Rast has been nominated for the Global e-Book Awards

Hi All:

I was notified this evening that my high fantasy novel, Rast, has been nominated for the Fantasy genre of the Global e-Book Awards. I have a number of promotional plans to work on in company with the judging, so I expect I will be posting more often here while the Awards process is going.

A new Review for Rast

Thanks to Lady Rosalie Skinner, a fellow Muse author, for pointing out I had a new review for Rast on its Amazon Kindle page. Thanks also to 'Unhinged' from Eugene Oregon for the review. If you see this, Unhinged, you must have been reading SF and Fantasy for as long as I have. The lack of something new in fantasy was one of my reasons for writing Rast.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing!, July 26, 2011
By
Unhinged (Eugene, OR, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rast (Kindle Edition)
When you have read as much science fiction and fantasy as I have (I started with Asimov's "Pebble in the Sky" back in the '50's) it gets harder and harder to find new ideas. I was delighted to discover a truly original (at least to me) take on magic in this high fantasy novel.

There are bad times a-brewing in the world of Rast. The old ruler is dying, finally overcome by the magic he has controlled throughout his reign (more about this in a bit). His son and successor, Prince Egon, is uncertain and untested in what he must do to master this same magic, which is vital to the survival of the realm. The prince must not only conquer the magic and learn to use it, he must also marry a princess from a related line of magic-users to produce an heir able to take over when the time comes. Problem is, the woman the prince has loved from childhood is not the one who can give him this heir. If this isn't enough, his kingdom has been invaded, not once, but twice. Fanatic hordes from the north have descended upon his realm, and an anti-magic empire from across the sea has sent a force to conquer with fire and iron.

What impressed me the most about Rast was the author's depiction of magic as a sentient force that must be conquered by those who would use it, and which would eventually and inevitably destroy the user. This was a new one for me, and it is well thought out and well handled.

The sub themes of the conflict between magic and science, the political intrigue, the forbidden love between the prince and the woman he has loved since they were children, all are woven together in a complex plot that requires the reader to pay attention. That attention is rewarded by a well-crafted story.

There are a couple of places where the author gets a little carried away with descriptive passages, but even those are well-written, just a little too long. In general, the world is believable, the characters equally so (I got really fond of Jady) and the action first-rate. If you enjoy high fantasy, you'll enjoy Rast.

Rast Lives

I've been too involved with life things to get ready for book launches and signings of Rast, now I have the POD copies. Of course, they won't go away ... whereas the window frames that have been neglected for too many years need scraping and painting before winter sets in. Then there are the firewood expeditions to prepare for.

I actually hate the idea of climbing ladders to get to the roof where the last windows are. As much as I hate the idea of heading out to the forest to wield a chainsaw and cut down trees. My left leg has been paining lately and threatening not to be fit enough for such activities. I suspect it's psychosomatic.

I have to admit to being a convert to the ideas that we are all creatures of a mind-body gestalt, as well as a very Buddhist notion that we have created the world we recognise within our minds---and never experience the actual reality at all. Believing is seeing. By most people's understanding, a very topsy turvy world indeed. I guess that's where I get the fantasy writing from.

Rast was intended to be a topsy turvey story. I remembered all the men's adventure magazines of my childhood and youth, where the brave adventurers of modern western nations braved the mysteries and dangers of savage lands to carry forward the flag of empire and civilisation---and then turned it around. Today, the whole world has been turned around and the former movers and shakers of a pliant universe are being moved and shaken by populations that once were ignorant and passive, and by the very world itself---striking back at all the thoughless destruction wrought by those conquering heroes.

Of course, most Westerners do not believe these things are happening (or perhaps are the work of traitors within our midst) because they cannot see what they do not believe. Rast says that the simple and primative might have the better grasp on reality. Take warning all you doubters . . . the magic has alreay rebelled.

Rast POD Copies Arrived.

I was beginning to doubt the efficiency of Purolator Courier, but the driver rang our doorbell in the nick of time. Two boxes holding some very nice looking copies of Rast, and with no demands for extra payment that I always suffered from UPS.

I have already shown them about and sold four already. I have also given two away...well, my editor certainly deserved one for putting up with my quibbling.

She and her husband put me up at their home just outside Calgary so I could attend the writing conference When Words Collide. Big thanks to Nancy and Doug. Nancy attended as well, so we took turns driving into Calgary.

The conference had a number of interesting presentations—well, most of them looked interesting but not all fitted my present activities. I halved my time, with one half devoted to meeting people and listening to readings. I strongly recommend taking every opportunity to network at writers conferences—most of the information in presentations can be found elsewhere (with one caveat) but meeting people who have more solid credentials than ones self in the business can be priceless.

The caveat? Sometimes panellists in group discussions can let fly a few home-truths in the cut and thrust of disagreement. There were no bitter verbal fights in the presentations I attended, but a few oxen were subtly gored. There were few high priests of literature present, mostly genre writers, and so the pretensions of academia and professional reviewers were taken out and aired.

At the last presentation I went to the panellists discussed promoting the writers’ life and experience on social media...Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ especially. A couple panellists suggested the latter was probably more useful than Facebook, and most of them gave examples of the value of being active on Twitter. I’ll have to try again—I never saw the utility in sending midget messages, but the trick is in the extensions like hashtags and following.

Now I have to plan a book launch for Rast and a few signings and sales. Still no more than silence from EPIC...it’d sure look nice to have award stickers on the front of the copies. Ah well, one can always dream.

Rast On Sale

Hi Everyone:

Rast is on sale for 40% off this holiday weekend ... celebrating both Canada Day and 4th of July.

While the regular price is a bargain, the reduction might make a difference to friends of yours who need an extra incentive to risk reading the work of an author they are not familiar with. We need every little push---that's the only way we up and coming writers get to be recognised by the reading public.

I will be offering freebies in July when I receive my POD copies of Rast. The people who have offered to read it for reviews will get free copies, so why shouldn't a new reader get the same thing? Not sure how I will set it up yet, but watch this space.

Website: www.christopherhoare.ca
Iskander Blog : http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com
Rast Blog: http://trailowner.blogspot.com

Two Bits of News

Whoops. I see a month has gone by without me updating this blog. (I have been updating my other blog at http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com ).

Until now I have had little to add to the progress of my fantasy novel Rast, but it looks as if my publisher is going to pass on a deal from LSI that will reduce the cost of POD print books of Rast, so I will have them to sell in July. Whoopee?? That means I will have to go out and start peddling books again. That’s what I get for wanting to be an author.

On the electronic front, I have entered Rast in the 2012 EPIC E-Book Awards in the Fantasy category. I hope I will have news to post here in due course. While I’m sceptical about the value of awards, the EPPIEs (as they used to be known) do have real human judges evaluating the entries and are not just a popularity contest for authors. If Rast gets anywhere in the contest, I would hope it would impress potential readers that the novel is worth looking at.

I’m supposed to be starting a sequel to Rast, but except for some cogitating nothing concrete has been produced. I’m working on a new venture for Muse, which is my Rast publisher. Since most of the authors and readers are romance fans, (and erotic romance) I’ve decided to dip my foot in the pool. Nothing so straightforward as a mere romance novel—I’m looking at writing Regency Steampunk (with romance) to combine killing a whole batch of ‘birds’ with one blast. It will be a series of three novellas—the first is complete in first draft.

Yes...steampunk is usually Victorian and filled with machines impossible to engineer with steam technology, but I’ve already produced some of those in Rast, so “Regency Bagatelle” (the series title) must have viable machines, even if I take liberties with their birthdays. My 1814 has Napoleon still at large and preparing to invade England again, and my two romancers are an aristocratic spy and the engineer daughter of George Stephenson. Will provide progress updates as I proceed.

Catching Up

I didn’t go away after finishing the Virtual Book Tour, but my mind and my promotion get-up-and-go did. I managed to find the next free copy winner and send it off before I took wing in other directions. The two winners are ---

V. R. Leavitt, who left a Facebook address I could contact her on.

Teresa K, who I tracked down through one of the Yahoo sites.

I also had the first of the reviews for Rast during the VBT and post it next---

Book Review: Rast by Christopher Hoare
It is a dangerous time in the world of Rast. Rebelling magic forces are slowly killing the reigning Drogar. His son, Prince Egon, is set to take over as the new sorcerer-king, admitting the deadly magic to himself in such a way as to control it.

Jady, Guardian of the Silent Forest, is the last of her line. Her father and brothers have already been killed by the Deepning Pools. Though in love with Egon, she is sent away on his orders. No matter their feelings, she cannot bear him an heir that will become the next Drogar. Ignoring his orders, an angry Jady goes off to meet the Princess, whose marriage to Prince Egon has been arranged.

As if this trying time of the interregnum isn't enough, Offrangs arrive seeking to conquer Rast. Conflict is inevitable. But who will win?

I'm not a huge lover of fantasy novels, but I've read one of the books in Hoare's speculative fiction Iskander series and enjoyed his strong, female heroine. When he asked me to review Rast, what some have claimed is his best work, I decided to give it a shot.

Part of my issue with fantasy novels is I rarely see one that is less than the size of my Bible. Because you are dealing with made up worlds and beings, this requires the author to be especially clear when describing the setting and the book's characters. I have to hand it to Hoare because he managed to do that in only 269 pages. Not once did I feel lost or unable to figure out the setting or the characters; though a Rast Guidebook is available for free with each download of the e-Book.

An interesting aspect of this novel is that the magic is like a character in and of itself. I've seen this done with an island in Evenings on Dark Island by Rhett DeVane and Larry Rock. It's quite fascinating when an object, or in this case, a supernatural power is so much a part of the story that it takes on character-like qualities.

Rast contains many characters that will elicit emotions in the reader. She will feel sorry for Egon and Jady who are forced to deny their love because of their duties. She will be inspired by the devotion the dying Drogar has to his son and the kingdom of Rast. It's quite likely she will feel the need to throttle the Princess multiple times during the story.

A masterfully told high fantasy novel that will wow you with its explosive conclusion is what you'll find in Rast by Christopher Hoare.

Title: Rast
Author: Christopher Hoare
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-926931-43-2
SRP: $5.95

Available in a Kindle edition
http://booktoursandmore.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-rast-by-christopher-hoare.html
The review was from Cheryl Malandrinos http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com

VBT is ended

April is mostly over and my VBT for Rast finished on Friday. I have yet to check through the posts for comments to pick the winner of the second free e-book copy of Rast. Will do that tomorrow and post about the VBT some more.

Virtual Book Tour -- April

My Virtual Book Tour for my fantasy novel "Rast" begins on April 4th. The tour schedule is here -- http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/03/02/rast-virtual-book-tour-april-2011/ and I will be posting reminders and changes here as the month progresses.

Please mark your April calendars and follow along for the tour. Guest blogs, interviews, excerpts, reviews and spotlights. For some lucky followers who identify themselves by commenting on the most tour sites there will be free copies of "Rast".

Rast is available.

My high fantasy “Rast” was released on the last day of February. I’ve been busy sending out notes everywhere but here, but that will cease. I have a Virtual Book Tour booked for April and will post the online locations where you can find me here, as well as where free e-book copies of the novel can be won. (I don’t know yet as nothing is decided.)

Later in the year the POD paperback version of “Rast” should be available and I will post the info where to find it for those who still prefer to squeeze the pages between thumb and forefinger. Actually, an e-book reader is easier to hold.

At the moment “Rast” is only available at the publisher’s site – http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=55&category_id=64&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

What is “Rast”? Take a read here –
“When the magic revolts to destroy the reigning Drogar, unleashing old enemies against Rast, a new danger lands upon the coast. An adventurer who scoffs at the thought of magic, Commander Antar, comes to pillage Rast for the burning stone that can fuel his iron furnaces, and to conquer the magic kingdom.

Prince Egon must tame his father’s deadly magic before he can withstand these assaults. His sweetheart Jady must ride alone to thwart the evil Deepning’s ascendance, released by the weakened Drogar. She also rides to confront the princess who must displace her; while Egon becomes Antar’s prisoner and the invaders’ guide through the mountains. Can the young peoples’ courage and magic repel the materialists from the sea?”

Don’t forget to visit http://www.christopherhoare.ca/ to read about all my work and perhaps download the free novella “Gisel Matah and the Slave Ship” my promo of the Iskander series.

Rast will be available soon.

If the planned release is on schedule, Rast will be published in a little over two weeks. I guess it’s time for me to make sure that this blog site – switched to Rast matters – begins to look like that.

I already have one potential reviewer anxiously awaiting the novel. I have several others who have reviewed my Iskander novels waiting in reserve. I haven’t actually contacted them yet, I’d better wait until I have the published file to hand, but I expect most of them to agree to give Rast a read. Then there are the reviewers in Lea’s long list at MuseItUp. Other writers say that reviews are not as good promotion as word of mouth recommendations, but they are on the route to getting those.

I’m one of thousands of novelists in a catch 22. People hesitate to buy my work because they don’t recognise my name: they don’t recognise my name because they’ve not read my work.

Next I’ll paste in my latest promotional blurb for Rast – do you think it will draw readers?


In Rast, magic is not a convenient parlour trick, it’s a deadly force that takes no prisoners. Those who must wield it are doomed, for it never ceases to work within the mind and nerves until it destroys its master.

And now, the time of the interregnum is here; the reigning sorcerer king, the Drogar of Rast, is struggling for a last grasp on magic power while his heir, Prince Egon, must take up the deadly mantle. Egon is fearful but courageous in his duty. Not one peril threatens Rast, but many.

While he struggles to tame the magic to his command the mechanistic Offrang adventurers arrive to seize the land for their empire. The Offrangs don’t just disbelieve in magic, they treat any attempt to discuss it with withering scorn. Then, when the Drogar falters, the North Folk sweep out in their multitudes to cover the land of Rast at the behest of their depraved Casket of Scrolls. Deepning too, a creature of earth magic in its mountain pools, stirs to gain power enough to conquer Rast.

The Prince’s sweetheart Jady does her best to support him, but she is not strong enough in the power of the lineage to bear him a magic wielding heir. She sets out to meet the caravansi of the cousin princess who is sent to be his consort with duty and anger both warring in her mind. The crisis will reveal surprising enemies, surprising friends, and as the Drogar tells Jady, “Even a Drogar may not see a future not yet determined.” While Egon goes west to spy on the Offrangs and Jady makes her way east, the oracle provided by the Pythian that lives in a cavern beneath the palace reveals, “You have no high point to see the scattered threads but must trust to those who grasp them.”

Everyone has a part to play in the preservation of Rast.

Free Novella: New Website

I’m announcing a free story on my website at www.christopherhoare.ca now. The website has been recovered from the scam outfit that stole it and has been recreated in an entirely new form. On the home page you will see the cover illustrations of my four published novels as well as the one due out in March. I’ve also added cover-type images for work in progress and the free novella.

“Gisel Matah and the Slave Ship” takes its background from a paper sent to me by a historian friend. She put together the story of the founding of Sierra Leone as a colony in which to settle released slaves. Over a hundred years or so, the project ran into problems, opposition, and the need for compromises. Gisel, my young officer protagonist of my Iskander series novels, runs into most of those problems during the few days she’s in charge of the captured ship, and trying to find a safe place to release the slaves aboard. I tell the story as entertainment, but Gisel in her conflicts with her impatient commanders, tells the true story of the African colony in miniature.

The e-book downloads I offer are not all perfect – I find ePub is a bearcat of a format. I used two different programs to convert my manuscript, one a free download and one a free online service, and I guess they were worth what I paid for them. Not exactly, because I’ve seen lots of online traffic about the problems between Kindle, Kobo, and Nook versions and the tweaking publishers have to do to produce a clean file. The html and the pdf downloads are far better files.

What else is new? I’m thinking of using this blog site as a location for my MuseItUp Publishing releases, starting with “Rast” which is due out in March. My Double Dragon Publishing novels will stay on http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com/ . It’s not that I want to keep the publishers separated but that the Iskander series novels are alternate world SF and Rast is a high fantasy. Some writers caution a writer not to muddle the genres, although I don’t think SF and Fantasy fight like cats and dogs. The posts I’ve added to trailowner recently have brought in a few new people and doing that is what this promotion business is all about.

Remember, you can download the free novella, “Gisel Matah and the Slave Ship” right now from www.christopherhoare.ca . (The pdf version is the cleanest read.)

The Cover image for Rast

My fantasy novel Rast will be published by MuseItUp Publishing in March 2011. Rast has had a long and troubled journey, spending months at various publishers -- then years at another who was to publish it. When it seemed it would never reach the head of the queue there, and the IRS seemed to think it unacceptable send royalties to someone in Canada, I took it back. It then spent almost another year in limbo before finding its home with a Canadian publisher.

The story of its journeys almost equals the tribulations of Jady, the co-protagonist of Rast -- shown here as she travels across the Undulains and into the desert of Skeletal to find a resolution for her troubles.