Malcolm R. Campbell profile picture

Malcolm R. Campbell

Look to the stars for your dreams, for the heavens are a map of the human mind. --The Sun Singer

About Me

The next step of my writing journey begins with the winter solstice as the manuscript for my new novel Garden of Heaven begins making the rounds of prospective publishers. My avatars, the Black Horse and the Golden Eagle, are used throughout the novel as yin and yang symbols.
Several of the characters in this new story also appeared in my 2004 metaphysical fantasy novel, The Sun Singer . "The Sun Singer" was inspired by dream images that haunted me after a childhood trip to Robert Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois. There you will find the bronze statue representing Apollo that captured my attention 45 years before I wrote the novel.
"The Sun Singer," set in Glacier National Park, is a hero path novel about a young man who travels to an unknown mountain world to complete a dangerous mission begun years earlier by his avatar grandfather. Among his tasks: climbing 'The Guardian,' the mountain of visions known in our world as Chief Mountain. He enters that world with a gift that will either save his life or ensure he will never return from his quest.

The novel is available in trade paperback and e-book formats. To celebrate the novel's third anniversary and to help fight air pollution in America's national parks, 100% of the royalties from the e-book version of the novel purchased after June 1, 2007 are being donated to the National Parks and Conservation Association. That's a $3 donation for every $6 e-book!
You can find me on the Internet at my Malcolm R. Campbell.com , at my Round Table and at my daily Writer's Notebook .


.. Amazon.com Widgets ..

Praise for The Sun Singer
"The Sun Singer is gloriously convoluted, with threads that turn on themselves and lyrical prose on which you can float down the mysterious, sun-shaded channels of this charmingly liquid story." --Diana Gabaldon

"A remarkable facet of what I hope will become a fantasy series--this book would even be more appreciated if another in the adventure followed it." --Nancy Morris, AllBooks Reviews

"Malcolm R. Campbell has successfully crafted an elegant, romantic fantasy of good vs. evil that most fans of the genre should appreciate." -- Tabitha

My Interests

Writing, movies, environmental issues, novels, satire, and creating reality with just the right amount of misdirection, rosemary and zinfandel.
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances."
–Oscar Wilde


"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."
--Jean Houston

I'd like to meet:

Novelists, freelance writers, alchemists, magicians, publishers who seek out strange novels, readers who find themselves in the characters in novels, people with a nasty sense of humor, people who are buying cheese to celebrate the year of the rat, and anyone who's figured out how to see past the illusion.
Check out my book trailer for "The Sun Singer" . . .

Music:

Mary Youngblood, Deuter, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Bird York, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Mannheim Steamroller, Eva Cassidy, Diana Krall, Rita Coolidge, Shelley Morningsong, Polecat Creek, Julie Fowlis, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Catherine Duc.

Movies:


Lord of the Rings, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven, The Natural, Chicago, The Illusionist, The Prestige, The Apartment, Lawrence of Arabia, hey and Ratatouille was fun!

Television:

Grey's Anatomy, Bones, NCIS, Boston Legal, Saving Grace, and yes--I confess!--I watch "Antique Roadshow"

Visit PublishedAuthors


Books:

The Book of Marie, Lottery, The Killer Angels, A Scots Quair, A Distant Flame, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Song of an Untamed Land, The Prince of Tides, Memories of Rain, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the Harry Potter series, A River Runs Through It, A Winter's Tale, People of the Book.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of books by Nora Caron and Nancy Whitney-Reiter!
Check out my recently published book review on AC:
Geraldine Brooks' March Received the Pulitzer Prize in 2006

Heroes:

My Blog

Win a free book at The Sun Singer birthday party

My novel The Sun Singer will be four years old on June 24th. To celebrate, I'll be giving away several free books from the following list: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Lavinia by Ursula K....
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:21:00 PST

Being Raised by Hyenas is No Laughing Matter

I woke up this morning with two empty Scotch bottles on the floor and no one else in the room. The phone was ringing louder than usual. "Hi," a voice gushed with more cheer than the law allows, "I'm L...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Sat, 24 May 2008 06:53:00 PST

Unplugged in Hoogezand, Nederland

I read Nancy Whitney-Reiter's wise and practical book Unplugged - How to disconnect from the rat race, have an existential crisis, and find meaning and fulfillment with a smorgasbord of nostalgia and ...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Tue, 13 May 2008 02:22:00 PST

Mothers Day Seance

At high noon on Mother's Day, I hire a happy medium who comes over to my house with various spooky trinkets and incense to conduct my yearly Mother's Day Seance.My mother passed away in 1986 and ...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Sun, 11 May 2008 01:53:00 PST

Novel Excerpt - Dream Images

Dream Images from Garden of Heaven copyright (c) 2008 by Malcolm R. Campbell While "Garden of Heaven" makes the rounds of prospective agents, I thought I'd post this short series of David's (protagoni...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Wed, 07 May 2008 07:27:00 PST

Romance is in the Air (ha ha) and other posts

Selected lunacy: Round Table: Tarot.com tells me 'romance is in the air'(Satire) Trickster's World: 'The Steel Wave' - A New Novel by Jeff Shaara(Military History) Writer's Notebook: How to Write ...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Fri, 02 May 2008 08:12:00 PST

Live - The World Within Yourself

"As long as the morning light combs across your face, as long as the curtains open anew, there draws the breath of theatre." - Aine MacAodha, "Curtain Up" in Where the Three Rivers Meet Why, I wonder,...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:23:00 PST

Of Muses and the Writing Imperative

When I was a child, muses were depicted in books as emaciated women who appeared to be chronically dying of consumption. For the kick-ass writer in training, this image was more than a few frail breat...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:54:00 PST

New Book Trailer

After having fellow authors say, "Malcolm, you ignorant dinosaur (LOFLMAO), EVERYONE is doing book trailers these days" for months, it seemed time to do one if for no other reason than to get than to ...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:29:00 PST

Living a path or talking about a path and other posts

Here's a selection of some recent sanity-free posts on my other blogs. Before displaying the list, I must take issue (in a friendly way) with MySpace's "Post New Blog" hyperlink on our home pages. Thi...
Posted by Malcolm R. Campbell on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:19:00 PST