Buy 15 books or buy 1! Click Here to Buy! Read More Below!

While Fidelis was still in production last year I went to France for some coursework. While I was there, I met Luke Thompson, whom I quickly hit it off with. It turns out that Luke is a stellar artist… and craftsman. He quickly became a fan of Fidelis and he was the one that designed the cover for the soft cover edition. He has also been tremendously helpful in providing graphics for this site and for the RPG.

When I decided to release a hard cover, I naturally had Luke in mind again, but at the time he was in Argentina traveling around with his wife. In the meantime I looked for samples of the sort of cover I wanted. I wanted an ‘old book’ feel, perhaps something like those old leather books you imagine seeing in a monastery.

Amazingly, when Luke and his wife returned, it so happened that they had met and befriended an Argentine leather worker who taught them the craft. When I told Luke about my desire for an ‘old book’ cover, he had just the thing: a newly acquired skill at creating leather covers for books!

One thing has led to another. Take a look at the hard cover for Fidelis!

Now look at how it started!

Hearing about his new skill, I asked Luke to specially design a book cover beginning with a genuine leather cover. He took the cover, which you see there, and used it to create the hard cover edition’s cover. Looks great, doesn’t it?

But it doesn’t stop there. Luke has agreed to create hand made leather covers for Fidelis and all future books in the Birth Pangs series! Though they will have similar patterns, each cover will be unique, and each leather copy especially unique- no two will ever be the same. And I am going to give away leather cover editions to those purchasing the required amount of books for the Christmas promotion!

These books are very expensive to make. I am sorry that I have to require a high purchase amount, but there is no way to avoid the fact that the leather costs money and there are real man hours involved in using hammer and iron stamp to create the art, and that doesn’t include the print cost of the book itself. You can always purchase the books directly through him, but it will always be pricey as this size is one of the largest that Luke can make. This promotion is a great way to get one without paying extra for it, though yes you have to buy a lot of books.

But Christmas is coming up and you’re going to need something to give away as presents anyway, right? I think the new hard cover looks incredibly sharp and is totally gift-worthy. You have to buy gifts for all those people anyway, why not buy something that is truly unique and can help both me and a pair of artisans? Without further ado:

• If you buy 12 hard cover books at $24.95 each, the 12th one will be a leather edition.
• If you buy 15 soft cover books at $15.95, the 15th will be a leather hard cover edition.

For the hard covers, then, the total price (including shipping) is $310.00 and for the soft covers (including shipping) is $250.00. Pre-payment is very important, but I understand that for many people this is a large amount, so I have made available the ability to make half payments on both promotional options. However, I can not order the leather work until I have received the whole payment. As always, I will sign the books if you wish.

Naturally, if you cannot afford to buy 12 or 15 books, I invite you to purchase as many as you want, for yourself or for gifts. It is my goal to sell 700 books in the next three months. Your assistance on that will be greatly appreciated as I hope to release book 2 in April/June of 2008 and I will have many expenses!

To purchase books either individually or as part of the promotion, please go here.

And finally, I have got to give you the links to Luke and his wife’s leather working site! Please consider purchasing leather book covers as Christmas gifts, too. Seriously, how often do you have the opportunity to support hard working artisans producing tremendous products? Here is their site: www.sojournerleather.com And if you are as impressed by Luke’s graphic design abilities as I am, check out his design site: www.sojournerdesign.org