Nate Fleming's Blog, page 38
July 17, 2014
Thimblerig’s Ark Book Signing Success
I enjoyed my third book signing of the summer, and was pleased by how many folks stopped in to get a copy of Thimblerig’s Ark here in the burg of Martinsville. The Binding Time Cafe was a great place to have the event, and I appreciated their hospitality and open doors!
Signed copies of Thimblerig’s Ark are still available before I head back to China in three weeks, and I’d be happy to mail them to folks at the price I was selling at the signing – $10 plus S&H. If you are interested, please drop me an email and we can discuss details.
July 13, 2014
How to Support an Author’s New Book: 11 Ideas For You
Great ideas on how to support a new author.
Originally posted on Writers In The Storm Blog:
By Chuck Sambuchino
My Writer’s Digest coworker, Brian A. Klems, recently geared up for the release of his first book — a humorous guide for fathers called OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL: A DAD’S SURVIVAL GUIDE TO RAISING DAUGHTERS (Adams Media). On top of that, my coworker Robert Brewer (editor of Writer’s Market) recently got a publishing deal for a book of his poetry.
So I find myself as a cheerleader for my writing buddies — trying to do what I can to help as their 2013 release dates approach. I help in two ways: 1) I use my own experience of writing & publishing books to share advice on what they can expect and plan for; and 2) I simply do whatever little things I can that help in any way.
This last part brings up an important point: Anyone can support an author’s…
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The Noah Bot
I’m slapping my head right now, because I forgot to include the Noah Bot in Thimblerig’s Ark. Oh well, there will always be Book 2.
Thimblerig’s Ark’s first headline
My upcoming booksigning was mentioned in our local newspaper, the Martinsville Bulletin, today. This is exciting, because it’s the first time the novel has been mentioned in traditional print media! Hopefully it won’t be the last time. Next up, New York Times?
July 9, 2014
Coming Soon! Thimblerig’s Ark Book Signing • July 17
My third book signing of the summer is coming up on July 17 at the Binding Time Cafe in Martinsville, Virginia. I hope we’ll get a good crowd out that evening from 4:00 to 6:00 as I sign copies of Thimblerig’s Ark and enjoy the Binding Time’s delicious hand-scooped ice cream!
The Binding Time Cafe, Martinsville’s premiere bookstore/coffee shop.
July 7, 2014
Book Signing at Bookworks in Staunton Virginia
Enjoyed the booksigning at Bookworks bookstore in Staunton, Virginia this past Saturday. It was rather hastily thrown together, and so we didn’t have much time for promotion, but it was still a fun experience, and was still able to sell several copies of Thimblerig’s Ark.
My next booksigning event will be in Martinsville, Virginia on July 17th at the Binding Time Cafe. Should be fun, too! If you’re in the area, plan to come by!
July 1, 2014
Animator Glen Keane’s “Duet”… He Gets It
This morning I was led from the Rabbit Room to a short animated piece that was hand-drawn by Glen Keane, a Disney animator for thirty years, who served as animator on several of Disney’s classic animated features, and was also was one of the producers of one of my 11 year old daughter’s favorites, Tangled.
The short film is called Duet, and it’s beautiful.
While I do enjoy animated films, and would love to have Thimblerig’s Ark made into an animated feature one day (hint!), I am admittedly not an expert on the movers and shakers of animation. However, Glen Keane is a name with which I am extremely familiar, and it all comes back to a series of books written for children, the Adam Raccoon books. These were a series of books that illustrated the parables of Jesus, and I loved reading them to my kids when they were little. I’d highly recommend them, and you can find them on Amazon.
When I realized who Glen Keane was, I was amazed that an artist who was an integral part of the Disney revival of the 1980′s and 90′s was also a believer and follower of Christ, and that he was doing exactly what Christians who want to produce entertainment should be doing – excellent and highly visible work at the top of his field, that he ultimately hoped would bring glory to God.
And the best thing, while not being overt, Keane also isn’t silent about how his faith impacts his art. In an article at Christianity Today, Keane said he was inspired by James 1:17 when he was executive producer and animator for Tangled: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Keane also talks about how his faith impacted the stories of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, and Beast from Beauty and the Beast.
Christians are called to do different things with their gifts, and while Keane has been obedient to be a believer and a professional animator with the world’s leading entertainment corporation, others might be called to create more overtly Christian books, or to work in complete anonymity. But, I am personally glad that believing professionals like Keane are out there, continually producing wonderful works of art and impacting the world of animation and entertainment for the Gospel.
If you have read this far, take a moment and pray for Glen, that God would continue to use his gifts and abilities in surprising ways.
Finally, if you are a fan of animation, you might be interested to watch this making of video for Duet, discussing how Keane has adapted to modern technology, while still doing traditional animation.
June 28, 2014
Thimblerig’s Ark Book Launch • Chengdu, China
I was thrilled to launch Thimblerig’s Ark two weeks ago in Chengdu, at the Bookworm. It was a great event, with a capacity crowd attending, and I enjoyed answering questions and sharing the inspirations behind the story.
June 27, 2014
Meriam Ibrahim Update
I was extremely pleased to see that Meriam Ibrahim has been released, and is safe in the hands of the United States embassy in Khartoum, a “well guarded facility”. Hopefully, this means that she and her family will be able to leave Sudan very soon, and that they will finally be out of danger. Right now, she is still unable to leave, as she waits for the charges to be dropped. But, let’s imagine and be hopeful that that will happen soon.
This brings me back to a few points I made earlier.
First, to all of the media people who will be looking to make a quick buck off of Mrs. Ibrahim – give her a break. Let her have time to process what she has been through. I know she is going to be contacted by all sorts of agents looking to turn her story into a book, or a movie, or to get her on American television where she could tell her story – but don’t do it. Leave her alone! She has just experienced an incredibly difficult few months, and she needs to be left alone to process everything she has experienced. Don’t turn her into a poster child for your brand of Christianity. Don’t try to make her into a modern Christian heroine.
Don’t exploit her.
Even as I write it, I know that it’s pretty fruitless to write. Meriam will be approached by all manners of people – Christian and otherwise – wanting to exploit her story, and she will likely go that route, even though it would most likely be the worst possible thing she could do.
It pains me, because people would still eat up her story if she just waited a year to tell it. And this is what she should do – take a year, find a place where she and her family can find recovery and nourishment for their souls, and plot out her next steps prayerfully. A place where people will take the time to come to know her, to listen to her unload about the brutal things she experienced at the hands of her countrymen, what she experienced as she was tempted to just give them what they wanted. Was it genuine devotion to Christ that pulled her through? Was it a stubborn determination to not give them what they wanted? She will desperately need to work through these issues before she is thrust into the limelight of The 700 Club or The Voice. Before her biography hits the bookstores. Before her biopic airs at a movie-of-the-week on NBC.
Give her time, American media. She deserves it. Especially considering that you just about ignored the fact that she was going through the experience as she was undergoing it. Oh, wait, did I say that? But isn’t it true? Almost daily, I searched for someone in the United States media talking about Meriam’s experience, and almost daily I was rewarded with zero. The British press was all over the story, but it seemed like so much less than an afterthought with the big United States media outlets. It was pathetic, and now you will probably be all over her now that she’s free, wanting to get your pathetic spin on her story.
It’s just really irritating.
Second, let’s all agree to be in prayer for Meriam’s relationship with her husband, Daniel Wasi. This sort of experience can easily have one of two results: the couple is drawn closer together because of the shared difficult experience; or the couple can be pulled apart as one member feels slighted or left behind as everyone wants a piece of the other. Let’s pray for their marriage to hold strong, even in the face of the challenges they will face in the future.
I am celebrating tonight, knowing that Meriam is safely out of the hands of her captors. Now, I pray that she and her family will be able to safely navigate the waters of her freedom.
#prayformeriam
C.S. Lewis on Reasoning to Atheism
“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It’s like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course I can’t trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity, p. 32
