I am happy to share that Michelle Franklin, one of my most favourite indie authors, has a new release, "Takes From Frewyn: The Opera", and that she has not only shared an excerpt of the book with us, but she has also allowed me to give an E-copy of this book to one of you!
From Goodreads:
"When due homage is paid to the heroes of Frewyn, what could possibly go wrong?
The Frewyn Players at the Royal Theatre in Diras are looking for new
material to perform when a famous director from Marridon arrives to
impart a Marridon theatrical pastime that is certain to make them
famous. An opera will be their new performance, one that glorifies
Frewyn's greatest heroes, but what begins as homage ends as mockery, and
the play that would make them the greatest exhibition in Frewyn might
instead make them the Den Asaan's most merited enemy."
The Royal Theatre
Beyond the main portion of
Diras castle keep, between the memorial garden, dedicated to the kings
and queens of Frewyn’s past, and the latrine tower, a place where
everyone in the keep must visit but where no one wished to venture, was
the Royal Theatre. It was called royal due to its origin in being
constructed for the enlivenment and entertainment of the king and Frewyn
nobility, but over the many years of its various exhibitions and staged
depictions, with the declining gradations of quality in the
performances and the diminishment of the general interest thereof, the
theatre was opened to the Frewyn public for proper scrutiny, gapes and
disparagement as the situation would allow. Grand balls in the royal
parlour and private concerts became the amusement of choice for the
Frewyn royals, and though the king still must sponsor the Frewyn Royal
Players to tender affordable evening entertainment to the rest of his
kingdom, while the productions were well executed, the originality and
creativity of their displays soon waned. Old favourites such as One
Man’s Woe and Mad Queen Maeve, the grandiose and colourful retellings of
the more tragic moments in Frewyn’s history, prevailed and became
traditions for the various seasons the threatre underwent, but to end
the monotony of reiterating the same lines and singing the same songs, a
new play was often introduced on the off-season, usually written by one
of the cast with the hopes of such a production becoming a fever among
the people of Frewyn as the others had done.
Many attempts were made to
capture the delights of the threatre-goers in this style and many times
the players failed. The yeomanry, tradesmen, and artisans of the kingdom
who were in want of a little evening entertainment at the end of the
day were simply too well-versed in the arts and had too estimable an
appreciation of writing, acting, and singing to be diverted by modest
endeavors. They must have more for their hard-earned wages: they must
have the pinnacle of performing arts, for they were not simple creature
to be easily deceived by moderacy. Farmers left their seats and went
outside to enjoy their pipes and good banter on the subjects of crop
rotation and field mice; children fussed and fidgeted about, taking more
pleasure in trying to step upon their friends’ toes than they could
derive by watching the performance; women knitted and took to carpet
work while discussing and comparing the various accomplishments of their
children; babes cried and were fed, and the general disinclination of
the audience to attend the given piece made the actors anxious to
continue. Traditional plays were one thing, but new stories that the
hale and hearty Frewyn spectators did not enjoy were entirely another.
The distress and vexation the actors felt was expatiated by the
audience’s unwillingness to regard them, and though Frewyns were never
uncivil at first, tedium accorded was deserving of retaliation. Word
soon reached the rest of the capital of the paltry attempts to
entertain. A full theatre was reduced to half, the players grew
despondent, and from their desperation to be adored, and from their
worry of King Alasdair reneging his sponsorship, a new production of Mad
Queen Maeve was staged and all good Frewyn society was disposed to
return to their seats and marvel at the performance.
Though the desires of the
audience had been appeased, proven by their standing ovations and the
increase in ticket sales, the aspirations of the Frewyn Players to
perform something new and inspiring were yet unfounded. Everything that
could be done to secure their livelihoods was done, but everything that
could be done to secure their happiness and fulfillment was not. They
pined for new lines, new characters, new dances and new songs, and their
only reprieve from the glaring uniformity came in concerts and
festivities for the Frewyn holidays. A concert or two was given by the
majesties to exercise their musical talents, the ballet of Sesterna made
its annual visit, the acrobats from Lucentia came but twice a year when
the weather suited their northern constitutions, and though these
displays were enjoyed by the audience and therefore envied by the Frewyn
Players, none besieged and confounded them all so well as the Marridon
Opera. With voices so strident, subjects so catastrophic, costumes so
outlandish and sets so refined, the opera more astounded than delighted.
The Frewyn audience applauded because they knew they must to give
propriety to their guests where it was due, but the amount of pleasure
derived from such a performance was left to be guessed by each. Their
general perplexity was mistaken for complete awe: the indiscernible
feelings, the halfhearted accolades, the talk of not knowing what to
make of such glorified tragedy was enough to convince the players of the
opera’s magnificence. Only something so brilliantly contrived could
amaze to such a degree, and the more it stunned, the more Frewyn would
flock to it in hopes of understanding it.
A Frewyn opera was therefore
to be performed, and the subject of the recital but be one to which
every Frewyn could relate. It must have love, it must have war, it must
have loss and sanguinary themes, but above all it must be familiar. The
Galleisian War was talked of and songs were even written for it, but
while there was a certain romance in battle for those who had never
fought one, there was even more romance to be found in another quarter:
heroes of war must have their tales told, and two such Frewyn heroes
would be the question to draw all of Frewyn to the theatre.
And now onto the fun stuff! GIVEAWAY TIME!
There will be
One (1) winner!
- The one (1) winner will receive a e-book copy of the book.
Hows it work?
- One only entry per person.
- There will be ONE (1) winner.
- Contest is International (as it is an e-book).
- Giveaway ends Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 11:59 p.m.
- Winner will have 48 hours after notification to respond.
- Prize are being distributed by a third party (the author).
- You do not have to be a follower of my blog to enter the giveaway BUT if you Tweet (or spread the word) about the giveaway you
will receive an additional point in the draw (FYI: See that little
"Tweet" button at the bottom of this post? Click on it and all of the
information you should include in the Tweet is already in it!)
To enter, fill out the form below
This giveaway has now closed.
"Deadly Cool" by Gemma Halliday
