If you're interested in reading the ARC and posting a review on your blog or website, please contact me by clicking on the link below:
SPIRIT SUMMONER ARC & REVIEW
Darr has the ability to hear the disembodied voices of the spirits. Unfortunately, the spirits have nothing useful to say. A young, inexperienced Spirit Summoner, Darr often wonders at the purpose of such a useless ability. When an unnatural fire sweeps through his village, Darr sets out on a mission of self-discovery and curiosity.
As a Spirit Summoner, Darr learns he can enter the spirit realm. There he has access to the elemental magic contained within the Sephirs, legendary artifacts that once promised balance for a world turning towards chaos. Now, the Sephirs’ powers are dwindling since their untimely disappearance, and Darr is at the center of the quest to find and recover them. Suddenly, Darr’s curiosity is a whirlpool threatening to drown him, but his compulsion to see things through locks him into a journey attracted to disaster.
For the Sephirs do more than restrain the primal forces of magic. The Devoid, an evil long caged and hungry, has begun to loosen the bars of its prison. If the Sephirs fail, the Devoid will escape and feed on the Light of the living until nothing remains.
And the Devoid knows Darr’s lack of confidence is the key needed to free itself completely.
THE CHOSEN OF THE LIGHT: SPIRIT SUMMONER is an epic fantasy novel from Wild Child Publishing.
WILD CHILD PUBLISHING
AMAZON
NOOK
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Spirit Summoner AVAILABLE NOW!
Here it is everyone, this is the moment I've been waiting for. Today I get to share with you the beginning of a story I've poured countless hours and effort into. In my mind, I'm introducing you to a child I've kept in the shadows most of my life. I hope you enjoy!
Order today at Wild Child Publishing or Amazon!
Order today at Wild Child Publishing or Amazon!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The Marketing Campaign Begins
When I first signed my contract with Wild Child Publishing, I was taken aback slightly when they asked me what my marketing plan was. Marketing plan? What's this nonsense? Isn't that what the publisher does? Unsure on how to answer the question, I told them honestly that I had a Facebook page and a blog, and that I was willing to work hard on both in order to generate some attention to both. Apparently, that answer was good enough, because they sent me a contract and now here I am today.
And where am I today exactly? Well, after months and months of waiting, I was assigned an editor with Wild Child. This was very exciting news for me. After all this waiting, I was beginning to worry that my book would forever be trapped in the limbo. But in the span of just a few days, my perceptions have been turned upside down; not only do I have an editor, but I have been instructed to begin my marketing campaign.
I should note that when I first answered the "marketing" question, I started to do some research and asked some people in my writing group about what I might expect. With e-book publishing, the authors are required to do some promoting. Sure, I have Wild Child's name and their resources for actually selling the book, but it is up to me to really get my name out there. One of the things that my editor told me that has really stuck with me these last few days is that my name is like a brand now, and my book is just one of my products. I have to attract attention to my name in order for people to get interested in my writing...at least, that's how I understand it.
This is exactly what I mean by a change in my perceptions. For years and years now, I have lived by this small idea in my head that my book it was all about the writing. And while that's true to some extent, it isn't entirely about the writing. It is also about me, and now that my book is close to publication, I am realizing this truth more and more.
My career as a writer is beginning, and I cannot sit idly by and expect to simply collect a check. My name will not be known in the sea of e-books out there unless I make it known. It really is up to me, and that, I think, is perhaps the scariest part of this entire endeavor.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Underappreciated Music?
My whole life, I have been into video games. I think originally, it started out as strictly a form of entertainment. It was something fun to do with friends, and to me, it was more entertaining than simply watching TV. But something happened to me around the age of 12 or 13, and the role that video games played in my life suddenly changed. No longer was it just mindless fun. When my friends and I first played Final Fantasy IV for the Super Nintendo, I watched and read as a wonderful story was told to me, accompanied by some of the most beautiful music I had ever heard (and not just in a video game).
Final Fantasy IV - Theme of Love
A song that plays behind the growing love story between the main character, Cecil, and the White Mage, Rosa. Cheesy? Yes. But a perfect song to accompany the story.
Final Fantasy IV - Toroian Beauty
A great song to accompany a truly beautiful new town to explore, Toroia was a "calm before the storm" in the story.
Final Fantasy IV - Battle With The Four Fiends
Ah, nothing could be more foreboding than the battles with Golbez's Four Fiends, and the music which played through those battles embodied that emotion.
This music is a constant reminder to me of the stories that were told and the adventures that filled my mind. And I am not the only one to feel this way, for I have found others out there who have been inspired and mesmerized by this wonderful music. Below are some other examples that have inspired me over the years (my apologies to any Square-Enix haters out there).
Final Fantasy X-2 - Akagi Party (Piano Version)
In game, this music is much different as it mostly background music sung (hummed) by a choir, but it is played during a particularly haunting part of the story. The piano version stands out much better, but I think it keeps the haunted feeling intact.
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep - Fate of the Unknown
This music plays during the ending scenes of the game when the three heroes, Terra, Ven, and Aqua, struggle against the game's villain, Xehanort. The fight is complex and difficult, and it does not end happily, but the music is beautiful as it incorporates all aspects of the "Kingdom Hearts" genre into the mix--mysterious, soft and slow, quick and hard, and wickedly triumphant. Every time I hear this, I am overwhelmed it's beauty and the memories of a truly bittersweet story.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - Metal Gear Saga
The Metal Gear storyline, as it weaves through a variety of sequels and prequels, is spectacular, complex, and oftentimes stunning with its harsh sociopolitical commentary. I think this music sums up the series nicely.
Super Mario RPG - Forest Maze REMIX
Something I have found in my travels hunting down video game music is a fairly widespread community of people who remix the songs. Inspired by something they love (like myself), many of these artists have set out to give something back to these songs. While the remixes vary considerably, the source music is almost always there, lending its memories of the story it accompanied (the "Forest Maze" original music makes an appearance around 3:26). In my experience, these remixes fail when the source music is not giving the attention it should, but I think this one fits the source perfectly.
Final Fantasy Crisis Core - The Price of Freedom
One of my all-time favorite songs. When I hear this, I can perfectly visualize the story this music plays through. The game takes us through the short career of Zach Fair as he fights for a ruthless company as a soldier. Zach fights through countless battles and uncovers startling truths about the world and about the "heroes" he fights with. After everything he endures throughout the game and the story, Zach attempts to return home to reunite with his love, but he ends up fighting to his death against a military force to protect his friend, Cloud (the same Cloud who will go on to become the main character in Final Fantasy VII). The song is bittersweet with its slow strings, but strong when the electric guitar comes in, perfectly summing up a character I came to respect.
Final Fantasy IV - Theme of Love
A song that plays behind the growing love story between the main character, Cecil, and the White Mage, Rosa. Cheesy? Yes. But a perfect song to accompany the story.
Final Fantasy IV - Toroian Beauty
A great song to accompany a truly beautiful new town to explore, Toroia was a "calm before the storm" in the story.
Final Fantasy IV - Battle With The Four Fiends
Ah, nothing could be more foreboding than the battles with Golbez's Four Fiends, and the music which played through those battles embodied that emotion.
This music is a constant reminder to me of the stories that were told and the adventures that filled my mind. And I am not the only one to feel this way, for I have found others out there who have been inspired and mesmerized by this wonderful music. Below are some other examples that have inspired me over the years (my apologies to any Square-Enix haters out there).
Final Fantasy X-2 - Akagi Party (Piano Version)
In game, this music is much different as it mostly background music sung (hummed) by a choir, but it is played during a particularly haunting part of the story. The piano version stands out much better, but I think it keeps the haunted feeling intact.
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep - Fate of the Unknown
This music plays during the ending scenes of the game when the three heroes, Terra, Ven, and Aqua, struggle against the game's villain, Xehanort. The fight is complex and difficult, and it does not end happily, but the music is beautiful as it incorporates all aspects of the "Kingdom Hearts" genre into the mix--mysterious, soft and slow, quick and hard, and wickedly triumphant. Every time I hear this, I am overwhelmed it's beauty and the memories of a truly bittersweet story.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - Metal Gear Saga
The Metal Gear storyline, as it weaves through a variety of sequels and prequels, is spectacular, complex, and oftentimes stunning with its harsh sociopolitical commentary. I think this music sums up the series nicely.
Super Mario RPG - Forest Maze REMIX
Something I have found in my travels hunting down video game music is a fairly widespread community of people who remix the songs. Inspired by something they love (like myself), many of these artists have set out to give something back to these songs. While the remixes vary considerably, the source music is almost always there, lending its memories of the story it accompanied (the "Forest Maze" original music makes an appearance around 3:26). In my experience, these remixes fail when the source music is not giving the attention it should, but I think this one fits the source perfectly.
Final Fantasy Crisis Core - The Price of Freedom
One of my all-time favorite songs. When I hear this, I can perfectly visualize the story this music plays through. The game takes us through the short career of Zach Fair as he fights for a ruthless company as a soldier. Zach fights through countless battles and uncovers startling truths about the world and about the "heroes" he fights with. After everything he endures throughout the game and the story, Zach attempts to return home to reunite with his love, but he ends up fighting to his death against a military force to protect his friend, Cloud (the same Cloud who will go on to become the main character in Final Fantasy VII). The song is bittersweet with its slow strings, but strong when the electric guitar comes in, perfectly summing up a character I came to respect.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A Contract...FINALLY!
It's been a long time coming now, but "The Chosen of the Light: Spirit Summoner" was finally picked up by Wild Child Publishing, an eBook publisher.
I signed the contract and submitted the art form for a cover last week. A lot of details are still up in the air, but today I received the first proof for my cover. I'm holding off responding just yet, though. All of this still feels so surreal. I am half expecting someone to send me an email or call and say, "Hey, guess what? Fooled ya!". But the further along I go, the more contact I make with the...no, MY publisher, the more real all this becomes. It really is exciting the more I think about it.
I would just like to say thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, especially to my wife, Jen, my best friend, Pat, and of course, my mom, Jan, who set me on the writing path in the first place.
I signed the contract and submitted the art form for a cover last week. A lot of details are still up in the air, but today I received the first proof for my cover. I'm holding off responding just yet, though. All of this still feels so surreal. I am half expecting someone to send me an email or call and say, "Hey, guess what? Fooled ya!". But the further along I go, the more contact I make with the...no, MY publisher, the more real all this becomes. It really is exciting the more I think about it.
I would just like to say thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, especially to my wife, Jen, my best friend, Pat, and of course, my mom, Jan, who set me on the writing path in the first place.
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Long Road Behind Me
I finished "The Chosen of the Light" back in May of 2008, and I never dreamed it would take this long to find a home. I say "dreamed" because that is exactly what it was. My dreams told me I would be published within a couple of months, then the checks would start rolling in, and before I knew it, the movie deal would be made and I would be able to sit back and just concentrate on my writing for the rest of my life.
What a wonderful little dream that was.
Two years later, I am no closer to finding a publisher (or an agent for that matter). I have been met with rejection at every turn. I have tried different versions of my query letters, a variation in my prologue, I even chopped my original manuscript up into three separate novels to hopefully bring the word count down to a respectable amount.
Nothing seemed to help. The rejections continued to pour in.
In my mind, that left one other detail, one last defect that might need fixing.
My writing.
Is my writing really that bad that I can't find anyone to even glance at my work? Is the story too tired, is the genre dead, or is the writing itself so mediocre that no one would dare read more than a page before throwing it down in exasperation? For the longest time now, these questions have plagued me. Because this is my first novel, I feel that a lot is riding on it, namely my future as a writer. If I can't make this piece of work succeed, then I should just give up a resign myself to some unwanted job for the rest of my life.
Or so I thought. I am looking at things a little differently lately. What changed is that I began thinking of all the books I have read in my life, especially the countless stories I read in college. How many times did I pick up a book with no inclination to read it other than to pass a class? How many times did I judge a book by its cover, or even by the first twenty pages? How many times did I fall in love with a book that others hated, or hated a book that others simply raved about?
My answers to these questions varies a lot, but ultimately, my answers made me realize that there are A LOT of stories out there, and thousands of different ways to tell those stories. There are stories that are terrible, yet they are published and they sell, and there are stories that are great, yet they are found only in college bookstores or only online for the Kindle.
I'm not saying that my novel is among the greats. I am saying that the fifty, or a hundred, or even a hundred-thousand rejections that come my way means nothing to the people who will pick up my novel and fall in love with it. My whole purpose in becoming a writer was never about raking in millions of dollars and retiring at 27 on some Hawaiian island. Since I was a kid, my purpose in writing was to simply share a story, to lend to someone else that same feeling of wonder and magic and belief, and maybe even to inspire someone much in the same way that I was inspired.
Nothing has changed now. My purpose is the same, even though it was detoured a little by my dreams. But that is all a part of the long road behind me.
What a wonderful little dream that was.
Two years later, I am no closer to finding a publisher (or an agent for that matter). I have been met with rejection at every turn. I have tried different versions of my query letters, a variation in my prologue, I even chopped my original manuscript up into three separate novels to hopefully bring the word count down to a respectable amount.
Nothing seemed to help. The rejections continued to pour in.
In my mind, that left one other detail, one last defect that might need fixing.
My writing.
Is my writing really that bad that I can't find anyone to even glance at my work? Is the story too tired, is the genre dead, or is the writing itself so mediocre that no one would dare read more than a page before throwing it down in exasperation? For the longest time now, these questions have plagued me. Because this is my first novel, I feel that a lot is riding on it, namely my future as a writer. If I can't make this piece of work succeed, then I should just give up a resign myself to some unwanted job for the rest of my life.
Or so I thought. I am looking at things a little differently lately. What changed is that I began thinking of all the books I have read in my life, especially the countless stories I read in college. How many times did I pick up a book with no inclination to read it other than to pass a class? How many times did I judge a book by its cover, or even by the first twenty pages? How many times did I fall in love with a book that others hated, or hated a book that others simply raved about?
My answers to these questions varies a lot, but ultimately, my answers made me realize that there are A LOT of stories out there, and thousands of different ways to tell those stories. There are stories that are terrible, yet they are published and they sell, and there are stories that are great, yet they are found only in college bookstores or only online for the Kindle.
I'm not saying that my novel is among the greats. I am saying that the fifty, or a hundred, or even a hundred-thousand rejections that come my way means nothing to the people who will pick up my novel and fall in love with it. My whole purpose in becoming a writer was never about raking in millions of dollars and retiring at 27 on some Hawaiian island. Since I was a kid, my purpose in writing was to simply share a story, to lend to someone else that same feeling of wonder and magic and belief, and maybe even to inspire someone much in the same way that I was inspired.
Nothing has changed now. My purpose is the same, even though it was detoured a little by my dreams. But that is all a part of the long road behind me.
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