What do you think of the title? Almost five years ago my first book, Daedalus Rising – The True Story of Icarus, was independently published. For the first few months after the launch, it was my baby. I was a true believer, certain of its inherent beauty and wisdom, and confident of its natural and inevitable rise to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
To my surprise the acclaim was not immediate and forthcoming, and not for lack of effort. I was regularly promoting and marketing the book by making regular presentations to local Optimists and Rotarians. In the enthusiasm of those first few months I was speaking several times a week, and the audiences nearly always bought books. Along the way though, I began to notice a few blemishes, things to change or correct in the next print run, maybe even a second edition. Finishing Daedalus had not quelled the passion for myth and storytelling. And like of Kraken of old, the writer in me had awoken.
All the effort did not go unrewarded. All but a few souvenir stragglers from the first print run have sold. Daedalus flew from his original perch onto the shelves of the Tattered Cover, a local, well known, independent book retailer. Along the way he splashed into the Amazon e-book pond, making it onto their e-book best seller list in the biography. And all that time I had been promoting it as a novel. Who knew?
I have always loved books. As a near-sighted child I loved to read. (a/k/a: nerd) More often than not my Saturday afternoon hangout was the library. And I often rode my beat up, hand-me-down bicycle there on Summer afternoons. So there’s no surprise that in the autumn of my years, I now turn to writing. And how comfortable it feels to create this niche of historical fiction, filled with the legends of the Minoan and early Greek civilizations.
So it was inevitable to discover several years ago, the motivation to begin the revisions for a second edition of Daedalus Rising. Except that one idea led to another and after several years of emersion into the geology and history of the Mediterranean region, the second edition turned into a new book. And the first book feels more like volume one of a trilogy about the Minoan people and their culture. The manuscript is on its second trip to the editor. Meanwhile, I’m easily entertained with ideas about book cover designs and layout. What do you think of this title? Wingbuilder: A Tale of the Minoan Empire.
