Half Way Point.

    Never underestimate life. Its ups and downs are fascinating and frustrating to the point of exhaustion. My muse continues to have trouble with her health, and we have to rely more and more on outside help. Still, she remains remarkably upbeat and robust. She is the basis for all the strong women in the Eidolon Series. She also expects me to write, which I am happy to do.

    However, her expectations and the joy I get in writing are hampered by near-constant interruptions during the day. Many writers I'm acquainted with work around this minor inconvenience by writing late into the night. They are also 30 to 50 years younger than me. 

    No excuses, right? That's what I said in a more recent post. Well, I have slowed down but haven't quit. Book 3, The Anvil of Rendor (working title), is now more than 50% complete (save for edits). It stands at 80,000+ words with an expected word count of about 150K.

    Time to write is found in the times between and betwixt the interruptions. Some days the total words are considerably more than others. Those other times can be as little as 100 words. Nevertheless, progress is being made. 

    So, despite a strong start at the beginning of the year, the project has slowed. Nevertheless, my muse and Alpha readers are very encouraging. That thrills me. I will see to it the work is done.

    By the way, I expect there will be maps in Book 3.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All.

 

T'was But a Stitch

Like nearly everyone else, the recent past (2+years) has dealt a blow to us. The muse in my life has had some complications in her health. Those difficulties, as well as Covid restrictions, limited my time and interest in writing. 

But, no more excuses, eh. T'was but a stitch in time. I am back at it. 

Book 3, The Anvil of Rendor (working title), is underway, and I'm liking how it looks so far. There will be a reveal of K'Las' time in Dinger Landing and how he managed to stay hidden from those searching for him. 

K'Las (a.k.a. Rath Holyard) and A'wyn will head off to the Central Realm and experience a few new lessons in life and new Weaving skills along the way. A DreamWeaver, hinted at in book 2, is revealed and plays a pivotal role. Hopefully, you will find these adventures exciting and fun.

The Grand Peer is still looking for the missing keys to create what he most desires, The Anvil of Rendor, and absolute control of the world of Rendor. In the meantime, he must also keep the reborn Rendor Empire at bay. With his spy network demolished in the West, he must rebuild using what is left and find ways to infiltrate the new hierarchy. As fortune would have it, the Timpani Mountains are both a defense and an impediment for him. The surprise of a well-trained Warlock coven has made the gathering of intelligence a significant problem. 

Emperor King Gerald must gather, train and arm his nascent forces before the Grand Peer can gain a foothold in the West. 

Then our unfriendly neighborhood antagonist, the Grand Peer, converges with B'Tris, and K'Las and all Seven Hells break loose.

(Insert sinister chuckle from the author)

"Call of the Empire" Released

Yep, it is finally out. Book 2 of the Eidolon Trilogy is now available on Amazon.com. However, for a brief time you can get a better ebook buy on Smashwords through January 15,2018.

The book topped out at about 140,000 words with 492 pages.

Amazon gave me very little wiggle room for pricing the paperback. If you contact me on my facebook page I'll sell it to you for $10.00 plus shipping costs. That may or may not be a better deal depending on where you live.

Here is the blurb on the back cover.

The Great Western Henge has rung.

The Campanill’s have hard choices to make. An ancient contract requires the village of Kerner to establish an empire when a Cherished Weaver rings the Great Western Henge. B’Tris can choose to run and hope she and her son, K’Las, can hide from the Grand Peer, or enter the veiled world of the Cherished and become something she never imagined possible. Her decision may save the world, but it could cost her everything, including her son.

A sinister voice and a deep desire for revenge drive K’Las to train as an assassin so he can kill the Grand Peer. The cantankerous Hengekeeper, Thaddeus Stonebreaker, blocks his way at every turn. Frustrated and determined to protect his mother no matter the cost, K’Las disguises himself and enlists the help of an Inquisitor willing to teach him, but the price will be high, including walking away from his family and the only home he has ever known.

Rendor trembles and war is at hand.

Will the Campanill’s answer the Call of the Empire?

Arrgh!

My second editor's schedule slipped to nearly five months before she could get to it. I Received her comments and sat on it for almost two months before addressing the issues she had. I wasn't necessarily unhappy with those she rose, but her understanding of epic fantasy seemed weak.
She did make some very good points, however, and I have addressed them with new chapters at the beginning of the novel and expanded come critical moments later in the book.
I have until Sept. 18th to clean up this revision and send it to my next editor who has considerable experience with my genre. Other authors I know have told me she is tough with good constructive criticism.
I'm still hoping for a release this year. If the version I send to editor number 3 can withstand the onslaught, and I am not totally crushed by her comments, the last editor to see it will be a copy editor. That will be a matter of a simple yes or no for those changes.
Release of Book 2, "Call of the Empire" will be very late in the year if all goes reasonably well. More likely, depending on my copy editor's schedule, it will be early next year.

Update on Call of the Empire.

UPDATE: My first editor for book two is giving me some positive feedback. That doesn't mean the draft is quite up to snuff. I didn't expect it to be. Nevertheless I am feeling better about it. So, the book is more-or-less back on track. I intend on getting three more editors to go over it when the second draft is completed, which will mean four drafts in all.

When will it be published? With luck and persistence it should be early next year. I can't hurry the editors, so it will largely depend on them. Here's to a quick turn around.

Meanwhile, book 3, The Anvil of Rendor, is underway.

Book 2 update.

Well, I thought I was done. It turns out not to be the case. My muse, editor and beta readers are not happy--or, not happy enough for my tastes. So, back to the keyboard for some heavy revisions. Just what those entail I haven't decided as yet. Publication date of book 2 is now indeterminate. (Author weeps).