Sunday, October 6, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
From NPR - "Republic of Thieves"
From NPR (when did they start reading fantasy?)
Took him long enough to put it out...Either you want to be dashing thief Locke Lamora, or you wish he loved you the way he loves his boon companions Jean and Sabetha. It's the delightfully tangled relationship between the three of them that takes center stage (sometimes literally) in Scott Lynch's latest Gentleman Bastard book, The Republic of Thieves.If you're new to the series, it began back in 2006 with The Lies of Locke Lamora, a swashbuckling fantasy saga set in a multilayered world with a vague resemblance to Renaissance Europe. Locke, Jean and Sabetha are all orphans, raised in the criminal underworld of their Venice-like city of Camorr, and trained to be the creme de la creme of thieves. Mysterious redhead Sabetha is largely absent in the first two volumes; away on training missions or just missing. We mostly hear about her through Locke, who's desperately in love with her. Jean, the stalwart muscle man, mostly puts up with the drama. Mostly....
Saturday, May 25, 2013
STORM OVER OLYSI Now Available!
STORM OVER OLYSI, the second book of The Nine Suns is now avail for purchase at Amazon and Smashwords!
It was supposed to be an easy job. Deliver a crate to the city of Iremnik, on Kuthir. Try not to get killed in the process.
But for Gaebrel Harrn and the crew of the Sparrow, things are never that simple. For inside that crate was a sleeping princess at the heart of a plot to use dark magic and twisted technology to overthrow a kingdom and ignite a war that would leave a world in flames.
Now they are on the run, chased across the Olysi system by their old enemy Ulzarad the Neverborn, who desires nothing more than to consume their souls. To restore a Princess to her rightful throne - and save their own necks - Gaebrel and his companions will do battle against a mighty warlord who has never known defeat, face certain death in the arena against creatures unknown even to legend and escape the soulless clutches of the Neverborn. They will infiltrate the homeworld of the lizard-like dzur, an secretive race known for their skill in creating magical artifacts...and their absolute hatred of outsiders. Those who enter their underground cities uninvited are never seen again.
Yet Gaebrel and his companions have never let the threat of utter annihilation stand in their way. With swords and gunpowder and reckless courage they will bring a storm over the worlds of Olysi...and the Suns and Spirits help those who get in their way!
Buy it at Amazon and Smashwords!
But for Gaebrel Harrn and the crew of the Sparrow, things are never that simple. For inside that crate was a sleeping princess at the heart of a plot to use dark magic and twisted technology to overthrow a kingdom and ignite a war that would leave a world in flames.
Now they are on the run, chased across the Olysi system by their old enemy Ulzarad the Neverborn, who desires nothing more than to consume their souls. To restore a Princess to her rightful throne - and save their own necks - Gaebrel and his companions will do battle against a mighty warlord who has never known defeat, face certain death in the arena against creatures unknown even to legend and escape the soulless clutches of the Neverborn. They will infiltrate the homeworld of the lizard-like dzur, an secretive race known for their skill in creating magical artifacts...and their absolute hatred of outsiders. Those who enter their underground cities uninvited are never seen again.
Yet Gaebrel and his companions have never let the threat of utter annihilation stand in their way. With swords and gunpowder and reckless courage they will bring a storm over the worlds of Olysi...and the Suns and Spirits help those who get in their way!
Buy it at Amazon and Smashwords!
Monday, April 8, 2013
The problem with epic fantasy and indie writers
Reposted from Kindleboards:
The problem with epic fantasy from an indie standpoint (and I speak from considerable experience) is the sheer amount of work involved. Writing a 250K word epic is very much a labor of love that can consume years of your life. From what I can ell about the indie writing business model, there is a premium on speed of production. Writers who can churn out multiple short novels (or even novellas) over a year or two (or who have an extensive backlist built before they publish) have an advantage over someone slaving away on a massive 1000 page monster - from Amazon or Smashword's point of view one writer has more titles up than another, which is more for the algorithms to work with, more opportunity for prospective buyers to stumble across their names.
The downside of this is quality - we end up with a lot of boilerplate stories featuring the same stock characters and plots. I think that's a reason why so many PNR stories feature broody vampires and all the rest, or why so many indie fantasies are variations of the standard coming-of-age stories that come across as rehashed Dungeons and Dragons sessions turned to fiction. They're easy to write, there's a template to follow.
Romance. I can't really see it losing its crown. The Queen has been ruling for a while now.
More women read than men (I feel so anyway, no research done
), and a lot of women like romance,
so romance should always be dominant, no matter what spice is flavouring it (historical/vamps/etc.).
Epic fantasy does well, but its dominated by a few big names. Indie authors don't really try to write
fantasy on the same scope and size as the trade published authors (Dalglish's books are half the size).
I am going to self publish a 250k novel at the end of this year, the first of a long series, I think I may be
one of the first doing this as an indie. Self publishing this book will cost me over 3000 bucks (the price is
why I don't think many indies bother with epic fantasy).
More women read than men (I feel so anyway, no research done
), and a lot of women like romance,so romance should always be dominant, no matter what spice is flavouring it (historical/vamps/etc.).
Epic fantasy does well, but its dominated by a few big names. Indie authors don't really try to write
fantasy on the same scope and size as the trade published authors (Dalglish's books are half the size).
I am going to self publish a 250k novel at the end of this year, the first of a long series, I think I may be
one of the first doing this as an indie. Self publishing this book will cost me over 3000 bucks (the price is
why I don't think many indies bother with epic fantasy).
The problem with epic fantasy from an indie standpoint (and I speak from considerable experience) is the sheer amount of work involved. Writing a 250K word epic is very much a labor of love that can consume years of your life. From what I can ell about the indie writing business model, there is a premium on speed of production. Writers who can churn out multiple short novels (or even novellas) over a year or two (or who have an extensive backlist built before they publish) have an advantage over someone slaving away on a massive 1000 page monster - from Amazon or Smashword's point of view one writer has more titles up than another, which is more for the algorithms to work with, more opportunity for prospective buyers to stumble across their names.
The downside of this is quality - we end up with a lot of boilerplate stories featuring the same stock characters and plots. I think that's a reason why so many PNR stories feature broody vampires and all the rest, or why so many indie fantasies are variations of the standard coming-of-age stories that come across as rehashed Dungeons and Dragons sessions turned to fiction. They're easy to write, there's a template to follow.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
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