D is for Dragon

D is for Dragon
Available Now at Lulu.com

Welcome to the Hearthside

The Hearthside is a blog for the writings of Nathaniel Hart. Check out the sample stories to the right. Check Below for updates on appearances, readings, and current work.

26 November 2016

Small Business Saturday

It's Small Business Saturday and you can get D is for Dragon or Water Rounded Stones at Portland small businesses. 

D is for Dragon can be found at Red Castle Games, Guardian Games, and the Sprightly Being Cafe (searching google for any of these names will get you an address). 

Water Rounded Stones, my short story collection, can be found at Powells Books though they have limited copies on hand. 

Additionally, I am extending our weekend sale to Water Rounded Stones as well. If you email me by Monday I am offering $2 off the sticker price of each book. To get that special price send me an email by clicking the link here I will bring this sale back some time in December as well. 

Have a good weekend! 

23 November 2016

November Reading and End of Year Sales

Hi everyone,

My reading on the 6th went great. We had several people in attendance and the candy for the kids was a hit, maybe to much so... More importantly it was awesome to see D is for Dragon on a screen! I hope to do more of these events in the future. I have one at least in planing stages for the coast, and I'm looking into other locations. There are some pictures from the event up on my Author Facebook, in case you couldn't make it out
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Nathaniel-Hart-335566293202386/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1184424204983253

More exciting news is our upcoming sale for D is for Dragon. Starting Friday and running through Monday we are offering $2 off the standard price when you buy it from us directly. To do that send an email here and let me know how many copies you want, and where to ship them. I will reply from there with payment options. We will offer this sale again in December.

Finally, I am also pumped to share our new products for D is for Dragon: the Coffee Mugs and t-shirts from the kickstarter are available for purchase through Vistaprint. Check out the links below to do that.

Cheers!


Buy a Coffee Mug

Buy a T-Shirt

Buy Books Directly at $2 off

15 October 2016

D is for Dragon Live Reading Event!

Come celebrate the publishing of D is for Dragon at a live reading event! 

The release party will be at Tabor Space on November 6th at 2:30 PM. See address below. This event will include a reading, cookies and coffee, and book sales/signing. The room is a NO SHOES room so bring a good pair of socks and maybe a favorite stuffed animal. We will have blankets to snuggle up on and pictures from the book projected on a screen for the reading. Kids can collect treasure and D is for Dragon coloring book pages to take home after the reading. Themed costumes not required but certainly encouraged. We are trying to get a head count so please drop me an email at nbeachhart@hotmail.com to let me know if you plan to come and how many you are bringing. And please do spread the word! We will have copies of the book for sale by cash, check, or card, but you can also purchase it at lulu.com. Just search “D is for Dragon” we are the first thing to come up.

Tabor Space can be found at:

5441 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97215
Look for “Room 05”

29 September 2016

D is for Dragon is Published!


















With the aid of our Kickstarter Backers and many others besides my Children's Picture book D is for Dragon has been published! Thank you all for your help. We will be hosting a release party tenatively set for Sunday, October 16th at 2pm. 

The book is now for sale through several means:

Directly from the artists: 
Emailing your request to nbeachhart@hotmail.com 
payments made in person, by check or via pay-pal. I offer Shipping or drop-off/pickup

Print on Demand Online at:

Brick and Mortar Stores:


More to be added! 

16 April 2016

Friday Art Update: A Word on Kobolds

Friday was Art Update Day for my Kickstarter project. Here is a page in the Inked stage, "K is for Kobold,"You can click on the image to view it at full size and get a real idea of the detail.


Kobolds are fairies or sprites from Germanic myth part of a long line of horrid little monsters that haunt mines or caves like Knockers, goblins, etc. People would sometimes carve effigies of them or practice other strange little rituals to ward them away or appease them so they wouldn't create mischief. Thinking of how frightening a mine or cave would be in pre-industrial times (some how more dangerous than modern ones) and also imagining how much of human physiology would be a mystery too its easy to see why someone would obsess over magic or curses emanating from "something else."

On a more relevant note: Kobolds are one of the weakest monsters in Dungeons and Dragons meaning your characters are likely to face them when just starting out. Kids being kids, most games of D&D never really made it more than a session or two so it seemed like every time you played you always ran into these little bastards. Now, this isn't just a D&D thing, Kobolds are a classical folkloric monster. Being in the public domain means that the concept gets reused and reinterpreted by many different authors, from Neil Gaiman's American Gods, to Siegfried Wagner's operas, to World of Warcraft.
Noah had his own idea for presenting these classic little fiends. He has really outdone himself with the realization of these monsters. They are malicious, but cute, threatening, but whimsical. I could not be happier with how they look.

You can find out more about our Kickstarter Project for "D is for Dragon" at Kickstarter.com or by following one of the links below from previous posts.







11 April 2016

D is for Dragon Kickstarter launches!



Today is a big day, the launch of my first Kickstarter campaign!



The project is a collaboration with artist Noah Latz. It's a children's picture book called D Is For Dragon and with your help we can make it a reality. You can watch our launch video at the link above. The art for D Is For Dragon is more than a third done, but publishing is an expensive business, if enough people kick in we can afford to print the books in bulk and make what would be a vanity project into something professional and high quality.

But I'm not asking for donations, join our Kickstarter and you can get a copy of the book, a T-shirt, or even be part of the art! If the Campaign goes well enough I may even be able to produce additional titles and make this into a whole fantasy series! Check out my Kickstarter page for more at the link:


D is for Dragon Kickstarter

Children's literature is something I have always loved, especially the aspect of rhyme. A good rhyme to me has such power to make me love a piece while a false one, or just a simple choice, can likewise make me hate it. I am not, by choice, a poet but I feel I do stumble into poetry accidentally. (Yes, I know that I have been writing and sharing a novel about a poet including large segments of a fictionalized poetry meter, along with historic sources, but bear with me here.)
Poetry is something special that I have never quite felt accustomed to. One often hears that there are no rules to it but, to quote Niel Gaimen "there are thousands, and they are changing all the time." The fields of meter and flow are something I can never seem to suss.
Why poets often break,
one sentence in to two or more is,
beyond my understanding; especially if it has semicolons.

But rhyme and syllable I can hack well enough. Being a father I have come to realize just how big an effect a book can have on a small child and how big an effect they had on my own writing style. Re-reading all the classics from my childhood and seeing them enchant my daughter has been a true gift and one I hope to continue to savor for years to come. To it, D is for Dragon is my own attempt to make something like them while staying true to both my nerd heritage and the beauty of Noah's art. You should check it out, I think it is something truly special.  


28 March 2016

D is for Dragon Kickstarter teaser

Hey people, its been a long quiet time on this page but things are about to get loud. My new project launches in two weeks and I just wanted to give you a heads up on it. It's my first collaboration and my first Kickstarter campaign. It will fund large scale printing for D is For Dragon my new children's book. Here is a teaser:
  






The Kickstarter goes live in April, and you will hear from me again, and see some more awesome art from my collaborator Noah Latz, when that happens so stay tuned...