Book Updates for July

More updates for books that have been published and republished in the last few months.

I've brought back most of the Lion of Arria series, from The Grail Curse to Family On Fire, and have now added two new books, Fight for the Windbow and Adia: The Lion's Daughter.

The Grail Curse

Family On Fire

Fight For The Windbow

Adia: The Lion's Daughter

These are volumes 2-5 of that series, as The Knights of Arria currently won't be available. I decided to go ahead and do that as it's still separate from The Legends of Arria series.

I have also published The Fox Bard, hopefully the first of the Jobe and Paracleus spin-off series.

The Fox Bard

This book really only features Jobe and Paracleus, though with a surprise at the end, and is separate from the main Legends of Arria series as well.

Finally, in addition to The Cursed Coin and The Fairy Reel, I have also published The Wizard's Spell-Book and The Importance of Being Tarn & Beck in the Tarn & Beck series.

Tarn & Beck: The Wizard's Spell-Book

The Importance of Being Tarn and Beck

Right now, I'm working on the 5th Tarn & Beck, a spin-off to the main Tarn and Beck line, another Legends prequel featuring Monika, and I should probably edit Power Over Death some more to turn in to my publisher. Servants and Followers is currently being edited with my publisher right now.

That's all going on right now. Hopefully I shall update more soon!

Update and Tarn & Beck: The Cursed Coin Excerpt

Hello, just a quick update. Tarn & Beck: The Cursed Coin is now available as well as its sequel, Tarn & Beck: The Fairy Reel, on Amazon. I've been editing my second Legends of Arria book, Servants and Followers, and sent it in to my publisher for a look. I've also been writing a special new book for what I hope might be a Jobe & Paracleus spin-off series, but I'm going to wait before I share that.

I've also been updating my Wattpad page, it's under SmilingStallionInn, just for some advertising and promotion. I'm putting in more excerpts from published, unpublished, and fanfiction works on there, too, so check it out if you want. Here's a sample from Tarn & Beck: The Cursed Coin.

Chapter 1:

Son of a Rat-Catcher

In a large Dickensian office, a company of clerks sat around at roll-top desks, rows and columns of them like the pages inside the ledgers they wrote in. They calculated various figures and formulae with large registers and other devices, keys clicking and clacking inside the machinery with the totals popping up behind a glass screen.

Of course, they could have figured out all of the numbers themselves, but it was faster to rely upon the mechanics of these machines. Any slip-up, of course, was blamed upon the clerk and not the machine, so they had to be precise and careful.

They wrote reports and stamped documents, sending off various paperwork through messengers and office-boys for processing and recording. There was talk of installing some contraption of pneumatic tubes for faster delivery to other departments, but it was decided that such a system was more bother than it was worth.

Just outside the office in the hallway, a short, hapless young man in his twenties, Beck, returned from his break. He brushed the crumbs off of his vest and waistcoat, adjusted his tie and the kerchief in his pocket.

He smoothed down his slick black hair that he oiled in the morning, trying to appear urbane or at least keep it from sticking up. He sniffled a little, suffering a cold.

He wiped his glasses again, mentally going over a problem he’d been dealing with before he left, and entered the office. He should’ve noticed that the office seemed unusually quiet and productive, even by the strict standards imposed upon them by their bosses.

That should’ve alerted him something was wrong, but he was still distracted and preoccupied.

It was important to the firm that his work should continue unabated, never mind the small interruptions and breaks necessary for a human like him. He wasn’t a bleeding calculator.

Meticulous and studious described most of the clerks at the Lavonya banking and insurance firm for good reason. The firm’s reputation depended on their work and the clerks wished to appear as assiduous as possible for better promotion and compensation.

Smug might have also been the word that Beck would have used for some of them. But he attempted to keep his opinions to himself and hold his head down to his work, even as difficult as that sometimes was.

Beck walked down an aisle between desks, ready to get back to his job. Most of the clerks didn’t look up at him, preoccupied. However, a tall, snobby clerk named Greg smirked as Beck sat down at his own desk, which was unoccupied with its roll-top closed.

Beck unrolled the top, and quickly closed the top again. He glared at the others sitting around him, wondering who was the culprit.

Most of them appeared to be hard at work as if they didn’t notice what was going on. However, several of them started squeaking like rats or mice. Beck fumed to himself.

Beck rolled open the top again and stared down at a dead rat lying on top of his desktop and paperwork. Greg looked up from his work and seemed to notice the rat.

“Oh, look, a rat. Always a problem, aren't they?” Greg said.

Beck got up from his desk, pretending to ignore Greg for now. He headed toward the supply closet where the night cleaners stored their equipment.

However, he had to pass by Greg’s desk on the way. “Rats get you everywhere.” Greg remarked as if to thin air while Beck passed by.

Beck paused and shook his head, not looking back at Greg as he pushed up his glasses. “You all are nothing more than children at heart. The school bullies who refuse to grow up.”

Beck continued on as Greg glared at him. “How dare you insult us like that.”

Beck opened up the supply closet door, fetching a pail, gloves, and a bag. “This is something that should have been left behind at the schoolyard ages ago.” He coughed and slammed the closet door shut before heading back to his desk.

Beck slipped the gloves on, unrolled the desktop cover again, and snatched up the rat, disposing of it into the bag.

“Did the rat die of natural causes?” One of the clerks asked.

Beck began sorting through the documents that had been left on his desk, tossing the papers that appeared to have been befouled by the rat into the pail. He ignored their comments, sniffing the papers occasionally and trying not to sneeze.

“Or was it a trap or poison?” Another clerk asked.

Greg smirked at Beck. “I bet a rat-catcher like you could tell.”

Beck turned around and faced the clerks as he slipped off the gloves, his voice hoarse. “All right, go ahead and laugh. But if it weren't for rat-catchers like my father still working down below, rats would be overrunning this place.”

He tossed the gloves and frowned, grim and serious. “Although how could you tell with the rats already running this place?”

The clerks stared at Beck, shocked as Greg got up and confronted Beck. “Now see here! If that is a dig at the firm, then you really have gone too far.”

Greg kept poking Beck in the chest for emphasis. “This firm just happens to be the best, most respected business in this city, this country.”

Beck looked down at Greg’s finger poking him like he wanted to bite it off and sniffled.

“It's trusted everywhere currency is spent.” Greg stopped and crossed his arm, glaring. “Do you still want to work here?”

Beck looked up at Greg. “My father happened to be a boxer as well. Would you care to sample a move?”

Greg ducked one of Beck's swings, but received another punch.

Tarn and Beck: The Cursed Coin

The Smiling Stallion Inn is now available at many major online retailers, but I'm also interested in bringing another potential series to light. So I'm announcing that earlier this year, under the pseudonym Roger Nickleby (I made the connection obvious in case I ever made it public), I self-published an adventure fantasy story Tarn and Beck: The Cursed Coin.

Why am I announcing it now? Because I'm changing that story into something of a romance and republishing it soon under my name. Just a taste of what readers might like about The Smiling Stallion Inn and Legends of Arria series.

I was sort of angling in that direction anyway, even if I wasn't ready then to commit Tarn and Beck to a romance. But I hope to expand that potential series too with more stories, and that romance might be a key part of it.

So here I go, say good-bye to regular adventurers and hello to romantic adventurers Tarn and Beck in just a little while.

The Smiling Stallion Inn: preorders

The Smiling Stallion Inn is now available for preorders in advance of its November 30th release.

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Torrid Books

Here's a link to the Torrid Books page of The Smiling Stallion Inn, although the page needs to be fixed a little.

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Simon and Schuster distribution

And here's a link to the Simon and Schuster page for The Smiling Stallion Inn, as Torrid Books has a distribution deal with that publisher.

Here's the blurb:

'Basha, a wistful young man, yearns to marry his girlfriend Jawen. Yet he is self-conscious of their differences and his lack of prospects. He is scorned by Jawen’s father, the wealthy merchant Lapo, as an orphan bastard left on the innkeeper’s doorstep.

Even Basha’s adopted family, especially his brother Oaka, doubt Basha and Jawen belong together. But Basha wants to prove that he is worthy of Jawen’s love by getting a spot on the town’s militia. And he wants to propose to her the next night at the Courtship ritual.

Yet when things go awry at the militia tryouts and Courtship ritual, and Basha seems to be plagued by crows and a mysterious guardian, can he set things right again? Will Basha have to take a drastic step to prove his love to Jawen? And how might that change the course of history and legends in the country of Arria?'

Here are links to the various retailers:

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Amazon

The Smiling Stallion Inn, iTunes

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Barnes and Noble

Smiling Stallion Inn, Blio

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Books A Million

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Google Books

The Smiling Stallion Inn, Kobo Books

More to come soon.

Final Decision on series

After some consideration on my own, I've decided to go ahead and take down the rest of the Legends of Arria series, and maybe the Knights of Arria books, on November 6th, just to avoid any contention with The Smiling Stallion Inn release later this month. I may keep up the rest of the Lion of Arria series, The Grail Curse and Family On Fire, until some decision is made there, but I will raise prices, too, depending on what the sales price is for Smiling Stallion Inn to avoid competition.

I'll need some time to work on and edit Servants and Followers, Power Over Death, and The Tiger of Light on my own to lower the word count, so not sure when the new versions of these books will come out. I probably won't need to edit The Tiger Enchantment, though, when I submit it to the publisher and the future installment or installments of this series (? for series end/break) will be a lower word count, too.

Current Status With The Smiling Stallion Inn

New editing for The Smiling Stallion Inn is finishing up, and so it might be ready for a November 30th release from Torrid Books, Ebook ISBN will be 978-1-68299-210-4. Fingers crossed that it won't be delayed.

I haven't really discussed the status of the sequels or the secondary series with the publisher yet, but fair warning once more, depending on response, the other self-published versions might be taken down in the near future. I will try to provide a time frame or window if it's a week or a couple of days.

The Smiling Stallion Inn is Not Available

I'm currently in the process of setting up The Smiling Stallion Inn with a new publisher and so the book is currently not available/published. I apologize for the suddenness of this change to those who were interested in reading it, but it shall be available again in the future with the new publisher.

The rest of the series and related series is currently still self-published, but may eventually go to the new publisher, depending. Just a heads up there.

Sincerely,
The Author

Title and Cover Changes coming up

Fair warning to those who have already purchased and read my books and to those who have been interested in acquiring them--I have decided, partly as a marketing move and with the hope of gaining more casual readers to change some or most of my book titles.

I probably won't change The Legends of Arria book titles as those seem to be good enough for now.

I'm sort of leaning towards more casual or general titles, especially for the Legends of Arria 2002 series--and I'm probably going to change the name of that series as well--to attract readers who might be hesitant or uncertain about the book at first glance. I'll admit some of those titles are a bit obscure, though pertinent to the book, and maybe long winded. I'm going to stop using the Part 1 (and future Part 2) for The Kirna's Apprentice and get a more general, though pertinent, title for those books.

I hope these changes might yield a good response in future readership and I don't want to put off any former readers who come across these books with new titles and realize they are the same books. Admittedly I have been writing and rewriting a similar story for a while now, albeit with some changes in plot and characters.

But I would also hope that readers might eventually read both of the main series, (uh, the 2008 books are more of a transitional stage) because I hope to eventually...

Oops, not certain if I want to reveal that just yet. Near future.

Smashwords Interview Question Three

I'm on a roll here. Question Number 3 from the Smashwords Interview.

What are your five favorite books, and why?
              

A difficult question, but...Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold is definitely one of them. It was one of the first adult books that I read, crossing over from the YA side of the store. It was so serious, dramatic, heartbreaking and traumatic at times, yet it was so hopeful as well.

 

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay also falls into this same category. I am not as steeped in comic books as some, but this is definitely a love letter to that Golden Age of comic books.

 

The Princess Bride is also very heartfelt, and when I first read it, I actually almost believed in William Goldman's writer's story, that he tried to get ahold of the rights to Buttercup's Baby, and couldn't get it. The book version itself went far deeper into the characters and was more serious than I had imagined it would be.

 

Deep Secret is a pretty glorious young adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones that revels in science fiction and fantasy.

 

Finally, but not least, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, which is a pretty hard, tough novel at times that burrows deep into your heart and mind.

 

 

So looking at these answers again, and all of these years later...it's tough to change your-or should I say, my-mind about what your favorite books are. To be honest, it's been a couple of years at least since I've read these books.

 

I do have a tendency to read a bit and place a book aside for a while. There are books filling my shelves that I have not read in years and quite a few books that I have not read at all. These books that I picked for my favorite are, indeed, some formative books that I deeply cherished and have kept for many years since I first read them in...high school, I want to say? Something like that.

 

I might do a series of posts someday reviewing all of the old books I still have on my shelves. That might be an interesting survey of sorts. I will get back to any potential blog readers on that.

Smashwords Interview: Question Two

Here's some more of my Smashwords interview and some new answers to this question:

Who are your favorite authors?
              

One of the first authors that I absolutely adored as a kid was Lloyd Alexander, who wrote such books as the Westmark trilogy, The Iron Ring, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, The Arkadians and the Prydain Chronicles. The very first book of his that I read was Time Cat.

Terry Pratchett became a favorite author of mine and I have read almost all of his Discworld novels. There's a handful I haven't read, and perhaps I have been putting them off...RIP, Sir.

I really got into Neil Gaiman with Neverwhere, and went on to read Amerian Gods, Anansi Boys and several volumes of The Sandman.

J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter also became a favorite of mine, although I never would have read the first book if I had not received it at a Christmas book exchange in 1999. Thank you very much for the gift. I had my doubts, but they were definitely proven wrong.

I struggled somewhat with Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, but it was rewarding, and I read Cryptonomicon and Reamde. I have not finished Seveneves, it just got...grim.

I am fond of Michael Chabon and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Diana Wynne Jones is also a favorite of mine, especially with Deep Secret.

Who can forget William Goldman and The Princess Bride?

In 2006, I started watching Doctor Who, and I went deep into it a couple years ago, reading various New Adventures, Virgin Adventures, Eighth Doctor Adventures, IDW Doctor Who comics and Doctor Who Magazine comics. I have sort of slowed down there.

And the poor animals of Richard Adams' The Plague Dogs and Watership Down.

Currently, I finally got around to reading The Magicians, probably should have done that sooner. Oh, and I've read The Outsorcerer's Apprentice by Tom Holt. I might need to read some more of his books. Although the bit with a cell phone...ah, well, different narrative usages for such a device.

In recent years, I've been reading more nonfiction, including Neal Gabbler's Walt Disney biography, the Joss Whedon biography, and currently I'm reading 'The Millionaire and the Bard' about Henry Folger and the history behind Shakespeare publications and collections. Who knew that would be interesting? Although the printing section was a bit numbing.

And I'm also going to attempt reading some classics as well.

In some ways, there is no simple answer as to 'Who are your favorite authors', for I like a lot of them.

My Smashwords Interview: Question One

I'm thinking about deleting the author interview on my Smashwords profile as, aesthetically speaking, it does take up quite a bit of space. And perhaps it is a bit wordy as well.

I'm trying to think realistically and pragmatically as a first-time reader, coming across a new author's page, might be overwhelmed by all of this text and information about a writer. They might not scroll down to see what books are available. Perhaps it is off-putting for some?

Well, in any case, I'm going to take it down.

But I would like to preserve its content as well, in case there are readers who might be interested in learning more about the author.

So here I am going to post up my Smashwords interview and share its content for any readers who might be interested. And I would also like to pose a question to readers: does knowing more or less about an author interest them in their work? Or does the book's content only matter?

Anyway, here's Question One:

What's the story behind your latest book?

Well, the story behind The Legends of Arria series dates back to sixth grade, 2000, when I had the idea of a girl in a rowboat adrift on an ocean, running aground on the shore of a magical realm called Arria.

After a series of adventures, she would have found a new life for her there and tried to raise a family, until her daughter was lost and had to find her way back home.

Yet the form of the ideas changed, and Arria changed, so that by 2002, it became the story of a young man who set out on a quest on behalf of the woman he loved in The Knights of Arria 2002, which had a rather simplistic style that developed a bit more in the year or two it took to write.

This story developed over several years, going further ahead a generation or two in the sequels. But then I felt the need to go back and start reworking the beginning of the story, again and again.

The 2008 version (on Amazon) was mostly just a revamp of the 2002 version, which added some more depth and plot changes to the story, yet it wasn't enough.

I wanted to find a better angle on the story, more mature and developed with characters having real thought processes and getting into backstories and realistic character motivations a bit more.

Then I got the idea to get into Coe Baba, Basha's hometown, a bit more and really showcase his adoptive parents Habala and Geda, his sword-fighting mentor Sir Nickleby, Basha's girlfriend Jawen and her family, Oaka and his girlfriend Sisila, which then included her family and finally the Old Man, who became very important in this process.

The Old Man had been lurking in the background for a long while as an immortal storyteller, but he really had no story beyond that to latch onto. So I gave him one and created new characters, Nisa and her mother Brigga, to help him fill out his new role.

When I first came up with the idea of Nisa, I thought of her as Oaka's and Basha's sister who would narrate the story and eventually team up with the Old Man.

But being their sister didn't really work out and so the relationship was changed.

I felt the need to delve into Jawen's home life more, introduce her extended family and get her father Lapo the merchant more involved. Previously, Jawen's romances with Basha and Hastin were simplified, so I made it more complex, unpredictable, and emotional.

This also happened with Sisila. I made her the baron's daughter, Hastin became her brother, and I moved away from portraying her 'crazy/grief-stricken' phase over Oaka leaving.

Iibala became Sir Nickleby's daughter and more important as a character, more heavily involved in the action of the story, same with Sir Nickleby as well.

Habala's and Geda's roles were more enhanced as parents and their relationship changed and developed, especially with the introduction of Smidge, Geda's brother, to complicate matters.

Coe Baba as a whole had been a rather simple, unfulfilled place.

So I made the town bigger and more complex, with fully realized characters and places. It was also more mysterious and haunted, being genuinely threatened by evil outside forces.

It made the lives of the characters inhabiting this place a whole lot more interesting. All of these changes were made with the start of Basha's story in The Smiling Stallion Inn.

The consequences of these changes continue on in Servants and Followers, Power Over Death, The Tiger of Light, The Tiger Enchantment and more coming soon.


(Note: Smashwords Interview is probably a proprietary trademark of that website. I am merely using the trademark/standard questions for noncommercial purposes. Or at least...I don't know, something along those lines.)