Christopher Dunbar's Blog: Morrigan's Blog

Lots of stuff going on (when is there not? They are called “weekdays”), so I thought I would take a break from the madness that is the night before Comicpalooza setup (for us artists / authors / dealers) to catch my breath and catch all of you up on the goings on. So, as you have no doubt gathered, we have Comicpalooza going on… more on that later. Also, we not only have one, but two, free giveaways! More on that later as well. We have also released an updated Kindle version of Morrigan’s Brood: Morrigan’s Brood Book I, which coincides with the re-release of the print book through Triscelle Publishing’s new printer and distributor, Lightning Source. Anyway, to the news:

Comicpalooza

We had so much fun at Comicpalooza last year that they permitted us to come back this year, and boy are those folks worn out already. They have been working tooth and nail to get things all set up for thus huge event. HUGE! It will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The times and other details can be found here. We will have our tent frame (see picture above) set up for lighting… hey, I like cool lights. You like cool lights? Come by and be mesmerized. Aside from sitting at our booth, which will be in the Artist Alley area, TT-300 and TT-302 (not near the place where you go t.t., but rather near where you go vroom-vroom… just look at the program guide when you get there so this will make sense), Heather and I will be performing a reading from Morrigan’s Brood, in addition to hosting a panel about starting a publishing and sitting on some other writing panels. Now, we actually don’t have a copy of the program guide yet, so there is a chance our events did not get scheduled, but cross your fingers that we will be doing our stuff for whomever wants to show up. Please, check out the program and come visit us.

In preparation for the presentation, I have uploaded a revised version of our presentation about how to start a publishing company. You can find it to the right in our Box.net folder. Please download a copy… it’s free! If I can remember tonight or tomorrow, I will print us off some copies.

Free Giveaways

Our first free giveaway is in honor of Comicpalooza. As is typical, we will start accepting drawings on the Friday of the event, in this case the 25th, and we will hold open the free giveaway for a little over a week, so we will hold the drawing Monday, June 4, just three days after the start of the 2012 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season… whoopeee! Sorry… disasters are my *other* profession. So, to enter, either fill out a ticket at our booth and drop it in the box, send me a message on Facebook, or send me a message at chris_dunbar@triscellepublishing.com.

Our second free is from Goodreads. Here are the details:

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Morrigan’s Brood: Morrigan’s Brood Book I
by Heather Poinsett Dunbar and Christopher Dunbar

Giveaway ends July 18, 2012.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Thank you to our friends, fans, and family! See you at Comicpalooza!

Morrigan's Brood Series Chapter Book Cover

Oh no… not another one of those “Where have we been lately” kinds of posts. *sigh* Why can’t we just write stuff in this blog that other people want to read… like, you know… politics, religion, and football? Oh geez… Before going to Scotland for our honeymoon, my wife and I listened intently to a warning from a world-travel, which we heeded… When in a pub in Scotland (or anywhere for that matter), NEVER TALK ABOUT POLITICS, RELIGION, or FOOTBALL, or else we may be beaten to a pulp. Well, even though we aren’t at a pub in Scotland (oh, how I wish we were at this moment… or Ireland, for that matter), I suppose we have just chosen to keep out of those kinds of discussions on this blog. But hey, find us on Facebook, and we may have an opinion or two if you are really interested in hearing it, and we may listen (read) to your opinion with equal attention. Even thought I (Christopher) won’t be posting about those three taboo subjects, here are tidbits of stuff from previous and future events.

Madness & Reckoning is now in print as a paper-back novella

By popular demand (actually, it was a huge discount on printing costs if we ordered 50 books), we decided to slap a fancy cover on it and make it into a book. You can buy it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In addition to Madness & Reckoning, we released a new free read, which we call Chapters of the Morrigan’s Brood Series, or simply our Chapter Book. If you find us in person at various book-signing events, we usually pass these out to anyone who asks us about our free books (lots of signs that say to do that). However, I have also uploaded the cover (shown above) and the text to our Box.net widget on this very page. Just scroll down and there it is!

Manuscript of Odin’s Chosen: Morrigan’s Brood Book VI First Draft Complete!

I can’t believe it… another manuscript done… at least the first pass. Now it is Heather’s turn to write everything out and embellish it. For more information about our writing technique, look at interview links on this page near the bottom. While Heather works on book 6, she and I are continuing our work on the manuscripts for books 7 and 8; one of which will be called Dynasties of Night.

We will be at Comicpalooza!!!

What is Comicpalooza? Where is it? How much does it cost to go there? When is it? What celebrities will be there? All of those questions and more can be found here. Suffice it to say, we will be there, and we may also be on some writing panels and conduct a reading. We are also planning a book-signing at The Magick Cauldron, so keep checking our blog.

Internet Interview with Jay Jones Live from AggieCon43

From AggieCon43 [yes, this was a few weeks ago, and I am just now posting this to our blog... sheesh] and Jay Jones Live Studios comes the interview of the… hour… Heather Poinsett Dunbar and Christopher Dunbar, authors of the Morrigan’s Brood Series. Well, I sort of took over the interview (sorry Heather)… more of a ham-it-up-fest for me, as I seem to be drawn to the camera, even though it adds 15 pounds (like I need to add more weight to this gut). I recommend watching the disclosure and the introductions of the real talent in front of the camera (not me).

Our interview begins at 11:24 in the recording
My “dramatic” reading (me=ham) of the prologue of Morrigan’s Brood book 1 (the legend of the Deargh Du) begins at 23:03 and ends at 39:45
Our interview then ends at 51:18 when the author and artist of Two-Lumps comes on… love the series! Heather got books 3 and 4 autographed. Way cool!

Contains subtle adult humor and a few F-bombs and whatnot… I even caused Jay to lose it a few times… what… innocent me? To watch it, go here.

San Antonio Scottish Festival and Highland Games

If you are still reading this, here is a blurb we posted to Facebook about our experiences at this event, which was lots of fun.

At the San Antonio Scottish Festival and Highland Games, we met Jane McDaniel, who, among other things, is a storyteller of Irish stories (she also makes lovely Irish folk dolls). Anyway, Heather and I coaxed Jane to read the prologue from Morrigan’s Brood book 1, and my toes curled, it was so awesome. I also attended a storytelling session she performed a few tents down from us where she retold the story of Deidre, among other personal accounts and folktales.

Not only is Jane a story-teller, she also makes and sells traditional Irish dolls.  Here is her website.

Gosh… is it almost 4:00 AM???

Sheesh! That’s what happens when a large person (like me) spends all afternoon, evening, and night ripping out hedge bushes, shoveling and dumping a yard of garden soil, and laying out new shrubs to plant. Apparently, I was so tired that I became wired. Ah well… Anyway, I better finish this.

Thanks to our friends and fans!

At long last, we’re finally announcing the winners of our latest giveway.

Congrats to -

Veronica Whiteacre

Gabby Marshall

and

Sam Carson!!!!

Yayyyy!!!!  *Does the flail-y Kermit-the-Frog dance.

Let’s see what’s been going on with us?  We’ve been dealing with a somewhat temperamental truck (I don’t feel like blowing AC on you!  Ha!  Now I’ll throw my brake pads and rotors!), finishing up the first draft of book six otherwise known as Morrigan’s Brood: Odin’s Chosen, various crazy work occurrences, and preparing for the latest event (Houston Indie Book Fest).  Honestly, I spent so much time at Professional Auto Care (where I used to work), they joked that the truck had decided to live there and that I may as well come back to work there.

The katkids have spent their days snoozing and lazing about.  Well, except for the Clydemonster who likes to race around the house and pounce on unsuspecting elderkittehs.

We’re both working fulltime and I’m wishing for quiet time now.  Sometimes it’s very hard to get the necessary quiet time that introverts seem to need, or at least I do.  I don’t quite get why the quiet time has become so important to me, but I need to hide away for a few minutes every day and not hear screaming kids or the demands of patrons or cats.

I’m also hoping that the summer won’t be too miserable.  I’m so very not heat tolerant.  After the highland games in San Antonio, I spent monday recovering from ‘the hot’.  Oh well…  I hope everyone here is doing great.  If you’re interested in some beautiful crafts check out Einini Glassworks.   I also need to post information about a wonderous Irish storyteller we met at the games named Jane.  Jane is reading bits and pieces of our book series and makes these fabulous dolls.

We’ll be sure to post more as hearing her talk about the Tuaths and Morrigan’s creation of the Deargh Du sent chills down our spines.  :D

Anyways, time to look busy at work again .   Love you guys…

Tagged: book giveaway

At long last, we're finally announcing the winners of our latest giveway.

Congrats to -

Veronica Whiteacre

Gabby Marshall

and

Sam Carson!!!!

Yayyyy!!!!  *Does the flail-y Kermit-the-Frog dance.

Let's see what's been going on with us?  We've been dealing with a somewhat temperamental truck (I don't feel like blowing AC on you!  Ha!  Now I'll throw my brake pads and rotors!), finishing up the first draft of book six otherwise known as Morrigan's Brood: Odin's Chosen, various crazy work occurrences, and preparing for the latest event (Houston Indie Book Fest).  Honestly, I spent so much time at Professional Auto Care (where I used to work), they joked that the truck had decided to live there and that I may as well come back to work there.

The katkids have spent their days snoozing and lazing about.  Well, except for the Clydemonster who likes to race around the house and pounce on unsuspecting elderkittehs.

We're both working fulltime and I'm wishing for quiet time now.  Sometimes it's very hard to get the necessary quiet time that introverts seem to need, or at least I do.  I don't quite get why the quiet time has become so important to me, but I need to hide away for a few minutes every day and not hear screaming kids or the demands of patrons or cats.

I'm also hoping that the summer won't be too miserable.  I'm so very not heat tolerant.  After the highland games in San Antonio, I spent monday recovering from 'the hot'.  Oh well…  I hope everyone here is doing great.  If you're interested in some beautiful crafts check out Einini Glassworks.   I also need to post information about a wonderous Irish storyteller we met at the games named Jane.  Jane is reading bits and pieces of our book series and makes these fabulous dolls.

We'll be sure to post more as hearing her talk about the Tuaths and Morrigan's creation of the Deargh Du sent chills down our spines.  :D

Anyways, time to look busy at work again .   Love you guys…

Tagged: book giveaway

Morrigan's Brood Series Authors' booth at AggieCon43

Wow… what a con! Heather and I (Christopher) are having a wonderful time talking with all of you who have visited us at our "rainbow" booth. Yes… just look at the picture. See the lights? Too bad you can't see the green laser lights… er… fairies.



This is our second year at AggieCon, and we will definitely be back next year, even if December 21, 2012 "happens"… yeah right. Anyway, it is nice to see so many familiar faces stopping by our booth, and also so many new faces!

If you are new to our series, we have added some earlier posts describing some elements of our universe as well as highlighting the new features of our re-released books. You might even see some posts about our cats.

Our website www.triscellepublishing.com is out of date and needs updating. At some point, our publisher plans to host the site in WordPress using the same URL, but that hasn't happened yet.

Free Giveaway

For one week, we will have another free giveaway. If you missed our sign saying "Free to Enter Contest" or if you are on-line and can't attend in person, then send an email to chris_dunbar@triscellepublishing.com and ask to be entered into the free giveaway. We will hold the drawing a week from this Monday, so keep checking.

Well, more happy patrons to talk to. Come stop by tomorrow!

Thanks to our friends and fans, old and new!

As part of the re-release of Crone of War, you will notice some changes in the cover design. While the beautiful art by the lovely and talented Khanada Taylor remains prominently displayed on the front and back covers, a few changes can be evident, such as typesetting, placement of ISBN, the ISBN itself, and a few other things. Here are both covers side by side:

New Book Cover





Old Book Cover

In addition to the cover changes, we have included new features introduced in Dark Alliance, such as the character biography, map guide, and additional content on the Blood-Drinkers guide and the Gods and Goddesses of the Series guide. Oh… yeah, we sort of changed the title too, from “Morrigan’s Brood: Crone of War” to “Crone of War: Morrigan’s Brood Book II”. The main reason was because our readers could sometimes not tell the difference between books 1 and 2. Now, the titles are numbered.

While Amazon.com is currently showing a listing for the new version of Crone of War, the cover and much of the metadata have not caught up. The same can be said with Crone of War on Barnes & Noble. The reason for the lack of complete information is because it takes time for booksellers to capture and post this information from the distributor. It sometimes takes two months before all of the information is available from a bookseller’s website. Once the cover and metadata are uploaded, the look-inside content needs to be submitted to Amazon so our readers can view a preview on-line.

I (Christopher) don’t have an exact date on when everything will be set up for Crone of War, but I will keep a look out on B&N and Amazon for those updates to post for the new release.

As part of the re-release of Crone of War, you will notice some changes in the cover design. While the beautiful art by the lovely and talented Khanada Taylor remains prominently displayed on the front and back covers, a few changes can be evident, such as typesetting, placement of ISBN, the ISBN itself, and a few other things. Here are both covers side by side:

New Book Cover





Old Book Cover

In addition to the cover changes, we have included new features introduced in Dark Alliance, such as the character biography, map guide, and additional content on the Blood-Drinkers guide and the Gods and Goddesses of the Series guide. Oh… yeah, we sort of changed the title too, from "Morrigan's Brood: Crone of War" to "Crone of War: Morrigan's Brood Book II". The main reason was because our readers could sometimes not tell the difference between books 1 and 2. Now, the titles are numbered.

While Amazon.com is currently showing a listing for the new version of Crone of War, the cover and much of the metadata have not caught up. The same can be said with Crone of War on Barnes & Noble. The reason for the lack of complete information is because it takes time for booksellers to capture and post this information from the distributor. It sometimes takes two months before all of the information is available from a bookseller's website. Once the cover and metadata are uploaded, the look-inside content needs to be submitted to Amazon so our readers can view a preview on-line.

I (Christopher) don't have an exact date on when everything will be set up for Crone of War, but I will keep a look out on B&N and Amazon for those updates to post for the new release.

My (Christopher) latest foray into Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble yielded duplications of our Morrigan’s Brood Series books.  But upon further reflection, I realized that the reason I was seeing double is because Triscelle Publishing is making the transition from one book printer and distributor to another.  As part of this transition, they are in the process of re-releasing our Morrigan’s Brood Series books, and Heather and I have been closely involved in this process.  It takes months for titles to change out there in distribution land, so it is not uncommon for booksellers to list the same title for the same format (i.e. trade paperback) for two prices, and for there to be a slightly different cover.  In order to alleviate confusion during this transition period, when old editions are retired and new editions are incorporated, I will provide a list of old and new ISBNs; this also includes eBooks.

ISBN-13
Media
Title
Version


9781937341008
pBook
Morrigan’s Brood
New


9781937341015
ePub
Morrigan’s Brood
New


9781937341022
Kindle
Morrigan’s Brood
New


9780615340425
pBook
Morrigan’s Brood
Old


9781937341060
ePub
Morrigan’s Brood
Old


9781937341077
Kindle
Morrigan’s Brood
Old


9781937341107
pBook
Crone of War
New


9781937341114
ePub
Crone of War
New


9781937341121
Kindle
Crone of War
New


9780692009925
pBook
Morrigan’s Brood: Crone of War
Old


9781937341169
ePub
Crone of War
Old


9781937341176
Kindle
Crone of War
Old


9781937341206
pBook
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341213
ePub
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341220
Kindle
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341268
ePub
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341275
Kindle
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341282
pBook
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341299
pBook
Chapter Book
New

At some point, all of the old ISBNs will disappear and the new ones will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and where ever you buy your books on-line. Search-Inside features for Amazon will also be added to the new ISBNs soon, so keep your eyes out.

The primary reason Triscelle Publishing went through this ordeal of moving Morrigan’s Brood to another printer was to reduce the print costs, thus reducing the price you pay when you buy the books of the Morrigan’s Brood Series. Thanks for your patience while we go through this transition.

My (Christopher) latest foray into Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble yielded duplications of our Morrigan's Brood Series books.  But upon further reflection, I realized that the reasons I was seeing double is because Triscelle Publishing is making the transition from one book printer and distributor to another.  As part of this transition, they are in the process of re-releasing our Morrigan's Brood Series books, and Heather and I have been closely involved in this process.  It takes months for titles to change out there in distribution land, so it is not uncommon for booksellers to list the same title for the same format (i.e. trade paperback) for two prices, and for there to be a slightly different cover.  In order to alleviate confusion during this transition period, when old editions are retired and new editions are incorporated, I will provide a list of old and new ISBNs; this also includes eBooks.

ISBN-13
Media
Title
Version


9781937341008
pBook
Morrigan's Brood
New


9781937341015
ePub
Morrigan's Brood
New


9781937341022
Kindle
Morrigan's Brood
New


9780615340425
pBook
Morrigan's Brood
Old


9781937341060
ePub
Morrigan's Brood
Old


9781937341077
Kindle
Morrigan's Brood
Old


9781937341107
pBook
Crone of War
New


9781937341114
ePub
Crone of War
New


9781937341121
Kindle
Crone of War
New


9780692009925
pBook
Morrigan's Brood: Crone of War
Old


9781937341169
ePub
Crone of War
Old


9781937341176
Kindle
Crone of War
Old


9781937341206
pBook
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341213
ePub
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341220
Kindle
Dark Alliance
New


9781937341268
ePub
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341275
Kindle
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341282
pBook
Madness & Reckoning
New


9781937341299
pBook
Chapter Book
New

At some point, all of the old ISBNs will disappear and the new ones will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and where ever you buy your books on-line. Search-Inside features for Amazon will also be added to the new ISBNs soon, so keep your eyes out.

The primary reason Triscelle Publishing went through this ordeal of moving Morrigan's Brood to another printer was to reduce the print costs, thus reducing the price you pay when you buy the books of the Morrigan's Brood Series. Thanks for your patience while we go through this transition.

I (Christopher) would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to all of you who visited our booth at the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas, Texas this weekend! Both Heather and I enjoyed speaking with all of you! NTIF has been our best event thus far, and we look forward to attending next year. For those new to we authors of the Morrigan’s Brood Series, and those who have been following us for a while, I thought I would update you folks on a few things:

Triscelle Publishing Website

The website is out of date. Heather and I both know it, but we haven’t convinced the powers that be (the publisher… Triscelle Publishing) to get it updated. Until it becomes current, here are a few things to consider:

Things to Consider

If you want an eBook, all three novels and the short stories are available in ePub format and for the Kindle. However, updated versions will eventually be released for Kindle Fire. Books 1 and 2 are generally $1.99, book 3 is generally $3.99, and Madness and Reckoning is $0.99, although if you get it from Goodreads, it is free.

Heather and I are both active on Facebook, and I sometimes frequent LinkedIn. Goodreads, Shelfari, and the Library Thing are good places to find book info, but I have been remiss in keeping that updated (bad Chris). If you want to buy our print books, they are available on-line from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and several other on-line booksellers; even internationally. Of course, if you would like to order directly from us (in order to get signed books), we can accept payment over the phone or via PayPal. Our preferred shipping method is the fixed-rate USPS Priority Mail, using the padded envelope. We would charge the cover price, appropriate sales tax for our location (9.25%) and shipping; we can send media mail if you want something cheaper, but it might take a while to get there.

We will be at other events in Texas… later this week, Heather or I will post an updated event schedule. If you do happen to buy our books on-line, we would be happy to sign them for free at events we will be attending.

If you picked up a chapter book from us, I hope you enjoyed it. If you don’t wish to hold onto it, please free to pass it along. The chapter books are printed on the same paper and the same cover stock with the same inks as the big books. We felt this was the best way for you to get a good feel for the novels, as well as have a glimpse into the stories themselves.

Free Giveaway

In case you did not notice when you stopped by our booth, we are having a free giveway. That means you can enter to win without having to buy anything. If you did not fill out a ticket, please send an email to me at chris_dunbar@triscellepublishing.com and you will be entered in the giveaway. We will be announcing our three winners next Monday on this blog. We will also be hosting a free giveaway through Goodreads, so look out for that coming up.

Fellow Authors

We were happy to be able to carry novels of the Rowan of the Wood series written by Christine and Ethan Rose, as well as several books by O.M. Grey. If you purchased books from us written by the Roses or by Ms. Grey and you would like your books signed, please feel free to visit their blogs to see where they will be next. For Christine and Ethan’s blogs, visit www.rowanofthewood.com, and for O.M. Grey, please visit omgrey@wordpress.com.

Thanks to our friends and fans!