SPOILER ALERT!! BEYOND THE FOLD IS FINAL COPY!! (more…)

SPOILER ALERT!! BEYOND THE FOLD IS FINAL COPY!! (more…)

Everyone wants an update so here it is. First the good news –

I have made the final changes to the PDF and sent it back to Matt for editing. This means no more tinkering. No more being a perfectionist and making changes. No more, well, delaying.

Now for the bad news –

Matt is busy. This means we have to wait until he finishes adding changes and designing the cover. If this isn’t satisfactory, please feel free to tell him in his Film Traveler blog. Maybe it will even help speed things up a bit.

Yes we have the art and the design, but he’s still got to lay it all out in final form. What this means is I won’t have the full book document until end of month. Once I get it, I’ll send it immediately to the printer and then we’re in for another 2-3 week wait.

So right now, it looks like Christmas ‘08 is the final date.

I know many of you have waited months and even years for this second book. I’ll have to ask you to accept my apologies once more. Unfortunately, I am only one person — one with the unfortunate habit of trading time for quality.

So a few lessons learned:

1. The job of a writer, publisher, promoter, editor, publicist and co-designer should never fall on just one person (me). Unfortunately, reality doesn’t operate in shoulds. So here I remain the one-and-a-half person publishing company.

2. Be more realistic with time-frames (this falls entirely on my shoulders as I am overly ambitious).

3. Write more blogs and updates (I know. I should keep in touch with you guys.)

4. Too many websites do not a coherent message make (I’ve tried myspace, livejournal, bebo, goodreads, associatedcontent, facebook, virb, twitter, linkedin and about twenty or thirty more I can’t remember).

Regardless of all the trouble and delay, we are well on the way to having the second book published! And, for this, I am very, very excited. There were times when this outcome was entirely in doubt. But that time has passed and not only do we have a final book, but we also have a little in the way of funds for printing a stock, so we might even see some books on shelves here and there. Furthermore, many of the schools and libraries I’ve visited are also asking for copies. So it looks like The War of Mists should appear in many more places much faster than the first book. All very good news since this helps move the third book along even faster.

One final silver lining in this cloud of delay is there appears to be an interest in translating Luthiel’s Song into foreign languages. What that may mean is industry help at some point in the not-too-distant future. I don’t want to cross my stars so I won’t say any more. But I will say that things do look optimistic at the moment.

Now I know all of this isn’t likely to assuage those of you who have been waiting so long. So as a peace offering, I’ll add a few chapters and excerpts pre-publication. Hopefully, these will help keep you guys and gals satisfied until we finally reach the release date.

Finally, I’d like to thank you all as sincerely and deeply as is possible on the electronic page. You are the life-blood of this story. Without you, Luthiel would be nothing more than a stack of dead leaves beside my desk. So I owe you a debt of gratitude for your kindness, for your regard, for your enthusiasm and, yes, even for your frustration. You are each, to me, elfin sorceresses and Blade Dancers, heroes all to a world that could only be realized through you — Oesha.

May your feet ever walk in the light of two suns. May the moonshadow never fall on you. 

So with her companions — the great and terrible werewolf Othalas, the tiny dragon Melkion, the strange and sometimes frightening sorcerer Mithorden, a Vyrl named Ecthellien, and the elf Vaelros who would love her — she must face the fae’s rage and beg forgiveness for monsters.

If she can make the journey…

For the Vale is surrounded by the nightmare webs of a horde of Widdershae and the only other path out of the Vale leads to the Red Moon — where something terrible lurks in the flames.

Beyond the Vale, the home she left behind is not the same. Fae armies march on quests of vengeance. Powers play their final hands in a game of ages. For in the sky something evil stirs. Rumors of a dark prophecy. Whispers of a ‘Blood Witch.’ And signs foretelling of the onset of an ancient doom terrible enough to destroy worlds.

Now available for preorder…

To receive a signed copy on the release date (Release date of September, 2008) send $14.00 + $3.00 shipping to Dark Forest Press, 305 North Street #5, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

SPOILER WARNING!!! 

Orphaned at Flir Light Hollow under mysterious circumstances, we discover a number of things about her in the first book that call into question her background and deeper nature. Raised by elves, she’s always seen as somewhat different. (more…)

“The War of Mists” is developing apace. We have a final draft and, at the moment, my wife and I are going back and forth with it. She’s a stickler for grammar and very good at recognizing what works and what doesn’t in a story. She’s a voracious reader and can blow through one book the size of a “Deathly Hallows” in a day. So I’m doing my best to be smart and pay total attention to her feedback. (more…)

Looking back, I don’t really know what madness possessed me to take such risks. In all honesty, it’s the same madness that keeps me here working on Luthiel’s Song still. Part of it must be love for the thing. The other part, just determination to make it where I’m headed. Hopefully the top of that mountain. Or at least the next foothill.

But I did the crazy thing. The mad thing Ray Bradbury wrote about when he talked of jumping off cliffs and trying to build a set of wings before hitting ground. (more…)

So now that I had a finished manuscript in hand what was I to do? 

The standard, well accepted, way to enter the literary world is to submit and then professionally publish your book. So after finishing Luthiel’s Song I tried. (more…)

The fantasy group I moderate on myspace called Luthiel’s Fantasy Group Luthiel’s Fantasy Group has been hacked. For those of you who love this group or who love fantasy in general, I’m asking you to lend your sword to my cause. (more…)