Dale Amidei's Blog, page 11

Boone Minus Five

OK, peeps. You’ve heard the name for two years, and now her debut is on the horizon. Boone’s first, Absinthe and Chocolate, is preparing to publish. Normally, the thing would be available at this stage. Being that Labor Day has only recently arrived to end the summer retail doldrums, I’m holding the title until the September 10—five days from now—and hoping to engage some opinion leaders for the title’s initial reviews.

Preorders, by the way, all go through on Launch Day and boost visibility as an effect. I appreciate anyone who wishes to help; your reward will consist of getting an incredible novel for less than a buck.

I’ve wondered, as the time to launch this series—Boone’s File—draws near, how Ian Fleming would have approached James Bond if he had considered writing his character as a woman. In bringing Dr. Hildebrandt to life, I found the depth of complexity and wellspring of emotion available to draw wonderfully enabling. I believe her novels—four of them now—reflect this. The result is an archetypal, satisfying, and dynamic strong female character with growth, plot and romance arcs spanning more than three hundred and fifty thousand words.

This title will be the third gateway into the common universe of my fiction. Characters from The Anvil of the Craftsman and elsewhere pop up to augment Boone’s efforts and fill out the story line. Playing central roles are Daniel Sean Ritter, Bernie Schuster, and General Peter McAllen with cameos from Jon, Mary, and Farrah. Absinthe provided a chance for me to drop back on my messaging, have some fun, and spend eighty-five-and-a-half thousand words introducing a very special personality through a kickin’ adventure.

Boone, when we meet her, concurrently is at the top of her professional game and nearing the nadir of her personal life. She is, in most instances, directly responsible for many aspects of her misery. A life lived in secrets has left her isolated and developing an unhealthy gravitation toward alcohol. Overcompensation for loneliness, compounded by enduring, building guilt from the lives she has taken, is now a lifestyle. Offsetting needs fulfill largely through escapades in the service of her country, specifically in her capacity as a Level One Case Officer working for the Director of National Intelligence. At times, when a kindred spirit draws near enough, she finds solace in her bed as well.

Electronic copies of Absinthe and Chocolate in EPUB and MOBI formats are available to preorder at 99¢—a 75% discount from the full retail price of $3.99—through the links below. By the time you finish, I strongly suspect you will realize the fun waiting ahead in three more of her titles.

Who knows, perhaps Mr. Fleming made a similar offer once, in a different time and format, with Casino Royale. If so, I imagine the people involved remember.

Preorders:

Kindle

iTunes

Kobo

Smashwords

Nook readers will be able to grab their copy at the same price through Saturday!

Boom / Boone

Well, as for the initial order of business, the lead portion of the title says it all. The previous days have seen a not-unexpected spectacular response to features by subscription email sites BookBub and The Midlist on July 17. It so happens in my case to have been a providential coincidence that both happened on the same day. This fortunate circumstance resulted in the distribution of one-hundred-fifty percent as many copies of my first novel, The Anvil of the Craftsman, as in the two and half years since the novel first appeared.

Across all venues, downloads totaled nearly twenty-three thousand seven hundred, a total exceeding the average for free BookBub listings in Christian Fiction by roughly twenty percent. The visibility has resulted in a wonderful number of new reviews as well. I appreciate every one.

To new readers just now discovering the Dale Amide universe, let me say welcome! I hope you enjoy my work enough to consider continuing on with the series through your paid patronage. I promise a ride you will not forget.

★★★★★

In the midst of all that excitement, the final edits to Novel5/Boone1, Absinthe and Chocolate, are coming in. The novel looks great in finished form.

As I noted previously during the Year in the Chair, writing Dr. Rebecca Boone Hildebrandt has allowed me an even greater depth of character development than I have been previously able to achieve. As a woman—a strong woman, meeting every definition of an archetypal Strong Woman Character—Boone’s emotions and vulnerabilities also let me explore the psyche of a flawed, flamboyant, courageous, awesome and admirable personality.

To be sure, Boone bears the responsibility for most of what makes her at times miserable. She finds counterbalance in her intelligence, her duty, and most of all in her love. That vital virtue, in its essence, makes any others possible. It is what carries her through the character, romance, and story line arcs of three more novels that follow Absinthe in Boone’s File.

I cannot wait to introduce you to her, but wait I must for a little while longer. Following Main Edit, we go through Audio Proof and Hard Copy Proof before external proofreading and test market reading confirm the quality expected of ourselves here at Single Candle Press.

I appreciate beyond words the patience of those who wait without knowing the woman. When Boone arrives—in September, God willing, if not before—she will make it up to you.

Choose to Love. -DA

The Joy of Text

As I write this, Novel5/Boone1 “Absinthe and Chocolate” is 37 percent complete in primary editing. Other than conceiving, constructing and actually writing the thing, this is the most difficult work and the greatest investment of time in producing a title for Single Candle Press. Main edit is also the most trying to wait out, as it proceeds at a part-time pace during whatever time the Editress manages to allocate.

She and I have ever been complementary opposites making up the yin and yang of our relationship. In revision as elsewhere, where I am creative, she is conventional. Where I am sometimes impulsive, she maintains our true horizon. When one doubts, the other is strong. So it is that we maintain a cohesive and balanced forward momentum.

Following her idiom, every premise stands examined; every statement of fact was researched, and any issues discovered were raised in content edit prior to this point. Now—sentence by paragraph by scene by chapter—the language and presentation of a novel I envisioned is being perfected. The goal is what I term a “snag-free” read, one that achieves immersion without the distraction of inelegant execution or an implausible scenario. It’s what we do, to whatever end.

We have been together for the majority of our lives. Coalescing out of that span, a true sense of purpose seems to have appeared in Single Candle Press. It is embodied in our mission statement: “To present faith and traditional values in mainstream fiction.”

With no television here inside the Perimeter, cats are the most likely source of spontaneous entertainment. When the Editress is not working, eating, at exercise or sleeping, she undertakes the polish of eighty-three thousand words with a dedication and enthusiasm heartening in ways difficult for even an author to describe.

Today marks twenty-four months since the Year in the Chair—my time dedicated to the production of fiction—began. What followed is seen in retrospect as the Year of Dark and Cold. In that interval, we were re-purposed to return here to the place we always called home, and resettle in a turn of events neither of us expected. My own resumption of external employment is finalizing, and with it I expect the slow climb back up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to that summit where self-actualizing creativity can produce a tenth novel.

All of these things, rather than being done by one of us or the other, instead have been and are being done together. SCP is a partnership that grew out of another we have enjoyed for more than thirty years. With a finish line nowhere in sight, the efforts of the moment yet consume our passion and attention. Faith holds forth the promise that it will be so always, and in that hope we amass the true treasure of this house.

Choose to Love, -DA

Entry Points

Discoverability is one key to the success of an independent author. As I plead in the end matter of every novel, we have no publicity department or promotional budget outside of our own efforts.

The content edit of Novel5/ Boone1, Absinthe and Chocolate, is nearing completion. The first title of my third series Boone’s File looms larger on the horizon every day toward a projected release this summer. Three series will be the eventual result, God willing. All, I confess. are set in the same universe as the novel that started things off, The Anvil of the Craftsman.

Jon’s Trilogy, Sean’s File, and Boone’s File share to the extent possible a familiar cast of characters. It seemed to be the thing to do, and one does not meet people like these every day. The engaging spark of General Peter McAllen, the stoic bad-assery of Daniel Sean Ritter, and even the somewhat cynical and perpetual administrative confusion of Bernie Schuster now have become part of the landscape. I don’t think I could let any of them go if I tried.

With three series, new readers will have three places to start: whether with Anvil, my free offering, Operation Naji—which is Ritter’s back story—or with Boone’s debut in Absinthe. Three routes into my world will hopefully allow me show to show the maximum number of literary guests around for a while… for as long as I write, actually.

These novels are entry points, and I appreciate the utility of multiple chances to gain an audience for what I have to say. Whether I’m read in chronological order or by date of publication, I want the experience to be the same: satisfying enough to encourage my audience to tell many others.

I still, and always shall, pursue that happily viral popularity that best-quality writing can provoke. Without readers, as I’ve said before, an author’s voice is only imagination, and they mean the world to me. I thought I was good with words until it came time to tell you all how much.

Choose to Love, -DA

Collection One now available on Kindle!

Available today: Collection One

The nearly 1,100 pages of Dale Amidei Collection One are live on Amazon! My first four novels have garnered over 96% of the available stars in customer ratings. This title is a chance for new readers on Kindle to save half over separate purchases.

“Anvil,” as always, remains a free download for those who’d like to try before they buy. Please spread the word!

The Gift

Night in Judea, even for those traveling in the retinue of a king, was the time to seek the safety of shelter and the warmth of a comforting fire. Such glowed from the dwellings of others, but the caravan slipping into the camp of Bethlehem, the messenger knew, sought a comfort other than hospitality.

Watching them carefully, he saw the party gauge the shadows cast by the blaze of the new star above. Once there were none, and the great light in the night sky was directly overhead, their travel stopped. The wisest among them gathered to confer then.

Yes, this is the place, the messenger’s thought went out, and the invisible one felt it register at the crossroad between him and the eldest among them. He saw their conclusion when it was reached.

Heralds stooped to enter the place for the animals, and the kings were announced. Inside, the family seeking shelter greeted their visitors with surprise. The shining one, the only member of the party to walk unseen, entered with them.

Others of his kind were here, surrounding and protecting the family. Those watched with silent reverence over the Child just arrived: wrapped in swaddling clothes, and cradled in the straw of a manger. The companion of the visiting kings took his place with his kind on the periphery of the scene. We are all here, was the silent consensus.

Presentations followed. Gold—that incorruptible medium of exchange since men had learned of it—was delivered and received with surprise. Gratitude and wonder displayed no less for the others. Fragrant frankincense had traveled in trade from the coast, as had the myrrh that followed. Gifts, the messenger knew, for a newborn King.

Life—fragile and fleeting in its delicacy—radiated with the beauty of the living. The ones who knew not that they were surrounded and protected had that favor, and more. It is the same light inside as we. These people are blessed.

The woman, young but gracious, was yet tired from childbirth. All could see as much, so the visitation would not be a lengthy one. The rulers who had traveled far to behold this sight were fulfilled in their wish, and the dreams that had been sent had likewise each served the purpose intended.

The Gift is delivered. The messenger had one of his own, as did his kind, if the Spirit granted foresight. It will be a time when this gift-giving is remembered, the messenger knew.

The Gift would be a life, just as it was for every man, and every woman, and every beast in God’s Realm. This life just begun was unique, however. It would be lived for the benefit of His Creation, and its span would serve a purpose set from the beginning. They will have Him for such a short time, yet forever, those who believe. The Right Hand of the Craftsman, Who with His Eye judges what He has made, is leveling his work. How fitting, then, that He will live in the house of a carpenter.

Time for the living—being what it was—meant the visitation would soon end. One last task, and my visit is also over on this wondrous night. He slipped nearer, as unseen as ever. The messenger watched as a counselor sidled up to the king who had traveled so far.

“Majesty … shall we inform Herod that all is as we thought?”

Remember the dream, the messenger thought, and again felt a communion in the Spirit with the ruler whose wisdom blessed the man’s people. The old one smiled, and shook his head, regarding the Child in lingering appreciation.

“Say nothing to anyone,” was the order for the surprised servant. “Order the party. We will return to our own country by another route.”

I am finished here, their attendant knew. He saw the unwillingness to withdraw in the faces of the Three, their departure made as yet another gift: one of consideration for the new family. The messenger saw no such preparation in the faces of the ones like him, who shone with their invisible light. I can leave as well. The others will remain … always.

He stayed with the caravan to the edge of the camp of Bethlehem and only then fell behind, knowing the same guiding star would ease their travel in the night to a camp of their own making. That waited elsewhere in the radiant evening. Fare well in your journeys, came his last blessing as prompted by the Spirit.

The messenger regarded the place once more for his own pleasure, fading slowly back into his own plane, knowingly blessed to have witnessed this time of men. Time is only such as they see. It always was, always is, and always shall be. They will understand once they are made ready. The knowledge conferred a peace … one the living could only imagine.

From everyone at Single Candle Press, we wish for you a merry and blessed Christmas and the best in the New Year. Choose to love. -DA

Texodus

Living in Texas is indefinably wonderful. Perhaps it is the history of the place, or its former status as an independent Republic, or merely the lingering spirits of the people who settled this area of the country and made it their own.

The ghosts of Houston and Travis, Bowie and Crockett flavor the atmosphere with an unyielding spirit. Texas Rangers yet protect her citizenry today as they did in the frontier era. The beer is cold, the steaks big, and the barbeque distinct and delicious. It is not unusual to see a pickup truck bearing a sticker with the red, white and blue of the Lone Star State’s flag emblazoned with the word SECEDE. In living here for seven years, I have the impression that if any state’s people could truly make it on their own, this would be the one.

Texas, to use de Toqueville’s phraseology, is great because her people are good. Strong in faith and practical, they are a sturdy breed. My intuition tells me it is a love of the place nurturing the native stock. People influenced by their environment in such a way live their lives proud and pleased, and pass an essential state of satisfaction on to their progeny. We drank deep of the company of such folk while our time was blessed.

Two-thirds the size of Europe, it is a half-day’s drive from the state line to the heart of the Texas Hill Country from any direction, and we have made the journey more than a few times. The next time we make the drive, unfortunately, it will be in leaving rather than returning.

Behind me is the window on whose sill I leaned looking out at a beautiful panorama of live and post oaks, thinking through the themes from which I wove the novels of Jon Anthony, Daniel Sean Ritter and Rebecca Boone Hildebrandt. I will miss the fleeting treasure of those times.

In this beautiful place—the Hill Country—we were graced to live and write, and it will travel with us in memory. Our gray cats, also traveling with us, sniffed about on our green grass, lay in the shade of the trees of the Perimeter, and grew old in the last house they knew. We watched both of them leave from this same room in which I write now: the work area that produced nine novels.

We—the Single Candle Press Editress and I— hail from the wind- and snow-swept plains of South Dakota originally, and now an odyssey of twelve years is taking us home. We have been nudged, directed and preserved to do as much, and the divine guidance in the matter is all but undeniable. We’re going home, but we will carry in our minds the contrasts between the two locales.

It is, in a sense, always winter in the Dakotas. It is in fact winter, or just coming out of winter, or nearing winter. Briefly, it is summer, a time taken largely by matters of harvest and road construction. The cold is bitter and unforgiving, as are the people at times. It will be a fight to keep that same indigenous icicle from forming in my spirit again; one that five years of Arizona sun was barely able to melt before Texas beckoned. Neither Arizona nor Texas, however, was home.

We lived here and there, and we enjoyed each locale, but it was through occupation without belonging. With each passing year the difficult realization of being suspended outside of our element, and separated from our people became undeniable. That which goes against its nature does not endure, and age does nothing to salve an unnatural condition.

Knowing this, and taking comfort in the currently clear direction absent during our wanderings, is what I believe will sustain us once we return. Other places to live exist, but they are not our places. South Dakota is our land, and we are its people, and the strength to endure the place comes—in part at least—from such conviction. A stubborn toughness is found on the Plains … the survivorship earned by making it through to green grass every spring. Texas, wonderful as it may be, cannot make us Texans when we are not.

What we were to do and see is finished in Arizona, and nearly ended in the Lone Star State. It is truly time to go home: so named for a reason, after all, that being the peace found in returning to a place where one belongs. We hope you already know yours.

Choose to Love, -DA

Sean and Muhammad

Perhaps a detailed psychoanalysis can explain where the ideas for a writer’s work originate. If so—despite my degree in that area of study—it is unlikely that I would take such a conclusion seriously in any case. Science tends to discount the notion that the mind is a spiritual crossroad, and tends to fall into the trap of human arrogance in assuming all of our thoughts and inspirations are our own.

In The Anvil of the Craftsman, Farrah’s son Gabir and the story’s mysterious military man have a brief conversation regarding Gabir’s father Muhammad. He was a man whose memory resided in reverence, seemingly by everyone who knew him. It was a scene that demanded the fulfillment of the back-story from the moment I wrote the words.

Whether a reader knows my Air Force Special Operator as Matt Kameldorn—his nom de guerre in Anvil—Drew Domenick from The Britteridge Heresy, or Daniel Sean Ritter from Killing Doctor Jon, he is a character whose intrigue draws the reader close. They seemed to want to know more, and so did I. The result was a parallel series to Jon’s Trilogy now beginning: Sean’s File, opening with his first novel Operation Naji.

Heroes, Villains, and ordinary people are made, not born. Each story has a beginning, and middle, and an end. In Naji, we see the beginnings of the man in whom training, talent, and dedication would coalesce to produce a warrior. That, however, is not the whole purpose of the work.

The heart of the novel remains a question in the deep blue water of theology, and that is the basis for salvation. Those of you who have absorbed my work may find my ideas divergent in that regard, though as with everything my opinions result from dedicated consideration. I see our origins in the work of a Craftsman: one who takes the time needed to produce His desired result, and Who is very good at what He does. I believe that skill is applied across cultures and faiths, due to the engineered capacity of the human soul to find its way back home. We humans do that by addressing essential and universal questions—consciously or not—and with a result determined by our individual character, capacity, and determination.

One believes in salvation by grace through faith, or one does not. Personally, I see the accommodation of Christ as an eternal fixture in a perfect plan rather than as a point of legality in a historical timeline. Some overly rigid doctrinalists will doubtless take issue with a Christian writer placing a Muslim as the main narrative character in Naji. Nevertheless, the novel brings across the message given as I wrote, and I have no regrets concerning the result.

Operation Naji is now in the very final stages of editing, and shall—God willing—soon go on to proofing and formatting and thence to its beta readers. Once published, the same faith telling me this endeavor of writing was worthwhile assures me that the novel will achieve its intended influence. Maybe only a few will read it, or perhaps many. It is what it is, and I think it a story that will not be forgotten once absorbed. Sean, of course, deserves that, as does Muhammad … certainly even more.

Choose to Love, -DA

Patriot Day

Vae Obscurum is seldom used for political statements. This is a forum to talk about writing: the fiction of Single Candle Press, the processes and inspirations that bring my work about, and results calling for celebration when they occur.

Today, however, is not ordinary … nor has it been since this day in 2001. Something changed then, as history began the march from that morning to wherever it is we will find ourselves tomorrow. It was the sudden appearance of a reminder that we live in a world of actualities, tempered or strained by the character of those who populate the place.

One year ago, just such a contrast was drawn between those whose sense of duty demanded that they go to the aid of fellow citizens and their civilian leadership here at home who had drawn orders that no patriot do any such thing. The result was the Benghazi firefight. Heroes, having accomplished a mission of rescuing their wards, fought against vastly superior forces for seven hours. Some of our best inflicted mass casualties on a determined enemy, and they did so while awaiting air support and reinforcement denied them by executive fiat.

The defining moment of this tragedy was the time spent by the President and Secretary of State—then, Hillary Clinton—as the fight continued from that rooftop. Rather than attending to the needs of men in the field defending our sovereign real estate, those two instead formulated the campaign of lies attributing the incident to a spontaneous protest rather than a planned terrorist operation. So it was that lesser souls wrote into history the treason of Benghazi with pens dipped in the blood of better men.

Today is Patriot Day, designated as such to commemorate the events of twelve years ago. This year, we also remember the losses of 2012, and demand justice for those that were wronged then as well. Most of all, we should use this day to exhibit the true character of America.

The American Spirit is not the one projected by the current leadership, as the occupants of the Executive Branch and their diplomatic appointees fail to embrace the same ideals as the visionaries who defined the roles and bounds established in our Constitution. One can still find the true faith behind the walls of homes flying the Flag, in the guiding hand of a parent helping a child to place his or her hand properly over the heart, or in the salute of the Colors by those who wear one of the nation’s many uniforms with pride: American pride. Perhaps the best definition of that spirit was provided by English writer D.H. Lawrence, who observed “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”

America is indeed that, and our enemies learn whenever they come. We will not be defined by the public face of embarrassment that must be endured until the Ship of State again recovers from its current list to port side. Today serves a warning alongside the remembrances of the morning of September Eleventh.

To whom it may concern: this remains a world of actualities. To dismiss America’s resiliency, while distracted by the spectacle of folly presented via those who fail to embrace the essential strengths of this nation, has proven fatal to more than one variety of enemy in the past. Stand on the ashes of their bones, and consider the lesson offered there.

Choose to Love, -DA

2013 EFestival of Words Honors

Very pleased to be able to announce this morning that my debut and lead title of Jon’s Trilogy, that novel I love, The Anvil of the Craftsman, was honored in three categories at the 2013 eFestival of Words Virtual Book Fair. Anvil brought home Best Editing, thanks to the tireless efforts of She Who Must Be Obeyed, Single Candle Press Lead Editor Carrie Andere.

Anvil was originally nominated in five categories: Best Editing, Best Action/Adventure, Best Villain, Best Hero and Best Novel. In the first three cases, the title survived the cut made by the judges at the event. The end result, two Runners-up and one top honor, is the result of nearly two months of public voting. These are our first public awards for what has proven to be a very well received title, currently rated 4.8 stars over the course of 44 Amazon reviews. Anvil remains and will be for the foreseeable future a free, full-length download through most venues.

Thanks to all who assisted in the effort to obtain the visibility and the recognition that this year’s eFest generated. I am humbled and honored by the support of my friends and readers on a continual basis.

Choose to Love, -DA

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