Today, America, it is your duty and honor to make what will be perhaps the most important choice of our lifetimes.

No, not that political race. Most of you, being upright citizens, have probably cast your votes in that one already.

No, I’m talking about the solemn and portentous decision as to what the cover of my next novel will be like.

As you know if you’ve been around here, I’ve gone to e-publishing, with the generous assistance of our friend Ori Pomerantz, who does the technical publishing stuff, and Phil Wade of this blog, who designs the covers. (You can see my previous masterwork, Troll Valley, here.)

The new book is another Erling Skjalgsson novel, and I call it Hailstone Mountain. It’s a sort of H. Rider Haggard-esque story, centering on a lost civilization high in the mountains of Norway. We’ve been brainstorming it and have gone through a few versions. Here’s one. The background is a photo I took during my last trip to Norway. It’s a famous place in Romsdal called Trollveggen (Troll Wall). The people in front are members of my Viking group, the Viking Age Club and Society of the Sons of Norway.

Continue reading Decision day! →

Slate Book Review and The Center for Cartoon Studies has announced a new award for excellence in cartooning. Get the goods here.

Kelsey Patton, who has some slight interest in the matter, has posted this YouTube video of my epic battle with her new husband in Minot:

In other ego-building news, this link will take you to the Amazon page for Troll Valley, where the latest reader review goes like this:

Most Expensive Book I Ever Bought

Lars, I bought a Kindle so I could read your books. I have loved all of them since finding Warrior in (of all places) a grocery store. Please write more.

Thank you, Joseph J. McConnell. I’ll try to make it a worthwhile investment for you.

Petrona has a round-up of books eligible for this year’s CWA International Dagger award. There are many Scandinavian titles. The 2011 CWA International Dagger was given to Anders Roslund & Börge Hellström for their novel, Three Seconds (translated from the Swedish by Kari Dickson).

We’ve talked about censorship here before. We’ve noted often that when a government stops a book from being printed or distributed, that’s censorship, but when a parent complains about the appropriateness of a book for her child, that’s not. We hope parents are actually morally and reasonably when they question some of the recommended reading at school. Doesn’t always happen, of course. Recently a teacher was investigated by school and community law enforcement because a parent complained that Ender’s Game is pornographic. Help us.

BTW, you can buy Ender’s Game (with cool cover art) here.

But we usually don’t talk about bookstores that won’t sell perfectly good books because of one or more select words. Caryn Rivadeneira writes about a few of these examples, particularly an argument author Rachel Held Evens had with her publisher. In short, Thomas Nelson wouldn’t let her use the word vagina.

Rivadeneira notes the difficulties. “They are businesses after all, and to be successful, businesses need to sell products their customers will read without getting up in arms. The problem with Vagina-gate and similar forms of “censorship” is that, in an attempt to protect customers, publishers and bookstores are making it a lot harder for writers to tell the stories God has called them to write. And when Christians are barred by other Christians from serving God, it dishonors God. In fact, it’s sin.”

I think she’s right.

BTW, you can pre-order Evans’ book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master, here.