Michael Selden's Blog, page 20
April 10, 2014
The Boy Who Ran—Excerpt Available
This is the prologue, which describes the massacre of the the boy's tribe and chapter 1, which is a brief description of the village which took him in.
Author’s Showcase at the Rampart Library Woodland Park Branch
Yesterday there was an author’s showcase at the Woodland Park Public Library for local authors. There were six authors present and a number of different genre’s represented, from a picture book, to fiction chapter books, to non-fiction historical books.
The authors present included:
Celinda Reynolds Kaelin, from Florissant Colorado (local history book author)
Diane J. Reed, from Woodland Park, her most recent novels being Twixt, Robin in the Hood, and Stone of Thieves
Jill Smith, from Lake George Colorado with her audio book that included chapters from stories of living on a cattle ranch, specifically about the Hayman fire.
Sarah Drummond, from Colorado and her picture book created from wood and linoleum blocks called Raven and the Red Ball
Terry Odell, from Divide Colorado with several of her books from series that she had authored. Her web site is http://terryodell.com
And myself.
All of the other authors had compelling stories to tell about how they started writing and about the works they offered.
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April 9, 2014
Ultrashort 10-word Story Entry (Didn't Win)
April 4, 2014
Woodland Park Colorado
The Boy Who Ran, in paperback, is available locally in Woodland Park at Brenda’s Boutiques at a significant discount off the list price. For those who want me to sign the book, leave it at the store. I try to have breakfast in the Hungry Bear once a week, across the street from the store, and will stop in to sign books.
On April 9 at 2pm, there is an author’s showcase for local authors. I’ll be there too and will answer questions about the book, then will walk to Brenda’s to be available for an hour or so, after the event.
Woodland Park (City Above the Clouds) is located in Colorado, about a 30-minute drive west, into the mountains, from Colorado Springs. It’s a town of about 7600 people and is at an altitude of around 8500 feet.
The Attached Photo is from my bedroom window, taken this past summer / fall.
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March 23, 2014
Began a photo library
Just for cultural awareness, I started posting from among the almost 12 thousand photos I have of different places, projects, and times in my life as a link under the “About the author” page.
A link to the photo page, which I will add to from time to time is: HERE
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March 22, 2014
The Boy Who Ran—Un-Published Chapters
If you’ve had a chance to read “The Boy Who Ran” and want to read more, there are two unpublished chapters available on my web site. These include:
The Original Prologue As I was writing and revising, I also sought feedback from test readers. Unfortunately I didn’t have younger readers available to me, but then the book was written for 10 and UP. I liked the original prologue myself, but then I knew where the story was going. Because the book starts out with a measured pace and there are a lot of details about the way The People live and teach before the pace picks up with The Group Hunt, some of my readers suggested that the original prologue was a little slow and the book needed something more visual up front. I had already visualized what had happened so it was easy to write the alternative prologue (the one in the book). I replaced the original prologue before I ever got close to the copy editing stage, so it’s not as clean as it would have been, but it reveals a little more about the boy’s personality and the intensity of what he feels about being perfect.
The Past and the Future is another chapter I didn’t publish, mainly because it would have interrupted the faster moving chapters towards the back of the book. This chapter was intended to provide a little insight into Great Storm’s character and to reinforce the value that was placed on Morning Song. The Chief Elder spent a part of his youth in the north with the people of the great water—the great lakes—as a part of the arrangement for his being allowed to mate with a woman from that village. While there he became a very close friend of the man who would become the chief elder of that village.
In addition to these unpublished chapters, I have a page discussing the authenticity of the details in the book. Like any fiction that deals with a time before a written history exists, some literary license had to be taken but I tried to be as close to what might have been the situation as possible. The facts were researched and where I needed to fill in the gaps I researched the traditions of the descendants of The People.
Finally, my second book: The Balance, due out later this year, is in revision, but I’ve posted chapters from it under the page entitled The Balance. There are three chapters posted and I intend to post a new chapter every month or two as I get closer to release later this year. The final version will probably have 50 or so chapters total. The Balance is a much different story, a YA tale set in the future and with a mixture of eras. While the people have enjoyed advanced comforts in their past, most technology has been banned by the Council of God, the theocracy that emerged when The Balance between a spiritual society and a technological one—or between The Order and The Council was lost. Thus there is a mixture of the futuristic and the obsolete. The main character, a product of the Order’s genetic engineering program is among the last vestiges of their organization. She suffers from the effects of her design and its a struggle to get through each day without being discovered—a death sentence. The three chapters posted are: The Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Prologues have a place in my books. They are out of the time of the story, or a way to covey some other important aspect of a character. They provide a glimpse into something important to the overall story—although how they fit in isn’t always obvious at first. Think of them as Chapter 0 if it helps.
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March 17, 2014
GoodReads THE BOY WHO RAN Giveaway Contest Complete
The giveaway contest ended March 16 with 10 winners selected by the GoodReads team using their algorithm: 7 from the US, 2 from Canada, and one from the UK were selected. The copies were mailed out from Colorado March 17 a little before 12 noon.
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March 11, 2014
Sample Chapters from THE BALANCE
I've posted three chapters for it on my web site: http://michaelselden.com
The menu at the top of the page will lead you to THE BALANCE.
The web site also describes two of the other books I have in the works as well as having two unpublished chapters from THE BOY WHO RAN,
That book is available as a giveaway this month. It is also running under a countdown special in Kindle format at Amazon.com
80 hours at 61% off: $1.99
80 Hours at 41% off $2.99
Regular Kindle Price is $4.99
The paperback is available everywhere (global distribution) at $10.99
Chapter 2 from THE BALANCE posted
I posted a third chapter of THE BALANCE under its page.
I’m working on the Twenty Second revision of that book before I publish it. This one is a significant rewrite since I’m changing the perspective for about half of the chapters and strengthening some of the writing. I rewrote about twenty chapters while I was in Italy, although each of these is rougher than the previous revision, so I’ll be going back through each several times before going to copy edit.
Ben Allen is acting as a sounding board on the plot and helping me with light copy editing on the chapters I post, although it’s possible that these chapters will have some very minor revision in the future too, which is why I call them draft.
A description of THE BALANCE with links to each of the three posted chapters can be found here:
The three chapters are: The Prologue (and yes, its a chapter too), Chapter 1, and Chapter 2
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March 10, 2014
THE BOY WHO RAN Countdown special at Amazon.com on Kindle edition March 10-17
The Kindle edition is discounted 61% ($1.99) at Amazon.com for 80 hours starting March 10.
After 80 hours the discount will change to 41% ($2.99) for 80 hours before returning to its normal price of $4.99 on March 17.
http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Ran-Mic...
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