Jennifer Freitag's Blog, page 15

PLENILUNE Paperback Release!

The paperback is available! Order your copy of Plenilune today!

A lot of people ask me, "How does the paperback printing work?  How do I get my copy?"  It's simple!  Primarily, people will order through Amazon (because that's the big gig on the block), the order will go to CreateSpace, CreateSpace will print the ordered copy, and it will be shipped directly to the customer.  Easy as pie!  

(Unless you're trying to make a gluten-free pie crust, which is a torment worthy of Hades.)
Plenilune is processing through to Amazon and will be available there within a few days, but CreateSpace offers the paperback direct from their site as well.  I also receive more of the royalties if customers order from CreateSpace because Amazon does not get a cut, which, from a self-published point of view, is great support.  Either way, here it is at last, the long-expected Plenilune paperback!

PLENILUNE: Defining Genre

elisabeth g. foley // reviewWhile preparing for a party totally unrelated to anything literary, I stressed about how to define Plenilune.  You all know the struggle: the moment you mention your overarching genre, you feel you've been pigeon-holed as an author.  Plenilune is a fantasy, no doubt about it, but it does not lend itself to pigeon-holing.  So how did I present myself, as an author of fiction, with a book newly hatched on the market, without immediately consigning myself to the enormity of the fantasy realm?  How did I define my genre?

The last thing I wanted to do was hem and haw.  "Well, it's a fantasy, but - " long-winded back-pedaling.  "It's historical-fiction in the sense that - "  "But, you know, it's definitely a fantasy because - " "Only, you have to keep in mind that my style is very ordinary and doesn't hinge on the fantasy aspect..."  Kicking a lame tin can of rhetoric down the road is a great way to lose the listener's interest.  I needed to be short and snappy and know my stuff.  The problem was, Plenilune is complicated, and I'm so close to the mark that I have difficulty picking out its defining features.  In the end, I decided the best way to pick it apart was to look at some of its biggest aspects, its tell-tale, key features, and find their categories in literature.  I wound up modifying the fantasy genre. 

magical realism meets planetary fantasy

No hemming, no hawing: two legitimate sub-genres collide to define the novel, just forceful enough to stop people in their tracks on the way to the nearest pigeon-hole.  It adequately summarizes my approach to fantasy in general, it gives a glimpse of my style, sets my writing in the swath of literature to which it belongs, and you're left wanting to know, "Wot."


curious?read the book

PLENILUNE Ebook Release & Goodies

October 20th!

Plenilune is now available in ebook format!  If you haven't pre-ordered it, you can buy it for your digital devices now!


Plenilune is available in ebook format through
Amazon KindleBarnes & Noble NookSmashwords
In case you were wondering, that's not all.  I know many of you are disappointed by the paperback release delay (tell me about it!), but there are lots of Plenilune-related things to do in the meantime.  I have been incredibly impressed by everyone's enthusiasm for this book.  Literally, I cannot believe how thrilled people have been about it's release!  To help make this launch a success (because you are what make books a success), please do any or all of the following that you can.  Oh, and don't forget to buy the book!


Review Plenilune on Amazon"Like" the Author Page on Amazon Vote it "Best Title" on the First Annual Blogger AwardsVote it "Best Cover Design" on the First Annual Blogger AwardsVote it "Best Heroine" on the First Annual Blogger AwardsVote it "Best Book" on the First Annual Blogger Awards Vote "Best Author" on the First Annual Blogger AwardsVote it "Best Fantasy of 2014" on GoodreadsVote it "Most Beautiful YA Covers of 2014" on GoodreadsReview Plenilune on Goodreads"Like" the Author Page on FacebookFollow the Author on TwitterShare the news on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, your neighbourhood Starbucks!



and rememberChristmas is coming

PLENILUNE Paperback Delay

pinterest





Yes, you read that correctly.

there has been a delay in the release of plenilune in paperback

I suspected this was coming and I'm sorry I have to say it.  Due to technical hiccups, the paperback version of Plenilune will not be available by October 20th.  Hopefully these hiccups can be avoided with future titles, and in the meantime, Plenilune is all set to be available through multiple ebook channels!  The pre-order option has already been taken advantage of, and the interest turn-out on Goodreads has been wonderful.  There are more Plenilunar things to come, and the paperback progress to keep track of, so if you don't already, follow me on Facebook and like my author page!  Are you on Twitter?  Follow me there too! 

Fifteen Out of Thirty - An Interview For Plenilune

pinterestThese are the last fifteen questions out of a thirty-question interview hosted for me by Joy from Fullness of Joy.  To read the first fifteen, check out her post!  There are some really good questions over there.  Now we're going to jump right in.

Have you ever met any people in real life that have inspired you with any of the characters we read about in Plenilune?
Not strictly speaking, no, I do not tend to model my characters off people I know. I’m not Dickens… I think Rachel Heffington believes that I came from Plenilune and that somehow I got stuck here. I am merely telling you about the people I knew there. I can recall no conscious effort to paint likenesses of people around me now.

Once, in a guest-post on Fullness of Joy you spoke about the significant power of reading and studying different philosophies in the process of writing a book of depth which explores themes of faith and different worldviews. In the case of Plenilune, what are some of the theological and philosophic themes/questions you feel the novel addresses, and what were some of the philosophic books that helped influence the heart of this tale?
Due to the nature of the interacting characters, I feel several theological and philosophical points are raised, but perhaps never fully addressed. Again, I never considered that the import of the novel. I’m going to chock this up to the fact that I don’t separate these topics from ordinary life, and so when they crop up, I don’t look on them as something wild and new which must be tackled head-on. This same view carries over into Plenilune, and so theological and philosophical questions and aspects are never the point of the novel, merely natural expressions of human life as I perceive it every day.

In one word each, how would you describe each of the main characters of Plenilune?
The Fool. The Gambit. The Magician. The Strong.

As you wrote Plenilune, were there aspects of the story that took you by surprise?
I’ve mentioned before that the ease with which the plot came to me, regardless of the usual hiccoughs in the writing process, surprised me a good deal, as no story had ever come to me that cohesively before.  In addition, I was not expecting there to be more.  The fact that Plenilune has turned into a casual series, when heretofore I never thought I would write a series in my life, has surprised me.

Do you outline your books or do you prefer to begin writing and let the plot sort itself out?
I let the plot sort itself out as I go. I have recently taken the tack of outlining from the antagonist’s point of view, to see what the protagonist is up against, but other than that, I work things out as I go.

How do you think the main characters of Plenilune would react if he or she were introduced to you?
Well, it depends on which character specifically I was meeting. I might be pleasantly tolerated, I might even be engaged with a degree of interest. I do not feel myself wholly equal to their company, but I think that might be recognized and accommodated for.

Can you tell us what are your current favourite movie(s), TV show(s), and/or book(s)? (Stress is on the current!)
Currently I have almost no time to watch anything, and since I am working on Talldogs (the third instalment in my Plenilunar series), I am at present writing more than I am reading. I can tell you that I have bookmarks in The Tulip by Anna Pavord, Holiness by J.C. Ryle, and The Charm of the English Village by P.H. Ditchfield (I like to think that surname is a joke). I’ll need another fiction presently, but I haven’t settled on one yet.

Having been already published through the traditional route through Ambassador International with your historical fiction novel The Shadow Things, what are some of the benefits you’ve experienced in self-publishing, and what have been its special pains?
Self-publishing has been a much more hands-on process, and while I am responsible for setting everything up and making sure publication happens, I like knowing what is going on. Thankfully, I have been gifted with a number of acquaintances online who specialize in aspects of self-publishing, without which I would be lost up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. The special pain is simply the stress of it. All that responsibility is on my shoulders and since this is the first time I have self-published, this is all totally new to me. New waters are never calm.

Can you tell us a little about the amazing cover-design of Plenilune and how it came about (designer, etc)? It’s stunning, and quite wonderful!
An online acquaintance of mine, Elizabeth Liberty Lewis, is actually directly responsible for the gorgeous cover of Plenilune. She happened to pin a digital illustration by an artist, and I liked it so much (being on the hunt for a cover) that I searched the artist and discovered that he makes cover art for books. He agreed to take on my commission and after working with me for a few weeks, I was able to communicate what I wanted and he was able to deliver. I look forward to working with him on subsequent covers for my novels.

In offering advice to fellow young writers when it comes to sharing their stories, do you advocate they initially pursue the traditional mainstream route of finding an agent, etc and waiting it out, or do you consider indi publishing a healthy alternative?
I’m afraid I do not feel qualified or educated enough to offer that advice. I think it depends on the personality of the individual author, and the type of story whose publication is being pursued. Traditional and independent publishing both have merits, and it is up to the individual author to research and choose between them.

Was there any one moment when you were hit with an urgent need to invest your time to this particular work? What kept you going through the tough parts?
With Plenilune, no, it was not a question of laying aside another work to focus on this novel. And I kept going through the tough parts because I knew this was a good story. Every story will be hard at times: as much as I may complain about it, that’s just a fact of the creative process and is not usually a sign that there is something intrinsically bad about the plot. So I kept going, because I loved the story, and I knew it was a good one. It was worth it.

Can you tell us a bit about the new writing project(s) you’re currently working on now? Please do tell!
I am currently working on Talldogs, the third of my Plenilunar novels. Unfortunately, as I pointed out to someone in an email recently, I cannot give much detail on that novel without spoiling aspects of Plenilune. Go read Plenilune when it comes out, and then we can talk!

Out of the many themes and plots, what would you most like your readers to take away with them from reading Plenilune?
I’ve noticed that when people review Plenilune, they adopt a different tone of description and try to express emotions for which ordinary language seems to allow little room. These are tones and emotions which are rife throughout the novel, and it is encouraging to see them bubbling over and impacting my readers, to see them make a difference in the way my readers view their world. I want to make them stronger and braver and virtuous. I want to make them intangible to the world and more real than the momentary transitory things around them. Sometimes I hear that when the readers try to talk about Plenilune, and I know I have succeeded a little.

pre-order plenilune for your kindle!

Kindle Pre-Orders For PLENILUNE

Pre-orders are now open for the Kindle version of Plenilune!  

Ebook and paperback versions of Plenilune will be available by October 20th, so if you don't have an e-reader, no sweat!  Just hang tight.

Excited?  Spread the word!

Who Should Read "Plenilune"?

rachel heffington // goodreads review

Depending on maturity level, what age-audience would you begin recommending Plenilune to? In essence, how far does it get "dark" before the light of hope peeps through? 

Here is a question for Plenilune readers from another prospective reader.  What is the rating on this novel?  Who should avoid it?  Who should dive right in?  Are people going to be mentally scarred forever because they read this book?   (Well, one certainly hopes not.) This is a tough question, and I am not going to give you the orthodox answer.

"Do, pray, find me an eligible book!  I am not at all nice in my notions, and shall be satisfied with the barest modicum of virtues in my novel."

The reading "group" under which Plenilune would fall is "young adult" literature.  In short, it's not a children's book.  That said, I actually don't buy into the frenzy to rate fiction that is so common among the Christian community today, least of all do I consider it fair for me to give you a rating of my own novel (that is better served by third parties which are actually good at critiquing).  As true and admirable is the fact of the Kingdom, I take umbrage with the embarrassingly cloistered nature of the Christian community and its subsequent inability to comprehend the "outside world."  A few weeks ago I sat working on Talldogs and listening, for no reason than that I wanted to, to Billy Joel's "Piano Man," and it chanced across my mind that the lyrics were casually educational of the nature of people in general.

and the waitress is practicing politicswhile the businessmen slowly get stonedyes, they're sharing a drink they call lonelinessbut it's better than drinkin' alone
It's not a song written by a Christian, it's not a song written for Christians, but in an arm's length of lyrics one gets an average picture of the fragile veneer of human happiness and the gaunt face of hopelessness beneath.  Again, educational.  (It's also a fantastic song.) When you pull your head out of cheap, "clean" Christian fiction and look around, there is a lot to be gleaned from other mediums of art, even from the unbelieving community.

Plenilune was written by a Christian (moi), and no doubt will probably best appeal to Christian audiences.  I have no problem with that.  But that is not the point.  The point is that I cannot tell the reader how dark it gets before it begins to grow light again.  For one, there is no standard measurement of that; for another, I cannot claim responsibility for the maturity of every reader who picks up my books.  Such things as human depravity and God's justice, as well as grace and mercy, are truths which I will not avoid nor dispute.  In what capacity the reader is able to face these truths, it would be impossible for me to account for.  In general, my literature will be gracious in tone, but my main concern is that it should not flinch, and the reader is responsible for appreciating that or not as he finds himself able.

As much as the next person, I get irritated when people use the excuse of "being real" to create an endless slew of rotten characters.  Being true to reality ought not give license to write all manner of subtly-veiled masochism on the part of the author.  Honestly, most folk look out for themselves, and do what they think is best for themselves, and as much as I seem to have garnered a reputation for being cataclysmic and colourful in my prose, characters in my stories are often small, law-abiding folk trying to make sense of feeling adrift, of realizing how wicked they are when they attempt to be good, and the subsequent tapestry which is created by a collection of sinful people living their lives side by side in a fallen world.

plenilune is fantasy, but - i hope - it is honest

PLENILUNE Cover Reveal!

yes, i know, everything after this image might as well be considered filler text

The fate of Plenilune hangs on the election of the Overlord, for which Rupert de la Mare and his brother are the only contenders, but when Rupert’s unwilling bride-to-be uncovers his plot to murder his brother, the conflict explodes into civil war.
To assure the minds of the lord-electors of Plenilune that he has some capacity for humanity, Rupert de la Mare has been asked to woo and win a lady before he can become the Overlord, and he will do it—even if he has to kidnap her.
En route to Naples to catch a suitor, Margaret Coventry was not expecting a suitor to catch her.
Cover reveals are awesome.  You get to see the face of the book you have been anticipating for so long, you get to meet it through a glass window and think, "Soon.  Soon, you and I will be inseparable.  Soon I will be able to hold you in my arms."  And most of the time, the cover art is crystalline and easy to see.  Not so the ultrasound.  I still have to wait until the beginning of December to have the cover reveal for my baby: it's a sort of cover reveal/release date all-in-one special. 

now go add plenilune to your goodreads list!

the game's afoot
october 20th

“Vous Êtes St. Jermaine?”

pinterestoctober 6th is just around the corner, which means

plenilune cover reveal soon!

I'll be emailing out the pertinent information for those participating in the very near future, so stay tuned for that!

After a convoluted discussion on flour, sugar, baking powder, and explosions, I am pleased to return us to the monthly topic of snippets.  It's either that, or discussing the fact that I have two more months left of carrying my baby, who has now moved into the stages of robbing me of breath and gifting me with crushing nausea.  Snippets seem more palatable to the crowd.

snippets du jour
“I don’t suppose dead people say much,” [he] remarked. “And if you did, he would come back to haunt you while you went to the bathroom in the dark of night, and blow out your candle and shove you down the plumbing, and when we fish you back up, we will find you won’t have died of drowning, you’ll have cobbler nails in your throat!”ampersand
A brief shadow passed across the man’s face, but he gestured fluidly with the glass, saying, “Vous êtes St. Jermaine?”talldogs
Raymond was distantly aware of setting the silver down. It went down very softly, casting no shadow. His fingers were cold. His lungs hurt. He was conscious of a weight on his left side, dragging at his belt… talldogs
She left the concept hanging open—it nagged at Raymond’s nerves, like a gate left unlatched.talldogs
For a dangerous moment, as [her] words had hung in that terrible silence, he had been blinded by the desire to strike out, to crack the flat of his palm across her face and see her wretched impudence send her sprawling.talldogs
She was picking up her bird-skirts, whisking down the steps to join him. He stood his ground as she approached and hated more things in that moment than he thought it possible for a man to hold.talldogs
They swung up and turned down the dark-red road with the evening sky smoked and blackened above them, a heavy imperial ribbon coiling among the treetops back into the town. The fireflies were their only light until they reached the first of the town houses where a lantern was set over the stoop, feathered in smoke and steady in the airlessness of the summer night.talldogs
For a moment no one moved. Even the horses, bellies half-content with grass, and sleepy with the warm night, stood patiently in the roadway and made no noise. Bell-the-cat stood on the broken stone threshold with his heels dug in and his hands plunged into the pockets of his rough hemp garment, incongruous samite cuffs bunched about his elbows. The lantern moths fluttered round his head, but he did not notice them: for a moment, to Raymond, he seemed intangible, and not to belong to the world at all. talldogs
When he did speak, Avery said, “I think that man has prevented murder tonight.”The horses’ hooves thumped in rhythm through the dark. Raymond posted in silence for several strides, then murmured, “Yes. And I think he knows it.”talldogs
I tried to be peaceable, which was the only recourse one had when going up against her irrational fury.ampersand
"Hast found thy phantom well in the wood, I see." ampersand

"Your Hands Are Bigger Than Mine," He Said Lightly: "Consider the Glove Taken"

pinterestMy little cup of coffee is still making its way through my veins, and I was not fully through my breakfast (of everything barring the kitchen sink fried in bacon grease) before my eyelid started twitching, so this may not be one of the most coherent posts The Penslayer has ever produced.  I expect you have come to anticipate that from me.  I will attempt to not write in the same broken, repetitive fashion in which I am dictating these words aloud. 

Rachel - Rachel - has tagged me in a long sequence of book-related tags which I have been watching make its slow progress through the blogs of my acquaintance.  Without further ado - because I am far too tired to prevaricate - One More Book-Related Tag.

Is there a book you really want to read, but haven't, because you know it will make you cry?  You are asking the girl whose go-to author of choice in her childhood was Rosemary Sutcliff.  I cannot at present think of any book I am actively avoiding because it will make me cry.  I don't mind crying: generally that means the author has done his job well.  If the sad aspect of the book is badly done, I just get angry and I read something else.  After I have fixated moodily on the annoyance for awhile.  In a healthy fashion.  Because obviously the author did it just to irritate me.

Pick one book that helped introduce you to a new genre.  Flannery O'Connor's Mystery and Manners.  It wasn't the nature of essays which I was introduced to (I've been reading those sorts of things for years), but the whole culture of Southern literature.  I'm a native to the South, but my parents are from the North, and looking along the line of my bookshelves, I see British - British - British - British - British - oh my lands, British.  The most American my library gets is Lew Wallace and Ben-Hur.  Even the copy of To Kill a Mockingbird (which I just finished and enjoyed) belongs to my sister.  It was Flannery O'Connor who introduced me to the fact that not all Southern literature is cast adrift in an esoteric milieu of Reconstructionist poverty, but may actually offer some precious gems through the unique lens of Southern experience. 

Find a book you want to reread.  Given the desperate, haphazard nature of my library, squeezed onto my meagre shelving like a Christmas jellyroll into a whalebone bodice, "find" is the appropriate word.  ...Just at this present moment, it would make for a toss-up between Beowulf and Watership Down.  Because those two are so markedly similar.  I don't currently have time to read either, but both are so rich and enjoyable, I could stand to read them again.

darlings, i think the coffee is finally catching up

Is there a book series you read, but wish you hadn't?  Yes, Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness.  At the time I read them, they were fun and exciting, but after awhile I realized they were totally unbiblical, took more liberties than made me comfortable, and in general the writing is shallow.  It makes me sad.  Once upon a time we produced Ben-Hur, and now we get books like This Present Darkness.

If your house was burning down, and all your family and pets were safe, which book would you go back inside to save?  Well, assuming for the moment that my library had been previously divested of all titles which do not actually belong to me, I would be torn between my copies of The Divine Comedy (with its engravings by Gustave Doré), Augustine's Confessions, and my copy of Simon by Rosemary Sutcliff.  All other books can be replaced (if I actually remember what all I have in my library), but those particular copies are beautiful and/or expensive, and replacing them would be costly for me.

Is there one book on your bookshelf that brings back fond memories?  With all respect due to the ease and portability of the e-reader, I must maintain that a physical book wraps itself in so many layers of glamour, a marker both for the story within its cover and for the time of life and spacial situation in which it was read, which e-readers do not grasp.  A few of my books elicit unpleasant memories - the bitter taste of regretful circumstances in which they were read - but many of them are the happy milestones of a casually scholarly life.  With Ben-Hur, I am slung in a chair in a local airport, waiting for my flight on a clear day.  With The Eagle of the Ninth, I remember the era of spontaneous and extreme nosebleeds which would attack my sister, leaving behind a telltale mark on the front cover which I have never bothered to wipe off for the sheer humour of it.  The Scarlet Pimpernel - curled up on the couch at my old house, reading through the dark of an evening without any intention of stopping.  I am seated tailor-fashion on the sidewalk before my old mailbox garden, reading aloud while my husband works, when I turn over the binding of The Discarded Image, and when I pick up The Grand Sophy, I am curled up at my husband's feet while he reads aloud to me.

Find a book that inspired you most.  The Worm Ouroboros - "Dost think we are here in dreamland?"

Do you have any autographed books?  Yes, my copy of Fly Away Home was autographed and addressed to me!

Find the book that you have owned the longest.  My coffee is not working that well.  I cannot tell you which book I have owned the longest, but my earliest memory of receiving a book is my gorgeous hardback copy of Black Beauty, given to me by my parents on the Christmas of '99.  I would defy Gustave Doré to compose better line-art for the interior, and any of the Glasgow Boys to paint a better portrait for the cover.  A fitting casement for a story which, in my opinion, is as enduring, steady, and foundational as our own Ben-Hur.

Is there a book by an author you never thought you would read or enjoy?  "I was surprised by our conversation.  She has some first-rate qualities."  Honestly, I was not at all sure I would enjoy Nine Coaches Waiting.  I have a memory of toying feebly with the opening pages of Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave (Mary Stewart - an ill-fated kind of name), and I remember my sister being handed a floral copy of some romance-type novel by Stewart, which, let's face it, put me off merely by the cover.  I admit that the copy of Nine Coaches Waiting which I read was not the most promising either, and I can't really tell you how I managed to get sucked into those first few pages - perched in a chair with my heels kicked up on the hood of the Audi, I think, while my husband worked in the garage...  At any rate, there I went, and I didn't look back.  Nine Coaches Waiting remains a favourite of the year.

undoubtedly, books are odd creatures