Author: Lawrence Watt-Evans

The Sorcerer’s Widow: Progress Report Five

Chapter Five has now been posted.

Chapters Six through Eleven are paid for.

I’m halfway through writing Chapter Eight, so I’m maintaining my safety margin. I’d like to increase it, but for some reason this story is slower going than Ethshar usually is.

My best estimate — which could easily be way off — is that this story will run about twelve chapters, and 30,000-35,000 words. Which is technically, by modern standards, a novella, rather than a novel. Sorry about that.

The old pulp magazines used to advertise anything over 20,000 words as “a complete novel in this issue!” though, so there’s precedent. And it may wind up longer than I expect.

The Sorcerer’s Widow: Progress Report One

I still have some reservations about doing this, but I don’t really have a good reason not to, so let’s see how it goes. The first chapter of the new Ethshar serial, The Sorcerer’s Widow, is up. The terms (which are slightly different from last time) are also posted.

I’m partway through writing Chapter Six. No donations have been received yet.

Okay, lots of donations have arrived since I posted the above. Fear not, at least a couple more chapters are paid for.

The Sorcerer’s Widow: Progress Report Zero

Okay, I’ll be serializing The Sorcerer’s Widow soon — I don’t have an exact date, but soon — but there are a few things about it that concern me.

The main issue is that it’s going to be either the shortest Ethshar novel to date, or not quite a novel at all; it may wind up a mere novella.  It’ll still be long enough for Wildside to publish it in book form, but I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking they’re getting more than they are.  Domestic donors of $20 or more (not the usual $25) will receive a paper copy of the finished book; $10 will get you an e-book (available formats not yet determined, but probably epub and mobi).  $25 will get both.  List price for the final versions will in all likelihood be less, but you’re helping get it done.

It’s still $250 a chapter.  I’m estimating twelve to fifteen chapters, though that may turn out to be way off.

I’m also thinking of making individual chapters available in ebook form, in addition to the web version — Chapter 1 would be free, and each subsequent chapter would be 99 cents.  This would not be an economical way to read it, but some people might think it’s worth it for the convenience.

And… I’ve been wondering whether there’s some way to move these serials to Kickstarter.  Any comments?

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.