Stephen R. Bown's Blog: Stephen Bown's random author musings, page 6

The Sunday Times - great Amundsen quote

One of the things that made writing about Roald Amundsen enjoyable was his sense of humour. The Sunday Times (London) reviewer clearly appreciated it too, having chosen to feature one of my favourite Amundsen quotes in his review. Amundsen wrote, as he set off by dog-sled towards the South Pole, "I tried to work up a little poetry -- the ever-restless spirit of man, the mysterious, awe-inspiring wilderness of ice -- but it was no good; I suppose it was too early in the morning."

Book covers and first review

I find it fascinating how different publishers and cover designers conceptualize the same text and story. I can't post images here, but the US and UK covers for The Last Viking are extremely different. I've posted both to my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/srbown.

The book (due to come out in early October) is off to a good start - it just received a *starred* review from Kirkus Reviews.

New kindle ebook: The Golden Age of Piracy

I just posted a new kindle ebook on Amazon, a short and interesting earlier work now republished. The main focus is the crazy antics of ost outrageous pirates, set within the historical context. The Golden Age of Piracy: a Short Histoy of Privateers, Buccaneers and Pirates in the Caribbean. It is free until the end of May 8.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Age-...

New maps of Amundsen's journeys

I was really excited to get these maps back from Scott Manktelow Design for my upcoming book The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen, to be released in September 2012. They show all of Amundsen's crazy adventures at the North and South Poles.

I can't attach copies here but you can view the maps at www.facebook.com/srbown

New Kindle ebooks

Today I put up two ebooks on https://www.amazon.com/author/stephen.... One is an edition of Sightseers and Scholars: Scientific Explorers in the Americas (that was originally published in 2001 and is now out of print) and the other is Wanderers and Nomads: True Stories of Eccentric and Wild Explorers in the Americas, which is a Kindle book collection of fourteen non-fiction stories of adventuers and travelers that were originally magazine articles from years ago.

Both are FREE for the next day or two on Amazon for anyone who wants them.

A pageant of piety and greed

A great review of 1494 in the Globe:
"...an entertaining and elegantly written voyage into the treacherous seas of religious fanatics, greedy slavers, depraived autocrats, doomed indigenous peoples, and deperately brave adventurers in search of fortune."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/a...

1494 author profile

Here in the Calgary Herald an author profile on the release of 1494

http://www.canada.com/life/Canmore+au...

UK publisher for The Last Viking

I just learned the details regarding a UK publisher for my next book, The Last Viking: The Extraordinary Life of Roald Amundsen. It's going to be published simultaneously in Canada (Douglas & McIntyre), the US (Da Capo Press) and the UK (Aurum Press) next fall.

That'll be two books in one year in the US, since 1494 only comes out there in February.


http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/s...

Portuguese edition of 1494

I just received the Portuguese edition of 1494 today. It looks great but I wish I could read it. I always wonder about translated editions, if the the translation is accurate or not. I have Russian, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish editions of my books as well and I really have no idea what they say.

I've read some books in translation and found them to be awful - but I really wonder if it was the translation that was awful and the original would have been fantastic, if only I could have read it in the originallanguage. Of course, a suberb translator could probably improve a dull or uninspiring original. Translation is its own art form, creating something entirely new from an existing template - and the original author can never truly appreciate the new work.

A new video

A short fun video about me and my books done for the Mayor's Spotlight on the Arts.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ShadowLig...