so here’s how it goes

So, as promised, let me give a few more details regarding this upcoming serialized-as-I-write novel set to begin next week.

The story (and planned series) is a picaresque, originally a Spanish Renaissance genre that features a protagonist of humble origins forced to make his way in a corrupt world by use of his wits. The hero generally falls foul of his own bad luck as often as he does the corrupt authority figures around him, but the humor of the stories lies in how he overcomes despite it all–though things seldom conclude with traditional happy endings.

The series as a whole (ideas for at least six books should I get that far) will be titled The Interrogation of Ilarion iz Balundan. Using a frame device that sees Ilarion, the hero, forced to talk about his youth and just how he became the criminal he is, the series will recount various stages in the hero’s development from unfortunate eleven-year-old to cocky and self-assured twenty-something master conman. It is a fantasy novel in the vein of Sword and Sorcery, and I have tried some new tricks in the world building this time to give this setting a unique spin that my others don’t have.

As for the first story (titled Ilarion and the Blind Man’s Game), the one that will definitely be serialized here and at Wattpad, a blurb might look something like this:

Ilarion iz Balundan is the greatest confidence trickster of his age, a living legend in the corrupt society of Gandras, a city in the outer reaches of the Holy Arzemian Empire.

Captured by a persistent Inquisitor and forced to talk about his childhood as part of a study on the criminal mind, Ilarion must go back nearly twenty years into his past to tell how it all began.

Born in infamy and left an orphan by the time he is eleven, Ilarion takes up service with an old blind man, who is more than a humble beggar, promising to teach the young lad all the tricks he knows to scam money out of the tight-fisted populace of Gandras.

Ilarion becomes his willing student, though he soon finds that his blind master is as corrupt as anyone in the high places of government, and the boy is forced to turn his master’s tricks against him if he is ever to be rid of the old man.

I will be publishing as I write, and as we stand today, I have over 10K words already composed. Simply put, I wish to remain about five days ahead of schedule, so I will only post on those days when I write. In other words, beginning next week, if I write some of the story on Monday, I will post a chapter on Monday. If I fail to write Tuesday, I will not post on Tuesday–despite the fact that I will have text to post.

The point is that I don’t want to get into a situation where I am forced to write and post immediately, but prefer to have at least a week to fix things that might need to change. For the foreseeable future, I will be able to post every day during the week (and, if you’re lucky, a Saturday too) because I have plenty of time to write, but we’ll see how things develop.

As for the length, I’m shooting for something a little bit short of the length of my novel Hero, which was just over 60K words. I doubt I’ll get quite that many, but 55K is a good target. That means I should hopefully be able to serialize Ilarion and the Blind Man’s Game within six weeks.

I will be making one or two changes to this website this weekend, so there may be some funny stuff happening with viewing the blog, but I’ll try to have that all ironed out quickly.

Otherwise, it remains only for me to say that, given the nature of this project, I would love for anyone who feels so inclined to post comments regarding the story as it develops. We’ll call this an open beta, if you like, as it is essentially the same thing.

Cheers!

march sixth two thousand and thirteen

Hi All,

Lots to talk about today, so let’s jump right into it!

Eidylon episode 5 went on sale Monday, and as I had previously stated, that will be the last volume to be published in the regular serial format. Currently, the first two volumes are tied up in KDP Select until the beginning of April, but at that point, I will be relabeling all the parts with new titles and shifting the series over to a novella format, marketed as such. In other words, the books will no longer say “serial novel” on the cover or title page, but will be presented as any regular series.

I am working on the sixth episode, but it will be some time ere we see that, as I want to get another project underway. Nevertheless, I do not at present intend to let Eidylon die. I just don’t intend to spend all of my energy on a series that is failing to supply me with enough income each month to afford a Starbucks coffee. If things change, and the series suddenly picks up out of nowhere, I will put my efforts back into it to milk that cash-cow…er…complete the story for those interested.

In the meantime, I have already begun writing another book, and I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do with this one. On the one hand, making money is nice, but on the other, I feel that if I’m not making money, I’d like to at least be read. So I’ve come up with a plan, an experiment, for this one, and it is such an experiment that interested parties will be able to begin reading as soon as next Monday–that’s right, 03/11/2013.

Why that date? Well, here I get a bit sentimental. Monday is my mother’s birthday, and the character at the heart of this next opus is the character I created for my very first attempt at a novel, way back in 2004. While my writing was still very raw at that time, I have always like this character, and always intended to go back to him some day. The time has finally come. He also happens to be–perhaps–my mother’s favourite character from all that I’ve written. (Our dear mommers, eh? Always our first and bestest fans…)

Right, on from the mushy stuff. What I am going to try is a sort-of post-as-I-write scheme, not unlike the way comic strips are published. I’ll be working at about a week ahead of my posting schedule, to have some degree of room to make up for stuff that happens in real life. There will be a few changes at the website here–nothing drastic, and perhaps they’ll largely go unnoticed, but they could cause a few kinks in the first couple of days.

I plan to publish one post every day–or, failing that, three times a week. Basically, there will be a thread on this website that will update with a new chapter very regularly. If you subscribe by email, you will automatically receive those updates, but I am also (as we speak) figuring out how to set up a single RSS subscription feed for the serial itself.

And the other, really experimental thing I’m going to try is to post at the same time over at Wattpad. I am well aware that Wattpad’s largest demographic is teenage girls–and, no, this story doesn’t have vampires, werewolves, or high school romance–but as the protagonist of the story is a boy in his early teens, there may just be some appeal to the website’s largely school-age audience.

But I will have a bit more on this in another post later this week. Really, it’s purely an experiment, and as I said earlier, I’d simply like to be read at this stage, so if 1,000 folks read for free, that’s better to me than ten folks reading at 99c. I do plan to release the thing for sale when it’s completed and fully edited, but for now, I just want to try something different.

As I said, I’ll post later this week with more specific details about the story itself, and about the serializing format.

Until then…Cheers!

Eidylon 3

Hi All,

Another couple of busy weeks have passed me by. I find myself so apathetic when it comes to maintaining this blog, though I’m going to have to try to be a bit better about that. For now, though, there are a few Eidylon related bits of news:

Part 3 is on sale now at Amazon. Here’s the link: The Eponymous Link!

Also, Part 2 will be on a free giveaway at Amazon tomorrow and Wednesday. I’ll post the link to my Facebook page when the special starts, so all you Facebookites can share it with your fellow Facebookites and spread the word. The rest of you, well, you can grab Part 2 for free, and that’s an end.

With Part 3 now out, I will, obviously, begin final polishing of Part 4. By now, the idea of the Epic of Place is beginning to become clearer, as we have advanced over 400 years from the story related in Part 1. There is still a long way to go in the life-cycle of the city Eidylon, but the expansion of the city’s empire is beginning to take shape, and will only increase in speed as Parts 5, 6, and 7 roll out.

Well, I hope you give Eidylon a try, especially if you’re on the fence about it. It is quite a different story from anything else on the market in fantasy right now, but it is a format that has seen success in historical fiction. One of the complaints I often have with fantasy novels is the seeming lack of historical depth. Well, in Eidylon I’ve sacrificed character depth for history, and the result should be refreshingly different, if nothing else.

All right, I’ll quit there!

Cheers, until next time!

Eidylon part 2 (updated)

All right, Eidylon: Birth of an Empire episode 2 is now live at Amazon. Finally.

Here’s the link.

Thanks for your patience!

*********

Hi All,

Just a quick note to apologize that there is a problem with the second episode of Eidylon going live today.

I uploaded the file last night, and everything seemed to go along fine. I got my email from Amazon saying it was published, but the book is not showing up in the bookstore.

I’m trying to get this sorted out now. It’s the first hitch I’ve had with Amazon’s system, so I’m flying in the dark here myself. Still, I apologize.

I’ll update as soon as I have something more concrete.

Cheers!

eidylon lands

Just a quick note this New Year’s Eve to let you all know that Eidylon: Birth of an Empire, episode 1 is now on sale at Amazon. It should be available from Barnes&Noble any day now as well.

***

In a war between immortal gods, time means nothing, and those now losing can afford to spend centuries, millenia even, to plot their eventual victory. In Eidylon, one dark god does so. He is imprisoned beneath a mountain, supposedly defeated, but he has time.

Time enough to draw a far-off refugee to the valley surrounding the mountain. Time enough to inspire the refugee’s descendants to build a city at the foot of the mountain. Time enough to twist the hearts of those dwelling in the city to worship him where they once feared him. Time enough to gather his shattered body back together. Time enough to make men who should have opposed him become the means of his release.

And all this under the nose of the god who trapped him to begin with.

Inspired by Ancient Rome’s legends and history, Eidylon is a fantasy epic-of-place that charts the 1,000-year history of the a city manipulated by an evil god. Birth of an Empire, volume one of two full-length serialized novels, tells the first 600 years of that story, the rise of the Eidylene Empire in the service of Ataharibu–He who will destroy.

Here is a reminder of the Eidylon: Birth of an Empire Release Schedule:

Episode 1 – Dec 31, 2012
Episode 2 – Jan 14, 2013
Episode 3 – Jan 28, 2013
Episode 4 – Feb 11, 2013
Episode 5 – Feb 25, 2013
Episode 6 – Mar 11, 2013
Episode 7 – Mar 25, 2013

Cheers! and happy reading in the New Year to you all!

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