Auralia's Colors

[Overstreet]

So... if you get indigestion... was that the food? Or the book?

Thanks for supporting our endeavors!

Got my first inquiry about movies rights for Auralia's Colors today... from someone with fabulous credentials. Interesting. It's just an inquiry, but it was still very exciting. And much sooner than I anticipated.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Jeffrey Overstreet

[JennyLynne]

Good plan, Alan. I should pick up a few more. I know several people who would LOVE this book.

[Overstreet]

The publisher has me on a "blog tour" of various Christian bloggers who write about new books. These aren't the neighborhoods I'm used to visiting, to say the least, but there are some enthusiastic readers out there.

Here's an interview I did with a reader named Deena. And here's her review.

I'm told that sites like these do get a lot of traffic and help introduce the book to communities that aren't reading Books and Culture or Publisher's Weekly or, for that matter, artsandfaith.com.

Edited September 13, 2007 by Jeffrey Overstreet

[JennyLynne]

That's great Jeffrey!

By the way, finished the book last night (stayed up past my bedtime to do so) and am now ready for the second! I was not expecting that ending. PERFECT!

[Overstreet]

Thank, Jenny. People are going to think I put you up to this.

[JennyLynne]

Thank, Jenny. People are going to think I put you up to this.

I do accept bribes ;0)

[Overstreet]

I just corrected the bad link on the "interview" mention above.

[JennyLynne]

Auralia's Colors is in Jefferson (maybe we should change it to Jeffreson?) City's Barnes and Noble. Or at least, it was until I bought their last copy last night for my coworker's birthday.

[Overstreet]

[Michael Todd]

There are a whopping three copies of the book at the Evansville, IN Barnes & Noble.

[Overstreet]

Hey, folks... since you all have nothing better to do... it would be great if some of you posted reviews on Amazon.com, or at GoodReads.com, or on the Barnes and Noble site... or wherever you think people might need an extra nudge.

But only if you MEAN it!

Thanks. And if you're in the Pacific NW, don't forget tomorrow night's release party at Third Place Books at 6:30 p.m.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Hey Jeff, do the characters in your novel(s) drink?

[Overstreet]

Let me give you a clue.

One of the three main characters is called "the ale boy."

Yes. There is a great deal of drinking in this book.

And no... nobody seemed to have a problem with that.

[Crow]

Slow reader checking in here. I've just finished the book and loved it. The prose is so rich that I had to read it slowly to savor it. But it is not so wordy that it is difficult to read. Rather the vivid details are a delight. I liked how the use of color is used to portray the transforming power of art and beauty. I'm looking forward to reading more books in the series.

And in discovering the authors Jeffrey was influenced by, I want to read their works as well. I'm a bit of a fantasy neophyte myself, outside of the well-known Lewis and Tolkien works, but I am looking to broaden my reading horizons.

Edited September 25, 2007 by Crow

[Buckeye Jones]

B&N in northern Cincinnati is now one copy short of Auralia's Colors. Looking forward to the read.

[Overstreet]

Thanks, Crow! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

I got stuck with nothing but a copy of the book during my bus ride home on Tuesday, and as I read I couldn't help but wince at things that I might do differently today. But that's nothing new... I've been doing that with reviews for years. Maybe I'll become one of those folks who can't bear to read their own previous work, like actors who can't watch themselves onscreen.

Thanks, Buckeye. I hope they re-order!

[Jason Panella]

Maybe I'll become one of those folks who can't bear to read their own previous work, like actors who can't watch themselves onscreen.

I am that person, Jeffrey. Don't become me!

Auralia's is officially in my 'reading next' pile! Hopefully I'll have a review up soon.

[CrimsonLine]

Just got Auralia's Colors from the library (sorry, Jeff - I'll be buying my own copy soon as we get out of debt - a month or two from now) and started reading it.

The Barnes & Noble here in Rochester, NY has one copy, shelved in Science Fiction/Fantasy.

[Buckeye Jones]

Oh, Crimson's note reminds me: B&N had 2 copies shelved in SciFi/Fantasy and one on a center table of new fiction.

[CrimsonLine]

Finished Auralia's Colors. I found Auralia to be a great heroine. Normally, I do not like waif-child-savior characters, they annoy me. But Auralia was not the all-wise, wide-eyed child in this book. She had mysteries she needed to solve, about herself and her world. She didn't understand the colors, she didn't know what they were for, she didn't know how to fix the kingdom, she was just trying to motor through life, doing her best to be faithful. I like that.

The Keeper was a great entity (though why the emphasis on "scaly" creatures? Both the vawns and the Keeper are described as being scaly with a mane. Is that intentional? In our world, nothing scaly has a mane). Big, mysterious, and rare. Perfect.

King Cal-marcus was a good foil (when do we meet King Cal-ripken?) and I am interested to know more about Queen Jaralaine.

I liked the "color-ful" writing style. The descriptions are as embroidered as Auralia's cloak, and I am quite certain that the book would not have been as good without that richly-textured writing style. I worry that it could get annoying at length, but in a book of this size it was great.

I found the climax and resolution good, but not completely satisfying. Not because there are still loose threads - that's fine - but because emotionally, I wanted to see the people of Abascar with some sort of Springtime. It seems like their Winter just got a whole lot worse, not any better.

On the whole, good work. The book held my interest, developed its themes well, and kept me wondering what was next. I cared about the characters as characters, and not just as plot devices. While there were a few clunky passages (the fox pawing at the base of a tree seemed a bit easy a jab to me, and there is a speech from a mage to an ale boy that seems too obviously to be foreshadowing) the book unfolded at a good pace, almost growing organically rather than driven forward by a need to speed things up.

Thanks, Jeffrey!

[Overstreet]

(when do we meet King Cal-ripken?)

I worry that it could get annoying at length,

Heh. Have you read the Gormenghast series? That'll really test your patience with elaborate description! It's insane!

Thanks for the response! It's really good to hear that some of the things I worried and worried over worked for you.

Don't give up on Abascar's Springtime.

In retrospect, I agree with you about the fox. I included him, by the way, as a little nod to one of my favorite moments in LOTR, when a fox wanders through, wonders about hobbits, and then is never heard from in the story again. One of those little details in LOTR that seems unnecessary but it just expands our understanding of Middle Earth a little more. Not sure it works so well in my story, but that was just my... um... quiet shout-out (?) ... to Tolkien.

Edited October 5, 2007 by Jeffrey Overstreet

[mrmando]

Well, I packed Auralia for my flight to Italy, with every intention of being the first reader to send Jeffrey a photo of me holding the book in front of the Duomo in Florence, or some similarly cheesy shot. I regret to report, however, that I left the book on the airplane after landing in Amsterdam. No doubt Auralia languishes in a Dutch warehouse at the moment, but will eventually make her way to some rummage sale or secondhand store and begin winning fans for Jeffrey on the Continent. I am still enjoying Florence, book or no, and will just have to secure another copy when I get home.

[Overstreet]

Zoinks! I mean, it's nice to see Auralia mentioned on fantasy lit blogs. But it's quite a pleasant surprise to find it on Josh Jackson's blog at Paste. My birthday's tomorrow, but I've already opened a fine present.

How can next year be anything but a letdown?

[Overstreet]

Well, you just never know.

I've been doing radio interviews to promote Auralia's Colors, and some of them have been wonderful.

Others, well....

Today's radio interview, which the publicist informed me would be 20 minutes long, began like this:

"So Jeffrey, I've been reading your book Auralia's Colors, and it's just a splendid fairy tale. And now the book is barely out and there's already a movie based on it being released on December 7th... The Golden Compass. So it must be a very exciting time for you, and I'm curious to know what you think of the movie and whether you're happy with it, and the whole story behind how this came about."

::death::

Edited October 10, 2007 by Jeffrey Overstreet

[Peter T Chattaway]

Happy birthday! Tee hee.

And hey, is there a link to an audio file or something for this? I would LOVE to hear how you answered that!