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Thursday, December 22, 2011

ANCIENT CANADA, a Stunning Exploration by Clinton Festa, is a must-read!



Philosophy, wisdom, history - fantasy, paranormal, entertainment - these are two groups of words that are never put together when speaking about the literary world. Novels are separated by invisible barriers, allowing them to fall expertly into the categories of romance, suspense, YA, etc. Although there have been crossovers, where a romance is set in the paranormal world, or the historical figure comes to present day to have a few laughs, literary genres are still very individualized. However, when Ancient Canada (published by SynergEbooks) came along, a world was opened up where the fantastical, mystical, paranormal, dramatic, historical, and entertaining all came together in a perfect blend by the hand of author, Clinton Festa.
There comes a time in every reviewer’s life when they come up against a book that is so large - not in pages, mind you, but in the scope and depth of the actual story - that the reviewer finds themselves on a true journey, constantly riveted and wondering what the next chapter will bring. This amazing novel spoke to me on so many levels that to do a ‘write-up’ in ‘so many words or less’ is an impossibility. But this novel is so grand and so interesting, that I am desperate to do my best.

In the simplest form…Lavender and Marigold are sisters who have no idea upon birth that they are about to take a journey that will lead them to the most amazing locations, meet the most fantastical creatures, and walk a path that will eventually bring them back to square one. In essence, their lives come full circle, with almost every chapter being told from another character’s viewpoint that they meet along the way.

Polaris is the leader of the people of Canada and its capital of York. He is the main villain in this story, which begins with a woman by the name of Heather who is traveling to see her beloved husband, Simon. Heather is the mother of Marigold, her first daughter who has remained at home while she takes her journey to Fort Alert. Heather is heavily pregnant with her second daughter and spends most of her time during her travels with her precious tollimore, an animal who takes care of her along the way. Heather first meets up with a green-eyed peddler who is more than happy to trade Heather her animals for supplies that Heather desperately needs in order to continue. The tollimore, however, will not be separated from Heather, and she and the peddler soon come to believe that this creature will always be there to ‘steer’ Heather away from death.

Upon arrival at the Fort to see her beloved husband, Heather gives birth to a child with lavender eyes and a power that no one else will ever understand. Unfortunately, her husband perishes, and Heather is returned to York so she can be tried for a crime. Heather avoids an executable charge and returns home with Lavender in her arms and a broken heart. As this child grows, it is soon seen by her family that she has a gift; Lavender can actually see the glow of a creature or a human and can tell if life or death is going to occur. (She first proves this skill when the tollimore is about to be killed by her grandfather, but she sees the bright red energy of the three babies in its stomach.)

As time moves forward, Lavender and Marigold open up a business of sorts, called The Mystic Garden - a place where people can come so that Lavender can address their needs. Through a very interesting set of circumstances, the girls are placed into exile and ordered to leave York and never return. Thus, the duo travels the world compiling a book on The Aliments of Life and Death, regarding poisonous materials, cures, and all kinds of things that the world should know for their basic survival.

From a stone beast named Brother Lichen to an orphan boy named Sam; from a commandant in the Canadian military whose story of a wooden sword is beyond fascinating, to a Prince who must find his bride - chapter after chapter tells the stories of each and every encounter that various characters have with these two amazing women.

This author has done an extraordinary job of putting together a story that is impossible to even guess at the conclusion. Lessons are taught - from what heroism really means, to the treatment of others less fortunate, to the power of the heart, to the love of two sisters who try desperately to make things right in a world full of wrongs. The discoveries of new places, artifacts, people, poisons - it never ends. This book is almost a museum of curiosities where each page is something new and undiscovered by the reading public.

A stunning book with charm, passion, thrills, characters that are truly fantastical and extraordinary, to say the least, and an all-out adventure that you won’t soon forget! And that is not an over-exaggeration. I was pleased and honored to be able to ‘spend time’ with this incredible author, and got the answers to some questions that many of our readers will want to know. So, without further adieu, please welcome Clinton Festa.
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The first question is a ‘must know’ for me. Where did this idea come from?
Ancient Canada began in New York City in the summer of 2006. I had just visited my old college roommate and was walking around, alone, looking for lunch while he was at work. Lebanese food, Korean, Peruvian... I couldn’t believe that I had eaten it all. I thought somebody needed to make up a country, an entire kitchen of cooking for that country, and open up a restaurant with its ‘authentic’ food. The restaurant idea became a mythological creation. Canada fit best for the story, but already had her mythology and folklore. In the end, an alternate Canada fit even better.

The research must have been a lifelong project - from celestial lights to Polaris, Horus…do you love research?
In the days before the internet I would have said, no. Today it can still be tedious, but I enjoyed it for several reasons. You start with a thought or a problem, like: “I’ve got a character who can see the dreams of others while they sleep…so, I better read up on dreams.” Then, first stop, the internet. One link leads to another and before you know it, you’re reading up on Carl Jung, archetypes, symbols in dreams, how those symbols are present in Greek and Roman mythology, etc. You’ve suddenly got more ideas to write about than you know what to do with. The more ideas you have, the more you can dovetail your story. And even if your little sister throws your manuscript into the fireplace, you’ve learned a lot.

There are many points in the story that ‘mirror’ a historical figure of some sort, such as Joan of Arc and her ability as a mere woman to lead an army. Did you base certain parts of the journey on historical figures that are perhaps favorites of yours?
Yes. Brother Lichen is a character based very closely on St. Francis of Assisi, one of my favorite historical figures. Funnily enough, Marigold’s character seems to be based on Oscar Wilde, but that was a complete accident. Polaris…ominous quatrains are based on
Nostradamus, ominous quatrains... There’s a lot of layering, and if anyone out there is reading it thinking there might be more to something, drop me an email ataskmarigold@ancientcanada.com. One of the things I wanted to do with the book is create a character you can actually speak to, so don’t be surprised if I respond in character.

You go extremely in-depth on issues of inequality, spirituality, as well as gender-biased situations - did you do research on the political and religious backgrounds during ‘ancient times?’
No. I tried to focus more on modern ones. However, some of our modern issues have been around since ancient times. Like when one narrator states his belief that any spiritual inequality based solely on gender indicates an obvious absence of the divine. If that’s true, he states, we don’t need divine permission to fix it.
There is some beautiful poetry within the text of this novel, did you create each and every poem as well?
Yes, and thank you! One poem, The Good Dingleberry, has a story to it. I had just met my future wife in 2003 and was a little scared at how quickly we fell in love. I wrote The Good Dingleberry, a sonnet, in about fifteen minutes. Then I spent the next three hours agonizing over every word, and probably only changed two or three. I didn’t realize what a ‘dingleberry’ was at the time, but it still worked. She loved the poem. A chapter in the middle of the book is a love story about two creatures that are literally two of a kind, and I thought The Good Dingleberry fit perfectly. With my wife’s blessing, I included it in the novel.

Did you ever consider publishing this book as a continuing set of stories that could perhaps appear in historical magazines or newsletters?
Yes, I thought that might have worked, especially with the rotating narrator structure. I would have wanted to finish the whole thing first, though. I would have been too afraid that something would need a change, then I’d have to go back and alter something that’s already published or, more realistically, find a way to work around it at the expense of the narrative.

There are so many, but one of my favorite quotes appears ‘round the middle when Queen Erika announces: I will be silent when I have nothing left to say. Do you believe authors should feel the same way?
Yes. I’ve never thought of it that way, but now that I do, yes. Otherwise you wind up (forgive me, but) creatively constipated, even rotting on the inside. And we all know how uncomfortable that can be.

What project are you working on now?

The Fables of Ancient Canada, which I’m currently posting free on my website,www.ancientcanada.com. They’re about a page long each, and new ones are added regularly, about once or twice a week. After all, what good ancient world doesn’t have its fables to share? We have to be fair. Some people just don’t have time to read very much, or their ‘to-read’ list is a mile long. The fable format solves this. But, if I left the world of Ancient Canada, my dream project is The Trans-Saharan Railway. Cairo to Dakar. 1920’s, French and British imperialists, Bedouin, Algerians, a kingdom in the sand, a desperate love story, and maybe a talking robotic camel. Or…maybe just regular camels. I haven’t worked out all the details. Anybody reading this, feel free to steal this idea.

Is there a specific genre (or, genres) that you like to read above all others?
Epics and comedies.

And we always end with a few questions that our readers get a kick out of - it’s a bit of an ‘Ode to James Lipton’:

What is your favorite book?

Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Donald Spoto (Viking Press). You could be any faith, or none at all, and be inspired by that man. I certainly was.

What is your favorite word?
Lately it’s ancientcanada.com. Okay, okay, sorry. Hmm... I’ve got a lot of fond memories from hearing people say ‘Found it!’

What is your least favorite word?
This is the easy one; the last one was the hard one. If I had to pick one word, and only one word, that I would call my single least favorite, they would be: moniker, coiffure, tome, whilst, thrice, shan’t, youngling, cusp, and persons (instead of ‘people‘). It made me cringe just to write those.

What author do you love to read?
Tolstoy.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Cartoonist for a daily comic strip. Thankfully I had a chance to be a cartoonist/writer for my college humor magazine.

What profession would you not like to attempt?
Politics. There’s too much politics in it.

What is your favorite thing about writing?
The six or seven times you finish writing the same novel. You get to enjoy the sense of accomplishment over and over and over again.
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 As you can see, readers, this is a man who not only has the writing talent in spades, but his wit and wisdom make it impossible to not want to know more about him! Go read Ancient Canada now and you will NOT be disappointed!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Check your PayPal buttons!

As you know, SynergEbooks uses PayPal for their merchant account.  I personally have never had a problem using PayPal... and since eBay bought them out, PayPal has been given a huge leg up in terms of respectability and notariety. 

But recently I have hit a small snag.  Apparently, PayPal doesn't expect one to need SO MANY PayPal buttons.  And it seems that SynergEbooks has reached it's limit, so some of the Buy Now buttons may not be working.  If you don't mind, I'm asking all of you to go through and check to make sure that your Buy Now button for your title(s) is/are working.  Simply click on the Buy Now button for your book(s) and make sure it lists the correct title and price and that it does not give you an error message.

PayPal is working with me to get this problem solved.  It's going to take a lot of time to get it completely fixed, but in the meantime, I want to make sure that none of you loose out on sales if your Buy Now buttons aren't working....so those who email me to let me know there are errors will obviously be put at the top of my update list. 

The main area there is a problem seems to be SynergE's PAPERBACKS link on the main page.  http://www.synergebooks.com/paperbacks.html   Most of the buttons are working just fine, but some of them have the wrong title and/or price.  This is the page I will be working to fix first, obviously, so please do not panic if those buttons aren't working correctly.  I do know about it and should have all of the buttons working fine by the end of this week.

I thank you in advance for checking your book listings.

KINDLE's new KDP Select

I'm sure many of you have heard of this new deal from Amazon Kindle called KDP Select.  If not, here is the link: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect  Basically, what Kindle is doing is setting out to make sure that digital books are given to them exclusively for 90 days, promising that an author's portion of their lending library money will be distributed to them during this time. 

What's the catch?  Well, the fact that Amazon will effectively be the only place that your book will be listed for those 90 days.  So an author's book, if it is a new release, will no longer be able to be marketed as a new release at the other online retail sites once it's free to be sold elsewhere.  And you're depending on there being sales during those 3 months... and it's very possible there won't be.  And for those who already have their book listed in a myriad of other online retail sites, you're facing the task of having to go through and take down all of those listings... and then put them all back up 90 days later.  (And for those retail sites that only pay on a quarterly basis, this could mean that you won't receive any royalties for a half a year or more.)

Now, if you are an author who has only a few titles to deal with, and one or more of your books haven't been selling for a while, this may seem like a unique and advantageous opportunity.  But if you are an author with a ton of published titles - or worse yet, a small press publisher who has a few hundred or more - this represents an incredible amount of time and effort.  Consider how much time (and money) it takes a publisher to convert and upload all of the titles on their Book Title List (backlist or otherwise) to up to a dozen different retail sites.... and all the time it will take for that publisher (or author) to take each title off of all of those sites.... and then go back and put it back on to all those sites again once the 90-day period is over. 

Amazon is trying to completely corner the market on digital sales at the detriment of small press publishers and authors alike.  The large amount of money they are listing that they'll be using makes it all sound very exciting, but it's really just a form of lottery system, with no guarantee that your title(s) will be part of the distribution of that money.

So... as a publisher of nearly 400 titles myself, I will only agree to listing a title at Amazon Kindle with this option if it is a NEW TITLE that has yet to be converted and uploaded to the other online retail sites.  Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that your title will make sales during this time, and you will not have the added advantage of a myriad of other retail sites that your book will be listed on - such as at Barnes & Noble for those of you who have a Nook - so you may be missing out on a lot of sales from those other sites as well. 

Your comments are, of course, welcome.  I look forward to hearing from any of you who are doing this on your own or has a publisher who is doing it once the first 90 days are over.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Royalties and more...

Is it December already?  Where did this year go? 

As most of you know, SynergEbooks sends out royalties on a monthly basis.  If you have made at least one sale, you will receive an email stating that fact, but you will not receive a royalty statement unless your title has made 2 or more sales in any given month.  If you have made 2 or more sales, you will receive your ROYALTY STATEMENT in Word format via your more recent email.  (NOTE:  Please let me know if your email address has changed recently so I can update my records).  If you are going to receive a royalty payment, you will not receive your Royalty Statement via email - it will be mailed to you along with you check.  Of course, you will receive your Royalty Statement via email if your payment is being sent via PayPal.

As I stated earlier, due to the fact that SynergEbooks has changed bank accounts and I have to wait for the new bank to be confirmed with PayPal, I will not be sending any royalties to you that way.  If you prefer to wait until the bank account is confirmed, I can hold off on sending your payment (so far only one author has opted for this).  So look for an email from me asking for your preference if this will be a first-time payment.

Please give me 2-3 days to complete the royalties this month, as each quarter (every 3 months) I receive royalty payments from nearly all of my retailers, which means it'll take more time for me to gather all of the reports to disburse the royalties accordingly. 

NOTE:  Most royalites are from sales made 2-3 months prior, so if you know that you've had a large number of sales this month, those sales most likely will not show up on your royalty statement until this coming February or March.

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In other news, I have updated the SALES STATISTICS page in the Author's Backroom, as well as the PRODUCTION SCHEDULE, and added a link to the blog in the Backroom for your convenience.   Check those out as soon as you can. 



Back to work for me!