Thursday, May 17, 2012

Books and Films and Art, oh my!

Howdy Fairy Fanatics Well, The Pixitres is out now, available, selling. Amazon is the easiest place to pick up a copy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pixitres-Volume-Basil-Sprig/dp/1475123914/

It is also available on the shelf at some smaller, independent bookstores.

Tonight (Thusday May 17) Basil will be screening his short film The Visitors at the Snohomish High School, Night of the Arts. So, if you are in the area, and got nothing to do, come check that out.

http://snohomish.komonews.com/news/arts-culture/745258-high-schools-celebrate-night-arts

Also, Camp Fae welcomes Beth Taylor as Basil's new marketing assistant. One of the first things Beth did was interview Basil about his books and artistic vision. Stay tuned for that interview to be posted right here.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

New Book Coming Soon

Hi People!
Hi Fairies too!

We've been busy at Camp Fae this past year working on a second book in the series, and working on several short videos and a short film.

I just thought I'd post a message to showcase the cover of Book Two in the Camp Fae series:

Here's the text from the back cover:

As the fairies of Camp Fae investigate the disappearance of one of Alley Willowwood’s closest friends, they discover that the entire magical world is on the brink of war. Someone is stirring up Pixies tribes not only against one another, but against the Fairies.

Join Alley as she tries to find her friend and uncover the true villain behind it all in an adventure that takes her across several continents, deep under the sea, and to the other end of our solar system. Alley confronts kidnapping pixie tribes, dragons, a demonic beast from the underworld and more importantly her own fears as she tries to solve the mystery. Who are these mysterious new strangers that have appeared at Camp Fae and what are their intentions? Who has kidnapped her friend and why? And worst of all, what is she going to do now that she's inadvertently made an oath of allegiance to one of the pixie queens and quite possibly given her the ultimate magical weapon?

And here's a preview of the front cover:


Stay Tuned for dates and times of book launch parties!

Email me if you are interested in reviewing the book: basilsprig [at] campfae [dot] org

Cheers!
Basil

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Ye Are All Fairies, Every One!

This morning I had an epiphany of sorts as I drove to work. It was the discovery of something I already knew. It was the finding of words for it.

Remember Tinkerbell? Yeah, Tinkerbell! It doesn't matter whether you remember the Disney one or the J. M. Barrie one (author of Peter Pan), remember Tinkerbell for a moment.

What was it she needed? She needed everyone to say "I do believe in fairies." In fact, it helped if they chanted this over and over again.

It brought her back from the dead (basically). Wow, that's some powerful stuff: belief.

This morning I suddenly realized I'm a fairy. You probably are too, only some of you are too ashamed to admit it. Certainly if you are a creative person, you probably sprinkle fairy dust everywhere you go, and more importantly, you need people to believe in you.

Don't feel self conscious. We ALL need people who believe in us to survive, to overcome, to triumph, to live. We are all (at least in this respect) fairies.

This past couple of months I've re-written the history of my year 2010 about five or six times. It was for me, by all considerations, something halfway between a soap opera and an epic fantasy. Although I have reworded it many times, and looked at it from many angles, I've realized at last, or perhaps decided, that the most important thing I learned this year was the importance of belief in myself, no matter how good or bad things got, but it doesn't just start or end there, it starts and ends with belief in others!

What I discovered was that if I believed in others, if I loved them, poured myself into them, encouraged them, smiled at them, hugged them, etc., no matter how often I might be misunderstood, and no matter how often my actions might be misinterpreted by malicious people, if I keep it up, if I keep going, if I keep believing in others, they in turn end up believing in me. And I discovered that I cannot survive without that.

I am a fairy at heart. Sometimes we all are, and sometimes we all need our friends to chant to us "I believe in you" in order to be able to pick ourselves back up and fly again.

Ye are all fairies, every one. And I believe in you.

You can accomplish any dream. You can triumph over every difficulty. You can do wonders. If you will only believe in yourself. So, here's some love and fairy dust. Pick yourself up and fly.

~ Basil

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

What's up?

There has been so much up since August 20th, and it is a bit surreal that I haven't posted to this blog since then. Part of the problem may simply be that I am always sharing "small things" about what is going on in life over on the Camp Fae facebook page, or my main web site, or even the Basil Sprig MySpace page. There are a lot of small things going on.

First of all I did have a successful summer visiting several book stores and meeting fairy lovers at FaerieWorlds in Eugene Oregon. I had a successful autumn working on the sequel to The Triskaidek. I'm almost done with it now, and expect to finish the first complete draft by the end of the year. I've made a lot of friends with literary and artistic interests. I've been encouraged to make a short film using characters from The Triskaidek and I'm hard at work filming that right now, and entering the film editing stages. I've been getting some great reviews from various places, but not very many accumulating all in one place quite yet. I'm hoping to get more reviews on Amazon.com since that's the primary source for the book. You CAN order a copy of it at any bookstore, but it will not be printed up and sitting in any book stores anytime in the near future. Amazon.com is the largest bookstore in the world, and since that's where it is available, that's where I'm focusing my efforts.

But I've actually had my greatest success at small, out of the way, book stores. Most authors won't visit them, and I don't mind - a sale is a sale: one more happy reader. In fact, I'd have to say I LOVE SMALL BOOKSTORES! You guys have been great to me!

I suggest checking out my facebook page if you want the very latest information on everything. I've now got my own "proper" page address on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CampFae

Cheers!
Basil

Friday, August 20, 2010

Review by US Review of Books

The Triskaidek review by "The U.S. Review or Books" was published today:

See: The Review...

I really hated this review when I got my advanced copy of it. Sure, they say nice things like "Sprig weaves the magical and real worlds together, leaping from discussions of diamonds as conduits for time travel to the computer search engine fgoogle that mixes human and fairy knowledge, in an entertaining way..." but they also make the annoying statement "Although more careful editing would have focused the plot elements and improved the pacing, The Triskaidek is a fun-filled adventure for tweens and young teens."

I shall avoid sweeping statements about the attention span or intelligence level of the reviewer. Obviously I didn't like their suggestion that the book wasn't carefully edited. Perhaps it wasn't carefully read? These book review companies like The US Review of books seem to churn out book reviews like a factory.

Anyway, enjoy the review, but more importantly, enjoy the book!

13asil

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Faerieworlds



Here's a little camp Fae update for you. First off, Basil Sprig and his entourage have been at a little booth set up as the Camp Fae Store at Faerieworlds in Eugene Oregon.

Basil had no idea what to expect and has never opened a "store" in a festival booth before. It has been a lot of fun. We've sold a bunch of books. Most importantly we've made some new fans, who have already read the book in the couple of days since the festival started.

Basil is posting photos live each day straight from the fairy-grounds to Facebook.

Here's a link to the Camp Fae Facebook page so you can check it all out:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CampFae/178027152410

Here's some more photos of the Camp Fae Store at Faerieworlds. Check out the facebook page for live photos throughout the day of Basil and other fairies who have gathered from throughout the world in all their amazing costumes, plus a few fairy tales to go with the pix.



Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Camp Fae Video Recap and News

In celebration of two months since publication, plus an excellent review, here's a recap of all three of the Camp Fae videos (and below that some news).



Too Much Magic





Mischief





Betrayal



NEWS FROM CAMP FAE
Basil has been working hard to get ready for Oregon. In just two weeks we will be taking the show on the road, for two author bookstore appearances, a possible book reading, and three days at FaereWorlds festival near Eugene, where he will be featuring the Camp Fae Store with some Camp Fae Souvenirs, autographed copies of The Triskaidek, and some awesome fairy jewelery of Holly Brees Berenstain. Check out the Camp Fae Facebook page and click on the events tab to see the schedule for events.

Meanwhile, next week Basil will be attending the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference where he will be networking with fellow writers and readers, and more importantly publishers and producers agents and publicists. The idea is to promote and learn how to better promote The Triskaidek, along with book two in the Camp Fae series, and pique interest in making a film or underwriting mass publication of The Triskaidek.

According to Basil: "It is really a win-win situation redolent with possibilities. If I can't pick up a big publisher, I continue to make more money per copy of the book, but if I can, I end my making more money by massive distribution and marketing."

Contest. Did we say anything about a contest? This one is easy. Basil is giving away one free copy of The Triskaidek to the NEXT PERSON who becomes a fan of the Camp Fae Facebook page. What are you waiting for: Click now and follow the instructions:

Camp Fae Facebook page

Perhaps one of the most exciting things is that The Triskaidek got a great review from the independent book reviewer ForeWord Clarion Reviews. Check out the quotes on the Camp Fae facebook page, and Happy Reading / Happy Writing everyone!