Michael Selden's Blog, page 21
March 8, 2014
THE BOY WHO RAN—Kindle Countdown Deal
That event will allow people to buy the Kindle version for $1.99 (a 61% discount) for the first 80 hours starting on the 10th and then for $2.99 (a 41% discount) for the second 80 hours before it returns to its normal price of $4.99 March 17.
THE BOY WHO RAN—What inspired this story
I was inspired to tell this story, based on its original theme of seeking perfection. This concept evolved as I wrote the characters and the story unfolded. The boy—he has no other name—feels alone and isolated in the village. No one speaks with him and most people believe that there is something wrong with him.
Up until the late summer when the story happens, he’s found satisfaction in dedicating himself to being the perfect runner, especially in the woods. It may be that he is following his mother’s last command as she tried to save him from the massacre, but whatever its origin his idea of perfection is to move through the forest as fast as he can, and without a sound. I expanded on this in the original prologue—which I chose to replace, but which I still think provides a good insight into his character. The original prologue and another unpublished chapter are both available on my web site at http://michaelselden.com.
The character Red Sky was another person in the village with the need to work toward perfection in his chosen skill. He was initially inspired by the character of Kyūzō, one of the seven samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film, although Red Sky’s character was tempered by recent events in his own life.
Ultimately, most good stories are about growth and change, and the initial makeup of people in a story a starting point. I think that the interesting stories in our own lives are those that bring change.
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March 5, 2014
Where is book publishing going?
The same thing is in the process of happening now for books. Just as in the music industry, writers need help too. It isn't enough to have a good idea, you need to be able to bounce it off other writers, editors, and to assemble graphics artists and designers to help you bring your book to its potential and a network of available venues as well as respected reviewers to help get the word out. All of these exist today, although its behind the music industry by some years.
I think most people would say they know where it's heading, but how it will it get there? And what will the roles be for the professionals in the future? Will they be aligned with large organizations? or will most people freelance and will we have dynamic networks of collaborators that morph from book to book?
What's missing?
March 4, 2014
Boy Who Ran Giveaway Contest on GoodReads
GoodReads will have a contest to give away up to 10 copies of THE BOY WHO RAN, starting March 6 and ending March 16. I’ll mail copies of the book to the winners selected by the GoodReads team.
Click on the entry widget below, if you’re interested.
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Boy Who Ran
by Michael Selden
Giveaway ends March 16, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
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February 26, 2014
Heading Home Monday
Heading home to Colorado Monday.
Its been about 10 weeks, I’ve rewritten around 20 chapters for THE BALANCE in the past several weeks, but there’s a lot of work yet to get it out this year.
I collected data on Rome for the two periods of the city that I will include in the book—the mid 16th century and the period from 1880 to 1920.
There are a myriad of other things to do. I scheduled a book signing in Colorado Springs in March and there is an author’s showcase for local writers in Woodland Park in April.
The rewrite of THE BALANCE goes on. I’ll probably post a third chapter some time in March, or at latest April. It’s also time to dust off the chapters I started on I AM and to prep for that book’s completion the next year. If things go well, then I’ll probably go to Provence in May-June instead of late this year. This is another research trip for DISOBEDIENCE.
It’s always good yo be heading home, even if its from nice places like Italy.
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February 25, 2014
THE BOY WHO RAN
(Ohio, 4000BC)
A village is massacred—there is one survivor.
Found by hunters from another village, the boy never fits in, never speaks;
He spends his days with the animals of the forest, moving like a ghost.
He has one chance to find his place among The People.
THE BOY WHO RAN, from Woodland Park Press
Available in Kindle and Paperback formats
http://michaelselden.com
February 21, 2014
The Re-Write of THE BALANCE
The re-write of THE BALANCE is going along. Since I’m making significant changes, its more rough again, but I’m getting help from an editor as I go for some chapters and as a reader. Hopefully that will reduce the number of rev’s necessary for it to reach what I consider to be a decent copy. Ben Allen is helping and did a brief copy edit pass on the posted chapters this week—which I updated.
Ben was the proof editor (after copy editing and book design at Belle Étoile) on THE BOY WHO RAN and is advising me in his own time, since he has a full time job as an editor at the publisher Little, Brown. He helped me to improve some of the wording and, of course, certainly knows the Chicago style guide by heart.
I’ve asked for his help as a reader, evaluating the updated plot, pace, and story telling. David Yoo read the last version (actually Rev 17 and I am working on Rev 22). I need critical reviews to constantly get better. There is but one way to become a better writer and that’s to write, but it’s important to get honest feedback and then to write some more. I’m gradually building up a network of talented professionals with whom to work in much the same way I did as a physicist / Principle Investigator—a fancy word meaning chief scientist) / program manager when researching and developing Electro-Optic systems.
It’s about 1:30am here near Camerino Italy (in Marche), usually I work till 3 or so, but since I just finished a rewrite draft of Chapter 16, I think I’ll stop for the night / morning. Drove up from Rome today to spend a few days in the province of Macherata.
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January 31, 2014
Draft Chapters Posted for Upcoming YA Book—THE BALANCE
Here is a link to a brief description of THE BALANCE:
http://michaelselden.com/?page_id=7
and below are links to the two chapters. Both chapters should be considered as rough drafts and have not yet been edited, so parts may change. The story of THE BALANCE was completed already, but it’s going through a revision. I expect to publish it in the fall of 2014. The version before re-write had approximately 50 chapters, I may combine or separate them differently before the book is published.
Prologue
http://michaelselden.com/?page_id=363
Chapter 1: Is This Real
http://michaelselden.com/?page_id=458
2
January 30, 2014
Sample Chapters from my second book THE BALANCE
Ive posted two chapters from my second book, the Young Adult novel THE BALANCE on my web site (http://michaelselden.com). Here is a link to a brief description of THE BALANCE and here are links to the two chapters: Both chapters should be considered as rough drafts and have not yet been edited, so parts may change, but the story of THE BALANCE was completed already, but it’s going through a revision. I expect to publish it in the fall of 2014. The version before re-write had approximately 50 chapters, I may combine or separate them differently before the book is published.
All work is copy write protected by Michael Selden
To be published by Woodland Park Press LLC.
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January 29, 2014
In Rome Researching the Book DISOBEDIENCE
I’m in Rome to research the aspects of life and how the city looked and how its changed since the period of 1860 to 1920 and now. This research is for certain chapters of the supernatural thriller DISOBEDIENCE, which I plan to publish some time in 2016.
I’ve been to Rome, perhaps, fifty times, but in the past I wasn’t looking at the city as a writer might see it. From 1994 until 2000, I was both managing and acting as physicist & principle investigator (which is a formal name for the lead scientist) for a project for the Italian Space Agency, called The Matera Laser Ranging Observatory.
The company I worked for at the time (AlliedSignal) had a contract to develop an astronomical observatory that was equipped with an advanced (best in the world at the time) laser measurement system, used for tectonic plate motion measurements, precise orbit determination for satellites, and could also support measurements of targets left on the moon during the Apollo program to support lunar science and experiments for relativity’s principle of equivalence. IN the year 200, I spent around 9 months in Italy since we were integrating the system with the facility and performing acceptance testing. The system had been developed in the US.
I’ve visited Italy almost every year since 1994, and sometime for extended periods, as in 2000, but now I no longer work as a physicist. I’m a full time writer and I’m looking at Rome with different eyes.
DISOBEDIENCE takes place mostly in modern Baltimore, but there are elements to the book that happen in Rome during two different periods and in area of Provence France, which I plan to visit later this year or next year.
The book takes its title from the opening verses of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
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