Tag Archives: Fantasy

A Wizard's Work, Grim Repo Files, Minders, October, Writing

Finished October And Other Updates

This morning, quite unexpectedly, October came to an end. I’d felt like I had started moving toward an ending a few days ago, but I didn’t think I’d stumble over it quite this soon. I would have said, when I woke up this morning, that there were at least a couple days left.

But in my second session today, things wrapped themselves up in ways I hadn’t expected, and I found myself with no more story to write.

October is, I think, a much more subtle story than I’ve written previously. It certainly isn’t like anything else I’ve done. It’s going to sit for a couple weeks before I get down to reading it and learning just what I’ve perpetrated on the world. I’ll probably let it go until just after I release Minders. It’ll be released at the end of September, just in time for you to read it in… October.

Coming up, next, though, is Minders. This bio-tech thriller/superhero origin story will be out Thursday, May 29th in most online stores. I’ve ordered what should be the last of proof copies, and if it’s in good shape, which I expect it to be, I’ll be spending Memorial Day weekend uploading it everywhere.

There’s one more thing. Parted Out: Grim Repo Files #2 has a release date, too. July 29, 2014. I’m really excited to get these books out, finally. It’s been a long, hard year, but things are finally coming together.

Tomorrow morning, I pick up where I left off on Bloodweave. I’m excited about it, too. I can’t wait to learn what Robert, Angela, Gerard, Nina, and Demetrius are going to do.

Fragments, Writing

Fragments Released!

Fragments Cover - Final
After what seems like forever (and a thousand delays), I’m excited to finally announce that Fragments is finished and available for you to read. It’s available in most of the major electronic bookstores except for Apple and Sony, but they should be coming along in the next few days to a week, I expect. The print version is currently available from me, directly, and from Amazon.com. It will filter out among the other retailers over the course of the next couple of weeks as the distributors get ahold of it.

I’m pretty excited about it. It’s nearly thirty percent longer than Shattered, and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks about it.

Read the first three chapters!

Denied Admittance
Six months have passed since Robert proved he completed his apprenticeship by defeating Orliss Kilore, yet the shattered Wizard’s Guild will not admit him to their membership. They claim they are protecting him, but he believes they have some other motive.

The New Academy
Angela has not seen Robert in months, not since the funeral for her old mentor, Monteous Roarke. Her studies at the new Wizard Academy consume all her time. Gerard only seems to have time for Nina, until his Uncle appears at the gate and informs him of his brother’s untimely death, and demands that Gerard return home.

A Wizard Apart
When a wizard long thought dead reappears to take his revenge on the Guild that expelled him, the apprentices must once again rush to find a wizard that can help them. Only this time, he does not want to be found.

 

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Fragments, Shattered, StoryBox

What’s Up With StoryBox 2 and Fragments?

Fragments CoverIt’s May 31st. Yes. I was planning to release StoryBox 2 today. I planned to release Fragments today, too. Neither of them are happening.

StoryBox 2 will go out of beta sometime next week. I had to do some updates to TrackerBox that were not planned due to Barnes & Nobles change over from PubIt to NOOK Press. Now, the only thing holding StoryBox 2 up is fixing up the help file. I’ve already done a bit of work on it, but it needs more, especially with all the additions and changes, including changes that occurred after version 1.0 that never got included in the help. I will work on that this weekend.

Fragments has a different story. I started the formatting (which occurs after editing) last Friday and quickly discovered there were things I didn’t like. These things were there despite having been read by four other people, not including myself. The book was written last summer, and I’ve written a lot since then, so perhaps it’s just me growing as a writer, but I couldn’t let the book go out with things I hated in it. So I’m running through it one more time in an attempt to clean out those things that just bug the crap out of me. I’m sure, if I read it again six months from now, there will be more writing in it that I don’t like, but I feel I owe it to you to at least like everything in it at the time I release it.

So you can probably add two or three weeks to the release date for Fragments. I’m going through it as fast as I can, but I’m not rushing it, and it’s a long book. I think I’ve said it before, but it’s nearly 30% longer than Shattered. Reworked is coming along, but it’s probably going to be another 20-30% longer than Fragments. And, though I had planned it as a trilogy (planned is a loose term, here – imagined is probably better), I have an inkling there will be a fourth book.

This also means Zombies Bought the Farm will be delayed, but since it’s far shorter than Fragments, I’m hoping it won’t be much more than a week later than my original plan.

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Today  (May 31, 2013) is the last intentional day to get Shattered for $2.99. It’s $2.99 at pretty much all of the retailers listed on the Shattered page.

Fragments, Grim Repo Files

Grim Fragments Progress Report

It’s actually a Grim AND Fragments progress report, but I thought the title was more amusing without the AND.

Off to the right, you’ll notice that Grim Repo 2 looks like it’s done, with more words than the target. It’s not done. It’s on the border of being done, and I can see the other side, but there’s a minefield between here and there that I have to cross, first.

The Fragments edit is coming along. I have five chapters left to do, and I should be able to get them done tomorrow, barring any unforeseen circumstances. It’s taken so long, because I had to do some major edits early on in the book. Several people had to be written out. It was horrible. Don’t worry. You don’t know any of them, and they’re all mostly alive, I think

Another factor in the delay is that it’s nearly 25% longer than Shattered. I’ve hadn’t written anything as long as Shattered since Shattered, and I forgot how long it takes to edit something this long. I’m anticipating that Reworked (the third A Wizard’s Work book) will be longer, still, and I’ll have to adjust my schedule to account for it.

As soon as I’m done with the Fragments edit, I’ll reward myself by doing something I’ve wanted to do for awhile. I’ll show you all the cover (again, done by Joe Slucher). I think it’s fantastic, and I’ve wanted to show it off for a long time.

Fragments, Shattered, Zombies Ate My Mom

New Projects In The Fire

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To the right, you can probably see that I’ve added a couple new projects. One is a storyline sequel to Zombies Ate My Mom, and the other is a sort of fairy tale fantasy romance in the same vein as The Sacrifice of Mendleson Moony.

The plan is to finish the first draft of both of these this month, but if you know me, plans are meant to be ignored. I’m concerned that ZAMM 2 will go over my projected word count, and if that happens, it won’t get done. They’ll both get done eventually (this month or next), but getting them both done this month will be a challenge considering I still have to do edits on Fragments this month.

It’s going to be a busy month.

Oh, did I mention, I’m working on StoryBox 2, too?

Fragments, Writing

Fragments First Draft Complete

There it is. The first draft of Fragments is complete. One hundred twelve thousand words, and twenty-five percent longer than I expected.

It’s going to need a couple major fixes before I can send it to my alpha readers, but those shouldn’t take too much time.

I’m excited to be done. It was a tough book to write. I’ve never written a sequel before, so a lot of this was new territory for me.

Now, I have to figure out what to write next.