Emerging into the E-Novel Market

This month I’ve emerged into the growing e-novel market. It was a pretty easy decision to go with an e-publisher, both from the perspective of sustainable practice and business marketing. Recent reports indicate that e-novels are gaining popularity around the world, and more traditional print-media.  In China, for example, there are over 70 million readers accessing this new market. And with the next generation of North Americans growing up on a steady diet of  I-Pads, Kindles, and Kobos, it just seems sensible to begin tapping into that market. I also like the fact that the traditional gate-keepers – big print-media corporations – and their arrogant entourage  of literary agents  – are being pushed aside by the growing web 2.0-like rise of e-publishing.  Bring it on – power to the grassroots!

One of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had over the last five years was trying to secure a publisher and an agent for my first manuscript – Raven’s Key. I found only a small amount of solace in the great Cinderella story of J.K Rowling and the difficulty she had in finding a publisher for her first novel: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. And we all know how that story ends.

So – I decided to go out on a limb with this new e-publisher – High Vibration Publications.  They take the three of Druidic values  of Wisdom, Creativity, and Love, as the guiding principles for their publications, embracing the idea that sharing knowledge really is a divine act of Grace. The more we share, the more we give, the more we live and grow as human beings.

So far I’ve sold 5 copies! Thanks to those five readers for keeping it real. So what are these books about anyways?

Raven’s Key: A Novel

My goal in writing this novel was to piece together fragments of conspiracy theories that have become cultural tropes in our modern society. Both the secular and divine apocalypse is something that has consumed our species for millennium. Recently the preoccupation with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 is highlighted by many around the planet as “the end.” When asked about 2012, a good friend and gifted healer, tells her clients, “It is the end! The end of the Mayan calendar.” As much as we are fascinated by the creation and evolution of our planet, we are equally interested in its destruction. The funny thing is that the more we focus on the destruction of our planet, the more we actually manifest it. The concept of intent and the power of faith is one of the main themes I’ve tried to weave throughout the plot of this novel.

Download a copy of the E-Novel 

Tarantella: A Love Story (Based on true events)

Two men, one woman, and an ancient and dangerous Italian tradition.

The strong bond between First Class Italian Air Force Mechanic, Marco Delgobo, and Canadian Private Peter McMillan, is tested by the power of love and the magic of two very old witches in an ancient medieval village in the foothills of Molise Italy. The two men must escape the retreating Nazi occupation of Italy and face death to win the heart of Limosano’s beautiful Carmella.

This story is set admist the backdrop of post-World War II Italy and is inspired by the true events of my Grandfather who escaped deportation to the Nazi death camps and walked from northern Italy back to his home village of Limosano, in south-central region of Molise. I added the Canadian element because of the strong presence of Canadians in the region during and after the war, and because my grandfather eventually settled in Canada. The story unfolds amidst the true events of the Italian resistance to the Nazi occupation. As an anthropologist, I also tried to weave some ancient history and traditions into the narrative. Ultimately, this story is about the power of love – and the lengths we’ll go to express and protect it.

Download a copy of the E-novel

The Calendar Killer

This is a new manuscript I’m working on.

As a child Louis never believed his Grandmother’s stories were real. As he grew older, however, and discovered he’d inherited the family gifts, he slowly begins to understand that being a story-keeper isn’t something you chose to be. A gruesome serial killer starts haunting the small village were Louis works as a writer, and freelance psychic-medium. Patricia Forgues is a frustrated young detective who decides to try her luck tracking down the elusive killer by using Louis’ abilities. Little do they realize that the killer is from a place neither of them could ever imagine. Louis begins to see patterns from the old stories his grandmother used to tell him. To catch the killer, he has to figure out a way to open a door into the mythical realm of his ancestors and lure the killer back where he belongs.