1: Merlin’s Blade – Page 3 – Robert Treskillard’s Blog

Holy Worlds Interviewed Me — Part 1

Holy Worlds‘ fearless wonder-workers, Jay Lauser and Timothy Ward, interviewed me about all things related to writing and publishing Christian…

An Update On Merlin’s Shadow — And An Excerpt!

Part Two of MERLIN’S SHADOW is now finished! And this marks 80% through the novel, which means only 20% remains…

My strange connections with Robert Frost, Gaspard de Coligny, and John Calvin

It was 1995, I had just moved to Missouri, and was browsing that newly expanded thing they call the Internet.…

Chapter Titles for Merlin’s Blade!

This is a first for me. I’ve resisted until now, but feel it is the right time to add them.…

NaNoWriMo? No — NaNoEdMo? Yes!

Okay, so I haven’t taken part in NaNoWriMo (although my daughter, Ness, has, despite her computer crashing on Thanksgiving). What…

The Laity Lodge Writers Retreat: A Travelogue

I arrived back form the western foothills of Texas on Sunday night, and thought I’d write about my experience at…

Scott Appleton’s Endorsement of Merlin’s Blade

Scott Appleton, president of Flaming Pen Press, and upcoming AMG Publishers author of the excellent Swords of The Six, gave…

Merlin’s Blade … Twelve Copies On Order!

A big, big, day! I finished working through Tegid’s excellent edits this last week, fixed up the cover image last…

My First Copy of Merlin’s Blade Arrived!

Yes it’s true. I had just finished entering all the (beyond-excellent) edits that Tegid had given me for Merlin’s Blade,…

Big News #3 — Laity Lodge Writing Retreat!

I’ve been waiting quite awhile to announce that I’ll be attending the fall writing retreat at Laity Lodge, and that’s…

Big News #2 — Merlin’s Blade Is Printed … !

Yes indeed… the first ever copy of Merlin’s Blade is rolling off the press right now , and will be…

Big News #1 — ICRS in St. Louis!

Well … the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) has come and gone from my adopted hometown of St. Louis. The…

I’m Back Working On Merlin’s Shadow

I’ve decided to pick up Merlin’s Shadow once more, which currently stands at 156 solidly written pages. This is book…

My Thoughts On Authonomy

This is a bittersweet post to write. While I greatly enjoyed the interaction with other authors, I found … at…

Update On My Writing—With Secret Link

Just last night I officially finished my 10th draft of Merlin’s Blade, and it is the best yet. Not only…

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest … NOT!

At least for me … as I didn’t make it to the quarterfinals. But I did get some free reviews of my novel, and for that you would think I’d be glad. The problem is that there’s nothing helpful in the reviews … no real action points that I can run with.

Now, mind you, the first one was very encouraging (thanks!), but the second one seems to have been written by someone who stopped reading after about 12 paragraphs.

“This excerpt seems to be targeted towards young male readers, with its opening scene of the slaughter of the deer.”

They must not have read the romance in Chapter 2 is all I can say!

Also, this scene is actually a premonition of what is about to happen to the hunter … and all of Britain! So it has a definite place in the novel and is there for a purpose.

It is also historically accurate in the sense that people did hunt back then. I know it’s hard to believe that grocery stores and Starbucks didn’t exist in the 5th century, but really … they didn’t.

As well, I’m actually quite reserved about how I describe the death and cleaning of the deer … nothing gratuitous at all, as you can read in my online excerpt.

On the good news side, Pete Peterson (yay!) moved on to the quarterfinals with his excellent book, Fiddler’s Gun! Go Pete! Go Pete! Go Pete! (say it with me now…)

Anyway, here are my reviews, for what it’s worth: