S.D. Smith's Blog, page 22

Ember’s End Now Available on Audible!

We have been asked approximately 17 zillion times when Ember’s End would be available on Audible.

Well, it’s here! PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO BUY (OR USE YOUR CREDIT).

It will help us out tremendously.

And please consider rating and reviewing it there. Thank you!

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My Place Beside You! The Green Ember Finale Releases Today, Here At “The End Of The World.”

It’s here. Here it is! It’s the official release day of Ember’s End, the finale of The Green Ember Series!

Like so many of you, I have mixed emotions these days. It’s a little bit hard to celebrate something like a book release during a global pandemic—when so many heroes are fighting for the lives of others. I am so grateful for those risking their lives, while most of us have the relatively easy job of sitting on the bench for a little while. We’re not all heroes in this crisis, but we can at least not be villains. (We can stay home, for instance.)

But how do we know what heroes and villains are? We know because of stories.

We need stories of bravery. We need stories to make us brave. 

I do. 

Ember’s End is such a story. The Green Ember Series is such a saga. 

I do feel conflicted, and I don’t like being “salesy” or “noisy” at this time. It seems like the internet is flooded with shiny distractions to “occupy” us during this. There’s so much that is good, but I hate adding to the noise. 

I can’t be silent about this. I believe in the power and importance of faithful stories. Stories that are, as Heidi Johnsons says, “an escape into reality.” She meant stories that echo the Story, that tell the Truth with Beauty and reflect Reality.  

I believe in these stories. In this story, Ember’s End. I believe it will serve children who need it. It’s not a cure for any virus, but it is soul food. We need to feast on the true, the good, and beautiful, even in a famine. Especially in a famine. 

Culturally, our souls are famished. 

We need stories of bravery. Stories to make us brave. 

This is the best I’ve got. And I want you to have it. 

The truth is that I love you. I love the children who read my stories and I always will. My own children were the first audience, and so I’ve always been creating these tales from a place of deep affection. 

Thank you so much for the incredible privilege of being welcomed into your home and into the hearts of your family. 

To me, you are heroes. You are giving your kids a gift of imagination. Of light and love. I am so happy to be your ally in this quest. We make a good team.

To those who got Ember’s End on preorder and have read it. Would you consider rating and reviewing it at Amazon? 

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Ember’s End is Here!

Ember’s End: The Green Ember Book IV

Get Ember’s End at S. D. Smith’s Family Store!

Get it at Amazon! In paperback, hardcover, or Kindle.

Audiobook available at many outlets, but may take more time to arrive at Audible. (See here for more on that before writing to ask. Thanks!)

New to The Green Ember Series? Begin here.

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S. D. Smith Audiobooks

Click on the retailer to view all of my audiobooks with that provider.

RetailerEmber’s End AvailableAmazon / Audible—Apple—Audiobooks Now—Audiobooks NZ—Audiobooks.comYESAudiobookstore.comYESBarnes & Noble / Nook—BookMateBook LinkChirp—DownpourYESHoopla—Kobo—Libro.FMYESOverdrive—Scribd, Inc.—SDSmith.netYESStoryTelYES

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It Is What It Is, But It Is Not What It Shall Be

It is what it is. I read it on a cubicle wall. It’s a country-craft sign with large, cursive script, a script to make one curse. Words to echo the Curse. The sign lies, seems to be from an old farm. But it’s from a factory in China pumping out Affordable Americana. The fake-aged paint is smooth, has no earned decay. It is intentionally distressed and so am I. But, I suppose, it is what it is. This sign that transports me to a funeral, a child’s sickbed, an accident scene. It is what it is.

It is what it is. It’s a statement of resignation. After all kinds of trouble, worry, and fear, there it sits. We can live with such a statement, but not forever.

It is what it is. Is it?

It is what it is, but it is not what it shall be.

Children will not someday die, someday. Cancer will not reduce and end us like a berserker army invading every border, swallowing our hallowed map. It is what it is, but it is not what it shall be.

There’s good all over and grace in every breath. It is today and we are alive and so we ought to happily receive these gifts. Gratitude should be our theme song.

Thank God it’s Friday, but Someday’s coming.

We wrestle with the Not Yetness of things. With the good, broken, incompleteness of everything. We can receive a cold valley with thanks and still long for the sun.

It is what it is. But all the same, we long for it to be different. We long for it to not be all the same. Or, we long for it to be the same, but different. Like our best friends, we want them fully themselves. We want the fully realized valley—sun and all. We want the valley on the edge of forever to slide on over.

It is what it is, but it is not what it shall be. Some day, when Someday comes, we will slide on over into the re-Edened earth. Sunrise.

This bought by Brother’s blood,

And so our family seal,

Runs red across a guarantee,

Of Father’s glad goodwill.

From me, my sons, sin you get,

An inherited curse.

From a Greater Father, you may claim,

All of the reverse.

All of the reverse. In that day, It is what it is will be fully and finally undone, by:

I Am Who I Am.

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S. D. Smith to Join Pam Barnhill’s Green Ember Gala Online April 2

I’m pleased to be joining my pal, Morning Time and Homeschool guru Pam Barnhill, for an online event she has created and is hosting called Green Ember Gala. I’ll be doing a Q & A with Pam about Ember’s End, but that’s just a part of her program for the day.

Check it out and reserve your spot now!

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Free (Online) Writing Teaching from S. D. Smith THIS FRIDAY (3.27.20)

Save your spot here!

So, this is pretty cool. I did an hour-long teaching at Hope*Writers a few months back for their membership community. I love this community and resonate so strongly with their attitude and approach. Hope*Writers membership is a valuable investment for serious writers (of any stage—beginner to published). They have generously offered some of their most popular teachings for free this week, and I was honored to be included! It’s a great way to see the tenor and tone of their work and to enjoy an hour of free teaching on writing from me. Save your spot here! 

You can also try out Hope*Writers for one dollar by clicking here. 

Enjoy a preview of the teaching here! And try not to laugh at my face. (Emily P. Freeman seems to have the entirely wrong facial expression in each of these moments.)

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Ember’s End Coming SOONER: Green Ember Finale Release Date Moved Ahead

We got so many requests to try to get the new book out sooner, and we have been hustling to do just that. In order to serve you better during this difficult time, we have bumped up our release date for Ember’s End on Amazon from April 14 to March 31.

That covers Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. Audible will follow, but we aren’t able to speed that up. We’ve done all we can on that front. It’s likely other audiobook carriers will release it first. Some very soon. 

To be as helpful as possible in the present crisis, we believe it is best for us to halt our shipping of new orders at our store for a period. We aren’t certain how long this will be, but we hope (along with everyone else) to be back shipping orders in the near future. 

Because I know many of you will ask (and have asked): yes, this (along with the tour cancellation) will have a significant negative impact on our business. Like many of you, we are trying hard to figure out how to continue to provide for our families as we honor the necessary limits crucial to save lives (and future/long-term economic health as well). 

We are all trying to do our best to flatten the curve and protect the vulnerable and those on the front lines who are fighting for us all. At the same time, we are convinced that stories of bravery, stories to make us brave, are essential in our lives—especially now. 

Where Can You Get These “Stories To Make Us Brave?” 

Even though our store’s shipping is temporarily halted, my audiobooks are available everywhere you get them. (Ember’s End will begin showing up at those places soon.) Kindle eBooks are still for sale and Amazon is still shipping as well (though necessarily, book orders seem likely to be delayed).

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Enjoy ALL The Green Ember Audiobooks For Free? Yes, on Hoopla!

On Hoopla, you can enjoy all of my audiobooks for free. If your library is using Hoopla, then all the audiobooks are absolutely free for you to check out (up to 21 days at a time) and there is no wait list. (Ember’s End will be coming there soon.) 

It’s pretty easy to sign up. Took me about a minute. 

Would you consider giving it a try? And when you do, please consider rating my books. 

You can also check out the audiobooks using OverDrive/Libby HERE.

The Green Ember is currently the highest rated (five-star) children’s audiobook on Hoopla and one of its most listened to as well. 

If your library isn’t using Hoopla, you can still likely check them out using OverDrive (or Libby).

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S. D. Smith Book Tour Update (Cancellations) and Some Comforting Words

Hello Friends,

I wanted to update you on our situation, especially our plans for my book tour. The big tour in celebration of the finale of The Green Ember Series that was supposed to span the next many months began on March 6 and lasted…a week. Our last event was (wisely) cancelled before the third and final day and we scrambled to adjust and get home. 

We are now home, and are grateful to be back with our families. As challenging and concerning as our adventure was, we got to experience again the profound encouragement and joy of seeing readers face to face and connecting over a shared love of stories. This also sharpens the sadness for us—though proportionally insignificant compared to the pain many others are facing, of course—at likely missing out on the rest of our tour. 

And that is where we are. We are not attending any events in the next few weeks and many other events over the next months are likely to be cancelled. 

As of now, we are following the universal guidance of wise leaders and (for the sake of health care workers and the most vulnerable) avoiding events, conferences, and large gatherings. You don’t need a fiction author to give you medical advice (or to be your pastor), but I have been reading and processing the best sources I have been able to curate and I have no doubt that the wise thing is to heed their counsel. I was particularly helped by Andy Crouch’s guidance here. 

Along with the profound challenges, this is an opportunity to love one another, care for the most vulnerable among us, and to be awakened to our real finitude. (A good word for kids to learn.) Like all fearful and adverse circumstances, big and small, there is an opportunity for us to grow as characters in this story we are living.

I’m thinking of you and praying for you, especially children who may be anxious and confused. I am praying for you, parents, as you lead your families in grace and truth.

It was fitting to find today’s Psalm from Morning Prayer was Psalm 34. The entire song is wonderful, but I’ll grab out a couple lines to share:

The Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted

and will save those who are crushed in spirit.

God is not surprised. He intends good for his children, even amid pain. 

I met a few folks who had planned to bring their kids to the third and final day of our conference, and they were in tears over the cancellation because their kids had wanted to meet me. That makes me sad and happy at once. I’m glad there are kids who care so much, but so sorry about our disappointment at not getting to meet. I feel it too. 

If you have a child who was excited to meet a favorite author in the coming days—to get a signature and a picture together—I am sorry that will likely be delayed. That’s disappointing. I hope you’ll remind those beautiful kids that we are connected through the stories and that meeting a guy can be fun, but the adventures we have in common are the main thing between us. We as parents can be wise guides helping to manage feelings and to set realistic and generous expectations and put events like these in context. Thank you for doing that. We are in this together. 

“The children, I love the children. They are my heart.” —Nacho Libre

I know this is true: my love for my readers grows and grows over time. My gratitude for all of you is deep. 

Our small, family team is committed to serving you in love. We are very few, and we are far from perfect, but our hearts are deeply dedicated to you. I have heard my brother and partner Josiah pray for you and go the extra mile to serve so many of you time and time again. I wish you could see what I see sometimes. It is amazing. I’m so blessed to work so closely with such an honest, generous man. 

Please know that we are on your side. Thanks for being on ours and supporting our work. We’ll be in touch again before too long, and please know I plan on using this time away from the tour to create work worth sharing with people I love and respect and feel called to serve. (You!)

Grace and peace to you!

Your friend, 

Sam

P. S. Here is a collect I love from The Book of Common Prayer for a time of distress:

Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I snapped this quickly while walking the streets of Fort Worth yesterday. It was a comforting sight to me. 

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