Category: Progress Reports

The Final Calling: Progress Report Two

Well, here we go — Chapter One has been posted. This is very nearly the same text as “The Warlock’s Refuge”, but not exactly — it’s been revised to fix some errors and inconsistencies (some pointed out by readers, some that I found myself).

All future chapters will be all-new, never-before-seen material.

The announcement went out less than three hours ago, but the next two chapters have been paid for. Chapter Two will be posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, and Chapter Three will be posted on Wednesday, June 30th. This bodes well.

As far as the writing goes, I’m a page or two from finishing Chapter Five.

A reminder: The serial of Realms of Light is still active; I don’t see any problem in handling both at once.

Please feel free to spread the word; I’m always looking for new readers.

I welcome comments!

Realms of Light: Progress Report Thirty-One

In case anyone was wondering: Yes, the serialization of Realms of Light will continue even after the serial of The Final Calling starts; there’s no reason I can’t run both at once. It will continue after the finished book is published, too, unless the fine folks at FoxAcre object. I see no reason to stop. And contributing to the serial will remain the only way to get the chapbook of “Setting the Stage.”

(The serial of The Final Calling starts on Wednesday, by the way.)

The Final Calling: Progress Report One

I’ve written about a third of Tom Derringer and the Aluminum Airship. When I finish it, The Final Calling moves to the top of my priority list, unless some well-paying job crops up.

Meanwhile, I’ve written most of Chapter Two of The Final Calling. (I’m on page 24.) Once I’ve started Chapter Five, I’ll have enough to launch the serial.

I do not know how long this will take, and can’t give a definite launch date, but it will be this year and probably no later than August. Could be much sooner.

If anyone wants to get an early start on sending me money, donations to “The Warlock’s Refuge” do count toward The Final Calling. I did mention this somewhere, but it hasn’t been widely publicized, and so far I have less than half a chapter paid or.

Each chapter of The Final Calling will cost $250. $25 will definitely guarantee anyone with a U.S. address a copy of the finished book, if and when there is one — Wildside Press has expressed interest in publishing it, if and when it’s written, but of course there’s no contract yet. It’s possible, though not particularly likely, that I might cut that to $20 or offer an e-book option, so if you want to wait and see, you can. Shipping costs being what they are these days, though, a cut to $20 is unlikely, especially since this may (or may not) turn out to be a significantly longer book than my previous serials.

Changing shipping costs and exchange rates mean I don’t yet know what the minimum for Canadian or overseas donors will be to guarantee a copy.

Of course, you’re welcome to send less than the minimum, to help get the thing online; you just won’t be guaranteed a bound copy until your donations total $25 or more.

Please note that when I say “guarantee,” that’s a conditional thing; it only applies if the novel is completed and published. If I don’t finish the book for any reason, then no one gets a copy, whether it’s because it didn’t bring in enough money, or because I got hit by a bus. This is why I call people who send money “donors,” rather than “subscribers” — you’re donating money, not buying something. You’ll get a book if there is a book, but I’m not promising one.

It’s much too early to be thinking about what extras might be included to donors.

Incidentally, if I were doing this properly, rather than yielding to fan pressure, I should have written Dumery of the Dragon before The Final Calling. Alas, I didn’t realize that until after I was committed to the present course. Ah, well. It’s not a perfect world.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Thirty

Chapter Fourteen of Realms of Light has now been posted.

This is fourteenth out of twenty, but Chapter Twenty is so short that should the serialization get that far, it will be included free with Chapter Nineteen. That means a grand total of $1,248 more will get the entire first draft online.

Even though the novel has been revised, adding about 2,700 words in the process, and has been delivered to FoxAcre Press, this web serial will continue to be the first draft for as far as it goes.

Donors have the option of receiving the complete first draft in e-mail, in either RTF or PDF, but the final version will only be available through FoxAcre.

The Final Calling: Progress Report Zero update

Regarding the various projects described a couple of weeks back in Progress Report Zero, here’s how they stand:

  • One-Eyed Jack is complete and has been delivered to my agent.
  • Realms of Light is complete and has been delivered to FoxAcre Press.
  • Vika’s Avenger has been shelved for the moment. No one seemed all that enthusiastic about it.
  • After some preliminary discussion, the gaming company has been quiet for a couple of weeks, so I’m not sure where we stand with that. Unless negotiations pick up again, I won’t let this get in the way of The Final Calling.
  • I’m about 20-25% of the way through the first draft of Tom Derringer and the Aluminum Airship, and intend to write the rest.
  • “The Warlock’s Refuge,” which will be Chapter One of The Final Calling, has been posted to the web. Unless something else comes up, I intend to start writing the novel as soon as I finish Tom Derringer and the Aluminum Airship, and I’ll start the serial once I have at least four, maybe five chapters written.

So there you go. The Final Calling is second in the queue at present.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-Nine

I’ve just sent the final (I think) version of Realms of Light to FoxAcre Press. I’m hoping it’ll see print, both on paper and as a Kindle edition, some time this summer.

I’m still $23 short of posting Chapter Fourteen of the first draft. There are twenty chapters in all.

At this point you may be thinking you’ll just wait and buy the finished book, which is perfectly reasonable — it’ll almost certainly cost less than $25. However, anyone in the U.S. who donates $25 or more to the serial will receive a copy of the finished book, and, if they want one, a copy of Nightside City — I have about a dozen copies of the Del Rey edition that will be sent out on a first-come, first-served basis to those donors who request them, and others will get the FoxAcre reprint, which includes an “Afterword” the Del Rey paperback lacks.

Also, donors will receive a copy of a chapbook, tentatively entitled Setting the Stage: The Eta Cassiopeia System, by Lawrence Watt-Evans & Sheridan Simon, describing the two stars and four rocky planets of the star system where the two novels are set. (The system might also have a few gas giants; we never bothered about them, as they don’t appear in the stories.) Some of this will be drawn from Dr. Simon’s original letters describing the planets I’d commissioned him to create; the rest I’ll write. It will include a lot of background information that never found its way into the novels, and will also explain references in the text that may have been somewhat mysterious.

This chapbook will only be available to donors and to Dr. Simon’s heirs; it will not be offered for sale, and if and when the serial is complete, that’s it, there won’t be any more copies printed or distributed.

Thanks for your support.

The Final Calling: Progress Report Zero

Okay, here’s the situation:

I’m almost done writing a novel called One-Eyed Jack; it should be finished in a week or so. I have five other projects in the queue that I can tackle once it’s done, and I haven’t decided on what order I want to deal with them.

The five projects are:

  • Finishing Realms of Light for FoxAcre Press; I have a complete first draft. The online serial has seven chapters to go, but I don’t want to wait forever before finishing the book.
  • Finishing Vika’s Avenger. This is a novel I wrote on a whim a couple of years ago; I have a complete first draft, and would like to finish it up and see if I can find an interested publisher.
  • I’ve been offered work writing tie-in novels for a game company, and the contract terms are pretty good. Some of their properties are really interesting, too. Pursuing this is very tempting; I told them I’d get back to them in May, one way or another.
  • For years, my agent has been trying to talk me into writing a “young adult” novel. I think it’s a good idea, and I’ve started several, but none of them really caught fire. Recently, though, I plotted one with the working title Tom Derringer and the Aluminum Airship that my agent and I both like, so I was thinking I’d maybe do that next.
  • And then there’s The Final Calling.

The Final Calling was fifth and last on that list, despite fannish clamor for it, for two reasons.

First, these serials don’t pay all that well, and the poor performance of Realms of Light has not encouraged me to try again.

Second, while I’ve known very roughly what was going to happen in the novel for years and years — I mean, we’re talking more than twenty years, almost thirty — I didn’t actually have a detailed outline. I knew I could work one out if I had to, but it wasn’t something I was really enthusiastic about. I’d written the first chapter, which is also a stand-alone short story called “The Warlock’s Refuge,” but I was kinda vague about exactly where the story went from there.

But then this past Friday, while driving to Richmond, a remark my wife made got me thinking about it, and I now have maybe 80% of the story outlined in my head, complete with a romantic subplot or two, an extensive cast of characters, and so on.

So Reason #2 for not writing it has largely evaporated.

But there’s still Reason #1.

So my current plan is to post “The Warlock’s Refuge” a week from Friday for International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, but I’m not officially starting the serial; I intend to undertake at least one of those four other projects before I write more of The Final Calling. I’m not sure yet which one, or how long it’ll take, or whether The Final Calling will be next after that.

Typically, turning a first draft into a finished book takes me a month or so; writing a YA or gaming novel is probably six months, give or take.

Working on two things at once is possible, but not necessarily easy.

So there’s the situation, and I’ll be happy to read any comments or advice you may have, but in the end I’ll be making the decision based on what I want to do.

Thanks for your patience.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-Eight

I feel stupid.  I only today realized I never updated this.

Chapter Thirteen has been posted for more than a month.

I’m just about halfway to having enough to pay for Chapter Fourteen.

The entire first draft is written. Twenty chapters. I’ve sent copies to contributors who requested them, in either PDF or RTF format. (If you’re a donor who hasn’t gotten one and want one, e-mail me and tell me which format you want.)

FoxAcre Press will publish the paper edition as soon as I can find time to finish it; I don’t know when that will be, but if I had to guess, I’d say some time this summer. If money comes in to get the last seven chapters on the web, that’ll nudge me to get it done sooner.

The next serial, barring major changes in plan, will be The Final Calling an Ethshar novel; I’ll be posting the first chapter to the web as a stand-alone short story on April 23rd, if all goes well, but I’m not sure when I’ll be accepting donations and starting regular serialization.

Sorry about not keeping up with this better.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-Seven

Still not quite enough to post Chapter Thirteen — I’m $33 short.  (I told a couple of people in e-mail it was less than that; I was wrong, having misremembered the previous total.)

The first draft hasn’t been touched in weeks; I’ve been busy with other concerns.  FoxAcre is patiently waiting for me to deliver a final draft, which I hope to do some time this year.

Due to the novel coming out shorter than anticipated, any donor of $25 or more who doesn’t already have a copy of Nightside City and wants one can have one thrown in at no additional charge when the book does finally see print; I have a few of both the original Del Rey edition, and the current FoxAcre edition.  When we’re within shouting distance of publication I’ll be asking folks which they want.  The Del Rey copies are first come, first served, as there are only a few and no way to get more.

Haven’t gotten any farther on the chapbook idea, but I did turn up a letter from Dr. Simon discussing what I was planning to do with Prometheus in Realms of Light.  There’s some interesting stuff there that I may copy and distribute.

Still hoping to complete the web serial.  Tell your friends to check it out and send me money.

Thanks for your support, and happy new year!