…from the Last Archer's Quiver

One of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, died today.  I haven’t read all of his works, but I’ve read enough to appreciate his brilliance.  His book, Zen and the Art of Writing, has been an inspiration to me.

Two of my favorite passages from his books:

“Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I’m one of them.”
―Dandelion Wine

“Sometimes the man who looks happiest in town, with the biggest smile, is the one carrying the biggest load of sin. There are smiles & smiles; learn to tell the dark variety from the light. The seal-barker, the laugh-shouter, half the time he’s covering up. He’s had his fun & he’s guilty. And all men do love sin, Will, oh how they love it, never doubt, in all shapes, sizes, colors & smells. Times come when troughs, not tables, suit appetites. Hear a man too loudly praising others & look to wonder if he didn’t just get up from the sty. On the other hand, that unhappy, pale, put-upon man walking by, who looks all guilt & sin, why, often that’s your good man with a capital G, Will. For being good is a fearful occupation; men strain at it & sometimes break in two. I’ve known a few. You work twice as hard to be a farmer as to be his hog. I suppose it’s thinking about trying to be good makes the crack run up the wall one night. A man with high standards, too, the least hair falls on him sometimes wilts his spine. He can’t let himself alone, won’t let himself off the hook if he falls just a breath from grace.”
―Something Wicked This Way Comes

Rest in peace, Mr. Bradbury… The world is an emptier place without you.

Check it out here.

At amazon through CreateSpace.

Oh, and thanks to my loyal friend and fan Sandy for the pic:

Official site is now officially updated.

The Last Archer’s Legacy is officially self-published as an eBook via Smashwords here.

Update: and for the kindle at amazon here.

Look for the paperback coming soon…

First, I have to say that I am truly ashamed that I have not posted anything on this blog for almost half a year.  What kind of writer am I?

Second, the first draft of the sequel to The Last Archer of Laummoren is *finally* finished.  Entitled, The Last Archer’s Legacy, it now requires some exhaustive editing before it is released in its final version.  But that is merely a formality.  The book is still finished, for all intents and purposes.  What a long and difficult journey it’s been.  There were times when I wondered if I would–or even could–ever finish.  The direction it took surprised me on several occasions, and I am very proud of it.  The ending turned out even better than I envisioned.

I hope you like it.  Stay tuned for more information about how to get it.

-SC-

P.S. Here is the cover artwork:

I am still working on The Archer’s Legacy, the sequel to The Last Archer of Laummoren–but it has been slow due to a lack of time, mainly, but also difficulty in finding where the story wants to lead me.

I read somewhere that someone described writing a book as driving at night where you can only see as far ahead as your headlight beams.  Fortunately, I’ve been able to make incremental progress here and there, and I think I can see a little further ahead down the road now.

And it’s a good feeling.  I hope those beams keep lighting my way…

As a last-ditch effort, I sent one final email to Variance Publishing a few weeks ago to see if they were still interested in working with me to publish The Last Archer of Laummoren.  I hadn’t received any correspondence from them since before the holidays–even though I’d been promised a contract.  But, surprisingly, I did receive a response this time, again with the promise of a contract–except this time with a firm deadline of February 1st.

So hope has been restored–for the moment, at least.  And I’m hoping to not be disappointed this time.

The Last Archer of Laummoren featured on the blog, Indie Spotlight — check it out here:

http://www.theindiespotlight.com/?p=8082