http://www.squaremans.com/Priest.pdf
If there is, as I hope, a substantive audience for this book and this series, I don’t think there’s any danger they’re all going to discover the book from my website and word of mouth. It takes the kind of promotion a Publisher can muster to get a lot of readers. So I don’t think there any downside to posting the entire book online, where maybe a couple of hundred people might eventually see it. And I’m proud of it, I want people to read it!
So here it is, in PDF form for the nonce. I’d love to get it in Kindle form, as I think the Kindle is keen, and the Kindle app (for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Mac, and PC) is a great way to read, very well designed. Alas I think the only way to get the whole thing on Kindle is to attach a price to it. Which I’ll probably do, something like $3 or $5. Since you can read the PDF for free, you’d basically be paying for the right to read it on your Kindle, but I did spend months working on it. I’m not terribly averse to the idea of getting a little money for it.
Now that this edit is done, it’s on to book two!
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Scott · July 6, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I read the whole book. Took me two days. I loved it. I enjoyed every aspect of it.. the plot, the vocabulary, the theme, the inclusion of various elements from fantasy-genre. I liked the character development, and the tragedy. There were about 20 or so spelling or grammatical errors, ironically… only the most basic things like.. Domnal vs Domnall and several instances of words being repeated “had to had to” or that sort of thing. Nothing substantive. I would have noted each of them and then sent them to you if the pdf had allowed for editing.
All in all, I felt that for you to have been able to write this sort of story, you simply connect well with my type of person. Not just the tragic part… but also the insight into the position of an Arrogate, and of our cultural awareness of common distain for organized religion, and yet a strong understanding of ‘the good’… aswell as all the truth about the world being such a miserable place much of the time.
Are you working even now on the sequel?
Admin comment by Matthew Colville · July 6, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Scott you’re my new favorite person.
I’m glad you liked the book, and doubly glad you took the time to comment. I’d love someday for comments on the work to be passé, but we’re not yet at that point.
Right now, they’re precious.
I started working on the sequel before I’d even finished the first book! I think I’ll have the first 5 or 6 chapters in an early draft form soon and though it will be exceedingly rough–far rougher than the admittedly non-final Priest–I feel it’s safe to send it out to readers who made it all the way through the first book and liked it enough to want more. So stay tuned! You’ll be among the first to read the new chapters. Possibly a dubious distinction depending on their quality!
Until I commission some art to help promote the piece, the only way people will find the book is by word of mouth. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to tell your friends, talk about the work on the internets, let people know you liked it. Thus are networks born!
If you don’t mind my asking: how did you discover the book? What or who linked you here?
Thanks again for the positive comments and encouragement!
Harry · July 8, 2010 at 5:17 am
Just finished reading it, unlike Scott I think it took me a whole three days! Very readable, I really enjoyed it and I look forward to reading future installments in the series. Surely finding a publisher won’t be terribly hard; certainly this is of a much higher standard than the majority of works published in this genre. In the meantime I’ll be sure and pass on the link to other potential readers. Thanks for an enjoyable read, keep up the good work.
Admin comment by Matthew Colville · July 8, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Wow, two replies in two days! Must be something going around.
Harry I’m glad you liked it! Hopefully you’ll enjoy the rest of the series.