I have the honor of sharing that A Jane Austen Daydream is being showcased on the website My Jane Austen Book Club right now!
You can read not only a description of the book, but also the first two chapters!
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This is a part of getting my book published I was not expecting and it’s kind of fun. My publisher is giving away items related to my new book!This month two lucky readers can win A Jane Austen Daydream poster. I think it is a great cover and would be a neat addition in any classroom or nearby bookshelves (or, dare I dream, in a Jane Austen museum???)
To enter, please visit the Facebook page for the book here (https://www.facebook.com/AJaneAustenDaydream?ref=ts&fref=ts) and click on the giveaway button after clicking on the like button. It is as easy as that.
If you haven’t picked up the eBook yet for A Jane Austen Daydream, you can find it here:
- Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B00AILCDJC
- Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Jane-Austen-Daydream/book-0Z8uszBmqUqDrFMp7Gx02A/page1.html?s=lzRSr-yaDEKH3oB899XHig&r=1
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/262181
The paperback is coming in a few weeks. I hope everyone is enjoying the daydream… Cheers! And, as always, thanks for reading!
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From Dan Wiggs, author of The Jane Austen Travel Guide:
This book made me smile. The closing pages of a Jane Austen biography always reduce me to tears, what with her singular failure to find love and her horrible illness and early death. This book takes the opportunity to dream her up the romance we are not sure she ever had. Do not come here looking for historical or biographical accuracy; these are not its concern. It is, as its title makes clear, a daydream, a lighthearted flight of fancy, intended to amuse and distract. Watch out also for the many references to her novels, which are like a puzzle, challenging you to recognize where they are taken from.
I hope you will check it out:
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A Facebook page for A Jane Austen Daydream has been created on Facebook by my great publisher. I hope you will consider liking it. There are samples from the book, comments, and giveaways! Yes, prizes related to my book. How cool is that?
Right now they are giving away a poster. (I kind of want one.) You can find the Facebook page here.
And as always, you can find the book for purchase here:
- Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B00AILCDJC
- Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Jane-Austen-Daydream/book-0Z8uszBmqUqDrFMp7Gx02A/page1.html?s=lzRSr-yaDEKH3oB899XHig&r=1
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/262181
I can not wait to hear what people think of the work…
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Deep breath…
So a few weeks ago I got called out by a writer/editor/publishing professional on Twitter questioning my goals and my thoughts behind this experiment of mine, Permanent Spring Showers. My little book inspired by Dickens.
Twitter, in its limited word span, can make things seem harsher than the writer may actually have meant it to sound (I did feel like he was condescending) but it threw me a curve.
Was I jarred? Yeah, I was jarred. I still am jarred.
I also like the word “jarred,” but let’s continue.
Basically, his argument was broken down into this point:
What publisher would publish or consider a book that people were getting for free?
Before other bloggers and writers take to my twitter site (@sdsouthard) to find the guy and twitter attack, let me say that about two-years ago I would have agreed with him. Yeah, I was in that camp then because I was trained in writing grad school to think of the publishing world in that black-and-white way. Heck, every book on writing and publishing would agree with him!
But the fact is that while this argument once made sense to me, it is not that way today. The world has changed, I have changed. (more…)
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So I am still working to find a traditional publisher for the work. Yes, the grind continues…
I’ve seemed to have hit some roadblocks regarding agents. While the responses from agents who have read it to be very kind (for example, “well-written” and “captivating”) and all note that they think it will find publication and success, I have yet to get the gold; in other words, one that feels inspired to push it for that “success” and “publication.” There is one agency I still have my fingers very crossed about, but if I hear a negative from them, I plan to try a different route- going right to small publishers and indie presses. (Oh, and if you are an agent or a publisher reading this- I don’t bite, please contact me. Seriously, I’ll send you flowers.)
Anyway, to keep myself inspired for the possible hard work ahead, I thought I would share some of the book here, Chapter 9 from Part II; one of the big turning points in the book. (more…)
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Today, I thought I would link to some samples I have shared from some of my novels in the past. Think of this as something like Show and Tell, but it is my turn and no one gets a turn but me… Oh, and everyone has to listen and applaud at the end with a hint of jealousy… oh yes, and run out and buy all my books and love me.
Okay, maybe not all that, but you get the gist.
I have two novels currently in print. They were both honored in a novel-writing competition before being selected for publication by a new indie press. They are Megan and My Problem With Doors. I am really proud of both books.
Megan is the story of Megan Wane. Megan lives in two different worlds. In the real world, she is a very bored office worker, frustrated by the direction her life has taken and dealing with a micro-managing boss. In her fantasy world though, Megan is a princess superhero, The Great Defender.In this excerpt (here), Megan deals with a very “bureaucratic” dragon. You can find my book on amazon.com here.
My Problem With Doors is the story of Jacob who has been stuck time traveling ever since he was a toddler. His “problem” is a unique one; doors do not work for him as they do for us, and when he enters one he never knows what he will meet on the other side.In this excerpt (here) from the novel, Jacob has dinner with Jack the Ripper. You can find the book on amazon.com here.
A lot of my work over this year has been trying to find a home for A Jane Austen Daydream, my most current novel. Last year, it was selected to be shared online by greenspotblue.com. (Those links to the chapters from the book can still be found on the A Jane Austen Daydream page.) My hope is to find an agent for the work and then get it published. So if you are an agent or publisher reading this… ah… hi...
A Jane Austen Daydream is not a biography, it is not even close to being one. In the book, I am “retelling” Jane’s life as if she was one of the characters in her novel, giving her the love story she deserved and never had.
This selection (here) is chapter two from the first part of the work.
Thanks for reading! And please, if you like what you read, share the work on your page or share with your friends or buy the books or visit the Austen page or tell your aunt who is an agent about me or send me cookies… I like cookies. Who doesn’t?
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That Dante ThangI’ve really loved re-discovering the world of The Dante Experience (You can hear the original production of the first part and the first scripts for the unproduced sequel, Time Out Of Mind, here). Maybe I am the only one reading the scripts for its sequel Time Out Of Mind, or listening to the original radio episodes; but, hey, it makes me happy, so there (Try to be nice Scott, the post has just started).
And because of this, I’ve started really thinking about how this comedy series can come back to life again; because, I truly think with the right cast and production it can have a following like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That is a thought that is always at the back of mind.
Well, I have an idea to bring it back to life finally, but the idea of how to move forward with it is the sticky point. See, I know who I want as my entire cast. (more…)
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What was that thing T. S. Elliot said about April… Okay, it is on the tip of my tongue. Oh, I’m sure I will get it sooner or later.All I can say, is I am glad there is no reference to cats in the Wasteland. It’s still mind-blowing to me that the guy who wrote Wasteland also created the poems that inspired years of dancers dressed like cats spinning on a stage to Andrew Lloyd Weber music… But I digress.
The article that won’t go away…
Back in March, I wrote a personal reflection inspired by the closing of my high school (here). I already wrote in detail about the reaction to the article in my March update (here). To sum up, I hit a nerve with a lot of people and it was huge for me. It went on to have over 1300 views, spurring a sequel article (I felt I had to react to the loss of the school in a more straightforward-here-is-my-opinion way), and numerous, numerous comments on my site. (more…)
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Every artist has a mad genius moment in their past that they can point to…. And if they can’t, chances are they are still in the midst of it.My mad genius moment came when I had turned thirty. Let me paint the scene- my wife was in grad school; I was working a lousy evening temp job which made it so I only saw her one to two hours a day, if at all; my literary agent at the time was still uncertain how to represent my books, which I truly loved and thought should have been published yesterday; I was continuously hitting walls when I applied for creative writing positions on the college level; and I was turning thirty, which kept reminding me of how many writers and poets said the best work was created by people in their 20’s…. AHHHHH!!!
For any artist, feeling this level of burden and frustration, how could I not put the white lab coat on, mess up my hair and laugh loudly and evilly?
What came out of my mad genius moment is a book that will probably never be published. It is called Maxmillian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare. (more…)
The Stories of Scott D. Southard 