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About
the Author
Phillip
T. Alden is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. His
mother was an English teacher and his father an aerospace
engineer. They instilled in him a love for the written word,
and a desire to see justice and compassion triumph over
avarice and selfishness.
Mr.
Alden has been a theatrical stage technician and journalist,
coming to the world of publishing fairly late in life. At 42,
Mr. Alden is about to publish his first fantasy & future
fiction novel - Between the Hammer and the Anvil,
the first volume of his "Dragon Riders of Ballinrobe"
trilogy.
His work as an author grows out of his love of books, his 20+
years as a player of fantasy roleplaying games, and his 11+
years as an activist, educator and journalist. Mr. Alden is
an aficionado of progressive rock music, and much of his art
draws inspiration from the music that helped form his world-view.
He also plays his digital drum kit when time allows.
Mr. Alden still lives on his beloved San Francisco Peninsula
with his life-partner, Erik; their two cats, Justin and Shuuki;
and their miniature schnauzer, Max.
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Special
Acknowledgement
Nobody
publishes a novel by themselves. By the time a manuscript
has traveled the long and complex road from generation
to release, there are a host of people who help the
writer realize his vision. I have been writing, editing
and correcting Between the Hammer and
the Anvil for nearly eight years, including
research time and the first 300 pages of the first
draft of book two in the trilogy. I’ve received
no paycheck for the hundreds of hours of work, though
the joy of working on my art has been payment enough.
Between
would never see the light of day without the help
of one very special man, my life-partner and closest
friend, Erik L. Oliver – a brilliant, loving,
compassionate and supportive person, gifted engineer
and attorney and a generally good guy all around.
Erik
has supported and encouraged my work as a journalist,
activist and educator as long as we have been together.
We have traveled to many wondrous and exciting places,
like Australia in 2004, where we snorkeled off the
Great Barrier Reef. In April of this year we traveled
to New Zealand for three weeks.
By
the time a book is published an author will have spent
a significant amount of money on various office/production
costs. Very few writers go into the art because we
think we will make a “profit.” The kind
of luck that favors great writers like J. K. Rowling
and Stephen King is rare, and both have described
the abject poverty they lived in before their well-deserved
successes. We write because we love to write. We write
to share our vision. If we are lucky and our work
touches a chord in the population at large, we are
pleased with the rewards that come our way. But most
of us are happy when one person approaches us and
tells us they enjoy our work.
There
are 25,000 to 30,000 books released in the United
States every month. A Rowling or a King comes along
maybe once every few years. That’s one or two
writers out of a potential pool of 300,000 to 900,000
released books. Not the kind of odds one would bet
the farm on. But as I stated before, no artist creates
with the goal of making money. We create because there
is something inside every artist that has to come
out.
So
to the light of my life – thank you, sweetheart.
This book would not be possible if not for you. I
love you more than words could ever express.
“You,
you. You have your own special way.
Of holding my hand, hold it high above the water.
Don’t ever let go. No, no, no.
And you, you. You have your own special way.
Of turning the world so it’s facing the way
that I’m going.
Don’t ever. Don’t ever stop.”
(Gabriel,
Rutherford, Collins, Banks and Hackett)
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Others
Without Whom...
There are many people who contribute to the publication
of any novel and I would like to thank them here.
If this sort of thing normally bores the life out of you
feel free to skip this. I promise you will not miss
anything important unless you are one of those people interested
in what goes into the making of a book.
Next
to Erik, I would like to thank Charles Hail of Pegasus Designs,
who created the beautiful art that graces the cover of this
novel, and the web pages for all my books. But Charlie
is more than just my artist and good friend – he is
also a major source of inspiration for this trilogy.
For over twenty years Charlie has run my favorite role-playing
game. That magic and technology are incompatible is
his idea. Thanks to Charlie, I have the honor of being
part of a special group of people: Matt Schiernbeck, Kevin
Wilson, James DeVito, Thomas K. Alden, Jeff Farr, Steve
Orr, James Ducharme, Adam Dunn, and the late Doug Miers,
(who we miss every day.) We've had a lot of fun and
I gained a wealth of inspiration.
Charlie's
web site is at: http://www.pegasusdesigns3d.net/
Next
are my parents; James F. Alden and Phyllis R. Alden –
and my siblings; Richard H. Alden, Mary Elizabeth Alden,
Darita-Rose Pendragon, Thomas K. Alden, and James R. Alden
– who instilled in me a love of the English language
and a love of literature. Thanks also to my nieces
and nephews; Julia Rose Thompson, Christopher Thompson,
Hollis James Alden, Reeva Claire Bradley, and Damien Bradley
– you are my inspiration and my joy.
My
sincere thanks also go to my proof-readers, Fogbound Publishing
Group, and the good folks at Author House. Thanks
to the folks at PS Print for their work on my promotional
materials. I would also like to thank the helpful
folks at The Apple Store in Palo Alto, particularly the
Genius Bar. Thanks also to Amazon.com and Barnes &
Noble.com.
Thank
you to all the people and organizations I may have failed
to acknowledge here.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks to the Independent Booksellers
here in the United States. Without you self-publishing
authors would not stand a chance, and your support and generosity
have made a world of difference.
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