Chapter Nineteen has been posted

Chapter Nineteen is up.

I have just $15 toward Chapter Twenty, which isn’t written yet. Been busy with other stuff.

The protagonist’s name is now Emmis, rather than Vengar; “Vengar” just wasn’t working for me.

I’ve started talking to printers about that limited first edition; it looks financially viable, though a bit more costly than I’d hoped.

I’ve sent out all the copies of The Spriggan Mirror that I had on my list; if you think you should have received a copy and it hasn’t shown up, let me know.

Chapter Eighteen has been posted

Chapter Eighteen is up.

Chapter Nineteen is about one-third paid for; I don’t think I’ve written a third of it yet, though. Again, I have a week.

In other news, I have now sent out all the copies of The Spriggan Mirror I’d promised, except for two where I can’t locate the intended recipients, and a few where I’m waiting for more money to arrive, either because the donor paid in less than $15 initially, or the donor is overseas and I’ve asked for another few bucks to cover shipping.

There are maybe three extra copies. Maybe. I won’t be offering any more for sale until I’m sure I won’t need these. You should be able to get copies from Amazon, though.

Chapter Seventeen has been posted

Chapter Seventeen is up.

I’ve collected about $40 toward Chapter Eighteen so far. Alas, Chapter Eighteen isn’t actually written yet, but I hope it will be by next week.

I think I should probably warn everyone — the protagonist’s name is likely to change soon. I’ve decided “Vengar” was a bad choice. Haven’t settled on a new name yet, which is why it hasn’t changed yet.

I got my copies of The Spriggan Mirror last week, and have packed up all the ones I’ll be mailing to last year’s donors. Maybe a third of them were mailed out before the three-day New Year’s postal holiday; I hope to get the rest on their way tomorrow or very soon thereafter. This has been an educational experience; I now know what a book weighs, what overseas shipping costs, and so on, and can therefore say this: $25 donated now will get you a finished copy of The Vondish Ambassador when it’s ready if you live anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. If you live elsewhere, $30 should cover it.

I messed up several details; out of about 180 copies packed and mailed, I screwed something up on maybe a dozen. If you were one of those, and got an unsigned book when you’d asked for an autograph, or your book went to your old address, or whatever, I apologize; it was my first time doing this, and there were a few bugs in the system. I hope to do better next time.

I’m still trying to locate Richard Russ and Robert Allen. (A third missing person has been found.)

A happy new year to you all!

Chapter Sixteen has been posted

Chapter Sixteen is up.

Nearly half of Chapter Seventeen is paid for. Unfortunately, with the holidays and other commitments, that’s more than I’ve actually written so far — but hey, I have a week.

In other news, concerning the long-awaited distribution of The Spriggan Mirror and the chapbook of “Sirinita’s Dragon” to last year’s donors, I’m pleased to report that the illustrations did show up before the books — by about an hour. Both are in hand, and I’ll be sending stuff out as quickly as I can get the chapbooks printed, collated, stapled, and packed. Which is not, frankly, all that quickly — the dry winter air has been causing static problems with my heavy-duty printer, making two-sided printing difficult, as I sometimes need to hand-feed the individual sheets in.

Bear with me; they’re coming.

A request for information

I’m trying to locate two people who are owed copies of The Spriggan Mirror, but who didn’t provide mailing addresses and whose e-mail addresses now bounce:

Richard Russ
Robert Allen

If anyone knows anyone by either of those names, drop me a line.

And no, I don’t actually have the books in hand yet, but in theory UPS does and they should be here by the 29th, so I’m getting the mailing labels ready.

Alas, the illustrations Kiri did — three of them — appear to have gotten lost in the mail somewhere between Shanghai and here, so unless they turn up unexpectedly, the chapbook of “Sirinita’s Dragon” will not be illustrated.

Chapter Fifteen has been posted

Chapter Fifteen is up.

I have six bucks toward Chapter Sixteen. Haven’t yet written Chapter Seventeen.

No news on The Spriggan Mirror; so far as I know, it’ll start shipping by the end of the week, but I’m sure we remember what happened last time I thought that.

There’s a change in plans regarding the publication of the finished novel. After all the delays with The Spriggan Mirror, I have decided that I don’t intend to make anyone wait a year for their copy of The Vondish Ambassador. Therefore, it’s my intention to do a privately-published, limited first edition — probably about 400 copies. Anyone who’s donated $25 or more will get that, rather than waiting for the eventual trade edition — well, unless they ask to wait; if you’d rather have the trade edition, okay, but then any delays are your problem.

The exact form of the limited first edition isn’t yet determined, as I haven’t yet talked to printers and binders about costs. Or to artists.

I’ll be working out details in weeks to come.

Chapter Fourteen has been posted

Chapter Fourteen is up.

Chapter Fifteen is about one-third paid for.

Chapter Sixteen is written; Chapter Seventeen is not.

Latest word is that The Spriggan Mirror will ship from the printer on or around December 21st; this probably means I’ll get my copies and start distributing them on the 27th or so. I’m sorry they won’t be there for Christmas.

I’ll be sending an e-mail to everyone on my list of people who are due a copy, to verify addresses and ask whether you want your copy signed. If you have a book coming and haven’t received such an e-mail by Friday, drop me a line. The default, if I don’t hear from you, will be to assume that you want an unsigned copy sent to the shipping address you gave me last year.

Three illustrations for “Sirinita’s Dragon” are in the mail to me; if they arrive in time, as they should, and are suitable (I haven’t seen them), I should be able to include a chapbook of the story with each copy of The Spriggan Mirror.

Thanks for your contributions and your patience.

Chapter Thirteen has been posted

Chapter Thirteen is up.

Chapter Fourteen is paid for, and will be posted on Wednesday, December 13; there’s a small start on Chapter Fifteen.

I’m midway through writing Chapter Sixteen.

There’s a long discussion of technicalities of magic in the comments on the post “Chapter Five Revised,” for those of you who hadn’t already noticed it.

Chapter Twelve has been posted

Chapter Twelve has been posted.

Chapter Thirteen is about one-third paid for.

Chapter Fourteen is written; Chapter Fifteen is this close, but I keep thinking of little bits I want to squeeze in.

There was some good discussion in the comments two posts back. If you missed it, check out under “Chapter Five revised,” though absolutely none of it had anything to do with the revisions to Chapter Five.

Damned Spammers

Okay, I give up.  I had hoped to avoid blacklisting the words “Prozac” and “pharmacy,” since they might come up in actual conversation, but I can’t.  If you want to mention any pharmaceuticals in comments, you’ll have to find alternate phrasings.

The list of forbidden words is getting pretty long.  Sigh.