Chasing the Bard

Take me with you…

..well at least take some of my words with you.

I am happy to announce that Chasing the Bard and Digital Magic are both available on a variety of ebook formats.

You can find it on the Nook, on the Sony e-reader, for the Kobo, on Diesel, on the Kindle (Chasing the Bard and Digital Magic) and on the ibook store for the iphone and ipad.

Or if you prefer your book DRM free, then buy the Smashwords versions

These books are slightly different from previous editions. I gave them another polish, and new shiny covers by Alex White. In Chasing the Bard you will also find a new Chapter Thirteen- one that was only previously podcast.

I am working on putting together an ebook version of my stories from Erotica a la Carte- so look for that in the coming month.

Chasing the Bard for free

In the spirit of the month, with Geist coming out, I’ve decided to release Chasing the Bard for free until the end of the year.

Yep. For Free.

I have done some minor edits and put in the new chapter from the podcast.

So grab it now- Epub â€“ Pdf

And enjoy the beautiful new cover art by the talented Alex White of the Gearheart. He is the definition of the renaissance man and you should definitely check out his podcast.

Feel free to let people know, and I hope you enjoy taking the text with you.

Closing of the Veil

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I hope no one will freak out with this news.

You will no longer be able to buy a print edition of Chasing the Bard or Digital Magic from DragonMoon Press.

OK… wow that was like ripping off a band-aid. Hopefully you are all still with me.

So let me explain. I signed with DMP back in 2003, and I still recall the excitement when I got my offer from Gwen. It was my first print deal, and a validation for me as a writer. They picked up Digital Magic and through them I got to know and work with Tee Morris. They also let me podcast my novels in their entirety- something unusual in the publishing world.

They gave me me a lot, but things do change. Writing for a living is hard, and unfortunately it has been my experience that being with an indie press does not bring in enough dollars to keep body and soul together.

That may sound harsh, but this year has meant making some hard choices. That’s the difference between having writing as a hobby and having it be your business.

I wish Gwen and Grabrielle at DragonMoon all the best, and thank them for the time and effort they put into teaching me about writing and the industry.

If you want to snag a papercopy of either of these books then I suggest getting in now… they could become collector’s editions. 🙂

So it isn’t all dark clouds and grim news. Times they are a changing, but there will not be a shortage of paper books from me. In the next year I will have three books coming out with both Ace and Eos. So I hope you hang in there with me, and together we’ll see how the ride pans out.

Bard on your internet radio dial

Erotica a la carte has been lots of fun on Radio Dentata– and so it was lovely to be approached by Sean Owens of IRFT Celtic Radio about bringing Chasing the Bard to their station.

My celtic roots run deep with ancestors both Scottish and Irish. My two trips to Scotland were some of the most wonderful experiences- I felt a deep sense of home that left me in tears when I had to go.

Chasing the Bard fits nicely into their schedule and hopefully will bring some new listeners to the podcast.

So tune in for the Bard on 7th of March

Tropes and bards

The wonderful DDog has just added Â Chasing the Bard to TV Tropes website and it was a very interesting thing for me as the writer to read.

A trope is a common pattern or theme and they have been around since humanity first decided that telling stories was a great idea. Some of the ones DDog picked up on are powerful tropes that get repeated again and again in literature and film. Such as;

The Chosen One; a person with a destiny to forfill- in CTB’s case William Shakespeare. (actually I think Will has two destinies- saving the world and writing great Art)

Ultimate Evil; The big Bad Creature who is not usually seen until the end. In CTB that was the Unmaker- my worst nightmare- the flip side of creativity.

Lady of War; The beautiful, powerful woman who will kick your ass. In CTB this is Sive- naturally, but these types abound in literature, and probably stem from the original war goddess- the Morrigan, Kali etc. Women give life, but they can also take it.

As a writer does that mean you should avoid writing tropes? I would challenge you to write a story without one of them cropping up. They are common themes for a reason- they speak to the human condition and have for centuries. It comes down to the old adage, there’s no such thing as a new story. However if you give a hundred people a trope, say ‘farm boy finds he is the Chosen One’ you will get a hundred different stories. We all see things differently, we’ve all had different lives so our stories will always be unique to us.

So have fun with tropes- twist them, reconfigure them- but please don’t lose sleep over them.

And thanks to DDog for taking the time to unravel all the tropes in Chasing the Bard- some of them I didn’t even realize were there!