Want to win a copy?

I'm giving away three copies of the new Song of the Beast and an advance reader copy (ARC) of The Daemon Prism in the next couple of months through Goodreads. Here are the links. They're free, of course, but you do have to sign up on the site.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Song of the Beast
by Carol Berg

Giveaway ends November 30, 2011.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

And for The Daemon Prism ARC (Note this one doesn't start until November):

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Daemon Prism

by Carol Berg

Giveaway ends November 30, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads is an interesting site. I haven't spent as much time there as I would like, but I intend to. What I've seen, I like. Lots of book reviews, reading groups, and some good discussions (especially in the fantasy realm where I've peeked). It is a site that is devoted to readers, and you can get recommendations on books from serious readers. There are lots of ways to trace through particular reviewers, or authors and so forth. Read more of this post!

In the Mail!

What should show up at my front door today, but this box of lovely books! Yes, these are the new trade paperback editions of Song of the Beast, winner of the 2004 Colorado Book Award.

I wasn't too sure of the new cover when I got a jpg of it a couple of months ago. Thought it was too dark. But, wow, I think it came out really nice! I've gotta say, thought, Aidan probably wasn't looking quite this...robust...after seventeen years in prison. But I'm ok with it!

So what's new? And where does this story fit in my brood of thirteen?

Cover, format, print size, and the Introduction by the Author are new. The actual text is the same as its initial release.

Song of the Beast is actually the earliest written of all my published books - though it was released after the three Books of the Rai-kirah, Transformation, Revelation, and Restoration. I tell a bit about how the story came to be in the new introduction. It was my break-through book in many ways. I think it suffered a bit from being released after the Rai-kirah books, as it is a much simpler story. It is a story that poured out of me when I was making a big step forward in my writing, and so is not quite as polished or nuanced as my later work. But I think in some ways it is a microcosm of what I have been trying to do. Good stories with complicated characters and a plot that isn't always as expected, told in vivid language.

So why did my publisher choose to do this? It was time for another print run. All of my books have stayed in print so far, but every time the supply dwindles, the publisher has to choose whether to reprint or not. I like to think it is a measure of faith in both story and author that Roc chose to reinvest in the artwork and larger size. (And maybe if it does well, they'll do the same for other books and get rid of those green wings!)

If you've not read it, I hope you enjoy it. And if you have, I hope this reissue reintroduces some good friends and some pleasurable hours. Read more of this post!

Song of the Beast - Resung!

It's almost here! The new trade paperback edition of Song of the Beast will be released in October 2011 with a broody new cover and a new Introduction by the author.


Song was not my first book published, as my editor wanted to release the Rai-kirah series before releasing the standalone. So, although it was my fourth book out, its writing predated Transformation.

After several years of writing, this was the book that told me "maybe someone out there might want to read this." For the first time in my (then) brief writing journey, I felt like I got it.




Some people say they see similarities between the two books. Possible, as the ideas for Transformation were germinating as I wrote Song. But they are two very different stories and two very different heroes.

As for the follow-on Song of the Beast novella? More will be forthcoming over the next few months, once I get The Daemon Prism wrapped up.
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News...

I have been terribly laggard with this blog of late. Apologies to all. The holidays and family gatherings have occupied lots of time, along with preparing for the launch of The Spirit Lens on January 5th. Preparations included:

• setting up events (see the schedule on my website)


• writing a piece for the Roc newsletter about the novels of the Collegia Magica and how The Spirit Lens took shape


• writing a piece for the Knight Agency holiday blog


• sending out postcards to bookstores


• etc. etc.

Should likely have done more, but I've hardly had time to write as it is! When a bit of minor surgery clogged up the works, my kind editor gave me an extension on The Soul Mirror, which is an incredible relief. I hope to get back to serious work on the book in the next day or so.

Meanwhile, in the hullabaloo surrounding the release of The Spirit Lens, I don't want to forget the Lace and Blade 3 anthology that should be hitting the shelves in mid-February with my Song of the Beast follow-on story called, "The Heart's Coda." Here is the lineup for the anthology:



LACE AND BLADE 3 Table of Contents

Kari Sperring, "Featherweight"
Sean McMullen, "Culverelle"
Sheila Finch, "Fortune's Stepchild"
Judith Tarr, "The Horned King"
Jay Lake & Shannon Page, "Embers"
Tanith Lee, "Question a Stone"
Dave Smeds, "A Swain of Kneaded Moonlight"
Rosemary Hawley Jarman, "Fire and Frost and Burning Rose"
K. D. Wentworth, "The Garden of Swords"
Diana L. Paxson, "Blue Velvet"
Samantha Henderson, "Outlander"
Carol Berg, "The Heart's Coda"

Whew! Is that a lineup or what? I am so pleased to be a part of this project. Should be seeing cover art soon!

I'll keep you posted, and get back to regular blogging as I get into the last third of The Soul Mirror development. You can catch more regular, brief updates on Facebook. I'm "Carol Berg, Northern Colorado."
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The Heart's Coda

Last spring I received an invitation to submit a story to an anthology of high fantasy. With such a tight schedule for the Collegia Magica books, I wasn't sure I'd have the time. (Still not sure I had the time!) The editor offered to send me copies of her previous two anthologies so I could see if I wanted to join in the third of the series.

The anthologies are called Lace and Blade, from Norilana Books, a small press that puts out absolutely gorgeous editions of classics, as well as some original works and these anthologies. Check out the luscious cover art for the first and second volumes.

Well, I read several of the stories in the two volumes, including the lovely novella, "The Night Wind" by Mary Rosenblum that had just been selected for this year's Nebula ballot. Not only was I impressed (and intimidated) by the quality of the stories, but I really wanted to have a story in the new one. So I told her yes. The due date would be August 1.

So, of course, the next thing was to figure out what to write. Length could be variable, wrote the editor. Write tight, but make it as long as it needs to be.

The only way I can produce short fiction while writing another book is to piggyback on one of my existing worlds. Which was quite all right, said the editor. And when I spun the bottle and got to thinking, the right project stared up at me.



Song of the Beast was not my first novel published, but I actually wrote it before Transformation. I always intended it to be a standalone, and I was happy where it ended. The primary story arc was complete and satisfying (certainly to ME!) But, in truth, I did leave Aidan MacAllister's world in upheaval. He had changed the world so dramatically that nothing would ever be the same. His personal story - a visionary musician imprisoned as his fame reached its height, released after 17 brutal years, unable to sing or play his harp or hear the voice of the god of music who had guided his musical development - led him into a wilderness where he hoped to repair half a millennium of injustice. And I never told readers whether or not he got the girl who helped him do what he had to do.

Needless to say, I heard from a lot of readers that they wanted to know what happened after. That was what I wanted to write.

But once I got to thinking about it, something unexpected happened. As I told the editor:

Like many authors, I don't believe that my heroes' and heroines' lives end on the last page of my books. Which means, of course, that when you check up on them long after the grand and terrible events are over, you occasionally discover that their futures haven't gone quite as you expected. Thus it happened when I looked up Aidan MacAllister, the visionary musician-hero of Song of the Beast. What I found compelled me to write "The Heart's Coda."

Forthcoming in Lace and Blade 3 from Norilana Books, February 14, 2010

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The Heart's Coda (maybe)

This has been quite a month. The aforementioned medical issue included my first ever surgery - as I said before all with most satisfactory resolution. But I kept wanting to take naps all month - and I hate naps. And then the Song of the Beast story, tentatively titled The Heart's Coda, just ate my brain! Aidan was always such a sweetheart, you know, but he's been out there with the dragons for three very long years...

Oh, did you think I was going to tell you something else?

Since you looked, here's a snippet:

The man towered over me. Senai born, no doubt of it, with such exceptional height, thick, black hair, and strong, lean features. He appeared not so much burnt as angry. Not so much dead as tired and dirty and underfed. Eyes closed, face twisted in effort, he blurted, "Who?"

I swallowed the knots collected in my throat and attempted to bow from my prostrate position which I was not confident enough to alter. No Elhim in the world, not even my progenitor who is exceptionally tall and broad in the back for my race, would reach this man's shoulder. And the shredded garments, and the tangled hair grown out in all directions, even sprouted from his face—which I had been told was not at all his customary aspect—gave MacAllister a savage appearance. Surely living in the wild so long alone with beasts must tax a man's reason.

The speaker, as you may note, is an Elhim named Glyn par Davyn - yes, Davyn's "progeny." And no, the story does not address Elhim procreation. That will be matter for another story.

But thank goodness, the story is now done and sent away. Hooray! I will update with publication news when I have some.
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Lazy, Hazy Days...

Whew, it's been a month since a post. What kind of blogger am I? [Head hangs in shame.]

After the May revisions push, I started work on a short story promised to a great anthology. Dithered about it. Got distracted by a health issue which has just come to a happy resolution. Got distracted by a mountain trip where I found out Breath and Bone won the 2009 Colorado Book Award for genre fiction. [Hooray!]

Meanwhile, The Soul Mirror beckons and the short story bothers, because its opening just keeps dragging and dragging. I think I've got a good setup, but need some concentrated work [yes, really, concentration has been absent for the past 6 weeks.]

I want to base this story on Song of the Beast. I've had so many people ask for a sequel, and I did leave Elyria in a terrible mess. The primary relationship - of two people who each woke the other person's heart and courage - was resolved. But their future relationship was only hinted at. As the two people are very different and have been abandoned in messy circumstances, a variety of interesting things could happen. I wanted to give just a hint of resolution and/or new direction to Aidan's story. So what's the problem?


Well writing short, for one. I am just not accustomed to it.

Basing a story on the resolution of a novel, for another. How do I avoid too much backstory? That's where I'm bogging down. World background. Relationship background. As well as new characters and new situation to resolve. I feel as if I need to write completely for my own benefit, but I have to trust that I'll be able to pare it down enough to make it a great story for those who haven't read the book, as well as those who have. Tough. Think about it.

Timing. I need to get this done. How do people dash off short stories over a weekend?
More tomorrow.
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