#WIP excerpts: THE SWORD KEEPER, chapter 2.1

I really like this excerpt. I wrote it while I was living in a farmhouse in rural Georgia (the country, not the state). A lot of the stuff from this scene was pulled directly from my own experience. We had chickens, cows, pigs, sheep (dumbest animals I’ve ever seen!), and grew grapes, pomegranates, persimmons, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was pretty awesome.

In the late summer, the hens had chicks. At first, there were about twenty little fuzzballs following each hen, but as the chicks got bigger, their numbers became fewer and fewer. Then, just as the winter snows started to hit, a wolf came down from the mountains and ate one of the mother hens. Only one of her chicks survived—the smallest of the brood. He almost didn’t make it, but I went out the way to take special care of him, and he survived.

So yeah, this section is pulled almost directly from my own experience. Nika is the kind of gentle boy who would do exactly that sort of thing, and that carries over into his friendship with Tamuna.

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“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

Nika stopped at the farmhouse gate and sheepishly turned to face his father. “To the tavern,” he muttered, hoping that was an acceptable response.

“Why, son? The tavern’s closed.”

“Sopiko said she still needs me.” And Tamuna’s been sick all day.

His father jabbed the pitchfork into the ground and cursed. “That damn woman had better be paying you for this. Have you had your supper yet?”

“No, sir, I—”

“Good. Eat it there.” He turned to the yard, where Nika’s two older brothers had paused in their work. “Giga! Lasha! What are you doing standing around? Get back to stacking those cornstalks!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Remember, who doesn’t work, doesn’t eat!”

Nika took that as his cue to leave. He slipped out the gate and pulled it shut before dashing across the dusty lane and into the fallow field across the farmhouse. The tall grass brushed against his legs, ticking his skin through the holes in his pants, but he kept running until he was well out of his father’s sight. Only then did he slow down enough to catch his breath.

Tamuna had been sick all day, so sick that Sopiko had closed down the tavern, which she never, ever did. When he’d arrived in the morning, the door had been locked—only after knocking for several minutes had Sopiko finally opened it.

“You’d better come back later,” Sopiko had told him when he’d come around back. “Tamuna’s taken ill, and we’ve closed down the tavern until she comes around again.”

“She has?” Nika had asked, his stomach falling. “What do you mean? Is she going to be all right? What happened?”

“We don’t know. We found her passed out on the floor in the private room, and she hasn’t woken up since. Come back this evening—we may need you then.”

Nika had wanted to ask more, but Sopiko had pressed a few coppers into his hand and sent him on his way home. His father had thrown the money angrily against the wall, and probably would have beaten him, except that his mother had intervened. He was a harsh man, and as the youngest, Nika wasn’t his favorite. Sometimes, Nika wondered if his father cared about him at all.

Thoughts like these always made him feel dark and oppressed, as if he carried a heavy weight on his shoulders. But the cool autumn breeze and the splash of gold across the evening sky soon lightened his spirits. A rooster crowed somewhere in the distance, and the sound of cows mooing in the thicket made him smile. Old Tom’s cow had had a calf just a few days ago, and he’d been there to see the birth. It was amazing, how the little ones could walk almost from the moment they left the womb. He always loved the way the mothers cared for their young—not just cows, but every animal.

Sometimes, when he wasn’t busy, he liked to sit in the shade of a tree and watch the mother hens roam the yard with their brood. While the little chicks pecked and played, the mothers always stood watch over them, chasing away anyone who dared come close. And in the evening, while the other chickens flew into the trees to roost, the mother would stay on the ground and gather all her chicks under her wings, keeping them safe throughout the night.

Of course, there was always a straggler who was smaller than all the others, who didn’t get to the food as fast, or couldn’t keep up with the rest. Nika’s heart always went out to them—he knew that the mother hen wanted to help, but with so many other chicks to look after, there wasn’t much she could do. He would often take the straggler aside and hand-fed him to make sure he grew up strong. It didn’t always work, but sometimes, it was enough to save them.

The footpath through the field opened up to the wide lane that led from the village to the mountains just beyond. He passed a few cows and a small clutch of geese, who moved to the other side of the road as he walked past. He stepped quickly, almost running even though the tavern wasn’t far and there was still a good hour of daylight left. If Tamuna was still sick, that would be very bad. He wished there was something he could do for her.

She had a habit of coming to him, after her chores were all done and she had a chance to talk. He often stayed in the stables late into the night just to hear from her. In a lot of ways, she was a straggler just like him. She didn’t have any older brothers or sisters to push her around, but she didn’t have a lot of friends either. Everyone in the village still saw her as an outsider, including her own aunt. Just as the mother hens knew the difference between their chicks and the ones that didn’t truly belong to them, Sopiko knew that Tamuna wasn’t her true daughter. It showed in the stern way she often treated her, though Tamuna would never believe it, no matter how much he tried to point it out to her. When she needed someone to talk to, though, he was always there. Life was tough without a friend to confide in—he knew that all too well.

When he arrived at the tavern, the CLOSED sign hung on the front door, but a strange commotion seemed to be coming from inside. Nika frowned as he opened the gate and walked over to the stables. To his surprise, he found them almost completely full—not with the short, gray-haired Kartlis that were so common in the Kevonas, but mighty Arbuli war horses. They whinnied and stomped their hooves as he entered, clearly not used to being confined.

“There, there,” he said, picking up his brush. “It’s all right, it’s all right.” He glanced over his shoulder at the house—something was clearly happening over there, but much as he wanted to see what it was, he knew he’d be chided for lapsing in his chores. Still…

Tamuna is in there, he told himself as he returned the brush to its hook on the wall. I have to make sure she’s all right.

#WIP excerpts: THE SWORD KEEPER, chapter 1.1

I thought it might be fun to post an excerpt every week or so from my current WIP. It’s been a few months since I published anything, and I figure this would be a good way to keep in touch and let you guys know what I’m up to.

The big project I’m working on right now, and the one that I hope to finish by the end of April, is an epic fantasy novel titled The Sword Keeper. It’s the first part of what will eventually become The Twelfth Sword Trilogy. The basic premise is that there’s an ancient brotherhood of enchanted swords that bond telepathically to their bearers and pass on knowledge, skills, memories, and experiences. Over hundreds of years, these swords and their bearers become so powerful, they are able to unite most of the world in peace under a benevolent empire. But then the swords go insane, the empire falls into civil war, and SHTF, so to speak.

That was all a thousand years ago. The twelfth sword, recognizing what was happening, went dormant and refused to take a new bearer. Its last bearer formed a secret order of monks to keep the sword safely hidden, carrying it from place to place until it finds the one who fulfills the prophecy to become the last sword bearer. According to the prophecy, the last sword bearer will rise in a day when darkness sweeps the land and save the world from an enemy who seeks to enslave all mankind.

So yeah, pretty standard for epic fantasy. Instead of a farmboy, though, the heroine of the trilogy is a young tavern girl. Here’s the opening scene of the first chapter.

(SIDE NOTE: Since this is a WIP, it might need some editing or have some other issues that need work. Also, this scene might turn out substantially different in the final published version from its current form. Still, I thought it would be fun to post it. Let me know what you think!)

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The candles were lit and the tables had already been served when the mysterious traveler arrived from the west. Tamuna was tending the bar as the clatter of hooves on the old stone road announced his arrival. She paused in her work to peer out the tavern window, but the sky had already faded, blending the leaves with the shadows.

“Better put another spit on the fire,” Aunt Sopiko said as she came back from serving the tables. “When that’s done, see to the room upstairs.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Tamuna. She ran to the kitchen, hoping to finish her chores in time to catch a glimpse of the unexpected guest. The harvest season had just ended, and the villagers had already put away their corn and grain for the winter. Occasionally, a herder would come down from the mountains, but only during the day—never at night.

The tavern was one of the last places for room and board before the Kevona Mountains. In the spring, travelers from the south and west sometime came down from the mountain passes in the waning twilight. Tamuna loved to hear their stories of faraway lands and peoples, and often stayed up into the early hours of the morning listening spellbound to them. But this late in the season, it was rare for travelers to come down from the mountain pass. Perhaps, then, it was someone from the east on their way to Khevsura or Aramand? But why would they stop at a village tavern when they could sleep in comfort at Kutaisa?

As she stoked the cooking fire, the door to the yard swung open, and Nika the stable boy came in carrying a bucket of water from the well. His curly brown hair spilled out beneath his woolen skullcap, and his boots were covered in mud.

“Hi Tamuna,” he said, setting the bucket on the table with both hands. “Thought you might need this.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling in gratitude. “Any news from the village?”

“Old Tom’s cow gave birth to a beautiful little calf. He’ll probably sell her in the spring—the calf, not the cow.”

“Of course.”

“Anyway, she’s a gorgeous animal. I really wish I could save up and buy it. Do you think your aunt could… well…”

Tamuna drew in a long breath. She knew what Nika was asking, but Aunt Sopiko was far too miserly to ever agree to such a request. If Tamuna asked her to raise Nika’s pay by even a few meager coppers, she’d probably be whipped for it. But Nika couldn’t save very much either, since his family took almost everything he earned from his job at the tavern. They needed the money as badly as they needed a cow.

“I’ll do what I can,” she said softly. Then, putting a hand on his arm, “maybe we can save up enough together.”

His face brightened. “You really think so?”

“Sure. And with all the eggs the chickens are laying, maybe Sopiko will let us sell some at the Kutaisa market.”

“Oh, Tamuna!”

Nika threw his arms around her, kissing her enthusiastically on the cheek. He still smelled like dirty hay and horse manure, though, so she squealed and pushed him away.

“By the seven rivers, Nika, haven’t you had a chance to wash up yet? You smell like you’ve been bathing with the pigs!”

“Sorry,” he said, grinning sheepishly.

“Well, what are you still here for? Go and wash up already!”

She shooed out of the kitchen, but just as he turned to leave, she remembered the traveler.

“Wait—did you see the man who just came in?”

He frowned. “Who?”

“The traveler who rode in not fifteen minutes ago. When I’m finished here, I—”

“Oh my gods!” said Nika, his eyes widening like saucers. “I wasn’t in the stable when—sorry, gotta run!” Without another word, he dashed out the door and disappeared into the deepening twilight.

Tamuna put her hands on her hips and sighed. Nika was a good boy, and without a doubt her most loyal friend, but he had a way of missing what was right before his face. As she glanced down at all the mud he’d tracked in, she couldn’t help but shake her head.

The door to the main room swung open, and Aunt Sopiko came in with a stern look on her face. “What was that?” she asked. “Were you chatting with Nika instead of doing your work?”

“No, ma’am,” Tamuna said quickly. “That is, I—”

“Well, no more distractions. Our guest wants to take his dinner upstairs, so go up and fix the room double quick—no dallying.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tamuna said dutifully. She hurried out of the kitchen, her cheeks reddening at her aunt’s rebuke. How foolish of her to let herself get distracted so easily, especially when there was work to be done. She would have to do her best to make sure that Sopiko wasn’t disappointed in her.

From the hallway closet, she pulled out a thick woolen blanket and linen bed sheets. A half-burned candle waited on the ledge by the base of the stairway. The old wooden stairs creaked all the way to the top, and the light from her flickering candle made shadows dance along the walls. She paused for a moment to light the lamp at the head of the stairway, then opened the door to the private room and set the candle on a ledge near the doorway. Outside, the cool autumn wind blew hard against the window, whistling through the gaps in the panes and making the wall groan and creak.

I’ll have to light a fire before I leave, she thought to herself as she made the bed. The chill air made her shiver a little, so she worked quickly, wishing that she’d brought a shawl. Fortunately, it didn’t take her long. She’d readied the private room more than a hundred times, and knew exactly what needed to be done. Soon, she was engrossed her work—so engrossed that when she turned to start the fire, she was surprised to find the guest standing in the doorway.

“Oh!” she said, taking a quick step back. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know you were coming. If you want, I’ll—”

“That’s all right,” said man, laying down down a heavy rucksack in the corner. He was old, probably in his fifties, with silver-gray hair and a well-trimmed beard. Even so, he stood very tall, with a broad chest and muscular arms and shoulders. His brow was deeply furrowed, his jawline sharp, yet his eyes exuded a thoughtful kindness that put Tamuna at ease almost immediately.

“Here,” she said as he slipped off his heavy woolen cloak. “Let me help you with that.” He turned and let her pull it off his shoulders, revealing a simple white tunic underneath. A gold embroidered cross took up most of the back of the garment, but other than that, his clothing bore no ornamentation.

“Are you a monk?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“I am,” said the man. He knelt over the rucksack and pulled out a sword, sheathed in a dull black scabbard. With great care bordering on reverence, he laid it on the wooden table.

Something about the sword drew Tamuna’s gaze. The hilt was made of steel and burnished with what appeared to be silver, though it was difficult to make out in the dim candlelight. Intricate carvings appeared to tell a story, one that she very much wanted to hear. The handle was long and straight, designed for two hands, with a dark leather cord wrapped tightly around it for the grip. At the pommel, a single emerald jewel glowed in the mouth of a dragon, pulsating in the flickering candlelight.

Something about the sword almost seemed to call out to her. Tamuna blinked and shook her mind clear, turning to the traveler who had stooped down to start the fire. She was about to offer help, but his body language told her that he would rather be left to himself.

“Let us know if you need anything,” she said on her way out. The man grunted his assent, and she shut the door quietly behind her, sneaking one last glance at him and the sword.

Back in the kitchen, Sopiko was cutting bread and stacking it on the tray for the stranger. A kebab sizzled over the fire, while the pot of beans bubbled by the edge. Tamuna opened the cabinet and pulled out a small plate of cheese, cutting off generous slices onto the tray.

“Did the traveler say where he’s from?” she asked.

Sopiko shook her head. “No, he didn’t say a word about that. Just asked the price of a room and where he should leave his horse.”

“Did you see the markings on his tunic? I don’t think he’s from around here. Maybe even—”

“Best not to pry,” said Sopiko. She finished with the bread and turned to the spit over the fire.

Tamuna bit her lip, but went on preparing the food without asking again. She could tell from Sopiko’s tone of voice that any more questions would not be tolerated. Her aunt wasn’t a harsh woman, but she could be stern, especially when it came to how she ran the tavern. Tamuna sometimes wondered if her mother had been like that: stern and domineering. She had no memory of her, having been taken from her home when she was just a little girl. All that she had of her were stories.

As she finished with the cheese and spooned the beans into a clay bowl, her mind drifted back to the sword on the table. She didn’t know why, but something about it still seemed to call out to her. The more she tried to clear her head, the more it seemed that the feeling would not go away.

“Here,” said her aunt, taking the spit off of the fire and putting it onto the tray with the rest of the food. “Take this to our guest upstairs, but don’t linger too long.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I mean it, Tamuna. I know how you like to stay and chat every time we put up a traveler, but this time,” she made a cutting motion across her neck with her hand. “Understand?”

“Yes, Aunt Sopiko. I won’t disturb him.”

“Good. Now see to your work, and be quick about it.”

He must be a very important man for her to say that, Tamuna thought to herself as she climbed the stairs with the tray. Usually, her aunt had no qualm with her listening to the stories of their guests. Through them, she’d heard all sorts of fascinating things about the world outside the village—of the vast rocky deserts to the south, with ancient ruins buried beneath the sifting sands, or the warrior kingdoms on the grassy plains beyond the western sea. But lately, it was the people of the north that everyone seemed to be talking about. Some travelers warned that the northern armies were moving toward the Kevonas, while others claimed that they were just fighting among each other. Perhaps their new guest was an envoy, or an advisor to a king—or perhaps he was the leader of a band of warrior monks, preparing himself to take part in a holy war.

All these thoughts raced through her mind as she walked down the hallway and knocked on the door to the private room.

“Sir,” she called, holding the tray against her hip. “I have your dinner, sir. May I come in?”

No answer.

She waited for a moment, then knocked again. “Uh, sir, are you there? I’ve brought your dinner.”

Again, no answer.

He’s probably just gone to the outhouse, she thought to herself. The tray weighed heavily on her arms, so she nudged the door open with her toe and stepped in.

Sure enough, the room was empty. A newly lit fire blazed in the fireplace, while the man’s cloak and rucksack lay exactly as he’d left them. She carefully set down the tray of hot food, noticing the sword that still lay on the other side of the table.

Something about the sight of it rooted her to the spot. She knew that she should return to the kitchen to help out her aunt with the chores, but all she could do was stare at the dull, black scabbard and the old, faded hilt. The blazing light of the fire made the emerald on the pommell glisten and shimmer in a way that it hadn’t before. She almost felt as if the dragon’s eyes were watching her.

I should go, she told herself, lifting her dress as if to tiptoe out of the room. Instead, her feet seemed to move of their own accord, taking her closer to the sword. One of the floorboards creaked, and she froze, glancing hurriedly at the door, but the hallway was empty—she was alone.

Aunt Sopiko is going to kill me if she finds out what I’m doing, she thought anxiously. Every part of her screamed to leave the room before someone discovered her, but something else told her not to be afraid—that she was on the right path, and that this was her destiny. She felt as if she stood on the edge of a tall cliff, with a perilous drop before her and nothing but wilderness behind. Or perhaps it felt more like a crossroads, where the path she chose now would determine the course of the rest of her life. She hesitated, an inexplicable fear threatening to overwhelm her, but an even greater curiosity drove her forward—the same curiosity that had seized her from the moment she’d heard the clatter of hooves on the stone-paved road outside the tavern.

She felt a slight tremor, like the churning of the air immediately around a fire. It made her stop and pull back, uncertain. What if the sword is magic? she wondered. What if it’s cursed? But it was too late to stop now. She took a deep breath and touched the cold metal of the hilt.

A tremendous shock surged through her, from the top of her head to her outermost toes. She gasped for air as her legs gave out beneath her. It felt as if every muscle in her body had turned to water, and she was melting all over the floor. She swooned, and her last conscious thought before falling to the floor was that her aunt was going to skin her alive.

It’s done!

Yesterday I finally finished the second draft of Friends in Command (Sons of the Starfarers: Book IV)! I know I’d said I was working on other projects, but those were intermittent—this was the main one I was focusing on. I still need to run it by my first readers, but I’m pretty sure this is the version that I’ll publish. If all goes well, you can expect to see this go up on pre-order before the end of March.

While working on the revisions for Friends in Command, I more or less plotted out the rest of the Sons of the Starfarers series in my head. There are going to be nine books total, most of them around 40,000 to 50,000 words (or 150 to 200 pages). It will probably take me between two and four months to write each of them, including sending them off to first readers and implementing their feedback. If my first readers come back with problems, though, it might take more like five or six months.

While I’m definitely committed to finishing up this series, I’m probably not going to work exclusively on Sons of the Starfarers. As much as I would like to wrap up this series and get it all out there, there are a lot of other projects calling out to me—projects that I’ve been putting off for far too long. Here are just a few of them:

STAR WANDERERS: CHILDREN OF THE STARRY SEA

Yes, I have another story in the Star Wanderers series to tell. This one is a full-length novel, though, and it takes place about sixteen years after the events of The Jeremiah Chronicles. It’ll be fun to bring back all the old characters, but this story is mostly about their children (hence the title). This WIP is still in the early outlining stages, but I have lots of ideas with where to take it. I’ll probably write it sometime over the summer, unless there’s enough demand for me to write it sooner.

THE SWORD KEEPER

This is my epic fantasy novel that I’ve been writing on and off for the past two and a half years. I put it on the back burner last summer after I got blocked, but just last month I figured out what I needed to change to get the story flowing again. I could probably finish this one in a month if I focused on it. Hopefully, this is the year that I’ll finally get this one finished and publish it.

QUEEN OF THE FALCONSTAR

This is the passion project that distracted me while I was working on Friends in Command. I wrote about three chapters, put it on the back burner, and then daydreamed the whole rest of the book. Needless to say, I’m eager to get back to this one. I think it has a lot of potential—Star Wanderers was an unplanned passion project just like this one.

KING WASHINGTON

This is a new project that I haven’t blogged about yet. I’m collaborating on it with a friend (the story was actually his idea), and we’ve spent the last two or three weeks plotting out the entire series. All that is done now, so all we have to do is figure out our collaboration style and write the thing. We’re doing it in season/episode format, with five seasons of 12 episodes each. The episodes are each going to run about 20k to 30k words, so once we have our workflow down we should be able to pump out an episode every four to six weeks.

Lots and lots of stuff to work on—that’s partially why I haven’t been blogging much in the last few weeks. I hope to change that soon, though. And even if I’m not quite so active online as I have been, don’t worry—I’m still writing!

Upcoming plans for 2015

I think my favorite time of the year is the week between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s a time for reflection, of looking at what you accomplished in the previous year and setting resolutions for the next one. In that spirit, here are some of the writing and publishing things I’d like to accomplish in 2015:

Publish at least six new books
Put out print editions of all of my books (except for short stories)
Get to the point where at least 50% of my book sales are outside of Amazon

I’ve got a lot of projects on the back burner, and I’m sure that I’ll start lots of new ones in the coming year, but these are the ones I really want to focus on in 2015:

Heart of the Nebula — This is one that I definitely want to release this year. It’s the fourth novel in the Gaia Nova universe, a direct sequel to Bringing Stella Home, and I’m really, really excited about it. For the past month or so, I’ve been in “finish this damn book mode” (which is why I haven’t blogged much), but I’m set to finish it by the end of this week and send it out to my first readers. You can definitely expect to see this one soon.

Sons of the Starfarers — The main reason I haven’t released Friends in Command (Book IV) yet is because my first readers told me it has some serious issues, which need to be fixed by adding another viewpoint character. It shouldn’t be too hard to do that, but before I do a major revision I always try to take a month or two off to work on other things so that I can come at the project with new eyes. I’ll pick up Friends in Command in January, and write the next one, Captives in Obscurity (Book V) immediately after.

Will I finish this series in 2015? I honestly don’t know. The books started as novellas, but each one has been a little longer than the last one, so by the end they’ll all probably end up as full novels. I could probably still do it if this was the only series I worked on all year, but I don’t want to limit myself in that way. Definitely, though, you can expect to see at least the next three books before the end of 2015.

The Sword Keeper — This unfinished fantasy novel has been sitting on my hard drive for about two years, and it’s time that I buckled down and put it out there. I tried to finish it last summer, and the main obstacle was that I had to do some serious world building. For a speculative fiction writer, that should be easy, right? Well … I’m kind of weird in that I tend to do most of my world building from the seat of my pants. But now that I’ve figured out what the holdup was, it shouldn’t be too hard to fix.

These are all books that I want to release before the end of 2015. I’m sure there will be others—perhaps even for story ideas that I haven’t come up with yet. It will be exciting to see how the year turns out!

How going indie is like driving a manual (plus a cover reveal)

A couple of weeks ago, I got a new (to me) car. It’s a 2005 Ford Focus / Saleen: a two-door hatchback that drives like a racing car and gets about thirty miles per gallon (WA-A-AY better than the gas guzzler I was driving before). It’s also a manual transmission, which is perhaps the biggest difference between this and my previous car.

This is my first time driving stick shift, and I have to say, it is a lot of fun! When you drive a stick, each hand and each foot is doing something different. There’s a lot more to keep track of, and if you do things in the wrong order (like braking without engaging the clutch, or starting without giving it some gas), you run the risk of making the car stall or doing nasty things to your transmission. On the other hand, driving a manual gives you a much better feel for the engine and what it’s capable of. You can feel when you’re putting too much stress on it–or alternately, when you can push it a little further.

I usually like to walk everywhere, but ever since I got this car, I just want to drive it! It’s way more fun than driving an automatic, even with (or indeed, because of) the extra challenge. So today, while I was walking to BYU campus (alas, the parking situation there makes driving a major pain), I got to thinking about it, and I realized that driving a manual is a lot like being an indie author.

When you’re an indie, you have a lot more things to juggle, just like driving a manual. This gives you much greater control of your career, but it also makes it easier to stall or screw up. At the same time, because of that extra control, you’ve got a much better feel for the market, and probably a better connection with your readers. And for me at least, the extra challenge doesn’t make it less enjoyable, it actually makes me enjoy it more!

Nothing Found

This week, I had the first day where I sold 100+ books in a 24 hour period. That was pretty awesome! I’ve been running a $.99 sale for Star Wanderers: The Jeremiah Chronicles (Omnibus I-IV), and it got picked up by a couple of ebook sites that really pushed it in the right way. Now that I know how to run a sale like that, I hope to do it again, perhaps for Black Friday. And if you haven’t picked up this one yet, it’s on sale for $.99 through Friday.

Marketing and promotion is one of the harder parts about going indie for me, kind of like how finding the clutch point and starting without stalling is hard when you first drive a manual. The more that I practice, though, the better that I get at it, and the more I enjoy it.

Another area where I think I’ve more or less stalled is in my covers. When I put out the first few Gaia Nova novels, I spent a fair amount of money hiring out artists to do the illustrations, but I did the typography myself. On those earlier covers, it definitely shows. For my later books, I worked with a bunch of cover designers, and seeing their work made me realize that there’s definitely room for improvement on those earlier ones, especially for the print editions.

I’ve decided to redo the covers for those three novels (Bringing Stella Home, Desert Stars, and Stars of Blood and Glory), keeping the illustrations but changing the typography. I tried to find a cover designer to do it, but I wasn’t able to find one that did satisfactory work, and after playing around with them for a bit I think I can actually do them myself. I’ve got a lot more experience with covers and cover design now than I did when I was starting out, and I’ve learned a few photoshop tricks as well.

In any case, here is what I came up with for Bringing Stella Home:

How do you like it? I rather like how it turned out, though I’ll admit I’m still learning. I did the new design just this morning, so I figure I ought to wait a couple of days and maybe seek out some feedback from professional designers before I go through with it.

I hope to have the new edition out before the end of the month. The content and story will all be the same, but the cover and metadata will be updated, and some minor errors such as typos will be fixed. I also hope to do the same thing with Desert Stars and Stars of Blood and Glory. Once the new editions are out, I’ll probably run some sales and giveaways with them, so definitely stay tuned!

As for my other projects, the next book in the Sons of the Starfarers series is out with my first readers, so it’s on track for a January release. My next WIP is The Sword Keeper, a fantasy novel I think I’ve mentioned before, and I hope to get that one knocked out in about a month or so. It’s already halfway finished, so the hard part is just ahead. There are also a couple of Gaia Nova novels that I’ve been meaning to get around to, and probably will before the end of the year.

That just about does it. Look out for more covers soon! I’m definitely having fun with the new ones. 😀

Short stories and switching to Fantasy

Sorry to drop off the face of the Earth for the past couple of weeks. My parents were in town, and between spending time with them, introducing my girlfriend, celebrating my sister’s birthday, and a whole bunch of other family-related things, my blogging has kind of fallen by the wayside.

But don’t worry–I’m still writing! I finished the first draft of Strangers in Flight (Sons of the Starfarers: Book III) in the first week of July and sent it out to my first readers. With luck, I’ll be hearing back from them in time to make any necessary revisions and publish that book in August. The first series omnibus (books I-III) will be out six weeks later in September, and book IV will be out … well, it will be out after I’ve written it.

In the meantime, I’ve started a couple of short stories and been making some good progress on those. The first one should be finished in the next day or so: it’s titled “The Gettysburg Paradox” and involves a time tourist at Gettysburg realizing in horror that most of the combatants on both sides are actually time travelers.

The other one is an orc story partially inspired by my friend Sarah’s orc story. This one, though, is less of a love story and more a brutally violent tale of orcs being orcs. It’s probably going to go long, perhaps up to novelette length, though not any further–I’ll trim it fairly aggressively if it does.

Besides short stories, I’ve picked up work on The Sword Keeper again. This is the epic fantasy novel with the enchanted swords, which I started while I was living in Georgia. I haven’t worked on it much since coming back to the States, but last month I basically told my girlfriend the whole story arc of the trilogy, and she really got into it. So that’s my current WIP now, and I hope to finish it before the end of the summer (famous last words, right?).

There are other things I’d like to blog about, but I’ll save those for later. Here are some of my ideas for blog posts:

Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
Why I quit Facebook
Thoughts on character development and likability
Thoughts after watching Divergent
Dating someone on the autism spectrum (I’ll have to run that one by my girlfriend first!)
Y Mountain hike
Random poetry
Places I like to write

Goodnight!

Don’t worry, I’m still alive

Wow, has it been more than a week since my last post? I think this is the longest I’ve gone without updating this blog since coming back from Georgia.

I wish I could say life has been busy, but it hasn’t really. Just another lazy summer in Utah. I did start dating someone recently, which probably explains where all my time has gone. But don’t worry, I’m still writing–in fact, the first draft of Strangers in Flight (Sons of the Starfarers: Book III) should be finished next week. It’s taken me a lot longer to write this one than I’d expected, but now that I’ve buckled down, it’s really coming together.

Comrades in Hope (Sons of the Starfarers: Book II) should be out by the end of the month, barring something crazy like my editor or cover designer dropping off the face of the Earth. Once they get back to me, all I’ve got to do is run through the edits (which shouldn’t take longer than a day or two) and format the thing (which also shouldn’t take longer than a day or two). So if you’ve read the first book and are eagerly awaiting the second, you shouldn’t have to wait longer than a couple of weeks!

I’m not sure what cons I’ll be attending this summer/fall. I thought I was going to Westercon, but it turns out my parents are going to be in town that week, and considering that it falls on the fourth of July (which also happens to be my sister’s birthday–who also happens to be pregnant), it looks like I have more important things to do that weekend. Besides, I want to start a new 4th of July tradition with my girlfriend this year: watching Gettysburg.

In any case, it looks like I won’t be doing too many cons this year. Maybe Salt Lake Comic Con, but I don’t know about that one yet either.

Once I’ve finished Strangers in Flight, I’ll probably take some time to work on a novel. There are three projects that I’m thinking about working on:

Star Wanderers: Children of the Starry Sea — I’ve been wanting to write a Star Wanderers novel for some time, but haven’t actually started it yet. It would definitely be fun to revisit the characters from that series, and it seems that a lot of my readers would really be interested in it too. It would also be a good way to tie things in with Sons of the Starfarers, and give some direction to the later books in that series.

The Sword Bearer — I explained the plot of this one to my girlfried, and she really liked it. That got me excited about it again, so I’m thinking very seriously about taking that project off of the back burner for a while. It’s a long-form epic fantasy that will probably turn into a trilogy–very different from the stuff I’m writing now. Still, it has a lot of potential, and the story is definitely solid. If I do pick it up, I’ll probably rename it The Sword Keeper, so that book 2 will be The Sword Bearer, and book 3 will be The Sword Wielder.

Star Wolf, AKA Heart of the Nebula — I’ve been meaning to finish this one for some time, so I might as well knock it off. With the last round of revisions, I got about halfway through, but it’s still very messy, so this would definitely be a project. However, this is the one that is closest to actually being publishable.

So that’s what I’m up to right now. I’ve got a lot more to say, especially about my girlfriend, but for now, I think I’d better get back to writing.

So what should I work on next?

Now that Star Wanderers: Deliverance (Part VIII) is published, I’m back in the position of trying to figure out what to write next. Usually, I just do this on my own, but this time I thought I’d run it by my readers and see what you guys have to say. Here are the options:

Heart of the Nebula — This is a direct sequel to Bringing Stella Home. It follows James, Lars, Stella, and several new characters as they struggle to keep the Colony from falling apart following the collapse of the New Gaian Empire. This one is mostly a space opera story, with lots of action and political intrigue. It also explores the wolf/sheepdog analogy that Danica brought up in Bringing Stella Home, with Lars’s rebuttal.

Mercenary Savior — Another Gaia Nova novel, this one showing the origins of Danica Nova and her band of Tajji mercenaries. I’ve got a lot of ideas for this one, though I’ve only written the prologue so far. This is going to be a military sci-fi story, with lots of action, lots of violence, and (hopefully) a few heart-wrenching moments as well. Danica, Roman, Mikhail, Artyom, and several of the other mercenaries will appear in this one.

Empress of the Free Stars — Yet another Gaia Nova novel, this one a direct sequel of Stars of Blood and Glory. It brings back Princess Hikaru, now the Empress of Shinihon, and shows her struggle to ensure the safety and freedom of her people in the face of a Federation that is fast transforming into an autocratic, totalitarian empire. Colonel Webb is at the heart of the political intrigue in this one, and the stakes are as high as they’ve ever been.

Sons of the Starfarers — This is the spinoff series I’m writing to follow up Star Wanderers. It takes place in the same universe as the Gaia Nova novels, except a thousand years before, and will eventually show the origins of the Hameji and tie all of these books together. This is the one I’m most excited to write, as it brings back a bunch of characters from Star Wanderers and puts them into some interesting situations. Hopefully, it will have the same stuff that made Star Wanderers so great while adding a bit more action/adventure stuff into the mix.

Edenfall — This one is the sequel to Genesis Earth, and the second book in what will eventually become a trilogy. Basically, about fifteen years after Michael and Terra settle down on Icaria, a military expedition arrives from Earth, shattering the idyllic life they’ve made for themselves. They try to convince the military people that there is no alien threat, but before they can do that, the ghost ship comes back, throwing everything out of balance. This story is mostly from the point of view of Estee, Michael and Terra’s daughter, whose whole world is changed when the other humans appear.

Lifewalker — I’ve mentioned this one only a couple of times on my blog, but everyone who’s read the first chapter tells me that they want more. This one is a completely different project from anything else I’ve done. It’s a post-apocalyptic tale told from the point of view of a man who lives out his natural life where everyone else is infected with a disease that kills them at age 25. After the first chapter, the he starts down the ruins of I-15 with a bible, a bicycle, and a copy of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, searching for the mythical city of light known by the forefathers as Lavegas. Little does he know, that place is now populated by cannibals.

The Sword Bearer — An epic fantasy about an ancient brotherhood of sentient swords who pass down the knowledge and skills of each bearer down through the generations. The brotherhood has been broken, and the few swords that haven’t been lost have driven their bearers insane to the point where they’re now amassing an army to conquer and enslave the whole world. The only sword who hasn’t gone down that path is the one prophesied to be wielded in the final battle to defeat this great evil, but it hasn’t taken a bearer for almost a thousand years–that is, until a curious young tavern girl from the mountains accidentally stumbles upon it.

Those are pretty much all the major options. I have a couple ideas for other books, but nothing that I’ve really started. Even though I have my preferences, I could go almost any way depending on what you guys want to read. So if there’s one or two that you really want me to work on next, feel free to let me know!

Nanowrimo anyone?

November is coming up, and with it, nanowrimo. I’ve always wanted to participate, but every time it rolls around, it seems like I’ve got another project going on that’s more important.

This year is no exception, but I think I have a way around that. The goal for nanowrimo is just to write something–it doesn’t have to be any good. I’ve got a bunch of projects I’m currently working on, including Star Wanderers: Deliverance (Part VIII) which I hope to publish by Thanksgiving, but I think I can still do a just-for-fun sort of thing on the side, with the understanding that it doesn’t have to be serious.

What I think I’ll do is write a story where all of the characters from all of my previous books get caught up in some sort of a weird time-space dimensional warping thing, so that they end up in books where they don’t belong and universes where they never existed. It should be a fun way to revisit some of them, especially the ones from the Gaia Nova books, which I haven’t really done much with in a while.

It’s probably not going to make much sense to anyone who hasn’t read my books, but who cares? That’s not the point. I may or may not put it up somewhere for people to read, but it may have some stuff from projects that are either unfinished or unpublished, so it might be a little obtuse even for the fans. However, it seems like a really fun project, one that I can really run with, and that’s all that really matters for nanowrimo.

As far as my other projects go, right now I’m working on a heroic fantasy novel that’s a prequel of sorts to The Sword Bearer. I have no idea where it’s going to go, but I’m taking a page from my favorite writer of all time (David Gemmell), with lots of violence, lots of blood, and lots of true grit and heroism.

At the same time, I’m still working on Sons of the Starfarers off and on, though I may end up putting that one on hold for a while as I figure things out with this heroic fantasy story. It will get done, though–it’s definitely a story I’m itching to tell. In a couple of reviews and emails, readers have asked whether I’ll ever write an origin story for the Hameji. Well, that’s what Sons of the Starfarers is going to be, though the connection might not happen until well into the series.

There’s a couple of other Gaia Nova books I’ve been meaning to write for a long, long time, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to them anytime soon. This nanowrimo project might spark something, though, since I’ll be revisiting a lot of those old characters. And even if the nanowrimo novel itself is pretty bad, if it gets those projects on the back burner simmering again, then that will definitely be something.

Dang, I really want to get started with nanowrimo now! So many wacky ideas … it’s like writing fanfiction for one of your own books! In any case, I’d better get back to writing before I get too excited. Don’t want to spend so much time thinking about writing that it becomes hard when I actually sit down to do it.

Later!

No Trope Tuesday this week

Hey guys, sorry but no Trope Tuesday post this week. I’m on the train, traveling from Utah to Massachusetts. Right now we’re at Grand Junction Colorado, about to head into Glenwood Canyon in a few hours. Lots of beautiful country out here.

One of the nice things about traveling by train is that it gives you lots of time to relax and do things without any outside pressure. Hopefully I’ll get some good writing done before I arrive at my destination on Thursday. The Sword Bearer is coming along slowly, and I just got the notes back on Star Wanderers: Reproach (Part VII) so that should be enough to keep me busy.

Anyhow, the train is about to leave again, so I’d better cut this short. See you guys around!