Okay, it’s not exactly a serial, but it’s close enough — I’ve just launched my Kickstarter campaign to finance the publication of a science-fantasy novel entitled Vika’s Avenger. You can get the details on the Kickstarter page, but here’s a little about the story:

On a distant planet, 12,000 years in the future, a country boy named Tulzik Ambroz comes to the ancient city of Ragbaan seeking the man who killed his sister Vika. Ragbaan’s civilization has risen to astonishing heights of power and technology several times — and then collapsed each time, so that now most of the city is abandoned and empty, and the three million remaining inhabitants make no distinction between magic and technology. How can a stranger, with only a portrait his sister drew to identify his quarry, hope to find a single individual in such a place?

And if he does find him, what will he do about it?

If you want to have a chance to read the book, come pledge something. You have just thirty days: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/217993880/publish-lawrence-watt-evans-vikas-avenger

Meanwhile, the fine folks at Wildside tell me that advance copies of The Sorcerer’s Widow should be along in another week or so. I’ll post further details when I have them.

No actual news, really, but I had to log on here to clean out some spam, so I figured I’d post. It’s scheduled for June now instead of May — sorry about that. I still haven’t seen the cover art.

Once I’ve mailed out all the donor copies, I’ll start the next Ethshar serial. It will be either Ishta’s Companion or Stone Unturned, don’t yet know which. Both titles are subject to change.

Ishta’s Companion has been known by several titles over the last thirty years — yes, it’s that old an idea. I think I’ve mostly referred to it as A Stranger in the Forest. I’m midway through writing Chapter Four of maybe twenty.

Stone Unturned has also had several titles, but in a much briefer period; around here I’ve generally called it “the big fat Ethshar novel,” because none of the previous titles were any good. This one looks like it might stick. I’m midway through writing Chapter Five of… a lot. Like, maybe fifty, if it stays a single novel. It could split into three or more — not the usual way, being chopped up chronologically, but by getting split among the viewpoint characters. If that happens, three of the pieces will be Lord Landessin’s Gallery, The Petrified Prince, and The Demon’s Master. Lord Landessin’s Gallery was previously known as The Wizard’s Garden. A couple of other old story ideas, A Slave of Wizardry and Pender the Jeweler, are probably also going to be incorporated into this one. (The Petrified Prince is new.)

Stone Unturned may be too complex to do as a serial; we’ll see.

Anyway, whichever serial it is, it should start in late June or early July. I hope.

Just a quick note: Contracts are signed, text is finalized, and Wildside has The Sorcerer’s Widow scheduled for May 2013. The long delay is because they’re planning to distribute it to comic shops as well as the usual online outlets, and that requires several months of lead time — it has to go in the catalog, orders come in, etc.

It may actually be available some places (particularly in e-book form) sooner than May; we’ll see.

I don’t know anything about cover art yet.

Sorry it won’t be out sooner.

Oh, yeah — my current plan is that I’ll start the next serial (whichever story it is) as soon as I’ve mailed out all the donor copies of The Sorcerer’s Widow, which should be late May, 2013.

Okay, Chapters Three through Fourteen will be taken down at some point in the next forty-eight hours. (Note, that’s the maximum, not the minimum.) I’ve received the contract from Wildside, my agent’s reviewing it, I’m finishing up the final polish on the completed novel, and this one’s just about wrapped up.

The final draft will be at least 2,500 words longer than the serial version, but the changes are mostly minor, adding more detail here and there.

No publication date yet. No cover information. It’ll probably be at least a few months before the book is available.

Update: Those chapters are gone. Thanks again to all my supporters.

I haven’t yet made any decisions about the next serial beyond, “There’ll probably be one.” It might be the Untitled Big Fat Ethshar novel, it might be Ishta’s Companion, it might be something else.

Wildside is still happily publishing pretty much everything I send them, especially Ethshar stories, and I expect that to continue.

Oh, I almost forgot — I’ve had e-mails to a couple of donors bounce recently. If your e-mail address has changed since you donated, you need to tell me, ASAP.

Thanks for your support!

Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen of The Sorcerer’s Widow are now online. This completes the serial and the first draft.

All fourteen chapters will remain online until the contracts with Wildside are signed, and I haven’t yet received said contracts, but I expect them any day now.

I’ll accept donations until August 1st. Right now I’m $14 short of my target, though obviously I took in enough to pay for the whole thing.

I’m two chapters into the second draft. I expect to have the whole thing done by the time we leave for Worldcon. No idea when it’ll be published, though — that’s mostly up to Wildside. I’ll keep donors posted on progress.

I intend to continue doing Ethshar serials, but I don’t know when the next one will start. I don’t know which story it’ll be, either. Easiest would be Ishta’s Companion (which keeps changing title, but is actually one of the very oldest unfinished stories in my entire collection). More ambitious would be the untitled-as-yet one I’ve referred to as “the Big Fat Ethshar novel.” Azraya of Ethshar is also a viable option. We’ll see. It’ll be at least a few months before I launch, as I want to do other stuff for awhile; might be much longer than that.

So — hope you like the story.

Chapter Twelve is now online. The remaining two chapters will be posted next week, if all goes according to plan.

I talked to Wildside’s publisher on Friday, and the contracts for the finished edition are allegedly on their way. Of course, I haven’t actually written the final draft yet…

The entire first draft will be online until August; after August 1, no promises. Likewise, I’ll accept donations on the usual terms until August 1. While the entire serial is paid for, I have a personal target I’d like to reach beyond that. I’m still $98.00 short of that goal.

This one went pretty quickly, being as short as it is.