Welcome to Ethshar!

I assume that if you've found this page you probably already know something about Ethshar, but just in case you don't: "Ethshar" is the name of an imaginary land that's the setting for an open-ended series of fantasy stories by Lawrence Watt-Evans.

Which is to say, me.

This is one portion of the Misenchanted Page, my somewhat tangled and over-ambitious personal and business website. Like many websites, it's perpetually under construction and mostly out of date; I have grandiose plans, but not the time to carry them out.

I do have An Introduction to Ethshar, which gives a quick overview of the setting, and pages about all the Ethshar novels, both published and planned. (They may not be entirely up to date, though...)

There is now an Ethshar Wiki. Serious Ethshar fans should give it a look and maybe contribute. No, I didn't start it or write any of it, though I've made some corrections.

For the latest news on my serials, see the Serial Box, which is updated much more frequently than this page.

I sell a few Ethshar-related tchotchkes in my Café Press store.

Cosmos paperbacks
Tor paperbacks
Wildside trade paperbacks

News: New serial, The Sorcerer's Widow, is under way!

A twelfth Ethshar novel, the fourth to be written as an online serial, is now in progress. I expect it to be pretty short.

There's no written contract yet (since after all, it mostly isn't written), but Wildside Press has expressed the intention to publish it.

What's What with Ethshar Today:

All the short Ethshar stories to date have now been collected in a single volume, Tales of Ethshar, published by Wildside Press. There are eleven stories, one of which has never been published in this form, and some introductory material. "The Warlock's Refuge," which was incorporated into The Unwelcome Warlock, is included, as is my 2011 April Fool's joke, Chapter 1 of The Unwanted Wardrobe.

Nine of the eleven published Ethshar novels are in print from Wildside Press in trade paperback and as e-books. Mass-market paperbacks, not so much.

Tor still owns the rights to Night of Madness. They have a trade paperback edition in print, but no e-book. I hope to get the rights back eventually, but we'll see.

Ithanalin's Restorationis out of print at the moment, but it's under contract to Wildside Press, and new editions in trade paperback and e-book form should be out later this year.

You may be able to find the paperback editions of those two with some digging (or by buying them from me), but there are no e-books yet. Sorry about that.

E-book editions of some of the Ethshar novels are available through Fictionwise, as well as the usual outlets.

What Dreams May Come: The Future of Ethshar

Yes, it has a future beyond The Sorcerer's Widow. I just don't know what it is. I have several novels in progress, Wildside is happy to keep publishing them, the serial format seems to work, so I guess I can just keep going as I have been.

I had hoped to maybe relaunch the series from a major publisher as YA ("young adult"), aimed at teenagers, but that doesn't seem to be working out.

One thing about e-books -- the pressures that force paper books toward certain sizes aren't there. E-books can be any length. This means I can be pretty flexible. Wildside Press is fine with short books, too.

I'm also thinking about printing up maps -- maybe as posters, maybe in an atlas or guidebook of some sort. That's all still vague, though.