DruidsBook

2009 Aurora Award

Rob Sawyer.  <sigh>  I’m talking about the big, shiny AURORA Award which was given to Rob in Winnipeg on Sunday night (May 23, 2010).  His novel, Wake, edged out Druids and three others to take the prize for Best Long Work in English.  <mutter, mutter>

If only Mr. Sawyer were some sort of monster who’d earned a reputation for stealing sweets from infants, or running down the infirm in crosswalks.  THEN I could engage in some really serious character bashing as a means of soothing our disappointment at losing.  Sadly, I can’t.  He’s just too nice a guy.  Decent.  Helpful.  Studious.  Friendly.  A regular boy scout.  How can you complain about losing to someone like that?  I can’t.

And, worse still, he’s a great writer!  What’s up with that?

Hmm.  Well, maybe we can get a cover blurb out of him for Captives.  More on that soon. <grin>  For now, let’s just say we’ll be looking forward to the Aurora Awards handed out in 2012…

Barb delivered the manuscript for Captives, book two in the Druids series, to our publisher in mid-December. Now, three weeks later, he’s asking for our input on a cover!

We’re totally stoked, as you can imagine. Many readers have asked us when they’d be able to read the next installment, and we didn’t have anything to say except that we hoped to have one out *soon.*

So, while “soon” might not be coming as quickly as we’d hoped, we can’t promise anything — yet! We’re fortunate to be working with Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisihing. The good folk there produce consistently excellent books, including ours!

So, please stay tuned. As soon as we know a little more, we’ll post it.

Oh, and feel free to make suggestions about what or who you’d like to see on the cover. Most of the crew from Druids will be returning, plus a few new players.

In the process of writing and researching Druids, it became quickly obvious that most of what we know today about the Celts, and druids in particular, was written by people who didn’t like them.  Julius Caesar, for instance, was not a huge fan of the Celts.  In the sequel to Druids we suggest what might have set Caesar on an eventual course of conquest over the Gauls.  It’s a logical, albeit entirely fictional rationale for Caesar’s quest to eradicate druids.  In reality, he needed a reason to stay out of Rome so he wouldn’t be arrested and charged with crimes against the state.  The Celts were handy.  Largely disorganized and often nomadic, they were a fairly easy target.

The propaganda machines were cranked up (Caesar’s own aggrandizing commentary still serves as an “instructional” document); the legions were dispatched, and the Gauls were crushed, tribe by tribe.  Along the way, the druids were demonized.  That’s hardly surprising given their role in holding Celtic culture together.  Wipe out the educated class of any society and it will collapse.

I recently watched a History Channel production about druids.  They reported that new evidence had been uncovered suggesting that the ancient Celts practiced cannibalism, and they had one site in Wales and a handful of bones to back up the claim.  As I recall, Pliny is also cited as an expert on the topic.  Wow.  If the tribulations of the pioneering Donner party were treated the same way, would that make me a cannibal?  I’m American, after all, and so was the Donner party.  No, I wasn’t trapped and starving in a mountain pass like they were, but we share a heritage.

The Celts had some beliefs we would find uber strange today.  Barb and I tried to put some of that strangeness in perspective in our books.  Only you can determine if we succeeded.  And please, feel free to let us know!  I can only imagine how strange the Celts would think we are.

I’ve been to several World Fantasy Cons, but I can honestly say, this one was by far: the best, the most fun, and the most rewarding.  San Jose is a beautiful city, and the venue was spectacular.  The Fairmont Hotel with its classical motif was the perfect setting for the launch of a Roman-era historical fantasy.  Okay, I admit, a Celtic hill fort setting might have been a wee bit more comfortable for Rhonwen and Mallec.  But, since Barb and I were there LIVE, and Rhonwen and Mallec attended two-dimensionally, our feelings had to take precedence.

I did my first public reading and chose a short, humorous scene in which Rhonwen and Baia are eating dinner when a Roman arrives and summons them to work for the Roman governor, Fufidious.  Barb did a great job on her reading — the dramatic confrontation between Rhonwen’s brother Telo, their mother, Baia, and an Iberian warrior drunk on wine and thirsting for Roman blood.  The room was absolutely packed, and our audience was attentive and very kind, ignoring ringing phones, clinking wine glasses, and the communal munching of chocolate.

What a complete gas!  I look forward to launching as many new books as we can!

We are so honoured and thrilled to be on the long list for this wonderful award.  Check it out at http://www.albertareaderschoice.ca/longlist.cfm

With the Georgia launch of Druids only two days away, I came to the shocking realization that I hadn’t sent a news release to the Marietta Daily Journal, our local newspaper.  Considering how little time remained before the event, the situation cried out for something extreme.  Yes, I E-mailed a press release that morning, but the situation demanded something even more extreme:  an intervention!

Fortified with a double mocha latte and a new shoulder pelt, I donned my druid apparel, grabbed my trusty druid staff, and drove to the newspaper office.

Kim Isaza accepts review copy of Druids.

Naturally, I arrived at the busiest time of the day.  Fortunately, the Managing Editor, Kim Isaza, took pity on me — as she likely would anyone who arrived, sans appointment, dressed like a 1st century BC priest — and graciously accepted a review copy of the book, an invitation to the Launch, and a hard copy of the press release.  What a gal!

Can you tell I’m psyched for the launch? <grin>

Thank goodness Annie had a camera available to capture the antics of the runaway druid of Marietta, GA.

Druid Josh outside the Marietta Daily Journal

I attended “Unchained Doom,” an SCA event held near Cullman, Alabama, which — I thought during the drive over — was somewhere near the edge of the Earth. And that’s pretty extraordinary considering how very pleasant and relaxed the folk were who attended. Sadly, the weather gods frowned on the event and saw to it that rain and cold were the elemental order of the day.

I discovered that people have a hard time reading in the rain, especially if their teeth are chattering (a significant problem for those who read-d-d-d-d-d out-t-t-t-t loud-d-d-d-d).  It’s not surprising then that book sales were held to a minimum. Why buy if you can’t read? Similar fates fell to the other merchants, all of whom took it in stride, much like the combatants who, between shivers, were wailing away at each other with rattan swords. I can’t even imagine the bruising…. Ouch!

I remained with the non-combatants huddled near the bonfire. A camaraderie of the miserable? Actually, no. These folk are hardier than that, and most joked about the weather.  Only the merchants, myself included, groused about the limited turn-out. All in all, I was impressed by the local SCA, even if the bulk of them are rocket scientists or their associates.  Rocket scientists?  In Cullman, Alabama?  Check your maps. Cullman is but a wee bit south of Huntsville, home of the Redstone Arsenal — Rocketville, USA. “Wilt thou yield, or must I smote thee with a MIRV?”