Tag Archives: Books

Thought of the Week: The Seventh Magpie

I’d like to take step back from my normal ramblings this week to dedicate a post to a newly published author whose work I’ve already come to admire, if through nothing other than the snippets of text and gorgeous illustrations she’s been sharing on Facebook and her website recently. I speak of course of Nancy Chase, whose debut novel The Seventh Magpie was launched to much fanfare yesterday. Nancy is holding a launch party all week on Facebook; I recommend you stop by for the chance to win artwork, signed copies, and more!

This is the description of the book:

“Princess Catrin is just a child when her mother vanishes, leaving her a cryptic legacy: a priceless magical book and the warning that if Catrin ever loses it, she’ll surely die. But she is a young woman on the brink of a whole new life when, in a moment of defiance, she forgets that warning and triggers a catastrophe that shatters all her hopes. 

Stricken with grief and seeking a way to correct her terrible mistake, Catrin risks everything on a dangerous bargain. Too late, she realizes just how much more she has to lose.

With advice from a half-mad witch and help from companions she meets along the way, Catrin embarks on a desperate quest to defeat seven riddling Magpies—magical tricksters who can shapeshift into anything or anyone—and win back her book or face losing everything she holds dear.

With each step the stakes get higher, and there are secrets she still doesn’t suspect. How much is Catrin willing to sacrifice to finally unmask the Seventh Magpie?”

Doesn’t it just sound fantastic? Recently Nancy also shared the heartbreaking true story that inspired The Seventh Magpie; I recommend visiting her website to read it (it nearly had me in tears).

Needless to say, I’ve already ordered my copy through Amazon (click here to buy), and I can’t wait to lose myself in Nancy’s beautifully illustrated world of loss, despair and hope. I recommend you purchase a copy yourself, and leave a review if you do; as I said last week, your support is sometimes all we indie authors have!

Well done, Nancy!

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Featured image taken from https://www.facebook.com/NancyChaseAuthor/photos/pb.1422328291363211.-2207520000.1424099680./1556201544642551/?type=1&theater.

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The Redemption of Erâth: Book 3, Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Crossing of the World, Part I

There was much work to be done in preparation for the voyages of Ermèn, Athalya and Brandyé, and it was some weeks before they were able to make their way to the port of Viura Râ in search of a vessel that would take them hence. Brandyé came to the conclusion that, as high a position as the Sarâthen held in the world, even they were not able to travel on a whim to whatever kingdom took their fancy, or to speak with whichever leaders they desired. (It did not occur to him that the Sarâthen might well be able to do so, but he could not.)

There was much planning to be done, also—planning of where they would go, with whom they would speak, and what they would say. Over the following weeks Brandyé learned much of the world of Erâth, and it was all of it new, and different to him. Deep in his mind he knew that his own experience of the world, remembered or not, was as nothing compared to what he was about to discover; entire lands and countries awaited him, vast oceans to be crossed, mountains to be scaled, and plains to be traversed, and he marveled at what unimaginable wonders he would encounter there. In this regard, he could not wait to be departed, and each day that dawned ached with anticipation.

Yet another part of him, however, remained silent and sad, and it was this part that spoke to him of the mysteries of the world, and that there would soon be far fewer left than ever before. Erâth had, until that point, seemed unimaginably vast, and the thought that they were to cross the entire world from end to end in a matter of months frightened him. It seemed to him almost that the world ought to remain vast, and that they should be able to bridge its farthest corners so easily spoke to him of just how advanced the world of men was here. He knew in his heart that such travel would have been utterly impossible in his past life, and he yearned for a larger world, one in which he was familiar with only a part.

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Thought of the Week: Supporting Independent Artists

I’d like to introduce you to a favorite music genre of mine: doom metal. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry—it’s not the sort of music that’s likely to show up on the Billboard Top 100 any time soon. You have to hunt for it, though not too far—there’s a lot to be found. The incredibly dedicated website doom-metal.com has nearly 2,000 bands listed that classify as doom metal of some kind.

Doom metal itself has its roots in the late seventies/early eighties, and is defined by Wikipedia as:

… an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much “thicker” or “heavier” sound than other metal genres.

Doom metal can be split into a variety of sub-genres (sub-sub-genres?), including (again according to doom-metal.com) atmospheric doom, death doom, epic doom, funeral doom, sludge doom and stoner doom. Many of these have overlapping elements, and I wouldn’t blame the uninitiated for failing to understand how funeral doom can have death metal elements, yet not be classified as ‘death doom’. In fact, to the untrained ear most doom metal would likely sound similar: heavy guitars, thumping bass, and comparatively slow tempos.

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