The Final Calling is the eleventh novel in the Ethshar fantasy series. The series started out at Del Rey, moved to Tor, but is now being written (for the present) as on-line serials.

The serials work like this:

• I post a chapter.
• If readers like it, they send me money.
• If I receive enough money, I post the next chapter.
• Repeat until the novel is finished.

If the money comes in quickly enough, a new chapter will be posted every Wednesday.

What's "quickly enough"? Well, the first chapter is free. When I've received $250, I'll post the second. When I've received $250 more, for a total of $500, I'll post the third. And so on, to a maximum of one chapter per week -- though I'm going to skip two weeks in September due to pre-existing travel plans, no matter what.

You can read the posted chapters for free, of course, but if the money doesn't come in, new chapters don't get posted.

So why should you send money, instead of letting everyone else do it? Because if and when the novel is finished, everyone in the United States who sent me $25 or more will receive a printed copy of the book; in Canada it'll take $30, and for the rest of the world it's $35.

In the past, since the finished books had a cover price of less than $25, donors have also received extras of one sort or another -- chapbooks, for example, or maps, or access to bonus materials in private areas online. I don't know yet whether there will be extras this time, or what form they'll take, if any. I've also sometimes provided e-books to people who donated less than the full amount, and I don't yet know how that will work this time, either.

And why do you want a printed copy, when you can read the story online? Well, for one thing, the online version is first draft only. The final version will be longer, more detailed, and more polished -- typically, my final drafts run 3,000 to 10,000 words longer than my first drafts.

For another thing, the free version of the novel will probably not stay online; usually I take it down a few weeks after it's completed.

So that's the deal. I've done three previous serials; in all three, I did finish the novel, and donors got copies, though with the third one, Realms of Light, which wasn't an Ethshar novel, it got slow and complicated. I can't promise that this one will be completed, or how long it will take -- after all, I might get hit by a bus tomorrow. Sending me money is a donation, not a purchase or a subscription. So far, though, doing these serials has worked out, and enabled me to keep the Ethshar series going.

That's the set-up, and I hope you'll enjoy the novel and send me money. Below are a few common questions and answers, if you want more details, and I post progress reports on a blog called the Serial Box. Feel free to e-mail me with other questions.

Click here to donate and help get the next chapter posted.

Q&A

Do you have the whole novel written in advance?

No. I try to stay about three chapters ahead. I don't always manage it. I do have a complete working outline.

When you say "a chapter," what does that mean?

I do the actual writing in standard manuscript format, in Word Perfect 10, in Times New Roman, and a chapter is at least ten pages in that format -- typically, about 3,000 words. If for some reason I have a chapter that's less than ten pages, as sometimes happens, especially right near the end of a novel, I throw it in free, or count it as a half -- you'll always get at least ten pages of story.

How long will The Final Calling be?

I don't know. I'm guessing thirty chapters, but that might be way off.

This doesn't look all that rough; what sort of changes do you make when you revise the first draft?

Here's a comparison from one of the previous serials.

Do you have any other fiction online?

I sure do; see Misenchanted Tales for links to it all. In particular, notice that I have another serial in progress, Realms of Light.

Is there other stuff you aren't telling us?

Yes, lots; most people don't care about every fiddly little detail, and I don't want this webpage to be a dozen screens long. I'll be happy to answer questions in e-mail me, or in the comments on the Serial Box.