THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy | Blog
Eclipsed by Shadow • The Golden Spark • Into the Dark
TheGreatHorse.com website was recently updated to deliver a better user experience on mobile devices.
Some site functionality had to be scrapped, and the change process is somewhat ongoing. Thank you in advance for your patience with any areas that haven’t yet been completed!
Please contact us with questions or comments.
Thank you for your interest in The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy!
Now the prior retail ebook versions of the first books have stopped working optimally. As this was caused by blind and continuing technological changes without consideration for earlier ebooks, I have lost hope in this format and it is time to pull the plug on this version as well.
If the ebook field rationalizes it is my hope to offer all the books in electronic form once again.
The original post:
As the author, I’ve decided not to sell an “ebook” version of Into the Dark (#3).
Instead I am offering the complete book in PDF form for readers of the first two book … no electronic versions of this title will be made available for sale at this time.
The password is the name of Meagan’s foal …
This work is copyrighted: this special PDF version is provided solely for existing readers who wish to enjoy the whole trilogy electronically. This special PDF version may not be sold or otherwise commercially distributed.
I plan to make an announcement about The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy during the upcoming Summer Solstice on June 21, 2015. It is a declaration of sorts, a surprise.
I began ‘marketing’ the full trilogy a few weeks ago. This may not be obvious since I haven’t actually done anything … but the summer solstice, first official day of summer, has been an important date for the trilogy.
In the book, the summer solstice was the day the Great Horse of the trilogy, Promise, was born … it was also the date the first book was published, and the last one too. It seems to be the right time.
.
The trouble with ebooks is (1) piracy and (2) its flood of poor titles … and the problems they cause for some authors. For example, when I published the ebook version of book 1, and again with book 2, my royalties were cut by about 2/3rds. From modest to negligible, basically.
Here are a few recent pirated copies …
It’s true that text can be offered on digital media. The concept could have been intelligently pursued, with a standard format that was universally hosted and sensibly migrated to new platforms as needed.
Instead it was given to the marketplace to decide, and today ebooks are an increasingly disconnected, unfiltered mess of various half-defunct readers and platforms and formats and versions and code requirements and impossibly varying quality. It will only get worse as time and tech move on and both readers and publishers realize the current ebook situation eliminates the advantage books had: permanence. (Oh, and property rights.)
In this rudderless environment, it’s frankly been hard to spend a week of work time to convert Book 3’s manuscript for ebooks, hammering my dense head against poor and/or outdated/undated documentation and forum support–so I can satisfy 9 different formats along with a host of branded readers and mobiles and apps. The testing alone is a nightmare.
The alternative is to hire out, but LOL, this makes the ridiculousness of the finances even more stark.
It is also true that once a Book 3 ebook version is released, the whole trilogy will be stolen … this already happens with the other two books (the post image shows some recent ones). There are groups that do this, many quite self-righteously.
I want to do the right thing by readers, but lately I’ve even wondered if I should unpublish the first two ebook editions as that marketplace continues to criminalize.
Last month I was notified by an ebook distributor that I should update my first book’s file for newer ereader technology. So the cracks begin to appear.
I would like to hear what others think … it’s not an obvious world anymore.
It’s Out Today!
The striking new artwork by Marti Adrian Gregory is featured on a new bookcover for The Golden Spark, the 2nd book of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy.
Author Note: This is one of my favorite Great Horses, Dover Beach (“Beecher”) … the horse that did anything you asked. Maybe because equine generosity is the sacred truth at the center of true horsemanship, or maybe I’m reminded that some of the greatest horses live in memory alone now. Yet how joyfully alive when they return! Horses are always, also, a metaphor.
“Meagan tried to be nonchalant as she looked around the new setting and realized she still wore the pink dress! … A nudge pushed the small of her back. She turned to see the grizzled muzzle of a horse poking between the rails of a fence. The muzzle withdrew and the animal put its head over the fence, nickering softly. It was an aged horse, coming to the end of his working life.”
“Meagan & Beecher” by artist Marti Adrian Gregory for The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy. The Canadian artist has illustrated each era in Meagan’s journey.
In this final artwork for the trilogy, the artist illustrates both the scene and theme of the story: the horse has been the same throughout history. The settings changed, not the relationship … not the love.
You can see more artwork by Marti Adrian Gregory on her own website: http://www.martiadrian.com/
The last new illustrations by Marti Adrian Gregory will be released this week in the New Year’s countdown of the Chinese Year of the Horse.
The popular Canadian artist has created a new bookcover with new illustrations for The Golden Spark (Book 2).
The new cover is the second of a new ‘box set’ design for the trilogy books–it’s an exciting milestone and Great way to finish the Year of the Horse … and begin a new one!
Come join other fans for a journey through history on the Legend of the Great Horse trilogy’s Facebook Page !
“Surging, the music rose and Nero gathered himself and … exploded into the air! Aloft in a mercurial arc, the horse struck backward with both feet as if to kick himself asunder. He pulled the earth under his hooves and rose again, ripping the air behind him in a display of disciplined power…”The premier of NEW artwork by Marti Adrian Gregory for The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy! The scene is from The Golden Spark (Book 2) … Meagan restores a mistreated dressage mount to the manège (dressage arena), where he becomes a star performer.
“For riding out in the field, Meagan’s favorite mount was a smoke-colored dun gelding she called Shorty, for the obvious reason. The horse’s stubby legs and thick neck allowed only so much of the flexibility needed in dressage. Though he ambled around the sand arena gamely, Shorty only came into his own when galloping across open fields.”The premier of NEW artwork by Marti Adrian Gregory for The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy! The scene is from The Golden Spark (Book 2) … Meagan’s borrowed 17th-century mount is spooked by dogs who give chase.
