Janet Morris Announces the Release of “The Reader of Acheron” by Walter Rhein

Perseid press is proud to release “The Reader of Acheron” by Walter Rhein.  “Reader” is the first book in the “Slaves of Erafor” series.  The novel is a heroic fantasy that takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopia in which reading has been outlawed and human exploitation is prevalent.

Janet Morris is the editor of the work, and is famous for being one of the more celebrated contributors to the “Thieves World” shared universe.  The first three Thieves World novels: “Beyond Sanctuary,” “Beyond the Veil” and “Beyond Wizardwall” have also recently been re-released from Perseid.

Walter Rhein is most well known for his novel “Beyond Birkie Fever” which was selected for the 2012 Chippewa Valley Book Festival.  His first novel “The Bone Sword” was published by Rhemalda Publishing in 2010 and is scheduled to be re-released by Harren Press in February 2014.

“The Reader of Acheron” is the beginning of a fairly ambitious project, and further stories in the series are in development.

One Month Report

[SCENE III – EXTERIOR – The English Writer’s Camp]

WESTMORELAND

Oh, Rob, that we now had here but ten thousand copies

Of those books that do no work on Amazon’s shelves! 

That we had a hundred-thousand readers and all wrote five-star reviews!

ROBROY

What he that wishes it so? Not I, cousin.

If we are mark’d to read, we do our authors credit.

But if to review early?  The fewer followers the greater share of bragging rights!

God’s will, I pray not one fan more.

Not one who will bear falsehood, saying, “I knew him when . . .”

Then we raped the horses, and rode out on the women!

This day is call’d the Feast of Marrin.

It is one month since my book, Tears of Heaven released into the cold, apathetic world. 

And he or she that reads my book this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named.

He or she will strip Kindle or Nook and show the title,

And say, “To-morrow is Saint Marrin’s day.”

We few, we happy few, we band of readers;
For he today that turns pages with me
Shall be my fellow reader, be he ever so wise, cunning, smart and good looking.
Gentlemen and ladies now abed without my book,

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their Geek Cred cheap whilst any speaks

That reads with us upon Saint Marrin’s day!

 ANALYSIS

It’s officially one month (and a couple of days) since my first published book, Tears of Heaven, was released to an unsuspecting and largely unmoved public.

Crazy Train - WINNING!

What a crazy ride!

I got an editor (hi Shawn!).  I had a release, and sent out advanced copies.  I’ve had reviews.  I’ve sold books to strangers.

I actually have some statistics to share which are exciting!

Last month, I sold 13 copies of my book.  Thirteen is usually considered an unlucky number, which is why I went ahead and sold two more copies at the beginning of this month.  That averages to selling about a book over two to three or so days.  Not bad, considering my goal is to sell 200 copies this year.

I’ve had 19 reviews of my work, all of them four or five stars.  Some of them were NOT from friends and family, which made me feel like a really-real author who had talent and stuff.  My goal is to get 30 reviews on Amazon, at which point the site starts to show your work to other would-be readers.

Finally, my book has been reviewed by a couple of bloggers who know from books.  I’ve received pretty good praise for my efforts, which, again, has made me feel like a writer with some measure of talent.

Here’s to 2014!

To Afraid or Not to Afraid?

You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!

Yesterday, throwing all caution to the wind and exercising poor fiduciary reasoning, my wife and I took our children to Disneyland.  My friend from Reno was in town with his wife and two youngest children, and we made a nice day out of it.

There were the usual fun-filled and funny moments, like when we team-passed my youngest son, Xavi, into the line.  Some nice strangers helped toss him across so that he could enjoy riding Dumbo.

That’s a kid who has never met a stranger.

Yeah, it's THAT magical!

We also got to partake of the lovely Paradise Pier pool area (floor 3), complete with a decent-sized water slide and kid-friendly hot tub.  By which I mean kids jumped in and out of the hot tub while turning on and off the jets while most everyone else ignored, laughed, or were silently annoyed.

For the record, I choose to believe that Disney fills their pools constantly with clean, artesian well water.  I refuse to consider the prospect of any urine being in these pools despite the number of children, or the provided swimming diapers (which we used).

Xavi seemed to have the most fun.  Porter forgot his goggles, and Tristan doesn’t like getting his head under the water (which happened when he took his first and only ride on the water slide).  My little 18-month-old sat on the edge of the hot tub next to me, lightly splashing his little toes against the warm water right until he became overly curious and tumbled face first into the frothing water.

Fishing him out was easier than finding his lost pacifier.

I thought he would cry and be done with the hot tub, wanting only the comfort of his reasonably dry mother.  Instead, he took it like a champ and demanded to stay in the tub standing next to me . . . when he wasn’t face-diving back into the water whenever he lost his balance.

Rock and Roll all night, and part of every day!

But as we rode home, our two oldest knocked off first.  It was a good hour past their bedtime, and running, skipping, jumping, climbing, riding and swimming had, strangely, taken it out of them.  They slept slumped over while shorts from Disney Pixar played in the backseat of our minivan.

Meanwhile, defying all logic, and a good two hours past his bed time, Xavi kept rocking the night, staying wide awake almost all the way home.  We kept peering back at him to see if he’d finally fallen asleep, only to witness as he gave us fist bumps and Rock-On Devil Horns.

Almost.

About five minutes from the house, he finally slumped over and started snoring.

I Am Fire. I Am Death!

You shouldn’t have to defend a movie that you like, let alone love.  You should be allowed to gush about it like a high school crush who just said “yes” when she could have said “no”.  Any problems or issues or discrepancies can be ignored in the white-wash of positive emotions and general happiness of having found what seems like a place in the world.

See anything you like?

This can work really well if the movie is a small indie flick, or if it’s an under-rated, lower budget production that you happened to catch.  Larger films make loving them a bit tricky, like being odd, awkward Molly Ringwald and falling for cute and popular Jake Ryan.  Everyone is going to have an opinion on why it does or doesn’t work, and there really is no getting away with a simple opinion on the matter.

Enter Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  The second installment in the latest Tolkien trilogy really stepped up the game.  From all the light-hearted silliness that was An Unexpected Journey, Jackson seems to have once again found the controls of his massive Middle Earth machine, and really started crafting something wonderful.  The movie focusses much more on the dwarves who actually look like capable, fearsome warriors, and less on the odd hairstyles and “unique” character traits.  Those are still there in Desolation, but the seriousness and semi-reality of the story creates clarity.

Yeah, I have a thing for archers.

That’s not to say there aren’t flaws, and as any Tolkien-fan will tell you, they are legion.  A thousand tiny cuts that can kill the unwary.  This explains why within my own circle of friends and Middle Earth scholars (yes, that’s a real thing), there have been such mixed and extreme reviews.  Jackson’s script changes characters, adds plots, twists elements and forgets some of the key items that made the book “The Hobbit” so very cool.  In are the “missing” scenes from when Gandalf leaves Thorin and company to go root out the Necromancer from Dol Goldur.  These things happened in the history of Middle Earth, but probably (about 99.44%) not the way Jackson portrays them at all.  New is the political rivalry and tension between Lake Town’s Master and Bard the Bowman who is now Bard the Bargeman and General Malcontent.  New also is the addition of Tauriel, the feisty, fiery Elf warrior who also has kind of a thing for Dwarf Kili and for Legolas (yes, that Legolas).

But getting bogged down in these details, while fun for the sake of argument, really removes the enjoyment of the story that Peter Jackson and company have created.  At the end of the film, I felt like I had been returned to Middle Earth, a place that lives and breathes with history, wonder, danger and adventure.  So what if not a single Gondorian blade is shown glowing blue in the presence of enemies?  Not one.  Not around Spiders, Orcs, Dragons or even evil-seeming Elf kings.  Not even a flicker.  One of the coolest visuals ever dreamt up by a fantasy author is completely ignored. 

Why yes, that is my opinion!

Ok, so maybe that’s my own personal issue.

And that’s the point.  There’s something for any fan of Tolkien to latch onto and get really worked up about.  It’s like the Purity Test you take in high school and then obsess over.  The point isn’t what percent you got right or wrong.  There is no right or wrong when you enjoy a movie that transports you to a place you’ve only ever dreamed about (and watched in 10+ hours of movie previously), that, if it had to be summed up in a single word is “epic.”

Check that: EPIC!