The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Fifty-One

I am pleased to report that The Unwelcome Warlock: A Legend of Ethshar is now available on paper, as well as in e-book form.

I have now mailed off all the donor copies — some of them twice, as I screwed up the postage on the first batch and they came back. (Only one where I know the postage was wrong hasn’t come back — yet.) The last of them went into the mail Friday afternoon around 3:00. I left the foreign orders until last, since they required these annoying little customs forms, but they’re all on the way now. Copies were mailed to a dozen countries.

I was not as careful as I probably should have been about making sure that everyone who requested a signed copy got one. If you wanted an autograph and didn’t get one, I apologize. If it’s really bugging you, e-mail me and I’ll see about sending a bookplate or something.

So that’s three Ethshar serials (and one non-Ethshar one) done. Next up is probably (no promises) going to be The Sorcerer’s Widow, which may come out only novella length rather than a full novel. I’m therefore planning (if it is that story) to cut the donor cost for a paper copy by five bucks. I’m also hoping to work out the logistics for an e-book option for donors. And I’m currently thinking it should start some time in April. (I have three chapters written so far; I like to start with a backlog of at least four.)

Thanks for your support!

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Fifty

Ta da! The Unwelcome Warlock is finally out. The paper edition is now available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you donated to the serial, you should have already received an e-mail about this — basically, the donor copies are on their way, and I’ve been promised they’ll be here by Valentine’s Day. (I’m too cheap to pay for express shipping, I’m afraid.) If you’re a donor but did not get the e-mail, please e-mail me as soon as possible to verify your donation and address.

Wildside has three more titles of mine in the works.

The next serial will start no earlier than March 15, and no later than December 15th, but I haven’t yet decided which story it will be, or where in that range it’ll launch.

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Eight

Yes, it’s taking forever to get the donor copies of The Unwelcome Warlock out. I apologize. I can report some definite progress now, though — I’ve seen and approved the cover art and the final page proofs, so the book should be going to press Tuesday or so. It’ll still take time to print, pack and ship the books, so I won’t be mailing them all that soon, but the ball’s rolling.

As for other Ethshar projects, let’s see…

Tales of Ethshar, collecting all the short Ethshar fiction, is under contract and Wildside has paid me the advance, but I don’t have a publication date.

More or less the same is true for Ithanalin’s Restoration — Tor has relinquished all rights, it’s under contract to Wildside for a new edition in both trade paperback and e-book form, I’ve been paid, but I don’t have a pub date.

I’ve promised to start another Ethshar serial this year — that is, no later than December 31, 2012 — but there’s no definite date, and I’m not entirely sure which story it will be. Probably The Sorcerer’s Widow. Which, incidentally, will probably be quite short.

I’ve previously mentioned Azraya of Ethshar and Ishta’s Playmate as other possibilities, and they’re still on the list, but I’ve also begun working up a very large, complicated project with the working title “Big Fat Ethshar Novel” that combines several of the projects on my “planned stories” list. That may be too ambitious for this year, though.

I think that’s everything, really. Oh, except to brag that my daughter’s doing a webcomic — it’s called Misguided Light.

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Seven

Things are not moving as quickly as I would like.

The trade edition of The Unwelcome Warlock is now scheduled for April 2012. The e-book should be out somewhat sooner.

The advance edition for donors — well, I don’t have a date (it won’t be in October), but it should be well before April. I’m sorry it’s taking so long. Wildside’s move to a new office seems to have thrown their entire schedule back about two to three months.

In other Ethshar news, Tales of Ethshar is under contract but not scheduled. Wildside and I have a verbal agreement for Ithanalin’s Restoration, but no contract as yet. And while I still have no definite plans for another serial, I was doing some plotting work on The Sorcerer’s Widow earlier today. (Azraya of Ethshar and Ishta’s Playmate are also candidates for serialization, if I decide I don’t want to do Widow next.)

Incidentally, my post office box is going away next month — it’s gotten so little use over the past year that I can’t justify the annual fee anymore. I’ll be making other arrangements for streetmail.

I’ll try to keep you posted on any developments.

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Six

The astute donor will have noticed that the Wildside first paper edition of The Unwelcome Warlock did not ship in September. I’m afraid I don’t know when it will ship — Wildside moved offices recently, which disrupted their schedule much more than they had anticipated, so last I heard, a couple of weeks ago, they didn’t have cover art ready and the novel hadn’t been typeset. We’re still hoping for October, but I can’t guarantee it’ll happen.

I’ll keep you posted. Newsletter subscribers will generally get the news first, but I’ll post anything important here as well.

In other Ethshar news, Tales of Ethshar, collecting all the short Ethshar stories, is complete and under contract to Wildside, but not yet scheduled. Wildside is also planning a new edition of Ithanalin’s Restoration, including an ebook version — we have a verbal agreement, no contracts yet.

I do not have any new serials or other new Ethshar stories in the works at this time.

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Five

Latest word from Wildside is that a limited run of The Unwelcome Warlock should be out in September or October, so that copies can be sent to donors, but the regular edition is being pushed back to allow time for a new distribution deal. The new target date for the generally-available edition is February.

Cover price will probably be under $15, despite the novel’s length — ebooks have put some serious downward pressure on book prices — so I’m thinking of including a chapbook of “The Frog Wizard” with each donor copy.

Never heard of “The Frog Wizard”? Or if you did read it and remember it, you don’t see what it has to do with Ethshar? Well, that’s because I originally wrote no fewer than six variants of the same story, and only one of the six is an Ethshar story. One of the non-Ethshar versions was published in the January 1993 issue of Science Fiction Age, but the Ethshar version has never been published before.

This does not mean, however, that only donors to the serial of The Unwelcome Warlock will see it. It’s included in an upcoming collection of short Ethshar stories. Wildside has sent a contract for this collection; we’re fine-tuning the contract, but it should be signed soon. The collection will include all the short Ethshar stories — well, unless I forgot any; I only remembered to include “The Frog Wizard” at the last minute. Chapter One of The Unwanted Wardrobe will be there, with a few notes on some of the references.

And here’s where I’d like some feedback. I submitted the book as Tales of Ethshar, but Wildside accidentally sent the contract for The Book of Ethshar — which is a pretty good title. Now we’re trying to decide which title to use. Got an opinion?

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Four

Publication of The Unwelcome Warlock is tentatively scheduled for September. Wildside is moving offices, though, and running into unexpected difficulties, so I would not be at all surprised to see it delayed until October or even November.

Still no word on cover art.

Incidentally, Chapter One will also be included as “The Warlock’s Refuge” in Tales of Ethshar, the eleven-story collection that Wildside has just accepted. (Contracts are reportedly in the works.)

No firm plans yet on future serials or further Ethshar stories.

The Unwelcome Warlock: Progress Report Forty-Two

I finished the final draft last night, and sent it off to Wildside Press; they acknowledged receipt this morning. I’ve received the promised advance. Everything’s pretty much on track. I don’t have a publication date yet; from here on, the scheduling is entirely up to Wildside. No idea what they’ll do for cover art, or what the list price will be, or any of that other stuff.

I’ve got at least two other projects I want to deal with before I even think about another Ethshar serial.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and I hope you feel you got your money’s worth.