Michael Livingston's Blog, page 4

The Gates of Hell – Released!

The Gates of Hell (Shards #2)

It’s out! It’s out!

The Gates of Hell, my second novel, was released yesterday, and I’m tremendously excited about it — because it’s a really good book.

Oh, sure, I’m biased, but check out the concluding thoughts of the terrific first review of the novel:

Everything that worked in The Shards of Heaven is back here in this sequel, including compelling history, powerful storytelling, and engaging characters. There’s some great set-up for the next novel, and I can’t wait to read it.

So grab a copy, read it, and be sure to review it somewhere and tell the world what you think!

A Broken Bridge on the Road to Freedom

America.

The Election of 2016 is over. Donald Trump is president-elect of my beloved country.

Lady Liberty’s torch has long served as a leading light upon the road to freedom. And for far too many people it surely must seem as though that light has just gone out. Those who have been historically marginalized — those “huddled masses longing to be free” — today awoke to the horrifying reality that half of America has voted for a man who actively and vehemently has said he wants them marginalized or simply gone.

As a heterosexual white man of the middle class, I can hardly begin to know what they are feeling. I want to say that I have their backs, but of course that would really mean I’d be making them lead the charge down the road, making them take the hard hits first. Better, I think, to say that I’m here for them and you and all of us as we continue on this journey. Though we may need to crawl forward in the mud for a time, I’ll still be at your side.

Because above all today I was thinking about how this isn’t the end of a journey. Trump’s Election may feel like a dead-end on the road to freedom, but in truth it is a broken bridge. The road ends here only if we allow it do so.

Good bridges aren’t built in a day. It will doubtless take years to build the one we need, the one strong enough to take us all, but we can do it step by step, person by person, working together and apart, day by day by long, hard day.

And there will be time. The sun will rise. Though Trump lies like there’s no tomorrow, you can take heart: there will be a tomorrow and a tomorrow after that. Even if a GOP-dominated federal government ultimately declares it to be flat, this blue world of ours will keep on turning.

What those tomorrows will bring — as it has always been — is up to us.

For now, hold your loved ones and trust in that love. And please look out for those in need. So many will be so in days to come.

Liberty’s light is hardly quenched. If it flickers, we will need to do everything we can to fan those eternal flames.

We are going to need her light, after all, to work day and night on building that new bridge toward freedom — one big and strong and wide enough to carry us all forward.

So don’t despair, America. Let’s get to work. We got this.

A Birthday and a Book

I turned 41 this past weekend, and I’m busier than ever. The paperback of The Shards of Heaven came out a couple weeks ago, its prequel short story “The Temples of the Ark” was released on Thursday (an ebook version will come soon, which I hope you’ll purchase), and the sequel to Shards, The Gates of Hell, comes out in just over a week: November 15th.

So yeah, I’ve been busy.

(Also: let this be a reminder to Pre-order, Boost, and Review them all!)

What’s really on my mind today, though, is one of the other things I’ve been doing. Yesterday, I hit “Send” on the third Shards novel, The Realms of God. My publisher, Tor Books, bought three Shards novels from me, so with this final volume the trilogy will be complete.

It’s a very strange feeling for a multitude of reasons.

Above all, I’m feeling blessed. I had a 3-book contract with one of the largest genre fiction publishers in the world. That’s pretty damn special. There are 1000s of folks out there — many probably far more talented than I am, I suspect — who would kill a darling or two (writer joke!) for such an opportunity. I myself dreamed of it for years. And here I am, looking back on writing not one … but three books for Tor.

I’m blessed, too, for the kindness and encouragement of friends and family. They were there with support long before any contract came my way, and they’ve been there for me through the many twists and turns since. The past two years in which I’ve written first Gates and then Realms have been (to say the least) a crazy roller-coaster of life. I couldn’t have made it through without so much encouragement and time.

It’s also enormously strange to be finishing off the third volume when the second one has yet to be released. There’s not much to be done about that — Tor has very good reason for setting deadlines as they do — but it sure is bizarre to be longing for folks to read this amazing third book … and they won’t even know the amazing things in the second one for another couple of weeks.

Anyway, it’s an odd mixture of feelings to have as one celebrates another circuit around the average star that is our Sun.

Oh, and if you want to get me something, buy a book. Mine or someone else’s, it doesn’t much matter. A reader born is a reader for life.

Shards of Heaven Now in Paperback!

Critics have called it “top-notch,” “breathtaking,” “dazzling,” “original,” and “relentlessly entertaining” (among so many other kindnesses). If you’ve been wanting to find out what they’re talking about, if you’ve been wanting to read The Shards of Heaven but haven’t wanted to pay hardback prices … well, today is your lucky day!

The Shards of Heaven

Today, I am pleased to report that Shards has been released in trade paperback by Tor Books. It’s available right now wherever fine books are sold!

So give it a page-turn. And if you enjoy it as much as the critics do, I’d love to hear from you. Let me know on Twitter (@medievalguy), and please do drop a review somewhere. Those five-star reviews matter!

Upcoming Event in Greenville, SC

The Gates of Hell (Shards #2)

On November 20, the Sunday after the release of The Gates of Hell , I’ll be appearing at M.Judson Booksellers for what will undoubtedly be a smashing conversation with Prof. Kelly DeVries of Loyola University-Maryland.

Aside from being a friend of mine, Kelly is a rather famous historian — and I will have just released this new book, you see — so we’ll have a lot to talk about in the mix-up of history, the written word, and our immeasured opinions about the worst medieval movies ever made.

November 20th from 4 to 5pm in Greenville … if you’re anywhere near the Upstate of South Carolina, mark your calendar and be there!

Set Course and Engage

I made the announcement on Facebook quite some time ago, but I’m past due for a more elaborate and wider-cast statement on the matter:

This summer I got engaged.

Her name is Kayla. We met at a bar. We both ordered burgers, so it sorta had to be fate.

But that’s not the main point of this post. The point is to share the tale of the actual engagement itself, which was — and I don’t want to brag, but the truth must be told — pretty much perfection.

See, Kayla is a Disney freak aficionado. From her earliest memories of childhood she has loved Disney movies. She positively thrills to see that opening shot of the magical castle with Tink arcing over top. She’s forever dreamed of seeing the fireworks over Cinderella’s castle.

Yet she’d never been to a Disney park.

No fool, I decided the best place to ask her for her hand would be DisneyWorld.

And not just any ol’ trip to DisneyWorld. No, no. I intended to do this thing right.

It took quite a few months, but in the end I planned a bona fide blow-her-away trip. And before I get to the nitty gritty details, I must give a special shout-out to the good people of Disney, most especially Kathy Conte, the Special Occasion Location Coordinator who helped me pull this magical memory together.

Arrival

Due to the advanced system of MagicBands, we checked in online and had our hotel “keys” already linked into our special-edition Star Wars MagicBands before we arrived on Disney property. So we were able to drive directly to our room and step right into our “royal guest room” in Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort. The look on her face was extraordinary when we walked in. She squealed. We spent the rest of the day and evening having a meal, walking the grounds, eating beignets, swimming, and just enjoying each other’s company.

The First Day

First morning started at Epcot, having a pre-park-opening breakfast at the Norway restaurant with a half-dozen Disney princesses. Meal isn’t the best, but it’s a very slick way to meet lots of princesses while getting a look at the clean and quiet park before the crowds consumed it.

The rest of the morning was spent hitting the best rides (with FastPass+ enabled speed) before we enjoyed a terrific meal in Canada (ordered their poutine, which was fabulous).

Then off we went to Animal Kingdom (Park-hopper passes and Disney transportation for the win!) to hit some highlights (mainly the Festival of the Lion King) and enjoy her first taste of magical Disney Dole Whip (with a rum shot, naturally).

Rawr.

We rounded off the day with a visit to Hollywood Studios, which was largely under construction. But we enjoyed Star Tours, a quick burger, and then VIP seating for a performance of Fantasmic. Glorious, and upon departing that fireworks extravaganza via the super-secret exit we were able to spill out onto the main street as the new Hollywood Studios Star Wars fireworks was doing its thing … plus be among the first out to catch a Disney bus back to the resort without waiting. Back at the resort, we enjoyed some time in the pool and hot tub (our feet sorta hurt) before turning in.

An awesome day. She said it was the best of her life.

Me? I kept thinking about the ring hidden in my luggage.

The Second Day

The second day we headed over to the Typhoon Lagoon water park for some relaxing and water-sliding. Got rained out halfway through the day, but not before we’d hit the Crush ‘n’ Gusher multiple times. Great stuff.

After changing back in our royal room, we took a boat down the river to Disney Springs, where we did more shopping than we probably needed but had a great time. Dinner was at Raglan Road Irish Pub, which was surprisingly tasty — with great Irish dancing to boot.

Kayla couldn’t stop smiling. And all the while, I knew there was a ring in my luggage.

The Big Day

So this was it: the Magic Kingdom and the bulk of my magical plan.

Gone un-noted in all of this so far — because it was definitely not part of my oh-so-nefarious manipulations — is the fact that we were doing all of this with me in generally debilitating pain. We didn’t know the exact diagnosis at the time, but I had a severely hemorrhaged disk in my back.

Kayla, to her everlasting credit, gamely soldiered on. We rented a wheelchair for me, and she spent an enormous amount of energy pushing me around the parks. No complaints. Nothing but smiles. Believe me, I already knew I had a keeper … but my goodness she’s incredible.

I did what I could, of course. I masked the pain with an emergency prescription of Vicodin when I had to do so, and I was on a solid dose of steroids … but it was still pretty blinding agony at times.

On this day, though, I took no pain medications. Because I had a plan.

We arrive before opening, Fastpass+ reservations in hand and a plan on how to smash through the park most effectively. It goes perfectly. We breeze through the rides we want. The weather cooperates. Lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant is magnificent, and she even gets an extra surprise of a light-up goblet that “magically” is brought to our table.

Wheeeeeeeee!

She’s delighted.

I have a ring in my luggage.

Kayla, too, has her on little treat planned. Knowing how hurt I am, she has arranged for us to enjoy a massage at the spa at the Grand Floridian resort in the afternoon. It’s an astoundingly thoughtful gesture, and lord knows I need it at this point. It is truly the best massage of my life.

Unbeknownst to her, of course, I have this plan of my own … and it revolves entirely around us being back in the Magic Kingdom for a dinner reservation. I have told her that I want us to go back to the resort put on some nicer clothes than our “Hi, I’m a Disney tourist” outfits. That way, I say, we can get a nice picture in front of the castle and around then the light will be best and blah blah blah so we just really need to get back to the Magic Kingdom at this certain time and that’s the totally key thing, babe.

I told her I didn’t know what we’d do for dinner, but we’d have time to pick something up somewhere relatively easily … as long as we got back to the Magic Kingdom at this certain time.

The massage, as I said, is fantastic. And afterwards we are offered full-run of the spa: whirlpools, sauna, all kinds of good things. This is exceedingly great stuff, except that I have absolutely no way of reaching Kayla (the spa is gender-separated for obvious reasons), and I’m in a bit of a time-crunch. Because of The Plan.

I zip through the after-massage spa things myself, then I find myself sitting alone in the lobby watching with increasing anxiety as the clock ticks us closer and closer to The Plan.

I become acutely aware of the fact that I have a ring in my luggage … and not on my person. This wasn’t going to be a problem since we were going to go back and change, but if Kayla takes much more time …

Thankfully, she emerges relaxed and re-invigorated before I have a coronary on our engagement day.

Acting like I have no care in the world, I lead us back to the resort for a chance to change into our “picture” clothes. As we are there, I slip the diamond ring into my pocket. Because I’m smooth like that.

Back at the Magic Kingdom, to my great relief back on schedule, we make our way toward the culmination of the Plan. Kayla steps into a Swarovski crystal shop. She sees a stunning crystal glass slipper and loves it. She says she’d like to get one someday. I smile, and I nod, because I have a plan.

In our nice clothes we have our picture taken in front of Cinderella’s castle. Kayla, simply put, is on cloud nine.

Me? I have a ring in my pocket.

She still doesn’t know we’ll be eating in that castle.

Supporting Writers with Pre-Orders and Reviews

Two weeks from today, on October 25, The Shards of Heaven will appear in paperback.

And not long after that, on November 15, its sequel, The Gates of Hell, will appear in hardback.

I’m excited. And if you’re reading this I hope that means you’re excited, too.

Because these dates are coming hard and fast (along with my due date for book 3 – gah!), this seemed an appropriate time to remind you of the three easy steps you can take to support your favorite author(s):

Three simple steps to help your favorite author.

There are obviously many other things you can do to help the makers of your favorite books. And if you can’t pre-order a book then by all means get it later — just buying our books whenever and wherever you can will help us! — but when it comes to ideal help, these are the steps that will provide the author with the most bang for your buck: Pre-order, Boost, and Review.

As such, if you read Shards and enjoyed it …

(1) Please take a moment to leave a review somewhere. It’s important to my visibility on sites like Amazon, it’s important for my standing with my publisher, and it’s frankly important to me personally — even a no-comment five-star review will do wonders for my soul.

(2) Please take a moment to pre-order the sequel. Shards earned some fantastic reviews, but there’s little doubt in my mind that Gates is a better book. So if you liked book 1, I think you’re going to love book 2. (And don’t get me started on how good book 3 will be!)

If you’ve already reviewed Shards somewhere, thank you. I read every review I see, and I cannot thank you enough for yours.

And if you’ve already reviewed Shards and pre-ordered Gates … well, you, my friend, are the reason I love writing books.

Me and My Spine

So this year my parents, who I’m pretty sure are the Best Parents in the World — not that it’s a competition, mind you, but yeah, they’d totally win — are enjoying a pretty big birthday milestone. To celebrate, they’re knocking off some bucket items, and it pretty much sums up who they are that for his part my Dad wanted to take his Jeep Grand Cherokee through the famed Rubicon Trail and go backpacking on the Colorado Trail in the Rocky Mountains.

Because he’s a badass, that’s why.

I couldn’t do the Jeep trip, so of course I said I’d go with him backpacking. And so did my brother and two members of the next generation of Livingstons. I mean, if Granddad can blow up a trail, surely the rest of us young uns can, too, right?

Going into the event, I really only had one worry: I might have been born in Colorado, but these days I live in Charleston. If I go upstairs I double my altitude. And this hike was going to be 20 miles long, a couple thousand feet of elevation gain, starting around 11,000 feet above sea level.

Still, I’ve done far harder things. I figured I’d maybe get a little winded and have to take it slow. Otherwise, no problem.

As it happens, I didn’t really ever get winded. Oxygen wasn’t a problem.

This was:

Lo! my innards!

What you’re looking at is an MRI taken back here in Charleston a few weeks ago. I’ve helpfully added an arrow and a proper emoji to point out the issue. That big stream of white is the trunk of my spinal cord with all the major nerves moving in and out of it. And see that darker blob in the midst of it, right where the arrow is pointing? Yeah, that totally shouldn’t be there.

I slipped a disc, as they say. The disc between my L4 and L5 vertebrae ruptured and smashed into the sciatic nerve strand there, thereby crushing it into the “wing” of one of my vertebra.

This hurt.

A lot.

I didn’t hear it pop. I’m not even sure when it happened. For all I know it happened not long after I loaded my 35-pound pack on my back. All I know is that as we hiked up the trail (always up), I felt a growing discomfort in my hip. A couple of miles into what had been converted into a 4-mile hike due to inclement weather at our planned destination, I confess things were getting mighty uncomfortable. So I was really happy when we made camp.

By the time night rolled around, the hip pain had become what I would describe as a “whole-leg charlie horse.” What I know now, but didn’t know then, is that the disc smashing my nerve had basically told all the muscles of my right leg to engage hard … and just sorta keep doing that. For maybe 24 hours.

The pain got to be pretty nauseating. I did everything I could not to scream in the night and bother my tentmates. I couldn’t have slept more than a few minutes at a time.

A few days later I went to the hospital in Denver. They diagnosed it as hip bursitis and gave me a happy shot.

Back in Charleston, though, things were still pretty painful. I limped to my GP, who opened the door to the exam room, saw me squirming in agony on the table, and before the door even closed said, “You don’t have hip bursitis.” A handful of quick tests later — Hey, look, you don’t have any reflexes in your right leg! — and she ordered the MRI and a regimen of steroids and painkillers to get me through life in the meantime.

I went to Disneyworld. Good things happened there, as folks on Facebook have heard (and I’ll post about here eventually), though I confess the pain was pretty wicked even in the happiest place on earth.

Alas, my options are fairly limited. I can have surgery — “The hole I’ll put in your spine isn’t that big,” said the neurosurgeon — or I can keep on trucking and hope that my body fixes this on its own without permanent nerve damage. At this point, I’m opting for the no-holes-in-spine option.

And my badass Dad? He came through smiling with no injuries at all.

Show off.

The Gates of Hell (Shards 2) for Pre-order!

The Gates of Hell, sequel to The Shards of Heaven, is currently available for pre-order anywhere books are sold. The novel is scheduled for release on November 15, and I’m sure you won’t want to wait a day beyond that to get your hands on it: the next chapter in the saga of the Shards will shock you.

And if you don’t want to leave the comfort of your own home to put in your pre-order, I’ve helpfully set up some handy links on my book page for it. Order now and it’ll be on your doorstep on the day of release!

The Gates of Hell (Shards #2)

As I’ve noted before, it doesn’t really matter to me where you get your copy. Everything goes down as a sale, whether it’s from an independent bookseller, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or the local library that you made sure bought a copy just so you could borrow it.

A sale is a sale, and my publisher and I really like sales.

I have but one favor to ask: if you buy the book (thank you!) and then read and like it (thank you!), it would mean a lot to me if you told someone about it (please and thank you!).

Reader reviews matter. Word of mouth matters. So write a quick review for Amazon. Tell someone else at the bookstore. Post about it on Facebook. Tweet your happiness on Twitter.

Order-Boost-Review: The Gates of Hell. Tor Books. Novvember 2016.

The Quartering of Hotspur

I’ve been involved in the making of three casebooks so far: on The Battle of Brunanburh, Owain Glyndwr, and the Battle of Crécy.

One of the great things about working on these projects has been seeing how they bring forgotten documents to light – a fact that has been much on my mind this week as I’ve started looking at sources for the Battle of Shrewsbury, which might well be the next casebook.

Shrewsbury was an important battle both in history and literature, and it brought onto one field of conflict a number of fascinating figures: not least among them King Henry IV, the future Henry V, and the man Shakespeare made famous as Hotspur.

Henry “Hotspur” Percy was in rebellion to the crown that day, and for a moment it seemed he would win and seize the crown. Only the decisive actions of the future Henry V – actions taken with an arrow embedded six-inches into his skull – saved the kingdom as it stood.

Hotspur died in the battle, and his corpse was first buried and then later disinterred, displayed, and then beheaded and quartered. The parts of his body were distributed across the realm as a warning to others who might rebel.

Fascinatingly, I’ve found that we have in the Exchequer Rolls the report of William Banastre, the sheriff who was placed in charge of this process. We know what he had to do, and we know how much it cost:

Salop. The account of William Banastre, sheriff of Salop, of the costs and expenses set forth and paid by him for the transporting of the four quarters of the body of Henry Percy and the head of the baron of Kynnerton, as well as the head of Richard Vernon, knight, who lately made insurrection against the king and his royal majesty and against the debt of their allegiance at Husefeld near Salop on Saturday on the vigil of the blessed Mary Magdalene in the fourth year of this king and by him conquered and sent from Salop: one quarter to the city of London, a second quarter to Bristol, a third quarter to the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the fourth quarter with the aforesaid two heads to the town of Chester, in the said fourth year, by writ of the king under his Great Seal dated the 26th day of July in the said 4th year to the aforesaid sheriff there directed, and over this account delivered, by which writ the king commanded the aforesaid sheriff, firmly enjoining him that he should receive from the bailiffs of the town of Salop the said four quarters of the body of the aforesaid Henry Percy and the aforesaid two heads, who lately made insurrection against the king and his royal majesty and against the debt of their allegiance, and should send with all the speed that he could by those for whom he would answer one quarter of the body of the aforesaid Henry to the mayor and sheriffs of London, another quarter to the mayor and bailiffs of the town of Bristol, a third quarter of the body to the mayor and bailiffs of the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the fourth quarter of the aforesaid body together with the aforesaid heads to the mayor and bailiffs of the town of Chester, and deliver the same on the part of the King to be placed over the gates of the aforesaid towns to stay there as long as they were able. And the king commanded the aforesaid mayors, sheriffs, and bailiffs that they should receive the aforesaid quarters and heads in form aforesaid. And the king commanded the aforesaid sheriff to make an allocation of the costs and expenses which appear about the premises in an account to the king’s exchequer, etc. And the aforesaid sheriff made an account of his costs and expenses, as below.

The same accounts in 12 rods of cane bought and expended in 4 sacks thence made for the carriage of the aforesaid quarters and heads, and wax and rosin bought and expended for the waxing of the sacks, also cloves, cumin, anise, and other different spices and salt to be placed in the said sacks to keep the aforesaid quarters and heads, on account of their putrefaction and decay, in the said fourth year, and also in parboiling the same 4 quarters, 21s 9d by the aforesaid writs of the king above in the title of this account in the same year as is contained in a certain schedule of particulars here into the treasury delivered. And in money paid to 4 valets journeying from Salop to London for the carriage of one quarter of the aforesaid body, and thence returning to Salop, according to agreement made with them, in gross 53s 4d by the same writs of the king as is there contained. And in money paid to three valets journeying from Salop to Bristol, for the carriage of a second quarter of the aforesaid body, and thence returning to Salop, according to agreement made with them, in gross 40s by the same writs of the king, as is there contained. And in like money paid to 4 valets journeying from Salop to the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the carriage of a third quarter of the aforesaid body, and from thence returning to Salop, according to agreement made with them, in gross £4 by the same writs of the king, as is there [contained]. And in like money paid to 6 valets journeying from Salop to Chester, for the carriage of the fourth quarter of the aforesaid body and the two heads aforesaid, and thence returning to Salop, according to agreement made with them, in gross £4, by the same writs of the king, as is there contained.

Sum expended: £13 15s. And in account to the same sheriff in the fourth [year] of the king, etc.

Note: I’ve not yet edited this document from the original manuscript, so I’m very much reliant on the extant translation, from which this has been adapted.