tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-256529912024-03-13T01:30:23.415-07:00Herbie Brennan's Bookshelf BlogAn opportunity to interact with the internationally best-selling author.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-8755338122731452922019-06-12T04:15:00.000-07:002019-06-12T04:15:08.236-07:00Target reachedThe Kickstarter project ran close to the wire. With only two days to go before the all-or-nothing deadline, I had pledges for only 20% of the target. Although both the I Ching and Tarot predicted a favourable outcome, common sense told me it would take a miracle for the remaining funds — several thousand euros — to come in.<br />
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The following day, the miracle occurred. A single pledge came in to cover the outstanding amount needed to reach the target.<br />
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The funding was backed by the estate of a dear friend of mine who had died a few years earlier. The executors had decided she would have wanted the project to succeed and made a pledge on her behalf. So the spirit of my old friend made it possible for me to lay the ghost of my fictional Pharaoh.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-14579446891642980842019-05-20T03:51:00.000-07:002019-05-20T03:56:06.304-07:00Crowd-funding a Ghost<br />
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My latest project - to lay the ghost of an Egyptian Pharaoh who has been haunting me for more than thirty years - is currently active on Kickstarter. It’s a spooky story. The ghost is determined to have his story told and has given me no peace. I've written and re-written the story in various ways.... some almost published before something prevented it. So, in this final rewrite, the pharaoh’s biography runs as a thread through Traveller From An Antique Land, a science fiction novel I'm crowd-funding to publish myself.</div>
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Please click on the link below to take a look - and hopefully support, share and pledge - if this interests you. Thank you!</div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herbiebrennan/crowd-funding-a-ghost?ref=ksr_email_creator_launch">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herbiebrennan/crowd-funding-a-ghost?ref=ksr_email_creator_launch</a></span></div>
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Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-5875185635633068642014-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:002014-10-01T06:20:01.366-07:00The Fire*Wolf SagaBack in the good old days of the early 1980s when my GrailQuest series of gamebooks was (literally) selling in the millions, I was struck by the sort of revelation that only comes to those who don’t get out enough. As I recall it now, my thought processes went something like this:<br />
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Gamebooks generally were all the rage among children at the time, but my fan mail suggested children weren’t the only ones reading them. (I had a couple of letters from university professors.) Was it not possible, I asked myself, that there might be a market for an adult gamebook series? I set my agent -— Murray Pollinger in those distant days -— to finding a publisher who would agree; and he swiftly succeeded.<br />
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Having had what might well have been a good idea, I proceeded to change it. Gamebooks, as you know, are almost always written in the second person, present tense. In other words, <i>you</i> are the hero. But I felt this was far too unsophisticated for an adult market and decided my new series would be the world’s first interactive novel, written, like any self-respecting novel, in the third person, past tense.<br />
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Thus was born the <i>Sagas of the Demonspawn</i> a traditional sword and sorcery fantasy featuring the barbarian Fire*Wolf, whose asterisk represented a glottal stop in the way his people pronounced his name.<br />
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Needless to say, while it was indeed the world’s first interactive novel, the buoyant adult market I expected never actually materialised. To my astonishment, it sold well enough, but to the same young gamers who were buying GrailQuest.<br />
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That was the first time Fire*Wolf surprised me. Today is the second. Because today Tin Man officially published <i>The Complete Sagas of Fire*Wolf, </i>which contains all four <i>Demonspawn</i> books in a single app. This is Fire*Wolf in an electronic loincloth and I never thought I’d live to see the day.<br />
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Wish me luck and buy the app. There are versions available for<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt;"> download from the iOS App Store,
Google Play, Amazon Appstore for Android. The sagas are also available for PC, Mac, Linux and Android
via the Humble Widget on the Gamebook Adventures website:
<a href="http://gamebookadventures.com/gamebooks/the-complete-sagas-of-firewolf">http://gamebookadventures.com/gamebooks/the-complete-sagas-of-firewolf</a>.</span><br />
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Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-66552255942480133492014-01-29T04:42:00.000-08:002014-01-29T04:42:34.599-08:00New EmagThere’s a new emag stalking across the plains of cyberspace. It’s called <i>Innovate</i>, I’ve just seen the first copy and I can thoroughly recommend it. (And not just because it’s running an interview with me and a lovely review of <i>Whisperers.) </i><br />
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Rush out (or stay at your computer) and buy your copy now. Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and, I suspect, all good emag outlets.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-55052573341238678582013-11-22T06:30:00.001-08:002013-11-22T06:30:12.220-08:00Whisperers Now OFFICIALLY on Sale in the UKIt’s publication day, hurrah, hurrah and the Duckworth edition of <i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World</i> should be available throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles. I urge you to rush out and buy a copy in aid of the Help Make Herbie Rich and Famous project.<br />
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Oh, and reader reviews on the internet would be helpful too.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-76971372732998375982013-11-09T01:35:00.001-08:002013-11-09T01:35:59.080-08:00Whisperers Now On Sale in U.K.Early copies of my non-fiction study of spirit influence on human history, <i>Whisperers: the Secret History of the Spirit World</i> are now on sale on Amazon UK. Although the U.K.’s Duckworth edition isn’t scheduled for publication until November 21, Amazon U.K. has it listed as in stock now at more than a pound cheaper than the U.S. edition which is also listed.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-13682861890719511842013-09-27T02:05:00.000-07:002013-09-27T02:05:31.173-07:00Gamebook NewsI see the boys at Megara Entertainment in Seattle are predicting a gamebook resurgence. To celebrate, they’re planning a collector’s edition of <i>The Way of the Tiger,</i> a welcome revival of Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson’s hugely popular 1980s gamebook series. Interestingly, the project is being funded through Kickstarter (<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/the-way-of-the-tiger-gamebooks-new-collectors-edit" target="_blank">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/the-way-of-the-tiger-gamebooks-new-collectors-edit</a> ) with a heap of pledges already in place, which suggests Megara are right about the growing number of game book fans out there, You can get the whole story in their Press release at <a href="http://richardhetley.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/tiger-gamebook-press-release.pdf" target="_blank"> http://richardhetley.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/tiger-gamebook-press-release.pdf</a><br />
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Meanwhile the launch of my own electronic game book projects (Demonspawn and GrailQuest) with Tin Man in Australia have been delayed until next year to allow their technical team time to develop a new and more sophisticated games engine. It’ll be worth the wait.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-61012377697695259712013-08-01T03:53:00.000-07:002013-08-01T03:53:54.650-07:00Whisperers Ebook on WayFor some reason, people have been asking me if an ebook version of <i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World</i> was on the cards and in my usual vague way, I didn’t really have a clue. But I do now, thanks to the sterling investigative work of my literary agent, Ms. Sophie Hicks of Ed Victor Ltd. In the U.S. there’s an ebook in production at the moment, scheduled for issue next month (September) with an ebook of the U.K. version to be published in November to coincide with the British hardback.<br />
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Meanwhile, sales of and comments on the U.S. hardback, published in June, continue to be lively.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-19614492781506446072013-07-11T02:07:00.000-07:002013-07-11T02:07:29.234-07:00Free ReadThere’s a piece of mine you can read for free at <a href="http://www.smartpopbooks.com/the-war-of-light-and-darkness/">http://www.smartpopbooks.com/the-war-of-light-and-darkness/</a> until next Tuesday. It’s up there promoting an anthology on C. S. Lewis I had the honour of editing a little while ago. If you’re interested in an esoteric viewpoint on the Second World War, grab the opportunity to read it now. After Tuesday you’ll only get an extract.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-86460983972899504942013-06-13T03:05:00.001-07:002013-06-13T03:05:44.719-07:00Whisperers: the Secret History of the Spirit World is on sale NOWThe title of this post says it all. It’s available on-line in US and UK, available in good US bookshops. Rush out and buy your copy instantly.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-8169056564818015962013-06-12T05:42:00.000-07:002013-06-12T06:07:35.688-07:00Kirkus on WhisperersKirkus Reviews, the premier book evaluation site, has concluded that my <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: chaparral-pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">‘deftly corralled, intriguing research (for </span><i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World)</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: chaparral-pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> translates into unsettling, if academically written, “proof” of the existence of spiritual suggestion.’ </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: chaparral-pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The review concludes, ‘</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: chaparral-pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Certain hokum for skeptics, but the more open-minded will savor this chillingly convincing testimonial.’ </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: chaparral-pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">You can read the full review at...</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jh-brennan/whisperers/">https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jh-brennan/whisperers/</a>Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-60024256808668290742013-06-12T03:18:00.001-07:002013-06-12T03:18:44.293-07:00Shameless Plug<i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World</i> is published in the States tomorrow, but you can rush to order your copy from Amazon.com <i>and</i> Amazon.co.uk right now.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-19177147073313610242013-05-27T05:00:00.001-07:002013-05-27T05:00:53.221-07:00Whisperers Reviews<i>Publishers Weekly</i>, who, I must say, are usually kind to me, broke their usual pattern with a pre-publication review of <i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World</i> which they described as ‘dreary’ and ‘unremarkable.’ Lest you find this as off-putting as I do, you might like to balance the opinion against some other pre-publication reviews from a few of my fellow authors...<br />
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“Impeccable research, firm grasp of history, and clarity of writing reconfirm J.H. Brennan as <i>the</i> expert in the field of the paranormal.” -—Steve Peek, author of <i>Coyote Dreaming</i><br /><br />“J.H. Brennan is an expert storyteller who paints an often terrifying picture of how human destiny has regularly been changed forever by individuals convinced they were in communication with intelligences from beyond. In <i>Whisperers</i>, Brennan has created a unique and timely history of spirit voices that is both brilliant and utterly chilling.” -—Andrew Donkin, coauthor of <i>The Terminal Man</i><br /><br />"Highly readable…Here is the history that you didn’t learn about in the classroom…a challenging and thought-provoking book." --Christopher McIntosh, Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Exeter and author of <i>The Rosicrucians</i><br /><br />"From the hair-raising to the eyebrow-raising, this is a scintillating account of meetings with spirits through history. <i>Whisperers</i> takes us from an Egyptian guide to summoning Anubis, through a haunted house in ancient Athens, to the black books of the Middle Ages. It chronicles early anthropologists being hoodwinked by shamans, and gives an account of an area where so much has been written, Nazi occultism, that inspires confidence as well as horror. Hats off to J.H. Brennan!" --Jonathan Black, author of <i>The Secret History of the World</i></div>
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<i>Whisperers</i> will be published in the United States on June 13 and in the U.K. in November. </div>
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Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-60236922294615808842013-04-12T02:24:00.000-07:002013-04-12T02:24:11.140-07:00Whisperers On Sale SoonI haven’t published any serious non-fiction for more than a decade, but that’s about to change on June 13 when Overlook Hardbacks in New York bring out <i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World</i> in the U.S. with a U.K. edition due from Duckworth in London in November. It’s a book I’ve been writing on and off for forty years, presenting what I genuinely believe to be a wholly new and different view of human history.<br />
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The seed was sown in the early 1970s while I was researching a book on occult practice in Nazi Germany. One of the things I discovered then was that Heinrich Himmler held seances in the crypt of Quedlinburg Cathedral to seek the advice of the Medieval king Heinrich the Fowler on political matters.<br />
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This struck me as chilling. Himmler was head of the SS and Gestapo and the man ultimately in charge of the so-called ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Problem’ a programme of industrialised murder that cost 6 million lives. Could the Reichfuhrer really have based his life and death decisions on the whisperings of a spirit?<br />
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He could and he did and he wasn’t the only one. Over the years I gradually unearthed more and more evidence that throughout the course of human history, politicians and popes, messiahs and kings, world leaders of every political and religious persuasion have been guided by voices from the Beyond. Which means that your life and mine have been indirectly influenced by entities we know nothing about and may not even believe in.<br />
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Once you reach that conclusion, an obvious question presents itself. What exactly are the Whisperers? There are many answers. Psychologists usually insist they are nothing more than unconscious contents — fantasies and wish-fulfilments — erupting into consciousness as pseudo-personalities. Spiritualists claim they are spirits of the dead. The religiously-minded see them as God, gods, angels or other sacred entities. None of these notions is particularly satisfactory, so I set out to investigate the question for myself.<br />
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The result was an intellectual journey with a completely unexpected ending.<br />
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It’s all in the book, folks. You can pre-order your copy from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whisperers-Secret-History-Spirit-World/dp/1590208625/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365583764&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Whisperers+J.H.+Brennan" target="_blank">Amazon</a> or <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whisperers-j-h-brennan/1113610222?ean=9781590208625" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-17104691303057037332013-01-06T02:59:00.003-08:002013-01-06T02:59:32.322-08:00ResultWell, (modest smile) it seems <i>Ruler of the Realm</i> won its cover war by 75% of votes to 25%.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-34683498341474657902012-12-30T02:28:00.003-08:002012-12-30T02:28:25.757-08:00Look — cover wars!This you have to see...<br />
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<a href="http://editorsarticle.blogspot.ca/2012/12/cvc-6-ruler-of-realm-vs-keys-to-demon.html">http://editorsarticle.blogspot.ca/2012/12/cvc-6-ruler-of-realm-vs-keys-to-demon.html</a><br />
<br />Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-40029805048592747232012-12-20T07:43:00.000-08:002012-12-20T07:48:43.487-08:00GrailQuest announcementIt’s happened at last! My GrailQuest game book series from the 1980s is going digital. Here’s the official announcement from Tin Man games...<br />
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http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-20087965390715879782012-12-08T04:33:00.000-08:002012-12-08T04:33:07.515-08:00Fire*Wolf<i>Tin Man</i> have just made their first announcement about their plans to bring my game books into the 21st Century as some of the most fantastic apps you are ever going to see on your computer, tablet or phone. Here’s the URL so you can read it for yourself:<br />
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<a href="http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/?p=2762" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/?p=2762</a><br />
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I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Another announcement due soon.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-12579937210908848842012-11-08T03:22:00.000-08:002012-11-08T03:22:33.024-08:00Fantastic New Gamebook ProjectI’ve a soft spot for game books. I wrote a few of my own back in the 80s. Tin Man will be reissuing them as apps before too long, incidentally. But that’s by the by. The reason I’m posting today is I’ve just got news of a hugely exciting project in this area. An outfit called Megara Entertainment are currently working on a game book called <i>Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories</i> about a paranormal detective agency.<br />
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There’s been a bit of a game book revival recently, so no surprise there. But what makes this one special (apart from a quirky third-person plot line) is that these guys plan to bring the book out in hard back and full colour throughout. That’s a <i>real</i> collector’s item for gamers.<br />
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You can preorder your copy and help the whole project come to fruition at <a href="http://kck.st/TQX6gr">http://kck.st/TQX6gr</a>. Check it out now.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-90224656042658383792012-11-02T02:30:00.001-07:002012-11-02T02:30:26.069-07:00Secret Prophecy Amazon Book of the MonthJust got the news. Amazon has selected <span style="color: #1f497d;"><i>The Secret Prophecy</i></span> as a best book of the month for Middle Grade for
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span __postbox-detected-content="__postbox-detected-date" class="__postbox-detected-content __postbox-detected-date" style="display: inline; font-size: inherit; padding: 0pt;">November</span>!</span>
BOM picks receive additional marketing support with month long rotating
ads, carousels, additional quick promo links on the book page &
email blasts to potential readers. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Amazon.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-4049610100239229682012-10-30T07:20:00.002-07:002012-10-30T07:20:46.889-07:00Secret Prophecy Now on Sale<i>The Secret Prophecy,</i> my new conspiracy thriller novel for teens and up, described by the critics as ‘spellbinding,’ ‘outstanding’ and a ‘masterpiece’ (he reminds you modestly) is <b>now on sale! </b>I thought the day would never come. So far it’s only published in America, where you should be able to get it anywhere. It’s on Amazon, B&N and all the usual on-line outlets and you can even buy it on Amazon.uk if you can’t wait for a British publisher. I’m pleased with this one and I think you’ll like it.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-58189196008710050662012-10-29T07:25:00.001-07:002012-10-29T07:25:25.118-07:00New BookMy first major non-fiction book in more than a decade, <i>Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World,</i> has now been scheduled for publication next June. I’ve been working on this one for more than forty years. Let’s hope it will prove worth the wait...Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-27114285222718968052012-10-26T06:56:00.000-07:002012-10-26T06:56:47.326-07:00First curationMy first curation is up and running! It’s called <i>Herbie Brennan’s Occult Archive</i> and it’s available on BiblioBoard.<br />
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Here’s how you can find out more.<br />
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Download the app BibioBoard (free) onto your iPad. Open the app and there I will be. (Or, if I’m not, do a search for <i>Herbie Brennan’s Occult Archive</i> or even just <i>Herbie Brennan.) </i>If you don’t have an iPad or other suitable tablet, don’t lose heart: the archive will soon be available via your usual Web browser when a desktop version of BiblioBoard is launched.<br />
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A curation is a collection of various materials linked by a common theme. The BiblioLab people who run Biblioboard approached me a couple of months ago and asked for a collection on an esoteric theme. They give you access to special software (called Nuvique) which allows you to put the collection together. It’s quite hard work, although not so hard as writing a book, but you see the results of your efforts far more quickly than you would in conventional publishing.<br />
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I feel like I just joined the 21st Century.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-73126414889276919702012-08-30T03:02:00.000-07:002012-08-30T03:02:19.292-07:00Kind Words from KirkusKirkus, the company who produce the world’s toughest book reviews as guidance for the trade, have just called me a ‘master of many genres’ (heh-heh) in the introductory paragraph of their pre-publication review of <i>The Secret Prophecy.</i> The rest of the review is only available to Kirkus subscribers until two weeks before publication in October when it goes public, but I’m reliably informed it contains words like ‘spellbinding’ and ‘outstanding.’Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25652991.post-60450260328117877352012-07-23T04:31:00.000-07:002012-07-23T04:31:03.265-07:00Masterpiece, eh?Feeling decidedly chuffed. My new novel, <i>The Secret Prophecy,</i> has had its first pre-publication review in VOYA, America’s leading young adult library journal, which was kind enough to call it a ‘masterpiece.’<br />
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It’s a conspiracy theory thriller, set in the real world for once, and those who’ve read it in manuscript had a hard time putting it down.<br />
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If you enjoy that sort of thing, you can read more and access some excellent pre-publication price links by clicking <a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Secret-Prophecy-Herbie-Brennan/?isbn13=9780062071804&tctid=100" target="_blank">here</a>. Official publication date, in America, is October 30, 2012, but they’re taking orders now.Herbie Brennanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14684929136774463974noreply@blogger.com8