Arthur has an unplanned family reunion in Ch 13/sc 2b of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Pendragon Cove Press logo
c2014 by Natasha Brown.

The legendary relationship between King Arthur and his sister Morgan le Fay was anything but sunshine and light, regardless of whether or not an individual author chooses to make them half siblings. 

My original reasons for giving Arthur and Morghe the same father are buried under decades of life events. More than likely, I was aiming for a more unique family dynamic, since I gave Arthur two older half sisters too.

This is a "Pendragon" family structure that no other author of Arthurian fiction has described, to my knowledge.

Arthur muses about his mother and all his sisters or their husbands in today's excerpt from Raging Sea.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings

 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1a |  Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4a | Sc 4b | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 13: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a |

Raging Sea Chapter 13, Scene 2b

©2016 by Kim Headlee

All rights reserved.

“Did your mother give any clues as to what’s going on?” Bedwyr asked.

“No.” And he and Ygraine had discussed the possibilities in great detail while he and First Ala escorted her entourage here from Caerlaverock. If today’s problem had originated with Clan Cwrnwyll, they’d have been meeting at legion headquarters in Caer Lugubalion.

The Caerglas locale also ruled out Loth—whom Arthur did not expect to see this day, since his hands were full with the Angli raids—and Melwas of Caer Gwenion, with whom Arthur wasn’t on the best of terms since Melwas’s youngest son had failed the legion’s initiation test a few months ago. Although Arthur had tried to minimize the shame by extending an invitation for the lad to try again in a year, within a fortnight Arthur received a scathing letter from Melwas complaining about the “insult.” Arthur had let Marcus handle the response; he owned neither the time nor patience for smoothing feathers ruffled by petty grievances.

The sobering fact remained that Melwas’s territory could get overrun by an aggressive Angli expansion too, something Arthur wouldn’t let happen no matter who was wearing that clan’s mantle of chieftainship.

They reached the praetorium’s double doors, and Angusel and Gawain stepped ahead to open them for Arthur, Bedwyr, and Cato. Arthur pointed a nod of thanks at each as he entered the building.

There could be an issue with his brother-by-marriage, Alain, and his wife, Arthur’s older half sister, Yglais. Alain stood to assume the chieftainship of Clan Cwrnwyll after Ygraine and in the meantime governed Caer Alclyd, a modest but strategically placed fortress, along with its shipping business and lands near Caerglas.

Arthur paused while Angusel and Gawain shoved open the audience hall’s doors. A problem with Alain didn’t make sense for two reasons: he didn’t have a voting seat on the council and therefore was not empowered to call an emergency session, and Yglais was quite diligent about informing Arthur of important events at Caer Alclyd.

That left…

“Morghe!”

Every head in the hall turned toward Arthur at his outburst.

His youngest sister was elegantly attired in her husband’s Clan Moray black with gold trim, which lent stark contrast to the white bandage binding her shoulder and pinning her arm to her chest.

***

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Arthur reviews a civics lesson in Ch 13/Sc 2a of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Pendragon Cove Press logo
c2014 by Natasha Brown.

Today's excerpt from Raging Sea features the first viewpoint scene for Arthur in this book. Normally I would have created a meme to go along with this series of posts, featuring Arthur's totem dragon symbol set against the background of sea spray.

However, since I'm still recovering from my previous computer's untimely death, and since I have other commitments this week, I'm going to "cheat" and show you Arthur's dragon as incorporated into the logo of my imprint, Pendragon Cove Press.

As for the choice to use Arthur's viewpoint in this book when originally I was planning not to use him or Gyan as viewpoint characters at all, I discovered that the needs of the story would be better served if I jumped into Arthur's head a bit here. Since this is still a work-in-progress, his scenes may end up in the recycle bin when all is said and done. I will make that decision after I complete the entire draft.

Meantime, enjoy!

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings

 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1a |  Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4a | Sc 4b | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 13: Sc 1a | Sc 1b |

Raging Sea Chapter 13, Scene 2a

©2016 by Kim Headlee

All rights reserved.

The Council of Chieftains, the northern Brytoni body that boasted no governing authority per se but which met most often during times of crisis for one or more member clans, possessed no set meeting place. When Ambrosius had held the office of Dux Britanniarum, and clan alliances were as fragile and complex as spiderwebs, the chieftains had agreed to meet at whichever military installation was most convenient for the man requesting the meeting, for the added protection a garrison of neutral soldiers provided. In the early days it could be any garrison, though over time the list of host sites dwindled to the largest installations along the Antonine and Hadrianic walls for convenience of transportation via the centuries-old but well built and maintained Roman roads.

From Arthur’s first meeting of the Council of Chieftains—the debacle four years ago that had nigh degenerated into civil war over who would succeed Uther as Dux Britanniarum—he hated attending them.

Oh, the meetings’ reasons were valid enough: crop failures, plagues upon people or livestock, assassinations, raids—the latter two sometimes even perpetrated by one member clan against another, for covetousness and greed were not confined to the non-Brytoni races competing for land across the Isle of Brydein.

Arthur gave a grateful grin to Bedwyr, who joined him and his three-man escort from an intersecting street as they strode toward the Caerglas praetorium’s audience hall. “Did Bann call this emergency meeting?”

“My father is here,” Bedwyr said, “but no. Lammor is quiet, thank the gods—or as quiet as it ever gets.”

Arthur nodded. This meant Chieftain Bann would officiate, then, rather than being the one presenting the problem. Arthur had all but grown up in Bann’s household, since he and his foster brother Cai had been tutored with Bedwyr as boys, and he knew the man to be a pensive, cautious leader whose devotion to a cause was unyielding and absolute once he decided to join it. In fact Bann had had more to do with Arthur’s election to the Pendragonship than any other man present.

Perhaps this meeting of the Council of Chieftains wouldn’t be so tiresome after all.

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Raging Sea: Reckonings!
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Open Blog Tour Signups for FAITH, FAMILY, FILM celebrity #memoir by Fred Eichelman

Faith, Family, Film: A Teacher's Trek
Celebrity memoir by Fred Eichelman.

Discover a heartwarming side of Hollywood and politics that you never knew existed.

Thus begins the synopsis of the book I helped bring into the world, Faith Family Film: A Teacher's Trek by a longtime friend and fan of my novels, Fred Eichelman.

Faith, Family, Film represents the first book published via my imprint, Pendragon Cove Press, that was not written by me. I am honored to have been involved in this worthy endeavor.

Bloggers, I hope you choose to be involved too! To sign up for the 3-day release tour, 6/21-6/23/16, please CLICK HERE; thanks!

Fred, a retired teacher of high school history and government classes, has a stellar history himself, having befriended such notables as Elizabeth Taylor, Rhonda Fleming, and Ronald Reagan. He spins his anecdote-driven narrative in traditional Southern, "come in and set a spell" storytelling style.

Publication date: May 2016
Publisher: Pendragon Cove Press
Formats: E-book, Paperback
Number of pages/words: 168 pages/40K words
Cover design: Natasha Brown

Excerpt:
One night there was a late phone call from Doc Jones. “Al, Ann, I need a favor. I am taking care of too many sick animals right now, and I have a man here with a pair of dogs he brought from Germany. Rex and Regina. Never seen anything like them. Regina is about to deliver; could you two come over here?”

Of course my parents agreed.

To their surprise they found the dog owner to be Pulitzer Prize–winning author Louis Bromfield. His home was originally in Mansfield, Ohio, but he also had a home in Hollywood, California, and until recently one in Paris, where he had lived a few years. My parents were very familiar with Bromfield, as his books were widely read, and two were made into successful films, The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington. Bromfield had recently been in Germany and had seen a new breed, Boxers. Boxers were the result of the interbreeding of Bullmastiffs and English Bulldogs and were considered perfect working dogs.

At that time Adolph Hitler was taking control of the German government, and Bromfield knew that if he didn’t bring these dogs to America quickly, he might not get another opportunity.

Al and Ann were happy to help out, and Louis Bromfield was especially pleased that my mother had read several of his books and was a fan. It was a perfect delivery of puppies and he thanked them profusely. Then Bromfield said, “Take your pick of the puppies.” Surprised as they were, they did not hesitate, and four weeks later a female puppy was delivered to their home.

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

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All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
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— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

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The Business of Writing: ISBNs and Imprints #MFRWOrg indie publishing #IARTG #ASMSG

Today on The Maze:

ISBNs and Imprints demystified!

Still-Life with Books
by an unknown Dutch Master, ca 1620
public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

ISBN: The acronym for International Standard Book Number, a unique commercial book identifier that is now most commonly 13 digits. Buy them in bulk from Bowker -- why? Because each edition (e-book, paperback, hardcover, graphic novel, etc.) needs a separate ISBN, which will chew through them fast if you are creating several editions of the same title.

To clarify: You do not need to assign a separate ISBN to the same manuscript file you publish via different e-book platforms (e.g., KDP, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, GooglePlay, Smashwords, Draft2Digital). Even when the requirements differ for the inclusion of licensing notes, you can still assign the same ISBN because the edition of the story itself is identical across e-reader platforms.

Furthermore, if your plan is to distribute only via Amazon, then you do not need to buy an ISBN for your e-book because Amazon's internal ASIN suffices as a substitute, and you can obtain a free ISBN from Amazon if you release the print edition via Createspace. That said, there has been a recent change to European VAT law -- not yet adopted by all EU members -- that allows for the VAT to not be deducted from your royalty if your e-book has an ISBN.

Decisions, decisions!

If you can afford to lay out $600 (give or take) for a clutch of 100 ISBNs, that's the most economical route short of buying 1000 or more. Bowker's next lowest bulk tier is 10 ISBNs for $295 as of this writing. But unless you're going to print your books via your local print shop, do NOT bother to buy the barcode they try to sell you. (More on those reasons in a future article, when I give my US$0.02 about book covers.)

And if you really and truly do want to buy a barcode, please contact me first. :D

Imprints: An "imprint" is simply publisher-speak for a label to define a body of work. Traditional publishers, such as Simon & Schuster, have established imprints for decades. For example, my first novel, Dawnflight, was published in 1999 by Sonnet Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint. And the process for establishing an imprint isn't as onerous as you might believe.

1. Decide on a catchy name for your imprint (e.g., Pendragon Cove Press).
2. Do your homework to make sure someone else hasn't already decided that it's a catchy name (e.g., Pendragon Cove Press is my imprint). "Homework" includes any or all of the following steps, depending on how big of a network reach you wish for your imprint to claim:
• Searching for the name on a book e-tailer site such as Amazon (these are the search results for Pendragon Cove Press). This step is a must.
• Performing a "Whois" lookup, if you're also interested in snagging the domain(s). For now, pendragoncovepress.com points to this blog; that's all you need to do too, if you don't have time to set up a separate web presence.
• Searching Gmail, Ymail, and so forth if you want to claim the imprint's name for one or more email accounts.
• Searching for your desired imprint's name on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
3. Send an email to Bowker requesting that the name be added to their Imprints database. They include a "mailto:" link for this purpose on the page for defining sales & prices when you're setting up your book title's ISBN information. I don't know what their response time is today, but a Bowker representative got my Pendragon Cove Press imprint established within 24 hours last year.

It's that easy!

Once your imprint is established, then it will display as an option for assigning in your book's "publisher" field on the product page, rather than your name, which blares the "I Am an Indie Author-Publisher" label to God and everybody.

If you don't set up an imprint but have elected to incorporate (see my article here), then your corporation's name will be recorded as the publisher. That choice doesn't blare quite so loudly, but establishing one or more imprints for your books will make you appear that much more professional and perhaps give you a leg up on your competition.

Oh, and if you have sent in a new-imprint request, please use a little common sense in your follow-up correspondence if you believe it's taking too long. I imagine that they don't perform those sorts of tasks on weekends and US holidays.

Happy imprinting! :)

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Add Kim as a favorite author on Amazon.com
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— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Amazon, Twitter, and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Morning's Journey. Please enter often, and good luck!