Sunday, September 15, 2019

Rivers Between Worlds Close-Up

Partial cover of Rivers Between Worlds
Well, drat.  You can't be sure till you publish, but a detail I worked on very hard for the cover art is invisible in the paperback and can barely be made out in the ebook.  In the partial cover above, look in the trees, underneath the B's in the title and subtitle.

Here's a close-up of what I hoped would be easier to spot:



I like to think it adds something, and I hate for it to go unnoticed.
 
Since posting this, I've removed my books from Amazon, and am moving them to Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press.  They're all pdf ebooks, all free, and always will be.  Rivers Between Worlds will be there in February 2021, after its time exclusive to Amazon ends.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Rivers Between Worlds

Justin Willehelm works for a security company, getting along in an ordinary life, until suddenly changing course.  His boss blames him for a failed assignment, simmering tensions erupt in his wife leaving, and he's left standing and staring at the Passage River.  Running water has always fascinated him, and there's something about this particular river…

Justin ends up in the river, and then literally out of the world he worked in.  He meets extraordinary people like Una and Kherida and goes to extraordinary places—"Kang as watchang out for you"—the Gate of Winds—on his extraordinary journey, but perhaps most extraordinary is his personal journey, as he becomes someone very different from the man he was.

A spooky story of parallel worlds and imaginative invention, this is the third novel in the Roads Between Worlds series, but it stands alone, with no need to read the previous books first.

Since posting this, I've removed my books from Amazon, and am moving them to Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press.  They're all pdf ebooks, all free, and always will be.  Rivers Between Worlds will be there in February 2021, when its time exclusive to Amazon ends.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

"Everyone in This Picture Is Dead"

When I was writing The Neglected Giant: Agnes Meyer Driscoll, I often had this picture up in the background, and would often look at it.  (It can be found in the linked document on p. 56.)  Usually when I looked, the title of this entry would come to mind at some point.

I liked looking at the picture as a window on the world I was writing about, and to admire young Agnes Meyer's fierce intelligence and determination, still blazing out of the picture over a century later.

And, as I wrote it, I found much to admire about her.  A great American, never known and now nearly forgotten, this country owes her much, and I was glad to shine a light on her.  She accomplished so much despite so many obstacles.

Which is not to whitewash her.  She made mistakes, the kind rivals could use against her and certainly did.  Intelligence and determination are worth admiring, but they don't eliminate error.

But overall I found her far more admirable than not.  I was determined on my own part to tell her story with honesty and accuracy; she deserved no less and I'm sure wouldn't have wanted it otherwise.  I like to think I succeeded.

Still, the picture I looked at did influence me in one direction.  I kept looking at a picture of people and seeing good, honest folk, more than one of whom served her country and served it well.

"Everyone in this picture is dead."  As I wrote, I strove for honesty and accuracy.  But I aimed for one more thing.  I tried not to be unkind.

Agnes Meyer Driscoll began her Navy civilian career on 1 August 1919, 100 years ago today.