Alrighty. I am going to finish my urban fantasy novel this year, come heck or high water. “The Winter Order” is two-thirds through the rough draft. I also have some short stories, a tellable Santa story, and a course on being a Christmas Performer to write. And Cat is going to help me get my publishing act together. Stay tuned!
Buckle in, this is going to be a great ride!
Reminiscing the days before my hair and beard were bleached…
Brass Jack: A Dangerous Dance of Empire
I am going to be writing some articles for Krypton Radio (you can also find them on Facebook) for a column called, “Voice of Legend.” The premise is loosely “connecting interesting bit of ancient fact and folklore to modern day geeky stuff.” I’m going to address some topics on Christmas and other holidays, plus probably some discussions on Thor, the Avengers, and more.
But I am interested in what you folks might want to hear about. These articles will be pulished on Krypton Radio’s website, be recorded for on-air playback, and probably posted on my website.
Krypton Radio
So, what are you interested in?
Suggestions so far include: Robin Hood in the media, Myths in TV, King Arthur, Greek mythology, themes where a strange man is in a strange land (whether Harry Potter, Superman, Dr. Who, etc.), the studies on myth published by Joseph Campbell, characters like Buffy, Wonder Woman, and Professor McGonagall, Celtic myths, short characters like dwarves, gnomes, and hobbits, Zombies and analogs, the importance of Stories in Modern Life, ghosts in various cultures…. Keep the amazing suggestions coming!
Your stalwart author, sporting yet another hat
P.S. Hatband woven by the clever paws of Ms. Cat Ellen. It’s purty!
When I was growing up, Cowboys in Minnesota did not wear cowboy hats. Hybrid seed baseball caps and mud boots were the dress of choice. With or without Parka, depending.
Little known fact: We had a horse growing up, and I took care of 14-27 horses while at Bar-None Ranch in Minnesota. I like horses. I’m just not fond of all the work. Feeding and maintaining 20+ horses at 10- on cold Minnesota mornings cured my horse habit big time.
Yay! I have my very first piece of Fan Art for the Brass Jack series! Woot!
This was created by the talents Ms. Ella, and it’s a drawing of Edara, the multi-talented lady from the Bear and Bird Inn.
Fan Art by Ella: Edara from the Brass Jack
I’ve always had a fondness for Halloween. It’s one of the few times of the year where we encourage ourselves to go out and contemplate imaginary things. Masqueing is often times a great way to show aspects of our personalities and let them run and play. And I think that’s healthy.
Writers do something similiar all year round. We try to get into the heads of our various characters and bring versimilitude to their deeds and dialogue. For us, we find ourselves in a mental Halloween more often. It’s not suprising, then when things dark and scary occasionally lean out and say “Boo!”
My alter-ego, True Thomas the Storyteller will be telling stories of the Fairies at the Solvang Faerie Festival on October 12, 2013. For anyone familiar with the Fairy folklore tradition (especially the Celtic one), you know that there are some truly strange and terrifying stories in that tradition. True won’t be telling those to the little kids. He might, however, tell the story of Jack of the Lanterns (also known as “Hard John” or “Hard Jack.”) And my colleague, Mr. Bill Howard, tells one of the the best versions I’ve heard.
You see, there was once a man too mean for heaven and too bitter for Hell. He was doomed to wander in limbo, with only a red hot coal from hell for warmth and light. He put the glowing ember in a carved-out turnip, then wandered the night, looking for a place that will have him. That story turnip eventually turned into a Pumpkin, and that’s where we get the “Jack of the Lanterns” tradition. What a long way from that old folktale to a billion-dollar Halloween industry in the US.
As a folklore buff and as a writer, It’s interesting to see the threads of legend and story that are woven around us. Are those colorful leaves swirling because of cool crisp autumn breeze? Or is it a Gaoithe Sidhe (fairy wind) swirling about you, bringing chills and stories both dark and delicious? In either case, have a great Fall Season!
True Thomas the Storyteller at the Solvang Faire Festival
A quick explanation about Print On Demand (POD or why are your books pricy?) Here’s the thing: If you are a writer with a major publishing company, they generally have their books made overseas to bring the price down. They create ten thousand books and have them shipped over. This also usually means two things. (1) A LOT of dead trees. (2) Books that don’t sell often end up in a land fill with their covers torn off or recycled.
My books sell for $5.00 on Amazon/Kindle (and we can get you a different e-version if you don’t do Kindle.) Cheap! Or if you order them from Lulu or you want a signed, dedicated version from me, it’s going to run a little more than $20 plus shipping. But that’s me doing the schlepping, signing, packing driving, ordering, etc. It’s a labor of love (as in I love it when folks like to read my my writing.)
So, just in case you think that my fame and vast wads of cash have gone to my head, I assure you, myself and most of my writer friends take turns dunking a single ramen noodle in tepid water and dreaming of being Stephen King. And of caffeine… always caffeine…
Arthur Bear loves his hard copy books, Print on Demand of course
I saw my first review on Amazon for “Brass Jack: A Fine Bit of Insurrection.” I don’t recognize the name of the person who wrote it (not uncommon when many of your friends have many names) but I’m going to repost a bit here.
“I have read 300 or so books on my kindle to date and I rank the authors into a number of categories so I can look for new releases from the better authors. Robert Seutter easily makes it into my highest ranking. Keep up the good work and please give us some more books.”
It’s hard to be a writer in today’s market, especially now in today’s e-publishing world. There are a lot of talented people getting stuff out there. But when someone who reads a lot of Sci-fi gives you a great review, it means something. That somehow all the Zelazny, Heinlein, Anderson, Butcher, and Sterling that my brain has been marinating in might have made a difference.
Excuse me as I go have my Sally Fields moment…
Brass Jack: A Fine Bit of Insurrection, available now
