A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - J - Thursday Thirteen - 274 - 13 Things About Doing a Challenge and Tour Together

1 - For most of this month, my blog posts have been doing double duty: my dark fantasy BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE is currently on tour with Black Lion Virtual Book Tours. 

2 - I'm also taking part for the third year in a row, in the A to Z Blog Challenge.

3 - This week I've decided: 

Why not do a triple-threat post and combine the book tour, A to Z Challenge and my long-running Thursday feature, Thursday Thirteen?

Photo courtesy of How to Hunt Rabbit

4 - On Day 10 of the  A to Z Blog Challenge

J 

is for

Jesses and other falconry equipment

5 - Please join me at Deal Sharing Aunt for my sixth interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Deal Sharing Aunt asks me: "What is a falconer? What does their apprentice do?" 

Find out why she asked me that question, and why falconers and their apprentices need to worry about being caught up in deadly court intrigue in my dark fantasy novel.

Deal Sharing Aunt also reviewed my book. Here's what she had to say:

"Not many fantasy books keep me attached to the last page like this book did. The main character...makes mistakes along the way, which makes him even more of a believable character. The world that the author created was a blast to read about...and I cannot wait for the rest of the books in the series."

6 - Because today is J Day, and because J is for Jesses here at A Piece of My Mind, let's go back to this basic piece of falconry equipment. 

7 - Jesses serve the same function as collars and leashes for dogs, or bridles and reins for horses. Hawks and falcons wear these traditionally leather--nowadays also nylon--anklets with loose ties. The falconer can hold the bird on his glove by the jesses, or secure the bird to a perch.

8 - Why do jesses often include bells? Bells help the falconer to locate his hunting bird when out in the field.

9 - In BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE, falconry bells lead my young hero Scorpius toward a memorable encounter with a market girl.

10 - In this clip, a red-tailed hawk is trained to fly to the falconer's glove.

11 - In this clip, a falconer lets us in on what attracts him to hunting with birds of prey.

12 - Only 26 additional Thursday Thirteen posts, and I will mark a milestone of writing 300 of them. Not long now!

13 - To new readers who are dropping by from the book tour, the A to Z Challenge or from Thursday Thirteen, thanks for dropping by! To my longtime readers--six years and counting for A Piece of My Mind, and I'm just as happy getting my posts ready as I've ever been. Thanks for making blogging so much fun!