Another friend I have had the pleasure to meet through Amazon.com's discussion board is F.J. Warren, a young lady from Cornwall, England who has written four books, one of which I just ordered, Archelaus Hosken's Dilemma. I look forward to reading Ms. Warren's work and I will offer up my own humble critique of it on Amazon as well as here.
She is so shy that in her Amazon photograph, there is a scarf wrapped about her face. I told her that if I could show my not-so-Robert-Redford face, she surely could show hers. She is obviously talented and assuredly a very kind and gentle person.
Check out her work on Amazon. Perhaps someday they will mention her name in the same sentence with Rowling.
I want to again thank Dianne Salerni, author of High Spirits; A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance, for starting the discussion group for self-published writers of historical fiction on Amazon. It has been both very enlightening and very gratifying to read of the trials and tribulations of self-published writers, as well as to share a few experiences with them. I believe this is now one of the bigger discussion groups I have seen on Amazon and many have benefited from it. Thank you, Dianne. You did a very good thing in starting this.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Great New Books
I just read a couple of fine books that I believe will be of interest to some.
The first is High Spirits, a Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance by Dianne Salerni. It is the story of the Fox sisters, who in the mid nineteenth century began perpetrating a fraud in which they pretended to be communicating with the dead.
They were able to fool a great many people and survive skeptical inquiries, until one sister fell in love with a worldly traveler. Well written with meticulous detail, this book will appeal to teenagers, women readers, and any who are interested in the spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century.
The second is Tales of a Texas Boy, by Marva Dasef. Ms. Dasef puts on paper the stories told to her by her father of his growing up in the Texas panhandle in the thirties. The stories are real, fresh and heartwarming.
The book is a very quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates reading about the real America in a much simpler time and place. The people are genuine and the stories are touching.
Stay tuned. As I read other interesting books, particularly from self-published authors or authors published by small presses, I will let you know.
Happy reading,
Barry
The first is High Spirits, a Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance by Dianne Salerni. It is the story of the Fox sisters, who in the mid nineteenth century began perpetrating a fraud in which they pretended to be communicating with the dead.
They were able to fool a great many people and survive skeptical inquiries, until one sister fell in love with a worldly traveler. Well written with meticulous detail, this book will appeal to teenagers, women readers, and any who are interested in the spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century.
The second is Tales of a Texas Boy, by Marva Dasef. Ms. Dasef puts on paper the stories told to her by her father of his growing up in the Texas panhandle in the thirties. The stories are real, fresh and heartwarming.
The book is a very quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates reading about the real America in a much simpler time and place. The people are genuine and the stories are touching.
Stay tuned. As I read other interesting books, particularly from self-published authors or authors published by small presses, I will let you know.
Happy reading,
Barry
Monday, August 6, 2007
A Twice Self Published Author
A self-published author, Timothy Fish, dropped by and as promised I am adding him to the blog. Here is what he says about his books and self publishing...
"I am the author of two self published books. The first is Church Website Design: A step by step approach. The second is Search for Mom, a novel about a young girl who has never had a mother, but decides to do what it takes to find one. I think you are right that self published authors need to help each other. In many ways, it is an uphill battle for any self published author. Still, it is hard to know how best to help each other. I am hesitant to support authors and books that I have not read, but there are too many for me to read. "
"I am the author of two self published books. The first is Church Website Design: A step by step approach. The second is Search for Mom, a novel about a young girl who has never had a mother, but decides to do what it takes to find one. I think you are right that self published authors need to help each other. In many ways, it is an uphill battle for any self published author. Still, it is hard to know how best to help each other. I am hesitant to support authors and books that I have not read, but there are too many for me to read. "
Monday, July 16, 2007
Anna makes my day!
A reader named Anna dropped by and made a very kind comment about my Impromptu Poem. In gratitude here is a poem for Anna...
Anna
By Barry Yelton
In the early morning,
from a gilded dream,
where sunlight sparkles in the watchful air,
walks Anna
bringing light into the gloom
and joy into the heart.
Walk hopefully, Anna,
through this blessed day,
and may peace
be your nearest companion.
Anna
By Barry Yelton
In the early morning,
from a gilded dream,
where sunlight sparkles in the watchful air,
walks Anna
bringing light into the gloom
and joy into the heart.
Walk hopefully, Anna,
through this blessed day,
and may peace
be your nearest companion.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Friends at Amazon
I have recently communicated with some people on one of Amazon's discussion boards about self published novels. One of the people, Dianne Salerni, was kind enough to add a mention of Scarecrow in Gray to her web page, so I herewith return the favor. Here is what she says about her book:
"My name is Dianne K. Salerni, and I have recently published a novel for young adults and (ahem) not-so-young adults about the Fox Sisters. Maggie and Kate Fox were two teenagers who accidentally founded the Spiritualist Movement in the 1850's when they claimed to be spirit mediums with the ability to contact the dead. My novel follows the story of Maggie Fox's life as she first learns to make a living as a fraud, then becomes a national celebrity, and finally falls in love with a man who tries to extricate her from a life of deception.I am published with iUniverse. My book is High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance. It is listed here with Amazon and also with B&N. I have a website: www.highspiritsbook.com."
We self published authors have to help each other in order to get noticed and hopefully sell some books. If you are self-published, please contact me here by posting a reply and I will be happy to give you a mention. Surely can't hurt.
"My name is Dianne K. Salerni, and I have recently published a novel for young adults and (ahem) not-so-young adults about the Fox Sisters. Maggie and Kate Fox were two teenagers who accidentally founded the Spiritualist Movement in the 1850's when they claimed to be spirit mediums with the ability to contact the dead. My novel follows the story of Maggie Fox's life as she first learns to make a living as a fraud, then becomes a national celebrity, and finally falls in love with a man who tries to extricate her from a life of deception.I am published with iUniverse. My book is High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance. It is listed here with Amazon and also with B&N. I have a website: www.highspiritsbook.com."
We self published authors have to help each other in order to get noticed and hopefully sell some books. If you are self-published, please contact me here by posting a reply and I will be happy to give you a mention. Surely can't hurt.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Civil War Novel
My first book, a Civil War novel, Scarecrow in Gray, was an exercise in patience, diligence, and fidelity. Patience came into play when I struggled with the elements of the story. I knew the basic outline from the beginning, since the story is based on the Civil War service of my great-grandfather, Francis Marion Yelton. However, writing the book and putting together believable and consistent episodes was a challenge.
I wrote at night. I have a demanding day job. As a consequence of this part time approach, I found myself at the keyboard many nights at 11 PM struggling the make the story make sense. Patience, my child, as my kindly muse might say, if I had had one. Patience is not a virtue of mine and I had to learn a lot of it during the nine years or so I struggled to write my book.
Diligence was even tougher. Consistently writing, then re-writing and then editing (since my book is self published and therefore bereft of the noble talents of an editor). I had to grind it out many nights when tired, distracted, unmotivated, etc. Diligence may be a more valuable trait than Patience.
Finally, fidelity must be acknowledged as a guiding principle for any work of historical fiction. You must be true to the period, the cultural background, and (in my case) the military facts including troop movements, battlefield locations, weaponry, equipment, and the mindset of the troops.
For a 218 page book, I probably took longer than a Doctorow, Hemingway, or Faulkner would take to write 500 pages. Forget about Asimov. He could write 218 pages a day (without too much exaggeration on my part). Anyway, perhaps this gives you some sense of the process and how we authors suffer for our art (that's supposed to be funny).
I am in the raw beginnings of doing it again. Look for the sequel for Scarecrow sometime about 2020 AD.
I wrote at night. I have a demanding day job. As a consequence of this part time approach, I found myself at the keyboard many nights at 11 PM struggling the make the story make sense. Patience, my child, as my kindly muse might say, if I had had one. Patience is not a virtue of mine and I had to learn a lot of it during the nine years or so I struggled to write my book.
Diligence was even tougher. Consistently writing, then re-writing and then editing (since my book is self published and therefore bereft of the noble talents of an editor). I had to grind it out many nights when tired, distracted, unmotivated, etc. Diligence may be a more valuable trait than Patience.
Finally, fidelity must be acknowledged as a guiding principle for any work of historical fiction. You must be true to the period, the cultural background, and (in my case) the military facts including troop movements, battlefield locations, weaponry, equipment, and the mindset of the troops.
For a 218 page book, I probably took longer than a Doctorow, Hemingway, or Faulkner would take to write 500 pages. Forget about Asimov. He could write 218 pages a day (without too much exaggeration on my part). Anyway, perhaps this gives you some sense of the process and how we authors suffer for our art (that's supposed to be funny).
I am in the raw beginnings of doing it again. Look for the sequel for Scarecrow sometime about 2020 AD.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Humility, by Barry Yelton
The politicians and the pundits are forever declaiming as to what America needs - more healthcare, immigration reform, a new strategy in Iraq, etc. I would propose that of all the things America needs, corporately and individually, the greatest is good old fashioned humility.
Humility is so important as to be the very key to reaching a solution for the many ills that afflict our nation and our world, if we can but see the obvious. I am not speaking of that sort of humility equated with an inferiority complex or false modesty, rather the kind of humility referred to in the Bible, which implies a modest unpretentiousness.
I believe the achievement of personal humility to be the result of true emotional maturity. Humility’s opposite arrogance and its cousin pride are on the other hand indicative of a kind of emotional immaturity. This sort of arrogance is vividly on display daily in the mugging, preening videos of popular musicians of virtually every type. They possess the emotional maturity of two year olds who have successfully gone to the potty.
As musicians and celebrities mug for the camera, they declare, “Look at me. I am the greatest thing since sliced bread.” Likewise, some of the demonstrations performed in the end zone after a touchdown are equally absurd, arrogant, and juvenile.
The examples are numerous and they do not end with popular music and sports, though in the areas of serious endeavor, they are both more subtle and more troubling. Politicians, for example, universally believe they have all the answers, while their opponents are hopelessly misguided or malicious. The fast trackers in the business world look down on the plodders, wielding their Wharton MBA’s like avatars. The rich often disdain the poor.
Arrogance is often seen as a virtue in modern America, a sort of autocratic platform from which to view the world. When and where this came to be, I am not sure. I am sure it is in simply the preening of the emotionally immature.
Humility, on the other hand, practiced by such luminaries as Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Robert E. Lee, and most dramatically, Jesus Christ, has an amazing palliative effect on relationships among individuals as well as groups. Humble people do not push and prod, but instead accommodate and defer. Humility offers a “soft answer which turns away wrath.”
I believe possessing an unassuming attitude while achieving great things may well be the single highest attainment of which human kind is capable. At the very least, it is clearly one of the most endearing qualities a person can possess and something to be highly valued.
Humility is so important as to be the very key to reaching a solution for the many ills that afflict our nation and our world, if we can but see the obvious. I am not speaking of that sort of humility equated with an inferiority complex or false modesty, rather the kind of humility referred to in the Bible, which implies a modest unpretentiousness.
I believe the achievement of personal humility to be the result of true emotional maturity. Humility’s opposite arrogance and its cousin pride are on the other hand indicative of a kind of emotional immaturity. This sort of arrogance is vividly on display daily in the mugging, preening videos of popular musicians of virtually every type. They possess the emotional maturity of two year olds who have successfully gone to the potty.
As musicians and celebrities mug for the camera, they declare, “Look at me. I am the greatest thing since sliced bread.” Likewise, some of the demonstrations performed in the end zone after a touchdown are equally absurd, arrogant, and juvenile.
The examples are numerous and they do not end with popular music and sports, though in the areas of serious endeavor, they are both more subtle and more troubling. Politicians, for example, universally believe they have all the answers, while their opponents are hopelessly misguided or malicious. The fast trackers in the business world look down on the plodders, wielding their Wharton MBA’s like avatars. The rich often disdain the poor.
Arrogance is often seen as a virtue in modern America, a sort of autocratic platform from which to view the world. When and where this came to be, I am not sure. I am sure it is in simply the preening of the emotionally immature.
Humility, on the other hand, practiced by such luminaries as Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Robert E. Lee, and most dramatically, Jesus Christ, has an amazing palliative effect on relationships among individuals as well as groups. Humble people do not push and prod, but instead accommodate and defer. Humility offers a “soft answer which turns away wrath.”
I believe possessing an unassuming attitude while achieving great things may well be the single highest attainment of which human kind is capable. At the very least, it is clearly one of the most endearing qualities a person can possess and something to be highly valued.
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