Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr! Giveaway

A Cast of Stones

An Epic Medieval Saga Fantasy Readers Will Love

In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.
Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom's dynasty is near an end and a new king must be selected. As tension and danger mount, Errol must leave behind his drunkenness and grief, learn to fight, and come to know his God in order to survive a journey to discover his destiny.

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Author Guest Post:
Medieval Ideas
One of the strongest medieval ideas that I hope readers will take away from “A Cast of Stones” and the other two books in the “Staff and the Sword” trilogy is the intimacy of death. Articles that discuss the impersonal nature of killing by handgun, cruise missile, and drone are legion. I think the impersonalization of killing is one of the factors that’s contributed to the cheapening of life in society at large.

The movies that we watch, and I’m one of them (I love movies), generally treat death in one of two ways. The first way, which is to show the death, but then cut immediately to a different camera shot will salvage a PG-13 for a violent movie. Death is kept impersonal. The second way, to show the death and to allow the viewer to feel the impact of the death instead of cutting away, will often earn the movie an R, especially if the movie comes from an indie studio.

What I strove to do as my series unfolded was to show the impact of death on my main character. As a writing task, this was difficult because I wanted to keep the story age friendly to everyone 14 and up, so I endeavored to limit the gory details. Of course, I had help along the way. My editor with Bethany House, Karen Schurrer, stepped in on occasion to let me know I was getting a little over the top.

One such instance occurred in the second book, “The Hero’s Lot,” which will be released in July this year. There’s a scene in which my hero is drugged and his emotional responses are muted. One of the antagonists in the book is beheaded and his head rolls to my hero’s feet. Instead of revulsion or horror, my hero looks at it in his drugged stupor and then kicks it across the room. Karen was okay with the scene right up until the kick. I wanted to keep it, but on hindsight, I think she was right. The death was personal enough and, in this case anyway, Errol’s reaction was gratuitous.

Another medieval theme that I found challenging was the slow pace of communication. The instantaneous response we often get with texting, tweets, email, and plain old-fashioned phone calls is a difficult concept to put aside. In fact, the idea of communication is a central struggle in the history of warfare. As my series unfolds this becomes one of the struggles Illustra must overcome. How can they defeat an enemy that has discovered a means to communicate to its in real time.

What would our live be like if we were forced to slow down? To be honest, I can’t even imagine how it would feel for the pace to slow to that of the U.S. mail. What if we were forced to be patient? We say we want it, but waiting is often an exercise in excruciation. I’m thinking of all the times I’ve waited to hear back from an editor or agent. Ha. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.

Author Patrick W. Carr

Patrick Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last five years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist. Patrick thinks writing about himself in the third person is kind of weird.

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Blog Tour Giveaway
$10 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 1/31/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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