I’ve got a book.
Would you like it?
Of course you would!
Because not only do I have a book for you, but I also have a bit of artwork done by my favorite mouse.
Have you met Mouse yet? She and her friend Fox can be found on Instagram hiking, creating and having fun. I’m thrilled she took the time to help out with the first line art for this month’s book.
As for this month’s book, it’s the first book in one of my very favorite epic fantasy series. A series written by an author I usually steer clear of because his imagery is so excellent in a terrible, horrible sort of way that it not only gives me nightmares but daymares too. But, for this series, I made an exception and urge you to make one as well.
Here is the first line:
“The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”
Do you know the line? Does it give you a touch of the chills like it does me?
Leave a comment and let me know the name of the book (You are already online, go ahead, Google it!) or let me know your favorite epic fantasy and I’ll put your name in the hat for the drawing. Then be sure and bop over to Mouse’s cozy little nest on the internet, (mousetalks.wordpress.com) and give her a wave hello, check out her lovely writing and maybe leave a piece of cheese if you are feeling extra generous!
Who knows, maybe this book and Mouse’s art will be arriving on your doorstep!
Contest will be open through May 24th.
Winner will have the honor of receiving a quality print of Mouse’s hand letting artwork in the mail as well as the book.
Artists of all kinds (Yes, you photographers and you who says you can’t draw and you who just wants to practice hand lettering and you who is selling paintings online and…all of you!) if you are interested in providing a small piece of work that includes a first sentence I would love to hear from you!
Authors, have I read your book and tagged it as a recommended read? Would you like to donate a hard copy? Let me know!
Behind the Willows 
I did Google it and now I feel guilty for cheating so I’m not going to name it😁
I’m not a fan of that person’s writing really so I won’t enter anyway, but I will instead recommend The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan as one of my favourite series😊
Love the artwork – what a talented mouse!
It’s not cheating to google it, that’s fine!
I’m not usually a fan of his writing either, I’ve even started a book of his and not finished and I’ve only done that with a small handful of books. But these ones… these are different you should try it!
Actually- what you should do is say, “Yes ok I want to enter,” and then IF you won you could read it because it’d be … fate(?) or something… Yeah, stretching it there but if you won you would get some Mouse artwork and that’d be cool! 🙂
I haven’t read the Black Magician Triology but I just added them to my ever growing pintrest board of books to read- they sound good! (And the UK covers are way better than the US ones.)
“Yes, okay I want to enter”.. but only for the Mouse artwork 😉
I’ve also started one of his (Stephen King) books before and struggled to finish: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
A series I really loved is His Dark Materials (The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) – so much to love with the characters, setting and cultures – but i’m sure you’ve heard of that one 🙂
Oh- His Dark Materials is good- I like that one enough I have my own set on the bookshelf! 🙂 (and thanks for playing along!)
Well I shall just jump right in there and say The Gunslinger by Stephen King, and I would be thoroughly delighted to receive a copy of anything 🙂 I am also thrilled that my books are on your recommended reads and if you want me to ship them out to the US for something just let me know 🙂
I would love to feature your books! I’ve got a list going that I’m letting the person doing the art work choose from I will put yours on it and will be in contact, thank you!
The Gunslinger by Stephen King! I actually started to read this book before, but I only got about five chapters in before the library wanted it back. It was slow reading for me (mostly because I got used to YA fantasy) but I liked it. Would love a chance to finish (without due dates) and the artwork is gorgeous.
That made me chuckle a bit because after a string of YA stuff I read a civil war historical fiction. It’s a whole different pace and mindset to step into another genre sometimes! I hope someday you get a chance to finish The Gunslinger no matter how you find it, the whole series is pretty amazing! And Mouse Did A great job on the first line didn’t she!
Stephen King gives me nightmares too and you know I don’t scare easy 😁 I haven’t read this one though (The Gunslinger) but my favorite of his would have to be The Stand.
As for fantasy epics, I have to say I love His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, The Balgariad by David Eddings (I probably spelled that wrong 😁), The EarthSea series by Ursula Le Guin, the Magician series by Raymond E. Feist and many more I’m probably forgetting right now 😂
I haven’t read The Magician series, gotta stick that one on the “to read” list now because I love all the others you mentioned. The Belgariad was one of the first series that turned me into a fantasy reader (well after the Hobbit of course!).
King is just… too good at describing stuff he gets in my head and the scenes stick in a way I wish they wouldn’t for YEARS! But I like the Dark Tower series anyway. And if you’ve read other King books you should read these because he ties in a ton of his other books, it’s mind boggling and amazing!
I was trying to go from memory and wasn’t sure if it was book 1 or book 2 ( just because most of book 2 takes place in a desert ), but I’m going to go with book 1. The quote wouldn’t fit with book 2.
Also, I agree with the person that said the Stand was their favorite, it is mine also.
To the folks that arent huge fans of King, check out his books of short stories. They are some of my personal favorites of his library and they are less to commit to.
Good memory, book one it is! Thanks for stopping by and playing and for the short story recommendation! 🙂
Okay, I’ll play: it’s The Gunslinger by Stephen King. 😎
I haven’t read anything new or newish of his in years; I reread the “classics” all the time, even the Bachman stuff. Some of those short stories have scared me for years.
I haven’t read too much other than the Dark Tower series plus a few of the major books that connect, but gosh some of his imagery is too good. Some nights I’m quite certain I can hear a thinny I tell myself it’s just the far off noise of car tires on the expressway just so I can sleep…
What a beautiful piece of artwork!!!
She did great didn’t she?
Yes!!