Gillian Bronte Adams

A Special Song of Leira Pre-Order Reward Just for You!

May 21, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 6 Comments

Song of Leira, Book Three of The Songkeeper Chronicles, releases in just 2 weeks. (So crazy excited, y’all!) Tomorrow, I’ll be sending out a special preview of the first two chapters to my newsletter list, so if you want to get a sneak peek at the story, make sure you’re signed up!

And for those of you who choose to pre-order, we have a special reward!

First … a free Songkeeper Chronicles short story, River of Song. More about that later.

Second, you will also get your name entered in a drawing for a “Super Fan” prize pack, including:

A gorgeous, new Song of Leira woodmark (that’s a wooden book mark for those of you not up on the lingo) designed by the incredible In The Reads.
Birdie, Amos, and Ky character cards (true collector’s material, y’all!)
and a special print out of the map of Leira so you can find your way through the storyworld

The more pre-orders we get, the more prize packs will be up for the grabs. (Which means you’ll have more chances at winning!) The prize pack drawing will take place on June 8th.

As for the short story, you guys can get access to it now! River of Song is both a sequel (fits between Songkeeper and Song of Leira) and a prequel and an important piece of the story you won’t want to miss.

And like most good stories, it has a backstory too.

Originally, it was supposed to be the prequel to Song of Leira. But eventually, the story kept on growing and I decided that there was another story you guys needed to read as the prequel instead.

*hint hint*

So River of Song became a short story, with a lovely cover designed by the fantastic Hannah S. J. Williams. You guys should definitely check out some of her other work!

Pre-ordered Song of Leira and ready to read River of Song? Upload your pre-order receipt here to claim your copy!

And don’t forget to add Song of Leira to your to-read shelf on Goodreads too!

Special Songkeeper Chronicles Sale!

May 15, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 1 Comment

I just got back from a fantastic weekend selling books at the Called To Teach convention! I met so many new readers and got to chat about books and writing with some incredible teens, so of course, I’m even more excited about Song of Leira’s upcoming release!

(Only 3 weeks, guys.)

As part of the celebration, I’m working on some exciting additions to the website so you guys can better explore the world of Leira. Not to mention some behind-the-scenes type blog posts that will be coming soon and a host of fun giveaways and parties to celebrate the release!

And right now … my fantastic publishing company is hosting an amazing sale for the Orphan’s Song and Songkeeper ebooks!

Check it out, guys! Isn’t that amazing?

I know some of you have been dying to get your hands on the books for awhile, so now is your chance! From today until the 20th, you can read Orphan’s Song for $0.99 and Songkeeper for $2.99. And if you’ve already read the books, why not invite a friend or two to join in on the fun?

If you’ve been reading here for any length of time, chances are you know that Dr. Pepper and coffee are two of my favorite things. Well with this magical sale, you can read Orphan’s Song for less than a vending machine Dr. Pepper and Songkeeper for less than a (fancy) coffee!

And of course, if you read and enjoy, reviews make the book publishing world go around! :D

Find Ebooks on Amazon: Orphan’s Song // Songkeeper

Find Ebooks on Barnes & Noble: Orphan’s Song // Songkeeper

Thanks, guys! Enjoy the sale!

Exclusive Invite to the SONG OF LEIRA Launch Team!

April 3, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 8 Comments

Can you guys believe that it is April already???

June 5th is going to be here before you know it … and in case the reason behind the importance and awesomeness of that date has slipped your memory (it happens to the best of us on occasion), June 5th is the release date for SONG OF LEIRA!!!

That’s, right! This beauty!

SONG OF LEIRA is the third book in the Songkeeper Chronicles. If you’re new the series, you should check out ORPHAN’S SONG first.

So … it is time to assemble the Launch Team.

“Hullo,” you say. “What is this Launch Team you speak of?”

I am SO glad you asked. SONG OF LEIRA‘s Launch Team will be a team of dedicated, awesome, passionate people who are excited about the book, can’t wait to read it before everyone else in the entire world, and want to share that excitement about others.

“Well, that sounds cool!” you say. “But … wait … did you say something about reading the book before everyone else in the entire world? That sounds important! Let’s not gloss over it. Give me all the beautiful, brilliant details!”

(Yes, thank you, imaginary fellow wanderer you, for helping me stay on track!)

The Launch Team will have the opportunity to receive a FREE ARC (that’s Advanced Reader Copy, for those of you not up on the lingo) so that they can read and review the book BEFORE release date.

Brilliant, right?

There are loads of other perks as well including a Top Secret Facebook group, members-only giveaways, and behind-the-scenes access to me.

“Well,” you say. “Surely there’s a catch. Exactly WHO gets to join this amazingly epic launch team of yours?”

YOU!

Really, I’m looking for people who are passionate about stories, who get excited about books, who love fantasy in general and this series in particular! Now, there is an application for the launch team – selected members will be notified in mid-April – and there are questions about social media presence and numbers of followers, but more so than numbers, I’m looking for passion.

I am stoked about SONG OF LEIRA. I am dying to share it with you. And I am so excited about assembling a team to share that excitement!

So head on over to the link below to submit your application. I can’t wait to meet you all!

I WANT TO JOIN THE LAUNCH TEAM!

A Long Expected Party: How Should We Celebrate Song of Leira?

March 9, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 13 Comments

This week has been a little on the intense side, so I wasn’t able to get a regular blog post scheduled. But I didn’t want to miss out on a chance to chat with my fellow wanderers, so that’s exactly what this post is!

An invitation to come and sit by the fireside with your favorite mug of something warm and tell me all about how you have been doing and how you have fared in this week’s adventures.

And … I’m going to ask for your input on something very exciting!

We are now 3 months out from the release of Song of Leira. That may sound like a while – and it’s true a LOT can happen in 3 months – but it’s really not much time in publishing terms, so I am getting ready for the release, which means lots of brainstorming, lots of planning, lots of I-can’t-believe-it’s-almost-here moments … and of course, a few tears (of joy … sorrow … joyful-sorrow?) for this final installment of the Songkeeper Chronicles.

But as I started brainstorming, I realized that I really want you guys to weigh in on how you think we should celebrate! I want to know what sort of things get you, as a reader, excited about a book – whether that’s a brand-new-to-you book or a long awaited sequel.

So, here are a couple things that I’ve seen done and enjoyed participating in as a reader, just to get you thinking, but then I would also love to hear your thoughts on things you’ve seen or would enjoy whether or not they’re on the list!

(And of course, there’s no way we could do everything on this list! It’s just a way to get the thoughts rolling so I can find out what you guys enjoy most.)

Facebook parties with prizes
Facebook parties with prizes and additional authors
Blog hop where you and your blogging friends can join in to answer a question or write a post central to the book’s theme – it’s a great way to delve deeper into a book and also meet new online friends
Online scavenger hunts
Blog tour including author guest posts with behind-the-scenes info, interviews, and reviews posted on different sites
hashtag challenge focused around the book
Instagram photo challenge focused around the book/series
a fan art contest with awesome prizes :)
Photo scavenger hunt where you are given a list of photos prompts/ideas to take with the book
etc.

Also, since we’re on the subject, what types of things do you like to see offered as giveaway prizes? Obviously, we can’t do all of these things – I have not yet stumbled across a cache of dragon treasure – so weigh in on the things you like to see!

One big awesome prize OR several smaller prizes, so more chances to win ;)
giftcards – if so, where to?
bookmarks/candles/bookstagramming accessories
unique fantasy related items – necklaces, weapons, somehow related to the story
handcrafted mugs – this one is totally my favorite … but I kind of have a thing for mugs … kind of … maybe … I mean, I collect them. All of them. ;)

So … comment away! What adventures did you face this week? And how would you like to celebrate Song of Leira’s release?

Let Your Imagination Run Wild – #WhatIf Fantasy Tag Game

February 28, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 9 Comments

How is your imagination this morning? Energized and fighting the bit and raring to go?

I discovered the #WhatIf Fantasy tag game roaming around the blogosphere – set loose upon the world by fellow fantasy author Jenelle Schmidt – and thought you guys might enjoy a chance to play along and answer the questions too! So I tagged myself into the game and now I’m tagging in all of you as well.

How’s it work?

Well, there’s a list of questions (created by Jenelle). I’ll answer them here and then you all are invited to answer in the comments or create your own blog post! Guidelines on how to do that are listed at the end of this post.

Ready? Onward!

1. Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The cast of the most recent fantasy book you read comes to your assistance… who are they? Will they be helpful?

I’m currently reading A Wrinkle in Time. Not very far into the story yet, but the characters seem a mighty resourceful bunch so I’m guessing they’ll be pretty helpful. At the very least, they’ll be good company! I’d love a chance for a chat with Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace.

2. You go to bed one evening and wake up in the lair of the villain of the last fairy tale you read, where are you and how do you plan to get out?

That would be the castle of King Haggard from The Last Unicorn. *shudder* Not a pleasant place. Not a pleasant place at all. If King Haggard wants you, escaping his reach doesn’t just mean getting beyond his borders, it means escaping the Red Bull and that’s just not something that happens.

So, really, I don’t think that running would be any good. I think I’d have to prepare for a final stand. Blaze of glory and all that, wot wot.

3. You are transported into a fantasy realm and given a mythical creature as a companion and best friend… which mythical creature do you get?

A magical steed of some sort. It could be a unicorn, or a pegasus, or a saif (*grin* like Frey in Song of Leira), or one of the Mearas like Shadowfax. I guess I’ve just seen how incredibly beautiful the relationship between horse and rider can be and can’t imagine anything better than a magical steed in a fantasy world.

4. In a strange series of coincidences, you end up needing to take the place of your favorite fantasy hero or heroine. Who are you?

Ooh, this question. So difficult! *sigh* I have so many favorites. We’ll stick with heroines to narrow the list down a bit (that carves out Aragorn and Kaladin at least, not to mention a few others), and then I’d probably have to go with Eowyn. Still such a hard decision though …

5. To go along with question #4, now that you are that character, is there anything you would do differently than that character, now that you are running the show?

Really, that’s so hard to say. Because Eowyn’s story is so good, and I feel like if I changed any part of it, it wouldn’t be her story and she wouldn’t be the character that I’ve grown to love.

6. If you were yourself in a fantasy novel, what role do you think you would play in the story?

Well, if we’re dreaming … a horse-riding warrior of the knight errant sort, you know the type, someone who goes around helping people, setting wrongs to right, and fighting monsters. So a secondary character who stumbles across a quest randomly and decides to join in and then spends the rest of the journey encouraging everyone with why we need to accomplish our goal. ;)

Yes, this is my wild thing. Just look at the wisdom in those dark brown eyes of his! Wouldn’t he make a good warrior’s steed?

7. One morning, as you are going about your daily business, you pick up an everyday item and a voice booms in your head with prophetic words about your future. What object is it, and what is your prophecy?

The object, of course, is a laptop. And the words, like most prophecies, could be interpreted as either a curse or a blessing. Something to do with endless typing, stories that burn like a fire within demanding to be told, characters constantly whispering in your ears, and living caught between two worlds.

*shudder* What can it mean?

8. You are transported into a magical realm and turned into a mythical beast… what beast/fantasy creature do you want to be?

A phoenix.

They’re really just too cool. (*grins*)

Songkeeper fun fact: In the early, early planning stages of Songkeeper, Birdie was going to meet a phoenix in the Vituain Desert at the Hollow Cave before the Hollow Cave ever truly existed. Once I started writing, the phoenix was scrapped from the story before any of the characters even reached the desert because I wanted to make Gundhrold a bigger part of the tale and realized I was really only adding the phoenix because I think they’re cool.

That may not be a bad reason to add a character, but it’s also not necessarily a very good one. His name was going to be incredibly cool though … but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. I’m sure I have it written down somewhere. ;)

9. If you could read your way into any fantasy realm, but the catch is that you can never leave, would you? Which realm would you choose?

In a heartbeat. Middle-earth. Narnia would be a close second. But Middle-earth is my first and greatest love when it comes to fantasy realms.

10. As you are going about your normal day, you discover that you have a magical power. What is it?

The ability to sleep after drinking caffeine! Not sure how magical it is, but I usually can still manage to fall asleep after drinking coffee at 10 PM at night. On the rare occasion that means I type until 2 AM, but typically not. I have also discovered that if I drink a cup of coffee fairly quickly right before going to sleep, I wake up earlier and far more energized. Pre-caffeinated! It’s the best.

Well, there you have it! Thanks, Jenelle for such fun questions.

Now, fellow wanderers, it is your turn.

You can answer the questions in the comments or write your own blog post and leave a comment here so I can go check it out and read your answers too. :)

If you write your own blog post, there are a few #WhatIf tag game rules (guidelines?):

Thank the blogger who tagged you. (I found the tag game on Jenelle’s site, so thanks Jenelle!)
Include the graphic somewhere in your post.
Answer the questions.
Tag a few blogger friends – and let them know they’ve been tagged
Have fun!

Stories to Inspire

February 23, 2018 by Gillian Bronte Adams 2 Comments

For me, a truly good story not only has an amazing world, characters that I believe in and connect with, and a plot that hooks me by both head and heart and won’t let go, it also inspires me.

It may be through the overarching theme of the story, through the decisions characters make or the code they live by, or simply through the way they react to the choices thrust upon them, but something about the story encourages me, makes me want to be better, to be more. It leaves me with a desire to think through and wrestle with the issues or questions the story presents.

If I were to try to list all the stories that have inspired me in this way over the years, the list would be long and contain many stories beautiful, heartrending, and beautifully heartrending.

So, for the sake of all our time, I decided to limit this post to only the most recent stories that have inspired me in some way over the past two – three months.

Black Panther

This film was beautiful and breathtaking and so well done in so many ways. T’Challa and Shuri’s sibling relationship was one of my favorite parts. And I love that the women of Wakanda were all so unique in their strength and that their strength was assumed and accepted by other characters—so often in stories, the challenge of a strong woman is that she must prove and prove and prove herself again. The fact that the women of Wakanda were welcomed in their strengths allowed them to enter and move through the story as 3-dimensional characters.

I came away struck with the question that the characters struggled with throughout the movie: What is the responsibility of those who have much toward those who are oppressed and downtrodden?

I think it’s a question we should all ask ourselves in light of Biblical principles of justice for the oppressed, freedom for the captives, and aid for the downtrodden. The question itself is only a starting place. But without a starting place, nothing can be done.

The Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle

This book. *sigh* I just started rereading it recently and found myself immediately pulled alongside the last unicorn on her journey through a world that has forgotten unicorns existed.

It’s been a few years since I last read it, and while I enjoyed it then, I didn’t love it. Now, I am struck by just how deep and beautiful and philosophical, and therefore marvelously fairy-tale, the story is.

It gives us marvelous gems like this beautiful quotes:

Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”

And also this one …

I think love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last.”

I am always inspired by deep stories. Ones that are interwoven with meaning beneath the surface. Ones that inspire questions and make you think on your own. And The Last Unicorn is exactly such a tale.

Evaporation of Sofi Snow
by Mary Weber

I read this YA novel a few months ago, but the next book in the duology is releasing soon, and I’m really looking forward to reading it! It takes place in an imaginative sci-fi futuristic world where alien tech allows for virtual reality games that blur the lines between virtual and reality.

This book also touches on the issue of human trafficking – Mary Weber doesn’t shy away from tough topics. And I’m glad she doesn’t, because the reality of human trafficking is horrendous, shocking, and heartbreaking, and it needs to be stopped.

Sometimes a story helps the truth to sink in a little deeper. Recently, I’ve discovered more and more ministries and organizations combating human trafficking and working to help survivors find hope and restoration. If you haven’t looked into it, I encourage you to do just that, find out how you can be more aware and even help the cause.

And, as a part of her upcoming release for Reclaiming Shilo Snow (March 6^th!), Mary Weber has started a donation campaign for one such organization, A21. You can find out more about that campaign here.

The Stormlight Archive
by Brandon Sanderson

You guys are probably so tired of hearing me talk about this series. *sheepish grin* After this, I promise not to mention it for at least … a week. Okay. Maybe more.

In the Stormlight Archives, the Knights Radiant are powered people formed around a set of ideals that vary depending on the order of knights, other than the first ideal, “Life before death; strength before weakness; journey before destination.” The gist of that ideal is that the way the knights live is important and their powers place a greater responsibility on them to strive toward a higher code of living.

Throughout the stories, characters wrestle with ideals of honor, integrity, justice, and truth. They stumble and fall. They make the wrong decisions for understandable reasons. They fail. They rise again.

As a concept, honor isn’t really talked about much in modern American society. But I grew up on tales of honor and nobility, so it’s a character quality that I have always hoped to imitate. And an epic fantasy story full of philosophical musings and questions to get you thinking, really, what could be better?

(Yes, we fantasy readers like deep thoughts too! Surprised? I hope not. I certainly don’t recommend getting your theology from fantasy stories, but I do think the best stories inspire deep thought.)

So there you have it! Now, it’s your turn!

What are some of the most recent stories that have inspired you?
What makes a truly good story in your mind?
What types of stories or aspects of stories inspire you most?