Let the Festivities Begin

We had a great day Friday at Down to Earth, Hadley Rille Books' meet-the-author event and Earth Day Celebration.  Authors in attendance included James Gunn, Christopher McKitterick, M.C. Chambers, and me, as well as Eric T. Reynolds, founder and editor of Hadley Rille Books.  

The event featured readings from Hadley Rille's new anthology, Aftermaths, as well as from the novels Shaper's Veil and Eolyn.   Afterwards, we had a lively discussion with the audience regarding the environment and environmental issues in the context of science fiction and fantasy,  followed by a brief book signing session.  If you'd like to see more photos, you can view them in the Down to Earth 2012 album on my Facebook page for Eolyn.  

Delicious Eolyn cake at the pre-launch party,
April 2011 at the Hooley-Bundschu Library
at Avila University.

A season of celebration is upon us.  In just a few short weeks Eolyn will be one year old.  As part of the birthday festivities, Hadley Rille Books is sponsoring a Goodreads Giveaway for Eolyn.  Two free signed copies will be raffled off on May 7, 2012.  Any member of Goodreads can sign up; if you aren't yet a member, it's easy to join -- and free. 

Other events you may want to put on your radar:

ConQuest, Kansas City's own science fiction and fantasy convention, will be on Memorial Day Weekend.  About a dozen science fiction and fantasy authors from Hadley Rille Books will be in attendance. 

On the eve of ConQuest, Hadley Rille will host a meet-the-author event at Prospero's Books.  This event will be open to the public, and will include readings, a discussion panel, and the opportunity to purchase books and have them signed.

During ConQuest, Hadley Rille Books will have its own author panel, participate in the mass signing on Saturday, host a room party, and launch the novel A Time Never Lived  by Terri-Lynne DeFino.  Rumor has it there will also be a few Hadley Rille pre-launches that weekend.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on all the details. 

Author Kim Vandervort is up this week on Heroines of Fantasy.  As of this moment, her post hasn't yet gone live, but it should sometime today or tomorrow.  (In the meantime, if you haven't read last week's post Eternal Forests, now is your chance!)  Please stop by to share your thoughts and comments. 

Now that you're finished reading this week's post for Eolyn, go sign up for the Goodreads Giveaway!  And good luck.  :)

Season of Renewal

Crocuses provided the inspiration for "rose aethne",
a wildflower in Eolyn's world that is the first
to blossom in spring.

In my 2010 post Names in Eolyn, I talk at length about the origin of Eolyn's and Akmael's names.  Actually, the multiple origins, because like many good names, theirs were inspired by a couple different sources, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

In the untold backstory of the novel, Eolyn's mother Kaie chooses 'Eo-' in reference to one of the pagan names for spring equinox, 'Eostar'. Eolyn was born in the springtime, but Kaie was also expressing a hope that her daughter would bring a new 'springtime' -- a renewal of magic -- to her people.   So any time spring rolls around, I am reminded that this is Eolyn's season, one of color and renewed life, of warmer days and shorter nights.

Of course, spring is not all sunlight and butterflies.  In Kansas City, March is also a time of strong winds and violent storms; of unexpected freezes that can kill the new buds and strip delicate flowers from the trees.  Renewal is not always easy; sometimes achieving it involves overcoming great odds.  This is as true in life as it is in fiction; it is certainly true for Eolyn and Akmael.

I'm starting the final stretch now of High Maga, the companion novel to Eolyn, where our beloved maga continues her difficult struggle to restore magic -- particularly women's magic -- to the people of Moisehén.  Will she succeed?

Eolyn's powers are greater; experience has made her wiser.  But the challenges she faces are also much more intense, by a magnitude of order I would say, though I'm looking forward to hearing whether or not you agree when the novel is at last released, probably during the latter part of 2013.

Looking for something to do until then?  We've got some great activities coming up just around the corner. 

April 13th is Down to Earth, a meet-the-author event with Hadley Rille Books, hosted by Jayhawk Ink at the University of Kansas.  Participating authors will include James Gunn, Christopher McKitterick, M.C. Chambers, Eric T. Reynolds and me.  For more information, visit the Facebook event page for Down to Earth.

May is Eolyn's birthday month (for the novel, not the character).  We have some special surprises planned for the birthday celebration; make sure to stop by around mid-April to find out more.

At the end of May, Hadley Rille Books will host several events in and around the dates of ConQuest, Kansas City's own science fiction and fantasy convention, including signings at local bookstores and the launch of Terri-Lynne DeFino's new novel A Time Never Lived.  As dates and times firm up, I will be posting them right here. 

This week, author Kim Vandervort is up on Heroines of Fantasy with a fun post about short skirts and big swords.   Stop by for a read, and please let us know your thoughts.

Most of all, enjoy this season of renewal.  Walk in the rain, smell the flowers, watch a storm roll in, bask in the sun, fly a kite -- whatever you most want to do.

In the meantime, I'll keep writing...