Monday, August 19, 2013

Tour Kick Off - Meet and Greet - Rhidauna by Paul E. Horsman



Epic Fantasy Adventure
Date Published: 7/6/2013

The night before his Coming-of-Age, Ghyll and his two friends escaped their castle on a clandestine hunt that would forever change their lives.

They returned just in time to see their island castle destroyed by strange warriors from a dragonboat and flocks of burning birds. 

Ghyll’s birthday turned into a nightmare as they fled into the night.

This begins an epic journey to find out who is trying to kill them... and most importantly, why?

Fortunately, they can count on colorful new friends to assist, including a sometimes overly enthusiastic fire mage, an inexperienced paladin and a female beastmaster who is a ferocious mountain lion.

In a world filled with jealous priests, corrupt magistrates, bored aristocrats and power-hungry magicians, they try to survive dark wizards, murderous golems, and fire bird attacks.It soon becomes apparent that not one but several assassins are after them. Who are these members of an obscure, long-forgotten organization?And whose cold hand reaches across the boundaries of space and time to threaten weakened Rhidauna?

While the time is running the friends undertake a quest that leads them through a large part of Rhidauna. Following them, the reader is carried along on an exciting journey through a colorful world, whose people, culture and atmosphere are described with great attention to detail without the story losing momentum.








#1 – Do You See Writing as a Career?

For me, writing is a career. I am Dutch, but the economic crisis hit us too and the Government closed the school I worked for. At my age (I’m from 1952), the chance of another job is nil, so I’m writing fulltime now.
In the Netherlands, I am traditionally published, with the third book upcoming. Rhidauna, The Shadow of the Revenaunt #1 is the first.
After 43 years working for other people, the idea of working for myself was attractive. So I decided to self-publish my books outside of NL. I set up my own publishing company, Red Rune Books, registered it in the right places, got my own ISBN-numbers, etc, found a professional American editor and engaged the services of my well-known Dutch illustrator for the international covers. I’m bringing out five titles this year alone. All in all, I consider writing a career.


#2 – What was the Hardest Part of Your Writing Process?

Writing gritty. I’ve many discussions with my NL editors about that, who wanted more bleakness and suffering. Only once I gave in and I am still unhappy with it.
Point is I am writing non-gritty stories. That doesn’t mean nothing bad happens, for of course it does. But it is never hopeless, nor do I see a need to murder all my characters to show the world how rotten life is. I’ve got the newspapers for that, they do it much better.      
So a better answer to the original question would be: keeping the right balance between happiness and unhappiness. That’s something I am working on.


#3 – Did you have any One Person Who Helped You Out with Your Writing Outside of Your Family?

My family is only my sister with her husband and boys. I’m not married, so you could say I’m like one of those mages, working away in their wizard towers. In all honesty, this is what suits me best, being a solitary person.
Luckily I’ve got several very helpful beta readers, and a good editor to straighten the awkward sentences.

#4 – What is next for your writing?

There is a lot in the pipeline:
- Runemaster, #2 of my Shardheld Saga trilogy (book #1, Shardfall, was published in June), is scheduled to appear in September
- Zihaen, #2 of the Shadow of the Revenaunt, will probably follow in October/November.
For next year:
- Ordelanden, #3 of the Shadow of the Revenaunt.
- Shardheld, #3 of the Shardheld Saga
Then I’m brooding on something else entirely, something dystopian. But I don’t have the picture complete, so I won’t say anything :)


#5 – Do you have an addiction to reading as well as writing? If so, what are you currently reading?

I should, but I haven’t got the time for it atm. There is a stack of great books waiting to be read. But I’ve read a great deal of SFF in the previous forty years

DESCRIBE Your Book in 1 Tweet:

Rhidauna, The Shadow of the Revenaunt #1 – an epic, non-gritty fantasy adventure story for adults and YA.


This or That?

#1 - iPod or Mp3?  As I’m not mobile enough, neither. All my music I’ve copied to my pc.

#2 – Chocolate or Vanilla?  Chocolate..

#3 – Mashed Potatoes or French Fries?  French fries (Dutch variety, they’re bigger).

#4 – Comedy or Drama?  Drama.

#5 – Danielle Steel or Nicholas Sparks?  I pass.

#6 – Fantasy or Reality?  Both. I read fantasy, but also history books.

#7 – Call or Text?  I’d rather email than phone, if that’s what you mean.

#8 – Public School or Home School?  Public school (not really much home schooling in NL)

#9 – Coffee or Hot Chocolate?  Coffee.


#10 – eBook or Paperback?  Paperback (preferably the smaller mass published ones)






Lives in Roosendaal, The Netherlands.

I was born in Bussum, The Netherlands, in the year 1952. 

After many years in business, I ended up in 1995 in education. My school was specialized in Dutch language and integration courses for foreigners. Unhappily, due to changed legislation this beautiful work stopped in mid-2012. My age, five years from retirement, makes it nigh on impossible to find something else, so now I am building up a career as an independent author.

SF and Fantasy have fascinated me since my high school days, but apart from some juvenile trash, I never seriously tried to write anything. 

It was in 2007, I took the first steps in what is now the fantasy kingdom of Rhidauna. After several false starts and associated discouraged intervals, a spark began to grow and mid-2010, the first two parts of Shadow of the Revenaunt were more or less written. 

With the Revenaunt-series, I had in mind something in the way of days gone by. A heroic tale with sympathetic protagonists and black villains, in which good always triumphs in the end. Something to counterbalance the modern gritty style. 

In 2012 the first book, Rhidauna, was traditionally published in The Netherlands. The second book, Zihaen, followed in March 2013 and book three, Ordelanden, is scheduled for September in NL. Now I’m selfpublishing the international edition, well-translated and edited. The English version of Rhidauna appeared in July. Zihaen is being edited for later this year.

Next to the Revenaunt-series, I’m writing The Shardheld Saga, a trilogy, of which the first, Shardfall, appeared on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc, in May 2013. The second book, Runemaster, is being edited and scheduled for September.


Twitter: @Graylorne
Websitehttp://www.paulhorsman-author.com



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