Celebrate Fantasy & Science Fiction week with a FREE copy of The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple (is there a catch…?)!

To celebrate mystery/thriller week a while back, I concocted a giveaway of The Camelot Shadow to get people talking about some of their favorite books. Given the overwhelming response to that idea—they’re still talking about it from Kalamazoo to Dubuque—I wanted to do the same with The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple for Fantasy & Science Fiction week, given that fantasy is the genre that’s nearest and dearest to my heart (not to mention my kidneys, but that’s a biological misfortune that you probably don’t need to worry about, fortunately for you).

I’ll even repeat what I said for that giveaway: Not only am I going to make it so that EVERYONE IS A WINNER, I’m not even going to make you read through all of my rambling, turgid prose below before telling you how to get your copy (though you’re more than welcome to continue reading my rambling, turgid prose, which is essentially what you’re committing to doing if you’re reading any of my books anyway).

So, what do you need to do? Two simple things: 1) Add The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple to your “to read” list on GR so all your friends can see what good taste you have in spectacularly eyebrowed independent authors; and 2) in the comments section below, list your favorite fantasy author (if you’re feeling effusive, please feel free to tell us why). (Also, I wouldn’t be upset if you shared this link with your GR friends. Or get me a pony. A proper man needs a pony. Right?)

To be eligible to win, you just need to do the aforementioned by Sunday, August 6. Once you’ve done the deed, I’ll send you a message asking what format you prefer (PDF or Kindle version direct from Amazon) and where to send it (incidentally, “where the sun don’t shine” is not an acceptable response, though it is, at least where I’m concerned, an exceedingly popular one). IT’S THAT EASY.

I've already waxed poetic about my favorite fantasy author, Bob Salvatore, so I’ll refer you to that link if you want to read more about my own choice. But, I do want to take a moment to say something about the fantasy genre generally—I promise I’ll keep it brief (he said to throngs of disbelieving philistines, who laughed and promptly purchased him a robot editor who stabbed him every time he included more than 84 words in a single sentence, resulting in a multitude of knife wounds that, despite the blinding pain and extreme blood loss they engendered, did not deter him from going on at considerable length about nothing in particular).

(Was that last sentence really 85 words? Huh. They just go down so smoothly. Like Scotch. Or Pez.)

(One note: I distinguish between fantasy and sci-fi, for reasons I’m not going to get into here. (Buy me an old fashioned sometime and you’ll get to hear that diatribe.) But, benevolent overlord that I am, I’ll also accept your favorite sci-fi author.)

I read a wide range of genres, but none moves me in quite the same way as fantasy. What I love most about fantasy is not dragons and magic and treasure and faraway lands, though those things are all great and all part of the equation—what I love most is that all fantasy stories are, at their core, about a quest to make the world a better place. That’s it. That’s what it all boils down to. That quest takes infinite forms and appears in myriad variations as to time, place, and the makeup of the hero(s) involved. Ultimately, though, any proper fantasy story starts with an individual, or individuals, who, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, and no matter how reticent or unsure of themselves, sets off on a quest, perhaps against his/her better judgment, to do nothing less than change the world. And, in the stories that have most successfully captured our collective hearts and minds, the heroes do what they do not for the sake of fame or fortune*, but because it is the right thing to do, regardless of the personal sacrifices they must make.

We live in a world that gets scarier every day, and while it’s tempting to run and hide in fantasy books because they offer refuge in a place where good can unequivocally triumph over evil, I look to them not to escape the world around me, but to take heart and courage in the notion that each of us, regardless of our background or stature, can effect meaningful change in a way that improves our world, so that I can face that world with renewed strength. I know many of you do as well, and that’s the primary purpose of this post—to give everyone a chance to share who inspires them to get up each day and fight that good fight no matter what is going on around them.

So, say on, my friends, and may you discover within the comments below yet another beacon of light to guide you through the darkness.


*Okay, fine—in some cases, the hero might do it for, say, a fine piece of dwarven backside, but Heloise is pretty unique amongst fantasy heroes in that regard, I think. Or maybe I just hope…