Roger Eschbacher's Blog, page 15

Blog Tour: Druid Warrior Prince by Juli D. Revezzo

Author Juli D. Revezzo has a new book called Druid Warrior Prince. It's full of Celtic mythology, which I groove on, so I think it looks interesting and I'm guessing you will too. She tells us all about her book in this guest post. Check out the post and then check out Druid Warrior Prince!  -- RE

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Druid Warrior Prince is the third in my urban/historical fantasy series, Celtic Stewards Chronicles. If you haven’t been introduced to it yet, the series is about a family who owns a patch of land on which the Irish gods of the Tuatha dé Danann, their druids, and a special squad of elite warriors fight an ancient, magical battle against mythic evil for the fate of the world, every 500 years. 
In the first book, Passion’s Sacred Dance, the heroine (Stacy) receives an old diary from the last overseer, who takes the overseer’s title of “Steward”. While Stacy lives in modern-day Florida, the previous steward oversaw the battle in 1513 on the family’s original homestead in Ireland.(The whole story of which is told in book 2, Druid Warrior’s Heart). That information only furthered Stacy’s curiosity about the family, so after her own battle in 2013, she’s gone digging for moreinformation on how her family has dealt with this war, seeking clues to, perhaps, end it, once and for all.
The third volume, lately released, entitled Druid Warrior Prince continues the story, from the point of view of Gwenevieve, the steward who lived 1500 years ago, revealing to Stacy a little-known episode in the family history, taking place is 6th Century Ireland. The progression down through Stacy’s history, to Gwen’s is why I can’t say the series is purely historical fantasy; it is, but it’s not, due to the modern setting of Passion’s Sacred Dance. Why did I decide to that? Because I’m mad? No. :)
If I am, there’s a method to the madness. For me, the combination of myth, fantasy, and history is something that has intrigued me for a long time, especially Celtic mythology. I have been studying up on it ever since I first found the King Arthur tales. A decade or so ago I fell into Irish mythology, and have barely resurfaced since. That’s where the world and war of the Celtic Stewards Chronicles came from. There’s a tale in the myths that says the evil god Balor one day did the unthinkable and refused hospitality to a druid of the Tuatha dé Danann. Well, the withholding of said hospitality was a major slight, in the eyes of the Celts, and so this druid did what you’d expect. He told tales of this king’s snub to his kin, and they decided to go to war with the king over it. (As I said, major slight!) That story, got me thinking, what if the war didn’t just end at the end of the tale we have written down? What if the uppity king kept poking at his enemies, by way of threatening humanity, or otherwise causing trouble so the Tuatha dé Danann would have no choice but to defend people from the king’s potential destructive wrath?
That thought gave rise to a war fought every 500 years under the watchful eye of one family, as ancient Celtic wars were fought with a druid on hand to oversee it all, and from there to my three books (so far) in the Celtic Stewards Chronicles, the third of which, Druid Warrior Prince, just released.
The official synopsis is as follows:
Gwenevieve Macken’s well-ordered world falls into chaos as encroaching interlopers scheme to possess both her and her land. Although she’s been trained to spot the signs of inhuman evil in men, the amassing armies take on guises she never expected.

When a foreign guardian presents himself as her only option for salvation, Gwenevieve must make a choice between her desires, and fulfilling the mythic fate to which she was born. A forced marriage to a Tuatha dé Danann warrior isn't part of her plan.
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 Should you like to check it out, it’s available at Amazon, in ebook and paperback.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Prince-Celtic-Stewards-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B076H7KRV5
The entire Celtic Stewards Chronicles can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KK77N5
I hope you will enjoy them. And before I go, I’d like to say thank you to Roger for allowing me to come here and tell you about the series. 
Juli D. Revezzo loves fantasy and Celtic mythology and writing stories with all kinds of fantastical elements. She is the author of the historical romances, House of Dark Envy, Watchmaker's Heart, and Lady of the Tarot, the Antique Magic paranormal mystery series and Celtic Stewards Chronicles series and more. She is also a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic Appreciation Tour.




To learn more about this and future releases, visit her at: http://www.julidrevezzo.com Sign up for her newsletter at: http://bit.ly/SNI5K6 Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julidrevezzo or follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julidrevezzo blog: http://julismapsroom.blogspot.com/

GHOST STAR: Kindle Press Announces Publication Date!

Just got the announcement...GHOST STAR will be published by Kindle Press on January 9, 2018 at 12:00 AM EST! Woo hoo!

The link below is to my book's brand new Amazon page. Those who nominated GHOST STAR during its Kindle Scout campaign are eligible for a free Kindle copy.

Those who missed out on that crazy fun time (YIKES!) can pre-order their very own copy too. The paperback edition will come out around the same time and will be published through CreateSpace.

Hope you enjoy GHOST STAR, and thank you for your support!

To go to GHOST STAR'S Amazon page, click HERE.

Chugging Along: Ghost Star Update #3

I submitted my publish-ready manuscript to Kindle Press yesterday. This draft was based on the excellent notes I got from my KP editor. I also had "David," the Microsoft Word robot voice, read Ghost Star back to me one more time after I had done the changes. I'm always amazed at how many errors he helps me catch. If you're not using TTS (Text to Speech) as a proofing tool, I highly recommend that you do so.

I got a note back from KP this morning. My author revised draft has "passed the final stages of review." Because of the quick turnaround, I'm guessing their approval is based on some sort of auto-scan.

The rest of the note goes on to say:

"Currently, the Kindle Press production team is working on converting your Word doc into a MOBI e-book file for publication on all Kindle devices. We’ll let you know when this stage is complete and we establish a detail page for your title. This process typically takes around 1-2 weeks."

Super cool! That's it for now. More to come.

Getting Schooled: Ghost Star Update #2

I received my Kindle Press editor's notes on GHOST STAR a few days ago and started working on them today. Woo hoo!

How it works: The editor sends you, the KS-selected author, an edited manuscript (where the author can accept or reject the changes using the Track Changes feature). Working from the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) for grammar, punctuation, and style guidelines, and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate (M-W) for spellings and hyphenations, she found tons of, shall we say, "deviations" from those rules. The suggested changes are all of a minor nature (no "Chapter 13 sucks, chuck it!"), but there are lots of little things that need to be fixed. The cool thing is that my editor made a lot of the little changes (punctuation, sentence structure, naming continuity, etc.) herself, so all I have to do is accept or reject.

My editor's tone is supportive and upbeat. I really get the feeling she likes the book and is on my side. I can tell she only wants the book to be as good as it can be, but she leaves no doubt about the proper way to do things. For example, it was pointed out the names of the spacecraft should be italicized as in Ghost Star. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure.

Along with the edited manuscript came a Editorial Letter (Line Editing) where GHOST STAR gets what amounts to a critique on things like Structure/Plot Flow, Characterization, and Tone and Style. Again, tons of great info here including awesome suggestions about how to heighten the impact of key scenes with some well-placed foreshadowing.

My first pass through the notes will be for the basic Accept/Reject notes (punctuation corrections, etc.). Then I'll address my editor's comments in the manuscript. Finally, I'll go through the Editorial Letter and make the suggested changes. I'm about halfway through the first pass and loving every minute of it. It's exciting!

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This is surprisingly good!    (h/t Jeff Faria)

Ghost Star Update

As promised, new details! Just received the following from my Kindle Press editorial team:

"We're pleased to let you know that editorial work on your Kindle Press manuscript Ghost Star has begun. An editor will review your manuscript using the Microsoft Word Track Changes feature and provide recommendations.
When the editor has completed work on your manuscript, we'll send you another e-mail letting you know your manuscript is ready for review, along with a link so you can download your manuscript, review all the editorial suggestions, and decide which changes you'd like to make before submitting your edited document to the Kindle Press team.
Your manuscript should be ready for you to review by October 20, 2017."

How cool is that? Needless to say, I'll jump on the recommendations right away. Not sure what the schedule is after I submit the revised manuscript, but I'll let y'all know as soon as I know. 

Please Support My 2017 WALK TO END ALZHEIMER'S:

My MomWALK ALERT: Hey, everybody! I'm participating in this year's Walk to End Alzheimer's and asking for your support. My mom, Pat, and my father-in-law, Jerry, both suffer from this brutal disease. The Walk to End Alzheimer's is my small way of fighting back.
Thanks to your generous donations, I've blown past my original fundraising goal of $500.00. I'm just a little short of the $1000.00 mark and would love to beat that, too.
Our local walk is NEXT WEEKEND on October 7th, 2017. Follow THIS LINK to donate now. You'll be taken to my Donation Page.
Please donate what you can to support the efforts of the Alzheimer's Association. Any amount is a good amount. Thank you for joining the fight!  Roger

Guess Who's Getting Published by Kindle Press?!!!

Amazon just emailed me...Kindle Press is going to publish GHOST STAR!!! Details to come. Woo hoo! Thanks for your support, everyone!

Ghost Star Campaign Is Over

My (annoying?) GHOST STAR campaign is finally over. I'll find out if the book is selected sometime in the next 15 days. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported me. You folks are awesome! :) #fingerscrossed

2017 Walk to End Alzheimer's

My MomHello, all! I'm participating in this year's Walk to End Alzheimer's and asking for your support.

My mom, Pat, and my father-in-law, Jerry, both suffer from this brutal disease. The Walk to End Alzheimer's is my small way of fighting back.

Our local walk is on October 7th, 2017.

CLICK HERE to donate now. You'll be taken to my Donation Page.

Please donate what you can to support the efforts of the Alzheimer's Association. Any amount will help.

Thank you for joining the fight!

Roger