Thursday, September 13, 2007

DEATH WIZARD CHRONICLES by Jim Melvin

I was going to announce the DEATH WIZARD CHRONICLES by Jim Melvin last week, but I decided to give a few more days for links to accumulate. I'm glad I did because a few more links popped up, including a write-up in the Independent Mail, an upcoming signing at Pendleton Books and an appearance at the Times Festival of Reading(scroll down). Not bad for a small press novel! The author has a listing of readings and signings on his website.

Only a Death-Knower can die.--- And live again. Only a Death-Knower can return from death.--- And remember. Only a Death-Knower can tell us what he has seen.--- Not all care to listen. Torg, the Death-Knower wizard, is imprisoned in a horrifying pit bored into the solid rock of a frozen mountain. His captor is Invictus, the evil sorcerer whose power threatens to engulf the land in eternal darkness. Torg spends twenty-two days in agony before making his dramatic escape and setting off on a series of adventures that will change the fate of the planet Triken.

Rain Publishing has an excerpt available online, with a somewhat distracting watermark. The author has made a much more readable excerpt available here. (I must say, Rain Publishing puts a lot more information online than some major publishers.) I was curious about Rain Publishing, so I looked around on their website. They have a number of bookstores that they are working with, mostly in Canada and California. The list appears to be longer than it was the last time I looked.

9 comments:

Jim Melvin said...

Dear Tia:

For me and my series, the best is yet to come. I have some major reviews in the works. And I'm working on joining another big festival. Thanks so much for taking the time to mention my series. It is MUCH appreciated. Not to mention that everything you said was on the mark.
-- Jim Melvin

Anonymous said...

I love it when excerpts are available online. They give you a great idea of which books to look for when they come out.

Tia Nevitt said...

Jim, mention those reviews to me and I'll link them here. Also, I hope you don't mean that people have been posting things about your book that are NOT "on the mark".

Raven, I appreciate excerpts as well. They have both made me want to buy the book when I otherwise would not have, and they have made me say "ugh! not for me!" when I might have wasted money on it. So for the author, it's both a good and a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

Too true! But for the reader, always a good thing.

Jim Melvin said...

Tia:

Ha! No, I didn't mean that others were not on the mark. I was just commenting on some of your observations. And Raven, I like excerpts too, although you can't underrate the effect context has on writing. That's why I chose to post the start of Book One on my long-excerpt link rather than something in the middle. Like Stephen Donaldson says, the writer earns his/her voice from page one.

Jim Melvin said...

Oh, and I will send along the reviews ... as they come.

Anonymous said...

Jim, I think posting the beginning is the way to go. Much better for us to start where we're supposed to start (and get hooked there, too) instead of trying to figure out what's going on in an excerpt from the middle.

Jim Melvin said...

Raven:

Exactly!

Jim Melvin said...

Dear Tia:

Here's a review from Mary "Lynn" Lewis, the Virtual Wordsmith.

http://virtualwordsmith.blogspot.com/