“The Mirror of the Soul” reviewed by Jandy Salguero

I was delighted to read the following review by Jandy Salguero on my novel The Mirror of the Soul for a couple of reasons. 

First, she truly enjoyed the book. 

Second, since she has studied French history and cultural trends of the period, it gives the novel credibility. 

She wrote: “I had no clue what The Mirror of the Soul would be about, but the setting of France near the hundred years war caught my attention (I have a BA in French and have studied lots of French history and cultural trends of that period). The themes and beliefs of the characters are indicative of a time when the masses were kept uneducated in many ways. 

The writing seamlessly pushed me from one chapter to the next, with the tension building as I went. In the end, it was a beautiful story of love, hope, and renewal that made me fall in love with the simple faith of the protagonists and cheer for their success. 

This book is appropriate for young adults. I look forward to reading other works by this author.” 

Here is the official description of the book: 

“In the Dordogne region of France after The Hundreds’ Year War, there are rumors of an object falling from the sky. Soon after, the abbot at the Abbé St. Pierre announces that he has been given a gift from God: a large diamond that glows when it is touched. The diamond divine, as it is come to be known, can cure the sick, wipe away people’s sins (past, present and future) and even grant eternal life—for a price. 

The Mirror of the Soul is a story of corruption, greed and redemption based on the song of the same title by international recording artist Chris de Burgh.” 

From June 3, 2013 until June 7, 2013 the Kindle version is FREE! You can download it by clicking here. 

A print version is also available and can be purchased by clicking here.

Review of "The Mirror of the Soul"

 

This review was posted by author Tamara Ward recently:

"J. Lloyd Morgan writes a story that transcends the written page. In Mirror of the Soul, expect to find a great story, wonderfully complex characters, heart-palpitating conflict with twists in the plot that will completely shock you, and a spine-tingling ending that also will make you pause and consider how the message of the book relates to your own life. And speaking about that, the book’s message, sometimes you read a book with a message and it comes off as clunky or preachy – staged. Not so with Mirror of the Soul. Morgan is an expert storyteller and the message of his story never gets in the way of the story.

Beautiful. Masterful."

The Mirror of the Soul

There have been a few moments in my life where I have literally stopped all activity and said, “Whoa!” (As in extreme awe.)

One of those moments was the first time I heard the song The Mirror of the Soul by Chris de Burgh. Yes, I’ve been a huge fan of his for many years, but time and again, some of his songs will transcend above the rest and make a deep personal connection.

I was working for corporate America when The Mirror of the Soul was released. The underlying message of the song resonated with me.

Back then, I directed political programs often and I came to know several of the politicians pretty well. I recall one time the Governor of Connecticut calling me by my first name when she came for one of her visits—it was almost surreal.

While there are some really good people who are honestly trying to make a positive change by becoming politicians, I’ll have to admit I met my fair share of them who were power hungry. Often their bluster and stubbornness on some issues where like little children throwing a tantrum because they didn’t get their way. It jaded me when it came to faith in many of our leaders.

In addition, I worked for a company where nothing was ever good enough. Everything I did was questioned, though our results were outstanding. It was always a matter of more, more, MORE! And of these people who strove for power, they were some of the most unhappy people I’d ever met.

The final lyrics from The Mirror of the Soul are: “All through the world, there are many others who always follow everything they are told by men with rules and regulations, using old superstitions and tales to assume control; But all their dreams of glory, all their schemes and stories, will come to nothing after all. Because a power greater from the world’s creator gave us love to light the mirror of the soul; Only love can light the mirror of the soul.” These words gave me hope.

And now, one of my dreams is coming true as my novel based on this wonderful song is set to be released in April. I only hope I can touch at least one person with my story the way Chris touch me with his.

Disclaimer: Mirror Of The Soul title and lyrics © Chris de Burgh, published by Hornall Brothers Music Ltd.

The “ah ha!” moment

Each author I’ve met has their own way writing a book. Some create detailed character descriptions and settings before they start writing. Others plan out the whole plot and put it in an outline. Others just start writing and see where it takes them. Me? I’m sort of in the middle. I’m in the process of finishing my 5th novel. Each one was a bit different in how I wrote it.

The Hidden Sun: I had a basic scene I started with and then I built around it. This one was tricky. I knew what I wanted to have happen in the end, but I wasn’t sure HOW I was going to accomplish it. The solution came to me while I was writing.

The Waxing Moon: This was the most complex book I’ve written to date. For the final draft, I had created an outline and spreadsheet to ensure everything that happened took place when it should. I had the solution figured out before I started writing the book.

The Mirror of the Soul: This one was fun, but also tricky. Since it is based on the song of the same name, I had the basic outline done for me. Yet, in order to flush it out to a novel sized book, I incorporated several subplots that supported the main one. These subplots were mainly based off of other songs by the same artist—Chris de Burgh. Again, the end was known before I started writing the book. (This book is coming out early 2013)

Wall of Faith: While this is a novel, it’s based on real events. Since I lived these events, the beginning, middle and end were already figured out. The difficult part here was to write it in a way that was engaging. The advance copy readers have given great feedback and I’ll have it shaped up in no time. It’s in the editing staged. My goal is to have this submitted to my publisher by September 1 of 2012.

The Zealous Star: The third, and most likely final, book in the Bariwon series has been the most challenging. I want it to be epic. I want it to be worthy of the books before it. I want it to be a satisfying conclusion to the series. To that end, I’ve written some very dynamic characters and scenes. I’ve thrown all sorts of curveballs at my characters. I’ve turned the story on its head. However, for most of the book, I wasn’t sure how I was going to tie it all together. However, just a couple of days ago, it came to while I was writing. While this will work out great (I hope) it’s not a way I’d suggest to write a book. It’s actually been kind of scary to write a book without knowing how it will end. Yet, when I did get my “ah ha” moment, I’ll admit, I did a little jig.

You can’t (can you?)

This morning I received wonderful news. Really, it’s a dream come true. But first, a little backstory. (That’s what’s called a tease.) I’ve been a fan of musician Chris de Burgh since I first saw the video for “Don’t Pay The Ferryman” on MTV in the early 80’s. He continued to put out more LPs with other hits like “High On Emotion”, “Missing You” and probably his most known song, “The Lady In Red”. America’s taste in music changed over time, and while Chris de Burgh was still very popular in Europe and Canada, his popularity waned in America.

Chris de Burgh has continued to put out LPs and has done very well around the world. He’s sold over 40 million albums. As a fan, I’d buy each of his new works as they were released, even if I had to get them imported. In 2006, he released “The Storyman.” Included on this LPs was a song called “The Mirror of the Soul.” It’s epic. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. And, it tells an amazing story.

During this time in my life, I was writing “The Hidden Sun” as well as “The Waxing Moon.” And then I thought to myself, “The Mirror of the Soul” would make an excellent book.

But how does a person born in Wyoming and raised in Utah go about getting permission with one of his favorite artists, let alone ask him and his management for permission to write a book?

Just as with many parts of my life, I heard people’s voices telling me, “That’s not practical. What makes you think you could even do it? What makes you think they’ll even respond?” But … what would it hurt to try?

So, I went on a quest to find a way to contact Chris de Burgh’s management. After several tries, I was able to make contact. To my surprise, and delight, they responded. They requested an outline of the book. I realized that I would have a challenge writing a full length book based on one song. So, I decided to incorporate many of Chris de Burgh’s songs that interwove throughout the main story. I finished my three page outline and submitted it. Within a fairly short period of time, I got a response—including notes from Chris de Burgh himself! They gave me permission to write it, with the stipulation that they would need to review the final draft before I got the final permission.

Over the course of a year, I wrote, revised and had the book edited. I submitted it to Chris de Burgh’s management … and heard nothing. I knew Chris was in the middle of touring and releasing his latest LP, so I gave it time while I worked on other projects. I would send more emails time and again, and still, no response. I was starting to get worried. Did they hate the book? Are they being nice by just not replying? They had been so quick to respond before.

Finally, I loaded Skype on my computer and called England. I spoke to a wonderful lady there who told me they had a change in personnel, as well as a change in email addresses. It turns out, they hadn’t received my updates! I resent them the manuscript and as of this morning, I got the green light from them! Whoo hoo!

To make this more exciting, I had submitted the manuscript to my publisher and they had told me they were interested. And so, the stars are aligning. And all because I didn’t listen to the people who told me “you can’t” and instead listened to the voice inside me that said, “you can!”

My private NaNoWriMo

If you aren’t sure what NaNoWriMo is, don’t fret. I hadn’t heard about it until after my first book was published. It is short for National Novel Writing Month. It “officially” takes place in November. The goal is fairly straight forward: during that month, writers write as much of a novel as they can. What’s a standard word count people are shooting for? The number I’ve heard is 50,000.

But how many pages is 50,000 words? Honestly, it depends on a lot of things: the size of the font (letter size) the size of the paper, how big the margins are and such.

For example, The Hidden Sun is just shy of 100,000 words. That equates to roughly 350 pages in a standard format.

Personally, I applaud the idea behind NaNoWriMo, if not necessarily the execution.

Let me explain.

When I talk to aspiring authors, often they ask me for advice. The best advice I was given and therefore I pass on is to write the book whole—don’t keep rewriting the first chapter—with the understanding you will be going back to fix and change things when you are done. Too many people get started, and then quit after a chapter or two because they keep tweaking what they’ve written. To this end, NaNoWriMo is a great reason for people to write the book they’ve always wanted to.

So again, that is the idea behind NaNoWriMo, at least in my opinion. However, I don’t believe people should wait for November. Yes, there are those who need a kick in the pants and the support of other writers to make the goal. For others, it’s completely different.

For me, my writing comes in spurts. At this point of my writing career, I’m usually writing one book while editing another. I know of authors who write several books at the same time. I’m not that talented. I have to give my full attention to writing one book at a time.

The Hidden Sun took me five years to write. Why? Mainly because it was my first book and I was working full time, had four little daughters and spent a lot of time donating time for my church.

While editing The Hidden Sun, I got an idea for a second book. It took me three years to write The Waxing Moon, (it ended up just a bit more that 100,000 words) but I was writing it while editing The Hidden Sun.

While editing The Waxing Moon, I started working on the third book, The Zealous Star. However, after only a few chapters, I got an idea of writing a book based on a song called The Mirror of the Soul by Chris de Burgh. Though I wanted to finish The Zealous Star, I couldn’t stop thinking about The Mirror of the Soul. So, once I got permission from Chris de Burgh and his management to write the book, I put The Zealous Star on the back burner. Nine months later, I finished the book, the whole time still editing The Waxing Moon. The Mirror of the Soul is only 60,000 words, but that’s how long it took me to tell the story.

By this time The Waxing Moon was completed and while editing The Mirror of the Soul, I went back to writing The Zealous Star. After roughly 30,000 words into the book, I got inspired to write another book—something completely different from what I’d written before. Once again, the urge to write the new book was too strong, so The Zealous Star went back on the shelf while I started writing.

In one month’s time, I’ve written over 57,000 words for this new book. I’ve pondered on why it’s come so quickly and I’ve decided on a few things.

First, because I’ve written three full books before this one. I’ve gotten better and quicker.

Second, this book is told in first person, unlike the rest of my books. The other three books I’ve written are told from different points of view with separate plots intersecting and coming together at the end. It’s a fairly complex process. Writing a book from a single point of view has helped things move right along.

Third, while this yet-to-be-titled book is a novel, it is based on events in my personal life of when I lived in Mexico and some pretty darn traumatic things happened to me. Because of that, I already know the events and characters pretty well.

How does all this relate to NaNoWriMo? Well, I write when story in me demands to be told. It doesn’t wait for November.

However, I may just have to use NaNoWriMo this year to get me to finish The Zealous Star. That poor book keeps getting set aside.

Author update

August has been an interesting month, to say the least. Much has happened. I thought it was time for another update on the author part of my life.

First and foremost, The Hidden Sun, published by Walnut Springs Press, is now available for purchase! As of this moment in time, there are three places it can be bought:

1. Autographed copies can only be purchased from Handcarts in the Valley bookstore. You can either order them online or visit them in Heber, Utah.

2. Want a place a little closer to the east coast? All Booked Up in Apex, North Carolina (my home town) is selling it as well.

3. It's also available on Amazon.com.

It will be available on other websites in the near future--I'll keep you updated.

As for other news: I'll be featured in a couple of the local papers in the Apex and Holly Springs area next week. I'll post more information when I get it.

A blog tour for The Hidden Sun is in the works. As of this moment, it's planned to run from the end of September through October. I'll post the dates and websites as soon as they are finalized.

In other news, I've updated The Waxing Moon so it matches the second edition of The Hidden Sun. I spent most of this last week re-reading this sequel, and I'm darn excited for people to read it. There is a nice preview of The Waxing Moon found at the end of the latest edition of The Hidden Sun. No date is set yet for when it will see the light of day--most likely sometime in 2012.

My third book, The Mirror of the Soul, (based on the works of Chris de Burgh) has completed the beta stage--meaning I had several people read the first draft and give me suggestions. It's now in the next editing stages where I'll add here, take away there, and get it ready to present to Chris de Burgh for his approval.  Chris had read the 3 page outline for the book and given his support before I started writing the full blown book. My goal is to present it to him, his management and his publisher for approval by Oct 1st.

So once October rolls around, I plan on working on the third book in the Bariwon series. I already have some of it written, but it was placed on hold once the opportunity to write The Mirror of the Soul became available.

Last, but not least, my webpage will be getting a facelift soon as it will transition away from being a "book" site and more of an "author" site.

Thank you all for your support!

Updates and announcements

Though I've never been in the military, I hear there is a saying often used, namely, "Hurry up and wait." I dare say that saying also applies to published authors. I, for one, have noticed it can take a long time for things to get moving, but when they start, it happens quickly--and often all at once.

I thought I'd take a moment to post an update on my writing projects and the various states they are in. And yes, this includes the first synopsis of my second book The Waxing Moon as well as me announcing my super top secret project.

Without further ado:

The Hidden Sun, second edition (re-edited and a few extras added) is being released by Walnut Springs summer of 2011. The timeline is either July or August. More on this, including the new cover design when I get it.

The Waxing Moon is written, edited and submitted to the publisher. No details are available about a release date for this sequel to The Hidden Sun. However, as promised, here is the first teaser:

"It's not easy to be Snapdragon. His sister and brother are well known and respected throughout the kingdom of Bariwon. How could anyone compete with a brother and sister like them? Yet, that is what Snapdragon sets out to do. He spends his teen years practicing everyday to become a Royal Guardian. His efforts are rewarded, but even posting the first perfect score in the history of the Shoginoc isn't enough. He must do something more. One of his first responsibilities is to accompany an entourage sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the people of Procep, a small village next to the northern mountains. Snapdragon sees this as an opportunity to prove himself, until he finds out his job is to basically babysit the nursemaids, servants and crafters sent along to help. He does his job begrudgingly, thinking there is no way to earn honor in such a lowly task. However, what happens once the group arrives at their destination forces Snapdragon to make some extremely difficult choices to not only save his life and those he is assigned to protect, but potentially all of the people in the kingdom of Bariwon."

Side note: this teaser is written specifically as to not to spoil any of the surprises in the first book. While Snapdragon is the primary protagonist, many characters from The Hidden Sun play a role in the story.

One of my short stories, The Reluctant Wanderer, has been picked up and published in an anthology called How The West Was Wicked. Ordering information can be found here. One bit of warning, while my story is an enjoyable read (at least I think so), it is fairly tame compared to some of the stories in the anthology. In other words, many of the other stories are more wicked than mine.

I have another short story, The Howler King, which I may submit for an anthology, though right now, I'm leaning on keeping it and flushing it out to be a full blown novel.

I had started writing the third book in the Bariwon series, called The Zealous Star, but have placed it on hold for the moment because I am currently working on another book which I can finally announce.

A little back ground first: I've always loved music, though I don't play an instrument and don’t sing particularly well. Growing up when MTV actually played music videos most certainly influenced my taste in music. One of the videos (and songs) I really enjoyed was called Don't Pay The Ferryman by Chris De Burgh. I absolutely wore out his LP The Getaway. His next album, called Man On The Line was also excellent, with the primary single High On Emotion. By this time, I was a huge fan and purchased all his previous albums. Then, in 1986, he released Into The Light. It was another spectacular album with a great collection of songs.

What I found interesting is that I had the Into The Light for several months when I saw that one of the songs was very popular in the UK and was starting to get airplay in the USA. That song? Lady In Red.

Lady In Red is probably what he is most known for in the states. Chris continued to put out quality albums over the years, but with the change in music taste in the 90's (grunge and rap), he, like many other artists, found that his style of music wasn't as popular in the USA, though he continued to do well in many placed in the world. In fact, its reported he has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. More information can be found at his website.

In 2006, he released an album called The Storyman. On this particular work is a song called The Mirror Of The Soul--an epic song with great imagery, an engaging story and powerful message.

I thought to myself, Self, this would make a wonderful book. But how does one go about contacting an international music star to get permission to do such a thing? Would I even have the guts to ask?

The answer? The worst that could happen is I would be told "no" or ignored.

Through a few inquires sent here and there, I was able to propose my idea to Chris' management. They initially liked the idea, but would have to run it by the publisher. The publisher gave their permission, and suggested I send my ideas so Chris could review them.

So, I sent my proposal and outline for the book, telling myself it would be ok if Chris rejected it.

His response? I won't quote it verbatim, but he said the outline was very good and should make an interesting book. (he even used 2 !! at the end.) He thought my idea of interweaving some of his other songs into the book as "fascinating" and said the overall idea was "very strong."

So, there you have it. I get to write a book based on one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite musicians--not only with his permission, but his support.

It will be called The Mirror Of The Soul. And as of this moment, I have the prologue and 5 chapters written. It may take some time to complete and edit it, but it is on the way!