Updates

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?

From the Camp World to the Writing World

June 10, 2017 by Gillian Bronte Adams 3 Comments

Somehow, the year has already slipped into June. I am not entirely sure how or when that happened. For those of you who have not been following my blog for long, I work full time at a youth camp as their Equestrian Director and Assistant Junior Camp Director. When the summer begins, work at camp becomes all-consuming, so my involvement in the writing world – blog, social media, etc. – tends to fall by the wayside for a time.

This back and forth between two very full and distinct worlds reminds me of all those portal fantasy novels I love to read, where the main characters are torn between two places that they love, and when they are in one world, that world is the most important thing and the other one fades into the background. But as soon as they return to the first world, that other world becomes more and more like a dream.

Although it’s a bit of an exaggeration to compare the two aspects of my life to two separate fantasy worlds, the novelist in me can’t help but enjoy the similarity.

So here I am, emerging from the camp world of horses and kids and long days and late nights and sharing the Gospel under the stars, to give all of you here in the writing world a bit of an update!

(And before you get your hopes up, I do not yet have a release date for Book Three in the Songkeeper Chronicles! More news will hopefully be forthcoming soon on that front. For now, all I can tell you is that I’m very excited about this book, it is currently in my editor’s hands, and I already have an incredible image in mind for the cover art!)

Update One: New Series

In other news, I am hard at work on a completely new series. This series has been whispering siren songs to me in the dark for the past four or five years, simply begging to be written, but the Songkeeper Chronicles was still at the forefront of my mind, so I kept logging notes and trying to quell my rising excitement at the prospect of getting to write this story. Guess what? I am now, finally writing it, and I am beyond excited about the tale that I am getting to tell. It is a thousand times bigger than it was when I first imagined it, so I am grateful that the story has had time to grow in the back of my mind all these years.

Even now, because of the time of year that it is in the camp world and the hours that camp work requires, I am forced to write the story much slower than the impatient writer side of me would like. But in the long run, I can tell that it is building a much richer, much more developed first draft than I would get otherwise. So I am writing in sessions of paragraphs and sentences, crafting slowly, layer by layer, and the story is being paintstakingly folded and hammered and heated and cooled, like a marvelous Damascus blade.

Can you tell how excited I am about this one?

Part of me is simply bursting to spill it all and reveal every last beautiful, heart-achingly, epic moment of this tale to you all right now. So I’m going to change subjects before I lose my last ounce of self-control and simply point you all toward my Pinterest and Instagram accounts where I’ll continue posting sneak peeks of my research and inspiration as the story progresses.

Update Two: Instagram

Speaking of Instagram, this woefully-behind-the-times author just recently acquired an account! Still learning the ins and outs, but for those of you who follow my Facebook page, my Instagram account is intended to be a slightly more relaxed and intimate view of my life as a writer, wanderer, and wordsmith. (Don’t you love that alliteration?) I would love to connect with you guys over there if we haven’t yet!

Update Three: Short Stories

As a fantasy reader and writer who loves nothing better than devouring massive books, I have never written much in the way of short stories. I have penned a few here and there but never devoted much time to it. After all, why tell a story in 1000 words when you can tell it in 100,000? (Right?) Actually, wrong.

Now that my work on the Songkeeper Chronicles is drawing to a close, I am also spending a lot of time studying different aspects of the writing craft, seeking to grow in my abilities and learn new techniques and methods of storytelling. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with a massive book (thank goodness!), learning to write with the sort of sharp, beautiful clarity and impact of a short story is incredibly useful.

So, I am experimenting with short stories, particularly now when (in the camp world) my schedule is so busy!

And I recently sold a short story to Splickety Magazine for their Medieval Mayhem issue that only just released today. It was my first experiment with historical fiction – although the medieval side of things kept it much closer to the fantasy settings where I feel so at home – and is the tale of a repentant crusader who is wracked with guilt over the bloodshed at Constantinople.

Isn’t that a cool cover? Care to read the stories within?

Purchase a copy here!

So there you have it, an update to those of you in the writing world from me in the camp world, and now I would love to hear an update from you all too! What have you been reading lately, where are you wandering, and for those of you who are fellow writers, what have you been writing?

Songkeeper is going on tour!

February 9, 2017 by Gillian Bronte Adams 2 Comments

Songkeeper is going on tour! Blog tour, that is. When Songkeeper released last year, I had high hopes of running a blog tour, but I wound up being so busy trying to meet the deadline for book three that I wasn’t able to organize one. Here we are, nearing the one year anniversary – can you believe it? – and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate! So starting on March 1st and running until the middle of April, we’re going on tour! My hope is that it will be a fun way to share more about the Songkeeper Chronicles, whet your appetite for book three (since it’s still a little ways out), and give you guys a little insider knowledge too.

(Because, let’s be honest here, who doesn’t like being in the know?)

So how will it work?

Well, I have always wanted to run an alphabet challenge for the Songkeeper Chronicles! (What is an alphabet challenge, you ask? Good question! It’s a series of posts that moves alphabetically and looks at different characters, places, and things that begin with the letter of the day: i.e. A is for Amos, B is for Birdie or Balaam, etc.) I thought it could be a fun way to explore some of the people and concepts that are built into the books. After all, you only get the very tip of the iceberg when you read a novel. There is so much more that lies beneath the actual storyline. So … we’re going to do it.

(Because, why not?)

Oh, and did I mention that there would be a giveaway? Well, there will be one … and it will be awesome.

(Now you have even more reason to be excited!!!)

If you have a blog and would be interested in hosting a stop (writing up a brief intro, uploading the post that I would send you along with a link to the giveaway, and then sharing with friends), you can sign up here or scroll down to the form below.

I plan on posting Monday-Thursday of each week, and if a spot is not claimed by another blog, I’ll be posting here. You will be able to earn points for the giveaway by visiting all of the posts, (yes, even if are you are a host site) and there will be fun Songkeeper Chronicles trivia as well!

It is going to be a blast, so mark your calendars! And don’t forget to sign up if you would like to host a stop. :)

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