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Pre-order Masks now!
Masks, first book in my new fantasy series from DAW, written as E.C. Blake, won't be released until November 5: but you can pre-order it now through Amazon! They've already got the product page up. Masks will be followed next year by Shadows, and then by Faces. And after that...well, we'll see. I'm hoping the series will continue, but that'll be up to readers like you. Below is a handy-dandy widget for pre-ordering Masks now, should you so desire. Remember: order early--order often!A nice new review of Magebane…
...courtesy of T.E.J. Johnson, who gives it 91%. Read the whole thing, but here's an excerpt: This is a rich book, and Chane sets the plot zipping through a crackling political landscape. The land of the Evenfels is wonderfully realised...The way Chane describe the use and abuse of magic makes sense, you can feel the characters make a spell, or draw on energy and it is with this careful kind of craft with which he weaves the lands behind the barrier. The books principle characters are strong and Mother Goodwind (sic; it's actually Northwind, but, oh well - Ed) is a particular standout. A dotty, forgetful Miss Marple kind of ...A sneak peek at Masks
That gorgeous cover, by Paul Young, will grace my next book from DAW, Masks, written under the pseudonym E.C. Blake. I just got it this week, and now I'm doubly excited about the book coming out. Here's what DAW has come up with for the book jacket flaps (Masks is coming out in hardcover, my first hardcover novel, so it actually has flaps). Now all I have to do is live up to it! Masks, the first novel in a mesmerizing new fantasy series, draws readers into a world in which cataclysmic events have left the Autarchy of Aygrima—the one land blessed with magical resources—cut off from its former trading partners ...The Space-Time Continuum: “Dammit, Jim, I’m a storyteller, not a social worker!”
My latest "Space-Time Continuum" column from the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild's newsletter Freelance... *** This column I want to return to the World Fantasy Convention held in Toronto last November...and a panel that rubbed me the wrong way. Entitled “The Changing Face of YA Fantasy,” the panel was described this way: “Fantasy works for young adult readers have changed over the years, perhaps even more than their counterparts for adults. The themes tackled are more cutting-edge; a wider variety of cultures is explored; locations are often more realistic, more gritty and urban, than in the past; a more diverse cast of characters is brought into play; and the heroines and heroes are perhaps more ...Two songs from The Dragonslayer
Many years ago I took it into my head to turn a short story of mine, "The Dragonslayer, "into one-act stage musical, intended for high schools. In brief, it was about a teenager who was a whiz at killing dragons when playing Dungeons & Dragons, who gets called into an alternate world to deal with a real dragon after a demon mistakes his roleplaying abilitiy for real-life ability. I still haven't written it. However, I just came across two of the song lyrics I wrote for it, and spruced them up a bit just for fun. And here they are! The Wizard’s Song I am the Wizard The singular Wizard The proper-noun Wizard I'm one of a kind. I’m master ...You got fantasy in my reality!
The latest installment in my "The Space-Time Continuum" column on science fiction and fantasy that appears in Freelance, the newsletter of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild; inspired, as you will see, by a panel I attended at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto. There are, broadly speaking, three kinds of fantasy tales. There is the kind where both the setting and the characters ar fantastical: that is, the world is a fully-imagined fantasy world and the characters belong to that world (The Lord of the Rings). Second, there is the kind where a character or characters from our world find themselves in ...The tangled tale of how my YA fantasy Spirit Singer was born, died, and is being resurrected
Let’s step into the wayback machine, and set it for the turn of the century... In that long-ago time, ebooks were in their infancy. There were dedicated ebook-reading devices, but practically nobody had them. (Although I did: a Hiebook. Read a lot of David Weber on it through Baen’s free ebook library.) There were ebook publishers, but practically nobody had heard of them. Print-on-demand technology existed, but was not in widespread use. It was in that environment that I, with my usual impeccable ability to time things badly, decided to experiment with ebook publishing. I had a finished novel, a good one, I thought, a young adult fantasy called Spirit Singer. I ...Things my editor told me
I think I’ve mentioned—though no more than a gazillion times or so, so you might have missed it—that my next book to be published by DAW will be Masks, first book in a trilogy (and hopefully series) that will continue with Shadows and Faces. Earlier today I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Sheila Gilbert, my editor (that's her on the right in the picture, with her co-publisher and co-editor at DAW, Betsy Wollheim, who won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor Long-Form this year at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago), who had a...ahem...few notes about Shadows, the second book. Plus a few additional ...The birth of The Hobbit
I posted this back in July, but it seems apropos to post it again today, with the release of the first movie in the new trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit. It's the first chapter of the biography of Tolkien I wrote for Enslow Publishers, entitled J.R.R. Tolkien, Master of Imaginary Worlds..and it's all about how The Hobbit came to be written and published. Happy Hobbit Day! *** J.R.R. Tolkien: Master of Imaginary Worlds By Edward Willett Chapter 1: In A Hole in the Ground Lived A Hobbit The world might never have heard of J.R.R. Tolkien, or The Lord of the ...The next big thing
I don’t very often follow up on things I’ve been “tagged” with in the online world, but I was tagged twice for “The Next Big Thing,” both times by writers from Australia, and that seems somehow karmically important. So... The way this is supposed to work is that if you get tagged you answer10 questions, post the result on your blog, along with links back to those who tagged you (Adrian Bedford and Laura Goodin, in this case), and then you’re supposed to tag five more people. Supposedly you’re supposed to obtain the agreement of five more writers to participate before you post your answers, but ...
Edward Willett is a Advertisement
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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