CRUSADE RELEASE, CHEERS, TEARS, ETC

Hello all. I know I rarely blog enough here. I understand that. Time is short, and I spend a lot more time writing novels than I do blog posts. More on that particular news in the coming months.

So Crusade is out, in the wild. GO GET IT, if you haven’t already. The audio and ebook/print book are available on Audible and everywhere books are sold, respectively.

I have a question for those of you who’ve already read, something I”m just dying to know. Several reviewers have mentioned crying when they read Crusade.

I’m not going to lie; I was aiming for tears. What I really want to know is, if you read Crusade and it did generate some tears, please, please let me know what part of the book brought that on?

Reviews and Appearances

Hello all! It's been some time, but I couldn't let today go by without sharing some news. 

Namely, as it says right there in the title, today Stillbright received its first press review, and I've been celebrating it all day. 

Publisher's Weekly has given Stillbright a starred review. You can read the entire thing here. 

I'm probably not supposed to admit how good that feels, but it does. I've worked on this story, lived with these characters, basically nonstop since August of 2011, and to get that kind of reception is validating. It may not seem like a big deal to some of you, or to more seasoned authors. But that review hones right in on many things I cared about, and thought about, while writing the books. I wanted a good story, characters that readers cared about, and to ask some questions. I know there's places I could've been more successful, but right now I feel better about The Paladin Trilogy than at maybe any point since I started writing a story about a beat up old knight running away from his life and finding a burnt-out village. If you haven't read Ordination I hope you do. If you have, thank you, and please enjoy Stillbright. 

And now to the second part of this post: upcoming appearances!

March 26: Griffincon, Williamsburg VA. I'll be selling and signing copies of Ordination. I also think I'll be debuting a talk on writing fight scenes, and how to take lessons from RPG combat into writing action scenes in fantasy. 

April 8th: CecilCon, North East MD. I'm definitely doing the panel I mentioned above. Panel time is 1 pm in Room B. I'll also be selling and signing. I hope to be giving away an ARC of Stillbright, with entries earned by purchasing copies of Ordination. 

April 29th: Artomatic, Arlington VA, at 7 p.m. I'll be part of a panel on character-building in fantasy with the amazing Kathy MacMillan, author of Sword and Verse. You do not want to miss this. It's going to be great. 

May 20th: Release Party! at The Barking Dog in Bethesda, MD, 7-11 pm. Celebrating not just Stillbright but all of SFWP's spring releases, including Kate McCahill's travel memoir Patagonian Road, AA Balaskovits' collection of fractured fairy tales Magic for Unlucky Girls, Tara Laskowski's flash collection Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons, and a spate of releases from Stillhouse Press, especially We All Scream, the harrowing memoir of my publisher, Andrew Gifford. 

I'm hoping to build on the above list as the summer goes on and moves in to fall, so if you know of any literary or SFF events or bookstores that might put up with me, please give me a shout. I'm also looking for more review outlets for Stillbright so if you're a blogger, podcaster, reviewer, or bookseller please get at me! 

As soon as I have any more info on the upcoming audiobook of Ordination from Podium Publishing, I'll pass it on immediately. 

ARCs, Events, Promotion or I'll Even Mop the Floors

Dear readers,

Are you a bookseller? A librarian? A reviewer? A podcaster? If yes, are you interested in Fantasy fiction? I'm presuming you are or you wouldn't be here.

Even if you aren't one of those things, maybe you know someone who IS a bookseller, reviewer, blogger, podcaster, or librarian. Maybe you know some people who are attached to a Convention or a Book Festival, or work at a bookstore or a library. Maybe you run a book club (mom, your book club doesn't count) or know people who do, or are involved with a Sci-Fi or Fantasy Appreciation Club or Society and they might appreciate Ordination. 

If any of the above describes you or anyone you know, please, please get in touch with me; I have Advance reader Copies still looking for homes. 

When it comes to making appearances to do signings, give talks, or Q&As, I am willing to drive anywhere from Richmond to Philadelphia to the Jersey Shore and probably quite a lot farther than that on any reasonable amount of notice. Come the summer, I'm probably willing and able to go a lot farther than that. 

If you're wondering how I am with an audience, I talk to teenagers about World Literature and writing for a living, and I think I keep them interested. I can talk to your crowd about fantasy and about The Paladin Trilogy and, like I say in the title, I'm probably even willing to mop the floors. 

If you have any questions about any of this, don't hesitate to ask! There's a few weekends I'm already booked or unavailable (April 9, May 21, June 5 are all definitely out; May 7 may very well be). 

If you have any reasonable advice or suggestions, I'm all ears. Scoot on over here to scope out the prologue and the beautiful cover art if you haven't already. 

ARCs! Fresh hot ARCs!

Good evening folks. It's been a while since I've blogged here, I know. There were some technical difficulties that have recently been overcome (read: I bought a new computer) that should make posting here a more regular occurrence. In the next few weeks expect some thoughts on what I'm looking forward to reading in 2016, more on my writing music, possibly some scattered thoughts on the Orioles, perhaps some pictures of toys, and maybe a post introducing the editor cats. 

However, tonight's post is very simple; I still have Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Ordination: Book I of the Paladin Trilogy looking for good homes. If you're a blogger, review, podcaster, or general internet/literary gadabout who is interested in fantasy and would like one and is willing to review it/help spread the word, please let me know! Contact me via this website or get at me on Twitter (@soundingline). 

Amazing cover art from Kerem Beyit. Look him up and prepare to be wowed. 

Old Man Yells at Internet

Greetings! Welcome to my inaugural blog post here on the brand new, official Daniel M. Ford, author of The Paladin Trilogy website.

That's a mouthful. Let's try again.

Hi. I'm Dan. I write fantasy novels, and I'd love it if you'd read them.

In this space, I plan to write pretty regularly about the things that interest me. Right up front I'll let you know that there'll be some self-promotion; I do want folks to read Ordination and the books that will follow it. I'll occasionally link to reviews or spaces online where I'm talking about the book, or someone else is. I'll list any appearances I happen to be making.

More than that, I'm going to use this space to talk about the things I like and love. What are those things?

My oldest persistent love is fantasy and science fiction literature, with a heavy emphasis on the fantasy end of that. I live and breath baseball, especially the Baltimore Orioles. In the past few years I've learned to love football, particularly West Ham United. I love to cook, to drink good single malt Scotch, craft beer, and local wine. I read comics, play games, watch movies, collect toys, and generally try to stay connected to the geek zeitgeist.

Right here and now, I want to make one thing clear about the approach I'm planning to take on this blog. Though I may title it “Old Man Yells at Internet” I'm really not going to do a great deal of yelling, except about the things I'm excited about. I'll yell, happily, about the things I love, in the hopes that some of you love them as well and then we can yell in joyous unison. I'll tell you about the book I just read and can't stop talking about; I'll obsess over the Orioles and what West Ham is doing in the transfer market; I'll geek out over movies and share pictures and reviews of toys I buy; I'll talk about the RPG campaigns I'm running and playing in.

But what I'm not going to do is harp about the things I don't like. I won't come on here to complain about a book I hated. I won't link to bad reviews of work I didn't like, or angrily expound about a show or a comic I didn't enjoy. There's plenty of bile and negativity on the internet, and I don't mean to add to it. That doesn't mean I won't talk about important causes or things I believe in, but when it comes to the geek stuff, let's talk about what we love and why instead of cawing angrily about what we hate and wondering how anyone can read/watch/collect/enjoy it.

What do you say, internet? Let's share what we like with each other.