2008 Virginia Festival of the Book II

To continue with the report of our traveling to Charlottesville, VA a few weeks ago: After the mid-night excitement in Richmond we trundled on up Interstate 64 and arrived at the beautiful Omni Hotel in downtown, just off Market Street. Before dinner we took a walk around the old part of town in the late afternoon, then went to a lecture by John St. Augustine (Living an Uncommon Life: Essential Lessons from 21 Extraordinary People), who spoke on his own 'uncommon life'. Down and out with no immediate prospects for change, he was living with his wife and child in a less than elegant motel when 'an inner voice' told him to go on radio. Though he had no experience at such, he finally convinced a station owner to give him a one week show, which he converted to a decades long (so far) career. He is now a widely heard radio commentator and a producer for Oprah & Friends Radio. Very inspirational and upbeat.

Next morning Randy decided to wear his kilt to the event, and so dressed in hose, his Prince Charlie jacket, a white dress shirt with cuff links and studs, a bow tie, and his Bruce Hunting Tartan kilt. In the top of his hose he slid a hand-made sgian dubh (pronounced skee-an doo), and belted his sporran around his waist. I wound up wearing my jeans, a suit jacket, and a black tee-shirt. He was to the "nines" and I was just there. *sigh* When we walked into the meeting room on the first floor of the hotel, there were cameras and lights being set up. Seems that BookTV (C-Span2) was going to film/tape/record our panel discussion for future broadcast!

We were the least bit trepidatious at the prospect, but managed to settle down while chatting with the two authors who were joining us on the panel: Robert Marston Fanney and Jeff Winner. Both were witty and fun, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we.

Robert (at left in the photo above) is the author of Luthiel's Song: Dreams of the Ringed Vale--the first novel in "an epic fantasy whose protagonist is a 15-year-old girl with a magical gift." Due out soon is the second in the series: Luthiel's Song, The War of Mists. Read more about his works and life at: www.luthielssong.com/

Jeff, from Southern Cali (obviously at right in the above pic), and his twin, then eleven-year-old, daughters, Brittany and Brianna, have written a fantasy titled The Strand Prophecy for young adults. The work features a dark superhero whose only "super" power is being able to think clearly and creatively. To check it out, go to http://strandprophecy.com/

Moderator Mayapriya Long kept us from going too far afield, but we were so talkative that all the questions were not asked, much less answered. If you would like to see the whole recorded discussion, Publishing Day: Successful Self-Publishing, tune in Saturday, April 19th, at 8:00 a.m. or 11:00 p.m. It may also be broadcast at some other times as well. Just keep watching the BookTV site for scheduling.

Afterward, we had lunch with our cousins Kirk and Norma Sheap, who drove from their home an hour away to meet with us. Though we had emailed back and forth for many years, we had never been able to converse face-to-face until then. We enjoyed talking family with them, since Kirk and I are both deeply infected by the "genealogy bug", and had a really good lunch at the hotel.

That evening we took the shuttle to and attended the "Authors' Reception" at Carr's Hill, on the grounds of the University of Virginia, where we were received by former Virginia Governor, the Honorable A. Linwood Holton (author of Opportunity Time), former Virginia First Lady, Jinks Holton, and Professor Woody Holton (who authored Unruly Americans). With all the authors and others who attended, it's a wonder we had time to speak with anyone else, but in addition to our fellow panelists, we had a nice chat with Bob Friedman of Hampton Roads Publishing, and actor Mike Farrell, of M*A*S*H* fame, both nice guys.

Being the only man in the room wearing a kilt, Randy got great attention. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack his plaid, which is a length of one's tartan worn pinned at the left shoulder and draped down the back. I think that would have garnered more neck-wrenching looks, especially from the ladies.

Before heading home, we stopped by Richmond for a meeting of the Virginia Production Alliance, a group of professionals and wannabes like us, who are working toward having more movies made in the Commonwealth. Great idea, and I hope they are successful. We might need the services of our "homey" movie makers WHEN we get our motion pictures made of our Robert The Bruce series. Please note I said "WHEN", not "if".

More about that next time, maybe, when the gatekeeper opens the Postern Gate for another day at the blog. Thanks for visiting, and y'all come back.

2008 Virginia Festival of the Book

Well, here I am off to another late start in posting to the Postern Gate. No great surprise, right? Though I hope to get better each time, I haven't been able to set aside the time to write as regularly as I'd like. But this time I have a 'sort of' excuse: we were out of town.

We were invited to the Virginia Festival of the Book to be on a panel discussing "Successful Self-Publishing" last Saturday, March 29th. "He" and our son Ian had been to the annual event once before, but "She" never had. We were both impressed with the site (Omni Hotel Charlottesville), the wide array of subjects covered and activities planned, the quality of the people involved, and the way the staff and visitors managed the five-day event. Kudos to all!

Our friend of many years, Bob Friedman of Hampton Roads Publishing, is and for a decade or more has been a supporter of the festival, and he first broached the subject of our appearing on a panel at this year's festival. We agreed that we would be interested and subsequently received a more formal invitation and readily accepted. After several emails to iron out the details, it was a done deal.

Charlottesville, Virginia is a charming city, home to the University of Virginia and former home to one of "His" ancestors, who owned land in what is today the heart of the old city. It is also about three-and-a-half-hours' drive from our headquarters, an easy drive (considering that we have been to Florida twice already this year).

"She" is also a member of a group called James River Writers, which meets monthly in Richmond. Its March assembling was to be last Thursday evening, so we decided to leave home Thursday afternoon and attend the writers' group on our way to Charlottesville. Thinking we would arrive in time to mingle with the other writers before the program, we were soon disabused of that notion when we found ourselves part of a six-and-three-quarter-mile backup at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. However, the evening's program had just started when we got there. So, no mingling.

After the meeting we were too tired to continue the trip and so stayed overnight in a multi-story hotel on the north side of Richmond. We had been asleep for several hours when, along about 2:00 a.m., we heard a loud, sharp sound, like something breaking suddenly, or something hard hitting a window. That was all, until a few minutes later the lights started flashing and a siren sounded repeatedly. A male voice began announcing that there was an emergency, and ordering everyone to go immediately to the main entrance to the building, not to use the elevators but to take the stairs down to the first floor. Boy, that will clear your sleepy head in short order.

We got dressed and filed out into the third floor hall with the other hotel guests and descended the stairs in a rather lighthearted mood. No one smelled any smoke or seemed nervous. The hotel was evacuated completely in minutes. A fire truck pulled up in front with lights flashing, and a ladder truck appeared at the rear of the hotel, but still there was no outward sign that there was difficulty with the structure. So, after a short while we all re-entered the lobby and most made their ways back to their rooms. Maybe twenty had to visit the front desk to obtain keys, having left theirs behind in their haste.

We still don't know what caused the commotion. "He" asked at the desk when checking out the next morning and received some folderol about "someone smoking in the hall", but then, what was the loud noise we heard?

How did it get so late?! Guess I'll have to continue this another day. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see. CDHB

Spring Cleaning

We're trying to clean out lots of things this spring, inventorywise. We have a room full of non-literary products as well as thousands of books that we need to put on clearance, so if you're interested in one of our t-shirts or our VIRGINIANA books, just go to our www.RebelKing.com website and you can navigate through all of our products. Most have greatly reduced prices so that we can move them out to make room for (1) Rebel King, Book Four, High King of Ireland (see previous posting), and (2) new designs on our tees. Besides, I want my family room back!

Just a quick note to our wee bonny lass in Florida, who's been in rehab lately. Alice, we're sorry to hear that you've been down, but we're happy to hear that you'll be "sprung" ere long.

We recently vowed to spend four hours every day working on the book, but of course that's pie in the sky. No sooner does one make such a pledge than other things come in "over the transom"*, making it all but impossible to follow through with the pledge. Let it be known, however, that we are not merely frittering away our time, but actually tending to business. "He" has been signing us up to be vendors at myriad games this season, including some new ones. (Check our "Appearances" page at www.rebelking.com to see where we expect to be throughout the year. We hope you drop by our tent when we're at an event near you.) I'll try to let you know ahead of our "next" appearance... but don't hold me to it!

Also, if you have bought our books through some other means than from our website, shame on you! ;~) No, seriously, if you have purchased or been given our book(s) and they haven't been signed by us, bring it/them with you when you attend one of our scheduled events. We'll be happy to sign them. No extra charge!

Now, if I could just hold a great big yard sale and get rid of old toys, clothes, odds and ends, and such things as the perfectly good charger for the cell phone I washed in someone's jeans pocket (no names will be mentioned). Interestingly enough, that was the second consecutive cell phone we drowned. The first was placed in a store bag for ease of carrying, the bag was absentmindedly put into our ice chest, and as the ice melted the poor phone was immersed and drowned.

Thanks for visiting. I hope to have another posting up, soon! Won't that be a surprise! CDHB

*This is one of those idioms that most young folks won't understand because they have no ken of what a "transom" is. So I'll tell you... a transom is a board above a door (or window) that separates the door opening from a small window or fanlight above it. As can be seen in some older apartment and office buildings, the windows above the transom were often openable and closeable for purposes of controlling ventilation (early air conditioning). It was also possible to toss items, i.e. letters, newspapers, etc., through the open window and "over the transom". -C.

Winter Travel

Bookkeeping, paperwork, and other mundane "at home" chores keep us with our noses to the grindstone when we're traveling a lot, which we have been recently. After Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, we broke one of "his" cardinal rules... we went north in winter! It was a necessary trip to retrieve books from a warehouse in Ohio, and required renting a Chevy Cobalt (very compact and easy to drive, though we're used to tooling around the country in a Dodge Grand Caravan) in which to drive up, and a 14-foot rental truck to come back.

Then we went north a second time(!) to the Greater Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Music Festival on the 16th & 17th of February. We set up our wares at Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA, with our friends Bob Davis and Jeanne Treat. Jeanne is an author and husband Bob acts as her "roadie". Jeanne's first book is selling well; Dark Birthright is adventure/fantasy/romance and history, all set in 17th Century Scotland. She is in the same boat we are, trying to write and travel and promote and advertise while maintaining a full-time job and sanity at home. Bob is an apiarist as a sideline.

At the music festival we also met up with other friends, including Rob Piland, who designed and cast the silver pendant I wear at almost all times. It's called Bruce's Axe, and Rob's about to "retire" the design from his collection. It's also available in gold so he said. He's a very talented designer.

Jeannie and Bob Rider were there with Jeannie's new business called Pixie Treasures. This was the first time they had been to this event, too. Last Fall we ran into them at the Williamsburg Highland Festival , which, if I'm remembering correctly, was their first such event?

Albannach was among the great Scottish and Irish bands who played at the Philly show, and boy! Do they ever attract a crowd. People can't resist their music, and so many stopped to watch and hear them that the crowd was bumping against our table, the only time that happened. It's always good to see the guys and Jackie perform their primitive, rousing down to your toes, Scottish music. If you have the chance to see them in person, I recommend that you do. They are the only band I've ever seen in our travels who have gotten a cheer for just walking onto the stage, drawing people to them from all over the field like a sugar cube draws ants. It's amazing.

Well, that's it for right now, but I hope you'll keep up with us. I've got to write more often! CDHB

The Fourth Rebel King

At left is one reason that we've been so not here, lately. At left is the cover design for book four, Rebel King, High King of Ireland. I wish I could say that it is well on its way to being published, but it isn't. "He" is running far ahead of "her" in writing, though we have 'leventy-'leven things we've been trying to get accomplished since the last post. (I can't believe it's been a month!)

This book picks up right where its predecessor left off on June 24, 1314, with Sir James "The Black" Douglas hieing after King Edward II with such determination, it is said, that the king complained because he and his guard could not even stop to "make water" as they fled. Douglas does not relent, even though his force is less than a fourth of the size of Edward's half-thousand barded knights. Makes one wonder why the English didn't turn on the smaller Scottish force.

At what point "High King" will end is anybody's guess, but we can hardly wait to get back into the story when we've been away from it a while. We hope you feel the same way when you read it. More about the book will appear as we progress. Meanwhile, what do you think of the cover? CDHB

The Journey

Okay. Stand back! This is a first attempt at blogging by two who've never kept a log or diary of any kind, much less one that's open to be read by all, so please bear with us.

(Oops! That's not quite true. "She" has kept a log. It's black walnut, bark on, about two feet long and eight or so inches in diameter. It stands on end in one corner of the bedroom. Someday, she'll probably give you the history of the black walnut log, but it's no big deal.)

Hmm. Looking at this from the point of view that... it's actually happening (!), whatever made us think that the world needs another blog? Is there anything to say that isn't being said on a thousand other blogs around the globe 'most every day?

Yes. Our thoughts and experiences are to be read nowhere else but here, though on some days, perhaps a guest blogger will sit in. Sometimes we'll be away from our computers as we, spouses/partners/co-authors, carry on with our determination to make a success out of our fairly new joint career as authors, illustrators, and publishers.

At present, that means we spend untold hours... researching, writing, illustrating, publishing, advertising, and shipping... and many miles (over 16,000 between April and November in 2006, 14,000 in 2007) with our books and our friends... not a bad life. But we have even bigger things we want to accomplish, so stick with us. All will be revealed in its time.

So far this year we have only been to Scottish events in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida. Fort Lauderdale was a new venue for us, and the weather was as warm and lovely as one could want on the 12th of January... about 80 degrees and sunny, as it was last year when we first went to Orlando. (I think it's the way of those Florida weathermen; give visitors great weather when they come for a first visit so they'll come back again!) We were delighted and made to feel welcome by the folks who came to our tent. We spent some generously hosted time with cousins (thanks for everything, Jim and Janie, Doris, and Ron and Connie) in The Villages between venues, and revisited Orlando's Scottish festival the next weekend.

January 19th started out with a heavy mist so permeating that we kept our books in their boxes, except for one each which we enclosed in clear plastic zipper bags for display. We still met a lot of Scots and chatted with them about our Rebel King series of historical novels. Sunday was as sunny as Saturday had been gray, but it was also cold and windy, and the people stayed away in droves. Generally not a good day for us as vendors, but we heard that several other vendor or clan tents had been lost to the wind and were in the nearby lake... with the 'gators! Fortunately, we managed to keep our tent over our heads until after the closing ceremonies, when we dismantled and stowed our gear for the trip back home to Virginia Beach. (In case you're keeping score, that's about 2160 highway miles, round trip.) Before leaving town, though, we capped our trip with a too-short visit with Alice, a fan of our books who has grown into a friend.

We're soon to head back to the Sunshine State, this time to Jacksonville, for the Northeast Florida Scottish Games and Festival on February 23rd, the "last Saturday in February". This will be our second time there, though our first visit to the Jax games was several years ago, as guests of Dunedin Scottish, and our good friends the MacDonalds, to whom we owe many thanks. Pat, we'll see you soon, if all goes as expected.

Visit this blog often, and we'll try not to bore you with drivel. Instead, if you will, consider yourself a friend, and just drop by for a chat, or a rant, or a deep discussion on any subject of interest. If you spot a typo, a misuse of a word, or an error of any sort, please drop us a line and let us know. We'll correct it. However, if you just disagree with an opinion, though you can tell us about it, don't expect to change it!

Meantime, we'll leave you with this thought from Meriwether Lewis, the great explorer who, with William Clark and a party of other frontiersmen, mapped a route through the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase lands to the Columbia Gorge and the Pacific Ocean:

The adventure, places and scenery along the way, the road untraveled, and the path not yet taken, a stream uncrossed and a mountain unclimbed, and the discovery of other ways are a memory savored when destiny is met, because it is the Journey, not the destination that leads us on.

CDHB