A Campanile Contest – Win a Kindle
Win a Kindle Paperwhite for the Holidays! a Rafflecopter giveaway * (No Purchase necessary – visit our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, or enter any picture of a Campanile Book will do, whether a sample, a book in a bookstore or a book you have on your shelves. Snap away, enter to...
Campanile Acquires Lightfall, by Christian Carvajal
Campanile Books is privileged to acquire the rights to Christian Carvajal’s apocalyptic novel LIGHTFALL. This supernatural satire was originally published by Fear Nought Publishing in 2009, to great acclaim and strong reviews. In Sugar Roses, Oklahoma, events tumble rapidly toward the End of the World. We’re introduced to a cross-section of this fervently Baptist college town as it struggles to comprehend a series of supernatural phenomena: roadkill returned to life, a little girl who speaks classical Greek, an ominous shortwave signal, and a demonic voice that calls itself the Megatron. No less foreboding is the news from around the world, in which Christian fundamentalists and Muslim terrorists alike seem hellbent on hastening the Apocalypse. Who or what caused these mysterious events? And if they do presage the foretold Rapture, what on earth–or beyond–will come after? Lightfall is a secular, satirical thrill ride, in which all humanity’s glories and vanities can be seen in one lyrical, hypocritical microcosm. The Lightfall is coming… New Book page for LIGHTFALL >> Author Page for Christian Carvajal...
On Inspiration: Interview Questions
(re-posted from Triclinium Blog – Elisabeth Storrs) What or who inspired you to first write? My mother has been a huge inspiration for me: she is not a writer, but she is a sharp and critical reader. She reads about five books a week, as far as I can tell. She was the one who first introduced me to many of the historical periods that continue to be fascinating. I think the chief attribute of any great writer is first being a great reader. So the first inspiration to write on my own were the books that I read. I love living in other worlds, and other times and places. What is the inspiration for your current book? I like to start the ball rolling with a question. The best inspiration for story is “what if?” Or, with historical fiction asking “why did this event happen?” For me, the catalyst for Sinful Folk was reading about a strange and unsolved historical moment, and finding through the threads of history my own solution for this unsolved mystery. Is there a particular theme you wish to explore in this book? History is so often told by the victors: and usually told by white men in power, to be frank. I loved telling about this incredibly important time in English medieval history from the perspective of a woman, a minority, and a voice that has been lost to history. I hope that I did justice to her experience, and the experience of many others like her in that time. What period of history particularly inspires or interests you? Why? I find the medieval era incredibly fascinating: the questions asked in that time still resonate today. As Barbara Tuchman wrote, the medieval period is “a distant mirror” for our own time and place in history. I also think that all too often the complexities, the variety, and the diversity of opinion in the medieval era is lost. We paint it too easily as just a time dominated by feudal lords and a particular style in church worship. The church itself contained many different ideas about what it meant to live before God in the world, and what it meant to be human. What resources do you use to research your book? I studied medieval English literature and Chaucer in graduate school and I have a full bookshelf of both source medieval texts, as well as commentary on the period. It is interesting to note how much research goes into what may turn into a simple paragraph in the book. I may need to read, for example, several books about the roles and responsibilities of...