Writer's Report 2.0

I hate this kid…nooo I don’t. I’m just jealous that he was a best selling author at the age of 19, and got a three-book deal that was since converted to a four-book deal.

Christopher Paolini’s million-selling “Inheritance” fantasy series, was originally planned to be a trilogy, but has been extended to now include four books in the series.

The first two books, Eragon and Eldesthave sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. The third book, Brisingr, was released last fall.

Paolini said, “I plotted out the `Inheritance’ series as a trilogy… when I was 15. At that time, I never imagined I’d write all three books, much less that they would be published,”

“When I finally delved into Book Three, it soon became obvious that the remainder of the story was far too big to fit in one volume. … In order to be true to my characters and to address all of the plot points and unanswered questions Eragon and Eldest raised, I needed to split the end of the series into two books.”

You can find more info at Paolini’s Web Site

A couple of my favorite new media novelists are offering their newest books for FREE as an eBook download. However, they’re only available for a very limited time.

Go here to get Doug Clegg’s Afterlife

And you can also get Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose

Enjoy!

(New York Times)
By Marilyn Stasio

Tony Hillerman, whose lyrical, authentic and compelling mystery novels set among the Navajos of the Southwest blazed innovative trails in the American detective story, died Sunday at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, The Associated Press reported.

He was 83 and lived in Albuquerque. The cause was pulmonary failure, according to the AP report.

Hillerman’s evocative novels, which describe people struggling to maintain ancient traditions in the modern world, touched millions of readers, who made them best sellers. But although the themes of his books were not overtly political, he wrote with a purpose, he often said, and that purpose was to instill in his readers a respect for Indian culture. The plots of his stories, while steeped in contemporary crime and its consequences, were invariably instructive about ancient tribal beliefs and customs, from purification rituals for a soldier returned from a foreign war to incest taboos for a proper clan marriage.

“It’s always troubled me that the American people are so ignorant of these rich Indian cultures,” Hillerman once told Publishers Weekly. “I think it’s important to show that aspects of ancient Indian ways are still very much alive and are highly germane even to our ways.”

Hillerman was not the first mystery writer to set a story on Indian land or to introduce a full-blooded Native American detective to crime literature. In 1946 the grand prize in the first short-story competition of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine went to Manly Wade Wellman for the first of two stories he wrote with an Indian protagonist.

But beginning with “The Blessing Way” in 1970 the 18 novels Hillerman set on Southwest Indian reservations featuring Lieut. Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, brought a new dimension to the character of the traditional genre hero.

In addition to his complex heroes, Hillerman also wrote compassionately and with intimate knowledge of a great range of clansmen from the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni tribes, people with whom he felt a deep affinity because he grew up among those very much like them. “When I met the Navajo I now so often write about, I recognized kindred spirits,” he wrote in an autobiographical essay in 1986. “Country boys. Folks among whom I felt at ease.”
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As the art and business of writing makes the transformation into new media formats, the shifting sands of change continue to show the relentless decline of print media.

After nearly 30 years, the Writer’s Digest Book Club has stopped accepting members and will close down on October 31st, 2008. Here’s what they said on book club site:

It is with regret and sadness that we announce the closing of Writer’s Digest Book Club effective 10/31/08. Since its launch in 1979, Writer’s Digest Book Club has been a program of F+W Publications, Inc. which publishes quality instruction and inspiration for writers through the Writer’s Digest brand. In spite of the closing, we remain committed to the writing community, as we have for more than 80 years, and we’ll continue to produce the best content for our books, magazines, and online venues.

Our decision to close this Club did not come easily. Through member correspondence and feedback, we know Writer’s Digest Book Club has been a reliable source of information and inspiration for thousands of writers for almost 30 years. Book buyers today have many choices in where they purchase books and how they acquire writing related content. As a result, declining membership along with rising costs have negatively impacted the Club’s business model.

This isn’t the end however. Writer’s Digest will continue to make writing related books available through a new website storefront to be launched November 1st at http://www.fwbookstore.com/category/writers-digest

Additionally, there will still be the Writer’s Digest Magazine and their Writer’s Online Workshops and the Writer’s Market resource.

This is a story from our friends across the pond in the UK. It is inspiring at a couple of levels. First, it is the story of Lorna Page, who had her first novel published. She is 93-years-old. More importantly is what she did with the money she received from the sale of her books. She bought a five-bedroom home to keep her friends from ending up in nursing homes.

Read the BBC News article here and watch the video at that link. It’s a great story.