Michael’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2009)

Michael’s comments from the Sons of Avalon group.

I am so sorry to hear about the crash. I will let her know. We've been away for several days at MarsCon promoting the book, so it might not be right away. We just got back and things are going to be sort of hectic here with the inaugural this week.

Really am sorry to hear of the loss though. That is a shame.

Dee wrote: "I will have to take a look-see at your blog :]"

Uh-oh. Now I'm gonna have to write something.

Yes, I would like to get back to writing, but I don't want to start anything unless I can devote large hunks of time to it. The distraction of working on the series would really hinder my ability to keep everything I need in my head.

Thank you for your word-of-mouth. I'm starting to get the impression that maybe you thought The Crown Conspiracy didn't completely suck. =)

To be honest I haven't written a word in eight months. All of the books in the series were finished in advance of publication. They are all done. For almost the last year I have been doing nothing but editing and promotions. Robin reads the manuscripts and makes comments which often leads to editing, but sadly I haven't had the luxury of writing new works--unless you count the blog Robin insisted I start. I didn't even know what a blog was now I am writing daily articles!

Still, I have compiled a sort of soundtrack for the novels--individual songs I feel illustrate important portions of the books either by sound or words. These would be:

Heart of a King (Book 1)Soundtrack from The Man In the Iron Mask by Nick Glennie-Smith

Another Story (book 2) Dougie MacLean with Strings by Dougie MacLean

Scottish Fantasy (book 3) Celtic

Mary Queen of Scots (book4) Dougie MacLean with Strings by Dougie MacLean

The Loch Tay Boat Song (book 4) Kiss the Tears Away by Silly Wizard

The Dawning of the Day (Book 5) The Other Side of Time by Mary Fahl

Dante's Prayer (Book 6) Nights from the Alhambra by Loreena McKennitt

Feels Like Home (Book 6) Faust by Randy Newman

Viva la Vida (Book 6) Viva la Vida by Coldplay

Going Home (Book 6) The Other Side of Time by Mary Fahl

To be honest, Dougie Maclean's whole album (listed above) has a consistency of tone that would make a fine soundtrack to Avempartha.

FallOut Boy and Twilight for an Arthurian Legend, yeah, that seems unexpected. But who knew peanut butter and chocolate would work so well.

I do believe I have heard rumors of your obsess--um--affection for the Twilight Series. Don't get Robin started on this. Stephenie Meyers has her bewildered. She has very little good to say about Twilight, except that she couldn't put it down, and she can't rationalize why.

I hope you get Lorenna to allow you to use the music for the trailer. That would be really cool! I agree, she is fantastic.

Dee,

How incredibly appropriate that you are a fan of Loreena McKennitt. I have several times thought to mention her to you in case you were not aware, thinking you would be a perfect match.

Dante's Prayer inspired a portion of the Riyria series--at least I played it a lot while writing certain scenes. Do you ever do that? I actually have a soundtrack I sometimes play when writing to set moods. Usually I can't stand to have lyrics as they interfere with my listening to my own words, so I use movie scores, but Loreena McKennitt and a few others are an exception.

Shawshank Redemption. Technically it is a novella, but it is one of King's best works faithfully brought to the screen.

Dee,

I can't find the Text-to-speech link.

Dee wrote: "Text-to-Speech"

Funny you should bring that up. When I was struggling in an effort to spell the word Riyria, I knew how I wanted it to sound, but I also had in my head how I wanted the word to look on the page because lots of readers just register it visually and move on.

I spelled Riyria several ways and asked random people how they would pronounce it. Then settled on the present spelling. A few days afterwards I noticed there was a speech button on WordWeb. I typed Riyria in and pressed it, and lo and behold! The computer pronounced it just as I wanted. I was so happy.

BTW--my favorite part of Sons was Dee's reasoning behind why, after Ambrosias death, Merlin and Uther stayed together—-the idea that because they both loved him, between them they were able to sustain part of Ambrosias. I thought this was wonderful, unexpected, thoughtful and yet very believable on a truly emotional level.