The Muse [Paperback]

Fred Warren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

Stan Marino needs a muse. He's written himself into a corner...again. A shot of inspiration is all he needs to finish his story ...where is he going to find it? What Stan doesn't know: Inspiration has found him. And it's about to take over his life. Ripped from reality, he must lead a band of lost souls in a life-or-death battle with a merciless enemy. Stan has found his muse, but will he survive it?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Fred Warren was the first author to sign with Splashdown Books.

Reviews:

Delightful from start to finish. A truly impressive debut novel. ~Kirk Outerbridge, author of Eternity Falls, a Rick Macey Cyberthriller

A breath of fresh air: crisp, sharp and to the point. ~Walt Staples, Radio Playwright and author of Crossways comics

The Muse will inspire readers to enjoy their own artistic gifts and the time it takes to create them. ~Jill Williamson, author of By Darkness Hid

A light-hearted, family-friendly page-turner. The Muse does for writers what Superman did for men wearing tights. ~T.W. Ambrose, Editor, Digital Dragon Magazine

A heart-warming tale of friendship and family that takes an unexpected twist into an otherworldly adventure. ~Steve Rzasa, author of The Word Reclaimed

Author bio:

Fred Warren hails from the merry old land of Kansas, and his short stories have appeared in a variety of online and print magazines, such as A Fly in Amber, Beyond Centauri, Every Day Fiction, Mindflights, and Residential Aliens.The Muse is his first novel.

Excerpt:

They opened their eyes. Stan was resplendent in chain mail that seemed to glow from within despite the dim light, a fine silk hauberk, and a triangular shield bearing the image of a silver unicorn rampant across a black field. At his side was strapped a magnificent jeweled sword, which he drew in a smooth arc, the metal ringing like a bell as he did so.

"Illustrion," he sighed, gazing in wonder at the keen, rune-inscribed blade.

Davos looked every bit the dashing space ranger in his uniform, with an insignia-laden leather jacket, side-striped trousers, and shiny knee-high boots. He carried a lethal-looking energy rifle that hummed with power. "Yes," he said in a satisfied tone, "I think this might deal some damage."

Jilly also seemed pleased with her transformation. She wore a black leather catsuit that sported a weapons belt with a variety of sharp objects suitable for hacking, stabbing, and throwing, and she carried a sleek crossbow and a quiver filled with razorhead bolts. "Nice," she said, taking aim at an imaginary target with the crossbow, "I think I could get used to this."

"Ah...guys?" Stan said, pointing toward the other inhabitants of the clearing, their eyes wide with terror as they huddled together. "I'm thinking we may want to ask our friends over there to join our Let's Pretend Club."

"Just a second," said Jilly, twisting her body and swiveling her head around in an effort to see her back. "I need to do a little more imagineering here. I just realized this outfit doesn't have a zipper."

From the Author

This story is about inspiration--its meaning, origins, and purpose. It also
explores the idea that there's more than one kind of inspiration, and it's
important to understand the source, nature, and ultimate effects of the
creative energy we're using.

Creation is perhaps the most human activity of all, for in the act of
creating, whether it's producing a work of art, telling a story, building a
business, or raising a family, we express in microcosm the nature of the
Creator, who gave us life and made us in His image with the intent that
we, in our small, clumsy way, attempt the sorts of things He does with
perfect excellence.

I didn't start out writing The Muse with the intent of producing a
"Christian" novel, though my own faith can't help but emerge somehow
in anything I write. References to the spiritual world unseen to human
eyes are pure speculation. I know the power of love, loyalty, truth,
courage, and self-sacrifice beyond any shadow of doubt, and I am
likewise certain that God works purposefully in our lives, for our good,
though we often don't recognize His hand except in retrospect.

I enjoyed writing The Muse, and I hope you'll find it interesting,
entertaining, and maybe even a little inspiring.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Splashdown Books (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0986451711
• ISBN-13: 978-0986451713
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,478,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fred was born in Tacoma, Washington, but spent most of his formative years in California, where his parents pastored a couple of small churches. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1983, and spent 24 years in the Air Force as a bomber navigator, flight-test navigator, and military educator. He retired from the Air Force in 2007, and now works as a government contractor in eastern Kansas, providing computer simulation support for Army training.

Fred has been married for 27 years to the girl who should have been his high school sweetheart, and has three kids, two dogs, and a mortgage. When he's not writing or reading, he enjoys running, hiking, birdwatching, stargazing, and playing around with computers.

Writing has always been a big part of his life, but he kept it mostly private until a few years ago, when it occurred to him that if he was ever going to get published, he needed to get serious about it. Since then, he's written over 30 short stories that have been published in a variety of print and online magazines. His first novel, The Muse, debuted in November 2009 from Splashdown Books, and was followed in 2011 by a sequel, The Seer. You can find many of his short stories in a single volume, Odd Little Miracles, published by Splashdown Books in 2011. Speculative fiction is his first love, but he writes the occasional bit of non-fiction or poetry, just to keep things interesting.

Random facts about Fred:

* Age: Fifty-ish
* Likes: Travel, coffee, dogs, football, animation, clocks, and waterfalls
* Dislikes: Crowds, lawn care, politics, opera, spam (meat or electronic), and spiders
* Favorite Authors: Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury
* Favorite Quotation: "Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves." Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A list of Fred's current publications in print and online is available on his writing blog at http://frederation.wordpress.com/publications

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive Debut! November 6, 2009

By Kirk Outerbridge

Format:Paperback

The Muse is a delightful tale from start to finish. Warren's crisp and clean prose lends itself to transporting the reader into a world of struggling fiction writers. As a fiction writer myself, I found Warren's characters instantly genuine and the depiction of their lives, families, hopes and dreams easy to empathize with.

What starts out as a story of three friends struggling with writers block soon turns into a tale of everyday magic with celestial beings, an evil spirit and the heroes in real danger for their lives and those of their loved ones.

But beyond the fast paced chapters, great dialogue and fantastically magical climax is the soulful inner journey of the main character that so many stories seem to lack these days.

Warren does a bang up job of keeping these themes consistent and tight throughout the book, yet subtle enough as not to hammer it over the reader's head. The result is a heart warming ending that ties everything together in a hope filled conclusion that will have the reader reminiscing about it for days.

A truly impressive debut novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "And a little child shall lead them..." May 19, 2010

By W. Staples

Format:Paperback

"The Muse," Fred Warren's new book from Splashdown Books, is a breath of fresh air. It is a riff on "The Devil and Daniel Webster" without the idiocy of Characters knowingly signing on the dotted line with sulfurous ink then trying to escape their stupidity by putting one over on old Scratch. Rather than dupes, the people involved are victims innocently attempting to get through life.

Stan Marino, the protagonist, is a writer of heroic fantasy who belongs to a small group of third-tier authors, the sort who write entertainingly but unnoticed by the big houses and agents. The collection of scriveners, who call themselves "The Seventh Circle of Hell," are a support-group of writers working in disparate genres of speculative fiction. One day, a mousy woman walks into the book-cum-coffee shop in which they hang out. She shatters the writer's block Stan has struggled with on his work-in-progress with one small suggestion. Soon he and the other writers of the "Circle," Jilly and Davos, find that every keystroke is suddenly golden.

Charity, Stan's beloved wife with a secret of her own, realizes there are dark forces in motion the menace her husband, small daughter, and every creative person in the area. A bill is being written out that will worse than bankrupt the people she loves.

In the final conflict, creativity becomes a two-edged sword that cuts for and against the wielder and a four year-old is the most powerful human involved.

Warren's novel deals with the creative process and the mythic without doing serious violence to anyone's belief-system. One warning, this work made even the old snake-eater's eyes well up. If Splashdown Books can continue this quality in its publications, it could evolve into one of the better new houses....

This is definitely a book to muse about. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Added to my favorite author list September 10, 2012

By pabaines

Format:Paperback

The Muse tells the story of Stan Marino, an aspiring author who finds himself struggling with writer's block. Along with his two writer friends he spends almost every spare minute either writing, or agonizing over, his stories. All three hope to be published, but each has his or her own problems to deal with. What they need is inspiration. What they need is a muse. Enter the unlikely villain: a plain, almost timid, woman who seems to know exactly what each needs to do to overcome their problems.

I knew I was going to enjoy this book from the very first scene. I'm always on the lookout for someone with a fresh voice, and Warren's prose is enchanting. I got the feeling that he typed each word with a smile on his face. His joy of storytelling shines from the page and the humour is always just below the surface. I laughed out loud in one scene, which caught me by surprise. Happily, I wasn't on public transport at the time.

The Muse is a short story (arguably novella length) but Warren manages to pack a huge amount into those pages. He touches on themes of love, loss, redemption and temptation, all wrapped in a package of epic fantasy that never loses sight of its humanity. Indeed, the strength of the story for me lies in the fact that it is rooted in the real world, with flesh-and-blood people, even when we are carried into the realm of fantasy. My heart ached for Stan and his family. Warren painted characters that I felt I knew. The villain was especially well done.

Warren is an excellent author who has found a place on my list of favorites. I can't wait to read his other works.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Anvil Review of The Muse November 27, 2010

By Diane M. Graham

Format:Paperback

Many writers have come to a point where they hit a brick wall and words refuse to peel themselves from the skull cavity. They cling there like rotten children. WRITER"S BLOCK!The artist will eventually find a spatula and remove the little buggers. It can get messy. Cheesecake may help, but the battle to release creativity with inspiration is not always so sweet.

You may be asking what any of this has to do with The Muse and the CrazyHair on its cover. Don't knock the hair...kindred spirit and all. That is Stan and he has written himself into a corner. Poor guy has probably gained 10 pounds from cheesecake consumption, gouged the inside of his cranium with a metal spatula and I think he had his wife drop an anvil on his head. It is all to no avail. He's stuck!

Stan goes to his small writer's group and tries to find help from his friends Jilly and Davos, but they are struggling with their own writerly woes. What they need is something to stoke the embers of imagination. A muse. What they get is a mousy gal named Leila. She overhears the group's discussion and gives a few pointers. They get to talking and find out Leila is a freelance editor. Stan, Jilly and Davos invite her to the group.

From there, strange things begin to happen.

The Muse is a laugh-out-loud good time. No really. Fred Warren has a wonderful style of funny. Anyone that can work a naked Smurf or Pinky and the Brain quotes into their story and make it work has my vote of confidence.

While The Muse is funny, it is also beautiful. I will give examples of both in my selected quotes in a bit. What stands out to me is Fred's hidden beautiful. You will be reading along, laughing and then, BAM! It is a straight-up Batman moment.... Fred writes something so beautiful and profound that you have to flip the cover and make sure you are reading the same book. It reminds me so much of the Christian's journey, or at least this Christian's journey.

Excellent Quotes:

Funny- "I lost my respect for gnomes when they started hawking airline tickets on TV."

Beautiful- "Autumn was waltzing with winter, and it wouldn't be long before the lord of ice and snow cast off his partner and danced in the spotlight alone."

Fred Warren presents his readers with very valid questions. What are you willing to give up for your wants? What if that inspiration you so desire could actually kill you? Better yet, what if it could kill the things you love? This is especially true for writers on the journey to publication. We must remember that if something is too good to be true, there will generally be a high price to pay for falling for its temptation. Is God in your journey? Read more ›