Tag Archives: pre-order

Letting Go: The Relationship Between Author and Character

It was always going to feel strange: the excitement of a new novel being launched together with the knowledge that this is the end of the Wycaan Master series. But somehow, it feels even more surreal than I had anticipated.

Calhei No More_full res2 (4)

My knee accident and operation along with the subsequent rehab was obviously never anticipated, and I thank all of you for your wonderful healing wishes. I am an active, sports-loving man, and have no idea how to sit around and wait for seven pieces of my knee bone (patella) to slowly reconnect. In desperation, my wonderful staff at AJWS bought me a two months’ subscription to Netflix and had to explain to me what binge watching is and why it is especially okay in my situation.

homer-binge-watching

Still it is hard not to feel guilty if I’m not working hard for those who pay me a salary or if I am not busy writing a next novel, editing the latest manuscript, and in this case, promoting the launch of Calhei No More which is next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday! At The Walls of Galbrieth was written in 2010. Seanchai, Rhoddan, Ilana, Sellia and Shayth have been in my life for six years now. I have laughed with them, cried, feared for their future, and between us, got quite annoyed at some of their decisions.

I watched an episode of Westworld yesterday (cable, not Netflix), in which a character said being a parent is about knowing when to let go. I’m dealing with this as a parent of teenage boys – I would rather they remain young enough to snuggle in our tent in a redwood forest as I read another manuscript to and for them – but now I realize I need to step back as well with the Wycaan Master characters.

Westworld, without giving anything away (and I have barely began to watch), is about artificial intelligence. A theme park has been created and people pay to interact with the very real robots (hosts), but the really fascinating part is the relationships that seem to surface between the team who created, maintain, and upgrade the hosts, and the robots themselves.

westworld

It seems impossible not to get attached to the characters of a book much less a series where you created the character and have helped it evolve and grow. When I killed off a major character early in the series I cried. I didn’t, at the time, think it particularly strange to shed a few tears, but crying each of the 20+ times I edited and rewrote the scene and subsequent consequences borders on the traumatic…for me, the author (many of you made it very clear how you felt too…!).

I believe the relationship between character and creator is sacred in as much as it is unique. Those of you with a more religious perspective might connect this to the Creator and humanity, which brings us to the question: is being an author a vain attempt to play at being a deity? Let’s leave that for another time.

wworld2

But I never expected to care and agonise so much for the characters I created throughout the series, and it feels as though I’m failing as a father when Calhei No More launches next week, when I finally let go of my creative offspring and close the last page.

Whatever my feelings, Calhei No More will be released and you can pre-order the e-book here. The page for the paperback will be here, but I’m not sure when it goes live (usually a few days before launch to iron out any issues). Pre-ordering will bring attention on Launch Day and tempt Amazon.com to help promote more – so it is a big help to me.

Thank you again for all your good wishes and for your support of the Wycaan Master series. Do remember, I love hearing feedback and really appreciate any reviews you can write on Amazon for any of the novels.

Until November 15… For better or worse, it all ends on the Plains of Shindellia. See you there.

Alon

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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. The link above takes you to the Kindle versions. For all other eReaders, please click here.

More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter).

 

Chicken Soup and Pre Order Details

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes following my update last week – Book 6: What Happened? One of the wonderful consequences of being an author is that you build not only a following of readers, but a community of friends. I know you think it is the painkillers talking, but I do believe what I write … though I do love these painkillers!

 

Calhei No More remains on schedule and I can now share the Pre Order page for the ebook. Traditionally, a final book costs more than the rest of the series, but Tourmaline Books agreed to initially sell Calhei No More for $2.99, same as the others.

 

Calhei No More_full res2 (4)

 

While I remain an advocate for ‘Chicken Soup Cures All’, I am willing to conduct an experiment on myself (for the good of science of course), and see if a growing list of pre orders can make a patient heal better. Mrs. Elfwriter would probably allow for a less complaining and more tolerable patient as the goal. She really is an incredible woman and has taken on all the extra work my injury entails with good humor and love. 

 

Finally, I want to share a question I received from a reader in Texas. M asked if one can begin reading Book 4 – Sacrificial Flame – without reading the first trilogy?  The answer is yes. Each book is a stand-alone, but the second trilogy might be a better place to start for the older teenager and those seeking more complex issues and subplots.  Not that an author should ever have a favorite, but if one did, then Sacrificial Flame would be it.

Sac Flame 2

 

Thank you again for all your good wishes. I will keep taking the meds, drinking the chicken soup, and checking the pre orders for Calhei No More. I appreciate each and every one of you.

 

Alon

 

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award, At The Walls of Galbrieth, (still at 99c) and five more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. Calhei No More, the final book will be released November 2016 in the series. It will all end on the Plains of Shindellia.

Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter). Hang out with Alon on Google+ 

 

Book 6: What Happened?

Dear Friends,

 

The release date, October 15, came and went, and Calhei No More, the final book in the Wycaan Master series, was not released. Ten days earlier I suffered an accident, shattering my knee into seven pieces and destroying the tendons. Tourmaline Books made the decision to postpone the book launch for a month.

 

Calhei No More_full res2 (4)

 

I apologize that the communication was not clear and that many readers were left searching for a non-existent book on the 15th. It was my Dad’s 92nd birthday and I was looking forward to the double celebration. Neither happened, and I have been so out of it taking strong painkillers while desperately trying to feel excited and inspired through the pain. I am writing this post sitting on my couch with my leg strapped and elevated.

 

Calhei No More is on schedule to be released on November 15 and the pre-order should be up in the next few days. I hope to have more energy nearer the time to promote it. In the meantime, you can help in one of two simple ways:

 

1.  At The Walls Of Galbrieth is still priced as an ebook at 99 cents. Perhaps you could send the ebook as a gift to a few people you think might enjoy it and introduce them to the series.

 

2.  From Ashes They Rose is the book that precedes the final book. Please take a moment and leave a review. This is not something I took care of last year because I finished From Ashes They Rose and went straight into writing Calhei No More. Reviews would be really helpful right now.

 

In an earlier interview, I noted that Sacrificial Flame (Book 4) and From Ashes They Rose  (Book 5) are, in my opinion, the best of the series. Together with Calhei No More, this trilogy is more adult, digs deeper into areas and characters, and has a set of more complicated plots and subplots. I am very proud of it and hope you feel the same way. 

 

Sacrificial Flame Cover Hi Res       Book 5 Cover FINAL

 

Thank you for your support and being so patient.

 

Alon

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and four more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. Calhei No More, the final book will be released November 2016 in the series. It will all end on the Plains of Shindellia.

Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter). Hang out with Alon on Google+

I Bawled My Eyes Out

I did. It’s true. In front of a critical audience, I broke down. To their credit, they smiled indulgently. Not really. Both my sons in fact grinned at my embarrassment as, with the summer closing, I read the last page of the first draft. I have, for five consecutive summers, read the words The End. Now, as I read the closing words of Book 6, it hit me: this really was the end. Each time in the past they would sigh, grumble that it’s over, but know that next summer…

This is how it all began - deep in a redwood forest.

This is how it all began – deep in a redwood forest.

This time, The End was The End. Some character died, others survived, but all moved on. This time I did not weep for my characters (I have many times). I did not weep for my sons (let’s not go there). Truth is, I wept for myself. My boys are six years older than when we started, almost men, and all I can hope for is that one day maybe they will tell their children how their grandfather wrote epic novels for them, one every summer.

As I reached the bottom of the epilogue, I could no longer articulate. So I turned to Ms. Elfwriter and pointed to the last line. She read it with the gravity I felt, with total solemnity.

Reading Book 6 in the summer of 2015. End of an era.

Reading Book 6 in the summer of 2015. End of an era.

Now it is over. I have nothing to consider for six months or so, as I tear Book 6 apart and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I imagine around the end of the year or beginning of next, I will send it off to the publishers and…

But there is time to pass. On the same day I read the end of Book 6, I received the proof copies of From Ashes They Rose. Hopefully we are still on schedule for October 1.

We are definitely on schedule for the release of the eBook. As I wrote last week:

…the process of preorder is huge for the author. If many of one’s followers preorder the new release, the purchase will count on the launch day. This means a high sales rank, potential best selling status, and encourages other readers and Amazon itself to take notice.

So please, consider investing $2.99 sometime this month to preorder the ebook version of From Ashes They Rose. Maybe one day you can point out nonchalantly to friends over a deep red Merlot that you helped that best selling author when he was still a struggling writer.

Book 5 Cover FINAL

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and four more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose the fifth in the series, will be released October 1, 2015. The story continues.

Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter). Hang out with Alon on Google+