10 Reasons You Should Check Out Fiddler’s Green

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Today marks the official release of A.S. Peterson’s (that’s Pete Peterson to you) new book, Fiddler’s Green, the follow up to his debut novel, The Fiddler’s Gun, published last year by Rabbit Room Press.

The Fiddler’s Gun was a labor of love birthed through the encouragement of family and friends and financed by patrons who partnered with Pete to make it happen. Part adventure, part love story, part historical fiction, it’s the tale of Fin Button: orphan, pirate, and revolutionary. Fiddler’s Green picks up where Gun left off and hits the ground running. The tale that unfolds is epic in scope, sweeping the reader not just to the far reaches of the world, but deep into the brokenness of Fin Button’s heart. I couldn’t put it down.

So I offer to you, on the day of its release, the top 10 reasons why you should check out Fiddler’s Green:

10. If you liked The Fiddler’s Gun, you’ll LOVE Fiddler’s Green. I couldn’t have hoped for a better conclusion to the redemptive story of Fin Button.

9. Being that it’s Fiddler’s GREEN, it is the perfect gift for environmentally conscious readers.

newfinalcover8. It has pirates AND knights. I mean, come on.

7. For all of its swashbuckling, it’s also a genuinely touching love story. I mean, come ON.

6. And it’s an historical novel, so you kind of get brownie points for reading something that might make you smarter. It might, in fact, make you want to say “an historical” instead of “a historical”.

5. Did I mention that it had pirates?

4. …and knights?

3. And because of passages like this:  (upon entering the Strait of Gibraltar . . .) “Though Fin couldn’t see it, she felt the closeness of land around her. From beyond the grey veil she could sense the oppressive weight of two great continents crowding down to the sea, each to kneel and contemplate the nearness of an ancient earthen brother.”

2. Because the sooner people buy this book, the sooner Pete can publish his next one (which, rumor has it, might be an epic western. And that is awesome).

And as I said in my official endorsement of the book (printed on the inside flap – which is like a bonus reason to get it), the number 1 reason to check out Fiddler’s Green:
“The best of Peterson’s work in The Fiddler’s Gun is matched and tripled in his action-packed sequel, Fiddler’s Green. He proved himself an able writer of a worthy tale in Gun, but as I read Green, I felt like I was witness to the magical moment of a certifiable author being born. There were passages that took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. Stunning prose, unforgettable characters, a rip-roaring page-turner of an adventure that I couldn’t put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Now, tell us another story Mr. Peterson.”

Available now in the Rabbit Room store and wherever great books are sold.

Jason Gray is a recording artist with Centricity Records. His latest single, out now, is "When I Say Yes".


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65 Comments

  3. JJ

    I carry my copy of Fiddler’s Green around with me everywhere. I’m trying to get through another great one, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, before getting started on it and I want to be able to start immediately upon finishing Jennifer’s amazing book. I can’t count how many times I’ve taken it out and just marveled at the cover or flipped through the pages and read the recommendations. I’ve even taken it out to smell it. Yes, smell it. You know you’ve done it too.

    We have some amazing artists here. I’m thrilled to be able to share in these stories.

  4. Dryad

    Being a poor, starving student that’s trying to earn her way to college, I did not buy this book or its predecessor.
    They’re both on my christmas list, though.

  5. Alyssa

    I ordered both books for my sister-in-law for Christmas, not even having had the opportunity to read them yet myself. When they came in the mail, my fingers tingled with the temptation to tear into them, but I somehow managed to stifle the urge and wrap the books instead. I’m just hoping to the heavens that those with my Christmas list come through so that I can meet Fin myself before year’s end.

  6. Aaron Roughton

    This book has ruined my week. I have been staying up late to read it, dragging through my days because it’s impossible to put down. I’m daydreaming about fighting pirates all day at work. I’ll probably be fired by the end of the week for using naval terms. I called a meeting “to arms” yesterday. I was in tears before the 3rd chapter, and I have had my breath taken away countless times.

    You should definitely buy it. Buy lots of them.

    And when you’re reading the list of patrons at the end, remember this: Pete ordered the list according to who he likes the most. Sorry S.D. Smith.

    And Jason, I laughed out loud at reason #9. Brilliant.

  8. Jess

    If you haven’t read these books you are missing a huge part of your life. Read them quickly, before the end of the world comes in 2012!! 😉 Seriously, though, Fin is not a person to be left waiting.

  9. Jen

    Chris: Ha! My mind totally went there too. I hope Pete’s next book has ninjas. (Wait… it’s a Western? It can still have ninjas too, right?)

    I love love loved Fiddler’s Gun and must read this too. I’ve dropped several extremely large hints to some confused Christmas shoppers in my life, so let’s hope…. 🙂

  10. Ron Block

    I loved The Fiddler’s Gun, and I’m past halfway through Fiddler’s Green. Pete’s characters, especially Fin Button, and the world of ships and seas he creates yank me right into suspension of disbelief. I’m caught up into their lives, into their world and, like Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy going to Narnia, I end up learning a lot about my own life and world. If you haven’t read these books you’re missing out on Pete’s amazing gift for telling stories.

  11. Samantha A.

    Jen & Chris- I’m sure ninjas and cowboys can fit together somehow 🙂

    Fiddler’s Green is at the top of my Christmas list, and I’ve been reminding my parents about it quite frequently 😉 THANKS again, Mr. Peterson!!!

    God bless & Merry Christmas!

  13. LauraP

    Like Aaron, this book is costing me sleep. But it is totally worth it. I LOVED “Gun” — and “Green” surpasses it. The story is compelling and the writing superb. Most books of this length I would have read in a day or two. But parts of “Green” are so beautiful, I find myself stopping for the night just so I can properly savor them. (Also, I can’t see very well when my eyes are all watery.) Can’t wait to give these books as Christmas gifts to people I love.

  14. Dan Foster

    I really enjoyed Fiddler’s Gun and I have Fiddler’s Green in my possession (even has my name in the back, yes!) I’ll probably be doing some Christmas reading in the next couple weeks and pick this up in 2011. But all the recommendations may be the impetus I need to pick up another copy or two as gifts for others.

    But here’s my question. I don’t know Pete well, but to the best of my knowledge, he’s never been any of these things:
    A pirate
    A knight
    A woman
    A married man
    A killer of other people
    Alive in the 1700s
    A published author (before Fiddler’s Gun)

    So how in the world did he write such a great set of novels about a Revolutionary war-era violent, in-love, pirate woman? Amazing.

  15. Thomas

    All of those reasons are great reasons to buy this book, but Jason you missed one very important one. Benjamin Franklin. Any book that has Benjamin Franklin in it is a must read.

    Great book Pete!

    Thomas

  17. Jess

    Oh, Thomas… 😉 I’ll just have to tell my sister NOT to read the comments before she finishes it 😉

  18. RG

    Fiddlers green kept me up way too late last night. My eyes were watering not from a tender scene, but from pushing back against falling asleep! I could not put it down, and I’m paying for it today. But what a spectacular book.

  19. Sallie Kate

    Great, now all I’ll think about the whole time I’m reading is…when will good ol’ Ben pop into the story?!
    Very pumped to read these and the other new Rabbity books we have piling up, longing to be held.
    Thanks, Pete!

  22. Pete Peterson

    No, no, no. George Washington cuts her hand off and THEN tells her he’s her father. Then she whines and jumps off the ship. At the end of the book, though, George Washington gets his own hand cut off and he throws King George in the Thames. Oh, and Peter is Fin’s brother (but she doesn’t know it until after she kisses him. Eww.)

  28. Jazz

    How can it have both knights and pirates? I mean, knights live on land and pirates are sea people. It dosen’t make sense.

  29. Jazz

    And Eric, even though I have never read Twilight or this book, I agree with you. I bet all the books on the Rabbit Room are better than Twilight.

  30. Tom

    I just finished The Fiddler’s Gun last week, so I’m anxious to start this one. However, I will need to wait a little while longer for the Kindle version.

    *grumble*grumble*

  31. Canaan Bound

    Aaron Roughton. You are too funny. Comment #23 had me on the ground. Literally. By literally, I mean, “This might sound like I’m exaggerating, and I probably am exaggerating, but I’m only exaggerating in order to convey to you just how hilarious it was.”

  32. S.D. Smith

    I haven’t read the other comments but has anyone else said they liked it? Cause that’s what I want to say. Here I go.

    I’m reading it now and it’s really good. This fellow can write!

  34. Paula Shaw

    I think an epic movie should be made out of these books. Really. Think about it. . . it would be just awesome! Of course, Pete would have to be at the helm making sure the movie held true to the book!
    I’m lovin’ this book, Pete!
    🙂

  36. Pete Peterson

    There will be a Kindle version. Eventually. However, it won’t smell as good, feel as good, look as good, taste as good, read as well (since it can’t be typeset), look as good on your bookshelf, nor will it put food on my table. So yeah. Eventually.

  37. Sondorik

    Another reason why Fin’s stories are so great is because they appeal to a wide audience. My 18-year-old brother enjoyed The Fiddler’s Gun/Fiddler’s Green as much as my well-read adopted grandmother. How many books on our shelves cross generational and gender barriers so well? This is a mark of a true classic. Thanks to Pete for creating an amazing, redemptive tale worth savoring and sharing with others.

    Dryad, Alyssa, Jen, Samantha A: too bad you’re not on my Christmas list because you definitely would find a copy of Fiddler’s Green under the tree. Let me know if Santa doesn’t pan out. 😉

  38. Ron Block

    My only problem with The Fiddler’s Gun and Fiddler’s Green is that these books have stealing, murder, and other sins in them. I don’t know how A.S. Peterson could be a Christian and write about those things, and we certainly shouldn’t read books by people who aren’t Christians, or books that promote stealing or killing. I started to read the first one and was tempted to go to a store and steal, so I quit reading.

    DISCLAIMER: This is a joke, just in case anyone has taken it seriously.

  40. Jonathan Rogers

    I’m going to go right out and steal a pirated copy of The Fiddler’s Green.

    FYI, the author makes a lot less money on a Kindle edition of a book. This is especially true in a self-publishing situation like Pete’s. I understand the need of many readers to wait for the Kindle edition in order to save money. I buy books on my Kindle for that very reason. But I also thought it might be helpful for book buyers to know that, from Pete’s perspective, there’s a big difference between selling a book on Kindle (which is a lot like giving it away) and selling a physical copy.

    I also know that Pete would rather people read his book on the Kindle (or check it out from a library) than not read it at all. And I hope I don’t come across as critical of anybody for whom saving a few dollars makes a big difference. Believe me, I know what that’s like. But I thought I would mention that the amount a buyer saves by waiting for the Kindle edition is less than the amount that the author loses on that sale. Which explains why there’s no Kindle edition yet.

    Also, physical books are better than electronic books.

    Also, Pete didn’t ask me to write this.

  42. JJ

    I agree with Mr. Rogers (our Mr. Rogers, not THE Mr. Rogers). Personally I only want the Kindle version so that I can have my favorite books around at all times. I got multiple print copies of Fiddler’s Gun but when I got my Kindle I still bought a Kindle version. I got multiple copies of Fiddler’s Green (some to give away at Christmas and one for myself), but I’ll still get a Kindle version when available.

    I have a dozen print versions of Narnia and Lord of the Rings (okay, maybe only 2 or 3). But they will, when the budget allows, end up on my Kindle too. I just love having my favorite books on a single device. I ran out of books at the beach this past September and I often thought, “If I had only brought _____, I’d read that!” But I didn’t, so I had to go out and buy one (I ended up with The Hunger Games, which is a great series).

    But I’ve discovered that with some books, I want the printed copy (like Pete, AP and Jonathan’s books). Others, I don’t care. But I’ll have print and Kindle editions of my absolute favs. I just need Mrs. Rowling to bring Harry to the Kindle…

  43. Dan Foster

    I don’t own a Kindle, and probably never will (my wife is a lover of reading and hater of clutter, but when I sort of slyly mentioned the Kindle as a solution to both, her disgust for the thought of such a thing was nearly palpable), but the idea of it intrigues me.

    So this is geting off-topic, but I’m curious why the Kindle rakes in so little for the author. Afterall, he doesn’t have to pay for the physical printing of the book, so one would think he could get _more_ of the cost. But I guess Amazon has it set up so they get most of the profit? Or am I missing something obvious?

  44. Pete Peterson

    The issue is the price point. Big name authors (publishers) can charge $9 for a Kindle book and sell lots of them. I’ve found that to really move books I have to price them under $4 which leaves about a $2 profit per book. I’m happy to do it because I want people to read the book but it’s painful to give away 10 years of hard work for $2.

    I’m a fan of the Kindle. I have one of my own. But I also recognize the flaws in the system. Particularly since I rely on it to pay my rent.

    The other issue, for me, is that there is a lot more to a book than words. A lot of work goes into the design of a book and none of that carries over to current e-readers. I firmly believe that the artwork, the design, the font and typesetting, the notes, the front and back matter all work together to create the setting and experience of a story. Those things are all lost in current digital formats.

  45. Laura Peterson

    Pete, I totally agree! I never really paid attention to interior design of books before I started working for a publisher, but now it’s something I definitely notice. The font and chapter headers and the way the text is displayed can definitely add to or take away from a story. Good design helps set the scene in a way that most readers don’t notice until it’s not there. (Plus, who doesn’t love the way a new book smells when you open it for the first time? Mmm.)

  47. Aaron Roughton

    I never paid attention to the design of a book before I read your writeup of how much time and effort you put into things like font and paper selection. And man, did you and Evie ever knock it out of the park with The Fiddler’s Green. It’s beautiful.

  48. Becca

    Printed works best for me because I like to write in books. My purist reader friends shudder at the thought; but if I really love a book, it’s filled with underlines, exclamations, and notes to come back and read stuff again. There’s just something about pages of type + handwriting. It’s so tactile, satisfying in a different way than digital. It’s like a conversation with the writer.

    Also, kids don’t usually interrupt moms in the bathtub. Kindles aren’t waterproof. Time is precious. So, there’s that.

    I use the free Kindle app on my itouch to keep some books with me wherever I go. But it’s definitely not the same.

    However Pete, I would definitely pay more than $2 for your books on Kindle. Anything under $5, I shell out pretty quickly. Famous or not. Especially since there’s no shipping on digital stuff.

  49. Ron Block

    Buy the print version. Fiddler’s Green is $14. To a regular Starbucks customer that’s about three and a half lattes. Lattes come and go (fairly immediately). We literally flush money every day on something that has no nutrition and gives us just a few brief minutes of pleasure. The book will give you both pleasure and soul/spirit nutrition, and it won’t need to be flushed in an hour.

  50. Ron Block

    By the way, my aunt bought me a Kindle. I was going to wait until AKUS was back out on the road, but I’m glad to have it. There are so many classic books for pennies, and even free – George MacDonald, Victor Hugo, Chesterton, and the rest of ’em. I really dig my Kindle, but it won’t ever replace the real thing. But my library at home, an entire room with shelves, is overflowing everywhere, so the Kindle is a good solution until I get rid of the books that have no value to me.

  51. Peter Br

    Who are these people who buy Starbucks lattes every day? I hear this argument all the time, and it makes me wonder how many listeners/readers actually fit the target demographic of that message.

  52. Ron Block

    Peter: When I was a broke musician with no job I managed to scrape up two or three bucks a day for 44 oz diet Cokes. Every day. Sixty to ninety dollars a month. Such luxuries, since they are designed by marketers with addiction in mind, can come to seem necessities. Maybe the demographic is off for the RR readership. But it is true that many of us have pockets that leak. Benjamin Franklin talked about watching the little expenses. I have some friends with several kids whose tax man did their taxes one year and then asked about thousands of dollars that seemed to have disappeared. Turns out it was all those little expenses. A Coke. MacDonalds. Rent a movie. Starbucks. Chips at the Shell station. Etcetera. Starbucks is just an easy way to say, “We blow money on non-essentials and literally flush it.”

    So – if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it.

  54. Paula Shaw

    Pete, I have to admit. . . I love your sense of humor. You remind me of my husband, and one of my sons. . . priceless.
    🙂

  55. Ron Block

    DISCLAIMER: I receive no compensation from A.S. Peterson for hawking his book at the expense of daily comforts and luxuries. To put it plainly, I love both of his books. He has a great knack for telling a story and putting all that good stuff in it that fills my heart and mind, makes me genuinely reflective, contemplative, and grateful. The Rabbit Room was conceived of largely as a place where friends tell each other about great stuff they’ve heard, seen, read. I am following the Code.

  56. Ron Block

    Ironically, I am currently sitting in a Starbucks sending files. But I spent only TwoBucks on a grande decaf coffee. I shoulda bought the Kindle version.

  57. Peter Br

    We need a coffee shop called TwoBucks. I’m sure there wouldn’t be any legal trouble whatsoever.

    Ron, I’m just gloating because I saved my Starbucks money for a whole decade so I could afford the $5,000 “Gold Tooth Tier” Fiddler’s Green sponsorship, whereby I get to star in a promotional music video with the author and Sean Combs in a 12th-anniversary re-dance of It’s All About the Benjamins.

    Yours in prepositionality,

    Peter

  58. Ron Block

    Peter: I would like to have all the money I blew on Diet Coke from 1986-1996. Ten years. Let’s see, two or three bucks a day for ten years. That’s somewhere between 7000-10000 bucks for the privilege of putting chemicals with no nutrition, designed for addiction, into my body.

  60. Becca

    When I was ten, I went camping with my family. Mom and Dad went for a walk, so my little brother and I rolled up a bunch of dried maple leaves in a Campbell’s Soup can wrapper and caught the end on fire. We tried to smoke it. Found out what it felt like to inhale flames. I don’t recommend it. However, we got our chemicals with zero nutrition for free.

  61. Dieta

    I love this site. I love this book. I loved the first one. I love the priviledge of being a patron here. What a gift to help nudge along the production of things you really believe in. And, Pete, no Kindle here. I need my pages like I need my liner notes. I guess I am old fashioned that way. Keep up the brilliant work, and when you’re ready to talk film production, let me know…

  62. JJ

    I got a Starbucks beverage a few weeks back on a whim. I hadn’t been there in awhile and figured I’d treat myself. It cost nearly $5. As I was drinking it I was thinking the coffee I get from Trader Joes, which is $5 for a huge can of coffee grounds, tastes better than that $5 drink at Starbucks. Who knows how many mugs full of coffee I make with that huge can from Trader Joes, but it’s definitely more than 1.

  63. Eric Peters

    Obviously, I was being flippant with the Twilight remark. No offense to vampires or their lineage.

    Fiddler’s Green does what a well-written novel should do: it transports the reader out of time, out of present mind, to a world we know little to nothing about, convincing us, instead, that we are physically present, very nearly actors – at the very least, spectators – in the action as it unfolds. So many times I felt I was “there” in the middle of it all, grimacing and ducking for cover when the action was at fevered pitch. To turn the final page and close the book was akin to saying goodbye to a new-old friend.

    P.S. If anyone ever happens to stay at the Westin Resort in Orlando, you will be happy to know that Fin Button is forever enshrined on the putt-putt golf course there. Her and a fair number of the Rattlesnake crew keep watch over the front and back-nine. I have photo proof.

  64. Anne Swanner

    Just finished it!! Awesome, of course! 🙂 Thanks, Pete! Giving a few as gifts this year too!

  65. Nathan

    I finished the book in two long sittings and have since given away three copies. The only trouble is that I don’t have multiples of Gun, so the people to whom I give Green have to go out and buy the first book before they can enjoy my gift. More business for the Rabbit Room.

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