Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Blog Begins!

Friends, Readers, Countrymen,

The book is done. It's due out in December. Now it's time to start blogging.

Last year, huddled over a frozen keyboard and a steaming procession of Mummin Troll coffee mugs, I wrote my book, The Last Ancient (working title). It's a historical mystery and urban fantasy thriller. I poured everything into it: my obsessions, my experience, my modest writing skills, my swollen stash of American coffee. In the end, I wove a tapestry of intrigue, action, romance, friendship, mystery, conspiracy, more mystery, an exotic locale (my beloved former home of Nantucket), blood, sunlight, fire, gold, peak oil, supernatural powers, love, and a mythical beast. I'm proud of it. You'll dig it. It's something to entertain you after a hard day at work, to distract you after a rough day at school, to medicate you after a nerve-decaying day home with sick kids. Whatever and for whomever, The Last Ancient will keep you turning the pages.

It's due out in December with Canadian publisher, Champagne Books. The editor-in-chief, J. Ellen Smith, I met and pitched at the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association Conference in 2012. She got it immediately. Told me the premise gave her goosebumps. So cool.

In December, it will be available through all your favorite ebook sellers (read it on your kindle, iPad, iPhone, computer, or what have you). The print run will follow later this winter -- whenever 100 downloads happen. I'll update all this as the info emerges. It's all a dream come true. Much as I love writing as a journalist, writing fiction is my passion.

The project began in a cozy Finnish cabin without plumbing or running water. There we sat, me and my computer, tucked in an isolated patch of woods a half hour's sleigh ride outside of Pori, Finland (which, for those who don't know Finland, is three hours north of Helsinki, and right between somewhere-you've-never-heard-of-but-sounds-like-Japanese-fried-food and another-place-that-sounds-like-the-former-seat-of-the-Ottoman-Empire-but-isn't). We struggled, my book and me. We laughed. We fought. We swore we'd never talk again. "I hate you!" my book said to me. "You're so controlling!" I sat my book down and explained, "I just want you to be the best book you can be." We made up. We came to an understanding. And after one and a half years of writing, editing, re-writing, and editing some more, my book had grown up. It was a mature being, and I was proud of it. It was ready--for the world, for submission, for rejection, for success. And now here we are.

I'll update this blog sporadically for the next month. Come November, I'll be posting more in-depth about the various topics and themes involved in the book, everything from science and ancient history to ancient coins, love, and psychology. Perhaps even some fantasy football advice. I'll throw up a teaser chapter and some other little teasers here and there, too. My author's webpage is forthcoming.

Many thanks in advance to you all for tuning in. Let this be a long and fruitful journey. Because there's nothing nicer than unwinding and sitting down to a nice Hot Chalk Lit after a long day.

Eliot