WELCOME BOOKBUB READERS TO AN AUTHOR OVERFLOWING WITH IMAGINATION!
Posted on August 28, 2019
Above are new projects coming soon. The God Wheel in the first slot was just published a month ago.
Cue the Optimism and Warm Opening
I want to welcome the avalanche of new visitors to this website. If you're reading this post and are a longtime reader of my blog, thank you for all your attention to my projects over the years. You're one of those first adopters and trendsetters, someone ahead of the curve, and for that I thank you. If you're a first-timer who downloaded a free copy of Irving Wishbutton and the Questing Academy thanks to the Bookbub promo I ran on August 31st, read it, and were so taken by my imagination you zipped over to this website to find out what other creations this Clopper fellow has unleashed that you can get your lovely hands on, then this post will walk you through the basics.
I Certainly Hope You Intend to Read All Four Irvings
The first one is free. That's how they get you. Or at least I hope I have you hooked. I really want to have you in my clutches. I mean, I sincerely want to have you experience all four parts of Irving's saga. Books One through Three serve to get you familiar with the large cast and then the final volume puts you through your paces and really challenges the reader to see if they know the cast as well as they think they do. The Wishbutton series is one I'm immensely proud of, and its wild ride, engaging and quirky characters, sharp wit, and imaginative settings are indicative of how I handle all my projects.
Getting to Know an Obscure Author
I'm a fifth-grade teacher at a year-round school in North Carolina. I've been teaching for 26 years and love getting my students excited about reading and writing. They love that I write novels, and it feeds their own drive to write. I worked as a comic book writer and artist for about ten years in my twenties as I taught my first classes up in Maryland. When my daughter was born, I stepped back from comics and focused on teaching and fatherhood. Eight years ago, I realized I missed having a creative outlet and decided to write novels. Well, two million words later (I just passed that word count this summer), I have 27 novels to show for my efforts. My website lists 26 currently in-print books, but I also wrote a book under the pen name Landon Alspiret that I'm very proud of but that is definitely not targeted for younger readers and therefore not listed here on this site.
There's No Stopping Me
I am prolific. I produce an average of three books a year and show no signs of slowing down. I write my novels during my four track-outs each year. I teach at a year-round school where I'm in for nine weeks and then out for three, but you probably already know a little about that since the writer character in Irving is based on me and my teaching career. When I'm in school, I do the editing and reworking of the books. This schedule has allowed me to produce high-quality writing without getting burnt out. My goal is to write over 50 novels. This is ambitious but very doable. I'm already halfway there and have the next seven projects lined up. In fact, Arcana Creek, #28, is going through the editing stage and will be out in October. It's a book I highly recommend.
What to Try Next
Please visit the My Books section of this site to peruse all 26 novels, but if you'd like five books to snatch up right now, might I suggest: The God Wheel, Here Is Where I . . . Wield a Really Big Sword, Bring On the Magic, Ghost Coast, and The Powers That Flee. All tell done-in-one tales and are incredibly good reads.
I'm Assembling an Army or How You Can Make the Author Less Obscure and Set Him On the Road to Fame and a Modicum of Fortune
I want more readers to discover my magical writings, and you are instrumental in that. I'm assembling an army of individuals who like their wit caustic, their heroes of the underdog variety, and their fantasy worlds wonderfully farfetched and dazzling. How that happens is readers like you tell others about me. Post reviews and contact friends, family, co-workers, and exs and calmly, but with an undercurrent of giddiness, gush about the new favorite author you've discovered. Give my books as gifts for folks that share your wonderful and discerning tastes.
With your help, I can move my work more into the limelight and reach a wider audience. I'm terrible at marketing myself. But together, we can be unstoppable. Well, maybe mildly stoppable. I'm not saying that this army will have tanks or march anywhere. I'd much rather settle for one or all of my books to be made into movies, TV shows, video games, and Lego sets than to have my own parade or actual invading militia. I say this mostly because a giant Irving balloon would probably be a little creepy, don't you think? Although, Lord Raggleswamp could probably pull it off. He is pretty full of hot air already.
Anyway, thanks for seeing this post through to the end. I really do hope you like my work and will come visit my many worlds often. Thanks so much and spread the word.