Tag Archives: Gaia

A Fellow Author’s Last Battle Scene

Busy weekend, so I am plagiarizing dark fantasy author Andy Peloquin who has sent out an urgent message. One of my greatest fears is whether I can provide for my family should something happen to me.

From Andy’s eNewsletter:

Brandon Barr has been fighting cancer off and on for nearly a decade. He’s gone into remission twice, but you’d never know that he’s been fighting for his life. He’s such a cheerful, upbeat, positive person–he’s brought joy to those of us privileged to know him.

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But now, after multiple bone marrow transplants, his leukemia has returned. He’s done everything he can, yet the time has come: soon, the world will lose a good man.

I’ve never met him personally, but I’ve interacted with him online, worked with him, and seen the many people his writing, his skill, and his genuinely decent personality have touched.

But the loss will be much harder for others: his devoted wife Amanda will lose her loving husband, and three young boys will lose their hero, their rock, their father.

You may not know him personally, but you can help:

1. Buying a copy of his new launch: I’ve already got mine and once I get through my current read, I’ll dig into it and post a review to my blog/website to try and get more people to read it.

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2. Share the image around. Download the image above (right click, “Save Image As…”) and share it to your social media to become one of #BrandonsBuddies.

3. Donate to his GoFundMe page. I’ve already donated (anonymously–it’s not about me), along with most of my fellow author friends.

I know it’s a lot to ask–you don’t know Brandon, and likely you’re living on as tight a budget as the rest of us. If you don’t feel up to it, send positive thoughts or prayers his way, and for his family. But if you can spare anything–even just a dollar or two–it will make a huge difference for his family.

Every dollar you can part with is a little drop of peace you can give Brandon right now as he faces this greatest of challenges. Go to Brandon’s GoFundMePage here.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! I know that if it was me, I’d be terribly worried for the future of my family, so knowing that there are genuinely good people out there willing to help can make a huge difference in Brandon’s final days.

May God, Allah, Yahweh, Gaia, the Universe, karma, or whatever higher power you believe in reward you a thousandfold!

Andy

Alon again: just downloaded my copy and went to Brandon’s GoFundMePage. In Jewish tradition, the number 18 signifies the Hebrew letters for chai – life. If you can, please donate $18 or whatever works for you.

Thank you for reading a difficult post in difficult times.

Alon / elfwriter

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls Of Galbrieth, and five other Wycaan Master books all released by Tourmaline Books. Sign up for more information about Alon Shalev at his author website.

 

Earth Magic – A Gardener’s Tale

It is with great excitement that A Gardener’s Tale, my first novel written over 10 years ago, has been picked up by Three Clover Press. It received a professional edit and new cover, and is leaner if not meaner, but certainly tighter and lighter (sorry, I enjoyed that).

My publisher generously commissioned Claudia McKinney, who designed Amanda Hocking’s book covers, to design a new cover. I love it! Befitting the new e-book economics, A Gardener’s Tale is on sale for $2.99.

A Gardener’s Tale – new cover

While this is not a fantasy novel, there is a profound theme running through of the power of the earth. Here is the pitch:

The garden has seen it all – the cruel events of a thousand years of the struggle between the Pagan religions and Christianity in rural England. A Gardener’s Tale follows two years in the lives of a village and the stranger who comes into their community. As the villagers fear for the breakdown of their community, they discover an ancient path that brings them together.

A Gardener’s Tale  tells of an English aristocratic family now tragically dispersed and of a village community falling apart. Birth, love, death and rebirth remain its never-ending cycle, which includes the magic of nature, the purity of love and the power of true friendship in the hands of a gardener who can harness them all.

I am very proud to have received the following critique from Vivianne Crowley, a Pagan High Priestess, who was recognized as one of the leaders of the Wicca movement in Britain. Vivianne actually grew up near the New Forest in England where this story takes place.

“A beautiful and elegiac evocation of a timeless Britain and of a man of the ancient ways of the earth who brings peace and healing where the flames of persecution once burned.“

Thank you to Lloyd Lofthouse at Three Clover Press for his patient support, to Claudia for an amazing book cover, and Zorica Gojkovic for her hard work editing this edition.

Let me know what you think of the cover and the book. I love receiving feedback.

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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener’s Tale. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (#alonshalevsf).