Book Spotlight: Visible (Ripple Series, Book 4) by Cidney Swanson

Salut, Beardies!

Although I’ve never been an athlete, I’m a lifelong lover of Olympic sports. Every Olympic year, I seem to fall in love with some new sport in which I’ll never be able to actually participate, and follow it with rapt attention…until I get distracted by a book. Such was the case a couple of weeks back, when a new email pinged into my inbox just as I was starting to decide that I should abandon all other pursuits and take up slopestyle snowboarding.

But who needs a snowboard when you have a book? The email that distracted me contained news of our pal Cidney Swanson’s return to the world of the Ripple Series, and that news drove the Olympic dreams right out of my head! No sooner was the book safely on my Kindle than snowboarding was forgotten—no doubt saving me much humiliation and a hundred broken bones, not to mention a fortune in hospital bills—and today’s Book Spotlight was born.

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500/1000 Giveaway!

Greetings, Beardies!

A while back I had mentioned on Facebook (and by default, Twitter) that, in honor of reaching 500 Likes on our Facebook Page and 1000 Followers on Twitter, I would be holding a Giveaway.

A Giveaway, there shall be...and it's a doozie! We have some great prizes, donated by some great authors. In addition to their generosity, I've decided to donate a prize of my own.

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The Prizes & Their Benefactors:

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Book Spotlight: Mars Burning (Saving Mars, Book 4) by Cidney Swanson

Cheers, Beardies!

First of all, a happy first anniversary to the Mars Rover Curiosity, and the happiest of Publication Days to Cidney Swanson! Mars Burning, Book Four of the Saving Mars Series, is live on Amazon today, and will arrive at your favorite bookseller soon! I was lucky enough to get an ARC from Cidney  though, so I don’t have to wait to bring you this Spotlight!

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Book Spotlight: Losing Mars (Saving Mars, Book 3) by Cidney Swanson

Salut, Beardies!

There are two great pieces of news in Metro Detroit today—one, by the time you read this, the library’s 2013 Summer Reading Program will be history and my life will be back to what passes for normal. I love Summer Reading, but I look forward to the end of it the way schoolchildren anticipate summer vacation! The other great piece of news is that our dear friend, Cidney Swanson, has written a new book! Mars Burning, Book Four of the Saving Mars Series, will be published on August 5. To celebrate, we’ll be Spotlighting that book on the day it releases. First, though, here’s a long overdue Spotlight on Book 3, Losing Mars.

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Book Spotlght: Defying Mars by Cidney Swanson (Saving Mars Series, Book 2)

Greetings and salutations, Beardies!

Last summer, I had the honor of being a first reader of our friend Cidney Swanson’s Saving Mars. It was one of my favorite books of the year, and the reviewers over at Kirkus agreed with me, naming it one of the best books of 2012. In early December, Cidney asked me to be a first reader again, this time for the second book in the series, Defying Mars. I immediately said, "Yes!" Though I loved the book, I wanted to wait until I had time to do it justice before featuring it in a Book Spotlight, and that, unfortunately, took months. This post has been a long time coming, so let’s get to it!

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Sir Walter Jean-Baptiste de Rochefort's Cassoulet Recipe

Cassoulet

Recipe by Sir Walter Jean-Baptiste de Rochefort

“The preparation of a cassoulet is, as with the

preparing of any great meal, foremost an act of love.”

-Sir Walter de Rochefort

If we consider the Cassoulet as consisting of five layers which melt together under a golden crust, we can see at once that the one who cooks a Cassoulet cooks five dishes which can be served with convenience as a single course meal. But do not forget that while you may serve the final dish in one container, you must first prepare the five parts.

They are as follows:

Firstly, The Bean, cooked with bacon, later separated from bacon.

Secondly, The Pork, roasted to your taste.

Thirdly, The Lamb, cooked with duck fat and onions.

Fourthly, The Bacon, as above, having cooked with The Beans and then been separated from them.

Fifthly, The Cakes of Sausage, having been formed from loose and uncooked sausage which has no casing (or you may remove a casing if your butcher does not offer loose sausage.)

(The final layer, dried bread crumbs with parsley, drizzled with duck fat, I do not count as one of the five dishes, as bread crumbs with parsley can be purchased from any reputable grocer. You may prepare your own scratch if you prefer.)

Step I. For beans, gather together:

2T lemon juice or liquid whey

2 ½ cups dry white beans of any variety.

4 oz. salt pork

8 oz. lean bacon

½ cup onions

A bouquet of herbs tied in cheesecloth or tied to one another if you lack cheesecloth (such as: 2 cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs of thyme, 1 bay leaf.)

Preparation of beans:

Firstly, one day ahead:

Soak dry beans all day in 1 quart of water with 2T lemon juice or liquid whey.

In the evening, drain and rinse beans and place beans in crock pot with 2 fresh quarts of water and simmer overnight.

Secondly, upon the day of eating Cassoulet:

Drain beans, reserving their liquid for use later..

Place beans into a sauce pan, adding enough of the bean liquid to cover everything. If you lack sufficient liquid, water may be added to make up the difference. Cook beans until tender. (One hour should suffice.)

Meanwhile, slice salt pork into ½ inch cubes.

Once the beans are tender, add the bacon and salt pork and cook another twenty or thirty minutes, allowing the flavors to combine.

Then, drain, reserving liquid once more. Separate the beans and salt pork from the bacon and set aside in 2 vessels, one for beans and one for bacon and pork. Dice the bacon, reserving for layering. You may give it a quick fry if you prefer a crispier texture.

Step II. For Pork, gather together:

1 pound pork tenderloin, or any boneless cut you prefer.

Salt and pepper

Preparation of The Pork:

Roast the pork for 1-2 hours, after sprinkling with salt and pepper, until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Allow to cool, reserving juices. When cool, cut into ½” to 1” cubes of meat. Set aside.

Step III. For Lamb, gather together:

1 pound lamb, of any cut, without bones

2 T duck fat

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 can (15 oz.) of San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, or 5-6 very fresh tomatoes from your garden, peeled. If desired, you may remove the seeds, but it is a messy business and I avoid it, myself.

1 sprig of thyme

1½ cups dry white wine or vermouth

2 cups beef stock (preferably from bone broth)

Preparation of The Lamb:

Cut lamb into one inch square chunks. Heat the oil in a skillet until almost smoking and add lamb, browning on all sides. If your skillet is not large, you should do this in stages, browning ¼ or ½ of the meat at a time. When all meat has browned, remove the meat from skillet. Add onion and cook in fat, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Add meat back to onions, along with smashed garlic, tomatoes, sprig thyme, wine, and stock. Cook together for 1½ hours, simmering slowly. Remove meat and set juices aside for later use.

Step IV. Preparation of The Bacon:

You have accomplished this already, in the preparation of The Beans.

Step V. Preparation of The Sausage:

From 1 pound of a mild sausage of your choice, form small patties of sausage measuring 2 inches across and ½ of an inch tall. Cook in a skilled over medium heat until cooked through, flipping over to ensure even cooking. Drain and discard excess fat.

Step VI. To Assemble the Cassoulet:

Into an 8-quart oven-proof casserole, layer the ingredients as follows:

1/3 of the beans

½ of the lamb

½ of the pork

½ of the bacon and salt pork

½ of the sausage cakes

1/3 of the beans

½ of the the lamb

½ of the pork

½ of the bacon and salt pork

½ of the sausage cakes

1/3 of the beans

Now, over all these layers, pour the juice from the cooked lamb (the juice with tomatoes) and the juice from the roasted pork. These should nearly bring the level of liquid to cover the top layer of beans. If you have yet to cover the top layer of beans, add as much of the reserved liquid as reuired to do so.

Spread over all 1½ to 2 cups dry bread crumbs with parsley.

Heat 3 T duck fat to the melting point and drizzle over the top of the bread crumbs.

Place in oven at 350°F and cook for at least one hour, or for up to three hours at 300°F. It will become gradually drier during the longer cooking time.

If you will be at home while the Cassoulet cooks, you may form an exceptionally tasty crust by repeating the following: every 15 minutes or so, break the crust open in several places using the back of a spoon. Then, using the spoon in the regular fashion, gather liquid from below the crust and drizzle all over the top.   C'est magnifique! 


(The above recipe is copyright material; permission to display recipe received from the copyright holder, Cidney Swanson.  Be sure to check out her website to discover all of her great works!)

Sir Walter's Cassoulet: A Speculative Dinner Party

Hello Beardies, and welcome back!

The Bearded Scribe is, first and foremost, a writing blog. We deal in every kind of speculative fiction there is…and every once in awhile, an opportunity arises for an unconventional post. Such was the case a few weeks ago, when I was sitting in a parking lot, cruising Twitter on my phone while waiting for a choir rehearsal to start, and ran across a tweet from our good friend Cidney Swanson. Cidney, it seems, is writing a cookbook based on her Ripple Trilogy. This tidbit of information piqued my interest right away, because when I’m not writing, I love to cook—and when I was reading the Ripple Trilogy, the food descriptions made me hungry. Intrigued, I tweeted Cidney back asking (half-jokingly) if she needed a recipe-tester. She replied that there remained only one untested recipe: Sir Walter’s Cassoulet, a decadent French dish that requires hours and hours of prep. If I was interested, she would send the recipe. Was I interested? Did she even have to ask? Soon the recipe was in my inbox and I had a new mission.  And not only was this an unconventional mission, but a post that will serve as the first in a new feature on The Bearded Scribe, a feature which will take various food and drink recipes found in speculative fiction literature and test them out... Do you dare venture with us into The Speculative Gourmet?

Saving Mars Giveaway: Winner Announced!!

And we have a WINNER!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CONGRATULATIONS to Stephanie Erickson, the winner of the Saving Mars Giveaway!!

Saving Mars Giveaway!!

Morning Beardies!!

So, in addition to surprising me with a guest post, Cidney also donated a [eBook] copy of Saving Mars, her latest title which released mid-August, as a giveaway for the blog.  She also pointed me in the direction of Rafflecopter, a free website to organize and launch giveaways!

Below, at the bottom of the blog, you will find the Rafflecopter Widget in order to enter the contest.  There are several ways you can earn points for the giveaway--some mandatory and some not--such as "Liking" both of our Facebook Pages, Following both of us on Twitter, Tweeting about the Giveaway, Following The Bearded Scribe on Google Friend Connect, and more.

The Giveaway will run from September 12th at 12:01am to September 26th at 12:01am.  Both times are Eastern Standard Time.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is my first time using Rafflecopter, so bear with me while I figure it out in more detail :)

***UPDATE!!!
Some entries have come through without the task having actually been completed.  Make sure when it says "Like" this Facebook Page, you are actually doing so before clicking the button at the bottom.  If there are any questions regarding the contest, please feel free to click on the TERMS & CONDITIONS at the bottom of the contest widget to access the email address in order to send your questions.  Or feel free to leave your question in a comment below.

Also, because I have been having issues with continuing to use Google Friend Connect as a basis of The Bearded Scribe's membership, I've decided to remove it as an entry option for the contest.  I've also decided to remove GFC from the Blog entirely because of the same glitches.

Again, this is my first time using Rafflecopter, so bear with me while I figure it out in more detail :)


Good Luck to All!

Writing What You Love

Hello Beardies, 

When I did an Author Spotlight on Cidney Swanson--complete with an interview--back in June, I thought I'd take a chance and ask her if she would be willing to do a guest post on the blog from time to time.  I was thrilled and honored when she agreed!

Much to my surprise, I opened my inbox the other evening to find an email from Cidney, who was curious as to what type of guest post I would like her to write for The Bearded Scribe.  After a couple of emails back and forth, I received an email from her saying that she had already completed and scheduled a post.  And I must say, it's a doozie of a guest post!  I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did!

Book Spotlight: Saving Mars by Cidney Swanson

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Salutations, Beardies!

Last weekend, I was in a state of bliss, enjoying a rare, quiet evening visiting my parents, watching the Olympics and looking forward to an uneventful week to come. My tranquility was shattered, however, by the arrival of the following text from Joshua.

Joshua: Would you like an assignment? Just forwarded you an email I received from Cidney with a proposal…

Author Spotlight: Cidney Swanson (Complete with Interview)

Hello Beardies,

A few weeks ago, Elizabeth emailed me with the name of an author whom she knew through her work at the library.  Without knowing it, Elizabeth had already corresponded with the author to see if she would be open to an interview for the blog... to which the author graciously agreed.

In conjunction with this upcoming Author Spotlight, Elizabeth wrote a wonderful review of The Ripple Trilogy, authored by our guest today, Cidney Swanson. (For those of you who do not remember Elizabeth's Book Spotlight on The Ripple Trilogy, please check it out as soon as you get a chance.)

A little about Cidney.
(Biography taken from Cidney's Author Page on Amazon and originally provided by Cidney or a representative.)

Cidney Swanson grew up within spitting distance of the central California foothills and learned to drive on the crazy highways linking gold rush ghost towns. She began her first novel at age eight; it started with "Ouch," and she's enjoyed creating painful situations for her characters ever since. Cidney worked as a costume designer, clothing designer, and kitchen gadget salesperson prior to giving it all up for literature. Cidney lives in Oregon's Willamette Valley with her husband, three kids, a dog, and two cats and entirely too much rain.

The Interview.

The Bearded Scribe: You have two blogs—your personal blog and one titled The Writer's Voice—could you tell the readers at The Bearded Scribe a little more about each of them?

Cidney Swanson: I’m a contributor over at The Writer’s Voice, a blog where several young adult authors post. On my own blog, I tend to write a couple of posts a month on something that moves me. Wow. That sounded vague. Here’s another try: when I find myself getting shivers from an experience that has to do with reading or writing, I usually end up blogging about it.

The Bearded Scribe: Would you consider writing a guest post on The Bearded Scribe at some point?

Cidney Swanson: Of course! In addition, you can always request to re-post an earlier post of mine if you think your readers would find it interesting.

The Bearded Scribe: At what age did you begin writing?

Cidney Swanson: I began writing fiction as soon as I learned to write words, right around age seven. I have no idea why. No one in particular encouraged it, but I loved reading and I’m guessing that inspired me.

The Bearded Scribe: What is your favorite book? Your favorite fantasy/speculative fiction book?

Cidney Swanson: Really? Favorite, like, favorite??? I’m totally cheating and answering with more than one title. *grins evilly* 

If I could only have one book for the rest of my life, I would pick Lord of the Rings. My favorite books that I’ve read more recently would be Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races.

The Bearded Scribe: For me, it was Bridge to Terabithia... was there a particular book that hooked you into the fantasy genre?

Cidney Swanson: It was actually Star Trek (the original series) that hooked me into speculative fiction. I read science fiction looking for something similar, but I was often disappointed. Interestingly, when I discovered The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings within twelve months of each other, it felt like “coming home” for me. Those books converted me into a fantasy reader.

The Bearded Scribe: It's funny that you mention The Chronicles of Narnia, actually.  It was what made me realize that there were other great fantasies out there.  Shortly after reading Bridge to Terabithia, a professional acting group visited my elementary school and performed a dramatic adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  After that, I think I was not only hooked, but also the subconscious decision to become a writer had manifested inside my head, even at that young of an age.

Do you only write in the Fantasy genre?

Cidney Swanson: So far, all of the novels I have completed have had fantastical elements to them. I enjoy reading contemporary young adult fiction, but I don’t seem to be driven to write it myself. Unless there is something speculative involved in the writing, I don’t tend to stick with it. That probably won’t change any time soon, given the number of books clamoring (from inside my brain) to be written.

The Bearded Scribe: As an aspiring fantasy author trying to shop his first manuscript, could you tell me how many agents you sent query letters to before you received a “yes” from one of them? Also, how long did the process take?

Cidney Swanson: I am currently un-agented and self-published. But I was looking for an agent once upon a time. Here’s how my process went: I chose two dozen agents that I thought I might work well with. I only received a handful of outright rejections. Most said, “What else have you got?” or “It’s good, but I think this would be tough to market.” That process took about two years. Meanwhile, I wanted to quit my day job and write full time. So, I set aside querying in favor of publishing The Ripple Trilogy myself. That was one year ago. I’m making a living as a writer at this time.


I certainly wouldn’t be in this position if I had continued to query without taking a break to polish and publish. I’ve owned a couple of businesses, so I looked at this very much from a business standpoint asking: how can I achieve my goal of writing for a living? Self-publishing was a very good option for meeting that goal. Now I am about to jump back on the query-go-round with a couple of new manuscripts in hand.


The main problem with the query process is that it moves at the pace of a banana slug. On a very hot day. On an abrasive surface. Agents are under tremendous pressures now with the flux in the publishing industry. Their first responsibility must be to existing clients. They read queries and manuscripts in their free time! (Meaning, when the rest of us would be sipping sweet tea or going to the movies.)


The query process is a very lengthy one made even longer by the fact that it is accomplished during someone’s “non-work” hours. I’d say it is typical to get a first response after 3-6 months. If an agent asks for a couple of chapters, you’ll probably hear back on those in 2-4 months. If they ask for a complete manuscript, allow another month or two. They may request revisions before deciding. This should take you a couple of months. Then they will need a couple of months to get back to you. Are you starting to see a pattern? We’re well over 15 moths at this point from when you first sent something off. Of course everyone’s journey is different, but 15 months before a final answer is probably fairly typical. Unless it is a no, in which case, only 3-6 months would be normal.

The Bearded Scribe: What was your inspiration for The Ripple Trilogy?

Cidney Swanson: I had an image in my mind of a teen girl sitting beside the Merced River (by Yosemite.) As I “gazed” at her, she disappeared. She didn’t notice she had turned invisible. I had to know why (1) she turned invisible and (2) she didn’t even notice it had happened. I mean, wouldn’t you notice if you turned invisible?

The Bearded Scribe: Have you received any optioning rights for film adaptations of the Trilogy?

Cidney Swanson: No. But whenever my daughter asks for an iPhone or other expensive item, I tell her, “Okay, as soon as I get my movie optioned.”

The Bearded Scribe: Are you currently working on any new projects?

Cidney Swanson: Yes. Several. (How coy of me!) But seriously, I have a sci-fi trilogy and a stand-alone about ballet and goblins. I have a couple of other things in the works as well, but they don’t have complete first drafts yet.

The Bearded Scribe: Elizabeth just did a Book Spotlight on The Ripple Trilogy and she focuses on the techniques (or gems) that other writers can take away from reading the specific titles she reviews. Are there any other tips or techniques you would like to share with The Bearded Scribe's readers—especially fellow writers—which they can use in their own writings?

Cidney Swanson: Read, read, read. Put sticky-note flags next to sentences or paragraphs that move you as you are reading. Later, go back and analyze what the writer did. Do exercises where you try to recreate that in your own style. I did an MFA many years ago where my art profs had me copy the masters in drawing and painting. I think writers can do the same thing to great benefit.

The Bearded Scribe: Could you describe your writing process for the readers of The Bearded Scribe?

Cidney Swanson: Sure! I write six days a week, in the mornings when my inner editor is groggy. That way the creative stuff is flowing pretty well. When I approach a new project, I will generally create a loose outline with a very definite “this is what happens at the end” in mind. I find that I need to know which direction I am driving, as it were.


I write out my first drafts at a pace of right around 2000 words/day. Sometimes I’ll hit a 4-5000 word day, and those are great, but many days I struggle to get those 2000 out. I write anyway. Even when it feels like pulling teeth. I’ve found the muse only shows up if I do.


After I’ve completed a first draft, I set it aside for one to two weeks. Then I clean it up a bit and let my editor have a look. My editor does a “big picture” pass over it, suggesting where I need to pick up the pace or describe things more clearly. This is more of the “story development editing” that you may have heard of.


Afterwards, I go into a revisions phase where I am still focused on the big picture: what scenes need to go buh-byes, what additional scenes I need to write. Then I set it aside for another two weeks or so and look it over again, cleaning up obvious errors. If I am still feeling uncertain about the overall story-arc, I may ask that same editor to look it over again.


Once I have a storyline that feels nice and solid, I get to do my two favorite passes through the manuscript! I do one pass looking at each page as a separate unit in completely random order. When I read the single page, I am looking for one bright sparkling bit of something: a moving description or something humorous or a really lovely metaphor or a sentence that I could just dive into and live off for the next six months. Well, those are my goals, anyway. If the page doesn’t have any of the above, I work it and tweak it, asking myself where it needs something really yummy, where that bright bit might fit in. Ah. There. I feel happier just talking about that process.


Lastly, I do a line edit searching for word repetition, misspellings, weak verbs, any adverbs I can get rid of, and so on. That is also deeply fun, for me. After this, it goes to a line editor, and after I fix the line edits, it goes to a copy editor.


You’ll notice I have several weeks of “down-time” when a manuscript is either out of my hands or when I choose not to look at it so that I can come back to it with fresher eyes. During these periods, I work on another manuscript.

The Bearded Scribe: Wow!  Thank you for that!  I am sure my readers are going to love that you were so detailed when describing your process!

Is there anything else that you would like to share with The Bearded Scribe's readers that I did not ask you?

Cidney Swanson: Um. Hmm. If you haven’t read Laini Taylor’s book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, you should totally run to your library or bookseller and get a copy. Did I mention that I loved that book? Oh. I already said that?


Seriously, though, thanks so much for spending some time with me. I feel so fortunate to be doing what I love for a living, and that wouldn’t be possible without readers. ¡Gracias!

Conclusion.

Thank you, Cidney, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to sit down and share your answers with me and the readers of The Bearded Scribe.  It has been a pleasure conversing with you over the past few weeks, and yours is a talent that deserves spotlighting.

More About Cidney.
For more information about Cidney, or to read her delightful musings, you can visit her personal blog.  You can also Follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

To purchase any of Cidney's titles, simply click on the images above to be redirected.  You won't regret the purchase :)

Happy Scribing,

Book Spotlight: The Ripple Trilogy by Cidney Swanson

***I selected this post to be featured on Book Review Blogs.***
***Please visit the site and vote for my blog!***

Good Evening, Beardies!

Welcome back to Book Spotlight, wherein I tell you about the books that influence my writing, and sneak in a shameless plug for my all-time favorite reads!

Tonight’s spotlight, The Ripple Trilogy by Cidney Swanson, is proof positive that word-of-mouth marketing is important for writers. I had never heard of this trilogy until my friend and coworker Anna read these books and begged me to get them for the library. This proved difficult, but when Anna interviewed the author for her blog, the day was saved. Three emails later, Cidney Swanson donated a complete set to my library. I’m forever grateful for her generosity and very, very excited to “pay it forward” with a spotlight on these books!