Inside Publishing: The Soundtrack for The Muse

There's a wonderful story behind the soundtrack of this novel. I have always loved books with songs that belong to them, and it's an idea which has not been exploited to its fullest potential - I feel. Anyway, as soon as Fred was contracted to publish The Muse with Splashdown, I went on the hunt for a suitable musical accompaniment.

It didn't take much thinking to go straight to Shoutlife. I already knew Clank a.k.a. Brian from England, whose sounds I first heard on Frank Creed's book trailer - and later I commissioned a couple of tracks from him myself, but that's off topic :) So back I went to the instrumental category. Just a few clicks later I stumbled upon Eleon a.k.a. Mike from Texas and I knew we'd found our man. I proposed the idea to him and explained the purpose.

Mike was enthusiastic - always a good sign - and very promptly delivered exactly what we needed. The soundtrack for The Muse provided an inspirational backdrop for much of the work needing done on the book.

What's that you say? I can hardly hear you over the music! Oh! Of course you want to hear it! Here ya go:


You can also go to http://virb.com/eleonmusic for more of Mike's great music. I admit, I've become quite the fan!

In time things came together to create the book trailer using this very piece of music, but there'll be more on that another day. Watch this space!

Check out these member blogs this week for more info.

A Home for my Brain

For many years now - as long as I remember, actually - our family has been on the lookout for a house to buy. It almost became a hobby. It does appear to be a national pastime, this moving house business. In New Zealand, the average house-owner sells up and moves on every 5 years.

We never did move, because we liked our own place too much. Then I went globetrotting and was based elsewhere for nearly eight years. More recently I've been on the hunt for a place to call my home. Reading real-estate magazines from cover to cover. Scouring the internet for interesting sales pitches. Spending weekend after weekend looking at houses for sale. Endless questions - how's the price, how's the location, how's the view, could I live here?


Well, all that is done with now. The search is over. I've found a home, and I’m moving in today. Yes, today. <<< That's it over there.

There is a sea view with the ubiquitous volcano on the skyline. In my hideaway at the top I will do my work while listening to the hum of traffic on the main road running above. It's a little on the large side. But I'm already filling it with people. And the timing is perfect: my aunt is going overseas and lending me her furniture instead of putting it in storage.

It won't all be fun. As one friend is fond of saying, 'mortgage' means 'death grip'. And that buck will stop with me if any of the rooms remain empty. That would mean more work for me to cover any deficit. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

In the meantime, there’s lots to do! But when it’s all over and done, I’m hopeful that having an inspiring place to work will assist me in getting all my various writing and publishing projects moving faster than they have been.

(cross-posted from International Christian Fiction Writers)

And just so no one forgets this is CFRB tour week for The Muse:


Check out these member blogs this week for more info.

The CFRB tours The Muse by Fred Warren

I am the publisher of this book, and therefore in an interesting position as regards writing a review. I can't really, not in the usual sense of the word. I'm not unbiased. But I was once, way-back-when I first got to read it. It was supposedly just for a critique swap, and Fred had one of my novels in return.

But for some months already the idea had been simmering away to start a publishing company, and this was the story that forced the decision. Why? Because it would be nothing other than tragedy if this amazing book never saw publication due to the author being a first-timer on the novel scene. "First novels never get published," says common wisdom, "put it in a drawer and write a better one." Never mind all the difficulties of getting anywhere with the Christian Fantasy genre.

I don't think I even had a name for my gig when I first got hold of The Muse. Soon after, Splashdown Books was born and I began to crawl up the learning curve. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out these member blogs this week for more info.

A Visit to Rotorua

Rotorua's got to be one of the smelliest cities on the planet. And no, it's not due to any unwieldy rubbish dump or suchlike. The entire area sits on a thin planetary crust, allowing all sorts of sulphuric minerals and other hot things to bubble up to the surface. I made a couple of videos there last weekend - hope you enjoy these amazing landscapes!





My article last week in the Colorado City News provides a textual introduction to this rather...aromatic city. In the next couple of days I'll be doing another article on Waimangu and Tikitere which you see in these videos, so keep an eye out for that.

I hope this will be the start of a true series of globetrotting videos and slideshows set to music. Next up: Ireland!

My Interview at Where The Map Ends and My Latest Writing Gig

This has been an exciting week! I was very honoured to be invited for an interview at WhereTheMapEnds.com, the brainchild of Jeff Gerke who went on to found Marcher Lord Press, a unique independent publisher of science fiction and fantasy and all things weird. Anyway, we had an awesome discussion and I think you'll enjoy the read. Exciting things are happening in the world of publishing, so come on over and have a look! Here's the address: http://wherethemapends.com/Interviews/current_interview.htm

Another cool thing I've been doing for several weeks now is a new travel column for the Colorado City News in Texas, complete with photography. Yeah, random, I know. But I've been wanting a writing outlet that's more than a blog, and this is the perfect way to start! You can read my articles at the address below, where I talk about New Zealand, and starting this week, also about some of the other wonderful places I've been able to visit.
http://www.ccitynews.net/society/travel

I still have a huge amount of work to do for the release of Caprice's books, plus my own Legendary Space Pilgrims - never mind all the reading and critiquing that's due in my (ahem) acquisitions department, the marketing for existing titles, and a goodly amount of time on my paid freelance work. Please pray for me that I can use every moment to the full and do what needs to be done, while retaining the inner and outer peace so necessary to living. And if anyone's interested in helping me out, just say the word. Who knows, maybe Splashdown might get some extra staff in the future!

So I painted my car the other day...

So I painted my car the other day. There was paint left over from a bathroom project, and I'd been wanting to do this for ages. And I did.


First I drew the initial shape once on the side of the car in pencil. Then I cut out a stencil to match it, and pencilled the other 15 waves.


After that came the painting in two different colours. It was a baking hot day, but I got a bit of shade by parking it under the veranda.


The project took less time than I thought it would, but cost more energy: all the crouching left me with muscle cramps for the next three days!

I might drive an old rattletrap - 20 years and counting - but it may as well look good, eh?

New Year, Kiwi Style

A group of my friends extended an open invite to join them in getting out of town over New Year’s. I jumped at the prospect, since the weather was fantastic and the city offered only humidity and an enormous fireworks display. It would be cooler down country. So we piled in and zipped off. First of all we crossed the harbour on the ancient bridge (50 years is ancient for us young folk!) then passed through the buzzing central city area to make another pickup. Then it was back to the motorway and south to the hills.

Just after we left city limits, we switched from State Highway 1 to State Highway 2 and took a more easterly direction. Rolling hills accompanied the road for some way, until we reached the flatland of the Hauraki Plain. We then passed through several small towns and stopped to eat at Paeroa, in a retro-style diner that’s retro because it never got updated, but the food is good and cheap and bounteous. Leaving Paeroa, the road changes almost immediately as it enters into the spectacular Karangahake Gorge. Gold was mined here once, and it’s here that my Irish great-great grandfather met my German great-great grandmother. But the gold ran out, leaving a ghost town and bits of machinery amidst today’s verdant bush.

We reached Waihi and pushed on to Katikati. Our goal was almost in sight: Tauranga. It’s the fifth largest city in New Zealand, but still gives an impression of countrified quiet to us Aucklanders. It sits at the south end of a long, shallow harbour fronted by the long, forested Matakana Island. Bit by bit our convoy arrived at the designated park, where someone had already cranked up the free public barbecues to receive what we would bring.


The moon rose above the Mount, full and huge and reflected in the harbour with the twinkling lights of the motel strip. A stiff west wind definitely cooled us down, so that we soon decided to go back to the house where we would spend the night. As midnight approached we set off on foot to the nearest beach, only to discover it was a tidal flat...and the tide was out. So we slopped out to the edge of the waves, and when it was determined we had one minute to go, they started a countdown from sixty and ran out into the depths. Soon they vanished in the dark, so it's just as well they were yelling out the seconds. I don't know how deep it was, but they managed to get wet anyway. The icy water kept me from going any further in, so I saw in the new year with my toes in the ocean.

Tauranga’s “pièce de résistance” is the harbour’s head volcano named Mount Maunganui. Here tourists and locals alike swarm the long beach in summer. It was here that we headed first on New Year’s day to dip into the waves. The water, however, was not any warmer than it had been at midnight - but the sun was as hot as I’ve ever felt it. So after a dip in the waves, we moved on again, snacking on cold cheese sausages left over from the barbie. They tasted so good, I can hardly describe it!

About a quarter hour along the road that would lead back to Auckland, we pulled aside for another swim: this time at a river waterhole deep in the bush in the lower Kaimai hills. Reaching the swimming hole involved climbing down steep banks, crossing the creek, and slogging through foot-wide paths between blackberry patches and mudholes and bare rock expanses, all in the space of five minutes. Barefoot, mind you.


Well! There had to be about a hundred people at least enjoying the wild location - including heaps of kids and dogs. Jumping off rocks, surfing the rapids, or just floating in the coolness. The sun continued to beat down, and the water wasn’t any colder than the sea had been.

Guess this was a pretty typical way to celebrate the new year around here. I can certainly recommend it!