Orison, at long last

Friends…Minions…Countrymen.

We have come to publish Daniel Swensen, not to praise him —

Oh, who are we kidding? Let’s do both!

Today marks the release day of Orison, the debut novel of Daniel Swensen.

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This is the second novel published by Nine Muse Press (the first being “Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire” by Paul Ramey, available here)

I know you have all enjoyed reading the release week posts (viewable here). Thanks to our amazing Nine Muse Press affiliate bloggers: Ruth, Angela, Lisa, Tracy and Emmie! Your creative reflections on Daniel’s characters have been a joy to read.

Thanks to my tireless partners at Nine Muse Press, Paul Ramey and Tina Ramey. Without you, I assure you none of this could have happened. Look at us manifest!

And, finally, thanks to Daniel for creating a world that I could not rest until I shared with our world.

I’d like to present the world premiere of the book trailer for Orison.

 

And once you’ve watched it, you can buy it…

HERE! (Amazon link)

or HERE! (Nine Muse Press link, for those who can’t use the Amazon link or need .pub copies. You can also find amazing downloads for wallpaper, banners and so forth in our media kit)

And, last of all, be sure to enter in our fantabulous Rafflecopter and share and share and share till you cannot share anymore!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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Orison: An Editor’s Perspective

As Nine Muse Press kicks off our Orison release week extravaganza, I thought I’d take a look back at the journey with this book.

The job of an editor is a strange one. After all, any decent word-processor can catch spelling or grammar errors.  My job is to cut away the excess verbiage, the clumsy sentences, the lazy cliche, drag away all that obfuscates the luminescence of the author’s vision. If a scene is in the wrong place, if the pacing is off, if a character is redundant, if the ending is weak, if the opening is slow…these are the places where I come forward with ideas to improve. They are only ever ideas; the author has the last word. But I see the potential in a manuscript. Once I get it, the work has just begun.

I do not sell my services. That is to say, I don’t work as an editor for an hourly rate (though it would doubtless be more lucrative). I only edit books that Nine Muse Press accepts for publication. If I’m doing my job right, the author may struggle with whether to strangle or hug me at any given moment.

Perhaps I should take a step back and relate why fantasy matters to me. When I started reading as a child, the fantasy genre was my first love: a common story with gawky, socially-awkward and shy girl. It swept me away to misty mountains, to faery bowers, to the Mines of Moria and the snowy woods of Narnia. I will read fantasy till I die.

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized that the protagonists were almost never like me: that is, a girl who was neither beautiful nor magical. Though there were a few notable exceptions, they were usually male: callow youths or hardened swordsmen.

When I first read Orison, I was intrigued. Calushain felt real to me, those who peopled it felt real too. There was one secondary character named Story that I fell hopelessly, irrevocably in love. Story was not beautiful nor magical. She was an ordinary girl who had been dealt a rough hand, then been given an extraordinary chance to change her life forever.

We decided Orison would be the second novel that Nine Muse Press released. And then Daniel and I started scrubbing away at the book to make it gleam. If we were content with just releasing a pretty good book, we could have published it three or four months ago. That is, a book with no errors or typos. But it would not be the book it is today.

Today, I am privileged to announce that on the last day of February in the year two thousand and fourteen, Daniel Swensen’s Orison will be a reality and you will be able to download it to your very own e-reader. Paperbacks are next, fear not, ye fellow Luddites of mine. We have so many wonderful things in store for you this week.

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Every day, there will be a brand new post from a Nine Muse Press Affiliate blogger that celebrates a different character in the book. Be sure to check them all out this week, as they will have a ton of exclusive, never-before-released content. I have them listed below for your reading pleasure this week.

Sunday, Feb. 23: Ruth Long and Wrynn at 6 pm EST

Monday, Feb. 24: Angela Goff and Dunnac at 2 pm EST

Tuesday, Feb. 25: Lisa V. Tomecek-Bias and Ashen at 2 pm EST

Wednesday, Feb. 26: Tracy McCusker and Camana at 2 pm EST

Thursday, Feb. 27: Emmie Mears and Story at 2 pm EST

Friday, Feb. 28: HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

This book represents a tremendous amount of work and love and I am terrifically proud to be a part of its inception. My most sincere gratitude to my NMP partners, Paul and Tina Ramey. And, to Daniel, for sharing your world with us.

 

ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

This post is such a massive series of announcements that it took me until the day before to even figure out how to say it all in one post.

First of all, THE BIGGEST NEWS. I’ve made you wait this long; I won’t torture you any further.

In the past few years, I have become aware of a surplus of writing talent in my social media circles. In most cases, I noticed that this talent was not getting the attention, recognition or promotion it deserved.

I tried to do my best to share the love, retweeting and sharing on Facebook, but it didn’t seem enough.

Then, one day, the skies opened up and I was suffused with a golden glow of inspiration. Well, not exactly, but it sounds better than “I almost drove off the road.”

Why not create a small, digital press to publish and promote the work of a select group of authors that I could offer full promotional and sales support? Why not put my money (or at least my time and talent) where my mouth is?

So with only a little more fanfare *cue angelic trumpet blast*, I present to you Nine Muse Press:

 

 

Go ahead. Go read about it. I’ll wait.

*munches on pistachios*

 

OH GOOD. You’re back.

 

So, you might ask how you can be a part of this.

 

Well, you can follow NMP on Twitter. #followorperish

You can Like them on Facebook.

 

More excitingly, I have developed an amazing blog affiliate program.

You can qualify for this program if you:

 

A) Have a blog

B) Talk about books sometimes

Look how particular we are. 😉

 

Wondering what the advantages of this program are?

GO SIGN UP FOR IT RIGHT NOW – you will be glad you did!

Related to this announcement, I am pleased to announce that we are releasing our very first e-book, Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire by Paul Ramey. You can click on the link or the cover photo to go to Amazon to purchase. You will love this mystery/adventure!

Catch Edgar Wilde news and events on Facebook

Follow Paul on Twitter at @paulramey  #followorperish

Also, please add Edgar Wilde to your TBR shelf on Goodreads. If you do read it, a few kind words of review on GR or Amazon is SOOOOOO appreciated. Extra MWA to you!

 

And finally, last, but never least!

Nine Muse Press would like to announce our second author, Daniel Swensen, whose high fantasy adventure novel Orison will be the second release from Nine Muse Press. Welcome aboard, Daniel!

 

Pretty please follow Daniel on Facebook and Twitter @surlymuse
Phew! Now all I need to do is go get married! Thanks to everyone for enduring yet another magically annoying announcement! 😉