Ingeld's Daughter, paperback
Those of you who expressed interest in having Ingeld's Daughter available in book form may like to know that it's now available as a paperback on Lulu.com. Lulu's printing is done in the US, so if you're outside the US the international shipping charges may be uneconomic. A printer in the UK/Europe is planned but there's no definite date, so in the meantime it may be simpler to consider finding a friend/relative/acquaintance in the US who's prepared to order a copy and post it to you. A note on pricing: it's a long book (250,000 words, 572 pages) and the cost price comes out at $15.99 (you can check this for yourself on Lulu's cost calculator if you like). Lulu takes a 20% share of any royalty but waives it if it is less than 20 cents. I'm quite pleased that Lulu exists and offers a mechanism for printing something in book form for anyone who wants it, so I should like them to take their cut on any copy sold. So I set a royalty of $1.50, bringing the price to $17.49.
The book is of course still available as a free download on my website, now complete with sketch map for those of you who asked for one.
20 comments:
I'd much prefer to read it as a bound book. Added to the fact that my computer would take a long time (days, I suspect - I really must get broadband)to download it. I trust you'll tell us when it's printed in the UK :-)
I once bought a POD book from a US publisher. It promised delivery within a week, and to my astonishment it turned up in four days. It had been printed and sent in the UK! Crikey. I was dead impressed. It's a shame the book was relatively expensive (more than the Sterling price quoted for yours on lulu.com), plus it wasn't that good a read either!
Well, if it's the download speed that's the problem, email me your postal address and I'll bung a CD in the post for you (Or a couple of floppy disks, if your computer prefers those - just let me know). That only costs me the price of a UK stamp, and then you can browse and decide if you want to buy the book - like flicking through pages in a shop.
What was the book you bought? There are some on my 'possible' list and if it was one of them I'd like to know what you thought.
The book was an 'Arthurian' one called 'The Firebrand' by Debra Kemp: http://www.telltalepress.com/dkbooks.html
I didn't find the heroine very appealing at all, as she was too self destructive. For me, overall, the story didn't seem credible. It got an OK review at the HNS Online Spring 2005: http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/
hnr-online-spring-2005.htm - scroll down a bit.
Many thanks for the offer of sending your book by CD. Trouble is, I really don't like reading 'books' on the screen; I have tried. It isn't the same. So I must decline. Printing it out via my printer would be a trial and a half too. No, an actual book would v nice, so I'll wait.
Nice cover, Carla! I'll order this from Lulu (which is right down the road from me, although I think their printing is done in anoter state).
Thanks for the map! I take it we're in the heart of a land mass somewhat larger or at least fatter than Britain, since there's no sign of a coastline, and the nearest important port is presumably Fairhaven, 200 miles to the south of the map.
I'm on dialup, and downloading didn't take me that long, a few minutes per section - though that's irrelevant to anyone who prefers the physical book to the screen.
Alex - I remember seeing The Firebrand and deciding it sounded like it had a bit too much heroine abuse for my tastes.
Susan - Thanks! I'll pass your comment on to the cover designer; he'll be very pleased!
Rick - On the western edge of a land-mass. There's an ocean out to the west (otherwise the climate wouldn't be temperate maritime, which it is), but it doesn't figure in the story so I didn't bother putting it on the map. You could think of the general geography as a bit like Britain if the North Sea hadn't subsided and was still a forested plain, though shorter than Britain north-south, as Carlundy is at about the latitude of the Pennines, which its geology resembles. I like the Pennines :-) Off the east of the map there's a forested plain and then a range of Alpine-scale mountains (imagine the Pyrenees rotated through 90 degrees, or a higher-altitude version of the Vosges). This is the 'frontier' that Fastred is always referring to, and has the same sort of cultural position as the Rhine or Danube frontiers of the Roman Empire, but along a mountain range instead of a river. Hence, as you correctly surmised, the existence of a book called The Art of Mountain Warfare. But again, it doesn't figure in the story so I didn't put it on the map.
I ordered a copy and will let you know how long it takes to arrive. They said about a week. What's weird is that I ordered it and two other books I'd been ogling for a while, and Lulu didn't charge me anything for shipping. I wonder if that was a mistake.
I did like the cover!
Carla - Heroine abuse in Firebrand is about the size of it! I didn't anticipate the scale of it. Eeek!
I like the cover of your book too, btw.
Sarah - Lulu have been running a Supersaver Shipping promotion where they pay for the shipping on orders over $25. They announced it would end on 9 April when their European printer was supposed to come on stream, but when the European printer turned out to be delayed they said they wouldn't turn off Supersaver Shipping after all until the European printer is up and running. I thought they meant they were keeping it only for non-US customers, but I'd guess they haven't turned it off in the US either and that that explains your free shipping. I hope you enjoy reading it when it arrives! (Please let me know what you think).
And the cover designer is extremely pleased that two people have said they like his work. Thank you!
Three people now! He will be pleased :-)
Gosh, three people like the cover !
It was meant to right on both paper and on screen. And not take six weeks of spare time to draw (for someone who hasn't any art background, but learnt a few tricks from working alongside graphic designers).
The band is a scan (domestic document scanner) of a piece of tapestry cushion cover. The scan preserves the appearance of the wool threads. The scan is repeated (using alternating original and then mirrored copy) to form a band where the joins are almost invisible.
The rest of the colours are sampled from that area, so there shouldn't be any horrible clashes. Font's have a three-D effect by having an edge line around them and a faint drop-shadow underneath.
The curly historic font for the title was found on a search of public domain font libraries - first one was a "hit".
And that's it - keep it simple, keep the colour count down, etc..
Carla - that's a nice deal I seem to have stumbled onto!
If anyone's interested, the other two books I bought were by Dee Morrison Meaney. In the 1980s, she wrote the first two parts of a trilogy set in 11th century England, but the last volume wasn't ever published. I was happy to find v.3 available on Lulu. The covers aren't anywhere near as nice, though!
Sarah - is that her Branwen trilogy? I've had my eye on those too. I'd be interested in your thoughts about them.
The Meaney books do sound interesting. Sounds like a lulu of a shopping trip!
Carla - yes, those are the ones. I remember enjoying the first book of the trilogy. The second one was so-so, but I read them both when I was a teenager, and I'm willing to give it another try. My favorite of hers was Iseult, which unfortunately doesn't have the gorgeous Thomas Canty cover in the reprint edition. I can't find that specific cover illustration online, but other samples of his work are here.
Susan - the latest word from Lulu is that they hope to have a printer in Spain 'any day now'. When that happens it will likely be the end of Supersaver Shipping, so if your order comes to $25 or more it might be an idea to catch the free shipping while you can.
Sarah - I get a File Not Found error on the link?
That's odd - I tested it before I posted, but you're right. I can't go back and edit, so how about this link instead. He only illustrates fantasy novels as far as I know.
The second link works, Sarah, and the illustrations are fabulous!
Can't help myself, I read The Firebrand too and feel I must speak up for it. True, the book is disturbing in its brutality and definitely not for everyone. But heroine abuse? Lin was suicidal. Didn't you get how much she wanted to die? And that she saw Modred killing her as her only option?
Dear Carla,
I surfed into your blog when I googled my name and book title--FIREBRAND. I'm always interested in what people have to say about my work. Alex, I appreciate the fact that you went through the expense of ordering my book and gave it an honest read. A writer can't ask for more than that. I just wanted to say thanks!
Debra
Post a Comment