The Broken Window

I am too wise to believe in co-incidence. It seems that every time I turn around I am finding another resource to help me research and prepare for my next novel: Alchemy and Absinthe (working title). In this case it was entering a used book store ( imagine that, me in a used book store) and finding:

Everybody was so young, a lost generation love story
Bohemian Paris, 1830-1930
Americans in Paris, 1903-1939
Muirhead's Paris and it's environs (1920 edition)

All found within 5 minutes of entering the store.

This book *wants* to be written.

Margo saw the specialist to day and he is 99% certain things are fine. He has a follow up with her in 3 weeks to make it 100%.

Tonight, we'll break Matza together again for the 26th year (we started celebrating together years before we were married).

Thanks for all the prayers and wishes.

Walt

I’m participating in a fun author blog hop called The Next Big Thing.

I was tagged for this exercise by the talented Rhonda Garcia http://rsagarcia.com/, who has a wonderful science fiction novel coming out called Lex Talionis (The Law of Revenge), which I've read drafts of up in the OWW. It is good, really knock your socks off good. Heck, if she hadn't tagged me, I'd tag her.

What is my next big thing?

The Garden at the Roof of the World, coming out the spring.

Where did you get the idea for the book?

It started as a bed time story for my eldest daughter, but as I spun the tale for her, I realized that there was a deeper and much more adult story buried in the tale of a woman trying to return to Eden to save the life of the eldest unicorn, so I started to write that story.

What genre does your book fall under?

Historical fantasy, in fact it is a classic medieval romance in the line of Parsifal, Yvain, Eric and Enide, Tristan and Iseult, and the many others.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

This is harder than it sounds.

Wigandus: Chris Hemsworth
al-Rashid: Wesley Snipes
David: Matt Cohen
Jigme: Neten Chokling

Adelie: Natalie Portman
Gwen:Kirsten Dunst
Elise: Megan Fox
Garscenda: Kirsten Bell
Kavundi: Bipasha Basu
Galiana: Uma Thuman


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In the year 1244, six brave women dare to seek a way to return to Eden to save the life of the unicorn who walked with Adam when the world was still new.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be published by Dragonwell Publishing. http://publishing.dragonwell.org/

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft, long abandoned, took about a year to write.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
Till we had faces, C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Life of Pi, Yann Martel
The Last Unicorn, Peter Beagle
Silverlock, John Meyers Meyers
The Inn Keeper's Song, Peter Beagle


Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I could start with my daughter, Kayla, whose demands for a new story gave this its start. I could also look at Peter Beagle's "The Innkeeper's Song" which told a quest story of seeking to restore love in the context of many magnificent side stories, each complete in their own right. In fact, the first draft emulated his narrative style. I could also look at Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, for its use of poetry and telling a bitter sweet story of trying to protect something innocent (The Shire). In fact, there are too many inspirations, but the main one was Kayla.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

For two many authors who try to write stories of "strong women", they make the protagonist into a smart mouthed killer, more adept at sword/gun then the men around them, and they do kick serious ass.

A woman's strength is not how kick ass she is.

There are many ways to be strong and be a woman, and while Adelie is definitely kick ass, Elise is a poet, Gwenaella a hopeless romantic and scholar, Garscenda a devoted servant, Galiana a reformed prostitute, and Kavundi is a hindu ascetic seeking unity with God. Each of them are strong, and use their strengths in their journey.

Ask yourself the question: how far would you go to save the life of something innocent?

This is what the Garden at the Roof of the World is about: how far these six women go.

Next up, I’ve tagged awesome authors to participate and tell you about their Next Big Things:

Elizabeth Hull writing C.N. Lesley and her debut novel: Darkspire Reaches. See her blog at http://cnlesley.com/darkspire-reaches/

Lisa A Bouchard, whose blog can be found here: http://lisabouchard.com/, with her recent novel, The Shattered Door

I've just sent off the rest of the first round changes for Garden.

Yea!

Originally posted by barbarienne at How to contact Random House

So, I'm 270 words into my "Information Security Architecture and SOA" for CRC press, 2/3 through the edits on "The Garden at the Roof of the World" and my day job responsibilities explode with a customer driven audit of our info-sec posture. I've spent the past 30 days sleeping little and pushing us to pass an audit that Dunn and Bradstreet had failed.

I think we're going to pass.

I'm home, sick with the flu which I caught from too little sleep driving my immunities down, and still working while cheating a bit to catch up on a few things.

I also created a face book page for my upcoming release through dragonwell publishing. Still no release date (we're still editing and I still love my editor) but why wait?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Garden-at-the-Roof-of-the-World/155057711319482

I like the theme of this contest, after all, any agent would be lucky to land you as their client ( or me for that matter)

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/13th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-and-sci-fi

Browsing in used bookstores during lunch is a favorite way for me to get out of the office. I'm in an easy walk of three wonderful stores. Recently I encountered a copy of a history called: Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939. I spent much of Saturday while my car's brakes were being worked on reading through it. This is great source material for that novel in waiting, Absinthe and Alchemy.

I have read many a post from others regarding how much they dislike the editing process. They must not have a good partnership with their editor. I can already see how my story will be stronger from what Dragonwell Press and I are doing with it. If you've got a story in the lines of what they publish, you should strongly consider submitting there. You'll be happy with the results if your work gets picked up by them.