Jean Stringam's Blog
October 1, 2013
Changes to My Books
I've changed publishers! Dollison Road Books will be handling my books from now on. In order to facilitate their new vision for my work, HOW NOT TO CRY IN PUBLIC and THE WISE MEN can no longer be purchased. The old titles can't be removed from GoodReads, but I hope you will come back and see the new editions as they are launched. Dollison Road Books has some wonderful new innovative ideas for my books that I know my readers are going to love. For more information, please go to http://DollisonRoadBooks.com.
June 10, 2013
REGRETS TREE ON FIRE - coming this summer!
Here's the cover for the next release in the Cousin Cycle, REGRETS TREE ON FIRE -- and I love it. Illustrator Ben Hansen created an amazing front cover image, don't you think? It's about the same temperature as the novel!
May 15, 2013
Songs for SOLSTICE MAGIC & HOW NOT TO CRY IN PUBLIC
I promised you recordings of the songs I wrote for my books and I've delivered! Well, at least the first two. The music recordings for my other books are coming -- so this is an ongoing promise!
March 23, 2013
Recordings for my book music
I've been working with my favorite band in Colorado who have a recording studio in Grand Junction called Atom+Eve Studios. They've made great recordings of the songs from three of my books so far. My fans keep asking when I'm going to have them up on my website, and I keep saying "soon." Here's the problem. I want a cool video to put with each of them before I post them on YouTube, and I haven't got it done yet. BTW, the song "Regrets Tree on Fire" is for my book of the same name scheduled for release in the summer. For those of you who know the characters in The Cousin Cycle, this is Bill's story. "Safe at Home Again" is Susie's song in Solstice Magic (A Calgary Stampede Adventure, #1). The trade paperback will be available on Amazon in just a few days, with the e-book to follow. "Who Am I?" is Brenna's song from How Not to Cry in Public, released on March 1st. If you prefer e-book format it should be available any day now! So please come back!
So what's the verdict? Should I get the songs up with a static picture of the sheet music right away, then work on my videos later as I can?
March 6, 2013
How Not to Cry in Public has launched
I'm delighted to announce that How Not to Cry in Public: A Novel is available now. Just go to Amazon and there it is! It's longer than the other books, a really juicy read, and is definitely for the YA to adult reader. That's been the tricky part about getting the right reader to the right book in The Cousin Cycle.
In telling the story of one year in the life of this family of cousins, I tell it from four different sets of eyes. Four different cousins take you on the journey of how the year's events impacted them, and they are all different ages. The Hoarders has a 10-year-old male protagonist, Balance has a twelve-year-old female protagonist, and How Not to Cry in Public has a seventeen-year-old female protagonist. And when Regrets Tree on Fire comes out this summer, it has a sixteen-year-old male protagonist.
Usually a series has a single protagonist that either doesn't age at all, or ages linearly book by book, like Harry Potter. I guess that's why calling my books a "cycle" is better than calling them a series. "Cycle" suggests something rolling around like a year rolls around, and in The Cousin Cycle that's the one year of disastrous events that sets off so much discovery.
I'd love it if you would write a few lines about the book and rate it on either Amazon or GoodReads. That will make all the difference in whether other readers discover the book.
In telling the story of one year in the life of this family of cousins, I tell it from four different sets of eyes. Four different cousins take you on the journey of how the year's events impacted them, and they are all different ages. The Hoarders has a 10-year-old male protagonist, Balance has a twelve-year-old female protagonist, and How Not to Cry in Public has a seventeen-year-old female protagonist. And when Regrets Tree on Fire comes out this summer, it has a sixteen-year-old male protagonist.
Usually a series has a single protagonist that either doesn't age at all, or ages linearly book by book, like Harry Potter. I guess that's why calling my books a "cycle" is better than calling them a series. "Cycle" suggests something rolling around like a year rolls around, and in The Cousin Cycle that's the one year of disastrous events that sets off so much discovery.
I'd love it if you would write a few lines about the book and rate it on either Amazon or GoodReads. That will make all the difference in whether other readers discover the book.
February 8, 2013
The Cover Image for HOW NOT TO CRY IN PUBLIC is Here!
How Not to Cry in Public: A Novel is inching its way toward publication!
I've had a tremendous response to this title so far, and want to thank all of you who keep checking back to see when the book will be available at the distributors. I just received proofs of the finalized cover art, so it should be soon!
Fans of YA will love this next book in the Cousin Cycle. That's a promise!
I've had a tremendous response to this title so far, and want to thank all of you who keep checking back to see when the book will be available at the distributors. I just received proofs of the finalized cover art, so it should be soon!
Fans of YA will love this next book in the Cousin Cycle. That's a promise!
December 31, 2012
Children's Carol
I write a song for each book I publish, and particularly enjoyed writing the carol for The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure. In the story, the children of the city sing the lullaby as the caravan leaves on its quest to worship the Messiah."Where Is the Newborn Child?" can be sung unison, but the duet is always lovely. You can download a free pdf of the sheet music on my web site. I've included another version with a violin or flute obbligato for the more musically adventurous.
I'd love to hear about your experiences with the carol, okay?
December 28, 2012
Adventure Tale = Map
One of my dear, reliable readers marched out of her study waving my manuscript and announced, "This can't be an adventure tale. There's no map!"
It was true. The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure had to have a map. No hero or heroine can EVER embark on an adventure unless the novelist provides a map. It's the unmistakable signal to the reader that exciting events in all sorts of places are about to happen. And finding an illustrator--Jill Davis--who would turn my hand-scrawled version into art became one of the joys of Christmas 2012.
I titled the map "Locations Seen and Unseen" because it juxtaposes the known with the unknown. My novella takes as its premise that Northern Israel at the time of the Assyrian Dispersion in 721 B.C. had good people who didn't deserve the same fate as the wicked. We've all heard of the Lost Ten Tribes. Well, my novella gives an alternate history for where some of them went and how they co-existed with people of the Middle East, unknown and undiscovered for centuries, until the Meridian of Time.
It was true. The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure had to have a map. No hero or heroine can EVER embark on an adventure unless the novelist provides a map. It's the unmistakable signal to the reader that exciting events in all sorts of places are about to happen. And finding an illustrator--Jill Davis--who would turn my hand-scrawled version into art became one of the joys of Christmas 2012.
I titled the map "Locations Seen and Unseen" because it juxtaposes the known with the unknown. My novella takes as its premise that Northern Israel at the time of the Assyrian Dispersion in 721 B.C. had good people who didn't deserve the same fate as the wicked. We've all heard of the Lost Ten Tribes. Well, my novella gives an alternate history for where some of them went and how they co-existed with people of the Middle East, unknown and undiscovered for centuries, until the Meridian of Time.
December 20, 2012
Revisionist History of the Wise Men
I call my new Christmas novella, The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure, revisionist history because it tells how an event could have happened. The New Testament gives us very little information, just Matthew 2: 1-12. We don’t know who they were, how many there were, nor where they were from. Marco Polo names three men from Saba, Persia. And that’s about it as far as historical texts go.
My favorite novel EVER in this genre (besides my own, of course) is Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by O.S. Card in which he shows how a few changes create the Butterfly Effect in the exploration of the New World. The result is a completely different scenario. His research is comprehensive and his novelistic skills formidable. Plus, his world view gives us hope for humanity because history could have turned out differently. He envisions mankind as redeemable.
A novel that had equal potential was Jim Fergus’ One Thousand White Women. I respect his research and admire his historical perspectives, but the novel plays out to the same bitter end as real history. That means the author could not envision change. His view is that mankind is too racist, too hard-hearted, too bloody-minded to ever create a more enlightened scenario. What’s the good of that? Even if it’s true of some of us, does it help us live out our lives with any modicum of nobility or optimism if we believe that we are inherently venal creations?
My revisionist history of the Wise Men began with a deep-seated aversion to all the traditions that have grown up around them. For one thing, I can’t believe the Wise Men were astrologers. It seems to me they were inspired, Godly men. But then, how could they have possibly made the error of visiting Herod first? That was one of the questions that intrigued me when I began thinking through the plot.
More later . . .
My favorite novel EVER in this genre (besides my own, of course) is Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by O.S. Card in which he shows how a few changes create the Butterfly Effect in the exploration of the New World. The result is a completely different scenario. His research is comprehensive and his novelistic skills formidable. Plus, his world view gives us hope for humanity because history could have turned out differently. He envisions mankind as redeemable.
A novel that had equal potential was Jim Fergus’ One Thousand White Women. I respect his research and admire his historical perspectives, but the novel plays out to the same bitter end as real history. That means the author could not envision change. His view is that mankind is too racist, too hard-hearted, too bloody-minded to ever create a more enlightened scenario. What’s the good of that? Even if it’s true of some of us, does it help us live out our lives with any modicum of nobility or optimism if we believe that we are inherently venal creations?
My revisionist history of the Wise Men began with a deep-seated aversion to all the traditions that have grown up around them. For one thing, I can’t believe the Wise Men were astrologers. It seems to me they were inspired, Godly men. But then, how could they have possibly made the error of visiting Herod first? That was one of the questions that intrigued me when I began thinking through the plot.
More later . . .
December 18, 2012
THE WISE MEN: A CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE is here!
My Christmas novella is live in the Kindle Store! Go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANO68P4
Summary: In a city sequestered by futuristic technology from the ways of the Middle East in 1 A. D., three friends learn about evil and love as they join in the journey of a lifetime with the Worship Caravan bound for the Messiah.
You can read it as revisionist history, as fantasy, as an exploration of the hazards of Utopia, or simply as an adventure tale. I'd love to hear your responses.
ISBN: 978-0-9855540-3-3
Summary: In a city sequestered by futuristic technology from the ways of the Middle East in 1 A. D., three friends learn about evil and love as they join in the journey of a lifetime with the Worship Caravan bound for the Messiah.
You can read it as revisionist history, as fantasy, as an exploration of the hazards of Utopia, or simply as an adventure tale. I'd love to hear your responses.
ISBN: 978-0-9855540-3-3
