I’m thrilled to announce that as of right now, you can now purchase the Kindle version of Minsters of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim. Hooray! Additional electronic formats will be available later on this fall, so if you’re an iBooks or Nook or Smashwords junkie, please hold still a bit longer.
Here are more action shots from excited people who’ve received their trade paperback versions in the mail. Double hooray!
One day real soon, I hope, I’ll be able to get back to writing. Keep your eyes here for new work and announcements as they come.
Check out this action shot submitted by Carla Kraft, reading her copy of Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim at the beach this week.
If you don’t have yours yet and are dying for one, head over to Amazon.com to get your very own.
I had intended to pick only one winner of the July Contest. However, on account of the shocking heatwave that’s taken over the east coast of the US, two of the entrant’s names’ melted together when I went to pick them out of the hat. Congratulations to Steve Cabiedes and Len Pipkin!
Scroll down to the bottom of this post to check out a Spotify playlist that features a sampling of the songs that people submitted for the contest. And check this site out on Tuesday, when I’ll be posting fresh details as to where and how you can get your ebook version.
If you had a theme song, what would it be? Your theme song would be what they’d play if you were a superstar professional athlete stepping out on to the field, or if you were walking on stage to collect your lifetime achievement Oscar. If you can’t think of a theme song, is there a song that makes you undeniably happy whenever you hear it, like you just have to stop whatever you’re doing to dance, rock out and/or sing along at the top of your lungs to it? I like to refer to that particular song employing the highly specific colloquialism of happy song.
Share with me your theme song or your happy song, and you’ll automatically be entered to win a signed trade paper edition of Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim. All you have to do it post the name and artist of that song or piece let’s not exclude those into classical music in the comments below, on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, or via email at info (at) estelleanabaca dot comminus all those spaces if you’re embarrassed by your choice and don’t want the world to know how much Ambrosia speaks to you.
The contest will close at 10:00 pm EDT on Thursday, July 18th.I’ll then choose one lucky follower from all the entries and announce the winner on the morning of Friday, July 19th. It’s free and it’s easy to enter. Do it now to win the book you’ll take with you to the beach in August!
Now—why is this relevant? Within the Ministers of Grace universe, there are two musical concepts known as the Magnificat and the Key. Generally speaking, your theme song would be your Magnificat, and your happy song would be your Key if you were a Nephil. It might be the other way around, though, depending on which songs have chosen you. Click here to read more about Keys.
And because I’m asking you to share something personal, I’ll share with you my own songs from popular music. My theme song is “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads, and my happy song of late is Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” If you know me personally, those make sense, don’t they?
Enter now!
♥ EAB
UPDATE: The contest is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered!
Excellent news, folks! It is my extreme pleasure to announce that the trade paperback version of Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim is now available!
You can get your very own printed-on-demand copy at Amazon.com and CreateSpace. The list price is US $11.99, Amazon’s selling it for $10.54, and during the month of July, if you enter in the discount code 9WS6N4TX at the CreateSpace site, you’ll get $2 off and pay a fresh $9.99. After you’ve read it, you can help me get the word out by telling all your friends about it through social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Google+, or even the good ol’ “I read this great book, it was…” conversation over lunch. You can also spread the word by heading over to the book’s page at Amazon, Goodreads or Shelfari and leaving me an honest review of the book. I made it through a graduate creative writing program; I can take a bad review.This is the beach read you’ve been pining for. Order your copy now!
I am also elated to announce that there were two winners of the June Contest Giveaway – Eloïse Le Magnen and Lesley Wickham. Eloïse picked June 27th, and Lesley chose July 1st. As the book was technically available on the evening of June 27th but not announced until July 1st, I’ve decided that both of them get a signed copy. Thank you to everyone who participated. Early next week I’ll announce the details of the July Contest Giveaway, in which you can enter to win a free signed copy. If you’d like a head start on the details, check out this post I wrote last week on Keys.
Now, on to some not-so-excellent-but-still-pretty-cool news. Many folks want an electronic version, of course. Due to circumstances beyond my control – insert (>_<) face here – the electronic conversion is going to take three weeks to complete. (>_<), right? That said, the Kindle version will be available on July 23rd, 2013, with further electronic formats to open up in August 2013. Keep your eyes peeled for the official announcements on those.
On a personal note, the publication of this first book in the Ministers of Grace trilogy is a ginormous moment in a journey that I began three-and-a-half years ago. I’ve already written the other two books, and now they’re barking at me to redraft them so that they can join their sister in print. Here’s to ’14 and ’15? I want everyone I’ve ever met to know that I couldn’t have done this without the limitless love and support of my family and friends. I’m honored that you all believed in me enough to share this with you. Thank you, all of you!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ EAB
Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim
Available at Amazon.com and CreateSpace
Publication Date: June 27, 2013
ISBN/EAN13: 1480257672 / 9781480257672
LCCN: 2012921094
Page Count: 242
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 6″ x 9″
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic
While we’re all still waiting for this book to come out – it will be soon, I promise, and I don’t make promises lightly – let me share with you some information on Keys.
Within the Ministers of Grace universe, all angels and Nephilim have two innate musical components: the Magnificat and Keys.
The Magnificat is the sound of Grace, the very essence of the divine, that exists within their soul and fuels their lifeforce. Only other creatures with Grace can sense it, and every Magnificat is unique. If you could hear it, it would sound like a song or a chant. It can gradually evolve over time, so that while you would still be able to name that tune from day to day, year to year, the instrumentation and tempo will differ with that angel or Nephil’s general state of mind or being or health.
Keys are similar, but they run deeper. They are the core quality of angels and Nephilim. They operate as something as a default emotional response, and they are expressed musically. There are twelve Keys: Joy, Comfort, Inspiration, Protection, Gratitude, Unity, Harmony, Renewal, Freedom, Fortitude, Lucidity and Fulfillment. Three pairs of Keys are twinned: Comfort and Protection; Renewal and Fulfillment; and Freedom and Lucidity.
How do they work? An angel with the Key of Protection would feel safe and secure when she’s at rest, whereas a Nephil with the Key of Lucidity would feel that all existence is alive and bright, infused with clarity, when he’s at his most calm state. As infants and children, angels and Nephilim broadcast them clearly. As they mature, they learn to control them, and there are two reasons for this. The first is that it is telling to know what it is that motivates them. A Nephil with the Key of Freedom might not be reliable in a situation that requires a great deal of patience and long-term toil, just as an angel with the Key of Fortitude might not always be yielding and understanding in a scenario that would require more subtlety and delicate finesse. The second reason Keys are controlled is that they tend to record all the experiences that an angel or Nephil has had over her lifetime. Unless a mature Nephil wants an angel to know everythinghe’s lived, then he would be better off keeping it to himself.
What might Keys sound like, if we could translate them into Western Music? I’ve compiled two Spotify playlists that demonstrate what they might sound like, one with classical music and the other with popular music. Embedded playlists are at the very bottom of this post.
Joy – W.A. Mozart, Overture, Le Nozze di Figaro
Comfort – J.S. Bach, Suite for Orchestra No 3, BWV 1068, II. Air
Inspiration – Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, XI. Limoges, la marché
Protection – Gabriel Fauré, “La Cantique de Jean Racine”
Gratitude – G.F. Händel, Serse, “Ombra mai fù”
Unity – Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No 6 in F Major, “Pastoral”, I. Allegro ma non troppo
Harmony – Edvard Grieg, Fire Salmer, II. “Guds Søn Har Gjort Mig Fri”
Renewal – Benjamin Britten, Hymn to St Cecilia, III. “O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall”
Freedom – Jean Sibelius, Symphony No 6 in D minor, I. Allegro molto moderato
Fortitude – Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, “Ave Formosissima” into “O Fortuna”
Lucidity – Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird, Finale
Fulfillment – Arnold Schönberg, Verklärte Nacht, I. Grave into II. Molto Rallentando
N.B. The Spotify playlist is incomplete, as they’re lacking the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead’s In Rainbows ☹. I’ve provided a link to where you can listen to the track elsewhere on the interwebs.
Joy – The Beatles, “I Saw Her Standing There”
Comfort – Goldfrapp, “Let It Take You”
Inspiration – Stevie Wonder, “As”
Protection – Depeche Mode, “Home”
Gratitude – Jimi Hendrix, “May This Be Love”
Unity – Earth, Wind & Fire, “That’s the Way of the World”
Harmony – Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Renewal – Jeff Buckley, “Morning Theft”
Freedom – Elton John, “Rocket Man”
Fortitude – Led Zeppelin, “Kashmir”
Lucidity – Björk, “It’s Not Up to You”
Fulfillment – Radiohead, “All I Need”
If you really think about it, it’s not really all that difficult to conceive of all life of being composed of music. If you don’t believe me, just check this out.
If I had a Key, it’d probably be Gratitude. What would your Key be? Just think of a time of when you were most content. What did you feel then? Tweet or Facebook or G+ or comment me below if you want to share what your Key would be, although you might want to keep that to yourself.
It’s June! That means that my book is coming out sometime over the next month (or so). However, the release date is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. I will inform you, though, that it will not be coming out this week.
That said, I will give away a free signed physical copy to one lucky person* who correctly guesses the release date. Hooray!
So—how do you play to win? Pick your favorite date between June 10th through July 10th (I am leaving room for production error), and leave your guess in the comments here, on my Facebook wall or Google+ page, or by tweeting me at @MinistersGrace. The contest will close at 11:59 pm ET on Friday, June 7, 2013, so you have time to choose if you’re the indecisive type. Please enter one time only. When (not if) you win, I will merrily send you a shiny trade paper edition of Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim.
Now—when will I announce the winner? I don’t know! It all depends on when my book is released! But it’ll be on or before July 10th! Isn’t this exciting?!
It’s so easy that I’m sure you and all your friends will get on this right away. Enter now!
♥ EAB
*That means, of course, that if a whole bunch of you choose the same date, I will put your names in an great big bag and draw out the name of a single winner.
UPDATE. The contest is now closed. Thank you and thank you again to all who participated. Keep your eyes peeled starting on Monday, June 10th, 2013, to find out who won & when Ministers of Grace: Cherubim & Seraphim will be released.
At the moment, I am figuratively jumping up and down with joy. Why? I received word that a physical proof of the book is on its way to me right this instant, meaning that the real live actual publication date is coming! It’ll take them a bit to apply a change here and there after I send it back, but as far as I know, I’m still on track for pushing the button on everything next month. Please stay tuned for the precise date that the book will be available.