Happy Birthday My Favorite Professor

Dear Professor,

Happy Birthday, sir.

You probably don’t remember me since I never took a class with you while you lived. Neither have I sat in the lecture auditorium at Oxford, nor a tutorial in your office.

But I consider myself a student of yours nonetheless. I have read most of your books (got a bit lost on the more obscure ones to be honest) several times, watched the movies (though I’m not sure you would give academic credit for that), and read numerous books about you and your work.

When I write, I see you as someone to emulate, someone who has set the standard. It is not just you of course, please don’t get ahead of yourself; there is Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, and some new kids on the block: Christopher Paolini, George R.R. Martin, and Patrick Rothfuss – you would approve of the former, and latter, I am sure.

But as much as I admire them, when faced with an issue writing one of my books, I pause and try and imagine what a certain old Oxford professor would advise me to do.

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But while your books are legendary, your world-building stunning, and your ability to create languages are simply mind-boggling, what amazes me is that you had it in you in the first place: an academic, a somewhat upper-crust Englishman, a traditionalist, a Christian, and a war veteran. Was it the latter? Was what you witnessed on the battlefields of Europe in the First World War the seeds for LOTR? Was this the only way you could find to express the struggle of good .v. evil?

What happened that fine summer day as you marked term papers? Were you bored? Looking forward to a vacation? Had a pint too many of Eastfarthing at lunch? When you stared at that blank sheet of paper a student had accidentally inserted, what made you scribble: In a hole in the ground there lives a hobbit…

Whatever possessed you, sir, changed the world of epic fantasy forever. Perhaps you should have heeded the advice you gave dear Frodo: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

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I hope you are sitting in a pub up there in heaven, surrounded by wonderful friends – elves, dwarves, hobbits, and even a few humans, most likely friends from The Inklings. and raising a glass to celebrate his 123rd birthday.

This student thanks you for everything you gave him as a reader and taught him as an author. A very happy twelvety-first birthday, sir! And to celebrate, here is a rendition of Happy Birthday in elvish, the language you created, one word at a time. Thank you to Petri Tikka for this rendition!

Happy Birthday Professor – Oronnad meren allen!

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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, is the latest in the series. 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+

A Gift For The Gifted

Dec15

Last month, when Amazon featured At The Walls Of Galbrieth, I asked my teenage son to get his friends to download the book and leave a review. He responded that most of them don’t have a kindle or even the app on their phones.

I was surprised and pushed back, but he persisted. When most have finished their homework it is late and they only want to chill, play a video game or read a graphic novel at best. No one has the energy to read.

No one?

Well, he admitted, some do.

Are they the ones who don’t do their homework?

He thought for a moment then decided that these were his friends who are academically the high-achievers. Actually they also participate in crew, debate club, or hold down a part-time job.

We left the conversation there, but the next day he asked if he could download a book to read. It has just come out and is part of a series he was reading in the summer vacation and before. He is excited about its release.

I am proud that he joined the dots and decided to begin reading again. He spends almost all his waking hours at school or doing homework. I know and appreciate how much energy he invests just to keep up. But he realized that those friends he wishes to emulate are reading.

It is no surprise that teenagers who are reading are flocking to series. They grew up on Harry Potter and a host of other great series. These books offered long months or years of reading, of living in a world they got to know as well as their own, and of meeting characters who turned into good, steady friends. They got sad when they finished the last page of the most current book and counted down to the new release. In an age of instant gratification, waiting a year or two for a new novel is unthinkable!

My son and I stood at midnight (actually he fell asleep leaning against me) in Borders waiting for the fourth Christopher Paolini book. By the time we returned home, he was too tired to read it, but that did not stop him falling asleep hugging the book.

My eldest holding his autographed copy at the midnight release… a priceless moment from 2010!

It is fun to see that even now, years after the Harry Potter series began and even ended, how excited everyone gets when J.K. Rowling tweets a thought.

So when you consider what to buy a teenager or pre-teen for the holidays, you could do worse than buy a few books and begin them on a journey to another world that they envisage on their terms (with a little input from a humble author!). And, though this article is not meant as a promotion, well, I’ll leave you with a gif.

Happy Holidays,

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. 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).

Free on Amazon – An Author’s Perspective

Nov23

Today is the 2nd of 3 days that At The Walls Of Galbrieth is being offered for FREE on Amazon.com. I usually get quite grumpy when my books are put on sale, but this time feels different.

Perhaps it is the proximity to Thanksgiving. It is only the second time I am celebrating this festival as an America citizen. But I think the overriding reason is that it has now been five years since I sat with my sons at a picnic table in the heart of the Northern California redwoods, laptop unleashed. Together, my boys, the ancient trees and I summoned the Wycaan Masters, and set out on an epic journey that took us to an ancient, faraway world and brought us closer together.

DSCN0193 Summer 2015 Reading Book 6

Each year since, the family has gone camping and I have faithfully read the next manuscript of what will culminate early 2016 with the sixth book (it is really two trilogies and I have seen many readers begin with Book 4).

I think it was only after At The Walls Of Galbrieth won the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award for YA, and was a Grand Prize finalist that I began to understand this was something greater than a family hobby. I admit that, as someone who works for a Human Rights organization, I miss the genre I wrote in with The Accidental Activist and Unwanted Heroes.

But I love the freedom that epic fantasy offers me, the depth with which I connect to my characters, and the ability to share my values and beliefs through these novels. They are truly a coming-of-age journey for the characters, the readers, and for me.

Thank you for being a part of the journey. If you have already read the series, please consider downloading and gifting At The Walls Of Galbrieth and help spread the word. In addition, please take a few minutes and leave reviews for any or all of the Wycaan Master novels.

This FREE sale will last until midnight tomorrow. Click here to download. A strong showing today and tomorrow will help my sales rank and move the whole series along.

Thank you for your help and support.

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 four more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose the fifth in the series, was released on October 1, 2015. The story continues.

I Felt The Earth Move

Oct12

I felt the earth move and not in the way that we Californians usually associate the word or what the rest of you are thinking – admit it! I had a literary orgasm and I had not just finish reading erotica. I actually had just finished Patrick Rothfuss’ second book – The Wise Man’s Fear.

After I read his first novel – The Name Of The Wind – I gave it an enthusiastic 5 star review. After I finished the second book, I wrote: This is as close as I have ever come to giving six stars. There were moments when the complexity of the societies that Rothfuss writes left me amazed. As an author I feel he has raised the bar for me in a way I have not felt in years. Truly inspiring.

I really wanted to give the second book six stars but Amareads/Goodzon wouldn’t let me. I have never felt like this before, so completely in awe of a novel.

Rothfuss breaks the rules. The ‘experts’ (those who are and those who think they are) tell us that our novels must plunge straight in, that we must have a fast pace, that we should minimize backstory, and focus on plot, plot, plot!

Despite loving his books, I only now went to his blog to read the announcement about a future movie, television series, video game, and recipe book. Okay, I embellished about the recipe book, but who knows?

Somewhere in the middle of the blog post, Rothfuss wrote the following about why he was skeptical that Hollywood could put his books onto screens:

“Pretty much every fantasy movie created so far has been an action movie, or plot centered, or both. And my books aren’t like that. My books are about the characters. They’re about secrets and mysteries and the hidden turnings of the world.”

At this point, the heavens opened, a bright ray of sunshine beamed down accompanied by harp music. I had an epiphany!

I love my characters. I really do. I worry for them when they face danger, I grieve for their failings and I cry when they die. I have dreamed of meeting them and even imagined I met my protagonist at Starbucks – yes there was an extra shot in the Frappawhatzit.

While I have never been accused of a slow pace or lack of emphasis on plot, most of what the editors cut is character development rather than world-building or plot. I would like to share more of my characters, and discover with the reader their multifaceted personalities.

But this does not work in our fast-paced world with our nano-second attention span. We are apparently listening to our readers and what they want.

Thankfully, Pat Rothfuss (may I call you Pat?) was totally negligent in listening to these naysayers, or he just followed his muse. And he has proved that if a magical realism or fantasy novel is written well and rich in texture, it does not have to be like every other book.

Before I embark on rewriting the manuscript for the 6^th Wycaan Master novel, I am taking a few weeks to enter the corrections and suggestions that my writers group has given me over the last year for a magical realism novel I whipped up one day (or half-year).

I am noticing that my own corrections are adding depth in a way that I have not done before and I think, no I know, I am being influenced by Rothfuss’s two novels. Imitation, they say, is the highest form of flattery. I am not copying his style, but he has left a deep impression on me and I am sure many other authors and writers.

Thank you, Pat. I hope you are as flattered as I am grateful. And thank you to everyone who helped make the launch of From Ashes They Rose a success. I couldn’t do it without you … literally! I am sincerely grateful.

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

RELEASED! From Ashes They Rose

Oct1

Dear Friends,

Thank you! Thank You! Thank you! Whether you are a keen reader of the Wycaan Master series, follow my Elfwriter blog or twitter sites, are members of the California Writer’s Club or the Berkeley Writer’s Circle, or whether you are just some poor soul who keeps bumping into this optimistic writer with a propensity to gaze up at the mountains or out to sea…Thank You!

Today, Tourmaline Books released From Ashes They Rose, the fifth Wycaan Master novel. Every time I have a book released, it feels surreal. The excitement and pride are as fresh as they were when the award-winning At The Walls Of Galbrieth, was released five years ago.

The first few days of a book release are critical to its trajectory, so please consider purchasing the paperback here and the e-book here. In celebration of the release, Tourmaline Books has made the first three novels available as e-books for 99 cents each. This sale will only continue until after the weekend. Please click on the book cover below for the link to each book.

Finally, a quick thank you to the amazing team who supported me:

Monica Buntin, my editor, who makes sense of the jumble of words I send her.

William Kenney, for the cover design, artwork, and vision. He has an amazing capacity to create something beautiful out of the vague ideas I throw at him.

Jeny and Rutchie at The Fast Fingers, who format the book with such professionalism and are willing to let me bug them every week or so (okay, maybe more!).

Ariela, Pele & Asif – my family, who have the patience to listen to every first draft and endure the silences when I travel far away in the land of Odessiya.

I hope From Ashes They Rose lives up to its predecessors. It does take on a more complex hue, but as we say in the elven tongue: C’est la vie. Once read, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Thank you again for your support. Good Reading!

Alon Shalev.
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An Author Needs His Hat

Sep21

“So, what’s with the hat?” The question came from a young man in the back row of the small (but thankfully packed) room.

I had been fielding questions about plot, world-building, characters, building a series, and on being a writer, so this caught me off guard. My bad. It was not the first time I had received such a question. I was reminded of this when a twitter follower graciously allowed me to finish the day with a smile this week, posting that he couldn’t ignore a book written by an author with such a great hat. Thank you, sir.

So, what is with the hat? I was wearing it when my sons and I wrote those first words deep in a redwood forest in 2010. Sitting at a campsite picnic table, I brandished my snow-white keyboard, doffed my hat and wrote: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit…”

Okay, I’m getting carried away. I actually opened At The Walls of Galbrieth with the words: The screams pierced his dreams and… Every summer since, I have read the next manuscript to my sons while camping, and while wearing my hat.

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

Reading Book 6 to my toughest critics in the summer of 2015. End of an era.

Though I feel a great connection between hat and story, none of my characters actually wear a hat in the novels. Maybe I connect to it because I would simply feel too self-conscious walking around the San Francisco Bay Area with a heavy, hooded cloak and staff with the exception perhaps of Halloween.

Ironically, I am not much of a hat-wearer. Traveling to the East Coast in winter warrants a hat, and the same one I wear for camping, sits aloft my head as I fly fish. I am sure the trout take careful note of my headgear since they totally ignore my fly.

But now I have begun to take notice. The professor wore his tweed hat though not in his ancient Oxford study. Sir Terry Pratchett RIP had his splendid black fedora (hope I’m getting the title right). And I have seen other fantasy authors on twitter handles, websites, and Wanted posters.

Neil Gaiman, in his wonderful tribute to Sir Terry, described their first meeting thus: The author, a former journalist, has a hat, but it’s a small, black leathery cap, not a Proper Author Hat. Not yet.

So here is my Wycaan Master books series by hat. Please feel free to click on each to see which book the photo features on (we used the same for Books 3 + 4).

Are you a fantasy author with a hat to show? Feel free to leave photo and link to your books in the comments.

Here’s to authors in hats. May our heads be ever covered, our pages full of words, and our minds ever brimming with imagination!

We are now less than two weeks from the release of From Ashes They Rose (October 1.). So please, consider investing $2.99 to preorder the ebook version. 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.

How could I forget…

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I Bawled My Eyes Out

Sep13

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 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.

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.

Pre-Release: Instant Bestseller?

Sep8

This weekend, Tourmaline Books announced that From Ashes They Rose will be released on October 1, 2015. For the first time this series, they have uploaded the book onto amazon and allowed for the ebook can be preordered.

What does it mean to preorder? For the reader it is being part of the excitement as the countdown. Suddenly, the book appears on your eReader, an email in your inbox, and the inevitable ‘sick day at the office’ rears its head. “Stay home and get well soon,” the kind boss says over the phone. “Some chicken soup and a good book in bed.”

I know of one person who read Sacrificial Flame, the prequel to From Ashes They Rose in one weekend and they were perfectly healthy on Monday morning if lacking a weekend warrior suntan.

But 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. And maybe 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.

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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+

No One Died and I’m Disappointed.

Aug18

No One Has Died and I find myself disappointed. Have I Become So Corrupted?

I blame George R.R. Martin. I am on the fifth book of a series that is widely considered a classic by epic fantasy fans – If you want to know which, feel free to hook up with me on Goodreads – and I am beginning to find it really hard going.

I am trying to work out why this is. The world building is fantastic, and the characters are very compelling. This series has won multiple awards and turned a generation onto the genre. The Internet abounds with discussion groups, artwork, jewelry, collectible cards, and even a board game.

The series lacks two things and I am embarrassed to admit that I am missing them. The first is sex, or at least sexuality. Sure everyone sounds very attractive, but seem to blush when a dress comes above the knee. Now, I respect a society that values modesty, but in every other aspect, this is a dangerous world with bad folk, extreme circumstances, and a lot of opportunity for more than noble romance. We delve deep into the souls of these characters, but burn me (yes a hint!), if just a bit of cleavage is shown then everyone blushes and flees for cover or avert their eyes. Sorry, Master Author – no teenage boy is going to do anything less than gawk when confronted by three beautiful women in skimpy negligees.

The second aspect that is beginning to bug me is that no hero or heroine seems to die, and I am really not expecting it as I approach the end of Book Four (I also read the prequel if you are counting). Please no spoilers if there are any!!!! But we seem to have fit into a rather comfortable pace and rather predictable story arc.

But here is what is really bugging me. I read, no devoured, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and there is neither anything remotely sexual (no matter the noble efforts of Peter L. Jackson), nor do any of our major characters die – with all due respect to Boromir and Haldir.

So what has changed? Me? Of course not! I am as full of self-denial as the next man. And so I point the finger at George R.R. Martin: plenty of sex (not particularly healthy I wish to note) and plenty of main characters dying.

Now I have killed my share of protagonists in The Wycaan Master series – I Didn’t Mean To Kill Her and Oops! Just Killed A Friend – and I have neither enjoyed the criticism I have endured for my efforts nor got over the personal sense of loss that each death inflicted on me (let alone the character), but somehow I now crave that tragic turn, expect it, even anticipate it.

What has happened to me? Have I lost my (fantasy) innocence? And what shall I read while waiting for the next Game of Thrones?

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and three more novels in the Wycaan Master Series: The First Decree, Ashbar – Wycaan Master Book 3, and Sacrificial Flame – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose, the fifth in the series, will be released in September 2015. The story continues.

Whoosh And It’s Gone!

Jul23

Whoosh. It’s Gone!

The most absurd part is: I have done this several times. I have written a novel, edited it, had it professionally edited, edited what the editor edited, had it line-edited, edited what the line editor edited, gave it one more read through, and then…. Whoosh!

Yes, whoosh I say! The manuscript has gone to the formatters. I receive a confirmation that everything is okay (otherwise I bug them like crazy), and I am told by the good folks at Tourmaline Books to go prepare for the launch.

Just like that. It’s gone. Whoosh! I’m rather fond of that word, by the way. Very underrated in literature. But here I sit and stare at the screen, wondering what to do next. Do I go on vacation? Have a stiff scotch? Start writing Book 6? All of the above?

It remains, eight books later, a weird moment in time. If I were writing a spiritual Zen-like book (and I might since I watched the entire Kung Fu series with David Carradine RIP), I would talk of that odd moment of cultural void, when it is simply done. A tranquil calm descends, discovers a presence of anxiety, shrugs its shoulders and pours them both that scotch.

So there it is. From Ashes They Rose has…well begun to rise! It has begun a transformation into its next reincarnation, from manuscript to book. I shall leave you with the blurb on the back:

Deep wounds fester in the collective psyche of a once proud nation now destroyed and humiliated. All that remains is a driving desire for revenge. It should never have happened. Retribution will know no mercy.

Mercifully, I still owe myself that scotch. Here’s to manuscripts past, formatters present, and future books. L’chaim!

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 three more novels in the Wycaan Master Series: The First Decree, Ashbar – Wycaan Master Book 3, and Sacrificial Flame – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose, the fifth in the series, will be released in September 2015. The story continues.

Elfwriter

A Fantasy Author

Tag Archives: Unwanted Heroes

Happy Birthday My Favorite Professor

Free on Amazon – An Author’s Perspective

RELEASED! From Ashes They Rose

An Author Needs His Hat

I Bawled My Eyes Out

Pre-Release: Instant Bestseller?

No One Died and I’m Disappointed.

Whoosh And It’s Gone!

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