didn’t carry a gun. He had some dogs that would catch the hog, and he’d whirl in with a length of rope and tie it up. He and his buddies would carry the boar out of the woods on a pole, alive. He came to work crying one morning because an alligator had eaten his dog. I thought, "Wow, what a world this is; I'm living this suburban, academic life, but I'm working shoulder to shoulder with a guy who lives this way!"

That's the idea of the Feechiefolks—their wild existence is buzzing in the trees around the civilizers, and the civilizers don't quite realize it. I had thought, back when I worked with Jake, "If I ever write a book, I'd love to have Jake in it." And there he is! Dobro is a bit exaggerated—Jake wasn't quite that wild, but he was pretty wild. That notion of valuing physical courage that's so important to the Feechiefolks came from Jake and his crowd. I might value physical courage, but I'm not going go out in the woods and tie up a wild boar!

So I was wandering the internet for interesting tidbits to share and came across some references that I'm sure existed when I researched the first blog post but hadn't really observed. Sometimes we have to see things a few different places before they start to resonate. What did I notice about the reason Rogers writes about wild places and wild boys? Come back tomorrow and we'll talk about it.

Here are the other tour members who will have their own interesting take on The Bark of the Bog Owl:
Brandon Barr, Jim Black, Justin Boyer, Grace Bridges, Amy Browning, Jackie Castle, CSFF Blog Tour, D. G. D. Davidson, Chris Deanne, Janey DeMeo , Merrie Destefano, Alien Dream, Jeff Draper , April Erwin, Linda Gilmore, Marcus Goodyear, Andrea Graham, Jill Hart, Katie Hart, Sherrie Hibbs, Christopher Hopper, Becca Johnson, Jason Joyner, Karen, Dawn King, Mike Lynch, Rachel Marks, Karen McSpadden, Melissa Meeks, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Eve Nielsen, John W. Otte, Lyn Perry , Deena Peterson , Rachelle, Cheryl Russel, Ashley Rutherford, Hanna Sandvig, Chawna Schroeder, James Somers, Steve Trower, Speculative Faith, Donna Swanson, Daniel I. Weaver, Laura Williams, Timothy Wise

Laptop Love

Being as hubby's rotation had him away at work all weekend and I hadn't been feeling the greatest lately, I sweet-talked him into leaving the laptop home for me. I mean, I know I have two desktop computers (one at work and one at home) and of course the adorable Palm Tungsten E2 but none of those are a laptop. And I envisioned comfy hours in my recliner with heat on my back, surfing the internet and working away all weekend.

Still, all sitting is bad--even in the world's greatest recliner. So I brought the timer over and set it for 45 minutes...and began critting a novel for Mar. When the timer went off, I re-set it for 15 minutes and went off to do some housework.

The second set I spent working on my synopsis of Marks of Repentance. The first market I'm looking at wants a synopsis of 1-3 pages and mine is currently 2, so that at least is a help. What is hard for me to tell is if it is clear, so it's going out to a few folk who aren't familiar with the novel and then I'll see where I've confuzelated things. (Great word, huh?) And then 15 minutes of housework.

Third set I spent at the desk-top computer working on my family calendar that I take on every year. This is the ninth annual coming up! It's not at crunch point yet--still waiting for some photos to come in from family, but I was pleased with what I got done even so. And 15 minutes of housework.

Then I went back to the synopsis. And housework. And critting. And housework.

By then it was late afternoon and I decided I'd had enough productivity. So I went on to other things, like cooking up a LOT of dry beans and making a mega-pot of soup. Canned some of the beans and saved the rest for today, when I also canned up the soup. Yes, I'm crazy.

The beauty of the laptop came into play again, because with the wireless now set up on the broadband, I could leave the laptop open on the peninsula (well away from stove and sink) and work on things while the canner canned. So I worked through a few more chapters of crit. And now I'm blogging from the recliner again! Gotta love it.

When one of my desktop computers dies, I'll replace with a laptop and the remaining desktop will live at home. I think I still want to have at least one desktop though.

Spoiled? Perhaps. Three computers (and two Palms) might seem like over-kill for two people. The same two people have only two vehicles--one, if you count the fact that the truck has been out of commission for a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be home, (almost) as good as new tomorrow. I hope. I'm ready for my own wheels again too.

It's been a lovely weekend.

Crimson Eve by Brandilyn Collins

Even though Brandilyn Collins writes suspenseful books (and we all know how I feel about being scared!), I seem to have gotten into the habit of reading a lot of her books, at least her Kanner Lake series. So when book three Crimson Eve came out recently, I decided to get a copy to talk about here.

Let's talk about the opening paragraphs, shall we? (You knew that was coming!) Here's the excerpt:

"Really, is a heinous murder any reason to devalue such a glorious piece of real estate?"

The words rolled off the man's tongue in a luscious British accent and with a hint of tease, lending him a cocky James Bond air. He was dashingly handsome (a good British description, what?). Dark hair, rich brown eyes, a jaw cut just so--not too square, but firm. Carla Radling glanced at his left hand. No ring. But then he'd already intimated he was single. A real-estate developer, he'd said over the phone yesterday. And apparently rich, although no proper English gentleman would say so. He was "seeking a beautiful and private piece of property near water as a second home," and the half-page ad in Dream Homes had caught his eye. If he liked the place, he'd pay cash.

To think she'd complained about the high cost of the ad.

Behind them, the heavy wrought-iron gates of the estate that once belonged to the late actress Edna San closed with a muted clang. Carla steered her white Toyota Camry down the impressive driveway curving through the forest. Her client, David Thornby--although James Bond fit so much better--dignified her front seat. His legs, in impeccable beige trousers, were confidently apart, his left arm draped over the console, fingers casually drumming. His navy sport jacket boasted a thousand-dollar weave.

So what can we learn from these paragraphs? We figure out that Carla, the MC, is in real estate and that she is very hopeful of clinching a large deal today...and maybe more. We see a clear picture of the man--David--and a sense of the location. And knowing Brandilyn Collins, the hint that all is not as it seems is not far in coming.

Have a look at that very first line again, will you? Once you've read further, you get a feel for the irony of that statement, coming from David Thornby. Indeed. The twist is just ahead.

While many of the characters in this story have appeared in the earlier books in this series, Violet Dawn and Coral Moon, you really wouldn't have to have read them to enjoy Crimson Eve. You *do* have to be ready for a roller coaster ride, though. As Brandilyn Collins' tag line says: Don't forget to b r e a t h e...

(Oh, hey! I just heard about a special offer from Brandilyn herself: A giveaway of signed copies of Crimson Eve! To qualify, you must be able to state you've never read one of her books (tell me in comments, and leave your email addy in a format that a spam-bot can't pick up). The first FIFTY names she receives (from the continental USA) will receive a complimentary novel! I'll forward any comments in to her as soon as I see them, so don't delay! GOGOGO!)

Doin' the Happy Dance

My word count goal for Marks of Repentance all along has been 100K. Today I wrote THE END (for the third--or is it the fourth?--time) with 99,752 words.

Happy sigh.

The last 3000 words or so are pretty much brand new so I know I'll find plenty of little wording errors. Maybe even bigger errors. I may even have forgotten a thing or two I meant to include. And I have new plans for the opening scenes. I know I'm not REALLY done.

But for today, the file is DONE, saved, backed up and closed.

And I'm going to play with something else. No idea what yet. Maybe just customers...