E.C. Blake's Blog, page 11

Book Giveaway Week 4: enter to win any book I’ve written, get download of The Chosen for free!

And so we move on to Week 4 of the Great Book Giveaway of 2014. I had an even dozen entrants last week, each of whom received a free download of my YA ghost story The Haunted Horn. The winner was David, who commented on a post on my E.C. Blake Facebook page.

This week, each entrant receives a free download of my YA SF novel The Chosen.

In a ruined future, two teenagers, one a girl from a religious cult determined to stop the rebuilding of a technological society whose destruction they believe was punishment from God, one a boy from a group just as determined to rebuild the old high-tech world, must overcome their differences to work together to stop the first war of the new age–a war that might destroy both their peoples.

The rules remain the same: you can enter by commenting on this blog post, or by the posts at either my E.C. Blake or Edward Willett Facebook pages, or by reTweeting one of my @ewillett or @AuthorECBlake Tweets about the contest.

You can choose any book I’ve written of which I have extra copies–which is almost all of them–should you win, and I’ll mail it to you free of charge.

Good luck, and please share this contest widely.

Thanks!

Week 3: Another chance to win a free print book, and a free ebook to all entrants!

And so we plunge ahead to Week 3 of my weekly book giveaway. Same terms for entering: just leave a comment on this blog, or reply to the post I’ll put up on my E.C. Blake fanpage on Facebook or RT one of the Tweets I’ll be posting about the contest on Twitter @AuthorECBlake.

Last week everyone who entered got a coupon for a free ebook download of my YA science fiction novel Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star. This week, everyone who enters gets a free download of my YA modern-day-ghost-story-with-Civil-War-overtones The Haunted Horn.

And remember, you can enter every week if you want, even if you win. If I may borrow a phrase and take it completely out of context, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

Let the games begin!

Week 2 book giveaway winner!

This week’s winner of a free book through my ongoing contest is Levi, who left a comment on this blog. Can’t tell you where he lives yet, since I don’t have a mailing address, and I don’t yet know which book he’ll choose. Last week’s winner, who turned out to be from Edmonton, took a copy of Magebane, written as Lee Arthur Chane.

Numbers were down a bit this week, but I had 19 entrants through the two blogs, two Facebook fan pages and two Twitter accounts (one of each for Edward Willett and E.C. Blake).

And now…it’s time to begin Week 3. But I’ll make that a separate post.

Book Giveaway Contest Week 2: Everyone’s a winner!

The first week of my new weekly book giveaway contest was relatively successful, but I want to see those numbers rise. So this week there’s a new wrinkle. This week’s winner can select a book, fiction or nonfiction, of his or her choice–and everyone who enters (that’s right, everyone) will receive a coupon allowing them to download, absolutely free, the ebook version of my YA science fiction novel Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star. (That’s its new cover on display at left.) Provided, of course, that said entrant provides me with an email address so I can send them said coupon.

Here’s a review of Andy Nebula to whet your appetite:

“The action in Andy Nebula moves along at a cracking pace and the characters are well-drawn… Andy Nebula is fast and furious enough to keep even reluctant readers turning the pages, and young teen fans of fantasy and science fiction will not be disappointed.” – John Wilson, Quill & Quire

Or, as a young reader in Manitoba put it in a school book report:

“The book is like Star Wars plus drug dealers plus rock stars all joined into one book. If you like to read about that stuff then you will love this book…This is a cool book so check it out!”

So, enter away by replying to this blog post. Last week’s winner, Jeff, is eligible to enter (and win) again, by the way. So will you be, should you be the winner this week.

Thanks for entering! Enjoy the free ebook!

And please, share this contest with your friends, neighbors, and social networks. The more the merrier!

We have a winner!

The winner of my first weekly book giveaway was Jeff, who commented on my Edward Willett blog.

Statistics, for those interested: this first week, I had 45 entries. Ten entered through my Edward Willett website, seven through my this website, seven through my Edward Willett Facebook page, 13 through my E.C. Blake Facebook page, five by retweeting a Tweet from @ewillett, and two by retweeting a Tweet from @AuthorECBlake.

If you entered and didn’t win, you can enter again this week by replying to the next post, which I will write momentarily. I may add a new wrinkle, so check it out!

No word yet on which book Jeff will choose…

Announcing a new weekly book giveaway contest

So, here’s the thing. In my secret identity as Edward Willett I’ve got a lot of books cluttering up my basement, because every time I have a book published, I get author’s copies, and I’ve also bought up or simply received stock of books going out of print. Lots and lots of books.

I don’t need all those books. Oh, sure, I can sometimes hand-sell a copy or two at a convention, so I want to keep some copies of some of the books, but there are many others where if I have more than one copy I have too many.

So I’m starting a new Saturday feature. For the next week, you can leave a comment on this post (you can also enter on Facebook or Twitter) to enter to receive, absolutely free, one book of your choice from what I have available, which is pretty much anything on this list. The one exclusion? I can’t give copies of Masks, unless you’re willing to take one with damaged binding (I have four of those). If you ask for something I can’t give a copy of, I’ll let you pick something else.

Fiction or non-fiction, it doesn’t matter, if I have an extra copy kicking around, and you win the draw, you can claim it. Then I’ll ask for a mailing address and off it goes.

This promotion will continue until I either get tired of it, can no longer afford the postage, or run out of books that anybody wants.

Why would I do this? Well, obviously, to raise awareness of myself as an author. Duh. Which means that I’m not only running a contest, I am also running a fiendish data-gathering scheme. If you enter, I’ll add your email address to my very-irregular writing-news electronic newsletter. Don’t worry, this will amount to maybe an email every three months, if that. If you want to enter but don’t want to be added to the list, you can tell me that and I’ll exclude you from it.

So, enter away in the comments! And check back every Saturday for the new week’s edition of this post.

(Oh, and note that comments on this blog are moderated, so if your entry comment doesn’t show up immediately, don’t worry–I still got it.)

Reality in fantasy

Every two months I write a column (as Edward Willett) for the Saskatchewan Writers Guild‘s magazine Freelance. Here’s the latest, on grounding your fantasy fiction in reality.

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When someone writes a hardboiled police procedural novel, we expect it to adhere to correct police procedures in the city in which it is set. When someone writes a historical novel set in 19th-century India, we expect the details of life and governance in 19th-century India to be well-researched and correct. When someone writes a slice-of-life story set in present-day Regina, we expect to be able to recognize everyday life as we know it to be.

In other words, even though fiction is, by definition, not real, we expect it to contain substantial doses of reality.

Yet somehow, too many people, when they decide they’re going to write fantasy, decide that because it is set in an entirely made-up world, they don’t have to worry about realism.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, nothing kills a fantasy tale faster than a lack of realism. If anything goes—if the author can make up anything he or she wants out of that ever-popular speculative fiction building material “handwavium”—the reader quickly realizes that nothing really matters, and if that’s the case, why should he or she care?

The holy trinity of fiction comprises setting, character and plot. And all of them, if your fantasy fiction is to succeed, must contain a sizeable dose of realism.

Let’s start with setting. Yes, your tale may be set in an entirely made-up medieval kingdom: but medieval kingdoms existed in the real world, too, and can be thoroughly researched. What was the class structure? How was the city policed? How was sewage dealt with? Food distributed? Defenses organized?

The other reason for doing some research and trying to make your settings as real as possible is that the details you discover in you research find their way into your story in unexpected ways. In my most recent fantasy novel Masks (written as E.C. Blake), I had need of a way to move people up and down the levels of a mine. Initially I was going to go with ladders, but a little research revealed the existence of a waterwheel-driven people-mover called a “man engine” used in old mines in Germany. That enhanced the scenes set in the mine immensely, I think, and also provided me with an intriguing sound effect: the constant rumble of the waterwheel is mentioned several times as my characters move around the mining camp.

Keeping characters real in fantasy is the same challenge faced by all fiction writers. No matter how real they seem to you, your characters are in fact nothing but figments of your imagination. No matter how much you may know about them, how much you invent, how many spreadsheets you fill with information about them, they can never even begin to approach the complexity of a real person. Still, carefully chosen details, dialogue and incidents can make a fictional character sometimes seem more real to us than many of those we meet in our day-to-day lives.

In fantasy, the problem of making a character seem real is exacerbated by the fact that he, she, or it may have attributes one never encounters in the real world. You may be dealing with someone who can change shape, or wield magic, or fly, or read thoughts, or turn invisible. If your readers are going to relate to that, you have to make sure that in other ways, the character is very real: that his or her or its motivations (love, hatred, lust, revenge, ambition, etc.), actions, and reactions all seem like those of an actual human being—even if the character is not actually a human being at all, but an elf or dwarf of werewolf

Much the same can be said of plot. While the plot of a fantasy—furry-footed height-challenged everyman must journey to an active volcano in order to dispose of magic jewelry—is less “real” than, say, a tale about the midlife crisis of an English teacher in a small Saskatchewan town, and quite a likely a great many more events happen in the former than in the latter (and certainly there are more swords involved), events must happen for a reason, must arise realistically from the characters and the setting and situation in which those characters are situated, and must not be just a series of incidents but actually advance the storyline or change the characters in some significant way. If not, we won’t care—no matter how spectacular the authorial special effects may be.

Fantasy is sometimes called escape literature (a topic for another column), but while it may serve that purpose for some readers, for the writer there is no escape: however fantastical your literary creation, it must always be built on a solid foundation of realism, an anchor for the lifeline from which your readers willingly suspend their disbelief.

A previous publication by an E.C. Blake…

I think I like the cover for Masks better, though.

Song of the Sword now has its own webpage from Coteau Books

Song of the Sword, first book in my news YA fantasy series written as Edward Willett, now has its official web page on the Coteau Books site. And here it is! You can download a high-res version of the cover or the media release. Feel free to send it to everyone you know. You can also order the book directly from Coteau, if you like…and wouldn’t you? Really? Deep down?

Synopsis

Ariane meets her ancestor, the Lady of the Lake, and is sent on an important and dangerous quest – to reunite the pieces of the shattered sword Excalibur. Yes, that Excalibur. 

Ariane’s life is already pretty difficult when she starts to hear the singing – her mother’s disappeared, she’s trying to get used to living with her aunt after several foster homes, and she’s taking grief from the “in” girls at school. She’s dealing with strange dreams involving swords and knights and battles, and things seem to get weird whenever she touches water. And now an invisible someone, somewhere, is singing to her.

Everyone knows the legends of King Arthur, the Round Table, and the powerful and noble wizard Merlin. But what if those so-called legends were real historical facts? And what if someone has carefully rewritten that history?

Before long, Ariane’s met the famed Lady of the Lake (in a journey UNDER the local lake), has acquired a nerdy sidekick, and is sent on a dangerous mission that pits her against otherworldly forces. Can she figure out what it all means, much less survive the challenge?

Read more at http://www.shardsofexcalibur.com

Dark Faerie Tales calls Masks “a thrilling ride from beginning to end”

Dark Faerie Tales gives Masks 4/5 stars…er, ravens, saying:

“Young adult books can sometimes be hit or miss with me, depending on how I feel about the protagonist. Luckily, this book was a big hit. From the first page, it had me hooked…it was still a thrilling ride from beginning to end….it’s not for the faint of heart, but those who are looking for a serious fantasy read set in an interesting and well developed world are in for a treat. I’m very much looking forward to book 2!”

Read the whole thing.